If I were programming an Oldies station... [VERY loooooong]

[NashRadio]

[In the interest of full disclosure, this is a continuation of a discussion buried on pages 7-8 of the thread: "Is there about to be another format flip for Cumulus-Nashville?". Plus, I am starting with songs I heard on 96.7, WASV as I was travelling through east + central KY (though I cannot find it on the web) and charting my own course from there.]

"Workin' at the Car Wash Blues" Jim Croce; "You Took the Words Right Out of My Mouth" Meat Loaf; Yesterday's Gone" Chad & Jeremy; "Help!" Beatles; "Dance with Me" Orleans; "Late in the Evening", Paul Simon; "Because" Beatles; "You Make Lovin' Fun" Fleetwood Mac; "Woman" John Lennon.

I would play Go-Gos, Bangles, Tracy Ullman, Chris Isaak. Plus, local artists from the 60s/70s. And not only the soft Bread songs, but "Mother Freedom" and "Let Your Love Go". R&B that wasn't on the (white) Top 40 surveys which ruled my listening.

Obscure tracks, even though they were on the Top __ (whatever): "Princess and the Punk", Barry Mann, and "Rock and Roll (I Gave You All the Best Years of My Life), Kevin Johnson. The 50-75% of the Top 40 1964-78? 80? 82? that DON'T get played anywhere. Flip sides of singles that deserved airplay, but got little/none.

[Radio consultants are already committing hara-kiri.]

Alternate takes, current songs by 60s/70s artists. Bobbie Gentry's Delta Sweete. SMiLE. Comedy cuts: Bill Cosby, Cheech y Chong; Firesign Theater, Steve Martin, Lily Tomlin. TV themes. Some non-crossover country.

At least several nights, Roots of Rock and Roll specialty programs: R&B/blues from the 40s and 50s one night; Rockabilly another; spotlight women another; folk on another.

I would not consider a station without including Jake Wylde's Deep Cuts.

And, of course the new Ringo and Eagles' cds.

Would anyone except me listen to my station?

 

[Ed_Salamon]

That variety will require really great radio personalities! My experience has been that good air personalties are valuable in broadening the range of music that listeners like. Unfamiliar tunes that would be tune outs if sandwiched in a six in a row set, become compelling listening when a well liked air personality adds context and/or enthuses about them. That's why network and syndicated shows that deviate from the normal playlist of their affiliates so often, if not usually, outperform the format programming on the rest of the station.

 

[ARDONAVINDA]

Thank You Ed for acknowledging the fact that good personalities do make the stations music seem better. If a song is not as familiar or completely unknown to the listener like say you played a track off of the Turtles "Battle Of The Bands" 1968 album yes it had "Elenore" & "You Showed Me" as true Top 20 cuts but say you played The title track or "Chicken Little Was Right" a good jock who knows his rock/pop & soul history will be able to tell you a little something about that album or the group that you may not have known, if you like oldies you would enjoy hearing something different from a well known artist or group like that. Although I personally wouldn't program to far from the billboard Top 40. Yes there are some reginal hits that you could do your homework and find out what they were in that area, and there are some songs that charted around the top 60 even that could use a little expossure again but I would keep it familiar for the most part because you don't want to have to much of a tune out factor. Bill Cosby's "Little Ole Man" done to the tune of "Uptight - Everything's Alright" by Stevie Wonder was an actual Top 40 hit in 1967 it went to # 4 on the charts. There's no reason that can't be played as an "Oh Wow" record. I wouldn't put it into heavy or even moderate rotation, but it could come up every once in a while. As for flip sides and bubble under top 100's, I would do a specialty show on a Sunday that would spotlight those kinds of songs. A successful Classic Top 40 ( don't use the term Oldies, it's dead in the water terminology) would have to have familiarity, good and knowledgable jock personality, an exciting vintage jingle package, halfway decent promotional packages, and plenty of out and about expossure! If you can do all that, you got me as a listener, or your consultant!

 

[barnaby_wilde]

ARDONAVINDA and Ed are so on target when it comes to the need of strong air LOCAL personalities. Outside of country, where the heck are they? D Dean's playlist would get my attention. Can't say I would be a big Deep Tracks fan for all of Jake's music, but there is usually enough in his program that I wouldn't tune out because of three or four songs. And, perhaps this kind of format turns up not only some "oh wows" but some "I never heard that before, but it's a darn good song." Could you sell commercials on this station? I kind of doubt it, but I wish someone would try.

 

[deltas69]

and i thought i was the only one who remembered "little ole man"..but that makes my point exactly. i'd wager no one in nashville has heard that since probably 68 or so when it would have been played as an "oldie" back then. that song and countless others are waiting to be re heard from the so called "dead format" listeners. and i also disdain the term oldies as it immediately makes me think of a "my girl" station..every fifth song is "my girl". classictop 40 would be a better choice as mentioned, vintage hits, supercuts, etc. as for how often a song is played, my playlist is pulled diectly from the billboard top 100 primarily from 63 to 83..but it goes father back and forward as well depending on my personal tastes as there are some songs i just don't like (the lion sleeps tonight) i know big hit..but i don't like it..soooo it's not on my list..strictly a personal call and i'm sure there are tunes that the rest of you have little fondness for. if i started my little ots audio program and let it run 24/7 it would take a little over 8 days before it repeated the same song..and from the knowledge that obviously exists on this board, i think everyone familiar with that type format would recognize every cut, an say..man..hadn't heard "andrea" by the sunrays in a while..and the trick to throwing in a long lost gem like that is to sandwich it with more familiar cuts and make it stand out with a tad of history in passing..THAT'S where it take real talent and experience..only comes form the old cats that were there and played them all at the time.is there some way each one of us as an experiment could post a scoped aircheck with snipits of a sample hour or two just to get a feel where some of our heads are..(insert obvious location here).not sure how big a file it would be, but a two hour air check would edit down to about 6 minutes or so.i'm sure most everyone has the technical ability to throw an aircheck together on the pc at home....or..am i just and old man clinging to the past and empty beer bottles ??

 

[jefflaurence]

Andrea by the Sunrays..WOW that brought me back to 1966..Jeez that was fun to listen to.

Does anyone hold a copyright on the phrase "Music Radio"? I was hired to do the imaging on WRQQ juusssst before they changed to classic hits..I thought it would be a real oldies type gig, but it did change..I guess I didn't do it right I don't know..in any case they let me go. I have stations in other markets that are using "Classic Top 40" and it seems to be working well. Listeners relate to it, and it certainly says what it is. But "Music Radio" is vintage sounding, and exactly says what the station plays. That phrase coupled with a fun, and forward moving presentation would allow for 'flavor" records like that to be played without compromising the precious "credability" everyone is so concerned about.

How about "Mr Dyingly Sad" by the Critters..."Nothing But A Heartache" by the Flirtations...and "Neon Rainbow" by the Box Tops.

Man that would be interesting..

Anyone want to hire a passionate voice guy?

 

[deltas69]

in the late sixties/early seventies WLS used that "music radio wls"...since they are all talk now..not sure if they still have that under their protection or not..we stole it in the early seventies as well at WHIN in gallatin..never got caught..but then a thousand watt daytimer only gets so far..and i'm pretty sure the big 89 wouldn't have considered us a threat LOL..PS..thanks for jogging the memory..i had forgotton about the critters and flirtations..got all the boxtops...and now...off to bearshare..

 

[barnaby_wilde]

Jeff and Deltas69 preach on!!!!! The idea of 63 to 83 would work for me. I'd probably go a little further back if it were me (55-79 -- but centering around 68-73) but I agree with you that sandwiching nuggets around bigger gold is the way to reintroduce those songs. Throw in some "Don't Let The Green Grass Fool You" by Wilson Pickett, "Soul Deep" by the Box Tops, any Van Morrison tune but "Brown Eyed Girl" and any Temptations tune but "My Girl" by the Temptations. Still gotta find those personalities who would keep it lively and local (is Bobby Knight still in town?). Maybe too nostalgic, but I'd call it the Baby Boomer's Boom Box.

 

[deltas69]

thanks for the pat on the back..my playlist does go back as far as 55..and forward as mid 90's or so...you just have to find the proper place to throw then in...and i would insert them...probaly useing a specific set of jingles to hit them up, and using stop sets as the place to insert them..(stop set/jingle/little anthony)..then a jingle out to trasnition to next song,talking overe the pad about Little A, something about the roots of r&r..you guys get it. i can do an hour, and play sookie sookie,bill deal and the rondells,clarence carter,carol douglas,doug williams,david bowie.along with the usual suspects.etc..and make it work. gives the listener all the familiarity they're used to..but..all the music thats missing..and they forgot about, until they hear it again for the first time in 30 or 40 years. since this is a long weekend, i'll throw together a sample of what i'm talking about and post the file on my website. i'll make a new page strictly for this, as the entire site is about restoring vintage motorcycles..i'll let the page know when i get it up..i mean...posted..LOL

 

[scottwmro]

thanks for the pat on the back..my playlist does go back as far as 55..and forward as mid 90's or so...you just have to find the proper place to throw then in...and i would insert them...probaly useing a specific set of jingles to hit them up, and using stop sets as the place to insert them..(stop set/jingle/little anthony)..then a jingle out to trasnition to next song,talking overe the pad about Little A, something about the roots of r&r..you guys get it. i can do an hour, and play sookie sookie,bill deal and the rondells,clarence carter,carol douglas,doug williams,david bowie.along with the usual suspects.etc..and make it work. gives the listener all the familiarity they're used to..but..all the music thats missing..and they forgot about, until they hear it again for the first time in 30 or 40 years. since this is a long weekend, i'll throw together a sample of what i'm talking about and post the file on my website. i'll make a new page strictly for this, as the entire site is about restoring vintage motorcycles..i'll let the page know when i get it up..i mean...posted..LOL

So, when are your going to stream your format for us to hear.

Here I am a terrestrial station owner, but restriced radio as we know it, plan old AM & FM should go away. There are wireless devices that will pick up internet streams in your car, portable in your hand, etc, and that is going to be the what will become of this industry.

Open up sites like Live 365 so everybody can put thier formats on and lets have a big ole contest.

Right now, for kicks I'm listening to WGCI, Chicago's HD2 stream. I was offered a job there in 1990. Glad I didn't take it! But for R n B Oldies of the 70's & 80's and early 90's, ....not bad.

 

[ARDONAVINDA]

Andrea by the Sunrays..WOW that brought me back to 1966..Jeez that was fun to listen to.

Does anyone hold a copyright on the phrase "Music Radio"? I was hired to do the imaging on WRQQ juusssst before they changed to classic hits..I thought it would be a real oldies type gig, but it did change..I guess I didn't do it right I don't know..in any case they let me go. I have stations in other markets that are using "Classic Top 40" and it seems to be working well. Listeners relate to it, and it certainly says what it is. But "Music Radio" is vintage sounding, and exactly says what the station plays. That phrase coupled with a fun, and forward moving presentation would allow for 'flavor" records like that to be played without compromising the precious "credability" everyone is so concerned about.

How about "Mr Dyingly Sad" by the Critters..."Nothing But A Heartache" by the Flirtations...and "Neon Rainbow" by the Box Tops.

Man that would be interesting..

Anyone want to hire a passionate voice guy?

1st off I do like your work, and if I had a Classic Top 40 station that I was programming or even working on I'd give you a ring, and we'd chat.
The "Music Radio" slogan is up for grabs because I was music director and jocking a station just recently that used it. Music Radio 105.7 WLSQ, Studios were in Crossville, TN. Tower In Rockwood I believe. It also reached Knoxville, Knox folks loved it because there was no Golden format at the time in their city, now they have WOKI True Oldies (24hr Scott Shannon). We basically re-created WLS from 32 years ago. We had JAM/PAMS re sing one of their Windy City packages and used a heavy dose of reverb on the whole audio chain, which actually sounded better than I thought it would, used an Orban stereo spatial enhancer, and us jocks talked up intros did corny jokes, one liners and other boss jock styles, that was our presentation. Personality radio! I had turned the owner on to running TK Tom Kent's Classic T-40 at nights. Although our focus was mainly The 70's, we went back to 1966 and up to 1983, 84 as 1975-1979 was our heavy rotation years. I had brought in my vintage PAMS generic jingles that I have and added more color to the presentation. The station is now a Classic Rock/Classic Hits format 105.7 The Hog. WLSQ Music Radio lasted 5 months and made some noise, we also showed up in the Knoxville ratings, just about tieing with WOKI in the 2007 spring book which could be why WOKI flipped to an oldies station. I suppose Crossville was thirstier for a Classic rock station more than a gold format and the owner made the flip when he sold his other FM frequency that had The Hog on it originally. The whole story is mentioned in better detail on the East TN boards back pages from the last two months. Anyhow I personally had a blast doing it, I got to bring my vast knowledge of Classic Top 40 to the table, and I remember telling the other jocks when we first kicked off MusicRadio that this will probably be the most fun you will ever have in radio, so enjoy it while it lasts. I was right. I'm not satisfied yet, I still want to do a heavy personality "Music Radio" Classic Top 40 style of presentation, would love to program one as well. If I knew how to, I'd post a sample of how we sounded on here. I by the way made sure that we played the Flirtations, "Nothing But A Heartache", Box Tops "Neon Rainbow" as well as my favorite Box Tops single "Soul Deep" both remembered Critters singles, almost all of the Turtles, Paul Revere & Raiders hits and many more late 60's & early 70's stuff like that, which were disolved when Oldies stations tightened up their playlists in the 90's. I'd love to do it again so any programers reading this, you got a guy who knows his GOLD and how to present it, come on let's make this happen once more on terrestrial radio.

 

[deltas69]

98% what i would do..pams/the same years more or less, jocks over intros ala wls..recreate the WLS thing..wish i heard this when it was on..i still think it's a format that works..maybe the owner didn't give it long enough to grap hold of..the people that are the boomer demo grew up listening to this type of radio as itn was what we all did back then, especially in a small town or market..sitting in a cow pasture 30 miles from nashville, we more or less had to play what wmak/wkda/wlac played..but our listner base was loyal..they listened to us during the day...flipped to WLS at night..until W

 

[deltas69]

AAGGGHHH !!!!!!!! don;t know what i hit to send...as i was trying to post...at night outlying areas that could not hear WMAK/WKDA cranked up WLS/WCFL/WABC..then WLAC went rock and we had a much stronger station to listen to. but it was all strong personality based rock..tight boards, trying to be as hip and clever as we could..the one common denominator between all the stations was FUN...you could tell the jocks on the air were having FUN...currently my car does not have a radio in it..but the last time i drove my truck..i couldn't find anyone having FUN...ut's the one thing thats missing in any format as far as i can hear...at least not the same calibre of we had wayyy back...

 

[ARDONAVINDA]

the one common denominator between all the stations was FUN...you could tell the jocks on the air were having FUN...currently my car does not have a radio in it..but the last time i drove my truck..i couldn't find anyone having FUN...ut's the one thing thats missing in any format as far as i can hear...at least not the same calibre of we had wayyy back...

You hit the nail on the head! FUN When's the last time you honestly could say you've heard any station that's fun to listen to? I had fun on Music Radio WLSQ. I want to have fun again! Yes from what I read of your posts, I think you and some of these other guys would've enjoyed Music Radio WLSQ it was FUN.

 

[deltas69]

in my delight to read your post (sounded like one of my programming rants ;D ), i overlooked the call letters you had.. "WLSQ" ... while WLS is obviously never going to be available..i thought about WLX..when the pams singers would do their voodoo they do..it would have sounded almost indistinguishable from the real thing...but WLX is already asigned somewhere..thought about WLS...N...the music city..kinda hurry and slur the "N" except for legals..but, i doubt any station in town would even understand what we're talking about. here's a question...i'm not familiar with all the AM'S in the area..but what would happen if say..a 1000 or 5000 watt AM did exactly what you did with WLSQ ? Granted it would only cover the metro area, but we're only looking for the demo that wants to hear the oldie/classic cut/..whatever, and they grew up hearing the hits on AM to begin with...so a 5000 watter covering the greater nashville area would have that entire demo..i'm no engineer, but i would think todays equipment would sound a lot better than 1968, not like fm..but Desmond Decker and The Aces were played on AM to begin with..who wants to pool their beer and lunch money, buy an AM, and give it a shot ..LOL.. ??

 

[ARDONAVINDA]

Heres my take on AM, We all grew up with the transistor radio listening to our fave T-40 station. I sometimes go on e-bay to try and find that old thing, but I don't know what it's name was. I couldn't read yet. I remember exactly what it looked like, torquoise with a round speaker grill in the front and a brown leather snap case that went over it. The handle acted as a stand as well to sit it back on a table. Anyhow I started my radio career on AM so there will always be a warm fuzzy feeling for that bandwidth. I always believed that if you put something on AM that people can't get on FM they will listen, (providing it's not the wattage of a 60 watt light bulb) this has been proven in many areas many times, however AM is getting harder and harder to sell as far as a sales standpoint. Most of your AM's get their advertisement because usually there's a FM or FM's in the company, and they sell it as a package deal, you buy time on the FM and you get the AM as a bonus. In bigger markets like Nashville or Knoxville the AM's are usually talk or sports, they do actually sell commercial spots for them exclusively because of their type of format, but that is the exeption usually. With technology rapidly changing the AM that we know will probably be different in less than 10 years. The AM that we knew in the 60's and 70's was actually better quality than now! Transmitters were built for the best transmission and strength that they could put out, and the radios were built with a better ferrite rod antenna in them, and no money was spared to put the best parts in them back then. Now radios with AM are made crappy except for the GE Super Radio that has a feature that can make a local AM sound like FM exept with heavier bass, but that can be adjusted, distant AM stations don't work as well on them, but a strong local station can sound like FM on that thing. They put an awesome ferrite rod inside for the AM that's one of the main features to that. I once thought if I was programming a vintage sounding Classic T-40 Music Radio format on the AM band I would try and work a proposal with GE to give a bunch of those radios out to our "At Work" listeners as a prize, kind of a register to win sort of thing then they could listen with a better sound, I don't think they make the Super Radio anymore, mine still works great! As much as I enjoy hearing Rare Earth's "I Just Want To Celebrate" in clean clear quality, I still get warm and fuzzy to hear it in AM heavy bass and minimal treble quality, it makes me feel like I stepped into a time machine. That's my take on AM, yes many boomers may find it fun to listen to but as a sales standpoint it may be hard to get advertisers to want to pay good money to have their add run on AM. Although I've known sales guys who could sell an ashtray to a non smoker!

 

[deltas69]

All points well said..and I do concur..but ..and I guess I'm fooling myself..since there is NO station playing our yet undetermind format name..but we know what we're speaking of..and someone threw up a 5000 watt clear and clean station playing the unplayed..and the former C&C crowd listened in mass...would that not not generate an audience to advertisers? If I'm selling geritol..but no knows it because i have no outlet for the message..then a station appears that has the entire demo for said geritol...why would I not advertise there ? I know a lot of IF'S,and the old argument of AM not sounding as good as FM..storms and static etc..I guess since I'm not in the biz anymore..maybe I look at things too simplisticly...but I'm like most everyone else my age (56)..we don't like things complicated..just give us what we want..we'll all go there..I think it's really just that simple FOR MY DEMO GROUP at least..put on the music, jocks that are JOCKS..not hosts.make it sound like Saturday night at the BIG 89...and in a market with no product..I truly believe it would work..NOW..THE RUB...assuming my insane idea took off and worked..it wouldn't be long before an FM tried the same thing..and if they did it right, then the AM would be toast simply from a sound and power standpoint..but from what I read here..I don't think cumo lous...would be that FM to try it successfuly..i must get a radidio in my car so i can hear the new TOWER..or am I not missing anything ?? ??? As always comments pro or con welcomed..i won't entertain the cons..but throw them out there anyway.. ;D

 

[jefflaurence]

hey ARDON...That would be the Zenith Tubeless "Royal 500". I have about 9 of them. Ebay has them in various conditions, and they work GREAT as DX radios..espeically in the winter. About 50 bucks will get you a good one..I have red, tan, pink, black..no turquise tho..they are hard to come by.

A 5000 watt stand alone outlet would probably let us LMA it a LOT cheaper than actually owning it, and we would only have to be concerned with running it..and not owning it.

An AM station is kinda like a copy machine..We don't really want to own one..we just want copies!

The reason AM is harder to sell is because of the conditioning of the audiences. They are just too used to getting music on FM..it's hard to get them back to the band..and with the bandwidth restrictions (especially becasue of IBOC) an AM station sounds horrid. You could just "not deal with it" and increase your bandwidth like Bob Savage is doing in Rochester NY..he owns WYSL and has a flat signal to 10k or better..listeners can really hear that difference. The other reason it's a tough sell is becasue of the young sales staffs..that want to make money the easy way and don't want to sell aan AM station that has a format they dislike. They won't go out and sell it. One adult standards station that I do imaging for actually has a "staff" of listener-associates who get paid to bring small packages to the station. Mostly ROS stuff, but paid spots from real advertisers who can afford it. I would pitch in and do a lot of the legwork and promotion for no money or for a percentage of the net after expenses just to get it going.

Car clubs, diners, specialty stores, BBQ joints, drive-ins, banks, window and carpet dealers, home improvement stores, fireplace and gas appliance dealers, pet boarding kennels, RV dealers, retro furniture stores..and the list of possible clients who would jump on it goes on...

BTW if you can and have a copy of an aircheck of WLSQ..upload it here, and I will post the link:

www.spotshuttle.com/upload.html

 

[deltas69]

well i know it's a pipe dream...a lot of varables stacked against the AM side..but what i can not understand is the mentality that refuses to think an FM with the format discussed won't
work anymore.who is telling these guys it won't work anymore? i understand the demo for big band music is all but gone, despite the great music that was played by all those guys..no one really left to listen, so no money to be made.and i guess in another 30 years or so my peers will be gone so no one left to listen to 60's/70's..but we are still heere...just doesn't make any sense to me..jeff could i have permission to link a sample of what i feel is a viable format? it's a hour aircheck edited to a little over 6 miutes..just something i threw together as what i would do..if i had a station..contains vintage jingles, snipets of classic spots..thanks..pj

 

[radio30]

Heres my take on AM, We all grew up with the transistor radio listening to our fave T-40 station. I sometimes go on e-bay to try and find that old thing, but I don't know what it's name was. I couldn't read yet. I remember exactly what it looked like, torquoise with a round speaker grill in the front and a brown leather snap case that went over it. The handle acted as a stand as well to sit it back on a table. Anyhow I started my radio career on AM so there will always be a warm fuzzy feeling for that bandwidth. I always believed that if you put something on AM that people can't get on FM they will listen, (providing it's not the wattage of a 60 watt light bulb) this has been proven in many areas many times, however AM is getting harder and harder to sell as far as a sales standpoint. Most of your AM's get their advertisement because usually there's a FM or FM's in the company, and they sell it as a package deal, you buy time on the FM and you get the AM as a bonus. In bigger markets like Nashville or Knoxville the AM's are usually talk or sports, they do actually sell commercial spots for them exclusively because of their type of format, but that is the exeption usually. With technology rapidly changing the AM that we know will probably be different in less than 10 years. The AM that we knew in the 60's and 70's was actually better quality than now! Transmitters were built for the best transmission and strength that they could put out, and the radios were built with a better ferrite rod antenna in them, and no money was spared to put the best parts in them back then. Now radios with AM are made crappy except for the GE Super Radio that has a feature that can make a local AM sound like FM exept with heavier bass, but that can be adjusted, distant AM stations don't work as well on them, but a strong local station can sound like FM on that thing. They put an awesome ferrite rod inside for the AM that's one of the main features to that. I once thought if I was programming a vintage sounding Classic T-40 Music Radio format on the AM band I would try and work a proposal with GE to give a bunch of those radios out to our "At Work" listeners as a prize, kind of a register to win sort of thing then they could listen with a better sound, I don't think they make the Super Radio anymore, mine still works great! As much as I enjoy hearing Rare Earth's "I Just Want To Celebrate" in clean clear quality, I still get warm and fuzzy to hear it in AM heavy bass and minimal treble quality, it makes me feel like I stepped into a time machine. That's my take on AM, yes many boomers may find it fun to listen to but as a sales standpoint it may be hard to get advertisers to want to pay good money to have their add run on AM. Although I've known sales guys who could sell an ashtray to a non smoker!

So, Ardonavinda, You were the programming brain behind 105.7 WLSQ. Untill early 2006, I spent 25 years in radio and I have to honestly tell you that the re-creation of the "music radio format on 'LSQ was the best radio that I have EVER heard in this area and the best that I have heard in a long time anywhere! To your credit, it was not the same playlist recycled over and over (the norm in todays radio). I was listening one morning and heard "Jimmy loves Mary-Ann" by the group Looking Glass. Sure , everybody and their brother plays "Brandy" but you never hear "Jimmy" on the radio. One of the great points that 'LSQ had. We got to hear some of the more obscure songs that maybe were not the biggest of hits but back in the day were at least "semi-popular".
And as far as the personalites went, and they were that, personalities, they were high-energy and sounded very good. They did not sound "cookie cutter" and as if they were half asleep and would rather have been somewhere else. It was like they were having as much fun working as we were having listening and enjoying.
Yes, radio like that is very rare these days in our modern-day world of Clear Channel and Cumulus Clusters where the bottom line rules and the station is nothing more than a Scott Studios Jukebox complete with voice tracks and all the mis-fires that go with it. It would really be nice if we could get back to more "old School radio" once again. I suppose my age is showing here.
Anyway, I sure would love that chance to be a part of another re-created "MusicRadio Format" should that ever happen. That would be the format that would bring me back to radio again.
In the mean time, after we lost WLSQ I became so bored with terrestrial radio in this area and had a Sirius installed in my vehicle where the "Movin Easy" along with the 60's and 70's channels are used most of the time.
Anyway, Ardonavinda, thanks for the memories and 5 months of great radio before the owners of Southern Media made perhaps one of the biggest blunders in radio history. Thanks again.