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Alt 105.3 Flips to Adult Hits "105.3 Dave FM"

Pretty sad for a station that used to have killer live dance mixes during those hours. The talent AND music were the stars then.
But listening levels on a Saturday evening are minimal. You could go off the air at 7 PM on Saturday and it would not affect the full week ratings by even 0.1 shares.
And right now I'm hearing the first repeated song since the change- You Give Love a Bad Name by Bon Jovi. I'll expect the other staples to follow. Again this could actually be a good format if they gave it a huge variety played by actual humans, but that likely won't be the case here. This is just the same totally random radio I can get loading my CD changer and hitting shuffle, and I'm more likely to like what I hear then.
"Actual humans" have not played the music manually in major market stations for better than two decades. It is all on one of the major automation / digital storage systems like Audio Vault, Wide Orbit or RCS's offerings.

The music log is done by the PD or Music Director and loaded into the system. The commercials are done by production and scheduled by traffic. The jock or personality does the live presentations but the system runs itself. A lot of effort goes into this, though. But like any mechanical or electronic system, it can fail occasionally.
 
Is there any market that comes close to the cross-generational obsession with professional team sports that Boston does? Sports radio does well, especially in billing, in most cities with big league teams, but it's not an overall No. 1 anywhere else, is it?

When their teams are doing well, sports radio does well in Philly. I find it interesting that while the Red Sox are in the playoffs, more Bostonians are listening to the other sports radio station.
 
We'll see how quickly the automation issues get fixed. Hopefully it'll be early this week.

Another example of food mistakes: Just ordered lunch from Panera, and they got everything in the order wrong. Wrong soup, wrong sandwich, and no side. But they got my name right on the order. How sad that such a thing could happen.
 
Interesting report on RadioInsight this afternoon regarding the cause of 105.3's issues.

It appears human error at the station level has little if anything to do with it. The music database somehow got corrupted.
 
When their teams are doing well, sports radio does well in Philly. I find it interesting that while the Red Sox are in the playoffs, more Bostonians are listening to the other sports radio station.
Stronger personalities are a factor. So is the general perception that the Red Sox are something of a fluke this year, not serious contenders for a title. They could still be blown away by the Astros, or whoever wins the National League, but I'll be curious to see if WEEI's numbers improve when this ratings period's book comes out. Others have noted that WBZ-FM's hosts having been talking much more about the Patriots than the Red Sox -- understandable because WBZ-FM is paying the Patriots handsomely for the rights to their games and also because there is much fascination in how the team does without Tom Brady. Should the Pats' season spiral into 8-9 or 7-10 mediocrity -- and even a win over Dallas today only gets them to 3-3 -- listeners may drift away from sports talk entirely, since the Celtics and Bruins really don't drive conversation much on either station.
 
The unbridled hatred for radio companies, and by extension their people, on this board is unbelievable.
The things that these companies do to stations is unbelievable. Stations like Live 105 made me want to work in radio, but with the way it is now I’m glad I decided not to. Sad for anyone to be in a business that they don’t love (I worked in the movie theater biz through the 90s and can only sigh at what’s been happening there also, while I enjoy movies on my home theater system.)
 
The unbridled hatred for radio companies, and by extension their people, on this board is unbelievable.
It's a commentary on the lack of creativity exhibited by Auducy, iHeart, and Cumulus. Note how very little hatred, if any, is posted by people against Bonneville, for example. That company respects its stations, its talent, and generally runs excellent stations.
 
It's a commentary on the lack of creativity exhibited by Auducy, iHeart, and Cumulus. Note how very little hatred, if any, is posted by people against Bonneville, for example. That company respects its stations, its talent, and generally runs excellent stations.

However, they're not the first company I think of when I use the word "creativity."
 
I haven't always been the biggest iHeart fan, but I'd argue that some of their stations are some of the most interesting in the radio landscape. KOSF is definitely one of the more interesting classic hits radio stations that I've heard in recent years. They don't deviate too far from what one would expect from a classic hits station, but they have enough variety to make listening a fun experience. iHeart hasn't always gotten it right when it comes to handling their on-air talent, but this is an issue across the industry. For the sake of comparison, Audacy classic hits equivalent stations are not nearly as interesting.
 
Given that 105.3 flipped, I also have to wonder what this means for other alternative radio stations across the country. Is this a reflection about the longevity of alternative radio in the future and the changing tastes of audiences?
 
It's a commentary on the lack of creativity exhibited by Auducy, iHeart, and Cumulus. Note how very little hatred, if any, is posted by people against Bonneville, for example. That company respects its stations, its talent, and generally runs excellent stations.
Bonneville isn't a nationwide company, as of now, considering that they own stations chiefly in the Western United States. And Bonneville, being owned by the Mormon church, was notorious for not running beer ads on their rock stations and having very conservative Top 40 stations (a song titled Sexual was censored, also they were hesitant on playing anything hip-hop).
 
For the sake of comparison, Audacy classic hits equivalent stations are not nearly as interesting.
Wait, even CBS-FM? I kind of like that they are pop-leaning, and they seem to enter the 90s well. And they have personalities like Scott Shannon and Broadway Bill Lee. CBS-FM differs from K-Earth, which has rotations that are a little tighter and a noticeable affinity for New Wave.
 
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Given that 105.3 flipped, I also have to wonder what this means for other alternative radio stations across the country. Is this a reflection about the longevity of alternative radio in the future and the changing tastes of audiences?
Boston does not even have a commercial alternative station. And that's a big deal because alternative rock radio's core listeners tend to be white, urban, college-educated, and affluent. Even though the Boston metro has a high percentage of people that fit all four attributes, Alternative radio in Boston has floundered over the past decade or so, becoming all but non-existent (at least commercially).
 
The fifth word I'd use to describe alt fans is "tribal." Over the last ten years they've splintered into numerous sub-groups that no longer comprise a "core," making the format more individualistic, and therefore harder to program.
And on top of that, artists like Nirvana have become classic rock radio staples.
 
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