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105.3 The Spy

First ten:

The Cult - "Revolution"
Depeche Mode - "Everything Counts"
The Kinks - "Cadillac"
The Flaming Lips - "Convinced of the Hex"
U2 - "Sunday Bloody Sunday" (live)
Morrissey - "Hold On To Your Friends"
Regina Spektor - "Dance Anthem of the 80's"
The Sounds - "No One Sleeps When I'm Awake"
Oasis - "Talk Tonight"
The Wombats - "Kill The Director"
 
I'm excited to see that The Spy is streaming. Perhaps this will help gain listeners in parts of the metro where in-house reception of 105.3 is tricky.

I'm liking what I am hearing so far. :)
 
To Ferris: Good Luck my brother from Disneyland on the Potomac and see if you cant get the good Dr. to come home and do a shift.

To the rest of you. KSPY is taken (KSPY FM 83850 WILLISTON ND 08/17/2001 NORTHERN LIGHTS BROADCASTING, L.L.C ) Would have been nice but it is NOT AVAILABLE. The signal is totally listenable in NE Cleveland county...at least it was a few years ago when I visited.

Now... go sell some ads! ;D
 
Noticed on the opening hour, U2's Sunday Bloody Sunday live wasn't faded. It sounded ripped straight from the CD album.

Some would call it a nit-pick... but if you've been working on this since spring, wouldn't you have had time to make sure your live tracks don't cut off at the beginning or end?

Audio is, after all, all you have to sell. The sound of your station is the store AND the product on your shelves.

Otherwise, it sounded good, nice to hear a little mix-up in styles from the typical grunge-grunge-grunge-grunge-grunge of so many alternative stations.

Listening to the Winamp stream now, disappointed at how "dirty" the stream is, distortion, etc., and in mono. The mono can be forgiven if the stream is cleaned up... likely just needs the input to the soundcard turned down some... don't think this is coming off a radio because this song is noticeably quieter than the last one... You might look at Sound Solution or Breakaway as two DSPs that would do a great job shaping up your stream sound.

(I understand the stream is less important than the over the air signal; however with your limited coverage area, the stream seems critical to get into offices in downtown O.K.C.)

(...This is a pretty cool Cure tune, BTW... followed by a great classic U2 track, "2 Hearts Beat As 1.")

One more stream nitpick... don't you HAVE to stream artist & title of the songs to be in compliance with the DMCA? I don't see artist & title either on the website or in my player... you might look into that.

Have we heard any jocks yet? I'm listening after midnight so I figure this is a bad reference time...
 
Took a trip east on I-40 and was able to get a good signal all the way to Midwest City. It was a bit fuzzy between MWC & Firelake Casino. Of course there are certain parts of the city where the reception is poor.

It's a nice mix although to be successful, they'll need more familiar material. (at least in the dayparts that matter). You're too hip for the room. 1 familiar song every quarter hour on the quarter hour should work. Also since you're brand new and running jockless, I would run more identifiers (sweepers).

Congrads Ferris,
 
So far for me, the worst reception has been within a 1-mile radius of my neighborhood. I live right by KKWD's 104.9 transmitter on N. MacArthur, so I wonder if that is part of the problem. Once I drive away from my neighborhood, in any direction, reception dramatically improves.
 
lurker34 said:
It's a nice mix although to be successful, they'll need more familiar material. (at least in the dayparts that matter). You're too hip for the room. 1 familiar song every quarter hour on the quarter hour should work. Also since you're brand new and running jockless, I would run more identifiers (sweepers).
Click to expand...

Yes, but...

Certain audiences require certain massaging, and the "deep alt" audience is definitely one of those certain audiences. If it's the goal of this station to cultivate an appreciation of the new and different - e.g. the allure is not the familiar, but the challenging (with a lot of emphasis on the "familiarly challenging", e.g. deep alt classics) adding more "comfort" songs will alienate any audience it builds by being challenging. It's an uncanny valley, ratings-wise, that exists between the two extremes. You can choose to cultivate a smaller, more devoted audience with the emphasis on challenge, or you can go for mainstream appeal, but the audience that will put up with an attempt to be both is smaller than either.

More identifiers is good, though, as long as they're unobtrusive. For everyone that goes "I *know* it's The Spy", there's someone going "hey...what is this station again?".
 
I'm in the same area Scooby (maybe a little further south on MacArthur)

In order to become commercially successful or viable, there will have to be a certain amount of mass appeal. I understand what you're saying, but it'll be awfully difficult selling ad time to a super served "cult" audience.
 
Re: more IDs; at least last night, I was hearing an ID I'm pretty sure after every song... where else could he put them (or are fewer playing during daylight hours)?

I was pleasantly surprised to find I liked the mix. Alt-radio post-Nirvana has generally been pretty unlistenable to me (even though there's been a huge audience for what I don't like). I'd think if you could get the right people to tune in (IF), then they'd likely stay, maybe tell others, & your TSL would go through the roof.

What I hear now sounds like it is likely to be low-cume. Either they'll get it, and stay, or they'll never check back.
 
Come on. Even Citadel, with all it's available assets, wasn't able to make it work.
Click to expand...

The only asset Citadel can offer is the honor of sending whatever money your little station earns to corporate headquarters in Nevada. Small stations that can keep what they earn are in much better shape than corporate owned stations with unrealistic budgets.
 
NightAire said:
Re: more IDs; at least last night, I was hearing an ID I'm pretty sure after every song... where else could he put them (or are fewer playing during daylight hours)?

I was pleasantly surprised to find I liked the mix. Alt-radio post-Nirvana has generally been pretty unlistenable to me (even though there's been a huge audience for what I don't like). I'd think if you could get the right people to tune in (IF), then they'd likely stay, maybe tell others, & your TSL would go through the roof.

What I hear now sounds like it is likely to be low-cume. Either they'll get it, and stay, or they'll never check back.
Click to expand...

I've done a 180 on IDs - I used to think "come on, give the listener credit, they know what they're listening to", but in actual fact, they're usually too busy with life to necessarily remember unless you gently remind them, and they need to remember enough to tell someone else. (Hopefully the people reading their ratings diary...) Emphasis on "gently" remind, though you can substitute "entertainingly". I was hearing IDs after ever few songs, but given it's a new station, I'd actually side with "between every song."

I think it all hangs on the presentation. Me, I'd be raiding archive.org for ephemeral (read: public domain) films I can take short idiosyncratic sound bites from...of course, presentation-wise, I regard the heyday of NYC-area WLIR as the gold standard, but like I said, that's me...
 
The Winamp stream for The Spy is now much improved. It is now streaming at 64kbps stereo (instead of the dirty sounding 32k mono stream). Sounds great now!
 
Oh, Ferris O'Bueller, I just couldn't resist making a fake "monitor" of a "mainstream" Spy which would get a few "mainstream" ears to tune in more often! It's a bit gold-heavy, but that's what ya gotta do at first; perhaps do what you're doing now only on Sunday nights, like you've done before, no problemo.

12a
EYE The Smashing Pumpkins
ONE NIGHT IN BANGKOK Murray Head
MY HAPPINESS Powderfinger
ELECTRIC FEEL MGMT
WHITE DISCUSSION Live
LIFT ME UP Howard Jones
MR. JINX Quarashi
I PREDICT Sparks
SMILE Lily Allen
SIDE Travis
DANCING IN HEAVEN Q-Feel
CIRCLES Soul Coughing
PUTTIN’ ON THE RITZ Taco
NO PHONE Cake
1a
SITUATION Yaz
MAD WORLD Gary Jules
SHADOWBOXER Fiona Apple
SAVE YOURSELF Sense Field
EARLY TO BED Morphine
NAKED Goo Goo Dolls
ONE ARMED SCISSOR At The Drive In
NO MORE WORDS Berlin
LIKE A STONE Audioslave
WHERE’S YOUR HEAD AT Basement Jaxx
IT’S OVER NOW Cause And Effect
DON’T TALK TO ME ABOUT LOVE Altered Images
NAUSEA Beck
HURRICANE JANE Black Kids
2a
WHY ME Planet P
ONE MORE MURDER Better Than Ezra
SWEET HARMONY The Beloved
THE POLITICS OF DANCING Re-Flex
WHY’S EVERYBODY ALWAYS PICKING ON ME Bloodhound Gang
INNOCENCE Björk
DIGGING YOUR SCENE Blow Monkeys
USELESS Depeche Mode
NEVER LET ME DOWN David Bowie
TOM’S DINER D.N.A. featuring Suzanne Vega
RUNNING UP THAT HILL Kate Bush
WHERE THE RIVER FLOWS Collective Soul
THE GREAT COMMANDMENT Camouflage
CRY Godley and Creme
3a
DISCIPLINE Nine Inch Nails
THE SUN ALWAYS SHINES ON TV A-ha
SOMNAMBULIST BT
NO EXCUSES Alice In Chains
AN HONEST MISTAKE The Bravery
ROOM AT THE TOP Adam Ant
STIFF KITTENS Blaqk Audio
NOTHING A
ONE IN A MILLION The Romantics
LOST Coldplay
GIVE Dishwalla
PARANOIMIA The Art Of Noise with Max Headroom
SALVATION The Cranberries
POWER BLEED Starlight Mints
4a
MIDDLE OF THE ROAD The Pretenders
WE’VE GOT EVERYTHING Modest Mouse
WISHING A Flock Of Seagulls
A LONG DECEMBER Counting Crows
EXTREME WAYS Moby
MY MADONNA Dexter Freebish
NTH DEGREE Morningwood
REMIND ME Roÿksopp
BIG IN JAPAN Alphaville
SUPERMASSIVE BLACK HOLE Muse
MAKE OUT ALRIGHT Divinyls
FALLING DOWN Duran Duran
BIG BANG BABY Stone Temple Pilots
HIT The Sugarcubes
5a
MY HUMPS Alanis Morissette
SING The Dresden Dolls
SADENESS PART 1 Enigma
ELECTION DAY Arcadia
SPOTLIGHT Mute Math
JOHNNY HAVE YOU SEEN HER The Rembrandts
CROOKED TEETH Death Cab For Cutie
IN YOUR ARMS Erasure
LISZTOMANIA Phoenix
DON’T PAY THE FERRYMAN Chris DeBurgh
MILK Garbage
HURT Johnny Cash
THE WALLS CAME DOWN The Call
THE W.A.N.D. The Flaming Lips
6a
WELL THOUGHT OUT TWINKLES Silversun Pickups
DEEPER AND DEEPER The Fixx
ALT.END The Cure
CAN’T STOP FEELING Franz Ferdinand
DISAPPEAR INXS
TOUCH ME I’M GOING TO SCREAM PT. 2 My Morning Jacket
DANGER HIGH VOLTAGE Electric Six
THE STAND The Alarm
BABY’S GOT A TEMPER Prodigy
WTF OK Go
THE HONEYTHIEF Hipsway
HOW WE OPERATE Gomez
BATTLE FLAG Lo-Fidelity Allstars
AEIOU SOMETIMES Y Ebn-Ozn
LIES EMF
7a
LET ME GO Heaven 17
WASTE Smash Mouth
NOTHING TO WORRY ABOUT Peter Bjorn and John
SAD SWEETHEART OF THE RODEO Harvey Danger
THINK Information Society
HOLE TO FEED Depeche Mode
BREATHE IN Frou Frou
ONLY LOVE CAN BREAK YOUR HEART St. Etienne
SIMPLE THINGS Dirty Vegas
WHY I’M HERE Oleander
BYE BYE LOVE The Cars
ME AROUND Michael Penn
CRYING TV On The Radio
STAY UP LATE Talking Heads
8a
TICK TICK BOOM The Hives
CLOSE (TO THE EDIT) The Art Of Noise
DIG Incubus
I TOUCH ROSES Book Of Love
THE HEINRICH MANEUVER Interpol
KISS THEM FOR ME Siouxsie and The Banshees
PRETTY GIRL Sugarcult
REVENGE Ministry
24 Jem
SECRET Orchestral Manœuvres In The Dark
LOOK WHAT YOU’VE DONE Jet
FEET DON’T FAIL ME NOW Utopia
DOLL PARTS Hole
IF I HAD EYES Jack Johnson
9a
CLUB FOOT Kasabian
HOW TO BE A MILLIONAIRE ABC
BURNING DOWN THE HOUSE The Cardigans and Tom Jones
MY MISTAKE Split Enz
HEARTBEAT Late Of The Pier
LIVING IN A BOX Living In A Box
D.A.N.C.E. Justice
HOURGLASS Squeeze
SPIRALLING Keane
CHOCOLATE CAKE Crowded House
ANGRY JOHNNY Poe
I DO WHAT I DO John Taylor
YOUR WOMAN White Town
THE LOST ART OF KEEPING A SECRET Queens Of The Stone Age
10a
LIFE’S WHAT YOU MAKE IT Talk Talk
WALKING ON AIR Kerli
AM I WRONG Love Spit Love
LEGAL TENDER The B-52s
THE MORE YOU IGNORE ME THE CLOSER I GET Morrissey
LEVEL The Raconteurs
QUESTIONNAIRE Chas Jankel
SICK Sneaker Pimps
BULLETPROOF La Roux
IDIOTEQUE Radiohead
SOMETHING TO GRAB FOR Ric Ocasek
LOVE ETC. Pet Shop Boys
WISHING I WAS LUCKY Wet Wet Wet
11a
MY DOORBELL The White Stripes
SECRET SMILE Semisonic
NUMB U2
WHERE DID IT ALL GO WRONG Oasis
WHAT ABOUT LOVE Til Tuesday
IN THE SHADOWS The Rasmus
TRULY TRULY Grant Lee Buffalo
LOVE ME DEAD Ludo
TWILIGHT ZONE Golden Earring
DOSED Red Hot Chili Peppers
OUR LIPS OUR SEALED Fun Boy Three
MOVE YOUR FEET Junior Senior
I’M GOOD I’M GONE Lykke Li
IT DON’T MATTER Rehab
12p
LOVE AND PRIDE King
WHAT’S THE FREQUENCY KENNETH R.E.M.
ELEANOR Low Millions
UP ALL NIGHT The Boomtown Rats
THE CHEMICALS BETWEEN US Bush
STRUGGLE Ringside
PERCUSSION GUN White Rabbits
CHEAPSKATE Supergrass
I DON’T FEEL LIKE DANCIN’ Scissor Sisters
I WANT YOUR HANDS ON ME Sinéad O’Connor
PARALYZED Rock Kills Kid
KILLER Seal
A DUSTLAND FAIRYTALE The Killers
LE DISKO Shiny Toy Guns
1p
ABUSE ME Silverchair
FIT BUT YOU KNOW IT The Streets
MISERY Soul Asylum
HEAD Tin Star
BREAKEVEN The Script
HELLO Sugarbomb
PUSH THE HAND The Toadies
JEALOUS Gene Loves Jezebel
DRAWER Summercamp
THE TASTE OF INK The Used
I CONFESS The English Beat
BACKWATER Meat Puppets
GREAT DJ The Ting Tings
2p
TO LIVE AND DIE IN L.A. Wang Chung
PHOTOGRAPH The Verve Pipe
THERE’S NO OTHER WAY Blur
HIDE U Kosheen
NEW No Doubt
PAINTED ON MY HEART The Cult
THE FIXER Pearl Jam
BREAK IT DOWN AGAIN Tears For Fears
WE ARE Vertical Horizon
TO CUT A LONG STORY SHORT Spandau Ballet
THE WIND BLOWS The All-American Rejects
TATTVA Kula Shaker
RADIATION VIBE Fountains Of Wayne
ELEVATE MY MIND Stereo MCs
WALKING AFTER YOU Foo Fighters
 
I still think Ferris' biggest limitation is the lack of signal. Without it, things will be very tough. The format is niche and fairly hard to turn into revenue, but with no signal it's going to be quite the challenge. I'd like to see him be successful because he's one of us and not a big corporate guy but I've got my reservations on the long-term health of this project...
 
Hello4:

You are kidding, right? Many of those aren't Spy artists, and playing them would dilute the brand and credibility faster than you can say "All American Rejects."
 
I don't think the signal is as big of an issue as the format. The format is what you make it. You can choose to make it commercially successful, or have the coolest sounding station with a .2 share. The jury is still out on that since I hear the format being tweaked.

Now, on to the signal. Is the tower on MacArthur interfering with the 105.3 frequency? Because I can get the signal from Midwest City to Guthrie, but not between NW 36 & NW 16 on MacArthur. What gives?
 
JimmyJames said:
You are kidding, right? Many of those aren't Spy artists, and playing them would dilute the brand and credibility faster than you can say "All American Rejects."
Click to expand...

Any of those songs could have been heard on a "true alternative" station in their day. Let us not forget that KDGE used to play Ace Of Base! ;) Even with what I posited, it's still a brand that nobody else in the market is touching. As for credibility, that probably washed out when they were corporately owned; playing what Ferris wants is more credible, but he's still got to force himself to get out of the niche of the niche of the niche. As for "Spy artists", did we not have Culture Club earlier today? That was rather surprising to me. As for AAR, "The Wind Blows" was a lesser hit; I would never in a million years suggest "Gives You Hell" or "Dirty Little Secret" or "Move Along". At the other end of the spectrum, that Spandau Ballet song was from their gothy period; likewise, I would never suggest playing "True" or "Gold" or "Only When You Leave".
 
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