I made my annual soujourn to the OBX (Kill Devil Hills to be more exact) and I always check out the shark when in the area. Normally listening to this station is a cause for celebration, this year though it leaves me more with feelings of concern.
Now in a lot of ways its still the same great station, one will hear there more depth then 10 other oldies stations combined. However I noticed a little thinner playlist than usual, I swear I heard Stevie Wonder's 'I wish' about 3 or 4 times in the 5 days I was there and I really didn't listen too much this year. It seemed there were others as well. Also the imaging is starting to sound stale and several times they had automation issues leading to spaces of dead air, and that is not including when they went down during a thunderstorm.
Plus one morning their wake up team did a contest asking in what year a series of events occured and I swear the same lady called about eight times in a row before figuring out the answer. The midday girl is not to the same level of the past ladies whom have held the slot, the afternoon guy (Mike Campbell) is good but again not as compelling compared to when Shan what's his name held the spot. Though he did throw out some deep cuts that were real zingers.
And they don't even bother with voicetracking the overnights as it sounded on autopilot after Mikes slot, of course I can still remember when they had live folks 24-7. It has been a great station that seemingly has been around forever ( I would say about 10yrs) but it just seems they are almost playing out the string. Overall the tenor was lax & it leaves me wondering if there will be a Shark when next summer rolls around.
Now in a lot of ways its still the same great station, one will hear there more depth then 10 other oldies stations combined. However I noticed a little thinner playlist than usual, I swear I heard Stevie Wonder's 'I wish' about 3 or 4 times in the 5 days I was there and I really didn't listen too much this year. It seemed there were others as well. Also the imaging is starting to sound stale and several times they had automation issues leading to spaces of dead air, and that is not including when they went down during a thunderstorm.
Plus one morning their wake up team did a contest asking in what year a series of events occured and I swear the same lady called about eight times in a row before figuring out the answer. The midday girl is not to the same level of the past ladies whom have held the slot, the afternoon guy (Mike Campbell) is good but again not as compelling compared to when Shan what's his name held the spot. Though he did throw out some deep cuts that were real zingers.
And they don't even bother with voicetracking the overnights as it sounded on autopilot after Mikes slot, of course I can still remember when they had live folks 24-7. It has been a great station that seemingly has been around forever ( I would say about 10yrs) but it just seems they are almost playing out the string. Overall the tenor was lax & it leaves me wondering if there will be a Shark when next summer rolls around.
