No More radio greats or Top 20 countdown on wcbsfm :-(

[mary]

I heard that last night Radio Greats and Ron Parker's Top 20 countdown was the LAST :'( Dick Bartley Classic Countdown (its not live) will be replacing it. BOO HOO!! I really enjoyed The Radio greats and Hearing DON K REED once a month, what will happen to him now? I also thought Ron Parker did a Awsome job on the top 20 and was very interesting of the years, Many of those years reminded me of things I was doing at that time when the song was playing. Please if you enjoyed the Radio greats and the countdown, please get in touch with wcbsfm, as I am so afraid as changes happen that we will lose that station again :'( We have such great music and DJ's there, we don't want to lose them again. Lets Keep our station, lets get back that Radio Greats and Countdown!!

 

[oldies76]

Oh well, another great specialty show bites the dust, because of greed...everything about the $$$, who cares about the listener. Same ole story....radio will never be what it once was. Very sad and asinine, if true.

 

[davideduardo]

Oh well, another great specialty show bites the dust, because of greed...everything about the $$$, who cares about the listener. Same ole story....radio will never be what it once was. Very sad and asinine, if true.

Or, maybe, it's just that an analysis of the listener churn, demos, and listening levels for those shows determined that they did not help the station and, perhaps, hurt it by not providing what most listeners tuned in to hear.

 

[bigtom101]

Oh well, another great specialty show bites the dust, because of greed...everything about the $$$, who cares about the listener. Same ole story....radio will never be what it once was. Very sad and asinine, if true.

Or, maybe, it's just that an analysis of the listener churn, demos, and listening levels for those shows determined that they did not help the station and, perhaps, hurt it by not providing what most listeners tuned in to hear.

Good points David - but I'd rather hear Big Jay or Famous Amos do their personality thing on Sundays than Dick Bartley. Hearing them always brought a smile to my face, like hearing Cousin Brucie, Ron Lundy, or Dan Ingram always do (in aircheck form of course). Maybe if the music was a bit more streamlined & matched what was on during the week (with a few oh wow's sprinkled in), the show would have been a bit more familiar to the usual listeners.

Not that Dick puts on a bad show - but he is a bit too bland for my tastes, both presentation wise and musically.

 

[BruceS8852]

I do feel that the Radio Greats show was played out. It was disappointing that many former WCBS-FM personalities either never came back or just once or twice. Instead of a Dick Bartley syndicated show I would prefer a heart of rock and roll show with Don K and Norm as alternating hosts. That will never happen for demographic reasons.

I will miss the Top 20 countdown since I enjoyed hearing songs not in normal rotation. I was not nitpicky about the exact chart numbers as the chart guys.

Bruce

 

[oldies76]

Or, maybe, it's just that an analysis of the listener churn, demos, and listening levels for those shows determined that they did not help the station and, perhaps, hurt it by not providing what most listeners tuned in to hear.

I doubt by playing these Top 20's, late on Sunday nights really hurt anything. Most are in bed getting ready for the upcoming work week, few are tuning in. For the fortunate ones that did tune in, it was a long-standing time slot that most regular listeners were used to already. It's the new comers, if any, that may have tuned out due to unfamiliar hits and on the low end of the 25-54.

Funny, my local station KDZA 107.9 does something very similar on weekdays at 12 noon. They play the Top 12 of the week, of a certain year. Very similiar to New York's countdown, except not quite as deep (12 vs. 20).

 

[lalumia]

well, CBS FM's ratings continue to climb with these great specialty shows factored in,which accounts for loyalty all week long for those who do enjoy these shows: if CBS FM starts getting 'cute' again like they did last time around, their core audience will flip them the bird, this time for good, and when they sink this time, they can stay sunk(and everyone can enjoy the GREAT programming on the Big D WDRC from Conn.

 

[davideduardo]

Funny, my local station KDZA 107.9 does something very similar on weekdays at 12 noon. They play the Top 12 of the week, of a certain year. Very similiar to New York's countdown, except not quite as deep (12 vs. 20).

When you are in market 282, with limited competition and even more limited revenue, it's easy to do the wrong thing... it's too small a market to research in these economic times, and so you will get all kinds of things that may not be examples of good radio.

In my opinion, doing countdowns from a particular year makes the station a museum, not a living thing playing the hits that are still hits today.

 

[davideduardo]

well, CBS FM's ratings continue to climb with these great specialty shows factored in,which accounts for loyalty all week long for those who do enjoy these shows:

It seems to me that the 25-54 ratings increase when CBS reduces the specialty stuff and does not engage in A to Z and that sort of thing.

 

[TheBigA]

Oh well, another great specialty show bites the dust, because of greed...everything about the $$$, who cares about the listener. Same ole story....radio will never be what it once was. Very sad and asinine, if true.

How is it about greed? When it's a local show, the station keeps all the money. When they carry a syndicated show, they share it with the syndicator. The greedy thing to do is go local 24/7 and not share any of your money with anyone else.

 

[BruceS8852]

Apparently specialty shows do not appeal to casual listeners which are in the majority. Radio geeks who post on message boards are in the minority.

 

[radioman148]

Apparently specialty shows do not appeal to casual listeners which are in the majority. Radio geeks who post on message boards are in the minority.

Unfortunately you're right and that's all the station cares about.

 

[kevinsealy]

It was great to hear Dick Heatherton on WCBS-FM after being away so many years.


Has anyone noticed that Dick played two versions of Lou Rawls', "You'll Never Find Another Love Like Mine"? Around 9:15 he played the album version and at the top of the 10 o'clock hour he played the 45 version.



Thanks,
Kevin L. Sealy

 

[adma]

Apparently specialty shows do not appeal to casual listeners

i.e. idiots, morons, dolts, imbeciles, simpletons, unsophisticated yokels, timid frightened shut-ins who are frightened of the unfamiliar, the music-fan counterpoint to the talk-radio dittohead faction, candidates for eugenics, the bottom of the cultural and societal barrel who just happen to be the most efficient pigeons for the sleazy slimebucket advertisers that are radio's bread and butter.

which are in the majority.

Or, more like the plurality of those remaining. While increasing numbers choose to customize their own post-commercial-terrestrial-radio options.

Radio geeks who post on message boards are in the minority.

True, but thanks to technology, even they needn't be bothered with conventional radio in order to satisfy their needs. Better to make the old AT40s podcast/downloadable, so as to spare the fragile dispositions of the stupid...

 

[BruceS8852]

I'd like to quote Bruce Morrow: "Familiarity breeds contentment." If a listener hears something that he/she does not know, he/she will like tune out.

Bruce S

 

[adma]

But by that standard, WABeatleC never would have played the Beatles, until it was way too late in the game.

Where does one place the bar re familiarity vs unfamiliarity, anyway? I mean, I can understand if you're providing a piped Muzak service to senior's homes, where one assumes the residents are of fragile disposition and require everything pre-chewed. But too much unyielding, pre-packaged "familiarity" can be a tuneout in its own right.

Which leads to where, maybe, you have a point re "familiarity"--that is, it explains why more and more people are resorting to downloads et al over conventional radio. After all, there is nothing more "familiar" than that which one chooses oneself; and moreover, it's less annoying to others...

 

[lalumia]

Classic Top 40 managed to keep listeners around , when they assigned on air chart numbers to records, while they played 'new' records(previously not on the playlist'
they called them 'pick hits', 'hot prospects', 'sure shots' etc to brace their regulars for something new,and it worked;
you assumed if your fave station was introducing this new tune, that it must be something special;
most of the biggest acts in the business were broken in as pick hits or sure shots, back in the day

 

[BossJock1947]

well, CBS FM's ratings continue to climb with these great specialty shows factored in,which accounts for loyalty all week long for those who do enjoy these shows:

It seems to me that the 25-54 ratings increase when CBS reduces the specialty stuff and does not engage in A to Z and that sort of thing.

It was the money. Trust me. I know.

 

[Silkie]

First time I heard Dick Bartley 20 years ago I thought, "Yeah, he's okay. Take him or leave him.". I went downtown to visit my friends, who were having beer and crabs, listening to Dick Bartley and laughing like all get out. I asked what was so funny, and I remember the answer, "He's kicking a--, that's what. We're with him.". Since then I have listened to Dick Bartley. I think you'll enjoy him. I always have.

 

[sexyback]

Is there something funny about a guy/gal on a radio discussion board making fun of people on radio discussion boards. As far as losing our faves on Sunday... lets just hope these stations are here at all in some form in a year. They have messed this thang up.