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Is there nothing going on in the Tri-Cities?

P

Pratte4Life

If one were to try to determine what the most boring place in America would be, the Tri-Cities would certainly be a candidate.

But this has got to take the cake.

I just determined that in the past year, there have been a grand total of three, COUNT 'EM THREE, threads regarding Tri-Cities broadcasting!

One of which wasn't about radio at all, but rather about WKPT-TV!

Are the broadcasters around here so fearful that if they would talk about anything insightful on here, let alone controversial, that they would be found out and told to report to their program directors for their pink slips?

Do the broadcasters have nothing insightful to say?

Is there that little going on?

Is it really that boring around here?

To be honest, while I obviously wrote the above four sentences with humorous intent, I would also answer a wholehearted yes to all four questions!

And that's a disturbing comment on radio in the area.
 
Did you read your own questions??? Answer them and you will have the appropriate answers. This is a boring non inovative radio market,period. And we the listeners suffer.
 
Yes, Stud. If you look at the end of my post, you'll see I, in fact, did answer those questions.

Does anyone wish to debate it? And what can be done to change it? Death is more exciting than Tri-Cities radio right now!
 
Well, to a certain extent we've had that already. Citadel no longer owns the cluster on Free Hill Road, it's Cumulus. And Pete Niniger passed in 2006, leaving the station to his daughter Lisa (who I always liked), but what has changed?

Steve Hawkins has a radio show on WFHG?

CBS radio has replaced ESPN on 640?

I will ask this. If Cumulus loses Rush Limbaugh, does WJCW keep him, or would Bristol try to get him on their airwaves?

Because I can tell you if WJCW loses Rush, they will no longer be the top dog talk station. And then what would they do on Free Hill to react?

Just wait for Cumulus to dictate?
 
I was reading this post. I know am not in the radio business but maybe i have posted some questions earlier about formats. I think around here there is a fear to try something new. The classic hits station was a new idea and has done well and I personally hope at some point will take the place of WQUT.. 102.7 sounds like WQUT in the late 80s. Also maybe i am wrong but the advertisers should decide the formats more than anything and if tv and radio age groups are similar then most of the stations should be formatted to the 18 - 45 year old. I am 42 and I do like the new top 40 radio sound it has a good blend of music like top 40 did when i was in high school back in the late 80s and i didn't listen to WQUT i listened to 104.9 when it played top 40 long ago..LOL I do think 98.5 is feeling the gap some for the mid-to-late 80s sound but there is not good station in this area that truly plays the music for people growing up from mid 80s to late 90s... I think that is very big hole that this market should look at filling. I am sure they might not pull the big ratings like 969 or 98.5 or 94.9 but i do think if some station decided to focus on pop from that time period the boredom factor would leave. Also, the same for those who like country in this area... its all new or old country nothing for those that want the country that made country popular.
 
acmoore423 said:
I was reading this post. I know am not in the radio business but maybe i have posted some questions earlier about formats. I think around here there is a fear to try something new. The classic hits station was a new idea and has done well and I personally hope at some point will take the place of WQUT.. 102.7 sounds like WQUT in the late 80s. Also maybe i am wrong but the advertisers should decide the formats more than anything and if tv and radio age groups are similar then most of the stations should be formatted to the 18 - 45 year old. I am 42 and I do like the new top 40 radio sound it has a good blend of music like top 40 did when i was in high school back in the late 80s and i didn't listen to WQUT i listened to 104.9 when it played top 40 long ago..LOL I do think 98.5 is feeling the gap some for the mid-to-late 80s sound but there is not good station in this area that truly plays the music for people growing up from mid 80s to late 90s... I think that is very big hole that this market should look at filling. I am sure they might not pull the big ratings like 969 or 98.5 or 94.9 but i do think if some station decided to focus on pop from that time period the boredom factor would leave. Also, the same for those who like country in this area... its all new or old country nothing for those that want the country that made country popular.
Click to expand...

You cant let advertisers decide a station's format. The overwhelming majority of them dont know the first thing about radio.
 
Advertisers already decide the formats of most radio stations. Simply put, try putting on a format no advertiser will support and see how long it lasts. Advertisers want to reach certain segments of the population. Stations, in turn, have to put on formats that will reach enough of those people to make the advertisers think buying them is worth their money.

Wonder why oldies has, for the most part, gone away and been replaced by classic hits? Advertisers don't want that audience and won't buy it. Same for easy listening, smooth jazz, and adult standards among others.
 
Agreed Kent. Country, Top 40, Soul, Beautiful Music... Now it's all renamed and re-packaged so it sounds more appealing to a prospective advertiser.

Rhythmic Hits gives the image that a cute teenager is going to show up in her sweet sixteen BMW from daddy so she can buy yet another Prada purse on the parents credit card. Urban gives the image that a bunch of pull-your-pants-up punks are going to show up outside and harass the customers.

Classic Hits evokes an image of a silver-haired CEO showing up in his weekend ride... a gorgeous restored '69 Camaro convertible. Oldies gives the impression that grandma's going to show up in her cream colored '72 Gran Torino and be barely able to see over the steering wheel.

Anybody get the feeling that polka music is going to come back some day as The Oktoberfest format?
 
I think the two of you know what I meant. Advertisers dont sit in meetings with managment and say "we're going to be a classic hits station or a talk station."
 
Yes. Programming decisions were made by local owners years ago based on the perceived marketability of a format. Now it's a more weasel-driven process.
 
radio guy 1951 said:
I think the two of you know what I meant. Advertisers dont sit in meetings with managment and say "we're going to be a classic hits station or a talk station."
Click to expand...

For what it's worth, my comment was directed more at him than at you. I didn't get the impression he was advocating having advertisers decide which songs to move and exactly what goes out over-the-air. Most people outside of radio don't really understand exactly how decisions are made and what goes into the planning and day-to-day thinking. Technically, the listeners aren't even the customers of the station. The advertisers are, and the listeners are their customers. The average person just entering radio doesn't get that.
 
Earlier I read the responses to my post as an average listener of the Tri-cities radio stations. It seems from the posts that followed because I am not in the "business" I do not know what I am talking about and should well shut up. Thing is this, if some one like me is questioning the motives of the radio community in this area what must others who do not bother to even go on line think? It would be my understanding they have internet radio, satellite radio, to listen to, so that trumps all the advertisers in this area and the local programming. I find myself as an average radio listener from the out side just scanning the waves when I don't like what I hear, I just go to the internet or else where. I posted on here to at least question some others to see what could be done to add diversity to the market so others like myself might not choice to find that other outlet. Any response other than positive suggestions will prove my point and sadly help me understand the public does not matter...
 
I will have to admit that, there for a while, the Tri-Cities radio market did have a lot of news coming out.. everything from why WXBQ was the powerhouse that it was, to why the Knoxville radio market's 100 kw stations, steal so many ad dollars out of the Tri-Cities market. I then got off the thread for almost a year... kinda lost track of everything. Meanwhile, still listening and punching the radio around. Now, a year later, Tri-Cities has indeed become boring, in terms of radio. There's been no news there at all, except that the WKPT stations are now all ESPN Radio. There's just nothing going on of substance. Everybody is still chasing WXBQ... WQUT is still playing John Boy & Billy "old fart" classic rock from a playlist, as if those tired, old 60 and 70 year old musicians never played anything else.....The Hog (or whatever they call themselves now), is still playing loud, guitar-whaling rock music that nobody can understand the words to.... those urban rap stations are still playing music designed to have you beat up your wife or girlfriend.... and the religious stations are still preaching Jesus (which I guess if they were successful, those stations would go out of business because everybody would be saved). Tri-Cities radio is in a decades-old funk that they'll never get out of.. the winners are still winning, and there are more losers than winners.
 
You know things are boring with Tri-Cities radio when WKPT-TV, itself one of the most boring operations on earth, is one of the main topics.
 
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