• 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

Local vs. Local??

H

heydaybegone

Ok folks...call me too close TO THIS TOPIC...

Today I was listening to a set by (yes,I'll name him) John La Mond at WYRK. LOCAL guy...usually good, and respectable. He proceeds to discuss college choices for HIS kids...and refers to SUNY Fredonia as a choice for his kid ....until he did research to see it was a "big drug college" and changed his opinion about HIS OWN KID going there. WELL MINE GOES THERE!!!! There seemed to be a tie in to make your comment on "Facebook"....but ..ain't gonna happen with THAT topic!! I was PISSED OFF...and he lost ALOT of credibility with me.

See...it doesn't take much ladies & gentlemen...to lose your audience.

Being controversial with your local...is dangerous....being local with information....ok....who draws the line?

HDBG
 
heydaybegone said:
Ok folks...call me too close TO THIS TOPIC...

Today I was listening to a set by (yes,I'll name him) John La Mond at WYRK. LOCAL guy...usually good, and respectable. He proceeds to discuss college choices for HIS kids...and refers to SUNY Fredonia as a choice for his kid ....until he did research to see it was a "big drug college" and changed his opinion about HIS OWN KID going there. WELL MINE GOES THERE!!!! There seemed to be a tie in to make your comment on "Facebook"....but ..ain't gonna happen with THAT topic!! I was PISSED OFF...and he lost ALOT of credibility with me.

See...it doesn't take much ladies & gentlemen...to lose your audience.

Being controversial with your local...is dangerous....being local with information....ok....who draws the line?

HDBG
Click to expand...

Ok, I'll bite.

I went to the 'YRK site and guess what greeted me on the flipper?

http://wyrk.com/are-you-sending-your-kid-to-one-of-the-nations-druggiest-colleges/

Source is The Daily Beast - and FB comments are below the story, beginning w/John La Mond (posting as if he were a listener) reconsidering sending his daughter to SUNY Fredonia.

Respectfully Heyday, this looks like a legitimate news story to me.

Therefore I'd say it's not only fair game but a good topic...BUT the focus must NOT be John's reconsidering sending his daughter there, that's secondary...instead, focus on the Daily Beast's allegation that SUNY Fredonia is the #10 "big drug college" in the nation and get callers/texters/FB comments. Only after establishing the topic would I bring in the personal angle...but I would bring it in like..."this hits a little close to home for me because I was thinking about sending my daughter there. I hear they have a good program in her field of interest...what would you do? 644-WYRK or hit me on Facebook!"

And BE INTERESTED in what your callers have to say. Engage with them. They're not morons, they chose to invest a portion of their day listening to your station, right?

IMHO it's how you handle the content that makes the difference. Handled correctly it could make for a compelling 1/2 hour, even an hour of great radio.

If John focused on the personal angle first, rather than the news story...and from your description that's how it sounds...I'd say he turned an opportunity to connect with his listeners into a personal rant. A waste of timely and compelling local content.

As an aside, my wife's cousin's daughter - from Morrisville, Madison Co - is currently attending "Fred". So yeah there's a little personal connection. And she's doing fine.
 
I usually won't rant on a topic. I did see someone blow through a school buses red lights recently and mentioned it on the air. I said that I thought it was wrong and saving 10 seconds is great until you kill someone. Then you have years!

I don't think that is over the line and quite frankly with the safety of children in mind, I don't care if someone thinks it was. I didn't get preachy or nasty, just said how it wasn't cool.
 
WYRK is a great radio station with no in-format full signal FM competition. But it sounds like the guy didn't properly sight his rifle. In the first place, those college surveys are bullsh*t. SUNY Fredonia is like every college in America. If a student wants to party, get loaded or spark up, there's a place to find it, on or off campus. Most students sample a little bit of stupid before they settle in and realize there's serious work to be done if they want to get that degree. Parents should have more faith in their kids' ability to choose smart from stupid. Could it be they don't trust the kid's upbringing? In the case of the personality in question, most listeners who heard his little rant probably thought, "Well, that's nice, but could you move along and play that Miranda Lambert, Kenny Chesney and Taylor Swift song I want to hear."
 
Rants are about as effective as preaching. Occaisionally, you can wake people up with a little fire and brimstone, but the effect is rarely long lasting, and you'll turn off more people than you'll turn on. There are MUCH more effective ways to approach an issue like this.

Before you say anything, you might want to check your information, though. A closer look at the methodology of "The Daily Beast" shows it's a flawed, headline-grabbing "evaluation". The largest portion of their "study" is based on info from College Prowler. A closer look at the College Prowler report says "alcohol and marijuana are the biggest drugs on campus". Wow. On a college campus? I'm shocked. SHOCKED. Another quote from the College Prowler study? "One of the great things about SUNY Fredonia students is that most of them do not pressure others to drink or do drugs if they don't want to."

Read more: http://collegeprowler.com/state-university-of-new-york-at-fredonia/drug-safety/#ixzz1fTzBrLbh

Another factor in the "Daily Beast" study is drug arrests. In other words, the campus is PENALIZED for arresting students using drugs. Once again, the College Prowler indicates that the administration there is serious about controlling drugs on campus:

"SUNY Fredonia takes these offenses very seriously and has a three-strike policy. Every student can get up to three strikes during their entire college career at SUNY Fredonia. Once a third strike is given to a student, that student is usually expelled from the University. SUNY Fredonia has a zero-tolerance policy when it comes to drug use and underage drinking."

Read more: http://collegeprowler.com/state-university-of-new-york-at-fredonia/drug-safety/#ixzz1fU0RkcW3

In short, John should have followed a link or two before erupting on air. BTW, notice how many of the Daily Beast "drug schools" are in rural areas, and how many have strong fine arts and/or music programs. Imagine, musicians and artists drinking and using pot...
 
BTW, one can only imagine what some out-of-town voicetracker would have made of that report - if they noticed it in the first place. How many of them would know that SUNY Fredonia was a lot closer to Buffalo than SUNY Purchase?
 
I'm of the mind that a music host should be shying away from such topics. Leave the issue of college drug use to the talk-show hosts. When I listen to a music station, I'm listening for the music and a personality who will tell me a thing or two about the artists I'm hearing, the weather, the Bills, etc. In short, I'm not expecting controversy. If I want that, I'll listen to talk radio. If I was a Fredonia State alum, I'd probably be offended to hear some jock dissing my school, based on what other folks in this thread have described as a flawed Daily Beast study. It's the goal of music stations to keep people listening into the next quarter hour. That's not going to happen if some off-hand comment you make turns off a segment of your audience. And I've never been a big fan of radio people talking about their personal lives. I could care less where John LaMond is sending his daughter to college. WYRK obviously has a winning formula, and John probably should stick with that and avoid delving into controversial topics. Leave that to Bauerle, Beach and Shredd and Ragan.
 
I agree with Phillip. If its a morning or talk show, personal lives are ok. When I'm on WLLW, I don't like to get personal save for the occasional birthday mention. I like to keep it informative on the music I'm playing. I will also do that on the Classic Country show for the next few weeks.
 
Insert Quote
The good news? WYRK is finally getting a little play on this board...
Click to expand...

Rox,
Wasn't the intent. The classic case of "if it ain't broke, don't fix it"...which is why YRK wasn't hitting the boards....until now! Which is why I even mentioned it. That "personal" approach stopset surprised the hell out of me! Within 30 seconds I went from a P1 to a non-listener. :eek:
I will say, there are some good comments coming off this thread... after expecting to ruffle feathers. (Damn, figured the posts would be defensive...but it's actually constructive :))

That's all
HDBG
 
I don't have a problem with rants or personal content, I've done more than my share of both over the years.

But there are some ground rules:

1) Does the target listener care?
2) Will it piss off a client?
3) Might it piss off a client?
4) Am I willing to let listeners call/text/FB and disagree?

If there's doubt with any of the above, I look for something else to talk about.

Again, I only hear them half-a-dozen times a year when traveling thru WNY...but when I do hear WYRK, I enjoy them. I've noted a thing or two on other threads which I feel could be better, but overall they represent the Country format well and are entertaining to listen to.
 
WYRK is a well-oiled machine: excellent on-air talent, well produced programming, solid sales staff and sound leadership from management. They are a success because they work hard as a team and share common goals.
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom