I need to try to listen; I'd actually been thinking of them earlier this week. In the past when I tried their stream was all but useless. Lew's show is, in my mind, among the best things I've heard on a radio. I discovered the station 8 years ago when I was driving up to Wilmington on a regular basis. I'm way too far south to grab them OTA.
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Cruisin' 92.1 WVLT selling to The Voice Radio Network
- Thread starter myke25
- Start date
I’ve listened periodically almost daily since the announcement of the sale and the format is astonishing to say the least. I heard “Hook” by Blues Traveler on the morning show and then when I tuned in later that day it was two slow Doo wop songs back to back. After that it was an hour of 70’s disco.
As a music fan I like all of those genre’s but it’s obvious that they’ve made a career out of throwing everything at the wall and seeing what sticks. This isn’t a criticism; quite the opposite. As I said in an earlier post, it’s a stroke of comedic genius that they’ve managed to throw all conventional wisdom out of the proverbial window and keep the lights on for decades longer than most every Oldies station anywhere else on the planet.
As a music fan I like all of those genre’s but it’s obvious that they’ve made a career out of throwing everything at the wall and seeing what sticks. This isn’t a criticism; quite the opposite. As I said in an earlier post, it’s a stroke of comedic genius that they’ve managed to throw all conventional wisdom out of the proverbial window and keep the lights on for decades longer than most every Oldies station anywhere else on the planet.
1490 WBCB was doing the same thing in the weeks before the new owners took over: wild swings in the playlist from day to day, from '50s Doo-Wop to '90s heavy metal.
But I don't think this is something WVLT is doing because they know they're about to bite the dust. I think they've kinda always been this way.
As I said previously, this will mark "the end of a truly inexplicable era." How this station stayed on the air for as long as it has--being a really good example of what we're taught radio should not be--is beyond me. But they did it, and good for them!
IMO the station should have done away with the talk programs on weekends; it really got weird and turned me away sadly.
Someone had to pay the bills. It certainly was not advertisers looking to reach 4 listeners to an oddly programmed oldies station in the middle of nowhere.
Which is why I’ll be surprised if the new owner ditches the brokered programming even if the format switches to mainly Spanish or Classic Rock. It’s a guaranteed pay day in an industry that is quickly declining, Those Beasley numbers in the other thread are astonishing.
I was listening to Lew's show today online. Something that I noticed was, all the ads were local. I compare that to the stations I have been listening to regularly who air an endless array of time share buyout/income tax relief/discount life insurance ads. Most of those advertisers I heard today on WVLT were the same ones I was hearing when I first heard the station pre-Covid. That might count for something down the road?
Additional thoughts on Cruisin'. When I was a little kid, I was tuning around the dial and stumbled onto them by pure chance, and even when I was seven or eight, I knew it sounded different than everything else on the radio. Later on, I got to meet Ron Joseph at some live broadcast at a diner in south jersey (where else?) but I never got to see the studios.
WVLT is truly special. No, it's far from a sleek and modern outfit. The Spanish AM bleeds into their FM signal, the audio varies from clear stereo, to a 45 that was seemingly used as a frisbee. Their DJ at noon sings over the songs he's playing. But damned if I don't find it charming as all get out. This is local radio at its most local and care-free, and clearly their audience loved it long enough to keep them on for multiple decades. I can argue that Cruisin' is part of the reason I got into radio myself. It'll be a much less interesting and entertaining dial in Jersey when they flip the switch.
The jocks on WVLT were actually there during the 60s, and they brought that history to their shows, and told the stories from that era. The fact that we got to hear that history on the air is actually quite a blessing. Compare that to the voicetracked nonsense you get on "Big 98.1" where the hosts usually give me secondhand embarrassment with how faux-happy they sound, it just reeks of cringe. And the hosts there are usually told to NOT talk about the music that they are....playing?!
WVLT broke all the rules we learned in school - and they stayed the same format, with the same advertisers, for close to forty years, all while all the other stations around them flipped multiple formats. Maybe we oughta take a page out of their book. I don't think they just got lucky - I think people respected and recognized the authenticity, the fact that they weren't trying to be sleek or hip at all. They bucked every single trend in modern radio and they outlived plenty of other stations with vastly larger budgets. They might be flipping soon, but I think you can argue they won, they succeeded.
Side note - the DJ on air just gave a shoutout to a local listener who just got word he is cancer-free. And they went into Celebration by K.C and the Sunshine Band. Not planned, totally on the fly. Can Big 98.1 be that in the moment, could they even GO LIVE? THIS is why Cruisin' is still on the air. People like how live they are and how interactive they are with the audience/community.
Radio for the future should be this live and authentic as WVLT, regardless of the music they're playing.
WVLT is truly special. No, it's far from a sleek and modern outfit. The Spanish AM bleeds into their FM signal, the audio varies from clear stereo, to a 45 that was seemingly used as a frisbee. Their DJ at noon sings over the songs he's playing. But damned if I don't find it charming as all get out. This is local radio at its most local and care-free, and clearly their audience loved it long enough to keep them on for multiple decades. I can argue that Cruisin' is part of the reason I got into radio myself. It'll be a much less interesting and entertaining dial in Jersey when they flip the switch.
The jocks on WVLT were actually there during the 60s, and they brought that history to their shows, and told the stories from that era. The fact that we got to hear that history on the air is actually quite a blessing. Compare that to the voicetracked nonsense you get on "Big 98.1" where the hosts usually give me secondhand embarrassment with how faux-happy they sound, it just reeks of cringe. And the hosts there are usually told to NOT talk about the music that they are....playing?!
WVLT broke all the rules we learned in school - and they stayed the same format, with the same advertisers, for close to forty years, all while all the other stations around them flipped multiple formats. Maybe we oughta take a page out of their book. I don't think they just got lucky - I think people respected and recognized the authenticity, the fact that they weren't trying to be sleek or hip at all. They bucked every single trend in modern radio and they outlived plenty of other stations with vastly larger budgets. They might be flipping soon, but I think you can argue they won, they succeeded.
Side note - the DJ on air just gave a shoutout to a local listener who just got word he is cancer-free. And they went into Celebration by K.C and the Sunshine Band. Not planned, totally on the fly. Can Big 98.1 be that in the moment, could they even GO LIVE? THIS is why Cruisin' is still on the air. People like how live they are and how interactive they are with the audience/community.
Radio for the future should be this live and authentic as WVLT, regardless of the music they're playing.
You can be local, authentic, connect with listeners and have some really good Time spent listening numbers..... i do up here.
LIVE is not the magical answer.
I think it's that sort of spontaneity and connection that made me want to be in radio in the first place. By the time I saw the inside of a radio station, it was already slipping away. People say average listeners don't notice whether a jock is live or tracked, and that is probably true, but it (of course) introduces limitations, as far as what can happen (live) and what can't happen (tracked). We can all argue until the blue-faced cows come home, but live radio is really just a whole other vibe. And a better vibe.
So, they've successfully tricked their listeners into thinking they're hearing a live person playing music. But it really does sound soulless. I hate to say it, but I don't even know what the point is of tricking the listeners. Having a voice say generic, cookie-cutter things between songs, while being unable to reference some major local event that unfolded earlier in the day, is almost pointless. Just play the songs and jingles. And, of course, those 8-minute stopsets.
Are we being tricked? I don’t know, maybe I give people more credit. 🤷♂️ I’m also not sure why we place radio in this separate box where live and local matters more than content. I do t expect the vast majority of TV I watch to be live. Give me the content I want when I want it.
By all means, if you’re the owner and want to be live all or most of the time or your format generally relies on that, sure. Go for it. Not at all saying not to do what works for you. But if I’m listening to already recorded music, what is the great difference if the person teeing it up recorded the intro?
By all means, if you’re the owner and want to be live all or most of the time or your format generally relies on that, sure. Go for it. Not at all saying not to do what works for you. But if I’m listening to already recorded music, what is the great difference if the person teeing it up recorded the intro?
My show on KLMI is never live but tracked day of and still in incredibly relevant and connects with people. i was at a station event 2 weeks ago and met half a dozen listeners who specifically told me how much they enjoy my show and how funny i am
Well, there isn't a whole lot of other options (especially in larger markets), so that's what everyone's come to accept. What I'm talking about is how some radio stations used to make listeners feel. It used to be much more common for listeners to feel like that DJ--or even the station itself--was a friend of theirs. (Does anyone feel that way about Ryan Seacrest?)
The argument of "live & local" vs. "content" isn't really relevant to what I'm saying. But, if we want to go there, content wins that fight these days because it's 95% of all there is! Also, because in modern times, people can get exactly what they want, how they want, and when they want. They've become conditioned to that, and they don't want to accept anything short of it. All well and good, but it doesn't negate what I'm talking about. And an argument over whether tracked content vs. the live experience is pointless, because the live experience isn't coming back. Radio in 2026 is what it is, and listeners have two choices: Take it or leave it.
I am, of course, completely unfamiliar with the market. And, even considering how long we've been reading each other's comments on this board for the past million years, I don't know much about you. (Meaning: I don't know if you are physically located in Wyoming.) All of this is to say, a show recorded on the day it airs--especially if it is recorded in the area where it airs--feels more like time-shifting than what voice tracking is in most other situations (a person who could be two time zones away saying basic, pointless words, possibly recorded yesterday, to make it sound like a human being is playing these songs).
I mean, what you're doing isn't "live & local," but it's the very next best thing! Certainly glad that it's working for you!
With the exact same music, I'd prefer live and local over voice tracked. And I'd prefer voice tracked over no voice at all. And I'd prefer no voice at all to some A.I. voice.
WVLT, during the day, on weekdays, has music that some of us feel is superior to most other stations, introduced by real people. Speaking for myself, if the end comes, I hope Lew is able to continue with some sort of online show if nothing else.
WVLT, during the day, on weekdays, has music that some of us feel is superior to most other stations, introduced by real people. Speaking for myself, if the end comes, I hope Lew is able to continue with some sort of online show if nothing else.
Indeed. If anyone argues with that, they're a big A hole.
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I'll be the big a-hole then
When we were just a stand alone and had no other stations, our stations TSL was the biggest in the county.... 2x that of our competitor, 3-4x that of everyone lse in the market.
Darn near zero would change by being live, it doesnt make the message more effective.
We have a syndicated morning show on all 4 stations
a voicetracker from CA for middays and me for afternoons on the AC station
ill be middays on the country station soon
with a syndicated afternoon show on the country station
and just mornings on the country station, syndicated.
There is someone in the building 645am or so till 5pm... and neither me nor the owner are ever very far from the studio or our own set ups at home.
We are incredibly well connected in this community.. he's lived here his entire life, ive been involved 8 hours. EVeryone has our cell numbers... i have the cell numbers of county and city officials. We are on top of things like well.....local radio should be.. no tv stations, 1 newspaper
If its important but not earth shattering we record updates from Studio A (KLMI's main studio) and distribute it across all 4. If its a grab your ankles and potentially kiss you know what goodbye, we go over to studio B and are live on all 3 station.
Live is nice, but not necessary. Voicetracked allows me to work 7 hour days 5 days a week, take weekends off... i get the week between christmas and new years off.
I have recorded a voicetrack on my phone from the park when something happens when I'm not near a microphone in my home or the work studio.
Please tell me how live would make this better and what we can do better that the station owner of 15 plus years hasnt already done or tried.
Better yet, come up here for a week... spend some time with us and see how voicetracking doesnt hurt/harm what we do.
Radio fans/nerds (of which I amn one) who havent ever or not in a while... worked in broadcasting... cant think like the normal average every day person. and ive got proof of that. And furthger, I've got proof that even when some listeners know you arent live or arent local, they don't care.
It's about knowing your listeners and connecting with them.
I grew up with personality radio forming my earlier memories of the medium, 610 WIP. Plenty of chit chat between songs. Then the high energy, albeit less chit chat of Hot Hits 98 then Eagle 106. So I'm not discounting personality radio, though recognize plenty of people want the music, not the personality and their tastes are just as valid. I don't think anyone is the a....
It feels, at time, like there's a clinging to what something was, even though the world changes. Understandable? Sure. The familiar is comfort food for the soul. On any average day, though, as SomeRadioGuy describes, would it matter to any meaningful percentage of listeners where someone is sitting, or when they sat there? So they can talk about how the Phillies got the snot beat out of them to prove someone is doing something close to live and is paying attention to this town? I mean....I kind of already know the team got embarrassed, so does that add anything to my day if I'm even paying that much attention between the songs I prefer as background while working?
I do understand the idea that amidst a sea of curated, automated playlists, the space that remains for a broadcast, single-stream linear medium is generally going to be how it's packaged - with hosts in many cases, without them in some others, but still with a certain station-ality to it. Could every city have had a Stern? Yeah, and lots of them did/do. But there was only one genuine article, and for however many morning shows he ultimately replaced, the people voted by listening to him for his content, not his location.
Maybe it's just being more philosophical in discussing things with no single truth. What works in "A" doesn't work in "B." Or what DID work stopped working. I'm just not seeing how it's a fundamentally bad thing that audiences can get what they want with fewer limitations. That's not trying to be an a..... just thinking about trends and technology as they evolve.
It feels, at time, like there's a clinging to what something was, even though the world changes. Understandable? Sure. The familiar is comfort food for the soul. On any average day, though, as SomeRadioGuy describes, would it matter to any meaningful percentage of listeners where someone is sitting, or when they sat there? So they can talk about how the Phillies got the snot beat out of them to prove someone is doing something close to live and is paying attention to this town? I mean....I kind of already know the team got embarrassed, so does that add anything to my day if I'm even paying that much attention between the songs I prefer as background while working?
I do understand the idea that amidst a sea of curated, automated playlists, the space that remains for a broadcast, single-stream linear medium is generally going to be how it's packaged - with hosts in many cases, without them in some others, but still with a certain station-ality to it. Could every city have had a Stern? Yeah, and lots of them did/do. But there was only one genuine article, and for however many morning shows he ultimately replaced, the people voted by listening to him for his content, not his location.
Maybe it's just being more philosophical in discussing things with no single truth. What works in "A" doesn't work in "B." Or what DID work stopped working. I'm just not seeing how it's a fundamentally bad thing that audiences can get what they want with fewer limitations. That's not trying to be an a..... just thinking about trends and technology as they evolve.