I don't see a lot of "creative excellence," just a lot of wishful thinking that the past will return.
He lives in the "build it and they will come" world that a lot of boomers inhabit. The problem today is that the money just isn't there.
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1090 XEPRS Has Gone Back to Oldies Plus Wolfman - L.A. Daily News
- Thread starter Daryl Lynn L.A.
- Start date
I don't see a lot of "creative excellence," just a lot of wishful thinking that the past will return.
He lives in the "build it and they will come" world that a lot of boomers inhabit. The problem today is that the money just isn't there.
As someone who has taken a shot or two at him over the years (well deserved in my opinion, otherwise I wouldn't have done so), you raise some very good points in his defense and I appreciate that.
In many ways I am like him - I want radio to be what it was when it was good all those years ago, but it just can't be. Forward into the past is rarely the correct answer in any walk of life.
K.M. Richards
Program Director, The Eighties Channel™
Do you know him as well as I do, David? Have you even read the backlog of his columns?
At one point, he was relatively good, although nowhere near the level of the late Gary Lycan or the late Don Barrett, both of whom preceded him as the radio columnist for that newspaper group. Lycan and Barrett did not use the column to promote their own ideas of what radio should be; they reported the facts (and they had a much broader reach to the professionals, a mark of being rightly perceived as fact-based). Wagoner started out trying to emulate them, but his circle of contacts has dwindled over the years and now he is reduced to reporting developments after the fact ... and often because -- as was the case with the XEPRS story -- a reader brought it to his attention.
Any "character assassination" is an observation of his changing the direction of his column to being a soapbox for returning to the old days' version of radio. If the Los Angeles Newspaper Group knew how detached from reality much of his content has become, they'd drop him in a heartbeat. He only survives because they do not know that.
At one point, he was relatively good, although nowhere near the level of the late Gary Lycan or the late Don Barrett, both of whom preceded him as the radio columnist for that newspaper group. Lycan and Barrett did not use the column to promote their own ideas of what radio should be; they reported the facts (and they had a much broader reach to the professionals, a mark of being rightly perceived as fact-based). Wagoner started out trying to emulate them, but his circle of contacts has dwindled over the years and now he is reduced to reporting developments after the fact ... and often because -- as was the case with the XEPRS story -- a reader brought it to his attention.
Any "character assassination" is an observation of his changing the direction of his column to being a soapbox for returning to the old days' version of radio. If the Los Angeles Newspaper Group knew how detached from reality much of his content has become, they'd drop him in a heartbeat. He only survives because they do not know that.
The problem is, the facebook group this informaition comes from will use this as "errmagheerrdddd.. see, it does work.. if the big station that is XEPRS can do it in San Diego, others can do it" while completely ignoring the realities of the situaiton.. its brokered, likely not making much money.
K.M. Richards
Program Director, The Eighties Channel™
And just try to explain to them what "brokered" means, as opposed to the station itself deciding on programming.
I am guessing this will only last until the DJ brokering the time (who appears to be from the same planet as Wagoner) runs out of money to pay for his timeslot. Not that anyone will try to tell the starry-eyed Facebook participants that proves the non-viability of the format, since they wouldn't beliebe it even in the face of facts.
they know what brokered time is....... but they think stuff is more viable for any number of reasons.
K.M. Richards
Program Director, The Eighties Channel™
Then they will just have to have their dreams smashed over and over and over again, since they -- as Jack Nicholson said in A Few Good Men -- "can't handle the truth."
Hi. Please bear with me while I ask some questions and try to get up to speed. I didn't realize that he was so disliked here. I won't link any more of his articles, as I understand that he is very unpopular. But just let me ask you -- is he disliked because he was never in radio and is seen as a naive outsider? Or, did he do something personal against anyone here? Do you dislike him because he posts misinformation of some sort? ( For example, it does seem as if 1090 is playing oldies, even though that time slot may be brokered).
I notice that you have a programming service which programs 80's music which happened 40 years ago. Is there a difference between music that happened 40 years ago and music that happened 60 years ago? Isn't both that music out-of-date and out of touch w/ a desirable age 18-34 demographic that advertisers favor?
I won't post any more articles from him. All I saw were 2 articles -- one of which was factually accurate about the 65th anniversary of KRLA changing to a Top 40 format in 1959. The other article said that 1090 was playing oldies 2 hours a day, plus Wolfman 2 hours, who is clearly no longer living. That appears to be accurate also. But it resulted in people becoming really angry here and ignited a firestorm of protest about linking his articles.
I do apologize........but I think the reason he is so despised, is that he never worked in radio, so he's very unpopular because he has no personal experience. Is this correct? Thank you, from Daryl
Let me clarify: I don't dislike him. Or anyone. What I disagree with is his opinion, which is often the basis of his columns. When someone posts opinion, then it's open season on that opinion. We're not attacking the person, just the opinion. We would hope in presenting a broader view that we would all benefit from the discussion.
So much unnecessary negativity here! I've never seen this so apparent on this site before. What's up with that? Is it really necessary to be this way? I thought this was against the rules of Radio Discussions. Where's David and the moderators? BTW I thought it was really cool that this music was back on 1090 and this music is still hugely popular. One just has to look at YouTube music where the number of plays of each song is now being reported. Some songs from the 60s have over 18 million plays. It's amazing and this is just one music streaming service. What are the other services reporting???? Apple, Amazon, Spotify, others? Long live the greatest hits of all time.
Why are you apologizing based on what you perceive to be the collective opinion of the other posters? If you think posting one of his columns is relevant, don't let anyone stop you from doing so. The haters (if that is what they are) will hate no matter what. And the opinions of the posters on the board are in reality quite diverse, but some of the more prolific ones tend to have their voices magnified.
We think he is about two or three decades... at least... out of date on his radio thinking. He incessantly suggest things that won't work and have been proven not to work.
Advertisers buy radio today primarily for 25 to 54 year olds, not 18-34. Music of the 80's and 90's hits squarely in those demos, while music 60 years old hits people mostly in their late 60's and 70's at least.
He uses those things to say that LA stations are not smart enough to do some thing similar without realizing that XEPRS is a brokered time station in Mexico with a damaged antenna system.
Wrong. He is disrespected because his positions are not reasonable and are economically impossible to sustain. He wants radio to sound like it did in the 70's and that does not work today for a broad variety of reasons.
No, that is not correct. I had no idea whether he had ever worked in radio or not. It does not matter, as his ideas are definitely impractical, dated and, sometimes, just plain idiotic.
18 million is a tiny number when the biggest streamed song just on YouTube alone (excluding the Shark song) has 8.5 billion views (
What is getting all that criticism is a writer for a nearly-dead newspaper who writes over and over suggesting radio programming that will not work.
Spotify allows me to see the top 10 singles by an artist by plays.
There are six singles by the Beatles with over 500 million plays on Spotify. Two such singles by Simon & Garfunkel. Just one by the Beach Boys. Elvis has zero (none even 200 million)
Meanwhile, contemporary country stars Morgan Wallen and Luke Combs have seven each. Beyonce has eight. K-Pop band BTS has nine.
One of the problems with programming oldies is that you can't find 350-400 songs to play for a salable audience. You might be able to play "Surfin' USA" for an audience of 40 year olds and get positive feedback, but "If I Had a Hammer" (Peter Paul & Mary) is much less likely to get the same reaction.
I find some of the folks that are critical of Richard (and I have some issues with some of his takes on radio as well) seem to think the state of radio is "healthy" and that he should embrace the corporate bean counter thinking, the eight minute spot breaks and the unimaginative "card readers" that pass for radio today. His longing for the past may be a dream, but, IMO, radio today - for the most part - is a nightmare. His "dream" may be unreasonable, but the mentality of accepting things as they are is inviting an end to something that Richard, all of you AND I love. (Disclaimer: I co-hosted the "Radio Waves" podcast with Richard for over 10 years, so I'm expecting some blowback. Bring it.
)
K.M. Richards
Program Director, The Eighties Channel™
That is probably part of it. I have not found any proof of his working in the industry. By comparison, the late Don Barrett had an extensive history in radio management, including being the GM of 100.3 here in L.A. just before Bill Drake took it top-40 as K-100. (I am reasonably certain that Gary Lycan was at the Orange County Register for his entire career and just happened to be a journalist who understood that a "radio news" column had to have its emphasis on current events.)
His column is less about what is happening in radio today and more his personal soapbox in which he laments every format that is no longer viable and wishing for time to move backwards in that regard. In fact, I sometimes think he wants us to go back to turntables and cart machines.
That is what the dislike is about. It is not personal; I have met him in person and found him to be very likeable. As David and BigA have said, it is his disconnect from reality about the current state of the business that causes the negative reactions to his column. I agree with every word in their two replies.
That is a very reasonable question, and I originally designed the format to be Baby Boomer-oriented. I was as surprised as anyone to discover that the music from that decade was appealing to younger demographics. (There have been many theories discussed as to why, but I will not rehash them here.) The bottom line is that the format is mass appeal across a wide spectrum of demographics, and as it turns out only about one-third of the audience is 55+. This is why you will often find one or another of us repeating the mantra "in Classic Hits, all that matters is what gold titles the audience wants to hear today."
There is no way for a 50s/60s Oldies format to program for a mass appeal audience. The music simply has fallen out of favor in terms of being playable in the frequencies needed to sustain a format. The regular audience for such a format is 65+ and that is not a saleable audience either nationally or locally.
Put simply, Classic Hits is very much centered on the 80s, and I simply have tightened that focus to have a format identity which relates to the listeners. (I'm just glad they like it.)
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Since it sounds like you know him pretty well, has he ever worked in radio or does he just write his column from the viewpoint of being a listener?I find some of the folks that are critical of Richard (and I have some issues with some of his takes on radio as well) seem to think the state of radio is "healthy" and that he should embrace the corporate bean counter thinking, the eight minute spot breaks and the unimaginative "card readers" that pass for radio today. His longing for the past may be a dream, but, IMO, radio today - for the most part - is a nightmare. His "dream" may be unreasonable, but the mentality of accepting things as they are is inviting an end to something that Richard, all of you AND I love. (Disclaimer: I co-hosted the "Radio Waves" podcast with Richard for over 10 years, so I'm expecting some blowback. Bring it.
K.M. Richards
Program Director, The Eighties Channel™
Then he should, in my opinion, report on that. As it stands, one might as well wear rose-colored glasses when reading his column.
Better still: He should simply make the column totally focused on the market history and tell that history, one story at a time, without the "wishing for it to happen again".
No we don't. That's a different discussion. The difference between me and Richard is I actually WORK in the field.
It's not healthy, but my view is that the health is based on the lack of advertising money, and that radio budgets are based on that.
The time he refers to was when radio was the only source of music (other than buying records). That's not the case anymore.
Richard has not worked in radio. To me that doesn't matter. I've always looked at him as one of radio's biggest "fans" - and that's a perspective that gets lost in the mud in groups like this. He does report on current events in radio, however, what's there to report? Layoffs and bankruptcies. One of the reasons I stopped doing "Radio Waves" with him is partially what is being talked about here, but MOSTLY that there is nothing to report week to week but bad news in the terrestrial radio world. I wanted to expand more to podcasting and other more creative audio work, so it was decided he MAY continue that podcast (under a different name, which he has yet to do) and I rebranded "Radio Waves" to "Radio Waves and Other Noises" which I may or may not go forward with.
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