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ENOUGH GIMMICKS - GIVE US MORE ROCK

D

dmargalotti

I've been listening to Classic Rock stations in the NYC area my whole life. I'm tired of TWO FOR TUESDAY...DOUBLE-PLAY WEDNESDAY...WORK FORCE BLOCKS...GET THE LED OUT. Isn't it time to stop with the gimmicks? I don't want these tired old programming gimmicks that have been used for DECADES. I would like Program Directors to focus more on the play list...and less on useless window dressing.

Agree or disagree?
 
Totally agree with you bro!

The first thing I did when I took over at my station was dump the old tired slang that has no impact on listeners. They are a lot more savvy these days then they were 20 years ago when most of those slogans were developed.

"Rocktober" - Puh-leeze.

"Get The Led Out" - Get the consultants(Jacobs) out.

"Twofer Tuesdays" - Another reason to play "deep" (crap) cuts from your favorite bands.

When we decided to start talking TO our listeners and not AT them, we went #1 12+.


Rock with respect.
 
Lets start off with: play good music mondays, no talking in the morning Tuesdays, no repeat Wednesdays, pay to play Thursdays, free-form Fridays....DJ's picks, album side Saturdays, gospel Sundays....how's that for gimmicks.
 
What's with the need to make everything sound so "cutesy". Does everything have to rhyme? Again, talk TO them like real people.

Now that the PPM is gaining ground, the issue of recall is changing. Programmers need to wise up and realize they need to "unlearn" alot of what they knew about progamming FOR Arbitron (like cute slogans for recall purposes).
 
dmargalotti said:
I've been listening to Classic Rock stations in the NYC area my whole life. I'm tired of TWO FOR TUESDAY...DOUBLE-PLAY WEDNESDAY...WORK FORCE BLOCKS...GET THE LED OUT. Isn't it time to stop with the gimmicks? I don't want these tired old programming gimmicks that have been used for DECADES. I would like Program Directors to focus more on the play list...and less on useless window dressing.

Agree or disagree?
Click to expand...

dmargalotti said:
I've been listening to Classic Rock stations in the NYC area my whole life. I'm tired of TWO FOR TUESDAY...DOUBLE-PLAY WEDNESDAY...WORK FORCE BLOCKS...GET THE LED OUT. Isn't it time to stop with the gimmicks? I don't want these tired old programming gimmicks that have been used for DECADES. I would like Program Directors to focus more on the play list...and less on useless window dressing.

Agree or disagree?
Click to expand...

Totally DISAGREE!! How many times can you play Whole Lotta Love? Classic Rock is all...ALL...about what you do AROUND the records...because...unless you are a jackass moron PD...every song should be a smash hit.

How about if jocks ACTUALLY have something to say? Who gives a crap if Skynyrd is coming up...Skynyrd SHOULD be coming up....

I saw mentions of talking TO your listeners...Do you think your listeners don't know that Alice Cooper sings Schools Out?

So lets do it your way for a while...only play one familiar song an hour...and never tell anyone what they are listening to...and never change what you are doing...now that is some good radio!

The reason we do Get the Led Out, Two Fer Tuesday, Rocktober, ect...is because IT WORKS!!!! and HAS WORKED!!! Classic Rock is really picking up steam with younger men these days...not because the stations are playing different music and doing things different...its because it is predictable.

The most successful stations in ANY format make their P1's feel all warm and fuzzy...like a cozy blanket!

Using NYC as an example...if unpredictable and new worked...Jack would be #1

Think about it
 
Totally DISAGREE!! How many times can you play Whole Lotta Love? Classic Rock is all...ALL...about what you do AROUND the records...because...unless you are a jackass moron PD...every song should be a smash hit.
Click to expand...

Hey Matt,

You kind of missed the point here. It is and should be all about the music. And that doesn't mean playing unknown, obscure tracks. However, there's more to Led Zeppelin that Whole Lottta Love...there's more to Eric Clapton than Layla...there's more to the Kinks than Lola.

Playlists are over-researched and too many PD's program only by the numbers or by what a consultant tells them. Research is a tool...but only tells part of the story and it should be a factor (not the only factor) in putting together a playlist.

And frankly...only a [EDIT] PD would use the same gimmick for 20-plus years. Don't you think it's time for them to get off their asses and think up something new? Is that too much to ask? Where is the creativity and originality?

I know classic rock is growing in popularity today...I love the fact that I can educate my 15-year old son about the songs & bands that I grew up with. All his friends are "discovering" classic rock. But guess what? They are really smart, really cynical, and really observant. My son is the one who asked me one day why the local classic rock station plays a promo telling how they have less commercials and more music. "Wasn't that just a commercial" he wanted to know.

We've been thinking like radio guys for way too long instead of thinking like listeners.

A winning station needs a combination of the right music, the right imaging, the right production, the right talent, and the right promotions. I'm not disputing that.
I'm just tired of hearing the same gimmicks for more than 2 decades!



[name calling]
 
I can tell you that doing the same old thing over and over doesn't expand your base beyond those P1s. Sure it's good to do a Led Zeppelin feature, but it doesn't have to be the same ole "Get The Led Out".

If you do, you're just leaving yourself wide open for a savvy programmer to come in your market and steal away those P1s with a creative and fresh approach to the same ole "classic rock".

I agree that a lot of it is about what's between the records, that wass part of my point. And that starts with the jocks...stop being jocks who talk AT the listeners and be a personality that speaks TO them.
 
I completely agree with you. I wish you would come out here and program our
classic/rock stations. The local rock station here in Tulsa is a joke. They play
the same 100 songs, over and over and over again. When I lived in Phoenix the
rock station KUPD at least had the pulse of it's listeners, and didn't recycle the
same limited number of songs over and over. It was very refreshing! As a big fan
of rock music and having been in bands most of my life it's really insulting to listen
to most FM rock stations. That is why my many of my family, friends and co-workers
have spent the money for XM and/or Sirius. At least now we get what WE
the listeners want to hear!

Merry Christmas everyone!
 
Our listeners at WMWX in Cincinnati are extremely passionate about us because we ARE doing something different. We need more volunteer jocks to make the whole thing work, but we are progressing and the audioence IS letting us know. We are doing it by breaking the boring mold of playing the same crap over and over and over again. You can have a 20,000 song library. It is all how you rotate the music. It's working for us and we just signed on the air for the first time in Aug. 06.

Bill Spry
88.9 WMWX
http://www.classxradio.com
 
I disagree Matt. Wrong Approach. Top 40 may work for the shallow-minded. But real lovers and appreciators of music want music, and not promotions and "personalities" to fill their day.

It's as if some authority (Satan) decided that all Rock stations across America will play just the (yuk) Hits, over and over. Then, the stations/corporate chains can use personalities, morning shows, and contests to make their market share.
The music has been decided upon, so what's left for originality is everything but-- the music. Boy, is that a model from Hell ! ! I will never appreicate that kind of model until my dying day....

When FM originally came around in the late 60's, it was all about an alternative to "AM" gimmicks and programming. I will --always-- be looking for that alternative, on Radio, the people's airwaves, not the advertiser's nor the corporation's airwaves. I've had a taste of Freedom, and I will never want or accept otherwise. You cannot "program" this one to your ALL HITS format - EVER!


The FCC cannot act too soon or too harshly to put the public airwaves back into local audience control!
 
Bill, (and anyone else interested)

I’ve been listening to your stream (WMWX) for the past half-hour or so will perusing the discussions here.

I like the music choices but find it empty with the randomness of the selections, what I really miss in most of radio is thoughtful selection of sets of tunes, follow a theme or have some kind of connection between the tunes, heck if nothing else how about a good segue?

It seems the art of blending songs has gone out the window with software and automation running things, but it doesn’t have to….
 
buttonpuncher said:
Bill, (and anyone else interested)

I’ve been listening to your stream (WMWX) for the past half-hour or so will perusing the discussions here.

I like the music choices but find it empty with the randomness of the selections, what I really miss in most of radio is thoughtful selection of sets of tunes, follow a theme or have some kind of connection between the tunes, heck if nothing else how about a good segue?

It seems the art of blending songs has gone out the window with software and automation running things, but it doesn’t have to….
Click to expand...


i am also listning. i love the music! as for the seques i can tell its a computer. as for the blending of songs listen to xm 40 deep tracks.
 
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