KFOX 95.5 in Lufkin

[Musicradio]

"The young people (teens, college students, young adults) could really use a station that cares about them and markets to THEM, not their parents."Yeah -- those kids are really paying the bills....Back to reality of radio.

 

[hampsterdancer]

I think it's sad when the younger demo's get ignored. Sure, some of them might not be paying those college bills. But think of all the ones who ARE. How many college kids to you see working at Walmart, pizza places, the grocery store, etc?? Quite a few. Welcome to middle-class America--those who are not fortunate enough to have their families paying for school and everything under the sun, and those who aren't poor enough to have everything handed to them. Those people make up the majority of your listeners when it comes to the younger portion of your demographic. And what about all of those people that don't GO to college?? What, they don't want to buy anything?? They don't want to hear about the latest fashions and trends?? Not likely. ALSO, with the ones where mommy and daddy ARE paying for everything, who do you think INFLUENCES them??? Those college kids that are crying out for good music to listen to while they study, or party. Whichever. Hey, go to a club sometime and count how many white girls and white guys are out there practically humping each other to the sounds of 50 cent, etc. I'll bet you most of them are.

 

[a_and_m_king]

I would not for one second say that KFOX 95.5 markets to parents.

Well, I would not for one second say that KFOX 95.5 markets to parents ONLY. There ALOT of kids who listen.

Just because they're listening doesn't mean the stations markets to them. What is their other option? Country? Classic rock? Another AC station? They listen because it's the only thing there for them to listen to, so don't try to tell me the station is marketed to them.

 

[MattKuhl]

I would not for one second say that KFOX 95.5 markets to parents.

Well, I would not for one second say that KFOX 95.5 markets to parents ONLY. There ALOT of kids who listen.

Just because they're listening doesn't mean the stations markets to them. What is their other option? Country? Classic rock? Another AC station? They listen because it's the only thing there for them to listen to, so don't try to tell me the station is marketed to them.

I'll have to agree with Musicradio's post above. Kids are NOT the ones that pay the bills. However, KFOX does have a strong listener base, and many P1's. I'd be willing to say that 75% of all of the callers to KFOX are kids. Back to the basics here.... you can't satisfy everyone, so satisfy the majority.

 

[Steve Eberhart]

I used to voicetrack middays a few years ago out of the Austin facility. I always thought it was a really good station. Had the chance to visit there a couple times, the people were great and had a huge presence in the market. Listeners really responded to the station and it sounded really good for a market that size. During that time they voicetracked several shifts but I would challenge anyone to show a listener who knew it. I recall a day when a friend of mine from Dallas was driving through East Texas and heard me on the air and went by the station thinking I was there. They pointed to the computer...and this was a radio guy! The thing about voicetracking is that both sides of the equation have to endorse it, believe in it, and work to make it succeed. If there is a doubter in the bunch, it will not sound right. The station has to provide current, fresh, updated information and the talent has to do their part in finding ways to be aware of the market, what's going on there, and how they can be creative about tailoring their content to the local station and market. There are a lot of subtle things you can do such as maybe when you're talking about American Idol for example. I might say something like "...last night on American Idol on FOX 51..." instead of just saying "American Idol". Or when I visited, I would take an hour to drive around making notes of landmarks, places, and things to throw in. I'd keep those with me and reference them occasionally on the tracks. Checking an online newspaper is good too. You're not usually gonna be able to do "breaking news" out of the online paper but you can reference something like "..did you see that story the other day in the Lufkin Daily News about the police changing the colors of the squad cars to brown. Let me guess, the cops will now moonlight as package delivery persons." Is it as good as LIVE/LOCAL? Depends. I've listened to many live jocks even here in Dallas and think to myself "what break during this hour could NOT have been voicetracked?". THAT is the challenge if you are doing live. Voicetracking serves a purpose. When the person doing it doesn't care, it SUCKS. When the station isn't really into it, it SUCKS. When everyone is into it, it ROCKS!

 

[CW]

This all brings back memories of when KDMX in Dallas had just started using Prophet and VTing...and one weekend, Tony Zazza's VT was stating the weather report was partly cloudly and mid 80s....(true when he recorded it that Friday night)...but right in the middle of a VT with him mentioning the weather, the EAS broke in with a severe thunderstorm warning for Dallas Co...OOPS!needless to say, jocks were called in by APD/MD Lisa Thomas and had to redo their VTs (I think Tony ran his show live while the wx was bad)...Gotta love VTing when it comes to weather

 

[Kent]

This all brings back memories of when KDMX in Dallas had just started using Prophet and VTing...and one weekend, Tony Zazza's VT was stating the weather report was partly cloudly and mid 80s....(true when he recorded it that Friday night)...but right in the middle of a VT with him mentioning the weather, the EAS broke in with a severe thunderstorm warning for Dallas Co...OOPS!needless to say, jocks were called in by APD/MD Lisa Thomas and had to redo their VTs (I think Tony ran his show live while the wx was bad)...Gotta love VTing when it comes to weather

You know, it's funny, but voicetracked stations can cover weather well, if you have a plan. A few years ago, I worked for a small company that owned seven stations in a small market. The airstaff was all local, except for the usual syndicated fare on the talk stations, a few weekend programs, and Delilah on the AC. However, it was a lean and mean operation. Voicetracking was heavy. There were also strict rules regarding what to do in various situations, including severe weather. Since there was always at least one person in the building, you had some generic tracks for intro-ing severe weather that could be dropped into your show at anytime. This, however, was the backup. You also had to be aware of the forecast during your shift at all times, and if a storm was more than three "layer counties" away, meaning count three counties away from where the studio was, you had to drop what you were doing, get to the studio and be ready to go live. It actually worked very well. If there was a pop-up storm or you couldn't get into the studio for whatever reason, whoever was in the building could put your generic intros into the programming and do your weather forecasts live. When you knew what was going on, you were there and covering severe weather in depth. It really goes back to what Steve was saying. If you're really committed to making voicetracked radio work, it can both work and be great radio. I would go as far as to say we covered the weather better and were far more on the ball than our competitors, who had at least one station live at all times because they had the LP-1 and LP-2 for the market. I can vouch for that from the other side, too. After being blown out after a ownership change, I got another full-time job and went to work weekends for the LP-1, and the way they covered severe weather frequently left me scratching my head! In fact, the competition's approach worked so well, the LP-1 fired all of its weekenders, myself included, to adopt more of the competition's strategies.

 

[hifidistortion]

Unfortunately they are the only ballgame in town there. Lufkin and the surrounding area needs a Top 40. They should look at KNDE-Bryan/College Station "Candy 95" as the perfect model.

 

[MattKuhl]

Unfortunately they are the only ballgame in town there. Lufkin and the surrounding area needs a Top 40. They should look at KNDE-Bryan/College Station "Candy 95" as the perfect model.

Yep... I've actually checked that station out... the big KKYS/KNDE deal.. KKYS - Hot AC was at the top of the ratings... then KNDE was born, and got a 13.3 share, and now sits at the top of the ratings. And like B/CS, Luf/Nac are college cities.

 

[Musicradio]

Hey -- I thought this got locked up.....

 

[a_and_m_king]

No, there was another thread that god locked. This one seems to be open for discussion....

 

[txradiochick]

I gotta agree with MusicRadio. With today's radio market, you can't just be a DJ. You have to wear multiple hats. VTing is a life saver...look at it this way, would you rather have dead air or voice tracking? For me, there's no way I could handle all the production and do a live show. I do the best I can to make it fun, entertaining and God forbid, if I make a mistake...I let it ride. I think that's what makes VTing sound real. Sure, I make a fool of myself sometimes...but I have to admit, I think there's entertainment value in even screw ups. It doesn't hurt that I sound blonde on the air either. ;DTraceyhttp://traceycarrington.voice123.com/

 

[Musicradio]

Thank you miss Tracy!

 

[a_and_m_king]

And I meant to say "GOT" locked, not "GOD" locked. :

 

[nuzguy]

You initially might have been more correct than you know.

 

[scottm1025]

You hit the nail right on the head Steve! We had a pretty good little system set up down there didn't we?? Btw, where are you these days? Shoot me an email sometime: [email protected]t Mills

I used to voicetrack middays a few years ago out of the Austin facility. I always thought it was a really good station. Had the chance to visit there a couple times, the people were great and had a huge presence in the market. Listeners really responded to the station and it sounded really good for a market that size. During that time they voicetracked several shifts but I would challenge anyone to show a listener who knew it. I recall a day when a friend of mine from Dallas was driving through East Texas and heard me on the air and went by the station thinking I was there. They pointed to the computer...and this was a radio guy! The thing about voicetracking is that both sides of the equation have to endorse it, believe in it, and work to make it succeed. If there is a doubter in the bunch, it will not sound right. The station has to provide current, fresh, updated information and the talent has to do their part in finding ways to be aware of the market, what's going on there, and how they can be creative about tailoring their content to the local station and market. There are a lot of subtle things you can do such as maybe when you're talking about American Idol for example. I might say something like "...last night on American Idol on FOX 51..." instead of just saying "American Idol". Or when I visited, I would take an hour to drive around making notes of landmarks, places, and things to throw in. I'd keep those with me and reference them occasionally on the tracks. Checking an online newspaper is good too. You're not usually gonna be able to do "breaking news" out of the online paper but you can reference something like "..did you see that story the other day in the Lufkin Daily News about the police changing the colors of the squad cars to brown. Let me guess, the cops will now moonlight as package delivery persons." Is it as good as LIVE/LOCAL? Depends. I've listened to many live jocks even here in Dallas and think to myself "what break during this hour could NOT have been voicetracked?". THAT is the challenge if you are doing live. Voicetracking serves a purpose. When the person doing it doesn't care, it SUCKS. When the station isn't really into it, it SUCKS. When everyone is into it, it ROCKS!