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FreeFM bungling management

B

brian71

Guest
The fact that Free FM had Darian O'Toole on for 8 hours today (6A-2P) indicates to me that management dosen't even fundamentally understand talkradio. It is not like musicradio where a DJ, while it would be tiring, could do an 8 hour airshift and it wouldn't impact the station that much. You CANNOT have one person do a talk show for 8 hours and not have it impact the station negatively. Talk about burnout for both the listener and the host.
 
> The fact that Free FM had Darian O'Toole on for 8 hours
> today (6A-2P) indicates to me that management dosen't even
> fundamentally understand talkradio. It is not like
> musicradio where a DJ, while it would be tiring, could do an
> 8 hour airshift and it wouldn't impact the station that
> much. You CANNOT have one person do a talk show for 8 hours
> and not have it impact the station negatively. Talk about
> burnout for both the listener and the host.


uh... who deleted that other FreeFM thread?
 
> The fact that Free FM had Darian O'Toole on for 8 hours
> today (6A-2P) indicates to me that management dosen't even
> fundamentally understand talkradio. It is not like
> musicradio where a DJ, while it would be tiring, could do an
> 8 hour airshift and it wouldn't impact the station that
> much. You CANNOT have one person do a talk show for 8 hours
> and not have it impact the station negatively. Talk about
> burnout for both the listener and the host.
>
This station will fail! That ad on KPIX shows how dumb FreeFM is.
 
It's still early...they're just filling time until Jan 3rd. Lighten up, people.



> > The fact that Free FM had Darian O'Toole on for 8 hours
> > today (6A-2P) indicates to me that management dosen't even
>
> > fundamentally understand talkradio. It is not like
> > musicradio where a DJ, while it would be tiring, could do
> an
> > 8 hour airshift and it wouldn't impact the station that
> > much. You CANNOT have one person do a talk show for 8
> hours
> > and not have it impact the station negatively. Talk about
> > burnout for both the listener and the host.
>
>
> uh... who deleted that other FreeFM thread?
>
 
> It's still early...they're just filling time until Jan 3rd.
> Lighten up, people.
>

Early? It just shows BAD judgement, that's all. Having one person (operating solo) cover that much air time is nuts. Like I said, it shows a fundamental lack of understanding of the nature of the format and what it takes to execute it successfully. It's just bad radio---on a BIG level. No talk programmer worth a damn would ever program like that---under ANY circumstance. If you look at who's making those calls (probably out of L.A.), in all likelihood it is someone who has a long list of FM talk failures. No coincidence there.
 
> uh... who deleted that other FreeFM thread?

One of the moderators, after consultation with the owners of Radio-Info.

The same thing happened to the thread on the Los Angeles board (and no, I was not the moderator that deleted the thread, although I was advised afterwards).

Further questions about, or comments on, this matter will be considered to be a violation of R-I Rule #5.<P ID="signature">______________


</P>
 
> > It's still early...they're just filling time until Jan
> 3rd.
> > Lighten up, people.
> >
>
> Early? It just shows BAD judgement, that's all. Having one
> person (operating solo) cover that much air time is nuts.
> Like I said, it shows a fundamental lack of understanding of
> the nature of the format and what it takes to execute it
> successfully. It's just bad radio---on a BIG level. No talk
> programmer worth a damn would ever program like that---under
> ANY circumstance. If you look at who's making those calls
> (probably out of L.A.), in all likelihood it is someone who
> has a long list of FM talk failures. No coincidence there.
>


She wasnt live for all that time.

just curious, what exactly is your background? Do you have any radio experience?
 
>
>
> She wasnt live for all that time.
>
> just curious, what exactly is your background? Do you have
> any radio experience?
>

Regardless, live or taped, that's too much of one person---I don't care who it is.

And yes, I have puh-lenty of radio experience.
 
Whether or not this radio is good or not, you are listening. Some stations have not even been mentioned here in the past year.

And since it is a week where a lot of people are off, the radio isn't turned on as much. Most other stations don't have their top talents on at all and have guest hosts, so this really is not a big deal.

John London's crew did mornings on Tuesday.


> >
> >
> > She wasnt live for all that time.
> >
> > just curious, what exactly is your background? Do you have
>
> > any radio experience?
> >
>
> Regardless, live or taped, that's too much of one person---I
> don't care who it is.
>
> And yes, I have puh-lenty of radio experience.
>
 
> Whether or not this radio is good or not, you are listening.
> Some stations have not even been mentioned here in the past
> year.
>

I am listening as an industry person. If I was a casual radio listener, I wouldn't be listening...at least not to that station at this point in time.
 
> And yes, I have puh-lenty of radio experience.


So do I! I own several, and I have been listening for years.

...Or was the question whether you had experience actually working in the industry?

DJ<P ID="signature">______________
<center>

</center></P>
 
Important Point Missed by "Industry Person"

> I am listening as an industry person. If I was a casual
> radio listener, I wouldn't be listening...at least not to
> that station at this point in time.

If, indeed, you are an "industry person", you would know without even looking that the last two weeks in December are the only non-rated weeks on Arbitron's entire yearly calendar.

They could put Lithuanian Hog Calling on for 8 hours and it wouldn't mess up their ratings until January 3rd. (January 5th, actually, when the new book starts this time.)

Since I'm also psychic, I'll read your mind here and produce your next point. "But, Free FM is new and they need to build up their audience, even without ratings being taken this week!"

I'll agree with you on that. But the significance of one or two "extra hour" host appearances on a holiday week doesn't really amount to a hill of beans. That hill starts piling up for real next Tuesday.

-OA<P ID="signature">______________
Ohio Media Watch - <a target="_blank" href=http://ohiomedia.blogspot.com>http://ohiomedia.blogspot.com</a></P>
 
Re: Important Point Missed by "Industry Person"

>
> I'll agree with you on that. But the significance of one or
> two "extra hour" host appearances on a holiday week doesn't
> really amount to a hill of beans. That hill starts piling
> up for real next Tuesday.
>

One or two? Try FOUR, which was my point to begin with.

Too much.
 
Re: Important Point Missed by "Industry Person"

> > I am listening as an industry person. If I was a casual
> > radio listener, I wouldn't be listening...at least not to
> > that station at this point in time.
>
> If, indeed, you are an "industry person", you would know
> without even looking that the last two weeks in December are
> the only non-rated weeks on Arbitron's entire yearly
> calendar.
>
> They could put Lithuanian Hog Calling on for 8 hours and it
> wouldn't mess up their ratings until January 3rd. (January
> 5th, actually, when the new book starts this time.)
>
> Since I'm also psychic, I'll read your mind here and produce
> your next point. "But, Free FM is new and they need to
> build up their audience, even without ratings being taken
> this week!"
>
> I'll agree with you on that. But the significance of one or
> two "extra hour" host appearances on a holiday week doesn't
> really amount to a hill of beans. That hill starts piling
> up for real next Tuesday.
>
> -OA
>

I'm not sure that was entirely Brian71's point, OA. Seems to me the criticism was more about poor planning. Having some inside track knowledge on this, the impression has always been decision-making by the seat of the pants --from the beginning: from the conceptual planning, the initial hunt for talent right up to the launch itself.

These people knew this was coming; it only makes sense they'd have been better prepared for the vacancies with some sort of fill-in schedule instead of double shifting the talent. If you'd said two months ago, "Yeah, they're putting Darien O'Toole on for 8 straight hours to cover the other shift," anyone with any radio experience would've said that was nuts, or perhaps not even believed it.

I could be wrong, but something's definitely not right there. And no, I don't listen to the station. More accurately, let's just say it wouldn't get a diary mention for my dollar.
 
Re: Important Point Missed by "Industry Person"

>
> I'll agree with you on that. But the significance of one or
> two "extra hour" host appearances on a holiday week doesn't
> really amount to a hill of beans. That hill starts piling
> up for real next Tuesday.

You meant "next Thursday," right?
 
Re: Important Point Missed by "Industry Person"

> >
> > I'll agree with you on that. But the significance of one
> or
> > two "extra hour" host appearances on a holiday week
> doesn't
> > really amount to a hill of beans. That hill starts piling
>
> > up for real next Tuesday.
>
> You meant "next Thursday," right?

Right, I added the 1/5 start date in the original message...but even so, most talk radio operations return back to "normal" on Tuesday.

-OA<P ID="signature">______________
Ohio Media Watch - <a target="_blank" href=http://ohiomedia.blogspot.com>http://ohiomedia.blogspot.com</a></P>
 
Re: Important Point Missed by "Industry Person"

> I could be wrong, but something's definitely not right
> there. And no, I don't listen to the station. More
> accurately, let's just say it wouldn't get a diary mention
> for my dollar.

Oh, I don't disagree with any of what you said. And I haven't even heard KIFR yet. (As far as I know, they're not streaming, and I'm certainly not within their broadcast range.)

I'm not saying that there isn't something amiss with 8 hours of one host on one day, but that it really doesn't mean much when the listener base isn't even being surveyed by Arbitron. Now, if stuff like this happens during a book, that's another matter.

-OA<P ID="signature">______________
Ohio Media Watch - <a target="_blank" href=http://ohiomedia.blogspot.com>http://ohiomedia.blogspot.com</a></P>
 
Re: Important Point Missed by "Industry Person"

> >
> > I'll agree with you on that. But the significance of one
> or
> > two "extra hour" host appearances on a holiday week
> doesn't
> > really amount to a hill of beans. That hill starts piling
>
> > up for real next Tuesday.
> >
>
> One or two? Try FOUR, which was my point to begin with.
>
> Too much.

Brian, I think you've lost the argument.

FreeFM is a new format, this is happening during an unrated period, and they can get away with running "Best of Darian" this week if they want.

Other than you, no one here is crying "foul". Move on, please.<P ID="signature">______________


</P>
 
Re: Important Point Missed by "Industry Person"

>
> Brian, I think you've lost the argument.
>
> FreeFM is a new format, this is happening during an unrated
> period, and they can get away with running "Best of Darian"
> this week if they want.
>
> Other than you, no one here is crying "foul". Move on,
> please.

In fact, the cap to this one is the fact that 99% of talk listeners do not listen for 4 or 5 or 6 hours straight. The average talk P1 may listen 2 hours a day, so this whole issue is irrelevant to the way listeners use radio.
>
 
Re: Important Point Missed by "Industry Person"

Best of? Perhaps you should listen more closely---or at least not try to pretend to arbitrate a discussion, the foundation of which is based on something unfamiliar to you.

It's been my experience that the one who changes the facts is typically the one who has lost the argument.
 
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