Indie 617 is a good internet station. I can see that WERS-HD2 would be programmed well. I think they do a good job with WERS's analog and HD1 station.
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I'm sorry, but WXRV has one of the most boring music mixes Ive heard for a station that reports as a AAA.
With the demise of WBCN and WFNX, They had and still have an opportunity to pick up disenfrachised listeners, by dropping that boring singer songwriter barf inducing crap. and add some alternative, blues and OBSCURE classic rock.
I can think of 100 artists they can add.
Independent radio? True only in the fact that they arent owned by the large companies that have a cookie cutter approach to.programming, they are an independent radio station that has a cookie cutter approach.
WBCN and WFNX didn’t play any blues or obscure classic rock for decades before their ends. WBCN mixed in some huge hard classic AOR hits, and the “alternative” on both stations, especially WBCN, was actually very mainstream.
Obscure music can get a “cult following”, but not ratings since the pioneering progressive AOR stations of the late ‘60s/early ‘70s (I did a mostly “obscure” classic rock show on a volunteer non-profit college station that covered greater Boston for 35 years).
WBCN was influential until the Stern era. Bands from the late 60s until the late 80s speak highly of it. However, rock bands (not alternative) from the 90s until 2020 credit WAAF over WBCN for being their "go-to" in Boston. I remember an interview with Lajon from Sevendust on the final days of WAAF sharing a story about how they were booked to do an interview on WBCN, to which he stated that he hated being there, and how he felt like they didn't even really know much about the band or its music. He claimed to be calling or texting Mistress Carrie saying how they would rather be at WAAF. Even the alt-rock groups spoke better of WFNX over WBCN in that era. Once it became Stern in the morning followed by Opie and Anthony in the afternoon, it was the shock jock station.
Eli, once again you missed the point. Neither WBCN NOR WFNX played blues.
I never said they did in my post.
But WXRV should add blues anyway
As far as obscure classic rock, commercial classic rock stations play nothing but the same tired old crap, and should add songs that were played on AOR Statioms then, and NOT played now
Do I have to list them?
Its kind of closed minded, and insulting to the regional audience who have given up on terrestrial radio to say for any reason that obscure or rare, rejected, weird.or otherwise foresaken songs shouldnt be added to a stations mix.
Programmers have decided to go with popular, safe, tested and repetitive crap, and what you have now is as another post said, boring and stale
They're running a business, not a museum. You want McDonalds to serve steak. It's not going to happen.
But the problem is, like I remember someone, somewhere mentioning it way back in the day, when consolidation mania was happening, and the prime grand enemy at the time was Clear Channel. The quote that was said "I do not mind radio companies running radio as a business. What I do mind is radio companies running radio stations ONLY as a business!" And that seems to be the problem to this very day!
The problem is that stations can not be anything else unless the business part is profitable.
Today, the effects of all kinds of things ranging from Docket 80-90 to new media to the lower listening shown in the PPM to the 2008 recession to the Pandemic have made far fewer stations profitable so 100% of their effort is taken in trying to minimize losses and expenses.
Even before consolidation in 1995, about half of all US radio stations did not make money.
The economy has changed. At one time it was possible to make money playing the kind of music you hear on WUMB. At one time you could make money publishing newspapers. Not any more. It's not about consolidation. That was 25 years ago. Today, it's about the opposite of consolidation. The fact that there are so many competing ways to hear music has made it harder for the traditional outlets to exist.
In the meantime, the music people seek is available at various subscription services. Instead of expecting to advertisers to subsidize personal taste, they as consumers to pay for the opportunity to hear broader playlists without commercial interruption. So the option is available...it just requires a subscription.
WELL SAID, RETRO!!!
And "those (of us) who don't like radio that operates like a business" (only), and don't care for the progressive agenda of public radio should just go away quietly, I guess.
You can't have it both ways. You want conservative values? Then pay for it. That's what capitalism is about.
Well, commercial radio lives on ad revenue, and that requires an audience significantly large enough to attract and retain advertisers. If what you are looking for does not attract enough advertisers, then the format will not exist.
Non-commercial stations have the same issue, but with listener contribution. If there is not enough support for a more conservative non-com format, it will not exist.
There are a lot of formats I wish existed on local commercial radio, but none of my preferred ones can make money doing what I like, so I am as out of luck as you are.
The internet has thousands of alternatives.
Yes, I know that this is not 1998, or whatever anymore, however, do you remember when the mass consolidation first began, and the same one stale record played on at least 5 different formated stations? Someone even did a production parody of that, with using the song Flashdance as a standard universal classic! It was historical!
I'm sorry, but that position is not accurate.
Before viable FM came on the scene in the later 60's, we had situations in major markets that can be exemplified by Cleveland in the later 50's and early to mid 60's: 8 AM's, 3 MORs, 3 Top 40 and two R&B stations. 3 formats.
FM came and we got format division, like album rock and chicken rock (later called AC) splitting out of Top 40. Later on, we got rhythmic Top 40, too. And so on in every format.
The we got to the late 80's and Docket 80-90 that allowed more FMs, and many move-ins. Many stations lost money as there was no new revenue.
So what was happening: Owners picked the most profitable formats, and we went back to having multiple stations in the bigger formats.
Consolidation, beginning about 6 years later, allowed operators to have up to 5 FMs, and so they tried to make each one complement the others. Often that meant accepting a top performer or two, a couple of middle performers and a lower performer. But they could package and sell them as a group or in combos. So we got more variety after consolidation than ever before.
Obviously, though, there are and always will be songs that cross the borders of different stations and formats. What makes each station different is the rest of the library that no other stations duplicate.
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I once had the pleasure of seeing the best GM I ever worked for, Dave Croninger, speak to a graduate class at BU in the early 80s. That was when we had the #1 and #2 stations in the market (WHDH and WCOZ), with a combined 20+ share.
They started hammering him with the usual public radio/new music and artists/underserved market segments stuff that you'd expect to hear from BU grad students, accusing him of ignoring "public service" in favor of profit.
I'll never forget his answer.
"My radio stations are #1 and #2 in the market. We have a combined 20 share. That means that one-fifth of everyone in this entire metro wants to hear what I'm putting on the air.
I can't think of a better public service than that."
My point was that the same song was on everything from AC to Rock, and anything that fit in between! I mean, did we really, really need 5 radio stations playing "In Your Eyes" by Peter Gabriel? This was what was really happening at the time!
>>I can't think of a better public service than that
GIve the people what they want (and it can help the bottom line too)
First ep of WKRP in Cincinnati:
LES: But there are already a lot of rock and roll stations in Cincinnati
ANDY: Well why do you think that is, Les?
LES: Well, I think it's a plot of some sort.
ANDY: No, Les, rock and roll is where the money is.
MRS CARLSON station owner; Young man this radio station is a business. It is not here for your
personal listening pleasure.
ANDY: Ma'am, I know it's a business. That's why I had to change the format.
(Andy goes on to say it may take a couple years before it sees results--"too little, too late!" says Mrs Carlson--her son
Arthur, the GM says, "Too little? Mama, those are profits not losses." She says she wants a faster turnaround etc)
Anyway, Andy is saying give the people what they want. Rock and roll...or country...or whatever format is hot.
WKLB doing well for Greater/Beasley? iHeart launches their own country station... etc
GIve the people what they want (and it can help the bottom line too)
First ep of WKRP in Cincinnati:
LES: But there are already a lot of rock and roll stations in Cincinnati
ANDY: Well why do you think that is, Les?
LES: Well, I think it's a plot of some sort.
ANDY: No, Les, rock and roll is where the money is.
MRS CARLSON station owner; Young man this radio station is a business. It is not here for your
personal listening pleasure.
ANDY: Ma'am, I know it's a business. That's why I had to change the format.
(Andy goes on to say it may take a couple years before it sees results--"too little, too late!" says Mrs Carlson--her son
Arthur, the GM says, "Too little? Mama, those are profits not losses." She says she wants a faster turnaround etc)
Anyway, Andy is saying give the people what they want. Rock and roll...or country...or whatever format is hot.
WKLB doing well for Greater/Beasley? iHeart launches their own country station... etc
Which song was it? Was it a hit song? I researched the chart, and it wasn't Peter Gabriel.
When The Beatles were hot, their music was getting played everywhere. And there were fewer radio stations at the time. When Michael Jackson was hot, his music was getting played on pop, urban, and even rock stations. I remember Whitney Houston was getting played on several formats at once. That has nothing to do with consolidation. That has to do with cross-over music. Record labels decide how their music will be promoted at radio. If they have a cross-format song, they market it to multiple formats. Dan & Shay had a song like that few years ago, that began as a country hit, then they took it pop. Once again, it's not a radio problem, it's a music problem. if you want to discuss consolidation, look at the record labels. Only 3 record labels control 85% of the music world wide.
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