3WS

[Radio_Realist]

You wouldn't know this, since you don't live here in Pittsburgh, but the local PBS TV station is having huge success pushing a do-wop revival. Their do-wop revival concerts are packed. From the shots when the camera pans the audience, the do-wop fans are NOT just 60-somethings. The sales of do-wop collection CD's also indicates that there's a sizeable market of people who weren't around when do-wop was new, but who have come to really like that kind of music when they discovered it.

I don't know if that is a nationwide trend or just a 'Burgh thing. But, since this is the Pittsburgh board, it doesn't really matter much if there is a large, young audience of do-wop fans in any other city. What matters is that there is such an audience here.

> So, even though stations that played that music has seen
> their listeners pass into their 60s (meaning little or no
> advertiser support), they should just keep playin' the old
> Oldies-type music and lose big money?
>
>
> >
> > It's a shame what the oldies format has become. Hardly
> any
> > Motown. No Doo Wop. No surf music. Just tired 70's rock.
>
> > It's like Classic Rock Lite. Uggh.
> >
>

 

[OldiesCat]

It's a PBS thing nationwide, been going on for about 5-6 years or so. There may be a few under-60s who like doo-wop, but from a radio useage standpoint,
doo-wop = death.

> You wouldn't know this, since you don't live here in
> Pittsburgh, but the local PBS TV station is having huge
> success pushing a do-wop revival. Their do-wop revival
> concerts are packed. From the shots when the camera pans the
> audience, the do-wop fans are NOT just 60-somethings. The
> sales of do-wop collection CD's also indicates that there's
> a sizeable market of people who weren't around when do-wop
> was new, but who have come to really like that kind of music
> when they discovered it.
>
> I don't know if that is a nationwide trend or just a 'Burgh
> thing. But, since this is the Pittsburgh board, it doesn't
> really matter much if there is a large, young audience of
> do-wop fans in any other city. What matters is that there is
> such an audience here.
>
> > So, even though stations that played that music has seen
> > their listeners pass into their 60s (meaning little or no
> > advertiser support), they should just keep playin' the old
>
> > Oldies-type music and lose big money?
> >
> >
> > >
> > > It's a shame what the oldies format has become. Hardly
> > any
> > > Motown. No Doo Wop. No surf music. Just tired 70's
> rock.
> >
> > > It's like Classic Rock Lite. Uggh.
> > >
> >
>

 

[Radio_Rancher]

AFTRA covers producers? Most talk show producers make minimum wage or slightly above. There is no way CC was paying a high rate for people to screen calls.




> Maybe this doesn't exst anymore, but one of the original
> reasons 970 became a simulcast of 3WS was that 970's union
> contract had heavy requirements for things like show
> producers at very high rates of pay.
>
> My assumption was that those contracts never went away unlss
> the station wanted to get into a big battle with AFTRA, so
> it was easier just to do things like simulcasting and
> network shows.
>
> But in the words of Dennis Miller, "Then again, I could be
> wrong."
>

 

[Part-timer]

> AFTRA covers producers? Most talk show producers make
> minimum wage or slightly above. There is no way CC was
> paying a high rate for people to screen calls.
>
>

Then they re-did the contract at some point. <P ID="signature">______________
"With God as my witness, I could have sworn turkeys could fly."</P>

 

[Radio_Rancher]

> > AFTRA covers producers? Most talk show producers make
> > minimum wage or slightly above. There is no way CC was
> > paying a high rate for people to screen calls.
> >
> >
>
> Then they re-did the contract at some point.
>

Very, very doubtful. Non-air people aren't covered by AFTRA. Tech and craft people have their own union. AFTRA is the American Federation of Radio and Television Artists. That means you're a performer. Producers are one of the most manageable expenses of a talk format because they just don't make very much and don't have any bargaining power.

 

[OldiesCat]

Re: The funny thing is ...

By and large, it's always been going on- somewhat cyclical but it's always been there (it just gets noticed more at different times).

I know a lot of the oldies radio junkies are wishfully thinking this is some brand new tidal wave of nostalgia and oldies coming back so all of a sudden Oldies stations (specifically those playing '50s music) will reverse the trend of changing format- it ain't.


>
> Perhaps the paradigm that everyone only likes to listen to
> the music that was brand new when they were teenagers is
> shifting.
>

 

[Radio_Realist]

Re: The funny thing is ...

I wasn't referring to bringing back musical genres from half a century ago. I'm simply observing that the lines that define musical eras are blurring. This isn't about a new wave of nostalgia bringing anything back. It's about songs that are currently being given airplay today continuing to deserve airplay in the future because people won't be so hung up on when a song was recorded.

In other words, in the 2020's, when you look for was popular with 30-somethings when they were teenagers (meaning what's current right now), you'll find that the 30-somethings of the 2020's will look back at hearing music from the 70's, 80's, and 90's as the music they heard when they were teenagers.

> By and large, it's always been going on- somewhat cyclical
> but it's always been there (it just gets noticed more at
> different times).
>
> I know a lot of the oldies radio junkies are wishfully
> thinking this is some brand new tidal wave of nostalgia and
> oldies coming back so all of a sudden Oldies stations
> (specifically those playing '50s music) will reverse the
> trend of changing format- it ain't.
>
>
> >
> > Perhaps the paradigm that everyone only likes to listen to
>
> > the music that was brand new when they were teenagers is
> > shifting.
> >
>

 

[Radknowski]

3WS Late Arrival

> Well, that'll seal up 3WS's hold on the "47 year-old woman
> who goes to weddings and office parties and dances in a
> circle with 4-5 others of the same age and sex" demo.
>
> I'm sorry, that was somewhat cynical.

I'm late to this thread, but I have to admit, this is a very funny description you've painted. Nice wordplay that vividly describes a certain type of listener... which, uh, might include my sister.

You might have added "cigarette smoking, twenty pounds overweight and chain-smoking" but that may have been overkill (but doesn't apply to my sister, who happens to be a third degree blackbelt and would kick my assets for posting something like this.)

Nonetheless, you've created quite the picture that might also apply to a country station as well as a classic rock station.

-Buffalo Mike

 

[Audiodarlin]

Re: 3WS Late Arrival

> > Well, that'll seal up 3WS's hold on the "47 year-old woman
>
> > who goes to weddings and office parties and dances in a
> > circle with 4-5 others of the same age and sex" demo.
> >
> > I'm sorry, that was somewhat cynical.
>
> I'm late to this thread, but I have to admit, this is a very
> funny description you've painted. Nice wordplay that vividly
> describes a certain type of listener... which, uh, might
> include my sister.
>
> You might have added "cigarette smoking, twenty pounds
> overweight and chain-smoking" but that may have been
> overkill (but doesn't apply to my sister, who happens to be
> a third degree blackbelt and would kick my assets for
> posting something like this.)
>
> Nonetheless, you've created quite the picture that might
> also apply to a country station as well as a classic rock
> station.
>
> -Buffalo Mike

What about the 47 year old man who wears a polo shirt and khaki's when his wife gets dressed up and hangs out by the cars with 4 or 5 other guys his age telling bathroom jokes, swilling beer , trying to guess which Steeler is gay and chain smoking , belching, and farting.? He has loads of stations to choose from----104.7,KDKA, WDVE, the X,Froggy, Daisy,WEAE, and K-Rock.
>

 

[Radio_Realist]

Re: joke

> And why, in God's name, would CC sell 3WS? Think about it.
>

OK, I thought about it.

Some reasons why CC MIGHT sell 3WS:

1. CC has a long track record of making really good, logical decisions, and never, ever making a mistake. (Heavy sarcasm mode ON)

2. Some bean counter at CC headquarters manipulated the books to show that the quick infusion of cash from the sale of 3WS would provide tax advantages that would end up boosting profits for the quarter high enough that some executive would get a big performance bonus prior to his leaving CC and moving on to a new job, leaving his successor to deal with the loss of a good revenue generator.

3. Selling 3WS in Pittsburgh would give CC enough cash to buy another station in a different city that would make even more profit than they'd lose by not having 3WS in Pittsburgh. Sometimes it's a good move to swap a profitable station for an even more profitable station.

3. CC wouldn't actually sell 3WS. They'd sell the license to 94.5 FM, and would move 3WS and their oldies programming to another station they own, like 105.9. WXDX is the weakest of CC's FM outlets in Pittsburgh. But, they might see 94.5 as a better license to sell, while using 3WS's winning format on 105.9.

I'm not saying that CC should sell 3WS, nor that they would. But if you take some time and actually think about, there could well be some good reasons for such an action. You shouldn't just dismiss it out of hand as if it were impossible. Improbable, yes. Impossible, no.