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Just For Fun

A powerful hurricane knocks over every radio station tower in Rhode Island as well as all other towers within a 30 mile radius. What would you listen to for the next month or so that it takes to get things back on the air?
 
Yeah if all the towers fell I would listen to WCBS or WINS as well. If they also got knocked out I would have to wait for the sun to go down and tune in WLS Chicago. As long as I still had power I could listen to my Sirius radio. They will always be safe in a storm. There are no towers to knock them off the air. They carry live audio from CNN, MSNBC and FOX. So it would actually be a good way to get information during the storm. Now that I think about it, I should figure out a way to operate my Sirius radio on battery power.. just in case I ever had to.
 
Skynet74 said:
A powerful hurricane knocks over every radio station tower in Rhode Island as well as all other towers within a 30 mile radius. What would you listen to for the next month or so that it takes to get things back on the air?

I know from experience that, provided the tower(s) fall away from crushing the building housing the transmitter, a station can have a signal back up in a day to three days. Probably not full power, especially if it was directional to begin with. I worked with one where an airplane took down the single tower and, within 48 hours, there was a longwire antenna up and ready to go. It took a tad longer for the transmitter itself though...an older Xmtr that had a few components wiped out when the load suddenly changed.

With all local signals silenced, even for a few hours, enough out-of-state AM would get through that listeners would have a full menu of choices according to their tastes. Especially after sunset.
 
OR...try it this way...

Years ago, at a convention session, the hypothesis was: "Suppose all-but-ONE-station was knocked-off-the-air, long-term. How would you program the remaining station?"
 
Re: OR...try it this way...

Holland Cooke said:
Years ago, at a convention session, the hypothesis was: "Suppose all-but-ONE-station was knocked-off-the-air, long-term. How would you program the remaining station?"

Our luck the one station would be WALE.Sell 6 hour blocks to WHJJ and WPRO ???
 
Re: OR...try it this way...

Holland Cooke said:
Years ago, at a convention session, the hypothesis was: "Suppose all-but-ONE-station was knocked-off-the-air, long-term. How would you program the remaining station?"

Naturally how I would program it would depend on what the existing format is, but assuming I'm the only game in town and have the ability to roll with a format I would not be aiming at an audience prone to getting their entertainment elsewhere. That rules out quite a few formats. You might disagree, but I would not go with talk. If we were recovering from some sort of emergency situation, talk would bring out the most boring, repetitious, bloviating complainers imaginable. I'd crank it back to what WPRO-AM sounded like when they were still playing music. Format would be similar to Scott Shannon's True Oldies. I'd assemble a staff the audience can relate to and that knows the area.
Mornings: 2-person entertaining team with more of a jock mentality but who sound like they're going through what the audience is. Heavy on news with maybe 1 or 2 songs per half hour at the most. Lots of call-ins but not a talk format. The usual amount of traffic and sports, but mainly entertainment & information with people the audience may want to stick with when the other stations come back. Lots of interviews with local officials.
Middays: Primarily music but still lots of call-ins and news every hour
Afternoon drive: Still basically a music show, but news every half hour
Nights: Music with an entertaining live jock and heavy on requests
Overnight: Now's the time to get a live person on who is good with airing callers
 
I think WPRO is at it's best during Emergencies. They always manage to assemble a great team to cover the story in an impressive fashion. Either Matt Allen taking phone calls into the night to comfort people, or Dan Yorke on his cell phone describing nightmare traffic in a blizzard. There isn't a more helpful station on the dial. Especially in a time of need.

I would have to say that if a catastrophe did take place and there was only one station left standing, WPRO is already programmed in the perfect way to cover it all. I know I don't speak for everyone. However if 50 houses on my street have been blown apart and flood waters are up to my second floor windows, I'm not going to give a rats ass about hearing music. Catch my drift? There will be no dance party at my house. I am going to want information on what's going on and what to expect next.

Like Holland said...... being as useful as possible should be the goal.
 
Depends on the extent of the situation. If it's a matter of every station being off the air but one long-term because towers are down I see the need for constant info during the storm but not after. There comes a point where things start getting repetitive and with alternative sources of news and information I think a station that's heavy on news and information but that plays music would be a good choice. People also want an escape. I think you would find most stations, as public service oriented as they would be, would be looking at who would be listening once the emergency is over. Again this isn't during the storm but in the weeks that follow. There comes a point where there's nothing new to say about the situation and when there is, a music station heavy on information can say it just as easily. Remember, a storm of any kind ends after a day or two.
 
RE "a storm of any kind ends after a day or two."

So back to the question.

Other-than during a storm or other atypical circumstances, day-in-and-day-out, how would you program the station if there was only ONE station on-air?

Hour-by-hour, what would make the station most-useful, to-the-most-people?

I'll start: Red Sox games.

What else?
 
A morning show similar to what DePetro does with lots of listener interaction and a more fun atmosphere. A little music. Lots of news, sports, traffic, and the usual. In fact I agree with news either hourly or half-hourly all day like WPRO does now. Traffic all day too.
Middays music with lots of listener interaction.
PM drive similar to mornings, but with more music.
I agree with live people nights and overnight.
Heavy on phones in all dayparts. Listeners love to hear themselves even if they don't always love to hear each other. We're living in an age where everybody is a star.
I agree with some sort of oldies format since this all sounds like 70's radio anyway and the audience for it is the audience for music they grew up with.
And get an adult relateable staff even if you have to drag some people out of radio retirement. Get people who know the area and have more to worry about in life than their next club appearance and keeping their cells charged.
 
BE CAREFUL! BE VERRRRRRY CAREFUL!

McRadio said:
Heavy on phones in all dayparts. Listeners love to hear themselves even if they don't always love to hear each other. We're living in an age where everybody is a star.

WARNING: When you say that, Rush wanna-be's are threatened-as-all-get-out.
Encouraging high call count will earn you the ire of self-centered hosts who think "Talk Radio" means they-talk-you-listen.
;)
 
For the same reason that people write letters to the editor. You have to blow off steam, somehow, or you go insane.
 
**** Sapiens' favorite toy is the mirror.

Notice how Dr. Laura and Dave Ramsey are (a) real successful, and (b) doing the same show.

Laura SEEMS to be about relationships; Ramsey SEEMS to be about money; but they're both leading a parade of callers through The You Did WHAT To Mess Up Your Life? Show.

Callers are "the entertainment."
 
Re: Tradio

Hey don't laugh.

Some otherwise-respectable stations (KDKA, WTIC) still do this show.

As if people are sitting still-enough to write down phone numbers callers mumble.

NEWSPAPERS, the home of Classifieds, have suffered as Classifieds are withering in the era of Craig's List, etc.

Whatever else you think of PPM, it'll help rescue radio from Tradio and Sunday church services, vestiges of 1940s radio and modernday audience killers that are only still on-air because they were already there.
 
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