radio lover said:
Last I checked, the crock was still streaming, and there was a commit earlier about bouncing checks at Crossroads, to my knowledge anyone that I knew that worked there NEVER said that happened. Maybe Matt can add to that if he wishes.
Yeah it's because they just announced it from
http://www.crock927.com
Dear Crock 92.7 Listener,
We are sorry to announce that, as of April 15th, 2009, we are temporarily suspending our online radio broadcast. This is being done to protest the excessive Web music royalty fees enforced by a recent SoundExchange music licensing agreement, as well as plans for a local radio tax. We hope to resume online streaming in August. Thank you for your understanding.
Keep listening on your radio dial at 92.7 for the Wabash Valley's country and rock station, Crock 92.7!
The same message appears on the other Crossroads sites. Even the Sports AM Station. You can't be tough on Crossroads, or call them cheap on this one. They have been the only station in the market to do it, it is one of the things you should give them serious props on. IMO, they have always had the best websites and being the only ones to stream was one thing that made them stand out from everyone else (I remember WZZQ did it a long time ago in the late 90's- I sold sponsorships for it back in the old dial up days- before they switched formats). Several stations around the U.S. are suspending streaming as well. Most likely this is a good way to give Labels a middle finger for the Performance tax they are trying to impose..
Matt, I respect your opinion. If Hi 99, WWVR, and WMGI have always done better than 102.7, and have always had live jocks, and programmed locally, doesn't that tell you why they are successful? Those three stations have never tried to do on air presentation on the cheap. Aside from overnights and some weekend shifts, and maybe some off air cost control stuff, they don't go cheap on the actual on air product. They all spend money on experienced programmers and airstaff. Look at Hi-99 and The River. Models of consistency. Yeah Party Marty left and went to the Crock. What did Hi 99 do? Bumped up their night guy, who does great on afternoons, and brought back Doc Long for nights. Think Party Marty loves sitting in dead last with his trainwrecked Crock station and that big fat 2 share? Doubt it. The River - same lineup for the last 4 or 5 years. Solid jocks, all can get the job done. WMGI has had a lot of turnover, but they have brought in experienced jocks that know the format and do good interaction with the listener. All 3 stations probably aren't live much on the weekend, but if you listen you hear the weekday jocks doing good weekend programs.
It takes patience to build something, but Crossroads has evidently never been able to afford to take some losses for a book or two to allow a full-live on air staff develop. They want a result each book, and if it isn't good they just tweak some things, blow someone out, spend less money on someone else, and try to re-present the same crap in a different way. You can ask a lot of successful businesses, sometimes you have to lose good money to make money in the long run. Doesn't seem like they are interested in doing that. Instead, they keep breaking even or losing a smaller amount, and at the same time not growing the station or brand. You can take the same crap, shine it up with a new jingle package and a new slogan, and re-name your morning show, but it's still a turd at the end of the day. So maybe it isn't fair to rag on Adam or Julie, that can be debated. Their show isn't very good. Nobody has said they are bad people and don't care about their job or radio. I'm sure they are nice people, just happy to have a job. However, in my opinion, the new morning show just doesn't sound very good. May not be their fault. Others may like it, I don't, and it just happens that a lot on here agree. They want to make it better? I would go with one thought per break, Talk 7-8 times an hour, and limit the stopsets to about 2 minutes. If it goes longer than that, it better be REAL interesting. A lead person needs to be decided and the other needs to play the co-host role. If we are going to target adult women 25-54, we don't play "fact or crap" or talk about toilet humor for a couple minutes at a time. If women wanted to hear that, they would listen to Bob and Tom. If you do contests, thats great! Just try not to do the same ones Hi 99 and Mix have done on the mornings for years. Be original.
