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1350 The Toad

radiofan said:
1350 The Toad is now Fox Sports. Do we need another sports station? It is a sad day for Classic Country.
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In its last book, The Toad was tied for 50th in the market.

There were not enough listeners for much sadness to be found.
 
nmoore6676 said:
If you like classic country there is a nice stream at: http://www.gocountryclassics.com/
also available as KKGO HD2


If you want even more classic than KKGO there is: http://www.myclassiccountry.com/
over the air in S.W. Ohio and in the Dayton area.

There is a nice one right here in Fort Dodge Iowa: http://www.kwmt.com/
covers a big chunk of the state.

There are scads of others, those are just my favorites.
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Correctkion it is KKGO-HD3. The HD-2 is a different kind of Classical music. For some reason the Edit function is not working here again.
 
barman said:
nmoore6676 said:
If you like classic country there is a nice stream at: http://www.gocountryclassics.com/
also available as KKGO HD2


If you want even more classic than KKGO there is: http://www.myclassiccountry.com/
over the air in S.W. Ohio and in the Dayton area.

There is a nice one right here in Fort Dodge Iowa: http://www.kwmt.com/
covers a big chunk of the state.

There are scads of others, those are just my favorites.
Click to expand...
Sirius XM has a good one on channel 56.
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True but the others are free if you live within reception range or you already have internet. The first two I mentioned also have Smart Phone apps.

You can also add WSM at : http://www.wsmonline.com/

Which is on Sirius, at least for the Opry, I am not sure about the rest of it. But they also focus on Americana so not strictly just Classic Country. Also they have smart phone apps. The Golden Years of the Opry is worth catching if you are into really classic stuff. Eddie Stubbs is an encyclopedia, besides being a hot fiddle player.
 
"The Toad" was fun to listen to in 2002 when the DJs were live and local and played a lot of low-charting 1950s-60s country songs. Gradually the station started running more and more syndicated programming from Jones Radio Network (the "Country Gold" format)---no more Webb Pierce, Carl Smith, Hank Snow, Hank Thompson, Faron Young, Porter Wagoner, Buck Owens or Kitty Wells. The songs were mostly 1970s-80s and mostly top-ten hits. Lastely we hear (and make) a lot of complaints about pop oldies stations ignoring pre-1964 music and adding music from the 1980s and even the '90s. That trend was happening with country oldies stations long before it started happened with pop oldies stations.

I think I can speak for David: "The younger men who listen to sports radio are more attractive to advertisers than are the older men who listen to country oldies." Correct?
 
LARadioRewind said:
I think I can speak for David: "The younger men who listen to sports radio are more attractive to advertisers than are the older men who listen to country oldies." Correct?
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That's true. Add in the fact that KTDD averaged only about 600 to 700 listeners (compared to around 12,000 for the top 12+ station) and you have the reason why the format was unsustainable.
 
In the early 1990s KLAC had a country oldies format. Most of the songs were from the '70s and '80s, with a few big hits of the '60s (such as Okie From Muskogee and A Boy Named Sue). I met Stoney Richards once and asked him why KLAC didn't play Webb Pierce, Carl Smith, Hank Snow, Hank Thompson, Faron Young, Porter Wagoner, Buck Owens or Kitty Wells. (Yep---the same artists that I mentioned in reference to KTDD.) Stoney said that for every listener who wants to hear those artists, there is another listener who doesn't. He added that the 1950s-60s recordings aren't as technologically advanced as later recordings and, for example, a four-track Ernest Tubb song wouldn't sound good when played after a 32-track Diamond Rio song. I told him that programmers may feel that way...but we listeners don't care. We just want to hear all the classic hits. In late 1993 KLAC dumped country music and switched to a satellite-fed adult standards format.

I wonder what kind of ratings KLAC---and KTDD---would have had if they had played the hits of the 1950s-60s, the era when country was still country---before For The Good Times began a trend toward violins and away from fiddles and steel guitar.
 
LARadioRewind said:
In the early 1990s KLAC had a country oldies format. Most of the songs were from the '70s and '80s, with a few big hits of the '60s (such as Okie From Muskogee and A Boy Named Sue). I met Stoney Richards once and asked him why KLAC didn't play Webb Pierce, Carl Smith, Hank Snow, Hank Thompson, Faron Young, Porter Wagoner, Buck Owens or Kitty Wells. (Yep---the same artists that I mentioned in reference to KTDD.) Stoney said that for every listener who wants to hear those artists, there is another listener who doesn't. He added that the 1950s-60s recordings aren't as technologically advanced as later recordings and, for example, a four-track Ernest Tubb song wouldn't sound good when played after a 32-track Diamond Rio song. I told him that programmers may feel that way...but we listeners don't care. We just want to hear all the classic hits. In late 1993 KLAC dumped country music and switched to a satellite-fed adult standards format.

I wonder what kind of ratings KLAC---and KTDD---would have had if they had played the hits of the 1950s-60s, the era when country was still country---before For The Good Times began a trend toward violins and away from fiddles and steel guitar.
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Actually Hank Thompson was quite technologically advanced as he had been a radioman during WWII. Hank Snow was an accomplished guitarist and the RCA studios where he recorded were state of the art and als where many Elvis recordings were produced.

I think that the selection was more to the style than the recording techniques. Kitty Wells would sound pretty hick to an LA audience. Ernest Tubb, though much beloved was not known for his vocal skills. As for Buck Owens he was a West Coast star and recorded in LA so why he didn't make their cut, back then, is hard to figure.

But today few classic stations go back to the early 60s or 50s. WSM, Nashville and WBZI, Xenia-Dayton, Ohio being exceptions. But again it is style not the technology that motivates the choices.
 
I'd say that the difference in musical styles of the 1970s-80s when compared to the 1950s is drastically different in almost every genre of music, especially country, rock'n'roll, r&b, folk, gospel and MOR/AC. Jazz and bluegrass haven't changed quite as much over the decades. Is there now any station in any format that plays '50s and '80s?

Heck, are there any terrestrial stations that still play '50s anymore?
 
LARadioRewind said:
I'd say that the difference in musical styles of the 1970s-80s when compared to the 1950s is drastically different in almost every genre of music, especially country, rock'n'roll, r&b, folk, gospel and MOR/AC. Jazz and bluegrass haven't changed quite as much over the decades. Is there now any station in any format that plays '50s and '80s?

Heck, are there any terrestrial stations that still play '50s anymore?
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Likely not, except for retro specialty shows. Of course there are exceptions such as Hank Williams, Bill Haley, Buddy Holly which spring to my mind instantly. I have been making a concerted effort to collect as much earlier music as I can. I wish I had kept a lot of my vinyl but I moved and over large distances so shipping it was too expensive and I gave lots away. So now I am stuck with CD re-releases.

A lot of early R&B is a lot different than what we now consider to be R&B, also a lot better IMHO. Rockabilly is another field of interest to me now. I know that as a kid growing up in S.W. Ohio I had to have been exposed to it however my memory has been clouded by time and was limited to Jerry Lee Lewis, Elvis, Eddie Cochran and a few others.

Country has changed a lot as you can easily see just comparing early Eddie Arnold to his later more pop efforts. Ray Price began sounding like a Hank Williams clone, he actually used Hank's Drifting Cowboy band after Williams' death. Jim Reeves became smoother. Then of course Patsy Cline. The ones who faded were the ones who didn't change, which is not to say that they were bad just that tastes had changed and the push was to make the music more citified.

You won't hear much of my collection on any radio station nor would I expect to. However my explorations began with tastes that I have heard on certain stations such as the ones I've mentioned before. Personalities such as Eddie Stubbs and Chubby Howard often bring out the dusty vinyl, surface noise with occasional clicks and all.
 
To LARadio Rewind:

There IS a "terrestrial" station about 400 miles North of LA (in the Modesto area) that does play 50's music.
It is known as "The Vine". It's an AM station with an FM translator. I mentioned this station yesterday in the thread
about KOLA's changing music. (My comment is on page 8.) KVIN is an independently owned station in a market with a
Clear Channel cluster and a Cumulus cluster and a few religious and Spanish stations.

They are playing the music not only from the 50's, but from many decades. It's a unique mix. It's kind of a "hybrid" station
being with the Dial Global "Standards" format late evening through weekday mornings. At 9:00 AM every weekday morning
they leave Dial global and do their own mixing of the music. The Dial Global format, itself, covers many decades and musical genres including many of the softer TOP 40 hits of the 50's, 60s, and 70's. The Vine's own mix greatly expands on that idea of different genres and decades. Lots of the 50's Top 40 hits get another spin over KVIN, plus Country crossovers, Original versions of the Standards, novelty songs, instrumentals, and much more.

Website and streaming: KVIN.net
 
Mister Owl, I'm one of the many radio listeners who like "hybrid." Thanks for telling us about KVIN. ("The Vine" sounds like an identifier for a contemporary Christian station. Was that the format at one time?) And how could I have forgotten WLNG? The Long Island station plays music from the 1950s through the 1980s: doo-wop, r&b, pop and MOR with a lot of B-sides and non-charting singles along with the bigger hits.

http://wlng.com/
 
RadioOwl, what about "Kings Radio" 103.3 KZPO Lindsey, CA (serving Tulare/Visalia area)? I like listening to that station when I'm in the area, and have often heard 40s, 50s, 60s music on it. Sometimes I'll listen with my TuneIn Radio app on my Android phone here at home, too.

Last August, I was near Maurertown, VA, on vacation, and late one night heard a semi-local station play a song with "Please Warm My Weiner". IIRC from looking it up, isn't that from the 20s or 30s? or maybe 40s at the latest?
 
pianoplayer88key said:
RadioOwl, what about "Kings Radio" 103.3 KZPO Lindsey, CA (serving Tulare/Visalia area)? I like listening to that station when I'm in the area, and have often heard 40s, 50s, 60s music on it. Sometimes I'll listen with my TuneIn Radio app on my Android phone here at home, too.

Last August, I was near Maurertown, VA, on vacation, and late one night heard a semi-local station play a song with "Please Warm My Weiner". IIRC from looking it up, isn't that from the 20s or 30s? or maybe 40s at the latest?
Click to expand...

Here it is and a link to buy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GW0M2zEx-7g

I got onto these when Chubby Howard played some Hank Penny which lead me to Wynonnie Harris. Big Mabel and scores of other artists with double entendre songs which originated on the so called race labels. At places like King Records in Cincinnati these artists crossed paths with the country artists and thus Hank Penny recording "Let Me Play With Your Poodle", which is one of my favorites. Salty Dog or Salty Dog Rag, which was a favorite from Flatt and Scruggs has deeper meaning back when it was a blues tune.

If you start where I've lead you you will find lots more to listen to and buy.
 
So Please Warm My Weiner was by Bo Carter. I complain about all the tv commercials that use old rock songs but I can guarantee we'll never hear that one in an Oscar Meyer or Farmer John commercial! I had never heard of that song...but I've heard of plenty of other double-entendre "race records." DJ Alan Freed is credited with applying the term "rock & roll" to music but the phrase (as a euphemism for sex) goes at least as far back as Trixie Smith's 1938 recording My Daddy Rocks Me With One Steady Roll. And of course Bull Moose Jackson's Big Ten-Inch Record was really about a phonograph record. Uh-huh.

Here is the Trixie Smith song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PvzmBA91P3c

We now return you to your regularly scheduled "1350 The Toad" discussion.
 
Well one more and this is kind of classic country. Hank Penny was an associate of Spade Cooley and later was on LA TV and radio with his radio cowboys. This was recorded by him at King Records. The song was by a Chicago Blues singer/writer, Hudson Whittaker. "Let Me Play With Your Poodle": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ObEvjtiZMo4

This is not the Hank Penny record that Chubby Howard played. Not likely to be used in a Pet Smart or Petco ad either.
 
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