KRTH FM article in the LA Times

[Garrett]

Enjoy:

http://www.latimes.com/entertainmen...ndar&cid=1120763945&ei=cI_qRpKPLJqG0gGGpOT0Cw

Dicuss?

 

[Bob_Hudson]

Enjoy:

http://www.latimes.com/entertainmen...ndar&cid=1120763945&ei=cI_qRpKPLJqG0gGGpOT0Cw

Dicuss?

Thanks for listing that.

I've been listening to a lot of KRTH lately and thinking that they really are Boss Radio and they have continued what KHJ and KGB started.

 

[radio124]

What's up with KRTH's horrible new station id. A monotone male voice saying KRTH, Los Angeles and KRTH-HD and then the singers singing KRTH 101 instead of KRTH, Los Angeles.

 

[scooty430]

What's up with KRTH's horrible new station id. A monotone male voice saying KRTH, Los Angeles and KRTH-HD and then the singers singing KRTH 101 instead of KRTH, Los Angeles.

I think they still use the "KRTH - Los Angeles" ID at the top of each hour.

Surprising the LA Times article didn't address the narrow playlist. That's still a problem for KRTH's 60's songs, less so for the 70's stuff they've added. Also not sure the author realizes that KRTH doesn't play pre-Beatles stuff like Chuck Berry or Elvis anymore, aside from Suspicious Minds and Viva Las Vegas.

Are they really playing "Smooth" by Carlos Santana, as Jhani says in the article? I've never heard that myself.

 

[scooty430]

Regarding the top of the hour ID, I stand corrected. They HAVE changed it. A guy quickly says "KRTH Los Angeles" much like Arrow used to do with "KCBS Los Angeles," and then the singers do "K-Earth 101." It sounds really bad, especially as they have an HD ID squashed in there too.

Bummer. They should switch it back! The old singers bring back memories, as that little jingle was used all over the country. For me, it was WRKO in Boston!

 

[calguy]

The TOH sounds too rushed, too crowded now.

You know I don't mean to knock Jhani Kaye, but really, couldn't any number of PD's fixed the music?
His reputation is great, but he's been one lucky guy. Plus, there are many people involved in running a station and me thinks the credit never really got spread around at KOST and now at KRTH. I know people who've worked for him and they paint a much different picture.
Again, no knock on him, but...

 

[scooty430]

He's definitely done a good job with the 70's adds, and some of the themed weekends. There is good energy at the station, and I disagree with all the people bashing the mid-day guy he hired because he was his friend. He sounds fine to me.

At the same time, he doesn't seem to do much with the 60's stuff, the DJs are TERRIBLY scripted and unnatural, and he keeps tinkering with the jingles. "Constant music" does not exactly flow as a little bumper.

His biggest crime in my eyes is the Christmas season. The jingles become KOST-y soft, and suddenly we're hearing Cliff Richard and Barry Manilow three times an hour. It's a shameless attempt to steal ratings from KOST, rather than offer something DIFFERENT, which K-Earth used to do. Probably repels just as many people as it attracts, and undermines the station's core audience. Ratings were up last year, but they were up all year long, so that doesn't really tell you whether "KOST-izing" was a good decision.

 

[calguy]

He's definitely done a good job with the 70's adds, and some of the themed weekends. There is good energy at the station, and I disagree with all the people bashing the mid-day guy he hired because he was his friend. He sounds fine to me.

At the same time, he doesn't seem to do much with the 60's stuff, the DJs are TERRIBLY scripted and unnatural, and he keeps tinkering with the jingles. "Constant music" does not exactly flow as a little bumper.

His biggest crime in my eyes is the Christmas season. The jingles become KOST-y soft, and suddenly we're hearing Cliff Richard and Barry Manilow three times an hour. It's a shameless attempt to steal ratings from KOST, rather than offer something DIFFERENT, which K-Earth used to do. Probably repels just as many people as it attracts, and undermines the station's core audience. Ratings were up last year, but they were up all year long, so that doesn't really tell you whether "KOST-izing" was a good decision.

Expect less and less 60's as time goes on unless its a special weekend. As for Christmas, well Jhani did add a few too many AC Christmas tunes. The real standout was the Manheim Steamroller music. Doesn’t fit.

I assume you're talking about the jock on between Jim Carson and Shotgun Tom when you say middays, but he's really doing a mid or early afternoon shift, and I beg to differ. He's awful. He has energy, but doesn't know how to use his voice. Rather than using inflection, he just yells and laughs his way through his shift. He's a square peg trying to fit into a round hole. He would not be there if he wasn't a friend. Let’s not even go into what he's like to work around. I've heard some crazy stories.

Kaye has always scripted his stations. There are photos of KOST in the 80's with cue cards on the window in front of the jocks and that was his way of controlling them. It does work though. But more than that, he scripted people who didn't need it as they were talented people who all had decent track records in personality radio before coming to KOST. This is the same situation at KRTH. With the exception of the jock mentioned a few sentences back he's got a talented staff and that goes a long way in helping the script sound fresh.

 

[Marv-L.A.]

He certainly has freshened the station substantially after what Mike Phillps & Jay Coffey did in running the station like a top 40 station and making the station essentially unlistenable; the library is a lot larger, there is a lot less repetition, and much more music from the eighties.

I heard Aretha's 1985 smash 'Freeway Of Love' last week, and was really flabbergasted.

I also agree that the AT between Jim Carson & 'Shotgun' is very weak.

There are undoubtedly plenty of air personalities with a history in this market who would be a far better fit for a legendary radio station.

Does CBS want to spend the $$$$ to fix that pothole?

 

[calguy]

He certainly has freshened the station substantially after what Mike Phillps & Jay Coffey did in running the station like a top 40 station and making the station essentially unlistenable; the library is a lot larger, there is a lot less repetition, and much more music from the eighties.

I heard Aretha's 1985 smash 'Freeway Of Love' last week, and was really flabbergasted.

I also agree that the AT between Jim Carson & 'Shotgun' is very weak.

There are undoubtedly plenty of air personalities with a history in this market who would be a far better fit for a legendary radio station.

Does CBS want to spend the $$$$ to fix that pothole?

Mike Phillips gets a lot of blame leveled at him for KRTH's tight playlist and that's sad as he was a talented and solid programmer as well as air talent.
Had he not retired I feel that he would have made changes, but that's all speculation as he's no longer here to comment or defend himself.
Jay Coffey could have made changes but I really think that the GM at KRTH and the suits at CBS share some blame there.

As for fixing the pothole that is the 1-4pm shift it has nothing to do with $$$$. He's there because the PD wants him there and has put him in a shaft that is bolstered up by the air talent before and after. Unless you look at the hourly numbers he gets propped up by Carson and Kelly. He probably would be out of radio all together if not for Kaye especially after his antics at KBIG.