How influential is this site?

[pghfmradiosucks]

I have enjoyed ranting about local media. It feels good to express my opinions regarding the sad state of local FM radio. My question is this: Do local radio employees know about this site and if so, do they visit it regularly? I would hope that all of our ranting is not falling upon deaf ears.
On another matter, WDVE was on at work tonight. (I tried my best to tune it out). Once again, they gave me reason to rant. Between the hours of of 4 PM and 10PM I heard Green Grass and High Tides, Free Bird and Stairway to Heaven. How pathetic. I am sure that if DVE is on Tuesday night I will hear those songs again.
Note to pbf1: I will grant you that 96.1 losing 0.5 of their audience in less than a year is not damaging to them. But if this continues they will have to look at the situation. The word you used is "flat" and I agree. Advertisers are looking for established growing stations. We all know that it all comes down to money. A station which has a history of format changes and whose numbers are flat or declining ( both describe 96.1) will have a difficult time attracting advertisers.

 

[garnet]

until anyone is taking on 'dve, why should they change...k-rock tried, but made stupid choices...maybe it was cbs, maybe it was bad changes in music...how much "tool" should a mass appeal rock station play?...not much in pittsburgh i'm guessing...but listeners have to be willing to answer a different question when it comes to ratings...if they keep on just saying 'dve...well, then no other rock station will succeed...and 'rrk tried for years...course they weren't very aggresive, but k-rock was...till they destroyed it...

 

[Pratte4Life]

Why should they care?

Because listeners deserve more than a lazy radio station. Take pride in your product!

If you rely on listeners just because of force of habit, you'll never improve. That's what happened to KDKA.

In the case of WDVE, let me ask you this. If there wasn't a Froggy- if Keymarket never bought up those stations and all the old WASP-FMs and Rockys were all still trying to make it independently- don't you think WDSY would be the top rated station in the market by now?

And we can talk about how country is the new adult contemporary and Pittsburgh is only 8% black and all of this, but think about that.

A country music station- and one that is not playing the cutting edge stuff out of Nashville, either- could be the top radio station in a northeastern, heavily Democratic city very shortly and would be if it weren't for Froggy.

The reason is what FMRadioSucks just said. JUST LOOK AT THE WDVE PLAYLIST!

I can kind of see Free Bird and Stairway because they are iconic songs and it is a classic rock station.

But Green Grass and High Tides- I have probably been hearing that song on WDVE for 20 years and to be honest, it has been so underwhelming to me I had to look up the song title on the internet to know what he has been talking about.

Furthermore- Green Grass and High Tides SOUNDS old. Jimi Hendrix songs may be 40 years old but they don't sound old.

WDVE took Uriah Heep out of their regular playlist some years ago because let's face it- "Easy Livin'" sounds like 1970 with all the keyboards and such.

But at least it is a lively song! At least it is inspiring!

If I'm listening to a rock station- I want to "GASP!" ROCK! I want a song that makes me want to drive in the fast lane or get a little cocky or party.

The last 10 songs on the WDVE playlist have two songs on it that I would consider anything close to a rocker- and that's Boston's "Rock and Roll Band" and Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody."

And there are harder songs than Boston's "Rock and Roll Band" and Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody."

I'm on WDVE's website. Let's see here- links to "Pink Floyd on Demand" and "Eddie Vedder Into The Wild."

Pink Floyd and Eddie Vedder?

Combine that with "Green Grass and High Tides" and I'm put to sleep faster than I would have been if you gave me a 40 oz. of beer at midnight!

 

[Interested Observer]

I have enjoyed ranting about local media. It feels good to express my opinions regarding the sad state of local FM radio. My question is this: Do local radio employees know about this site and if so, do they visit it regularly? I would hope that all of our ranting is not falling upon deaf ears.

As far as the headline statement, "How influential is this site", I'd would venture to guess that it's a BIG ZERO! That's not a knock on the site or anyone who posts and/or reads here. Corporate radio does things the way corporate radio does things; play the hits and play them often. Don't play anything that doesn't test a 4 out of 5.

As far as the radio professionals that visit and read, I would say that the younger ones do. The same probably post too. However the ones that do visit, read, and post, have no influence on the state of radio. They just follow orders...

 

[Snafu]

From what I gather in the market and from what I know of some of the people who post here on a regular basis I suspect that 50% of the people in the business in this market know of the website, about 20% actually visit and about 5% post. From those I know who post I am guessing the average age is somewhere close to 40.

 

[Whiplash]

Sorry to say this site has no influence on radio in Pittsburgh or anywhere. Rarely does a radio professional even post here. The Buffalo area seems to have a few regulars, some of which spent a good deal of their careers in Pittsburgh.

Its a shame that Pittsburgh used to be a great market, but that ended in the 90's, and it will never be the same again, as long as this current group of owners remain here. More independent broadcasters would help everywhere!

 

[SteelRocker]

Sorry to say this site has no influence on radio in Pittsburgh or anywhere. Rarely does a radio professional even post here. The Buffalo area seems to have a few regulars, some of which spent a good deal of their careers in Pittsburgh.

Its a shame that Pittsburgh used to be a great market, but that ended in the 90's, and it will never be the same again, as long as this current group of owners remain here. More independent broadcasters would help everywhere!

I totally disagree that radio professionals don't post on here. I am from eastern PA and I know on the Lehigh Valley and Central PA threads have regulars past and present who post on there. Maybe it doesn't happen in the Pittsburgh thread but that isn't true everywhere else.

 

[Pratte4Life]

If it's anything like the Voy newspaper board, radio professionals most certainly post here.

As for the influence, very little because everyone is afraid to come out from their cloaks of anonymity.

 

[Interested Observer]

If it's anything like the Voy newspaper board, radio professionals most certainly post here.

As for the influence, very little because everyone is afraid to come out from their cloaks of anonymity.

I'm sorry Pratte, but I don't see the correlation between a jock who does not disclose his identity when posting here and his/her influence on the state of radio as opposed to one who does.

 

[Pratte4Life]

Lots of people tell rumors or try to break things on this board.

But let me ask you this- what is more believable?

New Pirates GM Neal Huntington said he would look for a new field manager after the 2007 season?

or

Unnamed sources say Jim Tracy will not return as the Pittsburgh Pirates General Manager.

 

[Interested Observer]

Lots of people tell rumors or try to break things on this board.

But let me ask you this- what is more believable?

New Pirates GM Neal Huntington said he would look for a new field manager after the 2007 season?

or

Unnamed sources say Jim Tracy will not return as the Pittsburgh Pirates General Manager.

Bad example. What you have there would be basically something that would warrant a press conference or at least some type of press release from a person who would have first-hand knowledge of the situation not a post on a website. I highly doubt that someone like Keith Clark or Gene Romano would post here on this board.

What you have here at best are jocks or board-ops who would not have any knowledge of an upcoming changes about to happen at his/her stations and may be passing around a rumor that they've heard. So again, I don't see where someone who posts their name on this site would have any influence whatsoever, other than losing their job.

As far as breaking any news, the only thing that I can think of as "news" that I've seen here was the Paulsen defection from DVE to 93.7, and even that wasn't really news. Paulsen all but broke the news himself on his website.

Other news that no one here has been mentioned was Chris DeCarlo's leaving the Y108 morning show.

 

[kenhawk1160]

Bad example. What you have there would be basically something that would warrant a press conference or at least some type of press release from a person who would have first-hand knowledge of the situation not a post on a website. I highly doubt that someone like Keith Clark or Gene Romano would post here on this board.

What you have here at best are jocks or board-ops who would not have any knowledge of an upcoming changes about to happen at his/her stations and may be passing around a rumor that they've heard. So again, I don't see where someone who posts their name on this site would have any influence whatsoever, other than losing their job.

As far as breaking any news, the only thing that I can think of as "news" that I've seen here was the Paulsen defection from DVE to 93.7, and even that wasn't really news. Paulsen all but broke the news himself on his website.

Other news that no one here has been mentioned was Chris DeCarlo's leaving the Y108 morning show.

Those who have influence in the business DO read the postings on this site, though they may not post anything themselves. We see heavier hitters like Holland Cooke and Ed Salamon on here every once in a while.

 

[Interested Observer]

Bad example. What you have there would be basically something that would warrant a press conference or at least some type of press release from a person who would have first-hand knowledge of the situation not a post on a website. I highly doubt that someone like Keith Clark or Gene Romano would post here on this board.

What you have here at best are jocks or board-ops who would not have any knowledge of an upcoming changes about to happen at his/her stations and may be passing around a rumor that they've heard. So again, I don't see where someone who posts their name on this site would have any influence whatsoever, other than losing their job.

As far as breaking any news, the only thing that I can think of as "news" that I've seen here was the Paulsen defection from DVE to 93.7, and even that wasn't really news. Paulsen all but broke the news himself on his website.

Other news that no one here has been mentioned was Chris DeCarlo's leaving the Y108 morning show.

Those who have influence in the business DO read the postings on this site, though they may not post anything themselves. We see heavier hitters like Holland Cooke and Ed Salamon on here every once in a while.

I'm sure some do read Ken. The two that you mentioned as well as Clarke Ingram. That wasn't my point.

What I was saying is that the people "in the know" or have knowledge of something that would be of any influence, would not use this forum to get the news out. The ones who do post, regardless if they name themselves or not, would not be in the loop with anything that is earth-shaking, therefore, would have no influence.

 

[Snafu]

True. For the most part this site is a bunch of radio people or people interested in radio throwing ideas against the wall to see if they stick. We might learn something individually from the posts but none of it is even really deep backround.

What advantage would there be for someone in a position of power to post?

Oh, Chris DeCarlo leaving Y108 wasn't that earth shaking for people who know her or know the station. She did what her heart told her to do. Good for her.

 

[kenhawk1160]

True. For the most part this site is a bunch of radio people or people interested in radio throwing ideas against the wall to see if they stick. We might learn something individually from the posts but none of it is even really deep backround.

What advantage would there be for someone in a position of power to post?

Oh, Chris DeCarlo leaving Y108 wasn't that earth shaking for people who know her or know the station. She did what her heart told her to do. Good for her.

Chris told me that she had planned leaving Y108 for some time. She's in a position now where she can follow her heart and not be a slave to a contract or money, as well as spend more time with her husband. I don't think John is touring as much as he used to.

There would be no real advantage for anyone in a position of power to post earth-shattering news here like format or personnel changes or whatnot. Anything that is can be done in a forum warranting TV cameras and newspaper coverage. This one is better as simply an exchange of ideas, and if we can get Holland, Ed or any others to chime in with their two cents, that's great.