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Comedy 1200

Since Provdience is essentially a one talker town (Cumulus' 630/99.7)....CC might do well to flip its own 920 to the comedy format as well. It would be hard to imagine them doing any worse!
 
ksradiogeek said:
ScottBurns said:
I am not sure if any of the big companies own it, but there is an all-comedy station on FM in Kansas City. I believe it is on 102.5.
Cumulus runs that one.

Yep, and they're running the same feed that Comedy 1200 is running.

I think this is the 24/7 Comedy feed that CC has been hinting at spreading to other markets in the country.
 
Both 102.5/Kansas City and the "24/7 Comedy" network itself are run by Cumulus. By the way, that "Funny 102.5," which launched with a 4.0 rating over a year ago, has been hemorrhaging ratings and cume lately... KCMO-FM HD2 now in 18th place, barely beating KCMO-AM!
 
Comedy is a highly repetitive and content limited format. How many new routines are there that come out every day?? And how many are actually funny?

Once you've heard a routine a couple of time, unless it is pure genius, you don't need to hear it again.

I see this "format" just like Jammin Oldies or any other very limited, pigeonholed format. Quick burn out.
 
Back in the "olden days", comedy albums (Bob Newhart, Bill Cosby, et al.) were recorded with the audience response audible, but definitely in the background so as not to drown out the comedian. From listening to a few minutes of more current comedians on 1200, it seems the current trend is to emphasize the audience response so that you can barely hear what the comedian is saying. After a few minutes listening to 1200 (in between the snaps, crackles, and pops of the crappy signal where I live) I went back to music on FM.
 
I was exposed to Funny 850 in VA and also a station in the LA area and indeed it sounds like either the crowds are REALLY excited and laughing their butts off, or it's being "sweetened" to give that impression. Indeed sometimes you can barely hear the comedian but often they wind up shouting and sounding very hyper: "SO I SAID, I DAMMIT I WANT MORE PIE!!!" (audience cracks up)
"WON"T ANYBODY GET ME SOME MORE PIE? I JUST LOOKED AT ONE SLICE AND I SWEAR GAINED
---TEN---POUNDS!!!"

I long for a little more sedate stuff like Dennis Miller's '89 album: "I just came back from the Deep South and I have to tell you these people are anything but deep. I was playing at a place called
I Don't Get It's."
Maybe play some Cosby like that bit about how he thought he could get away with serving chocolate cake to his kids for breakfast. Cosby does get expressive, etc. but not overly hyper.
"The kids were all singing 'Dad is great! gave us chocolate cake!' Until....."
He describes his wife happening on the scene. "And then those kids, who had been singing
my praises...lied...on...me! They said uh uh, Dad forced us to eat that cake. We wanted
eggs! And milk!!"

Now that's comedy
 
WNTIRadio said:
Comedy is a highly repetitive and content limited format. How many new routines are there that come out every day?? And how many are actually funny?

Once you've heard a routine a couple of time, unless it is pure genius, you don't need to hear it again.

I see this "format" just like Jammin Oldies or any other very limited, pigeonholed format. Quick burn out.

SiriusXM keeps "Raw Dog," its uncensored comedy channel, fresh by doing its own programming -- interviews with comics, recording at comedy clubs and comedy festivals, etc. The "family comedy" channel, "Laugh USA," is basically on autopilot; maybe a few new bits are added occasionally, but it's mostly the same old, same old. Of course, Seinfeld fans can listen to his monologues over and over and over, and they generally wear well even with people who aren't really hardcore fans of his. Same with old Cosby stuff. If CC's format is going to focus on contemporary comics, though, it's got to be kept fresh. Somehow, I don't see CC putting the effort into it.
 
I noticed the following comment on the NYC board in a thread wondering if comedy radio was coming to NYC: "Clear Channel's "Comedy Radio 24/7" is horrid IMO. Clips of stand-up comedy randomly played with no rhyme or reason. The comic is identified AFTER the clip is finished and the next one begins. CC seems to put it on AM stations they see as dead weight. Doubtful they would buy a station to put on what clearly is seen as filler material."

That's what it seems to me. This way they don't have to pay music royalties (True Oldies etc.).
Another post called it a "desperation move"--well, they could also have just shut it off. This makes me wonder if it's just biding time till they can go Fox Sports. Spoken word, no music royalties,
attractive demo despite all the other sports in town.
 
aerie said:
Back in the "olden days", comedy albums (Bob Newhart, Bill Cosby, et al.) were recorded with the audience response audible, but definitely in the background so as not to drown out the comedian. From listening to a few minutes of more current comedians on 1200, it seems the current trend is to emphasize the audience response so that you can barely hear what the comedian is saying. After a few minutes listening to 1200 (in between the snaps, crackles, and pops of the crappy signal where I live) I went back to music on FM.

If you listen enough, you may be tempted to wonder, as I do, whether the audience "reaction" has been added to the cuts or has been, at least, "enhanced." The supposedly different audiences sound to me very much like the same group of people on EVERY track--and the people are all young and mostly female. All young, I can understand. Does the largely female composition of the laugh-track "people" indicate that the target demo is predominantly female? I had expected the target demo to lean slightly male. However, with all of the sports networks scoffing up the male audience, maybe it's wise to target the 24/7 comedy format at an audience that is predominantly female.
 
raccoonradio said:
I noticed the following comment on the NYC board in a thread wondering if comedy radio was coming to NYC: "Clear Channel's "Comedy Radio 24/7" is horrid IMO. Clips of stand-up comedy randomly played with no rhyme or reason. The comic is identified AFTER the clip is finished and the next one begins. CC seems to put it on AM stations they see as dead weight. Doubtful they would buy a station to put on what clearly is seen as filler material."

That's what it seems to me. This way they don't have to pay music royalties (True Oldies etc.).
Another post called it a "desperation move"--well, they could also have just shut it off. This makes me wonder if it's just biding time till they can go Fox Sports. Spoken word, no music royalties,
attractive demo despite all the other sports in town.

If the format is paying the power bill and attracting an audience (however small) that advertisers want, why change a unique-to-the-market format to become Boston's third or fourth (depending on what 1510 does) sports station? They don't call 'em Cheap Channel for nothing, y'know.
 
>>why change a unique-to-the-market format to become Boston's third or fourth (depending on what 1510 does) sports station? They don't call 'em Cheap Channel for nothing, y'know.

True but they do syndicate Fox Sports and if 98.5 loses it, they'd want a clearance for FSR. Then again I said same thing about the poli talk shows on the right (Beck, Hannity, --Rush now going to RKO) or left (R. Rhodes). "Oh, they'd want their shows to be aired in Boston, run the ads". So who knows: comedy could be a quick few months as a format, or if they think it could work (as i said
the Norfolk VA station is still at it more than a year from launch). They may be gambling on it to
see if it gets ratings, and it could be a desirable demo. Airing True Oldies = having to pay royalties.

Of couse being cons. or liberal talk --all syndicated--could also be a cheap way (yes, Cheap
Channel) to make at least a few bucks. Now Bos. has just WRKO and WTKK as full time talk
stations (dealing with commercial radio). WBZ is part time. WWZN is prob going the sports talk route though maybe
they still would have Santos buying time. One show.

>>whether the audience "reaction" has been added to the cuts or has been, at least, "enhanced."

Sweetened. Laugh track machine added.
Some TV sitcoms were in front of a live studio response; some had a laugh track; some, a bit of both. All in the Family, after awhile, recorded their shows without a studio audience then
an audience was brought in to see the show played back on monitors, and their laughs were
recorded leading to the disclaimer during the end credits "All in the Family was played to a studio audience for live responses". (The net-only show Stu's Show recently discussed
All in the Family and this was mentioned, along with describing Carroll O'Connor's demands involving the continuation of the series.)

But yes there is "sweetening".

(Wiki. entry on All in the Famly: "For the show's final season, the practice of being taped before a live audience changed to playing the already taped and edited show to an audience and recording their laughter to add to the original sound track. Thus, the voice-over during the end credits was changed from Rob Reiner's "All in the Family was recorded on tape before a live audience" to Carroll O'Connor's "All in the Family was played to a studio audience for live responses". (Typically, the audience would be gathered for a taping of One Day at a Time, and get to see All In the Family as a bonus.) Throughout its run, Norman Lear took pride in the fact that canned laughter was never used (mentioning this on many occasions); the laughter heard in the episodes was genuine.")
 
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