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DC Radio My Way

X

XCountry285

93.9-Urban Contemporary-V 93.9
94.7-Country-94.7 America FM
95.1-Religious-95.1 WRBS
95.5-Hip Hop-Power 95.5
96.3-Urban A/C-96.3 WHUR-FM
97.1-Classic Rock-97.1 Liberty FM
97.9-Oldies-97.9 Old Soldier FM
98.7-Top 40-Radio Now 98.7
99.1-Alternative-99.1 HFS
99.5-Country-The Patriot 99.5
100.3-Rock-DC 100
101.1-A/C-101.1 Lite FM
102.3-Rhythmic CHR-Q 102.3
104.1-Hot A/C-Z 104
105.1-Religous-WAVA 105.1 FM
105.5-Public Radio-WAMU 105.5 FM
105.9-AAA-105.9 The Peak
106.7-Hot A/C-Y 107
107.3-Dance-107.3 The Beat
107.9-Rock-107.9 Navy FM
 
I've been trying to figure out why I dislike this kind of thread so much, and I think I know:

"Dream dials" like this, when generated in bulk by people with no real knowledge of the markets they're "surveying," contribute nothing to an intelligent conversation of any given market's radio scene. Instead, they promote exactly the kind of generic homogenization of the airwaves that so many of us on these boards (and in real-life radio) detest: if market A has a rhythmic top-40 station called "The Beat," then markets B, C, D and E should have them, too, right?

Well, no.

Each market - even ones as close as, say, DC and Baltimore - is a world unto itself. Some markets have little audience turnover and thus strong attachment to heritage brands and dial positions. (DC is a good example of this: country and 98.7 have gone together ever since WMOD became WMZQ. You don't mess with that.) Others have lots of turnover and very little in the way of "heritage" stations - as big a player as the old KFM102 was in Las Vegas two decades ago, it would make no sense to resurrect it now, because nobody's around now who was listening to it then.

There are all kinds of signal nuances that help to explain why some formats work on some frequencies in some markets and some don't.

And of course demographics vary wildly from one market to another, as the discussion under XCountry's LA "dream dial" bears out. It makes perfect sense to have half a dozen or more Spanish-language FMs in Los Angeles. You couldn't do that in DC, or Pittsburgh, or Cleveland.

My point, I think, is this: if someone wants to take the time and effort to really learn about all those bits of history and nuance to create a "dream dial" that makes some kind of sense, I'm all up for that conversation. But to just take a list of frequencies (in this case, some of them not even DC stations - there are pieces of Baltimore in this list with no real rhyme or reason) and assign random formats (or in some cases just meaningless descriptors like "public radio") and generic slogans to them? I'm not sure I see the logic behind that.
 
Agreed. I mean, "Navy FM"? WTF? It might work in the Norfolk area of Virginia, but it just won't fly in Manassas.
 
Perhaps I could add to the the list of stations above:

92.5 Classic rock, deep cuts, AAA "The Mountain" like that of KLOO 106.3 in Corvallis, OR
94.3 Adult Standards Timeless Favorites

"Navy FM" I think it may have to do with Annapolis, MD
 
Hey Xcountry you did it again! I'm going to have to "Second" that list too!! 99.1 HFS back in DC and Y100 back in Philly? YEAAAHH you got my votes!!!!!
 
Scott Fybush said:
I've been trying to figure out why I dislike this kind of thread so much, and I think I know:

"Dream dials" like this, when generated in bulk by people with no real knowledge of the markets they're "surveying," contribute nothing to an intelligent conversation of any given market's radio scene. Instead, they promote exactly the kind of generic homogenization of the airwaves that so many of us on these boards (and in real-life radio) detest: if market A has a rhythmic top-40 station called "The Beat," then markets B, C, D and E should have them, too, right?

Well, no.

Each market - even ones as close as, say, DC and Baltimore - is a world unto itself. Some markets have little audience turnover and thus strong attachment to heritage brands and dial positions. (DC is a good example of this: country and 98.7 have gone together ever since WMOD became WMZQ. You don't mess with that.) Others have lots of turnover and very little in the way of "heritage" stations - as big a player as the old KFM102 was in Las Vegas two decades ago, it would make no sense to resurrect it now, because nobody's around now who was listening to it then.

There are all kinds of signal nuances that help to explain why some formats work on some frequencies in some markets and some don't.

And of course demographics vary wildly from one market to another, as the discussion under XCountry's LA "dream dial" bears out. It makes perfect sense to have half a dozen or more Spanish-language FMs in Los Angeles. You couldn't do that in DC, or Pittsburgh, or Cleveland.

My point, I think, is this: if someone wants to take the time and effort to really learn about all those bits of history and nuance to create a "dream dial" that makes some kind of sense, I'm all up for that conversation. But to just take a list of frequencies (in this case, some of them not even DC stations - there are pieces of Baltimore in this list with no real rhyme or reason) and assign random formats (or in some cases just meaningless descriptors like "public radio") and generic slogans to them? I'm not sure I see the logic behind that.
Click to expand...

Thank you Scott, for interjecting some sanity right off the bat before the dream sequence really started rolling!
 
While I must agree with Guru and Scott Fybush that making up a "dream dial" and thinking up cute names for non-existent stations is a pointless exercise, there is one legitimate point that can be made by this list. Perhaps some readers have rarely if ever stopped to think of how badly our media region is held back by being still split into into two rated markets.

Washington-Baltimore's two primary hubs are exactly the same distance apart (both at close edges and downtown areas) as Dallas and Ft. Worth, Miami and Ft. Lauderdale, or L.A. and Anaheim. However none of the nation's other dual-hubbed metro areas is cursed by an "iron curtain" of segregated marketing expectations. The other similar metros have a dial full of stations competing for niches and trying to serve their full coverage areas. We have a lower grade of broadcasting where many are trying to be "big fish in a smaller pond", duplicating formats instead of innovating, ignoring half of their coverage without better serving the others, and never having engineered their facilities for everyone to have the best possible reception.

We have just as many total FM outlets as NY, Chicago, or LA, and are the 4th largest CSMA, so we should have the same amount of programing variety but we don't.
 
samb15 said:
While I must agree with Guru and Scott Fybush that making up a "dream dial" and thinking up cute names for non-existent stations is a pointless exercise, there is one legitimate point that can be made by this list. Perhaps some readers have rarely if ever stopped to think of how badly our media region is held back by being still split into into two rated markets.

Washington-Baltimore's two primary hubs are exactly the same distance apart (both at close edges and downtown areas) as Dallas and Ft. Worth, Miami and Ft. Lauderdale, or L.A. and Anaheim. However none of the nation's other dual-hubbed metro areas is cursed by an "iron curtain" of segregated marketing expectations. The other similar metros have a dial full of stations competing for niches and trying to serve their full coverage areas. We have a lower grade of broadcasting where many are trying to be "big fish in a smaller pond", duplicating formats instead of innovating, ignoring half of their coverage without better serving the others, and never having engineered their facilities for everyone to have the best possible reception.

We have just as many total FM outlets as NY, Chicago, or LA, and are the 4th largest CSMA, so we should have the same amount of programing variety but we don't.

Baltimore-Washington is unique among large sprawling negalopolae.


Down through the years call letters like WLMD, WDON, WINX, WEEL, WPRW and of course WYRE were well known to radio fans in the B-W corridpr and people would listen, but the stations themselves were concerned mainly with their immediate area.

Those stations rocked.

I onced heard it said that after WPGC the #2 rocker in Washington was the conbined audience of all the suburban stations!
Click to expand...
 
WOW, with these names, have you been programming in non rated markets. I mean, NAVY FM..sounds like something the folks in Cambridge, MD would name a station. This list makes no sense. This shows that you have NO IDEA how the business of radio works. Each station you listed that would be changed is a MONEY MAKER. You added WHFS as rock..it didn't make great money!
 
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