1070--Is Anyone Minding the Store??

[Sandy the Clown]

These are all great questions. The link to this site was given to me by a co-worker troubled by this thread. I am not troubled by the tone of the thread because your concerns and conclusions are reasonable, and those I would share if I were in your shoes. You are right. The periodic double audio is totally inexcusable. The fact is there has been a learning curve for all of us at 1070 and Emmis Indy in the area of automation. I worked at WIBC for 14 years before becoming PD of this station. We were automated for exactly zero hours during that 14 years. The assumption was that this was easier somehow, and that is absolutely not nearly the case. We figured it out over the course of a couple of weeks when we signed on (until Audio Vault repeats a week of correct delivery, it can alter the scheduling). Then ESPN changed their clocks, and we needed another couple of weeks to get things right. In the meantime, we have had several lapses - both mechanical and human, all of them unfortunate and regrettable.

We honestly feel like the vast majority of the issues are in the past. There have been some fixes implemented in the technology, and in the manner and frequency of the monitoring of the Audio Vault that should make the double audio a thing of the past.

My email is [email protected], and you are more than welcome to email me with your concerns, and if you hear double audio, I would absolutely appreciate you sending me a note.

We work hard everyday to make 1070 - The Fan an outstanding radio station, and the production problems are an embarrassment to me. Over the next 18 months, you will see some changes that will make this a unique source of entertainment and sports. In the interim, we will prove that we are at the minimum competant.

Kent Sterling
Program Director
1070 The Fan

 

[Post Coital Bliss]

I think Sandy the Clown is really Russ Oasis

 

[Sandy the Clown]

You got me. I don't know this Sterling turd, but found his email address on an oldies discussion board. Evidently, he's a big fan of Peter Noone and The Cowsills.

Russ

 

[Post Coital Bliss]

I think Sandy the Clown is really Russ Oasis

Wow...my bad...I meant Crusty...didn't mean to sully a guy who fell on his own sword.

Look at the time won't you...Flomax moment

 

[Ann Tenna]

These are all great questions. The link to this site was given to me by a co-worker troubled by this thread. I am not troubled by the tone of the thread because your concerns and conclusions are reasonable, and those I would share if I were in your shoes. You are right. The periodic double audio is totally inexcusable. The fact is there has been a learning curve for all of us at 1070 and Emmis Indy in the area of automation. I worked at WIBC for 14 years before becoming PD of this station. We were automated for exactly zero hours during that 14 years. The assumption was that this was easier somehow, and that is absolutely not nearly the case. We figured it out over the course of a couple of weeks when we signed on (until Audio Vault repeats a week of correct delivery, it can alter the scheduling). Then ESPN changed their clocks, and we needed another couple of weeks to get things right. In the meantime, we have had several lapses - both mechanical and human, all of them unfortunate and regrettable.

We honestly feel like the vast majority of the issues are in the past. There have been some fixes implemented in the technology, and in the manner and frequency of the monitoring of the Audio Vault that should make the double audio a thing of the past.

My email is [email protected], and you are more than welcome to email me with your concerns, and if you hear double audio, I would absolutely appreciate you sending me a note.

We work hard everyday to make 1070 - The Fan an outstanding radio station, and the production problems are an embarrassment to me. Over the next 18 months, you will see some changes that will make this a unique source of entertainment and sports. In the interim, we will prove that we are at the minimum competant.

Kent Sterling
Program Director
1070 The Fan

Wow, that's a beautiful "warm & fuzzy" message there, Kent, but the fact is you didn't just decide to make this switch one Saturday night over a few shots of Crown at Daddy Jacks with Pidge. You guys were planning this for weeks and months. You have had AudioVault running there at Emmis World HQ for years, and whether or not you utilized it for it's intended purpose on 1070 before the switch, you should have, at the very least, had the clocks created and had the system up and running to test those clocks, the formats, and the relay commands from ESPN. That's basic radio 101. You're not a little mom-n-pop station out in the sticks, you have the resources to have done this switch well, and in fact, a great many little stations out in the sticks do put ESPN and other syndicated programming on the air very successfully all the time. Having been part of more format changes and station start-ups than I care to remember, I know with certainty there will always be little glitches and hiccups in every new endeavor such as yours, but it's obvious that very little planning was actually done - or that the persons doing the planning and preparations were ill-equipped mentally and professionally to handle a project of this size...and this wasn't that big a project. It's an embarrassment to this market to have major stations who proclaim themselves to be the sports leader and/or the news leader (the FM transition wasn't that smooth either, although it obviously got a lot more attention in the planning stages than 1070), and then go on the air everyday sounding more like a bunch of high school kids are running the place than a group of knowledgeable and well-prepared professionals. None of the stations in this market are perfect by any means, but wow, 1070 is more a joke than a service to the public interest. For everyone's sake, I really do hope those changes you'll be making "over the next 18 months" will bring the programming and technical quality levels up to what should reasonably be expected of a mid-major group owner in a market the size of Indy.

 

[radioindy]

These are all great questions. The link to this site was given to me by a co-worker troubled by this thread. I am not troubled by the tone of the thread because your concerns and conclusions are reasonable, and those I would share if I were in your shoes. You are right. The periodic double audio is totally inexcusable. The fact is there has been a learning curve for all of us at 1070 and Emmis Indy in the area of automation. I worked at WIBC for 14 years before becoming PD of this station. We were automated for exactly zero hours during that 14 years. The assumption was that this was easier somehow, and that is absolutely not nearly the case. We figured it out over the course of a couple of weeks when we signed on (until Audio Vault repeats a week of correct delivery, it can alter the scheduling). Then ESPN changed their clocks, and we needed another couple of weeks to get things right. In the meantime, we have had several lapses - both mechanical and human, all of them unfortunate and regrettable.

We honestly feel like the vast majority of the issues are in the past. There have been some fixes implemented in the technology, and in the manner and frequency of the monitoring of the Audio Vault that should make the double audio a thing of the past.

My email is [email protected], and you are more than welcome to email me with your concerns, and if you hear double audio, I would absolutely appreciate you sending me a note.

We work hard everyday to make 1070 - The Fan an outstanding radio station, and the production problems are an embarrassment to me. Over the next 18 months, you will see some changes that will make this a unique source of entertainment and sports. In the interim, we will prove that we are at the minimum competant.

Kent Sterling
Program Director
1070 The Fan

Wow, that's a beautiful "warm & fuzzy" message there, Kent, but the fact is you didn't just decide to make this switch one Saturday night over a few shots of Crown at Daddy Jacks with Pidge. You guys were planning this for weeks and months. You have had AudioVault running there at Emmis World HQ for years, and whether or not you utilized it for it's intended purpose on 1070 before the switch, you should have, at the very least, had the clocks created and had the system up and running to test those clocks, the formats, and the relay commands from ESPN. That's basic radio 101. You're not a little mom-n-pop station out in the sticks, you have the resources to have done this switch well, and in fact, a great many little stations out in the sticks do put ESPN and other syndicated programming on the air very successfully all the time. Having been part of more format changes and station start-ups than I care to remember, I know with certainty there will always be little glitches and hiccups in every new endeavor such as yours, but it's obvious that very little planning was actually done - or that the persons doing the planning and preparations were ill-equipped mentally and professionally to handle a project of this size...and this wasn't that big a project. It's an embarrassment to this market to have major stations who proclaim themselves to be the sports leader and/or the news leader (the FM transition wasn't that smooth either, although it obviously got a lot more attention in the planning stages than 1070), and then go on the air everyday sounding more like a bunch of high school kids are running the place than a group of knowledgeable and well-prepared professionals. None of the stations in this market are perfect by any means, but wow, 1070 is more a joke than a service to the public interest. For everyone's sake, I really do hope those changes you'll be making "over the next 18 months" will bring the programming and technical quality levels up to what should reasonably be expected of a mid-major group owner in a market the size of Indy.

Kent, you should know, the board ops on here don't really WANT you to answer when they ask these questions. They want to answer them for you.

 

[RDO]

Wow, that's a beautiful "warm & fuzzy" message there, Kent, but the fact is you didn't just decide to make this switch one Saturday night over a few shots of Crown at Daddy Jacks with Pidge. You guys were planning this for weeks and months. You have had AudioVault running there at Emmis World HQ for years, and whether or not you utilized it for it's intended purpose on 1070 before the switch, you should have, at the very least, had the clocks created and had the system up and running to test those clocks, the formats, and the relay commands from ESPN. That's basic radio 101. You're not a little mom-n-pop station out in the sticks, you have the resources to have done this switch well, and in fact, a great many little stations out in the sticks do put ESPN and other syndicated programming on the air very successfully all the time. Having been part of more format changes and station start-ups than I care to remember, I know with certainty there will always be little glitches and hiccups in every new endeavor such as yours, but it's obvious that very little planning was actually done - or that the persons doing the planning and preparations were ill-equipped mentally and professionally to handle a project of this size...and this wasn't that big a project. It's an embarrassment to this market to have major stations who proclaim themselves to be the sports leader and/or the news leader (the FM transition wasn't that smooth either, although it obviously got a lot more attention in the planning stages than 1070), and then go on the air everyday sounding more like a bunch of high school kids are running the place than a group of knowledgeable and well-prepared professionals. None of the stations in this market are perfect by any means, but wow, 1070 is more a joke than a service to the public interest. For everyone's sake, I really do hope those changes you'll be making "over the next 18 months" will bring the programming and technical quality levels up to what should reasonably be expected of a mid-major group owner in a market the size of Indy.

My thoughts exactly!

 

[Ann Tenna]

These are all great questions. The link to this site was given to me by a co-worker troubled by this thread. I am not troubled by the tone of the thread because your concerns and conclusions are reasonable, and those I would share if I were in your shoes. You are right. The periodic double audio is totally inexcusable. The fact is there has been a learning curve for all of us at 1070 and Emmis Indy in the area of automation. I worked at WIBC for 14 years before becoming PD of this station. We were automated for exactly zero hours during that 14 years. The assumption was that this was easier somehow, and that is absolutely not nearly the case. We figured it out over the course of a couple of weeks when we signed on (until Audio Vault repeats a week of correct delivery, it can alter the scheduling). Then ESPN changed their clocks, and we needed another couple of weeks to get things right. In the meantime, we have had several lapses - both mechanical and human, all of them unfortunate and regrettable.

We honestly feel like the vast majority of the issues are in the past. There have been some fixes implemented in the technology, and in the manner and frequency of the monitoring of the Audio Vault that should make the double audio a thing of the past.

My email is [email protected], and you are more than welcome to email me with your concerns, and if you hear double audio, I would absolutely appreciate you sending me a note.

We work hard everyday to make 1070 - The Fan an outstanding radio station, and the production problems are an embarrassment to me. Over the next 18 months, you will see some changes that will make this a unique source of entertainment and sports. In the interim, we will prove that we are at the minimum competant.

Kent Sterling
Program Director
1070 The Fan

Wow, that's a beautiful "warm & fuzzy" message there, Kent, but the fact is you didn't just decide to make this switch one Saturday night over a few shots of Crown at Daddy Jacks with Pidge. You guys were planning this for weeks and months. You have had AudioVault running there at Emmis World HQ for years, and whether or not you utilized it for it's intended purpose on 1070 before the switch, you should have, at the very least, had the clocks created and had the system up and running to test those clocks, the formats, and the relay commands from ESPN. That's basic radio 101. You're not a little mom-n-pop station out in the sticks, you have the resources to have done this switch well, and in fact, a great many little stations out in the sticks do put ESPN and other syndicated programming on the air very successfully all the time. Having been part of more format changes and station start-ups than I care to remember, I know with certainty there will always be little glitches and hiccups in every new endeavor such as yours, but it's obvious that very little planning was actually done - or that the persons doing the planning and preparations were ill-equipped mentally and professionally to handle a project of this size...and this wasn't that big a project. It's an embarrassment to this market to have major stations who proclaim themselves to be the sports leader and/or the news leader (the FM transition wasn't that smooth either, although it obviously got a lot more attention in the planning stages than 1070), and then go on the air everyday sounding more like a bunch of high school kids are running the place than a group of knowledgeable and well-prepared professionals. None of the stations in this market are perfect by any means, but wow, 1070 is more a joke than a service to the public interest. For everyone's sake, I really do hope those changes you'll be making "over the next 18 months" will bring the programming and technical quality levels up to what should reasonably be expected of a mid-major group owner in a market the size of Indy.

Kent, you should know, the board ops on here don't really WANT you to answer when they ask these questions. They want to answer them for you.

Actually I'd love a REAL answer, but even more, I'd like to see a real improvement in the quality of the operation. The "Aw shucks, we're just doin' our best to serve the listeners!" " company line propaganda does nothing to resolve the problem. At this point where our industry is trying to deal with a soft economy, poor revenues & BCF, and declining listenership, we can't afford this kind of half-assed operation, if listeners don't hear what they want, they're gone - period. There are too many other options.

So that's what I'm looking for, and although I haven't been a board op for roughly 25 years, it doesn't take a lot of experience to read the future of this industry. We all need to "sweat the details" as the saying goes.

 

[radioindy]

How DARE he NOT give us the REAL answer. Who does he think he's dealing with here. Doesn't he know he owes US an obligation to admit WE could do it better?

AnnaTenna - you should go down there and DEMAND answers! After all, what do they think, that they can run their radio station any way they want without answering to US!!!

 

[Sandy the Clown]

Here is the next bit of company proganda. I'm responsible for every bit of the sound on 1070 The Fan. If the sound isn't good quality, it's on me. We are working to fix this everyday, in fact right now. Not sure how any of what I wrote qualifies as propaganda. My fault. I'm responsible for correcting it, and it is being corrected.

By the way, Pidge doesn't drink Crown Royal, and I haven't been to Daddy's since 1998.

 

[Ann Tenna]

How DARE he NOT give us the REAL answer. Who does he think he's dealing with here. Doesn't he know he owes US an obligation to admit WE could do it better?

AnnaTenna - you should go down there and DEMAND answers! After all, what do they think, that they can run their radio station any way they want without answering to US!!!

Wow, 2 pages ago, you dopes were ripping 1070 for sounding so bad and being run by incompetent idiots, apparently you ADD-riddled idiots have tired of that and have moved on.
Well, I'll agree with radioindy that obviously no one at Emmis owes me or anyone else any answers or explanations, but Mr. Sterling voluntarily got online and offered up his story explaining why his station sounds so bad. I didn't force him into it, he decided to jump in on his own. I give him credit for that, like a good soldier, he fell on the grenade for the good of the company. Now, when will his radio station's programming step up to the level we all expect as well (if you remember, that WAS the original point of this thread)?






God, I love stirring it up!

 

[radioindy]

When someone comes on here with HIS REAL NAME, and takes the blame for a problem, he doesn't deserve to continue to get ripped on.

Obviously Anna can do it better, and could have done it IMMEDIATELY and made the station No. 1 in the ratings, but unfortunately it's Kent.

I OBVIOUSLY have no problem ripping people on here who promote themselves under fictitious names, but ANYONE that fesses up and admits they are trying to solve the problem doesn't deserve your ANONYMOUS bashing.

If you think you can do better, you should give us your name so we can judge your past successes as well.

 

[radiorob2.0]

It's painful to hear 10-seven-oh is a series of audio car wrecks, but that is reality of today's radio environment. You can't listen to all of the stations all of the time. At best, you have silence sensors but those devices are unable to detect multiple sources on the air.

 

[Ann Tenna]

When someone comes on here with HIS REAL NAME, and takes the blame for a problem, he doesn't deserve to continue to get ripped on.

Obviously Anna can do it better, and could have done it IMMEDIATELY and made the station No. 1 in the ratings, but unfortunately it's Kent.

I OBVIOUSLY have no problem ripping people on here who promote themselves under fictitious names, but ANYONE that fesses up and admits they are trying to solve the problem doesn't deserve your ANONYMOUS bashing.

If you think you can do better, you should give us your name so we can judge your past successes as well.

Hey, Cowboy, take a look, I did give Mr. S. kudos for stepping up and addressing this thread. As far as doing it better, yep I probably would have had the startup planned and practiced more thoroughly, but my point (and seemingly that of otehrs who started this thread) all along has been that I can't understand why things continue to go badly for them this far out. It would seem to me, as someone who has been in this industry for more years than I care to remember, that they wouldn't flip the switch on the format change and then walk out of the building until all those problems were resolved. Certainly I wouldn't have let the many technical issues mentioned in this thread continue for as long as they have, partly out of duty, and partly out of personal pride. But apparently that's just me-and now I'm bored with repeating the same crap over & over to you fine folks. Later.

 

[radioindy]

and now I'm bored with repeating the same crap over & over to you fine folks.

Thanks!

 

[snorlax]

Well, I have listened a couple times at night 1-(1:30am or so) and heard a Dakich promo--and a couple other things--on top of the all-night show host. I switched over to Todd Wright or JT the Brick, or whatever was on the other sports stations.

 

[hipporadio]

Kent... I’m happy that you “faced-up” in this forum... That gets you “rounding third ‘n heading for home” with this group. Thank-you, sir!

Admitting, I was not excited by the move of heritage “Radio Indiana” from 1070 to the more-demure 93.1 frequency [statewide coverage wise]; sports on a 50kw AM facility in the Colts Capitol may not have been oriented at instant gratification only... Possibilities do exist for your freq and company regardless of the prior-population of other sports stations in the market. I’m sure you concluded that the new 1070 would outlast the bottom-feeders with time and an investment in good programming and promotional effort. That said, and after many hours of personal listening: WFNI's execution is a bit-behind that of nearby “1530 Homer”—the CCU sports-radio outlet just down I-74 in Cincy—where the audience is dangerously-nearing a “face-fact” that they don’t have a “real” pro football franchise... YIKES :

Since I do not live within sight of your towers, I’ll dispense with the local “blog drama” and “sideline expertise” at this site that serves as a required irritation for a man in your position... I’ll merely ask you to recall: that the “heritage” of Indiana’s 1070 frequency DEMANDS EXELLENCE—it has always been there, and should continue... The demo demands that it remain! Times are tough, I understand; but these times are prime for the tough to git-goin!

I wish you the BEST, Kent!

 

[WBDG]

I am an avid sports radio listener, and I think the FAN has gotten better and better overall. There are still blips and glitches, but the station sound continues to get better. You've assembled a nice group of announcers. I'd like to hear a female voice on your air, but I do like a lot of the things you're doing with trying to go more local. I love the Voice of the Fan idea on Sunday morning.

XL guys have been at it longer, and I think the Zone is a better pure sports show than Kravitz and Eddie, but they serve a purpose. What do I know, though...I run a 400-Watt high schooler.

I just want you to know that I've noticed an improvement and a progression. Grady is a solid guy as is Chris May.

Jon Easter
WBDG, 90.9 FM
General Manager

 

[RDO]

Grady is a solid guy as is Chris May.

He might be. Never met him. But, please get someone else to be your station voice. Grady just doesn't cut it. Makes the station sound small town.

Nothing personal, Grady, but some people just don't have the right sound. I know I don't and would never try to voice a station.

 

[snorlax]

Well, there was a marathon this morning, and it's still going on...Mike & Mike are being covered up by some kind of satellite-feed agriculture report or something. Started around 6:45 this morning and is still going on...now 7:30 or so
It doesn't have the characteristics of skip: It follows a long tone, it does not fade in and out, it is of equal strength with the ESPN audio or slightly lower than the ESPN audio, and it then goes completely away...finally, I was able to discern an ad for Indiana Farm Bureau Insurance, and there was nothing like an ID for another station. The music sounded vaguely familiar as well.
**IF by some chance this is skip, I will stand corrected, but this just doesn't have the characteristics of skip**
I have heard WAPI on occasion behind WFNI, but this is entirely different. I was able to discern an ID for WAPI.
Is there indeed some kind of "Indiana Farm Network" affiliated with WIBC?
Since my schedule is so odd, I am listening at various times of day. The issues I mentioned way back at the start of this thread seem still to be present.
Did anyone happen to be listening to 1070 this morning and hear this???
Jim