G-Rock Suggested Changes

[hubcity]

It's "risky" to buy a $14 XM Radio (on ebay) and activate it for $10? Get real.

...at least until you ask yourself, "Why is this $100 electronic device auctioning for a high bid of $14?"

What is a couple year old $ 2000 computer worth today ? $ 50 ??
How about a cell phone from last year that cost $ 300 new ? $ 25 ?

Both computers and cell phones have newer models with more memory, more power, and more features. Your XM radio has...XM radio.

Want your XM radio to do more than be an XM radio? The RIAA may have something to say on the matter...

 

[mjb1124]

Re: Terri Carr at G-Rock

One person at G Rock once told me that they're going for a "happy, fun" sound at the station. That's funny - before the grunge explosion, the format was known for having featured many dark and brooding acts, and bands like Staind and Linkin Park (the softer material of both is played often at G Rock) are not exactly what anyone would call happy and fun.

I do have to say that's a pretty ridiculous description of either their image or the image an alternative station should be going for. I do agree that if they're going to play those bands, they should include the harder material too. I mean, LP has had eight major hits, but three of them have been shunned by G-Rock.

I don't mind any of the female-friendly bands I referred to, but the station leans too heavily on the soft stuff for an Alternative and lacks diverse selections in some instances (In Weezer's case: Too much Make Believe and absolutely no Pinkerton, or even Maladroit).

I have heard some Pinkerton cuts on a few ocassions, though at least some of them were during the '90s At Noon. I should also note that while other stations tend to shun Green Day's post-Dookie/pre-American Idiot material other than "Brain Stew" and "Time of Your Life", I hear G-Rock throw on "J.A.R.", "Geek Stink Breath", "Hitchin' A Ride", "Nice Guys Finish Last", and the Warning singles fairly often.

If I had to pick one thing that rubs me the wrong way, it's the exclusion of those acts. They find the time to play plenty of frivolous here-today-gone-tomorrow pop acts but won't play the bands that have something to say. The lyrical content used by Tool, SOAD and RATM is what sets them apart from the bands that are often considered their peers. Add to that the strong chart performance all of these acts have had, not to mention the fact that WRAT (the other Rocker in the market) seldom ever plays these acts, and there really is no reason that I can see why they should be excluded. G Rock's predecessor, FM 106.3, played Tool and RATM quite a bit. The only thing I could think of is that perhaps the folks that run G Rock disagree with the viewpoints of these bands (one possible hint: they do play Bush-loving bands like Fuel quite often).

They play anti-Bush songs by Green Day and Incubus, and even throw on Anti-Flag's "The Press Corpse" occasionally at night. I've also heard some of their jocks bash Bush on a few occasions. So no, I don't think that's the issue - I guess they just have an unfounded concerned about scaring off listeners

G Rock is giving certain older tracks as much as three spins a day right now ("Steady As She Goes" and "When You Were Young" come to mind). That could have something to do with the typical limited album release schedule of the first quarter, but I think they could be a little bit more proactive with the adds. There's a station in Atlantic City (WJSE) that is way ahead of G Rock when it comes to the amount of currents - their big downside is that their general sound is a wild amalgamation of alternative, hard rock and classic rock. It's not unusual to hear Aerosmith followed by The Killers, or AC/DC followed by Taking Back Sunday. It seems that just about every station has a couple of kinks that could be worked on.

I think most Alternative stations are just too restrictive, whether it's a cookie-cutter Clear Channel/CBS station, an overtly elitist "indie" station, or a station like G-Rock that's afraid to play anything too heavy. I'd like to hear a station where Morrissey, The Cure, Oasis, Tool, Korn, Shinedown, My Chemical Romance, and the Shiny Toy Guns could peacefully co-exist, along with all of the artists that pretty much every station current agrees on. I also feel that an Alternative stations should not specifically target either gender.

That said, I do agree that AC/DC and Aerosmith don't belong on an Alternative station, though that sounds like a rather intriguing station in its own right.

One change that they could make would be to start digging deeper into the vault and playing more retro tracks. I really doubt someone is going to call up asking to hear "Smells Like Teen Spirit" on the Retro Request Hour - or most of the gold that G Rock plays, for that matter. Keep the rotation fresh, especially for the people that listen at work. I have to tune out at the office sometimes because things become too stale. Hopefully G Rock will make a note of the requests being made during this time period and use that to influence their regular playlist.

You may be on to something here. So far, the Retro Request Hour has mostly strayed from what they would normally play, and in the past few days they've even been throwing on some gold tracks during regular hours that I wouldn't have expected to hear.

Here's some of the highlights of what they played this morning:
11:36am REM Driver 8
11:13am Beck Sexx Laws
10:59am The Clash The Magnificent Seven
10:44am Moby Body Rock
10:33am Squeeze Another Nail in my Heart
10:22am Garbage Queer
7:58am The Smiths Bigmouth Strikes Again

And here's the Retro Request Hour lineup (yes, they started a few minutes early):
12:58pm Smashing Pumpkins Eye
12:48pm Matthew Sweet Girlfriend
12:45pm Love and Rockets No New Tale To Tell
12:40pm Mad Season River Of Deceit Mad Season
12:36pm INXS Listen Like Thieves
12:31pm Echo And The Bunnymen Lips Like Sugar
12:27pm U2 Sunday Bloody Sunday
12:22pm School of Fish 3 Strange Days
12:19pm The Fixx Secret Seperation
12:14pm Better Than Ezra In The Blood
12:11pm Siouxie And The Banshees Christine
12:08pm Hole Miss World Hole
12:05pm The Plimsoulsl A Million Miles Away
12:01pm Depeche Mode Just Can't Get Enough Depeche Mode
11:57am The Cult Rain

I can only guess that Terri Carr has had some influence here.

 

[The_Drake]

Re: Terri Carr at G-Rock

I can only guess that Terri Carr has had some influence here.

That can't be! Didn't you hear when Soul Crusher blessed with his inside knowledge that Press PDs have no influence whatsoever!?

 

[hubcity]

Re: Terri Carr at G-Rock

I can only guess that Terri Carr has had some influence here.

That can't be! Didn't you hear when Soul Crusher blessed with his inside knowledge that Press PDs have no influence whatsoever!?

Gee, where I come from, the word "guess" means "guess".

 

[raydofan]

It's "risky" to buy a $14 XM Radio (on ebay) and activate it for $10? Get real.

...at least until you ask yourself, "Why is this $100 electronic device auctioning for a high bid of $14?"

And then I says:

"Self, it's because a newer one has been put on the market, and the owner wants a couple of bucks for the old one."

 

[raydofan]

It's "risky" to buy a $14 XM Radio (on ebay) and activate it for $10?  Get real.

...at least until you ask yourself, "Why is this $100 electronic device auctioning for a high bid of $14?"

What is a couple year old $ 2000 computer worth today ?   $ 50 ?? 
How about a cell phone from last year that cost $ 300 new ?  $ 25 ?

Both computers and cell phones have newer models with more memory, more power, and more features.  Your XM radio has...XM radio.

Want your XM radio to do more than be an XM radio?  The RIAA may have something to say on the matter...

Not quite. I have Sirius. It has a feature that allows you to rewind content (up to 45 minutes for hi-fi, 90 minutes for lo-fi) that a less expensive model doesn't have. This model is under $100. A more expensive model has program storage (several hours) and is a pocket-size portable.

Someone who is inclined to do so can record vey easily on their computer as well from a non-storage equipped mode. But if they are not so inclined, the machine does it for them.

 

[raydofan]

Hey Sean-

Aren't there quite a few (or just a few) ex-HTGers @ XM? Did you happen to pitch them? Are you still on WRSU? I think your show would be a good fit on either Sat service. Hell, I'll take your show over 'World Cafe' on Sirius Disorder any day.

 

[hubcity]

Dude, the check is *so* in the mail.

 

[raydofan]

Dude, the check is *so* in the mail.

Well, you might think that is asskissing, bt WCL really sucks. And it's available everywhere.

And those were serious questions.

 

[hubcity]

Well, you might think that is asskissing, bt WCL really sucks. And it's available everywhere.

And those were serious questions.

Well, serious questions deserve Sirius answers...

Firstly, thank you for being so complimentary, honestly.

For the specific case of satellite, when it comes to a staffing choice between me and, say, Larry The Duck (or even Darrin Smith) I'll pretty much lose that head-to-head competition no matter what. Former 106.3-ers Mike Marrone and Jerry Rubino are over at XM's "The Loft", and they're both doing well on a format I respect - but that I really don't fit in with. As for Sirius, the ex-106.3-ers seem to arrive and leave on a regular basis. Both services have their pick of forcibly-retired alternative jocks, and with my paid tenure having ended in about 1992, I'm not quite in the running.

But the truth is, while those folks were toughing it out in the industry, I became a happy corporate cog in a completely unrelated field (or so I thought: Internet communications.) After a few years I found the need to scratch that "introduce people to fun new music" itch, realized there was a lot of fun new music out there to scratch that itch with, discovered I had a lot more disposable income to pursue that than I ever did when I was actually *in* radio, and thus found a way to do it on my own terms. To the extent a few folks (and a few listeners!) have helped indulge me in that, I'm extremely thankful, but there's not a lot of pressure pushing me to take it to someone that might want to own it and take control of it away from me.

It is, however, refreshingly free of commercial bias (though chock full of personal bias - which is fully disclosed in the intro for the FM showcase...)

 

[mjb1124]

Back on topic, they played Tool's "Vicarious" yesterday in the afternoon, as well as "The Pot" the night before. And they're also continuing to throw on more classics. So things are looking up.

 

[SoulCrusher]

Back on topic, they played Tool's "Vicarious" yesterday in the afternoon, as well as "The Pot" the night before. And they're also continuing to throw on more classics. So things are looking up.

G Rock did give night rotation to "Vicarious" (perhaps Matt Knight's influence?) when it came out - however, after spinning it for a couple of weeks they began the awful practice of cutting most of the instrumental part that begins the song until about 5-10 seconds before Maynard starts singing. Other than the late, unlamented K-Rock in NYC (and they only did it with "Eulogy"), I can't think of any other station that has done this. Here's hoping they stopped doing that and will play some other Tool songs as well.

Rage Against The Machine has received a couple of spins, but only during the Retro Weekends and the Retro Music Lab. SOAD also received some airplay for two songs, and it shouldn't come as any surprise that those two songs were "Aerials" and "Lonely Day".

Surprisingly, maybe Terri Carr does have some input on the station's sound as we continue to hear some songs that previously only received spins during special features:

11:35am Smithereens Blood And Roses
11:31am Soul Coughing Super Bon Bon
10:26am Cure Lullabye
10:14am U2 Bullet The Blue Sky
9:15am New Order Bizarre Love Triangle
7:43am Cracker Teen Angst

The only thing that has been disappointing is the increasingly bland sound of the station at night. There used to be more surprises and harder tracks receiving spins from 7 PM on, but it seems that the sound I'm describing left along with Matt Knight when he moved to the afternoon shift. Perhaps Matt's MD experience at B 98.5 gave him a little influence. Since they seem to be leaving much to be desired at night, I guess they're banking on the engaging dialogue of Brooke Connolly (and whoever is doing graveyard on that night) to be enough to keep the listeners tuned in.

 

[aroundtheway]

I can't even listen at night. Brooke Connelly is one of the worst and most self induglent jocks I have heard on radio in a VERY long time. If they were going to put a female in for a full time shift why would they put her in? Matt Knight in afternoon drive isn't bad but he seems geared toward drawing men as opposed to women which is G Rock's "target." He knows alt. music so perhaps he has some say in programming but who knows what is going on there. Last I heard, they were letting Jen Ursillo have a say in the music meetings. They might as well invite the UPS guy in the meetings, too.

 

[SoulCrusher]

I can't even listen at night. Brooke Connelly is one of the worst and most self induglent jocks I have heard on radio in a VERY long time. If they were going to put a female in for a full time shift why would they put her in? Matt Knight in afternoon drive isn't bad but he seems geared toward drawing men as opposed to women which is G Rock's "target." He knows alt. music so perhaps he has some say in programming but who knows what is going on there. Last I heard, they were letting Jen Ursillo have a say in the music meetings. They might as well invite the UPS guy in the meetings, too.

As far as Brooke Connolly goes - she was the last option left as far as female jocks were concerned (Mary Elizabeth, the last link to FM 106.3, was let go along with Zanyor). G Rock's webpage has posted a series of comedy videos called "The Brooke Stream" which she was involved with - I'm guessing they were popular enough that Press Communications felt confident making this move. In addition, I guess they felt that no one else on the staff was experienced enough to take on the shift. I think it would have made more sense for her to take over afternoons and keep Matt Knight on the evening shift, but I've given up trying to figure out what makes the folks at Press tick. Perhaps they feel this move will attract a stronger Female audience to G Rock's nighttime programming - who knows?

Jen Ursillo's possible influence on programming: I haven't heard enough from her to get a handle on her tastes, but it only takes five minutes to figure out that she's a girly girl. One that probably spends a good amount of time shopping for clothes, and one that loves reading her tabloids (further proof that G Rock goes after Females: all the talk about celebrities). Suffice to say, much like the folks at Press, I doubt she's a Tool fan, or that she's into much of the Alternative Rock that was out prior to Nirvana. G Rock really should take notice of the requests on the Retro Request Hour - about 75% of them are songs from the '80s. Seems like it would be a good idea to ease up on the My Chemical Romance and Fall Out Boy just a little bit to make room for more of this, especially during the day. They are making progress based on the examples I've mentioned in earlier posts, but they still have work to do.

On a related note: I love how G Rock pretends that FM 106.3 never existed. Even today it's hard to imagine many fans of FM 106.3 enjoying G Rock. It disappoints me to see that there are about half a dozen Green Day songs that get played more often than the entire Smiths and Morrissey catalogs COMBINED. And I'm sure that includes a couple of their treacly "poor me" soccer-mom ballads. No, I'm not saying that they should stop playing Green Day, I'm saying that they should be playing a lot more Smiths and Morrissey. While I'm at it - do we still need to hear "Welcome To The Black Parade", "Tell Me Baby", "Anna Molly", "When You Were Young", etc. two or three times a day? Your listeners are not all children and do not crave this repetition - maybe you could make room for the '80s, '90s and current material that you aren't playing by cutting back just a little bit. I'm hopeful that Terri Carr will help in bringing this station closer to its roots and make more of an effort in reaching out to Males than previous PDs have - with its excellent coverage, G Rock should be performing much better than it is.

P.S.: Beejus - I know for a fact that G Rock has given at least 30 songs 17 spins or more over the course of a week. That sounds on par with K-Rock in NYC's level of airplay. With the top track receiving 30 spins, it may not be too bad on the top end, but on the back end the repetition is excessive - you don't see many stations giving their #30 song 2.5 spins a day.

 

[mondoradio]

From what I've heard, Brooke did not have much on-air experience before G-Rock. I thought she was good on weekends...she added some much needed personality to the usually boring weekends. But, I don't think she was polished enough for Middays. This seems like it may have been a mistake, because she replaced former PD Mike Gavin (Gavin) in Middays who IMHO was polished and professional sounding. He sounded like a regular guy, hanging out and playing music. He kept the music moving, and was perfect for middays.

Let's not forget, he was also the PD during G Rock's most successful period. He gets fired (rumor being to save money), and ratings tank...leading to more firings and on-air shuffling. Coincidence?

Let's hope Terrie Carr can right the ship and bring some stability back to G Rock.

 

[aroundtheway]

From what I am told (from a good source), Brooke Connelly was put on air full time after she threw many fits and went to Frank Calderero (former GM until a few weeks ago) and demanded to be put on air full time. He apparently loved her and gave her whatever she wanted. She also wanted to put up videos and he gave the green light on that. Interesting.

SoulC- Agreed on your Mary Elizabeth comment - the last FM 106.3 link is gone. If Terrie wants a female, they should get Mary Eliza back on the air. She has a great personality and knows music. I had heard she was doing voice overs for video games.

I am finding myself listening to WBJB lately. I never thought of myself as a non - commercial radio person but I do like that they are playing more new "alt" music. Plus they have removed a lot of their specialty npr programs from the weekend line up which means more music.

 

[mondoradio]

From what I am told (from a good source), Brooke Connelly was put on air full time after she threw many fits and went to Frank Calderero (former GM until a few weeks ago) and demanded to be put on air full time.

That sounds a little far fetched, and I would examine just how reliable this "good source" is. I don't think someone who had never had a full time on-air gig could demand to be put on the air and have it actually happen. It just doesn't make sense. Although, the way the business is being run these days, anything can happen.

 

[aroundtheway]

This is what I was told - There were a handfull of people that wanted Mike Gavin out. Brian Phillips, Matt Knight and Brooke Connelly to name a few. So when Brooke went to Frank Calderero for a full time air shift she had Phillips and Knight to back her. This was the first step in getting Mike Gavin off of the air and Brooke getting mid days. Since she had the support of upper management it was likely for Calderero to give her a shot.

 

[mondoradio]

Yikes! If that's true it sounds like quite a soap opera. It seems to have backfired though 'cause since this alleged coup the ratings have gone down, Brooke has been moved to nights, and Frank Calderaro has been fired. Be careful what you wish for...

 

[SoulCrusher]

Re: Terri Carr at G-Rock

One thing is certain: Unlike WRAT, where at least four personalities have been on the air since it started in 1995, there have been a ridiculous amount of personnel changes at G Rock since Press bought WHTG in late 2000. It leads one to believe that there could be a good amount of drama behind the scenes over there. Or it could just be that Press felt the need to add more ingredients to the broth to get it to come out right. The problem with G Rock was that it billed itself as an Alternative despite not being one until about 2004. In that time, everyone that listened to FM 106.3 had tuned out and the new audience they attracted just wasn't paying dividends. Now they sound the closest to a true Alternative than they ever have under the current ownership - maybe they're slowly realizing that they should have left well enough alone. The only thing that held FM 106.3 back was its limited signal and advertising budget - and, admittedly, the fact that the format was temporarily on the wane during that time period.

As far as Mike Gavin is concerned - seems to me that the station didn't sound drastically different than it did under the previous PD. I'm sure he had some ideas that he wasn't able to implement because Press wouldn't release its iron claw grip on the programming. There were areas that definitely could have used improvement (lack of '80s music, no Saturday Night show, special programs on when people can't hear them, etc.) that were not addressed. If in fact he was forced out, that's disappointing. But as I've said before, we'll never be able to figure out what the folks at Press are thinking.

Moving on to music: We're continuing to hear improvements in the station's sound. Songs that never found their way into the regular rotation, or at least daytime rotation, include the following:

1:41 Pearl Jam - Not For You
1:32pm The Ramones - Teenage Lobotomy
1:16pm U2 - The Fly
1:12pm Alice In Chains - Got Me Wrong
11:43am Nine Inch Nails - The Perfect Drug
11:36am Social Distortion - I Was Wrong
10:25am Depeche Mode - Strangelove
10:18am The Smithereens - House We Used To Live In
9:19am Morrissey - Interesting Drug
4:40am Bad Religion - Infected

On a related note: Is it a coincidence that most of these songs were played after 10:00 AM?

That can't be! Didn't you hear when Soul Crusher blessed with his inside knowledge that Press PDs have no influence whatsoever!?

Well, look at it this way: For the better part of four years, G 106.3 was a Modern AC disguised as an Alternative. They finally admitted they were a Modern AC in the beginning of 2004, and started playing Santana and Norah Jones to drive the point home. Then, after acts like Modest Mouse and Franz Ferdinand broke through, it was the first time that G became an actual Alternative under Press ownership. Any idea how many PDs they went through during this time period? My guess: at least half a dozen. Among them were FM 106.3 alumni Rob Acampora and, if I'm not mistaken, Michele Amabile. Personally, I think it's safe to assume that neither Rob nor Michele came up with the idea to play acts like Nelly Furtado and Sheryl Crow on an Alternative station. From the beginning, Press had it in their heads that changes needed to be made and despite the "Save FM 106.3" movement, the station became G 106.3 which was a Modern AC in all but name. This sound was clearly their agenda. Maybe future PDs came up with ideas like playing Bon Jovi and Guns N' Roses (which happened around 2002 or so) or the "Be Different" phase which threw some surprising Classic Alternative tracks in with the Modern AC fare (2003), but by and large it was clearly Press steering the ship. As far as Terrie Carr goes: There's little doubt that her experience in the business has played a large part in the recent changes we have seen on the station. Given the company's history up to this point, they won't grant this level of control to just anyone. Taking into account the drop in ratings the last two books, perhaps they should have relinquished control long ago - the people with hands on radio experience should be calling the shots instead of the board of directors.