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Not Sure You've Noticed, But....

B

BoscoGoldBear

Guest
XM and Sirius are both starting to sound like Boston radio (all rock all the time). I could have seen either Chrome (XM) or The Strobe (Sirius) going, BUT NOT BOTH! WTF? It was noted in Wikipedia (I know, not the most reliable source) that Chrome/The Strobe was going to be dumped on the 1970s channel(s). That's kinda like saying that Kiss 108 music (the Sunny Joe White era) was being dumped onto 94 1/2 'COZ (the John Sebastian era). Am I at least making my point crystal clear? And no, I don't need the Big Guy's Mom/Andy Travis conversation repeated nor do I need to read "lather, rinse, repeat" - I'm prefectly aware that things aren't going to change because of the totally suck economy. (Now I'm reading that Sumner Redstone wants to rid himself of CBS because of an $800 million debt payment due in December, but I'm sure this is being posted about on other radio-info.com boards.)

Anyway, not to sound like a rerun of rapking (at least intentionally), but 10 all-rock stations in Boston is a little much. (I listen to D&C, Howie, Savage and sports since the demise of disco-formatted Star 93-7.) This is more of a typical hour on WXRV/River:

How You Remind Me - Nickelback
You Oughta Know - Alanis Morissette
Love Remains The Same - Gavin Rossdale
Move Along - All-American Rejects
Addicted - Saving Abel
Somedbody Told Me - The Killers
Shattered - O.A.R.
Enter Sandman - Metallica
Are You Gonna Be My Girl - Jet
Viva La Vida - Coldplay
In The End - Linkin Park
Song 2 - Blur (and yes, I know how the tune goes, I've been to enough Patriots' games over the years)

Next, an average hour at 'BOS, 'FNX, 'BCN and the 'AAFs:

Black Dog - Led Zeppelin
Rock N Roll Train - AC/DC
Sweet Emotion - Aerosmith
Free Bird - Lynyrd Skynyrd
Viva La Vida - Coldplay*
Welcome To The Jungle - Guns N'Roses
Turn The Page - Bob Seger
Are You Gonna Be My Girl - Jet
The Day That Never Comes - Metallica
You Give Love A Bad Name - Bon Jovi
How You Remind Me - Nickelback
For Those About To Rock - AC/DC
(*-the 'AAFs would substitute Coldplay with Comfortably Numb by Pink Floyd; given that the others are alt-rockers, they'd play Pink Floyd at some point in the broadcast day anyway)

Now a typical hour of Mix and Kiss music:

Addicted - Saving Abel
I Don't Care - Fall Out Boy
Kryptonite - 3 Doors Down
Without You - Hinder
Chinese Democracy - Guns N'Roses
Hells Bells - AC/DC
Lost! - Coldplay
Love Remains The Same - Gavin Rossdale
You Give Love A Bad Name - Bon Jovi
I'm Yours - Jason Mraz
Shattered - O.A.R.
Come As You Are - Nirvana (I've heard that quite a few times on Mix recently)

Now for the classic rock stations' (that's Mike FM, 'ZLX and 'ROR - can't tell any of them apart - and come January WBZ-FM/formerly Oldies 103) typical hour:

Rock And Roll - Led Zeppelin
Gold Dust Woman - Fleetwood Mac
Scenes From An Italian Restaurant - Billy Joel
Highway To Hell - AC/DC
Walk This Way - Aerosmith
Rock And Roll Band - Boston
Rocket Man - Elton John
Panama - Van Halen
Wish You Were Here - Pink Floyd
The Wind Cries Mary - Jimi Hendrix
Sweet Home Alabama - Lynyrd Skynyrd
November Rain - Guns N'Roses

And let's not forget so-called Soft Rock Magic 106.7. They've been passing off a lot of 'COZ (or 'COZ-type) hard rockers as soft rock, like Journey, REO Speedwagon, Clapton (i.e. Derek and the Dominos), Nickelback, 3 Doors Down, Hoobastank and Chris Daughtry (hey, anyone who has reached Radio & Records' heavy metal i.e. active rock chart counts as metal to me IMHO), so it should come as no surprise to any of you if you hear "You Shook Me All Night Long" (AC/DC) or "Talk About Love" (Van Halen) being passed off as soft rock (all designed to keep its listeners when the switch to people meters comes next year).

Anyway, I'm not actually calling for an all-disco station (I'm not THAT insane!) - just a 3 or 4 hour dance music show with a typical hour sounding like this:

Macho Man - Village People
Too Turned On - Alisha
Keep It Comin' Love - KC & the Sunshine Band
Cuba - Gibson Brothers
Brick House - Commodores
Keep On Dancin' - Gary's Gang
Let's All Chant - Michael Zager Band
September - Earth, Wind & Fire
Party Train - Gap Band
Everybody - Madonna
Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough - Michael Jackson
Mandolay - La Flavour

Now doesn't this hour sound a lot better than all-friggin'-'COZ-type-rock-all-the-time? ;)
 
Wow...

Nickelback, All American Rejects, Metallica, Linkin Park on WXRV?

Bon Jovi on 'BOS, 'BCN, 'FNX?

AC/DC's "Hell's Bells" on Mix or Kiss?

What a mess this post is.
 
"They've been passing off a lot of 'COZ (or 'COZ-type) hard rockers as soft rock, like Journey, REO Speedwagon, ..."

Now given the OP of this thread I knew in advance that was coming but seriously, as soon as I read that I almost fell out of my chair I was laughing so hard. Not kidding.
 
Just to let you know, anything that 94 1/2 'COZ aired during the '80-'83 era (especially the first 2 years) I consider to be nothing but hard rock. Everyone around me was a friggin' rock head at that time. Given where I was musically, anything that wasn't disco was hard rock IMHO. It would be until at least the mid 1980s before I started liking rock again because by then rock was just a choice, and NOT the only one. Now, of course, we're back to where rock is just about the only format (except for country, 2 easy listenings, classical, talk, oldies and gangsta rap, and oldies is gone in January while easy listening-Magic is playing so many of the hard rock groups that they may as well play AC/DC, GNR, VH and Floyd as well). Maybe I exaggerated on a few songs here and there per station/music format, but - like the electoral college - anything over 50% counts as 100% IMHO. Let's face it, 'BCN does play what no alt-rocker has no business playing, and since both 'BOS and 'FNX have the same format as 'BCN, then the assume the same songs apply. As for the so-called classic hits, I see absolutely no difference between that and classic rock, as 'ZLX, Eagle and 'ROR (when all called themselves classic hits) never strayed from the classic rock library; neither did Billboard Magazine which - when reporting the Arbitrons - put all 70s, 80s and classic hits stations under the classic rock umbrella (thus both Eagle and 'ROR were labeled classic rock; with the exception of an occasaional James Taylor song on 'ROR and newer 90s and 00s rock on Mike, most everything on 'ROR and Mike can already be heard on 'ZLX, and the soon-to-be former Oldies 103 is going to be little more than a 'ZLX clone.

My final point: you don't ever, under any circumstances, play any disco songs under ANY rock format (I consider classic hits to be an all-rock format); I somehow think that "Rapper's Delight" and "Star Love" are totally incompatible with Led Zep, Van Halen, AC/DC and the Who - a very poor blend IMHO! ;D
 
I agree ODS could use a change from the same 100 Cmas songs over and over or the same 450 pop hits over and over
Going rock? Where did you hear this?


Boston NEEDS an FM Urban or Rhythmic AC station.
 
Maybe the Sirius XM inside numbers show that the rock stations and artist themed stations get more listeners? They aren't billing anyone, they're just giving what their customers want. Teeny boppers who listen to bubble gum pop, or rap aren't paying $13/month to listen in. They have a lot of white guys between 18-55 who want to hear more rock.
 
chitchatjf said:
Boston NEEDS an FM Urban or Rhythmic AC station.
Click to expand...

Have you tried the HD2 Star937? I mean this really is a perfect use of HD2's 3's etc. Formats for smaller groups. Obviously after the Analog Star937 thing it's going to be a long time before anyone in Boston tries that again but its a perfect format for an HD2. Same thing with these smaller urban audiences in a market the size of Boston. HD2 or 3 could be the answer instead of pirates. Maybe 97.7 HD3 could have an urban format with studios in the old WILD place. I wonder if some of these Groups if presented with the right offer would be willing to let outside operations program? I suppose if they saw some income from a signal with little or no cost to them they might.
 
Steve N. said:
My final point: you don't ever, under any circumstances, play any disco songs under ANY rock format (I consider classic hits to be an all-rock format)
Click to expand...

The fact that Classic Hits (but not Classic Rock) stations play some disco hits simply means that, once again, your consideration about Classic Hits being "all rock' is incorrect.

Admit that they have become two different formats (even according to Arbitron), and turn the dial to a Classic Rock station if you don't want to hear any disco, instead of complaining about Classic Hits stations playing disco. That's why they are two different formats.
 
So, Steve N would leave the Stone's Miss You off a rock playlist because it has a disco beat. Brilliant!
The description of his first post as being "a mess" was right on!
 
chitchatjf said:
I agree ODS could use a change from the same 100 Cmas songs over and over or the same 450 pop hits over and over
Going rock? Where did you hear this?


Boston NEEDS an FM Urban or Rhythmic AC station.
Click to expand...


Zzzzzzzzzz.......
 
chitchatjf said:
HD2 is not the same.

Hd radio is irrelevent.
Click to expand...

That's ridiculous. Folks here all being radio fans have multiple HD radios and are listening to all the HD2 formats. It really would be the perfect place to put these formats that would never make it with the wider audiences these corporations need to reach with their main signals. It could be used to narrowcast and yet still increase overall revenue. The only way you might see a dance, smooth jazz or soulR&B station in this town.
 
Black Dog - Led Zeppelin
Rock N Roll Train - AC/DC
Sweet Emotion - Aerosmith
Free Bird - Lynyrd Skynyrd
Viva La Vida - Coldplay*
Welcome To The Jungle - Guns N'Roses
Turn The Page - Bob Seger
Are You Gonna Be My Girl - Jet
The Day That Never Comes - Metallica
You Give Love A Bad Name - Bon Jovi
How You Remind Me - Nickelback
For Those About To Rock - AC/DC

um...WFNX plays none of these songs except Coldplay and Jet.

Here is a typical hour on WFNX

Franz Ferdinand - Take Me Out
Nirvana - About a Girl
Killers - Mr Brightside
Smashing Pumpkins - Today
Vampire Weekend - A Punk
Verve - Bittersweet Symphony
Clash - London Calling
Kings of Leon - Sex on Fire
Pearl Jam - Corduroy
U2 - I Will Follow
The Bravery - Believe
 
Johnster said:
That's ridiculous. Folks here all being radio fans have multiple HD radios and are listening to all the HD2 formats. It really would be the perfect place to put these formats that would never make it with the wider audiences these corporations need to reach with their main signals. It could be used to narrowcast and yet still increase overall revenue. The only way you might see a dance, smooth jazz or soulR&B station in this town.
Click to expand...

There is already a dance station "Funkytown" on WMKK HD-2, and "Smooth Jazz" on WMJX HD-2.
 
Eli Polonsky said:
Steve N. said:
My final point: you don't ever, under any circumstances, play any disco songs under ANY rock format (I consider classic hits to be an all-rock format)
Click to expand...

The fact that Classic Hits (but not Classic Rock) stations play some disco hits simply means that, once again, your consideration about Classic Hits being "all rock' is incorrect.

Admit that they have become two different formats (even according to Arbitron), and turn the dial to a Classic Rock station if you don't want to hear any disco, instead of complaining about Classic Hits stations playing disco. That's why they are two different formats.
Click to expand...

Eli,

If you read my original post, it indicates that I'm a big fan of the disco that Ron Robin, Sunny Joe White, Vinnie Perruzzi and (to a lesser extent) Barry Scott made famous on the Boston airwaves. Just that every other classic hits station in Boston (WZLX, Eagle - now Mike, and WROR) has been a non-stop rock marathon. It's all-rock on 10 different stations (I include Kiss 108 from John Ivey on) that I'm not thrilled with. When it was announced that the Chrome and Strobe music was going to the satellite 1970s channels, my response was that it was like throwing all these great disco songs in the wastebasket, using Eagle/Mike and WROR as examples. If I was going to do classic hits (say, on a weekend), here's how it would sound per hour:

Early In The Morning - Gap Band
This Time Baby - Jackie Moore
Brick House - Commodores
Candy Girl - New Edition
And The Beat Goes On - The Whispers

next, the party-killing/cold-shower songs:

Black Dog - Led Zeppelin
Ain't Talkin' About Love - Van Halen
Shoot To Thrill - AC/DC

now, back to the party:

Rapper's Delight - Sugarhill Gang
A Night To Remember - Shalamar
Star Love - Cheryl Lynn
Teardrops - Womack and Womack

Let's see if anyone can come up with something better! :)
 
Steve, apparently, I'm not allowed to criticize you as a poster, but I will tell you again that you need to learn about the fundamentals of radio formats.
 
Will said:
Steve, apparently, I'm not allowed to criticize you as a poster, but I will tell you again that you need to learn about the fundamentals of radio formats.
Click to expand...

Thank you for being pithy, which Steve seems to lack.
 
OK, since my original post got deleted, let's try this another way.

Steve - under a varitey of user names - has been making this same argument for years on this board. For awhile his core argument was that Mix and Kiss are "grunge stations." This current "10 channels of rock" argument is essentially the same thing. When someone is talking nonsense the best approach is not to engage them.
 
will,
the heck with the "fundementals" wich have given us crappy radio. Good radio was when there were no fundementals.
 
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