I got caught up in the emotion of the moment last night with my post, so in light of this topic's heading I'd like to point out something that I didn't think to include in what I typed then.
In the Spring of 2006, WODB was at 2.2 in the 12+ chart, and although you have to go back a little farther to get a comparable number for WTDA/WEGE, I'm pretty sure something like a 2.2 is there. Nu, you're the expert on this; wasn't there at least a 1.8 in a book sometime around the transition of bird to human, or was that just in one of the trends? Anyways, my point is this -- is there any signal-related reason why these two stations can't at least get back "up" to where they were in the not-so-distant past? Are their signals now only half as strong as they were 1-3 years ago?
And another thing, and perhaps more importantly:
A) Both stations stream on the Web
B) Listeners who live ANYWHERE in Central Ohio can hear them at home or at work in this manner and log that in their Arbitron diaries
C) And so this is another reason why the ratings easily could and would be much better if either one of them had a format that worked
Mr. Riley, I don't have an example of past success for my format because to the best of my knowledge, it's never been tried anywhere. You may be thinking, "Oh, come on, EVERYTHING'S been tried somewhere," but if and when those cats come out of the bag after October 19, you'll see how truly unique and novel it is. And I don't think that now would be a good time to start an Internet station, not with the threat of thousands of dollars of royalty payments each year looming over the heads of the operators of those ventures. Besides, I don't want to preach to the converted, which to me is what the Internet radio business is largely all about. I want the music to be able to entertain and educate and surprise folks and their kids on AM or FM, the same way that I grew up listening to, learning about, and loving it. Things really can be FUN again, just like they were back then, I swear!
Bill, thanks for your support, or at least for what I interpret as your support. I think you make a LOT of sense with what you have written. You, too, Phat, although I think that the first part of your last sentence is a lot better suggestion than its second! To both of you, and to everyone else, please hold off on your final judgment of Revolutionary Radio until more details emerge, which will happen shortly after the 19th unless Hal or Bill or John or someone at their stations' corporate levels contacts me before then. Yeah, yeah, yeah, everyone in the industry thinks it's only the tried and true ways that work the best, and so they all go with nothing but them. But only one station can be #1, and only ten can be in the top ten, and so where does that leave everyone else? Fighting for the crumbs, fighting for the same crumbs month after month after month and quarter after quarter after quarter, until and unless one of them realizes that maybe it shouldn't be playing by everyone else's rules of the game -- and that maybe instead it should try creating its own rules, and playing by them.
