So there I was at Jones Beach with my big portable radio waiting for the choreographed music from WALK and then came the letdown. First let me say thank god we were spared Lee Greenwood. But while the music did work well with the explosions, it would have been nice to hear Michael Jackson (due to recent developments) or Billy Joel. Do we really need to hear "Imagine" again?? How bout Ray Charles' classic? The music seemed programmed to satisfy some consultant who said "give em Jason Mraz...it tests real well with 25-54s". Not a major deal, but the musical choices just seemed..uninspired. Funny how right before the fireworks began they played a Lady GaGa mix of Poker face that sounded like the wrong mix for WALK (very dancey version) and the two songs that followed the show were "Billie Jean" and "Beat it".
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Can we get better fireworks music PLEASE?
- Thread starter KingJJ
- Start date
M
matt99x
Guest
Great fireworks music story. When I was programming WRCN in the 90's we did a fireworks show with the Grucci's and simulcast the music on the radio. They came up with the usual lame soundtrack, which was for the most part unsuitable for the 'RCN hard rock format at that time. I made certain concessions, but was adamant that they remove Kool and the Gang's "Celebration" from the list. I gave them a list of several songs as a replacement, and they assured me that "Celebration" would be removed. When I received the soundtrack tape about an hour before the show, I checked the music and sure enough, about 2 and a half minutes of "Celebration" was still on the tape. The Grucci's lied to me, and boy I was pissed. I searched the music library quickly for a song that would fit in 2 and a half minutes and came up with "Wild Thing" by the Troggs, and gave instructions to the DJ Sean O. Shea to pot down "Celebration" and jam "Wild Thing" instead. I made my way to the fireworks show, and when "Wild Thing" hit, all the Grucci people went ballistic. They bitched to the GM, but he had my back(which would never happen nowadays) since the station was doing great business at the time. By the way, "Wild Thing" sounded just fine. Needless to say, we never sponsored another Grucci fireworks show.
It's corporate LI Radio.... and boring Grucci.... you expected something better with that combo?
Speaking of WALK, they should change the calls to WWKT, since she seems to be the only thing on. I don't think the station has ever sounded this bad, but I'm sure I'll be able to update that statement in 6 months (or hours)
Speaking of WALK, they should change the calls to WWKT, since she seems to be the only thing on. I don't think the station has ever sounded this bad, but I'm sure I'll be able to update that statement in 6 months (or hours)
For the record, the Jones Beach fireworks were done by Bay Fireworks, not Grucci.
Grucci did the Brookhaven fireworks show, and Souza did the Macy's show in NYC.
Grucci did the Brookhaven fireworks show, and Souza did the Macy's show in NYC.
N
NickFM
Guest
wgliradio said:
Do you mean in terms of her airshift hours or frequency on spots?
Actually, the fireworks were done by Garden State Fireworks from the, uh, Garden State. No LI company involved this year. They announced it beforehand. In addition, WALK actually interrupted the music 3 times to tell us who was sponsoring the show. Next time, have some class and just let the music play--plus the pre-show sounded super-canned/scripted/and pre-recorded when it should really sound like a celebration. It's the birthday of our Country for pete's sake! Then again, there were so few radios tuned in there because WALK is still essentially a Suffolk County radio station. BTW, great RCN story!
Ahhh the good ole days of RCN, I wish they would revert back to that format. Does anybody know if they were getting good ratings?
M
matt99x
Guest
Ahhh the good ole days of RCN, I wish they would revert back to that format. Does anybody know if they were getting good ratings?
From 91-95 WRCN had the most consistent ratings in station history. With just the 103.9 frequency we averaged a 1.3 rating..and topped out at a 1.7..and once we had the dual frequency 103.9 and 94.3 we were in the mid-2's and closing in on 'BAB. Give credit to an incredible staff led by GM David Feinblatt and the finest group of broadcasters I've ever worked with..people like Joe Thomas, AJ Manno,Sean O. Shea, Morgan Thomas, The Sam's(Ryan, Pierson and Stevens) and of course Kaptain Kevin. Plus a great group of interns, clients, and sales staff. I also have to give credit to our consultant Alan Sneed who understood that we needed to sound different than the other rock stations in the market and allowed us to play a ton of new music, and introduce bands like Metallica, Pearl Jam, Nirvana and Soundgarden to the market(and play them during the day...not just in the middle of the night and on specialty shows)
It was one of those situations so rare in radio these days when everything came together to create a situation where everyone loved to come to work every day. You ask anyone who worked there during that time, and they'll tell you that "Suffolk County's Pure Rock and Roll" was a very special radio station that was all about "the audience."
From 91-95 WRCN had the most consistent ratings in station history. With just the 103.9 frequency we averaged a 1.3 rating..and topped out at a 1.7..and once we had the dual frequency 103.9 and 94.3 we were in the mid-2's and closing in on 'BAB. Give credit to an incredible staff led by GM David Feinblatt and the finest group of broadcasters I've ever worked with..people like Joe Thomas, AJ Manno,Sean O. Shea, Morgan Thomas, The Sam's(Ryan, Pierson and Stevens) and of course Kaptain Kevin. Plus a great group of interns, clients, and sales staff. I also have to give credit to our consultant Alan Sneed who understood that we needed to sound different than the other rock stations in the market and allowed us to play a ton of new music, and introduce bands like Metallica, Pearl Jam, Nirvana and Soundgarden to the market(and play them during the day...not just in the middle of the night and on specialty shows)
It was one of those situations so rare in radio these days when everything came together to create a situation where everyone loved to come to work every day. You ask anyone who worked there during that time, and they'll tell you that "Suffolk County's Pure Rock and Roll" was a very special radio station that was all about "the audience."
Ah 94.3... a station that had great ratings as Magic (they were closing in on WALK) before Greater Greed sold it. 2's were good for WRCN on 94.3, but I remember the upper 3's & 4's it was getting as probably one of the best AC formats I can remember.
When you throw in the demise of WGSM, which has never recovered, the 103.9 & 94.3 days were, to me, the death of two viable LI frequencies (740 & 94.3) that have never recovered.
When you throw in the demise of WGSM, which has never recovered, the 103.9 & 94.3 days were, to me, the death of two viable LI frequencies (740 & 94.3) that have never recovered.
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