Complaints about a few stations......

[ROCKO11]

Ok time to jump in! We do both! We're live all day until 6 pm, and then go to the network. And indeed, there is a right way and wrong way to do satt. I've never heard ROCK's station, so I can't comment.

But Scott, you need to just make that transition to Bright AC. Dump the oldies! Never heard of anyone in a LOOONG time airing two different formats.

I think you said that to me once before!

We are just about ready to. The hold up is on Dial Global's end now. What I'm waiting on now is Gary Thompson (PD of Dial Global's Bright AC Format) changing BAC's hourly clock to where I can get more inventory in. Bright AC's dayclock is terrible right now. The way the breaks and length of the breaks are, it's difficult to get everything in I need to run, especially in PM drive. He's working on it now and it should be done in two weeks.
Some new liners are being produced as well for me.

In the meantime, I've been working on other stuff to get ready. A new logo is in the works (very colorful), new website etc. Hang on to your rockin boots Chris, it's coming (HA!) Email me off the list.

 

[ROCKO11]

<<<Don't hand me that it is cheaper to PAY warm body to sit thier can babysitting the board than to put the station on satellite. YOU MUST BE OUT OF YOUR MIND! Look at what the broadcaster saves when the station is on satellite, and it's one less person to pay!>>>

Rock, I see you're point and should have been clearer on where I was going with that. I am speaking specifically for WVNS and the signal in Davidson County proper and the effect of the ratings now vs. The Party before it died a long, slow death. I am referring to the
fact that if you have a live and local show (and sadly you and I both know there IS good available local talent, not seat warmers
with no talent) for $10-$15 a hour. Wish it wasn't the case, but it is. Right now the station bills virtually nothing after 7 PM. I am
referring to the pure garbage they attempt to feed into the three remaining listeners that are masocists and enjoy dead air, two spots
running at the same time or imaging and spots running DURING the rather sad music being played. Could they find a better source
from a satellite? Hell, yes. IT does sound like you're comment about Vol State already. How in the heck can anyone be dumb enough
to buy advertising on crap like that --- or have the ability to sell any real $$$ ads? It's a lost opportunity and a lost cause at this point.
John King can't get through the red tape to make this station not sound like market #2546. It's a joke. I was saying, put on a decent
(better than 97.1) person from 7-12, clean it all up and certainly they can sell 2-$25.00 spots an hour making them profit, albiet
little. It will help them succeed in other dayparts, as well. A win-win. I completely understand your situation in Sumner Cty and NO
you don't need a full staff, nor could you afford it. Do you think your station sounds as bad or worse than V-102 at night? I doubt
you'd ever stand for it because you know it's lost revenue opportunity. In V-102's case that satellite feed is costing them a potential fortune...and them thinking it's saving them a few dollars is a flawed perception. I hope that's clearer. Probably not.

Again, I don't have any issues with satellite programming that's done right. The type that sounds good to listeners, provides advertisers a
viable product and V-102 is just the opposite in every way. And, I see where Rock later posted about WQRK in Portland. What you're saying
there is no different than what I believe. And, I did work at WQSI in good ole Portland....and it was a disaster in every aspect, but we managed
to pay the bills when I was there, which, by the grace of God was a shocker! And, I have total respect for you, lash and Paul for having the guts
to fight all the obstacles of small AM's! You'd been gone long ago if you had to pay to park butts, I agree with you totally there.

<<<From the looks of your comments above, you have never ran a station before! Arbitorn ratings and market #'s mean nothing when it comes down to the accounting/accounts payable of a station!>>>

Dead wrong here, sir! My success has always come from programming damn rockin' good soundin stations with 50kw to 100kw FM
signals that usually kicked everyone's butt with hi-energy and almost always live and local, except sometimes 12M-6A. But, you and I
will always disagree if you think for a minute that ratings, numbers, popularity and a strong image and name don't matter. And for the record..anyone who listens to accountants to run their business is going to fail to be all they can be. Again, I am looking at WVNS as
a underperforming property that, if I owned it, would NOT be limping along like it is. I'd tweak and change it til it's right. Product vs.
Profits is a stupid way to run radio. It's fleeting. Every second lost is $$$. I am sure the accounting side of WVNS is not all that busy..
except maybe forking out tons of red ink. The accounting dept. is a distant third to the programming,marketing and sales department.
I call that Product = Profits. Accountants scare me...even ones in cheerleading uniforms, but I digress...

<<<Don't tell me you would rather have some Vol State student in there than have a professional announcer from a satellite service. You must be a ACLU cheerleader!>>>

Not a chance of that. I say, in V-102's situation they need a professional announcer from 7-12 instead of THAT (or most) satellite
service. If they choose to be cheap as always, then at least get some listenable feed on the air or just turn the crappy digital signal
off and save even more money.

Most importantly, I do like most cheerleaders, but the ACLU ain't team one I'm willing to support, just the opposite...I'm not sure I'd know
exactly who or what I'd be looking at. Yuck! That's hitting me below the belt to throw that accusation out. ;D Rock-On , sir! Keep fightin'
the fight.

Good Grief Tibbs.....Calm down!

Now, as far as V-102.5's deal, I agree with you on that. I was listening one night around the 7 PM hour. The female local jock (LuLu) was ending her shift. I suppose she was running the board. She must have been in a real hurry to leave, so at the top of the hour, she pots down the song she was play and pots up the satellite feed...no liners, no top of the hour LEGAL ID, nothing. It sounded awful. Then as the computer was receiving tones for the liners, the playing liners were buried under the music coming from network. The whole hour I listen to it the more of a mess. Commercial breaks not time out correctly, timed with the network, etc. Why Bud allows this to go on beats the hell out of me.


WVNS-FM has been a loser since day one, when Bud bought it as WDKN-FM in Dickson, with the little old lady doing the obituaries and playing old style southern gospel music, weekday mornings. They upgrade the power, change frequency from 102.3 to 102.5 and from that point on, it’s been a downhill mess. It’s tried to be a Metro Nashville station, when he should be concentrating on the Clarksville Market, due to he has a hot signal up there from the tower site in Charlotte, TN. I’ve noticed over the years since the power increase, they have been able to sell ads easier in Clarksville. Yes, Q-108 gives them hell, but compare Q-108 to V-102.5 and I would say Q-108 is the winner.


I was at WQSI when it changed to WHRP in the 80’s. Boy, wasn’t Bob Hudson a trip! I don’t want to get started on him. He still owns me money! The little Portland station has had it troubles since day one when it signed on as WMRL in 1980. When Ron Simpson and his wife bought it in 1989, they turned it around. Things started to go a little dim when Ron died, but when Devita sold the station, it hung in there and Lee Dorman is doing a good job up there. Oh do you remember the old McMartin Transmitter that was there? I loved to watch those 4-400 tubes glow!


I got to get out of here, the ACLU may be after me! At least tibbs, we agree on that subject and organization!

R

 

[yorkie9]

HA! You've got to be joking! That Vol State student is to wraped up in music to worry about a Vandy Basketball Score or a Tornado coming towards your house. I've seen many stations I worked at in the 80's and early 90's where the jock didn't have a clue to what was going on even outside of the building!

A perfect example is to listen to PM drive on WVOL. The girl sounds like a typical Vol State Student, and has NO clue of how radio should be. Is this what you want? I rather let the Scott Studio's Automation run with the music and to hell with the jock! Oh the tornado deal, that's what we have EAS for.

R

I think everyone at WVCP will be crouching in the hallway if someone yells tornado this year!
And, I'm not sure why people knock you for wanting to run without jocks. It appears to be working well for Jack-FM. I don't think the money has stopped rolling in since the jocks disappeared.

 

[Tibbs4]

Rock:

A COUPLE OF BEERS certainly make the good ole days seem better...

Yeah, Bob was an interesting situation. We had Kearley's Hardware, The Rebel Rouser, Dan's Furniture and whatever that Seventh Day Adventist hospital was as advertisers. I think that was about it. You know, those folks were actually pretty dern patient and kind to us
despite knowing that the advertising was a questionable venture. Bob (and remember his I-think eventual wife Kathy???) still owe me, too.

I remember realizing at a young age, thanks to that, that I needed to just go make it happen, cause if Bob was able to get financing for
those properties, someone WOULD buy swampland in Portland. It was certainly a scary and eye-opening reality, that you gotta go make it for yourself. There wasn't a lot of sitting around, for sure. Head for the beaches right after that!



I am glad to hear you ramp up the new STL programming (even if it's NOT all VOL all the time!!! ha) ---

 

[Tenn Radio Boy]

The beauty about this post is that every has the right to have an opinion about the sorry ass state of Nashville radio.

May I offer my thoughts on the subject?

Sirius, XM, IPOD, or the other variety of personal listening devices.

I have an IPOD and program what I what to hear, without the mindless dribble of dj's and their comedic skills.

Radio industry has killed the medium, so 40 plus people like me have discovered other choices.

 

[romer979fm]

Radio industry has killed the medium, so 40 plus people like me have discovered other choices.

then may I politely ask why you're posting on a radio board?

 

[radiodood]

He wants a group HUGE!!

 

[Tibbs4]

radiodood ---

Teen Radio Boy (the 40 plus version) doesn't need a group huge ...more like he's looking for an IPodHuge...





I'll just stick or my misspellings on posts...I, for one, ain't huging nothing.

 

[ROCKO11]

Radio industry has killed the medium, so 40 plus people like me have discovered other choices.

then may I politely ask why you're posting on a radio board?

Hold up a mintue Chris,

He does have a vaild point. Since the radical change WRQQ, all the 60's Oldies fans have ran to this board and other sites, moaning, griping and complaing. Now you and I know that's not going to get them nowhere.
Nashville radio, like other markets I've seen this size, go through radical changes, just like when you were at MAK. One day it's top 40, then so called disco/soul for about a year and 1/2, then to oldies, Jan 1, 1980. Look where 1300 WNQM is now. KDF is another example, but 102.9 came along the next day, but it really wasn't what KDF had been doing. Folks have been doing this for years, if you didn't like what was on the radio, you poped in a cd, cassette, or in our case, an 8 Track! Gee, I'm old.

R

 

[barnaby_wilde]

Hold on Scott. I'm a '60's oldies fan (and a '50's oldies fan, and a '70's oldies fan). I've got a dash plaque from "Golden Oldies WKDA" from 1984. I came to the board to find out the "what and why" regarding the WRQQ evovlution from oldies to '60's and '70's to Classic Hits to the train wreck it has become. It still does not make sense to me why a station with a fairly consistent 3.5 share of loyal listeners would try to evolve into something that really has gotten those listeners to move elsewhere. I don't know radio, but a 2.7 looks lower than any of the preceding numbers for WRQQ. To me it was like replacing Opryland with Opry Mills. The city's only amusement park (oldies format) was replaced with another shopping center (classic -whatever that is format) with the same stores (playlists) as there are all around town. Don't get me wrong, I'm not moaning, griping, or complaining. Sure I miss the songs on the radio (and I agree that the playlist was waaaaaaay too limited and overdone), but I've still got the songs and I play them. I just don't understand how a lower rated station can make more money than a higher rated one. Please explain so an accountant can understand.

 

[grandoleopry]

Regarding ratings shares.....When it comes to ratings the overall 12 + means
little...25 -54 is the key demo for agency business....and typically oldies
stations skew the older demos 50+ .

Regarding Satellite operated stations....They enable you to have first class
talent on the air ; researched music and yes allows smaller market broadcasters
to operate cost effectively. Supplemented with local morning show and local
news & weather and feature programming ; Satellite programming can be
a very successful and PROFITABLE way to run a radio station.
I have programmed REAL COUNTRY in Pennsylvania for 15 years....The average
listeners do not know the difference or do they care so long as you deliver
the news ; weather and are INVOLVED with your community.

 

[ROCKO11]

Hold on Scott. I'm a '60's oldies fan (and a '50's oldies fan, and a '70's oldies fan). I've got a dash plaque from "Golden Oldies WKDA" from 1984. I came to the board to find out the "what and why" regarding the WRQQ evovlution from oldies to '60's and '70's to Classic Hits to the train wreck it has become. It still does not make sense to me why a station with a fairly consistent 3.5 share of loyal listeners would try to evolve into something that really has gotten those listeners to move elsewhere. I don't know radio, but a 2.7 looks lower than any of the preceding numbers for WRQQ. To me it was like replacing Opryland with Opry Mills. The city's only amusement park (oldies format) was replaced with another shopping center (classic -whatever that is format) with the same stores (playlists) as there are all around town. Don't get me wrong, I'm not moaning, griping, or complaining. Sure I miss the songs on the radio (and I agree that the playlist was waaaaaaay too limited and overdone), but I've still got the songs and I play them. I just don't understand how a lower rated station can make more money than a higher rated one. Please explain so an accountant can understand.

One thing that has happen (from rumor that I was told) was Cumulus Media, who owns 97.1 signed a 4 or 5 year agreement to carry the Bob & Tom show. Why? I don’t know. Clear Channel happens to own Bob & Tom. With Bob & Tom in the morning, the only way the out of town ad agencies would buy inventory time on the station is if they leaned more towards a Classic “Rock Hit” format, which is done in conjunction with Bob & Tom’s Show by their affiliates. What this has done has locked Cumulus to where they can’t do nothing with that station for a while.

Anyway, when an out of town ad agency sees numbers like 3.5 and 2.7, they could careless if they are loyal listeners or not. They are corporate 20 year olds that have been taught to buy high numbers. Individual listeners or a loyal listen base, say like what WRLT-FM, Lightning 100 has doesn’t mean squat to them. They are simply not going to buy a station like that, which has a loyal listener base, but does good to just get a 1.0 in the market. A station like WJXA (Mix 92.9), with higher numbers looks more appealing to them, and it more appeals to the masses, and they figure their clients are going to get more bang for their buck spending money on Mix 92.9 than Lightning 100, due to the numbers are saying Mix 92.9 is reaching more people.

I see more and more mom and pop size business turning to the ad agencies everyday because it frees up a business owners/managers time to run their business instead of dealing with pestering sales people from radio, newspaper, TV, internet, etc. To the ad people, numbers are just numbers and they don’t see things the way an individual might see them. They are out for the masses and the masses are not listening to 60’s Oldies. Soon the 60’s music will be a half century old, like the 50’s stuff is.

On the individual end, when the 60’s music was in, your parents probably like more of the late 30’s and 40’s music, and I bet they wonder why there was not a station that play that all the time. Now time speeds up 40 years later, your parents are either very old or dead, and programming consultants have made a terrible mistake in taking 60’s Top 40 hits (especially Motown, Beach Boys, early Beatles, etc) and play the crap out of it in the past 20 years. The format is simply ran it course and it’s time for something else to take it’s place, just like disco music. It came and went. What’s hot out there now, GooGoo Dolls, The Frey, Daughtery, will all die as well.

This is the very reason we here at my station, we are (actually almost have) gone Bright AC and left the 60’s stuff. If you can hear WQKR-AM 1270 up in Portland during the daytime hours, they are playing the type music off ABC’s “Timeless” format that caters to the 60 plus crowd. This is one of the reasons why we changed is they are very close to us (in the same county) and no sense in competing with them.


Scott

 

[ROCKO11]

Regarding ratings shares.....When it comes to ratings the overall 12 + means
little...25 -54 is the key demo for agency business....and typically oldies
stations skew the older demos 50+ .

Regarding Satellite operated stations....They enable you to have first class
talent on the air ; researched music and yes allows smaller market broadcasters
to operate cost effectively. Supplemented with local morning show and local
news & weather and feature programming ; Satellite programming can be
a very successful and PROFITABLE way to run a radio station.
I have programmed REAL COUNTRY in Pennsylvania for 15 years....The average
listeners do not know the difference or do they care so long as you deliver
the news ; weather and are INVOLVED with your community.

I like your comments and they HOLD very true to the small station owner/operator! Also you said what I’ve been trying to explain to these 60’s Oldies knuckle head fans over & over, afraid of tying something new.

Nothing against 60’s Oldies, I like the music too, but back in 2002, I got so sick of 96.3 playing the same 400 titles over & over, and people believing that Westwood One’s “SuperGold” show (that was aired on Saturday Nights for a long time in this market) was a locally oriented program!

 

[romer979fm]

Radio industry has killed the medium, so 40 plus people like me have discovered other choices.

then may I politely ask why you're posting on a radio board?

Hold up a mintue Chris,

no offense Scott, but that wasn't directed at you: I was just curious as to why TN RADIO BOY
would come to a radio board to praise IPODS. that's all...and I'm not questioning his points or
right to ask...just the location. and thanks for the history lesson...but I'm aware of the ins/outs of
format changes.

 

[ROCKO11]

Radio industry has killed the medium, so 40 plus people like me have discovered other choices.

then may I politely ask why you're posting on a radio board?

Hold up a mintue Chris,

no offense Scott, but that wasn't directed at you: I was just curious as to why TN RADIO BOY
would come to a radio board to praise IPODS. that's all...and I'm not questioning his points or
right to ask...just the location. and thanks for the history lesson...but I'm aware of the ins/outs of
format changes.

Chris,
People get in such a tissy when a station changes format. I don't see them act like that when they go to McDonalds and they don't offer thier favorite burger any longer.
They act like it's the end of the world when a station changes.