Ive been getting into the habit of scanning the dial as sometimes you never know what you'll find. I think a danger a lot of us can fall in is to make judgements about personalities or even formats without giving them their due.
Yesterday morning it was cool to hear on Rock 105 a member of the Cox Radio family ( A PD on a classic hits station - I don't remember where) being raked over the coals for making the decision to edit "Life in the Fast Lane." I don't want to repeat it here but the line has to do with what amounts to taking the name of the Lord in vain. This is probably a topic on it's own but there is nothing new here in PDs have always had to exercise their decision to reflect the taste of the community. Obviously, there can be sensorship issues and where does it all stop. Anyway, a great topic was brought up as this affects everyone and I guess there is no holding back even if it involves Cox Radio. It kept me wanting to tune in and that's a lot of the battle.
Curious about the country battle going on, I was very impressed with what I heard on Gator a couple mornings ago. Regardless of the format, I have always found the tried and true elements of programming where it keeps the listener informed about what differentiates your station from the others is a recipe for success. I was listening between 9:30 - 10 and it seemed within seconds of WQIK going to commercial, Gator was announcing how they play more music and they proceeded with a song. Very effective. A little later a sweeper indicated they are the first in playing new music and a very timely song came on that had to do with closing down Detroit while the CEOs jet around. Wow, talk about timely. Anyway, I love programming like this. It's been around forever but it works. If I were a competitor like WQIK, I would run commercials at the same time as Gator so as to not give them an inch. That's just common sense to me. I enjoyed the banting about the cold weather the Gator morning team did too. It's obvious there is chemistry and I caught it even in short time.
I moved up the dial to 100.7 and I was actually familiar with a song they were playing - "Before the Next Teardrop Falls" by Freddie Fender. This was a #1 song on pop stations like WABC in NYC. Back in the day, CHR was inclusive of a lot of genre of music to include country. This would be in the crossover hit category but I have to admit, the CHR station I listened to played a percentage of country from Kenny Rogers, Donna Fargo and everything in between. To this day, one of my favorite songs from 1971 is Lynn Anderson's "Rose Garden." If I had my way, songs like this would be featured on rare occasion in special weekend programming on a greatest hits format. A hit is a hit is a hit. Anyway, if Legends mixes in crossover hits that are familiar to the masses, it could prove beneficial to them IMHO. Happy Listening!
Yesterday morning it was cool to hear on Rock 105 a member of the Cox Radio family ( A PD on a classic hits station - I don't remember where) being raked over the coals for making the decision to edit "Life in the Fast Lane." I don't want to repeat it here but the line has to do with what amounts to taking the name of the Lord in vain. This is probably a topic on it's own but there is nothing new here in PDs have always had to exercise their decision to reflect the taste of the community. Obviously, there can be sensorship issues and where does it all stop. Anyway, a great topic was brought up as this affects everyone and I guess there is no holding back even if it involves Cox Radio. It kept me wanting to tune in and that's a lot of the battle.
Curious about the country battle going on, I was very impressed with what I heard on Gator a couple mornings ago. Regardless of the format, I have always found the tried and true elements of programming where it keeps the listener informed about what differentiates your station from the others is a recipe for success. I was listening between 9:30 - 10 and it seemed within seconds of WQIK going to commercial, Gator was announcing how they play more music and they proceeded with a song. Very effective. A little later a sweeper indicated they are the first in playing new music and a very timely song came on that had to do with closing down Detroit while the CEOs jet around. Wow, talk about timely. Anyway, I love programming like this. It's been around forever but it works. If I were a competitor like WQIK, I would run commercials at the same time as Gator so as to not give them an inch. That's just common sense to me. I enjoyed the banting about the cold weather the Gator morning team did too. It's obvious there is chemistry and I caught it even in short time.
I moved up the dial to 100.7 and I was actually familiar with a song they were playing - "Before the Next Teardrop Falls" by Freddie Fender. This was a #1 song on pop stations like WABC in NYC. Back in the day, CHR was inclusive of a lot of genre of music to include country. This would be in the crossover hit category but I have to admit, the CHR station I listened to played a percentage of country from Kenny Rogers, Donna Fargo and everything in between. To this day, one of my favorite songs from 1971 is Lynn Anderson's "Rose Garden." If I had my way, songs like this would be featured on rare occasion in special weekend programming on a greatest hits format. A hit is a hit is a hit. Anyway, if Legends mixes in crossover hits that are familiar to the masses, it could prove beneficial to them IMHO. Happy Listening!