-
Get involved.
We want your input!
Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.
After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.
After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/
Thanks in advance and have fun!
RadioDiscussions Administrators
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an alternative browser.
You should upgrade or use an alternative browser.
KBCS-FM overhauls programming
- Thread starter dialtwister
- Start date
interesting lack of interest on this one from the radio guys on this board. Is KBCS really that irrelevant to the industry?
Don't the handfull of outraged listeners mourning the death of morning jazz sound like deja vu all over again? Haven't they ever listened to KPLU after 9am? It's a lot more interesting than the drone of the old guys who sound like they won't do it any way but the way they've always done it at KBCS. And didn't this happen at KEXP before they changed their tune a bit? And at every other "Community" station populated by volunteer hosts when any kind of schedule changes are announced?
If you listen frequently to KBCS, you have to acknowledge that there needs to be room for improvement - and at least for something new on the air now and then. The station just doesn't seem to have much to offer, since it offers so much that it's hard to follow. How often do the volunteer DJs air check themselves? Apparently not often, since so few of them know how to speak with confidence and give station IDs and say 'um' a lot.
I exaggerate because I love.
And stop backselling a dozen songs. Three max. And know what you're going to say before you open your mouth on the air. So you don't ramble or bring out the crutches to repeat in every sentence.
I'd love to hear some national cultural programming on KBCS that KUOW and KPLU don't have space, or format, to air. Like World Cafe and Echoes, daily. (Look 'em up if you don't know them. They've been mainstays on many stations elsewhere in the USA for decades. And they also bring in contributions at fundrasing time.)
And bring us Fiona Ritchie on "The Thistle and Shamrock" and Georges Collinet on "Afropop Worldwide."
Anybody can keep a bunch of Celtic, AAA, new age, or African tunes rolling on the air. But no volunteer has anything close to the credentials, or the appeal, of the hosts of the four syndicated music shows I've just mentioned. And none of these shows air in Seattle.
Or, increase your public service mission and audience by making a complete change to a non commercial fine arts service, and compete with KING-FM, plus gain the folks who can't take the mood-altering stack of agency-produced spots in between every concerto and would enjoy classical music without commercials.
There's a world of possiblities out there in radioland.
Don't the handfull of outraged listeners mourning the death of morning jazz sound like deja vu all over again? Haven't they ever listened to KPLU after 9am? It's a lot more interesting than the drone of the old guys who sound like they won't do it any way but the way they've always done it at KBCS. And didn't this happen at KEXP before they changed their tune a bit? And at every other "Community" station populated by volunteer hosts when any kind of schedule changes are announced?
If you listen frequently to KBCS, you have to acknowledge that there needs to be room for improvement - and at least for something new on the air now and then. The station just doesn't seem to have much to offer, since it offers so much that it's hard to follow. How often do the volunteer DJs air check themselves? Apparently not often, since so few of them know how to speak with confidence and give station IDs and say 'um' a lot.
I exaggerate because I love.
And stop backselling a dozen songs. Three max. And know what you're going to say before you open your mouth on the air. So you don't ramble or bring out the crutches to repeat in every sentence.
I'd love to hear some national cultural programming on KBCS that KUOW and KPLU don't have space, or format, to air. Like World Cafe and Echoes, daily. (Look 'em up if you don't know them. They've been mainstays on many stations elsewhere in the USA for decades. And they also bring in contributions at fundrasing time.)
And bring us Fiona Ritchie on "The Thistle and Shamrock" and Georges Collinet on "Afropop Worldwide."
Anybody can keep a bunch of Celtic, AAA, new age, or African tunes rolling on the air. But no volunteer has anything close to the credentials, or the appeal, of the hosts of the four syndicated music shows I've just mentioned. And none of these shows air in Seattle.
Or, increase your public service mission and audience by making a complete change to a non commercial fine arts service, and compete with KING-FM, plus gain the folks who can't take the mood-altering stack of agency-produced spots in between every concerto and would enjoy classical music without commercials.
There's a world of possiblities out there in radioland.
Goldilocks94941 said:I'd love to hear some national cultural programming on KBCS that KUOW and KPLU don't have space, or format, to air. Like World Cafe and Echoes, daily. (Look 'em up if you don't know them. They've been mainstays on many stations elsewhere in the USA for decades. And they also bring in contributions at fundrasing time.)
I forgot about World Cafe! Also, can't believe that KING-FM doesn't write off commercials for 2 hours and air "Performance Today" (Now part of American Public Media).
IF you buy an HD radio you can hear jazz 24/7 on KPLU...except that no one gives a rats puh-toot for HD. HD radio is DOA. In 5 years it will be like AM Stereo and FM Quad, another mis-step where broadcasters thought some exciting technology they'd dreamed up would save poor programming.
mightymoose said:In 5 years it will be like AM Stereo another mis-step where broadcasters thought some exciting technology they'd dreamed up would save poor programming.
Except, AM Stereo *is* good technology. The misstep was the NAB or whomever not lobbying to keep AM stereo installed in receivers. Unlike HD, I don't believe it added several $$ to the prices.
SeattleObserver said:Except, AM Stereo *is* good technology. The misstep was the NAB or whomever not lobbying to keep AM stereo installed in receivers. Unlike HD, I don't believe it added several $$ to the prices.
And how many stations are AM Stereo? Not many, mainly because it was technology that the consumer didn't care about. I believe that was the somewhat misplaced comparison.
Regarding the original topic of KBCS, the station has always been a prime example of formatic-chaos. The masses don't care for a disorganized station. It was shown long ago that the vast majority of radio listeners want to push a preset on their radio and know what type of music or programming that can be expected. Allowing the nuts to run the nuthouse via volunteers programming has never shown to be popular with the majority of radio listeners.
And if their weak programming isn't enough, the KBCS signal is crap. The audio is horrible and coverage doesn't make the I-5 corridor.
HowardMBurgers said:Regarding the original topic of KBCS, the station has always been a prime example of formatic-chaos. The masses don't care for a disorganized station. It was shown long ago that the vast majority of radio listeners want to push a preset on their radio and know what type of music or programming that can be expected. Allowing the nuts to run the nuthouse via volunteers programming has never shown to be popular with the majority of radio listeners.
Howard's correct, formatic chaos as he refers to it does not attract listeners and this is always a very difficult concept for some public radio types to grasp. After all the whole idea of starting your own college or LP-FM radio station is to do your own thing, be free of constraints, and usually the people in charge have no radio programming or management expertise so they don't see the error in this concept. Next thing you know station programming becomes an unrecognizable stew.
Programmers hate the MacDonalds comparison but people treat radio like a fast food frasnchise. They know what they will get when they push your button. Ya gotta be consistent and with all the options competing with radio now (think iTunes, podcasts, satellite, etc.) inconsistent content means people are gonna go elsewhere.
Wasn't it the UNEXPECTED that made a hit of KRAB? Sometimes a station makes a choice NOT to play by commercial rules, and that's the way I perceive KBCS. In my world they get BONUS POINTS for not trying to be another Bellevue-based KLSY, and living up more to the standards of Bellevue's KZAM-FM!!
And so far that's worked well for them how? Let's see.. They have few listeners and not much funding.
Also using KRAB and hit together also seem like an oxymoron. KRAB did the best when they sold 107.7 to Sunbelt.
Also using KRAB and hit together also seem like an oxymoron. KRAB did the best when they sold 107.7 to Sunbelt.
LITTLEBOYBLUE said:Wasn't it the UNEXPECTED that made a hit of KRAB? Sometimes a station makes a choice NOT to play by commercial rules, and that's the way I perceive KBCS. In my world they get BONUS POINTS for not trying to be another Bellevue-based KLSY, and living up more to the standards of Bellevue's KZAM-FM!!
Oh come on. KRAB was what - the 1980s? The world of media was very different back then. I'm at the last of my generation that even owns a radio. My new housemate doesn't own one at all - he borrows mine to play CDs and listens to stations like KIRO online. My former roommate liked TBTL, but I couldn't get him to listen (or donate to) KEXP, etc. He was a fan of C89, but already downloaded lots and lots of that style of music and learned about it via his friends/the Internet.
KBCS is *trying* to remain relevant in a world that is ever-changing.
I do not think the Internet [streaming/podcasting/playlist building-digital downloads] has killed radio, but it is siphoning off revenue and those 'core' listeners and supporters for things like "eclectic" formats. This is part of why public stations are struggling when they do not have an 'expected' format - most have chosen the news - talk format from NPR and others have chosen the 'all classical' format. KPLU is unique, but the development of their HD2/Internet "Jazz 24" stream is no accident.
My point is that with KEXP, KRAB, KBCS, etc. their benchmark is not the same as the commercial yardstick you guys are using. My understanding is they want to appease a small eclectic audience and make enough to keep the xmitter plugged in. Don't care about ARB and shareholders .... DO care about the small & loyal core that keeps them going.
The net, of course, IS a game-changer to those audiences, and makes it more viable for an eclectic source to be ANYWHERE in the world instead of within coverage of a specific RF pattern.
I've been involved in a similar experiment ... an online station that doesn't TRY to be commercially competitive, but goes after a specific set of objectives by catering to a very specific set of goals. It makes money, but the audience size would draw endless ridicule on this board. But I believe THAT will be the model for most content generating media. There will be a need for some large-scale general purpose broadcasters (local news, especially )... but hardly the roster that we're trying to support these days on both radio & TV. Almost like we're going back to three or four major networks with local affiliates ... and the rest will be cable/satellite delivery served out-of-market (likely very few would miss CW, for example, if the local transmitter went away but the cable coverage lingered -- ditto for MyQ). If Bustos super-served Spanish and Salem stopped ... would we face a significantly noticable loss? If KVI changed and KTTH stayed would the market be under-served? Very likely most of these will end up settling that way and the ones who step aside will either adapt or seal their history records and move on. Think Seattle P.I.
The net, of course, IS a game-changer to those audiences, and makes it more viable for an eclectic source to be ANYWHERE in the world instead of within coverage of a specific RF pattern.
I've been involved in a similar experiment ... an online station that doesn't TRY to be commercially competitive, but goes after a specific set of objectives by catering to a very specific set of goals. It makes money, but the audience size would draw endless ridicule on this board. But I believe THAT will be the model for most content generating media. There will be a need for some large-scale general purpose broadcasters (local news, especially )... but hardly the roster that we're trying to support these days on both radio & TV. Almost like we're going back to three or four major networks with local affiliates ... and the rest will be cable/satellite delivery served out-of-market (likely very few would miss CW, for example, if the local transmitter went away but the cable coverage lingered -- ditto for MyQ). If Bustos super-served Spanish and Salem stopped ... would we face a significantly noticable loss? If KVI changed and KTTH stayed would the market be under-served? Very likely most of these will end up settling that way and the ones who step aside will either adapt or seal their history records and move on. Think Seattle P.I.
Okay, I am done with this discussion. Not because the opinions expressed here don't deserved to be heard. They do.
KBCS's situation is this; fewer and fewer people are paying attention to them. The programming concepts on which the station was founded appear not to be working as they once did. The station can remain the same until the listenership dwindles to the point that KBCS can't collect enough pledges, grants, etc. to keep the lights on.
Nothing pisses people off like change. But it looks like for KBCS the option is change or die. If anyone has a air tight, bullet proof programming concept to make KBCS succeed write it up and mail it to 'em.
KBCS's situation is this; fewer and fewer people are paying attention to them. The programming concepts on which the station was founded appear not to be working as they once did. The station can remain the same until the listenership dwindles to the point that KBCS can't collect enough pledges, grants, etc. to keep the lights on.
Nothing pisses people off like change. But it looks like for KBCS the option is change or die. If anyone has a air tight, bullet proof programming concept to make KBCS succeed write it up and mail it to 'em.
- Status
- This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.