KNOXVILLE'S LARGEST ON-AIR MUSIC LIBRARY

[wimzfan]

Here's something interesting for us all to think about this weekend! We've got Jack-FM and Earl-FM, newcomers to Knoxville - both saying that they have the largest music libraries in Knoxville. WIMZ has been saying for the past 25 years that they've got the largest on-air music library and still say that today. WIVK says that their music library is the largest in East Tennessee.

Who's right? Who's lying? And who is stretching the truth just a little?

I noticed just this week, Joe has been doing alot of spots for Earl saying that they play everything and gives a number for the listeners to call if they've got a suggestion to add to the playlist - AWESOME idea! But, will they listen to the listener, or is this just a marketing trick to make people think they are being listened to?

You know what's funny. When a radio station changes formats, the first month or so is FULL of promos where people call in telling how much they love the new station, it's what Knoxville has needed for years, blah blah blah. BUT, how do they get those calls? Many of them don't give a number to call, and when you dial the old number, it's busy. Could it be employees making all that stuff up? U-102 used to be bad about that in the late 80's and 90's. They'd change formats half a million times a year, and they would say "we're building a New U-102." And that would be followed by people praising how much they loved the changes etc. Kinda crazy.

How about those Oldies commercials. When My102 changed to Oldies102 and even to Oldies 93.1 they used the same tired old spot and just changed the name of the station - with those farm animals singing along to the oldies - which was funny - the first 6,00000 times it ran on TV. THEN! South Central recycled it and used it for THEIR station too! What was up with that? That really played with the minds of the stoners from the 60's.

Speaking of stoners from the 60's - can you imagine how many drugs someone had to take to come up with WIVIK THE FROG!!! WHOAH! WIVIK! WIVIK!

I was bored and the following thoughts are what happens when my mind works overtime! LOOKOUT! Well, atleast this will give us a few things to talk about this weekend while the Vols are getting whooped by Notre Dame - I better hush gotta goooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

 

[jwk1979]

> Here's something interesting for us all to think about this
> weekend! We've got Jack-FM and Earl-FM, newcomers to
> Knoxville - both saying that they have the largest music
> libraries in Knoxville. WIMZ has been saying for the past
> 25 years that they've got the largest on-air music library
> and still say that today. WIVK says that their music
> library is the largest in East Tennessee.
>
> Who's right? Who's lying? And who is stretching the truth
> just a little?
>
> I noticed just this week, Joe has been doing alot of spots
> for Earl saying that they play everything and gives a number
> for the listeners to call if they've got a suggestion to add
> to the playlist - AWESOME idea! But, will they listen to
> the listener, or is this just a marketing trick to make
> people think they are being listened to?
>
> You know what's funny. When a radio station changes
> formats, the first month or so is FULL of promos where
> people call in telling how much they love the new station,
> it's what Knoxville has needed for years, blah blah blah.
> BUT, how do they get those calls? Many of them don't give a
> number to call, and when you dial the old number, it's busy.
> Could it be employees making all that stuff up? U-102 used
> to be bad about that in the late 80's and 90's. They'd
> change formats half a million times a year, and they would
> say "we're building a New U-102." And that would be
> followed by people praising how much they loved the changes
> etc. Kinda crazy.
>
> How about those Oldies commercials. When My102 changed to
> Oldies102 and even to Oldies 93.1 they used the same tired
> old spot and just changed the name of the station - with
> those farm animals singing along to the oldies - which was
> funny - the first 6,00000 times it ran on TV. THEN! South
> Central recycled it and used it for THEIR station too! What
> was up with that? That really played with the minds of the
> stoners from the 60's.
>
> Speaking of stoners from the 60's - can you imagine how many
> drugs someone had to take to come up with WIVIK THE FROG!!!
> WHOAH! WIVIK! WIVIK!
>
> I was bored and the following thoughts are what happens when
> my mind works overtime! LOOKOUT! Well, atleast this will
> give us a few things to talk about this weekend while the
> Vols are getting whooped by Notre Dame - I better hush
> gotta
goooooo> oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
>
In most markets, the slogan the largest music library in this city is just that, a marketing slogan. And alot of times, the local classic rocker will have an A to Z marathon, playing every song in their library, just to prove they have the largest music library in their market. 105.9 the Rock in Nashville does that about once a year. The problem is 35 to 45% of the songs they play during these A to Z marathons are only heard during these times. For example, "Echoes" and "One of These Days" by Pink Floyd are only heard during these A to Z marathons on 105.9 the Rock. As Radio Lightning 100 has said during these marathons, "What's the Purpose of having the largest library in radio if you never play it". As far as the promos that are aired on stations after they flip to a new format, a majority of them are generic promos that can be used in any market and are not aimed at any one market. If you listen to most of them, they never mention the city or station by name, just promos like "This the kind of station we have been waiting for", etc. As far as WIVIK the Frog goes, I had always heard that Bobby Denton came up with the idea of a frog for the mascot for WIVK, since the call letters look like they woul;d be pronounce WIV-IK if they were a word.

 

[wimzfan]

> "What's the Purpose of having the largest library in radio
> if you never play it".

There you go! Exactly! WIMZ does something like that during the 4th of July every year. They have the "Firecracker 500" where they play the 500 top classic rock songs as decided by the listeners. But like you said, it's just once a year you get to hear some real classic stuff like Jefferson Airplane, The Grateful Dead, etc. The rest of the time, with WIMZ anyone would think that ZZ Top, Skynyrd, Aerosmith, and The Stones are the only ones that ever recorded classic rock stuff. Not that those bands are bad, infact they're great, but it would be interesting though to hear something by Humble Pie or Three Dog Night thrown in every now and then.

I do have to give WIMZ a little credit because on the weekends they've been doing something different each weekend. They've been doing "deep cuts weekends, super 60's weekends, etc." and they've been pulling out some stuff that hasn't been played in years. You know, I've never heard In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida on WIMZ though. When anyone thinks about classic rock, that's one of the first songs that comes to mind. I did hear it during Oldies 95/106's last weekend on the air, but they played the edited version, taking out all that awesome music in the center of the song - just like taking the cream out of an Oreo cookie.

As far as the promos that are aired
> on stations after they flip to a new format, a majority of
> them are generic promos that can be used in any market and
> are not aimed at any one market. If you listen to most of
> them, they never mention the city or station by name, just
> promos like "This the kind of station we have been waiting
> for", etc. As far as WIVIK the Frog goes, I had always heard
> that Bobby Denton came up with the idea of a frog for the
> mascot for WIVK, since the call letters look like they
> woul;d be pronounce WIV-IK if they were a word.

Bobby Denton is a very creative man to come up with the frog from the call letters. I read somewhere that when WIVK first came on the air, the call letters W I V K were supposed to stand for "We're Knoxville's Independant Voice." And 50 some years later Knoxville still feels that way. WIVIK the frog came to my sister's daughter's school when she was in 2nd grade and the little girl cried because she was scared that WIVIK would eat her. She got so upset, my sister had to pick her up from school early. I thought that was SO funny back then.

I better go. Earl-FM's playing The B-52's Rock Lobster. C-ya all later!