goriajk said:
Zeb, I strongly agree with your point (Well, you've been in AAA radio and I respect your opinion) IMO 'The Sound' is by far THE BEST station in L.A. and as I'm writing this I'm listening to the last Album Sides Wednesday artist ('The Velvet Underground' =)) I'm just HOOKED to the magic this station is doing with the album sides, but also disappointed as John SRF and I have pointed out for almost a year, we had so much hope that this station would pick up the AAA mantle that KSCA did from '94-'97 but didn't even come out to play hooky with album alternative that you would agree is the heart and soul of WNCS. Zeb, I for one as an Angelano who loves music, why is my favorite station playing The Cars and not Aimee Mann, or Beth Orton, or Wilco? Am I being a selfish South Bay 'Dirtbag' (Go Long Beach State) by asking for my station to be more supportive to it's hardcore listeners instead of saying 'Go enjoy your weekend'? I care about John and he is a dear friend - he cares about the music and had high hopes like me. Maybe we got too lofty last April and I accept 100.3 today as they are trying to find it's mark on these local airwaves, but as DE said again and again, it's tough for any station like this hybrid-adult rock or AAA to get decent numbers (But, I for one care about KSWD despite my criticisms and I listen to it when I can - and support it. I
do care about Dave, Sammy & Haley too...the airstaff are first-rate).
Add to the fact I have a nice CD and LP collection as well, and enjoy it often. I want this station to make it even if they don't play Wilco. Just one guys op. Thanks for reading, Joe G
Thanks for the kind words, Joe, right back atcha.
I have mixed emotions about The Sound's Album Sides Wednesdays. It's nice that they do something different but four problems I have with it -
1) By playing vinyl (we presume) only, that pretty much restricts the music to 1987 or before for the most part.
So that destroys the concept of "All About the Music" because then it isn't.
2) They play just one side of an album. Lots of great music is on the side not played of that album . And whoever bought LPs in the day did not listen to just Side 1 and then think to themselves "Hmmmm I've heard enough, let me see what other LP I can play one side of? OK how about Sgt Peppers?"
3) The feature takes up a half day of their 'regular' programming and because of the law, they can't stream it online while they're being played
4) It's done on unpredictable random Wednesdays
Having said that, the concept is at least unique along with their other specialty shows on Sundays- 'Peace Love & Sunday Morning' with a nice mellow eclectic mix of music usually not heard on the regular playlist (example- "Wind" by Circus Maximus); My Turn where a guest DJ - a celebrity of sorts picks the tunes and plays 'DJ'; and their now Monday-Friday feature 10@10. These special shows elicit the most comments (mostly positive) on their forum. That's a good thing, but that 'vibe' does not seem to carry over to the regular programming of boring, stale, and safe playlist.
I know The Sound is in the 2nd largest market and thus has to be safer than most rock stations, but it would be nice if their playlist more closely resembled that of The Point's (WNCS).
Joe makes a very good point of the neglected artists being pushed out by the core group of artists- The Rolling Stones, The Who, U2, The Police, Talking Heads, Santana, The Doors, The Cars, etc etc. And they claim to go deep, but they can't play a song liked "Mixed Emotions" which would be deep for them, or a song like "Face the Face"-Pete Townshend.
No Joe you're not being selfish in your wish list and while your loyalty to the station is commendable, I just can't share that feeling. For me, early on, I along with others were the staunchest supporters and defenders of The Sound. We as posting listeners representing the audience out there in the same manner as diary keepers and now PPM wearers do gave much constructive sugggestions with songs and artists we were hoping they'd play. Literally hunderds of suggestions like these were made in just the first 4 months of the station's life. That kind of enthusiasm and loyalty can't be bought and for them to go the musical direction they did to me shows an utter disdain for our opinion and shows no loyalty to the station's most ardent listeners and supporters.
Now all of this would be a moot point IF the station got decent numbers. BUT there's no way they can say to us that we listeners and critics don't know what we're talking about, but we as station operators do know how to achieve success.
Because they cannot defend the
dismal shares of 0.7-0.8 range and the equally dismal 36th place 25-54 showing in the most recent PPM. Especially given that they have the advantage of a Mt. Wilson stick and the great coverage it affords - covering almost every inch of the LA market and then some - and they can barely match what Indie or Channel 103.1 had peaked ratings-wise with a much weaker signal.
Joe, other posters in the Sound forum like Goodhelp, JP (JPT on these boards), PT (Paul), EarleGirl (Jenny), you, and I could write a book about what they've done wrong and what they should/could do to right the sinking ship. But we both know that just ain't gonna happen.
ChannelFlipper you made some great points!!