I don't give a rats what people did 40 years ago. That was then.
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LA April Ratings - KFI Is Back to #1!
- Thread starter asugeorge1
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I don't give a rats what people did 40 years ago. That was then.
Well now, a trip down memory lane. I remember a road trip to Los Angeles in 1987 and driving my wife absolutely crazy by tuning to K-Earth at the top of every hour just to hear their legal id. Big drums and then big voice "KRTH-FM Los Angeles, win a fantasy vacation and a thousand dollars" then the singers "K R T H - Los Angeles". That trip probably led to the divorce, "I know you like radio JIMBO but for Christ's sake would you pick a station and leave it on for just 5 f--king minutes!"
Well, at least you enjoyed it as did many Angelinos did in '87. The drums legal ID was their signature jingle, on for many, many years, since the late 70's. I believe they last aired it in 1989 or so. Kind of like the 1070 traffic horn effect before reports, these should have never been taken away. And then you had the Johnny Mann singers and their boatload of memories. It was the station of the time. The glory days! Oh yeah, that trip to Hawaii and cash, every time with Lisa Moree announcing it.....priceless!
The Johnny Mann singers saying “KRTH... Los Angeles!” was still in use up until I want to say 7 years ago and was still in use on KRTH - HD 2 until the 50’s and 60’s oldies format was pulled from there 4 years ago in 2016. I miss the K-EARTH Classics format on KRTH - HD 2. It was unique and was one of the most popular HD 2 formats in the country. Now KRTH HD 2 is just a boring simulcast of KNX 1070 and there is no 50’s and 60’s oldies station to be found in Southern California with K-SURF playing mostly 70’s music these days and recently rebranding as “L.A. Super Hits.” Sad!
No, the point is that 2nd place bills a lot more than 8th.
All radio stations "deliver". It's a matter of how many listeners there are in the delivery.
You really, really... REALLY... think that the playlist was a simple tabulation of the listener votes?
Really?
Oldies:
Let's go back to what you said the first time, which was the basis of my response:
(screen goes all wavy, harp music plays)
K-Earth 101 was far more popular many, many years ago with their true oldies of the 50's 60's and 70's format and their legendary jocks.
(end Oldies76 quote from...oh, my....the day before yesterday)
Nobody was saying that KRTH wasn't popular with the people who chose to listen to it back in 1979, 1985 or 1988. Why else would those people be listening?
You could make the same argument about a last-place radio station----"It's popular among the people who listen."
But you cannot make the objective argument that a station that had a 3.5 in a market of 7.5 million, when there were eight stations with better ratings, is more popular than a station that has a 5.2 in a market of 11.4 million and ranks second.
Thanks, Oldies. You stay safe, too.
I was wondering if anyone was going to bring this point up. What radio says and what radio does are often two different things, and I think "tabulating the listeners votes" has got to be highest on that list.
A good internal example that listeners never hear is in the interpretation of a music test.
After spending $20 k to as much as $40 k on a music test, some songs that score high overall won't get played. Perhaps because in a certain group, such as the younger half of women, a song does badly. Others because a mathematical metric used to determine "fit" shows our listeners like the song, but don't expect to hear it on our station.
We have to distinguish when "Oh, wow!" becomes "Oh, s--t!".
We've not used "please play my song" as a metric for half a century.
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For that specific countdown, known as the Firecracker 300, yes. I have all 10 countdown sheets to make the point. (1978-1987). The only exception would be from the mid 80's onward, where the station focused more on oldies than currents, so only those songs were considered, but prior to 1984 or so, some re-currents (80's music) were included if they received enough votes.
That's the impression I get. Mr. Hamilton was very unique in his ways.
Much more recent countdown specials aired were listener voted too, but those songs had to match a set playlist or you wouldn't hear them at all. "Stairway To Heaven" could have received enough votes for 1st place, but would be dumped in favor of a song like "Don't Stop Believin". So David, for the recent countdowns (meaning around the Kaye era onward), I would agree. Doing it this way though, highly defeats the purpose of a "listener voted special"
Radio was a 'horse of a different color' back in 1985. Unique and special......really.
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Since you do not have data on the underlying music tests, you can't make a conclusion. AMTs began in the very early 80's, so we assume that every major market station was testing by the middle of that decade and using that data as guidance, even for special shows.
But the fact that you saw a change around 1984 would lead me to believe that the station started doing AMTs at that time and realized that they needed to focus as the "out of concept" songs were hurting, even if people might enjoy them on a different station.
Remember, even the finest art is part science: the combining of colors and textures is science. What you do with the combinations is art.
If you still believe that they just tabulated the votes, I have this bridge between Manhattan and one of the boroughs that I can give you a really good deal on due to the lessened traffic it is carrying... and you'd like it because it is named after a late 60's music group!
For oh so many reasons I won't touch that line...
I have the actual, factual authentic lists of songs played, that all I need. I can send them to you, if you'd like.
'The Worst That Could Happen' is ignoring votes and not counting them.
1977-1986, not a bad run!! Agree?
You have the playlists. I was telling you that without the actual raw data, you do not know how they tabulated and interpreted the votes.
The worst is bad programming based on songs most listeners won't like or expect to hear on that station.
At half the listening level of today's researched programming? No.
Remember, those long weekend specials are done for several reasons:
First, they don't require the weekday talent. That saves money and creates a different listener magnet. Second, those are not days and dayparts that advertisers both then and now particularly seek. So it is throw-away time. Third, it is like a "palate cleanser" during a gourmet meal. It resets the core product when the weekend is over and does not put the valued airtime at risk. Ever notice that specialty shows, for the most part, are done when radio listening is at its lowest: AT40 was fill for Sunday Morning when "nobody" listened... but it did consolidate those who were listening for a win-win.
Your ongoing analysis forgets that radio is not a jukebox... it is a business. And like jukeboxes, the old model is obsolete.
That's a key point. When you hear American Top 40 or weekly countdown shows, those shows are based on charts that are tabulated OUTSIDE of radio. There is an independent 3rd party that tabulates the plays of songs, and ranks them in order. The ranking is subject to scrutiny by all parties, such as radio PDs and record labels. If a radio station played a song, it should be counted. The trade publication, typically Billboard, publishes that chart and all of the actual raw data. Then the radio show plays those songs in order.
That's not what's happening here. The information is voted over the internet, which itself is a bias, preventing listeners who don't have access from voting. The votes come in to the station. The station is not obligated to publish the data, nor is it required to have that data authenticated by anyone. So it leaves it up to the station to interpret the voting in a way that creates the best listening experience.
If a good portion of the votes that come in are tossed because they do not fit the playlist, then what's the POINT in having a countdown asking for listener picked songs?? The radio station should just do their own show, in their order, their way. Simple. In other words, they are changing the results to suit them, not the listeners who went out of their way to vote. Either do it right or scrap the project.
Yeah, I can't imagine a radio station changing the results to suit them.
But then I was also surprised to find that there is a roulette wheel in the back room at Rick's Cafe, so there is that.
It's fun. Why did YOU vote? It's fun. People want to express themselves. This gives them a chance to speak.
Over It
I guess I am the last of a dying breed - but after IHeart Radio laid off Mark Wallengren and others at KOST in the manner that they did I simply stopped listening. Along with the demise of KRTH and The Sound - and then the treatment of Rita Wilde and her lay off .... and KRTH sort of being all over the place - I simply stopped listening to all of them. I have Sirius and listen to it exclusively now ... and that includes work as well ...
I grew up listening to KHJ - BOSS Radio - back when you felt that a DJ was your friend - now its just a different animal and what used to bring me comfort is no longer there ... Yes I am aging myself - but I have always been a long time and loyal listener - it is what it is
I guess I am the last of a dying breed - but after IHeart Radio laid off Mark Wallengren and others at KOST in the manner that they did I simply stopped listening. Along with the demise of KRTH and The Sound - and then the treatment of Rita Wilde and her lay off .... and KRTH sort of being all over the place - I simply stopped listening to all of them. I have Sirius and listen to it exclusively now ... and that includes work as well ...
I grew up listening to KHJ - BOSS Radio - back when you felt that a DJ was your friend - now its just a different animal and what used to bring me comfort is no longer there ... Yes I am aging myself - but I have always been a long time and loyal listener - it is what it is
Nice first post. No aging involved btw, just wonderful memories. The great thing, it really was that way. Radio was fun, all the things you mention and it can still be that way, but the execs and others refuse to re-adjust and return to the good times. It can be done with today's shifting demos. Could classic hits formats today use methods used back in your day? Sure they could. Nothing wrong with creative weekends and some Johnny Mann type jingles mixing in with today's format.
The demise of KRTH?? Well in terms of how they once presented themselves....sure. One could talk about their 5.2 ratings and their limitations, but today's listeners will never know what they missed. Firing great jocks wasn't the answer. And that goes for any station with a long standing history.
If it ain't broke, don't fix it, and it certainly wasn't broke. Stick to the roots, honor the heritage and glory and you'll survive longer and people will love and appreciate it.
It didn't hurt. In fact nothing they've done in the last few years has hurt them.
Nobody likes to get old, but it's inevitable. People have a choice: They can quit or they can get fired. Nobody has a job for life. There was a time in this country when people retired once they hit 65. Nothing wrong with that. If you want to respect history, what's wrong with that kind of history? We all have to make room for the next generation.
What's wrong with keeping history? A station that's nearly a half century old should be proud of its legacy and roots. They all but abandoned it.
But they should have done it with ties to their golden days. Nothing wrong with a set of 80's songs intermingled with updated, but classic jingles. Keeping many of the older jocks, with much respect to those that passed, would have worked too, adding a classic style with newer music. You never want to get rid of your senior staff, they are great assets to have on a team.
But no matter what I post here, you'll never agree.
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