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1340 WHAT... Programming for Profit?

R

Radio Wreck

Despite the rumors of 1340's demise, it appears to still be on the air for now. That said, I find it hard to believe that the station is not in trouble monetarily due to the rumors of a shutdown and Mike and Elaine themselves (mistakenly?) announcing that their last show aired last week.

I like their concept although I think their imaging and slogan "the greatest music of all time" are both predictable and lame. While they seem to play some decent tunes of the 40's - 70's, a lot of their music is horrible, and too obscure IMHO. My question is this. If they stuck to the big hits of the big band era and popular music of the 50's thru the 70's that people in 2011 actually recognize and identify with, would the station still have a chance? Or is it too late for such a format all together? They don't seem to have a lack of advertisers.

It seems to me that their programming, imaging, obscure play list, and incessant chatter leave a lot to be desired with this radio station and could be the reason for their lack of profit and eventual demise.

Any thoughts on a tighter playlist (40's thru 70's) and imaging? And is there such a thing as a focused playlist covering that span of time?
 
I think a WMID music mix on WHAT would do wonders, of course with a spattering of Standards and Singers.
 
Too little and too late. Little--a barely-heard AM music station; late--simply not enough of an audience to bring in enoug $ to make it viable.

It may be sad, it may be "unfair," but that's life.
 
Just a quick response. As I mentioned in a previous post, the staff was to be let go on December 6. All of them. That is from an impeccable source. Obviously something changed which must have happened after Mike and Elaine's show on the 31st of December.

As far as their "incessant chatter", I believe that is a big part of their format. Not just chatter for the sound of it but talk that reaches to the audience. Reminiscent of 610 and 950 days. Very personal touch.

One loyal listener's opinion.

Regards.



Radio Wreck said:
Despite the rumors of 1340's demise, it appears to still be on the air for now. That said, I find it hard to believe that the station is not in trouble monetarily due to the rumors of a shutdown and Mike and Elaine themselves (mistakenly?) announcing that their last show aired last week.

I like their concept although I think their imaging and slogan "the greatest music of all time" are both predictable and lame. While they seem to play some decent tunes of the 40's - 70's, a lot of their music is horrible, and too obscure IMHO. My question is this. If they stuck to the big hits of the big band era and popular music of the 50's thru the 70's that people in 2011 actually recognize and identify with, would the station still have a chance? Or is it too late for such a format all together? They don't seem to have a lack of advertisers.

It seems to me that their programming, imaging, obscure play list, and incessant chatter leave a lot to be desired with this radio station and could be the reason for their lack of profit and eventual demise.

Any thoughts on a tighter playlist (40's thru 70's) and imaging? And is there such a thing as a focused playlist covering that span of time?
Click to expand...
 
It is amazing how many of you SPECULATE and have no information.

For those of us that enjoy the station, the music, and the people on-air we suggest you shut up. You are truly disrepectful people.
 
Amen. Well said.


Maxxxi said:
It is amazing how many of you SPECULATE and have no information.

For those of us that enjoy the station, the music, and the people on-air we suggest you shut up. You are truly disrepectful people.
Click to expand...
 
Maxxxi said:
It is amazing how many of you SPECULATE and have no information.

For those of us that enjoy the station, the music, and the people on-air we suggest you shut up. You are truly disrepectful people.
Click to expand...

Really? Here's the information. When two hosts announce their last show and there is an article about the station shutting down in the Daily News, people talk and "speculate." That's one of the reasons this board exists.

You can enjoy whatever you want but the last time I checked this is America and we the people are free to criticize or comment on what is on the radio. That's the other reason this board existis.

You suggest I "shut up" and I'm the disrespectful one? I suggest you delete your account at Radio Info because you've worn out your welcome already.
 
Maxxxi said:
It is amazing how many of you SPECULATE and have no information.

For those of us that enjoy the station, the music, and the people on-air we suggest you shut up. You are truly disrepectful people.
Click to expand...

Wreck is right: Telling people to shut up is what's disrespectful. This board does have its share of speculation and information, as well. Maybe you're not in the business and are not interested in programming, engineering or the business side of radio. So far there have been some conflicting reports on what management intends to do with this station. If management wants to stop the speculation, they should clearly state their intentions. If they changed their mind at some point, they should say that, too. Unfortunately, people in radio management too often try to keep secrets, even when it's apparent SOMETHING is going on. They also a prone to lie. All this creates an atmosphere in which speculation thrives and hard information is scarce.

If you like the station so much, what are you doing here when you could be listening? Enjoy it while it lasts.
 
I was in the parking lot today at Whole Foods on route 73 in Marlton and tuned in WHAT, I was shocked that WMID was bleeding in, heard them below WHAT, and they were giving them some problems, its sad how bad their signal is. I do remember as a kid in Philly, if you turned your portable radio a certain way WMID would come in faintly, but listenable, you could block WHAT's signal, but I thought that WHAT had improved their reception. If I am correct they operated at, 1kw-d, 250w-n in the 60's, now they are 1kw 24/7. Their signal has alot to do with their ratings, especially at night, I never knew how bad it really was when you are 20 or so miles from their xmtr.
 
Radio Wreck said:
Maxxxi said:
It is amazing how many of you SPECULATE and have no information.

For those of us that enjoy the station, the music, and the people on-air we suggest you shut up. You are truly disrepectful people.
Click to expand...

Really? Here's the information. When two hosts announce their last show and there is an article about the station shutting down in the Daily News, people talk and "speculate." That's one of the reasons this board exists.

You can enjoy whatever you want but the last time I checked this is America and we the people are free to criticize or comment on what is on the radio. That's the other reason this board existis.

You suggest I "shut up" and I'm the disrespectful one? I suggest you delete your account at Radio Info because you've worn out your welcome already.
Click to expand...

Thank you for proving my point about you being disrespectful.
 
Maxxxi said:
Thank you for proving my point about you being disrespectful.
Click to expand...

Maxxi: I just called WHAT and requested Harry Belafonte's recording of "Mama Looka Boo Boo" to be played and dedicated to you.
 
gunsmoke said:
I was in the parking lot today at Whole Foods on route 73 in Marlton and tuned in WHAT, I was shocked that WMID was bleeding in, heard them below WHAT, and they were giving them some problems, its sad how bad their signal is. I do remember as a kid in Philly, if you turned your portable radio a certain way WMID would come in faintly, but listenable, you could block WHAT's signal, but I thought that WHAT had improved their reception. If I am correct they operated at, 1kw-d, 250w-n in the 60's, now they are 1kw 24/7. Their signal has alot to do with their ratings, especially at night, I never knew how bad it really was when you are 20 or so miles from their xmtr.
Click to expand...

They only have half a ground system. Whoever rebuilt the AM tower aparently lost half the plans.
 
gunsmoke said:
I was in the parking lot today at Whole Foods on route 73 in Marlton and tuned in WHAT, I was shocked that WMID was bleeding in, heard them below WHAT, and they were giving them some problems, its sad how bad their signal is. I do remember as a kid in Philly, if you turned your portable radio a certain way WMID would come in faintly, but listenable, you could block WHAT's signal, but I thought that WHAT had improved their reception. If I am correct they operated at, 1kw-d, 250w-n in the 60's, now they are 1kw 24/7. Their signal has alot to do with their ratings, especially at night, I never knew how bad it really was when you are 20 or so miles from their xmtr.
Click to expand...

Nothing new. I remember messing with a radio at a friend's house on the east side of Cherry Hill in the '70s and having WMID come in almost as well as WHAT. Never detected WMID at home on the other side of town, but WOND would come in on a good radio and WFPG would show up under WILM sometimes...
 
It's propagation and in WHAT's case, a bad ground system. Two stations I worked at in RI had ground systems in water as they were either by a river, or in a cove. WRIB 1220 Providence(now WSTL) had its tower on an island in the Seekonk River. 1370 Wickford RI had its tower in a cove, and could be heard on Cape Cod.
 
Well, it's clear a poor signal is probably WHAT's biggest problem. But mistaken notions about Standards and the format's audience on the part of the media and advertising industry is also a big part of it. And, with all due respect to those who suggest that the station play only the biggest hits from that musical era, such ideas reveal a fundamental lack of understanding about the format. Westwood One tried that with WNEW in New York and quickly ran that legendary station into the ground. WHAT needs a much better signal and some commited sales people who understand the format.
 
Hardly anybody understands the format and that's much of the problem.

WNEW had personality DJs who knew the music, knew the audience, had long careers at the station and were given considerable latitude in picking their own music and programming their shows. Much the same was true of WIP and WPEN. Somehow what worked on these great stations, doesn't seem the same with some of the same announcers doing brokered shows.

Other attempts to program standards (aka The Great American Songbook) have taken the following directions, none very successful.
America's Best Music: They have tried to make the standards format into Adult Contemporary or Soft Rock Oldies.
Music of Your Life: Known personalities with little involvement in programming. AC Oldies with more talk.
Red (under various names): Associate the music with the Rat Pack and Las Vegas. Add some gimmicks like all female DJs, supposedly all redheads.

These are pretty much attempts to use standards to attract listeners too young to remember standards (in order to make the station more attractive to advertisers).

I've listened to a lot of Internet audio streams playing standards. Very few of them seem to get the music, or at least to know how to program it. The magic is gone. Standards used to be popular music and it was a living thing. Now it's a dead genre - like Latin is a dead language. You can bring it out but you can't make it breathe.
 
The audiences left those stations, too....checking into the big rest home in the sky will do that. But there just isn't that big an audience that's going to be attractive to advertisers and workable in a cost effective way (reality is what it is--it doesn't matter what worked 20, 30 or 40 years ago). Time marches on.
 
Come on, now, let's be realistic. AM radio is dead and FM isn't too far behind. That is simple reality. It was great while it lasted, but technology and consumption of media evolves. If more folks in terrestrial radio spent time, energy and resources on understanding new media and technologies and the social and behavioral changes of how its consumed instead of what ifs, they would be executing successful business models on a day-in, day-out basis. Stop going backwards.
 
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