Hidden gem for sure. Visiting friends in Oakmont over the weekend and i was trying to tune in to WDVE, but went too far and found WKVE by mistake. Amazing station, its nice to hear a station thats not playing the same 40 songs over and over again in a different order thinking people wont notice. Nice work, keep it up! I know its not a technically a Pittsburgh station but I don’t see anywhere closer to put it. Buddy i was with said he didnt know about it and will be playing 103.1 instead from now on.
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103.1 WKVE Kudos/Appreciation post!
- Thread starter RStacey1990
- Start date
Wish I could pull it in north of the city where I'm located. I've heard a lot of good things about it. It's always refreshing to find a station that plays more than the same tired 200 or so songs they've been playing forever.
Where does all this crap about stations playing "the same 40 songs over and over" or "the same tired 200 or so songs" come from?
Yes, some "Top 40" (Now called CHR) play 100 songs or less and other hit based formats may play 100 to 200 songs at most, but the formats appealing to those mostly over 30 play from the low 300's up to as many as 800 songs.
In any case, they play the number of songs that their listeners can all agree on. There are no more.
The #1 rated station in my market (3WS in Pittsburgh - "classic hits") starts repeating songs after only 6 or 7 hours. I highly doubt they have anywhere near 800 songs in their rotation. Not sure how many songs WDVE ("classic rock"), the #2 rated station has, but every time I tune in there I tune right back out again because it's a song I've heard a million times ("Welcome To the Jungle," "Free Bird," etc.). And I'm 21. I have no idea how people who are 50-60 years old can tolerate listening to a station like that playing the same songs they've heard on that station for decades. Unlistenable.
That's what I'm talking about.
It's wonderful when radio introduces me to a song I haven't heard before as stations did once upon a time. My home city, Pittsburgh, has a rich history of jocks like Terry Lee, Porky Chedwick, Mad Mike, and Clark Race who played records that weren't already established hits, introducing them to listeners. They built a following and fanbase that way and turned people on to new music.
A station like KVE introduces listeners to music, playing deeper cuts than WDVE and the like. I love 770 WKFB and 620 WKHB because they both have huge music libraries and a great musical selection. It's refreshing to hear a rare gem on one of those stations. I'm constantly asking my phone what song is playing, discovering musicians and songs. Kudos to Robert & Ashley Stevens. They do a fantastic job programming their stations!
Nailed it!! Good to see another young person that wants to hear more than just “the hits”! There is so much classic rock out there, theres no excuse for playing the same song twice in 48 hours, let alone twice every 24 hours. WKVE does not stream but i will be recording hopefully 24 hours if it over the weekend when i visit. I have a 10 hour aircheck of it now from April. If you want it to hear it i can send it via we transfer. WMMR out of Philly and 105.5 in Tamaqua are excellent for discovering unheard classics as well. Especially WMGH. Both of these stations stream so you can check it out.
Why is it acceptable to play Sweet Home Alabama (good song but overplayed) 3 times in 2 days and not play Simple Man, That Smell, Was I Right Or Wrong etc… even once. How about play Sweet Home Alabama once, then throw in Simple Man or You Got That Right in the second and third Skynyrd slot.
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I decided to attempt to pull them in and to my surprise, their signal has some pretty good legs north! It is by no means a perfect signal but I'll take a weak signal with good tunes for me to discover over a crystal clear signal playing things I already know and have zero interest in hearing more than once or twice a year at this point.
The other thing I dig about KVE is that their audio processing is very nice. It's not overdone, but it's got enough to give it a nice excitement.
None of the Stevens' stations stream with the exception of 620 WKHB but only when they have talk segments on. Music licensing for a stream can get expensive for sure.
So funny that we have to resort to recording distant stations off the air and put up with crappy reception to get good programming!
The average person listens to radio an hour or two a day, not 6 hours in a row. And the songs most listeners "score" high get played often because that is what listeners want. Stations that have tried to compete with bigger libraries have almost uniformly failed.
As to older listeners hearing those same songs over and over, I'll mention one interview I conducted for an "oldies" station in DC many years ago. In discussing the songs she enjoyed, and digging about "why?" the answer came out: she was a file clerk for a government agency and did the same thing she had been doing for nearly 30 years in the third basement archive rooms. The songs from "when I was in school and college bring back the only fun years in my life and they make me feel good!"
Yet those jocks did not pick the new records. The PD and MD did, and introduced 3 or 4 new ones a week that had been carefully picked as "hitbound" or "future hits". Even then, if you look at stations charts from the 60's, 75% of the "future hits" were actually stiffs.
And zero ratings. And billings around $25,000 a month while WDVE bills about $1,000,000 a month.
You like comparing with WDVE. So the 12 stations and translators those folks own all together bill less than WDVE bills in two months.
While it is nice to find small operators of marginal stations who are able to sustain stations with deep niche programming, the larger audiences are elsewhere.
find me the average young person who isnt a radio nerd/geek/fan that wants to hear a ton beyond just the hits and id be a bit surprised
The music isnt quite an afterthought, but its not much more than that.. its part filler and part.. what else can they do that their audience might listen to? Trust me, if they could sell mroe time, the oldies would disappear.. but its what their ancient audience will listen to.
I absolutely understand that WDVE bills far higher than WKVE does. No question there.
I actually think that makes what KVE does that much more special. They know that they aren't going to attract an audience the size of WDVE. Appealing to the masses doesn't always make a 'good' product. I can think of many products aimed at the masses that are... watered down, minimalist, and devoid of any quality and creativity. And a lot of those products likely bring in a lot more revenue than their handmade counterparts, etc.
This world isn't all about making the most money and having the highest billing for everyone. Some people prioritize that. Others prioritize other things. It is obvious that making the most money possible is not the primary driver for the Stevens. Otherwise, they would not program their stations the way that they do. Rather, I suspect their goal is to provide incredibly enjoyable programming while making a decent living. While I do not know what they make once all expenses are paid, they certainly succeed at the first part in spades.
I wasn't trying to say that every radio station should have a giant library. I get that that's not the way to maximize billing. But as a listener, I really appreciate when a station goes against the grain and airs a large library. I equate it to the work of a fine woodworker. Are they going to make as much as Ikea? No way. Not even close. But they are going to provide a higher quality offering that will likely impact their customers lives far more than Ikea (and yes, they will obviously have fewer customers than Ikea).
Oh, and I picked the jocks I did in my example above for a good reason. Those guys were not bound by a PD who picked what they spun. They were not spinning the "hits" that KQV, Pittsburgh's Top-40 giant was spinning. Most of them also DJ'd dances around the area and had their own unique records. They'd get them from the cutout racks and back rooms of record stores. Heck, Mad Mike would literally scratch out the labels on his 45s so that nobody else knew what he was playing. These DJs were insanely popular and I get calls on my radio show regularly from people asking why I focus on the KQV surveys because "Porky" or "Mad Mike" or "Terry Lee" was who they remember most from their childhood. KQV had ABC's backing. While it is remembered in Pittsburgh, the aforementioned jocks at small local outlets are the ones most discussed today with the exception of literally one, and that's because Clark Race was on the 50,000 watt blowtorch KDKA.
I have quite a few friends who don't listen to the radio because they get tired of hearing the same stuff. I wouldn't consider them radio geeks at all, either. Of course, I have a few friends who still love the tired old standbys, too. Which is why it's cool that both exist - stations that have limited playlists for people who want that, and then stations that dig a bit deeper for people who want that.
Bob and Ashley Stevens are a unique pair of owners who know what they want from their radio stations. I worked for them (on and off) for about seven years, during a period when they only had 620 and 770.
They have a business plan that works for them. Under a different scenario, they could be another WAKY in Louisville. But I find that even when I differ in my opinion on what they might do with their stations, they've usually thought things out carefully.
770 KFB has shown surprising traction in the ratings recently, with better than a one share despite being a 750-watt daytimer with two translators which don't cover the city very well and a number of brokered shows. I wish them the best of luck.
C.
They have a business plan that works for them. Under a different scenario, they could be another WAKY in Louisville. But I find that even when I differ in my opinion on what they might do with their stations, they've usually thought things out carefully.
770 KFB has shown surprising traction in the ratings recently, with better than a one share despite being a 750-watt daytimer with two translators which don't cover the city very well and a number of brokered shows. I wish them the best of luck.
C.
Keep in mind, as a die hard rock & roller, you can understand why i would find the average classic rock station boring. Im in the area now and have KVE recording. On one occasion DVE was playing Dont Stop Believin, and KVE was playing Song For America by Kansas… that told me all I needed to know. KVE does play the hits too but they are not afraid to dig deep, which is what I, radio geek, die hard Rock & Roll fan, and audiophile, want to hear. I am NOT the average listener, i am an “outlier” which i have been called here once. Its the truth.
Glad you chimed in here, Clarke. I've listened to both 620 & 770 for quite a few years - sadly I never got to catch you live on 620. I've heard a few air checks of you there and they are fabulous - you really know how to hit the post!
I've always been under the impression that they think things through carefully, as you say. They bring some very unique programming to the dial in Pittsburgh and do a really fantastic job.
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Radio is first and foremost a business. KVE is in a position where ratings don't matter. Because if it was licensed to Pittsburgh, DVE would crush them in the ratings every time. Short playlists win. It's been the case for decades now.
You are an outlier. Yes. Average listeners are wearing the meters and contributing to the ratings. There aren't enough outliers to make a difference.
I just cant wrap my head around it tho, why would anyone want to hear the same tired playlists over and over and over again
Because not everyone has the same musical tastes as you
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