a personal invitation.

[Thomps2525]

That's true, but Justin Beiber does not like it when you call him a "young whippersnapper."

 

[oldies76]

The only reason to leave it would be if it weren't debatable.

Alright, I'm up for the challenge........again.

Just that KFXM, sounds like it does not have to wrangle with the "red tape" to get certain songs played..

They just play them, no questions, so the slogan references that idea. Playing music for the listeners without the red tape. To me that's simply "pleasing your audience" without the hassles. To them, music testing is an unnecessary step and not needed.

As for KRTH, they do test music, fine. It's an extra deal and expense to work with and by limiting songs to just 800, many are being left out and the listeners are not getting the full-potential from a CLASSIC HITS station. Classic hits mean hits from the past, all of them!

 

[michael hagerty]

The only reason to leave it would be if it weren't debatable.

Alright, I'm up for the challenge........again.

Just that KFXM, sounds like it does not have to wrangle with the "red tape" to get certain songs played..

They just play them, no questions, so the slogan references that idea. Playing music for the listeners without the red tape. To me that's simply "pleasing your audience" without the hassles. To them, music testing is an unnecessary step and not needed.

As for KRTH, they do test music, fine. It's an extra deal and expense to work with and by limiting songs to just 800, many are being left out and the listeners are not getting the full-potential from a CLASSIC HITS station. Classic hits mean hits from the past, all of them!

You've just defined actually asking your listeners and the people you want to listen their opinion and responding by playing the songs they've identified as songs they can all agree on as "red tape".

And again, no disrespect to Chris and KFXM, but not wrangling with the red tape means they've chosen the music and it's up to you to tell them whether or not they've chosen wisely. A handful may (remember, there are only 15,000 people within the listenable signal and not all of them are likely listeners). Those who don't vote with their pushbuttons.

KRTH is held accountable by ratings that can affect millions of dollars in revenue. KFXM is not rated. It has no idea whether people are tuning out or not.



Here's that slogan one more time:

"We do not have consultants to tell us what to play. We answer to a higher authority; The Listener"

Neither KRTH nor KFXM has consultants to tell them what to play.

Of the two, only KRTH is answering to the listener.


Now...I need to say this. For what KFXM's doing (an LPFM that can't accept advertising), there's no problem with doing it this way.

But to suggest even for an instant that KFXM proves that this can be done in a commercial, competitive setting is simply not true.

 

[oldies76]

You've just defined actually asking your listeners and the people you want to listen their opinion and responding by playing the songs they've identified as songs they can all agree on as "red tape".

The lengthy process a station must go through just to get approved songs on the air (like KRTH) is red tape vs. the simplicity of KFXM and others like them.

If a listener called KFXM and complained as to why "Winchester Catherdral" is played too much, then as a responsible PD, I would reduce the airplay of such song, just not eliminate it completely. That's what I mean by each song is playable today, it just has to be managed correctly.

Honestly, why go through the hassles of testing hundreds of songs? Just use the methods like KFXM and have the listeners "guide you" along the way and manage your library that way. Is that possible Mr. Hagerty?

 

[davideduardo]

As for KRTH, they do test music, fine. It's an extra deal and expense to work with and by limiting songs to just 800, many are being left out and the listeners are not getting the full-potential from a CLASSIC HITS station. Classic hits mean hits from the past, all of them!

KRTH is not limiting the number of songs to 800... the listeners are.

 

[36james]

if you really enjoy oldies, and i mean really good oldies, this little treasure out in the Antelope Valley is the 1 to try, like hearing 50'S, 60's and 70's, without that clear channel or CBS feel to it? try them, i think you will really like it,

http://www.kfxm.com/

Good, GOOD station!! Gotta like that heading on their website about consultants!! Very deep cuts!! See, it can be done.....Just give it a chance, the way radio should sound!

Thank you 36James!

your welcome, im pissed Hagerty as been dominating my blog with negative comments, which i wont post, but im glad you are enjoying KFXM.

 

[36james]

The only reason to leave it would be if it weren't debatable.

Alright, I'm up for the challenge........again.

Just that KFXM, sounds like it does not have to wrangle with the "red tape" to get certain songs played..

They just play them, no questions, so the slogan references that idea. Playing music for the listeners without the red tape. To me that's simply "pleasing your audience" without the hassles. To them, music testing is an unnecessary step and not needed.

As for KRTH, they do test music, fine. It's an extra deal and expense to work with and by limiting songs to just 800, many are being left out and the listeners are not getting the full-potential from a CLASSIC HITS station. Classic hits mean hits from the past, all of them!

thanks again Oldies

 

[36james]

Also helps not to have Arbitron rating your market...or more accurately, lumping it in with Los Angeles where your signal can't compete.

This station is 100 watts at 75 feet above average terrain, and the 60 dbu signal covers just over 15,000 people.

It's an LPFM, which can not sell advertising, and is obviously a labor of love by Chris Compton, who lists himself as GM, SM, PD, CE, Promotion Manager and Traffic Director.

thanks David, yes Chris is offer something unique to the Antelope valley where I live, and if you live outside the AV, you can listen online anytime, pretty neat huh?

 

[michael hagerty]

You've just defined actually asking your listeners and the people you want to listen their opinion and responding by playing the songs they've identified as songs they can all agree on as "red tape".

The lengthy process a station must go through just to get approved songs on the air (like KRTH) is red tape vs. the simplicity of KFXM and others like them.

If a listener called KFXM and complained as to why "Winchester Catherdral" is played too much, then as a responsible PD, I would reduce the airplay of such song, just not eliminate it completely. That's what I mean by each song is playable today, it just has to be managed correctly.

Honestly, why go through the hassles of testing hundreds of songs? Just use the methods like KFXM and have the listeners "guide you" along the way and manage your library that way. Is that possible Mr. Hagerty?

Good question. You'll hate the answer.

Well, actually, you'll hate the answer depending on the situation. And the situation involves things like market size and whether you care about making money.

The biggest problem is that the tiniest percentage of listeners...6% tops, if there's a payoff for them like a prize...participate in anything. 94% will simply turn the dial if there's something they don't like. They'll never tell you.

They'll also never tell you if you're doing something right. And if their taste is different from the 6%, that right thing could be something that you're getting complaints on from the 6%. And if you listen to the 6% and stop doing it, the 94% will leave without even saying goodbye.

Even reducing the number of spins on a record the 6% complain about could mean you've brought the record down to a level where the 94% who love it never hear it, or feel they don't hear it enough.

Chris Compton can do it his way as long as he's not relying on advertising to survive.

A guy who's got the only station in town and is so remote outside signals can't get in could try it. But if he guesses wrong about the music and listens to the 6%, the 94% will sign up for Sirius, order an iPod from Amazon....(I've actually seen this happen in the small town I grew up in after leaving L.A. The single local station owner totally misjudged the market. The local TV and radio store started stocking and selling a boatload of tape decks and one local business owner went so far as to build a translator and pumped an L.A. FM into the market so people could listen to something else...and they did).

A small, unrated market that's not that remote? Tougher. In the mid-70s, I programmed KUKI in Ukiah. 120 miles north of San Francisco. Before I got there, they were dying by doing essentially what you suggest. Most of the town was listening to San Francisco stations, because they (at least the biggies like KSFO, KFRC, KNBR, KCBS and KGO) came in like locals. The only way to survive was to compete with KSFO, KFRC and KNBR...not in San Francisco...our signal wouldn't reach there...but in our town. So we did. We tightened up and played the hits. And we caught on. Word of mouth carried us. We used a local college to do research to track listening. We went way up. And so did revenues.

Up the ladder a bit more...a very small rated market. Well, in the other thread on the 60s/70s/80s board, we've talked about KJMK in Joplin, MO (market #233...one of the smallest Arbitron rated markets in America). It's a classic hits station a poster from that area said is appallingly tight-listed. He can't imagine why they ignore certain records that used to be hits. The fall book for that market came out Friday. Since adopting that approach 10 months ago, the station has gone from a 4.2 and 6th place (in a city with only 7 rated stations) to an 11.0 and 3rd place.

Oldies, in a market that size on up, if you simply throw everything on the air and wait for the audience to tell you what you're doing right and what you're doing wrong, a competitor will eat your lunch overnight as the 6% send you chasing your tail while the 94% find the station that is playing songs that are statistically proven to be favorites or at least not tune-outs to most people of their age. Ratings will be marginal to begin with and fall with each successive measurement. There will be minimal (at best) revenues and eventually you won't be able to continue. People will lose their jobs and you will lose either your position as PD or GM, or if you're an owner, your investment.

 

[michael hagerty]

if you really enjoy oldies, and i mean really good oldies, this little treasure out in the Antelope Valley is the 1 to try, like hearing 50'S, 60's and 70's, without that clear channel or CBS feel to it? try them, i think you will really like it,

http://www.kfxm.com/

Good, GOOD station!! Gotta like that heading on their website about consultants!! Very deep cuts!! See, it can be done.....Just give it a chance, the way radio should sound!

Thank you 36James!

your welcome, im pissed Hagerty as been dominating my blog with negative comments, which i wont post, but im glad you are enjoying KFXM.

36James: I haven't even looked at your blog (in fact, didn't know you had one), much less posted on it. And as I noted here last night, I like your station. My only argument (which should be clear by now) is that what you're doing isn't a blueprint for a commercial station in a competitive market.

Keep up the good work.

 

[36james]

by the way Hagerty, the point of my post was not to have negative observations on my post, the point of my post was to have people DECIDE, if they wanted to listen to a great radio station, that plays what other stations do not play, and then let them DECIDE if they like it, oldies76, thanks for the comments, by the way Hagerty if you dont have anything productive to say thats positive, besides negative comments, dont blog on my post, please, thank you sir.

 

[36james]

if you really enjoy oldies, and i mean really good oldies, this little treasure out in the Antelope Valley is the 1 to try, like hearing 50'S, 60's and 70's, without that clear channel or CBS feel to it? try them, i think you will really like it,

http://www.kfxm.com/

Good, GOOD station!! Gotta like that heading on their website about consultants!! Very deep cuts!! See, it can be done.....Just give it a chance, the way radio should sound!

Thank you 36James!

your welcome, im pissed Hagerty as been dominating my blog with negative comments, which i wont post, but im glad you are enjoying KFXM.

James: I haven't even looked at your blog (in fact, didn't know you had one), much less posted on it. And as I noted here last night, I like your station. My only argument (which should be clear by now) is that what you're doing isn't a blueprint for a commercial station in a competitive market.

Keep up the good work.

Good Lord is this man on meds, im the one that created this blog thread.

 

[michael hagerty]

if you really enjoy oldies, and i mean really good oldies, this little treasure out in the Antelope Valley is the 1 to try, like hearing 50'S, 60's and 70's, without that clear channel or CBS feel to it? try them, i think you will really like it,

http://www.kfxm.com/

Good, GOOD station!! Gotta like that heading on their website about consultants!! Very deep cuts!! See, it can be done.....Just give it a chance, the way radio should sound!

Thank you 36James!

your welcome, im pissed Hagerty as been dominating my blog with negative comments, which i wont post, but im glad you are enjoying KFXM.

James: I haven't even looked at your blog (in fact, didn't know you had one), much less posted on it. And as I noted here last night, I like your station. My only argument (which should be clear by now) is that what you're doing isn't a blueprint for a commercial station in a competitive market.

Keep up the good work.

Good Lord is this man on meds, im the one that created this blog thread.

Okay, I see the confusion. This isn't a blog, it's a discussion board. Anyway, discussion is what happens here.

Once again: I spent an enjoyable couple of hours listening to KFXM last night. I'll listen again. My point is what I stated above.

 

[Thomps2525]

Sometimes "discussed" can seem more like "disgust." But I enjoy reading everyone's comments regardless.

 

[oldies76]

Sometimes "discussed" can seem more like "disgust." But I enjoy reading everyone's comments regardless.

It's just opinions, you know the listeners and the business. I don't think there is much negativity here, it just one vs. the other. 36James probably didn't expect it to unravel like this. KFXM is a great station, hands down. And they are playing lots of great songs, that others cannot play (for the business reasons).

We're in a time where classic hits are important and many do not want their older music to disappear or be severely restricted. It's 2013 now. KFXM and others are trying to show otherwise.

 

[davideduardo]

Any open threat may be commented on by any other person with posting privileges on these boards.

Nobody "owns" a thread, whether they start it or not.

 

[GeorgeJ.]

Would they?

No.

Would it be accurate if they did?

Yes.

Do you really think their listener base tested and approved all those deep cuts they are playing?? No.

I assume by that, you mean KRTH.

Do I think KRTH has tested everything it plays and doesn't play the songs that don't test well? Absolutely.

Do I think KRTH tested and got good scores for the deep cuts KFXM is playing? If so, they'd be playing them.

But remember, that banner that you love so much doesn't say that. It says:


"We do not have consultants to tell us what to play. We answer to a higher authority; The Listener"


KRTH doesn't have consultants to tell them what to play.

We know for a fact KRTH conducts quarterly music tests with a statistically valid sampling of their listeners and people in the demographic target in their listening area, and then uses that listener input to determine its playlist. In other words: They're answering to the listener.

I doubt KFXM does that kind of testing. It would be prohibitively expensive. It's infinitely more likely that Chris (who is to be applauded for the hard work that goes into such a venture) started with a huge library and plays the ones he gets requests for a bit more and the ones he gets complaints about a bit less.

Given the small signal and thus limited potential listening audience (only a fraction of whom would be actives who would give input), most often KFXM is playing a song Chris thought they should play. If you think a DJ should pick his own music, this is good news. If you think a station owner, General Manager or Sales Manager shouldn't be deciding what records get played, this is bad news, because Chris is all those things.

So it's actually more accurate for KRTH to say what that banner says than it is for KFXM.

Unless things have changed in the past couple of years, KFXM-LP has only ONE rotation. When the station is in auto-mode, the entire library plays and then at the end, it starts over again, and the same songs repeat in the exact same order.

So if you heard Oh Pretty Woman followed by Kookie Kookie (Lend Me Your Comb), every time you hear Oh Pretty Woman on the station, it'll be followed by Kookie Kookie...AFAIK, there are no different categories or rotations when the station is on auto-pilot..

 

[michael hagerty]

Unless things have changed in the past couple of years, KFXM-LP has only ONE rotation. When the station is in auto-mode, the entire library plays and then at the end, it starts over again, and the same songs repeat in the exact same order.

So if you heard Oh Pretty Woman followed by Kookie Kookie (Lend Me Your Comb), every time you hear Oh Pretty Woman on the station, it'll be followed by Kookie Kookie...AFAIK, there are no different categories or rotations when the station is on auto-pilot..

Give them this: At 20 songs an hour, with live weekend shows sprinkled in, it's close to 90 days before they get back to the beginning. Repetition isn't an issue.

But...if you love a certain song only KFXM plays, you are in for one long wait.

 

[36james]

Sorry you guys, I'm just a listener, I don't own and I don't manage the station but thanks anyway ;D

 

[36james]

and by the way i got two very kind messages from two of the board participants here, although im not the owner or manager i will call Chris and let him know people enjoy KFXM like i do, and im just 39 years young.