KFXM Landcaster, CA

[mikecroaro]

Hi Folks:

Has anyone checked out www.kfxm.com? The station, which bills itself as KFXM - The Lost Goldmine, is an excellent traditional oldies station. I have listened for a week and have not heard a song repeated. The playlist covers 50's, 60's with a LITTLE of the the early 70's.

I searched this site was am quite surprised no one has posted about the station. Let me know what you all think.

Mike

 

[Fredrated]

As posted elsewhere on "Great Oldies Station" KFXM is a joke.

Other than the bad music you can't hear elsewhere (and there's good reason that you don't) what exactly is it that you like about KFXM, Mike?

 

[AZJoe]

Maybe its to hear other oldies - other than the same old 300 everyone else plays? Maybe its not meant for the masses of sheep who are indoctrinated to think there were only 300 great songs between 1954 and 1974? Do we need another "typical" shallow playlisted-formated oldies station? I think not. I dont think anyone here or at the station is too concerned about being "NUMBER ONE"!! These small FM low power stations are meant to appeal to a niche audience. If its not your "thing" - go listen to one of the dozens of "kool" , "classic hits" stations all over the country.

 

[Fredrated]

AZJoe, no one has said that a good Oldies station can only play 300 songs...

There are thousands of good titles that can be played on a good-sounding Oldies station. But KFXM plays thousands of crap titles, many of them back-to-back. Titles that even record collectors would hear & scratch their heads and have to look them up to see what they are...

Whch would be better, an Oldies station that plays 3000 titles that would be mostly familiar to someone who listened to Top 40 radio in the 50's and 60's (including many "ow wow, I haven't heard that in years" titles), or KFXM, which plays maybe 8000, most of which are unrecognizable? Many of which play back-to-back; maybe a hit song every 1/4 hour in some hours I've listened.... Jennifer Tomkins-Street People, The Majestic-Dion, Like I Love You-Edd Byrnes, It Hurts To Be 16 - Andrea Carroll, Won't You Come Home Bill Bailey-Bobby Darin. These were all played within a half-hour on KFXM - ALL BACK-To-BACK! THIS is the music that makes an Oldies station sound good?

You can program an Oldies station that appeals to mainstream listeners, AND those who want variety, all without playing crap...

KFXM is totally automated 95% of the time; provides no news or weather for their service area, and generally does not provide any local service for the area which they are licensed...And it would be so easy to correct that. Add in the pukey hokey production and overall sound and you've got a station that would make college or high school stations cringe...

Variety and a great overall sound could easily be achieved at KFXM....but they just don't have a clue...and apparently don't care...

 

[barnaby_wilde]

I guess I am somewhere between Fredrated and AZJoe on this one. There are some very obscure songs played on KFXM, and I thought I had at least heard of most oldies from the period. Rather than tune them out as not recognized, I listen to them as I would a new song I had never heard before. With that said, there's still a lot of music they play that is just bad. And, for that matter, it is played back to back. I agree that none of us care for a steady diet of the same 300 oldies. Should the library be 3,000? At least 1,500? More than 5,000? I don't know. But, as far as musical selections for automated stations go, Real Oldies 1690 is more to my liking.

However, what oldies stations need more than anything else (and I believe radio, in general) are personalities who know what they play and love doing it. Essentially what I am talking about are deejays who are loyal to a format instead of liner card readers and voice trackers who fit any format as long as it's bland.

 

[Fredrated]

I guess I am somewhere between Fredrated and AZJoe on this one. There are some very obscure songs played on KFXM, and I thought I had at least heard of most oldies from the period. Rather than tune them out as not recognized, I listen to them as I would a new song I had never heard before. With that said, there's still a lot of music they play that is just bad. And, for that matter, it is played back to back. I agree that none of us care for a steady diet of the same 300 oldies. Should the library be 3,000? At least 1,500? More than 5,000? I don't know. But, as far as musical selections for automated stations go, Real Oldies 1690 is more to my liking.

However, what oldies stations need more than anything else (and I believe radio, in general) are personalities who know what they play and love doing it. Essentially what I am talking about are deejays who are loyal to a format instead of liner card readers and voice trackers who fit any format as long as it's bland.

BarnabyWilde gets it - there's a difference between obscure and "obscure and just plain bad". KFXM tends to go with the obscure and just plain bad titles...And they are also lacking personalities of any kind...So for 95% of the week, it's bad music churning out of a jukebox...not my idea of a good radio station...and by the way, they don't seem to use any music scheduling software (or if they do, they don't have a clue how to use it)..I've heard the same bad songs repeat in the exact same order...