Bloomberg 960 ending October 1

[K.M. Richards]

I’m trying to understand this complaint…

I was responding to, and agreeing with, our head moderator Lance.

I know how he thinks, as I was a moderator for all of the California boards on the old Radio-Info, many years back. A common complaint back then was people who would ask a question, get the answer from one of the pros, and then proceed to ask a similar -- or sometimes identical -- question. Lance will probably remember my frequent use of the phrase "Santayana was right" (although Churchill's later adaptation seems to better apply).

For some reason, participants here have the tendency to seize on the flimsiest of a basis and form a prediction on same. The recent threads on 98.7 and 880 in New York were prime examples; they had a combined total of almost 2900 posts in the space of six weeks, a fair amount of those being conjecture. Even when a "prediction" was debunked, people clung to their belief that it would happen.

Lance closed one of those threads as it approached 1000 posts on its own. Another of them has continued and has focused on the idea that the temporary 98.7 format will be permanent (for those who are blissfully unaware, the station is the last in what used to be a chain of stations owned by Emmis nationwide, they are running programming on an interim basis after a LMA ended, and are still looking to unload it).

Thus:

There's nothing to read into the August 2 date.

As usual around here ... much ado about nothing and much conjecture based on less than nothing. 🙄

Clearer now?

 

[Weiserguy]

Clearer now?

There's an unsimple and authorarian way to deal with this. Establish a new set of rules for participants:

1. No posting unless you've read all the preceding posts in a thread;
2. No posting of questions if they're already been posted, by you or anyone else, and answered, by you or anyone else.
3. No posting of speculation if you or anyone else has posted similar speculation already, whether or not it's been responded to by others;
4. No arguing with anyone who's responded to #2 or #3 *unless* you can dispute their opinion(s) with facts, or correct misinformation with facts. That must include a source for your facts, or how your own personal experience is relevant.
5. For participants who break the rules, first time is a warning, second a one week suspension, third a two week suspension, fourth your posting privileges get revoked.

Problem solved. Number of new posts reduced by, I'd guess, 90%. Reason to participate reduced by, I'd guess, 99%.

Then you and the other dozen or so insiders who really want this to be an insiders' discussion board (also readable as: private club) would get your way, but everyone else would be off to someplace else and the reason for RD to exist would quickly evaporate.

Even clearer now?

 

[michael hagerty]

Then you and the other dozen or so insiders who really want this to be an insiders' discussion board (also readable as: private club) would get your way, but everyone else would be off to someplace else and the reason for RD to exist would quickly evaporate.

I can't speak for the others, or even assume that I'm being lumped in with the "insiders", but I don't feel that way. It would have been easy enough to create a "private club" if that was the intent.

That said, the willful ignorance ("I don't care what the facts are, this is what I think") gets old fast, and compels corrections that make those of us with experience look more "authoritarian" than we would like.

I've been asked many times over the last 20-ish years why I feel the need to correct misconceptions and misstatements of fact on this board. My answer has usually been diplomatic, but between us, my mental first draft usually would read:


"So someone in the future, seeking the truth about the business, doesn't read the crap you just wrote and take it as fact."

 

[lanceventa]

I was responding to, and agreeing with, our head moderator Lance.

I know how he thinks, as I was a moderator for all of the California boards on the old Radio-Info, many years back. A common complaint back then was people who would ask a question, get the answer from one of the pros, and then proceed to ask a similar -- or sometimes identical -- question. Lance will probably remember my frequent use of the phrase "Santayana was right" (although Churchill's later adaptation seems to better apply).

For some reason, participants here have the tendency to seize on the flimsiest of a basis and form a prediction on same. The recent threads on 98.7 and 880 in New York were prime examples; they had a combined total of almost 2900 posts in the space of six weeks, a fair amount of those being conjecture. Even when a "prediction" was debunked, people clung to their belief that it would happen.

Lance closed one of those threads as it approached 1000 posts on its own. Another of them has continued and has focused on the idea that the temporary 98.7 format will be permanent (for those who are blissfully unaware, the station is the last in what used to be a chain of stations owned by Emmis nationwide, they are running programming on an interim basis after a LMA ended, and are still looking to unload it).

Thus:




Clearer now?

@K.M. Richards You need to stop speaking on my or other admins behalf...

I was simply discussing how that domain being updated meant nothing, YOU took it to mean all conjecture and everything else that followed.

 

[K.M. Richards]

@K.M. Richards You need to stop speaking on my or other admins behalf...

I was simply discussing how that domain being updated meant nothing, YOU took it to mean all conjecture and everything else that followed.

*sigh*

And I was trying to agree with you, too.

 

[cc333]

It's all OK. Everyone calm down!

c

 

[radiofan2023]

Kumbaya, my lord.....

 

[davideduardo]

That said, the willful ignorance ("I don't care what the facts are, this is what I think") gets old fast, and compels corrections that make those of us with experience look more "authoritarian" than we would like.

Really? I just thought I was being pedantic!

I've been asked many times over the last 20-ish years why I feel the need to correct misconceptions and misstatements of fact on this board. My answer has usually been diplomatic, but between us, my mental first draft usually would read:

We have to remember that one of the risks of carelessly programmed AI is that it picks up the incredible wealth of misinformation now in the web and uses that to formulate AI statements and conclusions. It is easy for people who do not know how to cross-check to seize tin cans from the trash and present them as jewels from Tiffany.

"So someone in the future, seeking the truth about the business, doesn't read the crap you just wrote and take it as fact."

That should be the motto of my radio history site.

 

[Weiserguy]

I can't speak for the others, or even assume that I'm being lumped in with the "insiders", but I don't feel that way. It would have been easy enough to create a "private club" if that was the intent.

In case it wasn't clear beyond a reasonable doubt, there was at least a soupçon of sarcasm intended in what I wrote. IMO, there's a significant difference between someone expressing an unusual (or even off-the-wall) opinion in a message thread, and a yayhoo who has a fixation with an idea and can't let it go, no matter how many times they're told it's inaccurate or unrealistic. (The example I have in mind is the folks who want to relaunch Alt Rock anywhere there's a temporarily underutilized frequency, regardless of how many previous failures stem from that same decision. But that's by no means the only one.)

 

[michael hagerty]

Really? I just thought I was being pedantic!

🤣

We have to remember that one of the risks of carelessly programmed AI is that it picks up the incredible wealth of misinformation now in the web and uses that to formulate AI statements and conclusions. It is easy for people who do not know how to cross-check to seize tin cans from the trash and present them as jewels from Tiffany.

A new and very real concern.

That should be the motto of my radio history site.

Feel free to use it.

 

[JoeU]

I can't speak for the others, or even assume that I'm being lumped in with the "insiders", but I don't feel that way. It would have been easy enough to create a "private club" if that was the intent.

That said, the willful ignorance ("I don't care what the facts are, this is what I think") gets old fast, and compels corrections that make those of us with experience look more "authoritarian" than we would like.

I've been asked many times over the last 20-ish years why I feel the need to correct misconceptions and misstatements of fact on this board. My answer has usually been diplomatic, but between us, my mental first draft usually would read:


"So someone in the future, seeking the truth about the business, doesn't read the crap you just wrote and take it as fact."

Those with "experience" many times come across as being condescending. Many of us are on this board to discuss radio as the title suggests. Many of us old geezers remember how things were 40, 50 years ago and long for that era to return knowing full well that it won't.

One thing is clear, the need for change is sorely needed. It seems that Audacy, iHeart and Cumulus keep on dredging up the same old tired formats under the assumption that for example Conservative Talk is somehow going to reign in quick cash in an election season which is mainly going after a demographic of 60+ that is not favorable to advertisers. Yet, those with experience keep on saying that a format like this is still profitable.

These self created conglomerates are competing against themselves with no real good incentive to create intriguing programing which in turn creates the situation they are currently in circling the drain filing for bankruptcy trying to save them selves while the listeners run in droves to podcasts and streaming music sources.

 

[TheBigA]

One thing is clear, the need for change is sorely needed. It seems that Audacy, iHeart and Cumulus keep on dredging up the same old tired formats

Because that's what the people who still use radio want. The other people are already gone. They're not coming back, no matter the format.

The big companies are investing in change. None of it involves broadcast radio. Because that's not a growth area anymore.

These self created conglomerates are competing against themselves with no real good incentive to create intriguing programing

You don't think money is a good incentive? How much would you pay to get what you want? Because if you make Audacy, iHeart, and Cumulus an offer, they are likely to accept. That's what just happened in NYC. A guy made an offer to Emmis to put his morning show on 98.7, and they accepted. That's how Bloomberg got on 960. They made an offer, and it was accepted.

Creativity is a lot harder when it's your money on the line. Put your money on the table, and then we'll see how creative you are. Otherwise you're just another opinion like everyone else. But I shouldn't say that, for fear of appearing condescending.

 

[KilowattKat]

Has there been any success anywhere doing 'podcast' radio? It seems like if it's done right it could be a nice alternative to what is now heard on talk radio. Having some of the top podcasts on radio like Adam Corolla, Chelsea Handler's 'Life will be the death of me' (my personal favorite), Crime Junkie, Smartless, and others. I know I would be a listener.

Wasn't it tried on 1550 AM some years back? Times have changed, so maybe it could be a success this time around

 

[TheBigA]

Has there been any success anywhere doing 'podcast' radio?

It's actually a national format. A lot of Alpha stations are using it.

PODCAST RADIO NOW AVAILABLE THROUGH LOCAL RADIO NETWORKS (LRN) - Local Radio Networks

Local Radio Networks is logging its first all-talk format with the addition of Podcast Radio. Through this collaboration with Krantz Media Group, Podcast Radio content will be accessible from LRN via its distribution platform for affiliate stations’ automation systems. After starting in the UK...

localradionetworks.com

iHeart has their own version and they run it on some HD2s

Pretty unlikely Corolla or other big names would allow their podcasts, which are based on subscriptions, to air for free on local radio.

 

[KilowattKat]

It's actually a national format. A lot of iHeart and Alpha stations are doing it.

Really! I didn't know that. Do you know which markets?

 

[radiofan2023]

Has there been any success anywhere doing 'podcast' radio? It seems like if it's done right it could be a nice alternative to what is now heard on talk radio. Having some of the top podcasts on radio like Adam Corolla, Chelsea Handler's 'Life will be the death of me' (my personal favorite), Crime Junkie, Smartless, and others. I know I would be a listener.

Wasn't it tried on 1550 AM some years back? Times have changed, so maybe it could be a success this time around

You're thinking of when KYCY did it calling themselves "KYOU Radio", and I don't think it was that successful back then. I listened to one show on it that a friend hosted, it was good but other than that show I didn't listen to it.
Here's an article about it:

https://web.archive.org/web/20050514014247/http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2005/04/28/BUGETCGGLH1.DTL&type=business

 

[TheBigA]

Really! I didn't know that. Do you know which markets?

Podcast Radio To Replace KWIX and KREI In Missouri - Radio Ink

After Beasley Media Group's success in rolling out Podcast Radio to its first US markets, Alpha Media is bringing the format to Missouri.

radioink.com

 

[KilowattKat]

Podcast Radio To Replace KWIX and KREI In Missouri - Radio Ink

After Beasley Media Group's success in rolling out Podcast Radio to its first US markets, Alpha Media is bringing the format to Missouri.

radioink.com

These are some rather small markets. The real test will be how it does in medium and large.

 

[Funkalicious]

What goes around comes around...it would be so bazaar if 960 returned as MOR with KABL calls...as I mentioned on an old thread, that was my SF Aunt's favorite station, it seemed to be on 24/7 in her place!

That was my background station and would become my background station again if it came back. (But I would still tune in KCEA of Woodside).

Will the station air A's games next season?

 

[K.M. Richards]

Will the station air A's games next season?

I have not seen any announcement of which station(s) will carry the games, although Vince Cotroneo has announced he will not be moving with the team to Sacramento (much less Las Vegas, down the road).

As far as I know, since 2020 the agreement between iHeart and the A's has been on a year-by-year basis, so anything is possible.