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[dismuke]

Jack Davis was giving some excellent background
on some of the songs, that kept me listening much longer than I would have otherwise...

That is definitely the one thing that they do right and deserve praise for. And it is something that is important if they hope to expand their audience. Being new to a particular musical genre can be like trying to get around in an unfamiliar city with no road map. You might have a favorable impression of the city and you know that there are going to be nice parts and not-so-nice parts as is the case with any city. But with no basic understanding of the overall layout of the land and no familiar landmarks, it can be a bit intimidating.

Basic background information on the songs - at the very least, title, artist, year it was recorded - provides that basic roadmap that helps listeners new to the genre better navigate through and hopefully eventually get past their newbie stage.

One of the very few post World War II genres I actually like and consider myself a fan of is "doo wop" style early rock and roll from the late '50s and early '60s. My passion for it is nowhere near as strong as my enthusiasm for pre-war stuff. But it is still very fun, melodic music and some of the vocal groups were incredibly talented. Some years back they gave 1190 AM the call letters of KLUV-AM and even resurrected the "mighty 1190" slogan. It played music from the late '50s and early '60s, including a LOT of doo wop. It got a lot of press at the time because the old McLendon era KLIF-AM/KNUS-FM frequencies were once again under common ownership with each playing the sort of music they did back during their respective heydays.

Unfortunately, KLUV-AM did not last long - but when it was on I listened to it frequently. The station was nothing more than music files on a computer in a rotation. No live hosts, undoubtedly because of the cost. In many ways, it was frustrating because, every so often, they would play a recording that I REALLY enjoyed - and I had no way of knowing what artist it was by or even what its title was. Had I known that information, I would have gone out and bought that recording and at least checked out other recordings by that same artist. And there are some recordings from that period that I don't particularly care for. It would be helpful for me as someone new to the genre to have background on those recordings as well so that I can eventually be more comfortable navigating through it - sort of like knowing which parts of town are nice and which need to be avoided.

Most Internet only stations are automated. But almost all of them stream title, artist and often even album information with the songs.

So that is something that KAAM is definitely doing right. They just need to have a serious reevaluation of their musical mix.

 

[dismuke]

As more talk shows wave bigger amounts of money at KAAM they'll continue to sacrifice the format for the money.

I don't even see how the talk shows will end up being successful. If you check out their website, there is a different infomercial in that time slot each day.

How often do you think this will play out:

Wife: Horace - where are you going?

Husband: I'm turning on the radio, Myrtle. After all, it is Monday afternoon at 1:00 PM. That young tax planner fellow is on KAAM.

Wife: Well, Horace, why don't you bring the radio into the kitchen so we can listen while we eat our lunch?

Who is going to specifically tune into an infomercial - especially one that is only on once a week? Clearly, the only value KAAM has to whoever is paying to air the infomercial is the lead in audience and those who have their radio buttons set to the station and turn it on during that time. But what percentage will simply shut it off? And those that do shut it off - well, once large numbers of the audience realize that there are often better alternatives on the Internet, will they tune back in? If not, then exactly how profitable will it be for someone to place an infomercial on the station and what sort of rates can KAAM charge for it? The term that comes to my mind is "downward spiral" and this strikes me as deliberately jumping right into one.

 

[Chuck]

From a listener's point of view, running infomercials makes no sense whatsoever. From a station management point of view it could be financially rewarding. It seems there are a lot of people who will pay good money to have their program run on the radio, especially in a major market.

All it takes is somebody to program the automation to play these programs, so your cost of operation will go way down. You'll probably get out of a lot of music licensing fees as well. Quite conceivably, the station could make a lot more money with brokered programming than it currently does playing music. If the "Performance Tax" ever comes into play, the additional financial burden may make brokered formats even more attractive. Radio is a business, and the "bottom line" very often trumps artistic integrity.

 

[dismuke]

I did hear Don Crawford Jr's editorial plea to "save "Golden Oldies" radio by supporting KAAM's sponsors.

I made an effort to listen to KAAM on two occasions today - once when I had some time on my hands due to a computer network outage at work and later this evening as I was driving around - and got to hear Crawford's editorial.

I actually had a positive impression of it. He delivered it with sincerity and passion and with a certain tone of non-pushy urgency. And he makes a point that definitely needs to be understood by any audience of a niche oriented station: if it is something they value, given the state of today's economy and the state of AM music radio in general, then they cannot simply take it for granted and expect it to continue to be there for them. The money to keep it going has to come from somewhere - and that somewhere is advertisers who are not in any position to continue forking over that money unless sufficient numbers of listeners buy their products and services.

I think the plea is a rather smart move on Crawford's part. He undoubtedly is aware of the history of KAAM's previous incarnations before it ended up in his hands and that long-time listeners are FULLY aware that the station's demise CAN happen because it already HAS happened on two previous occasions. That, I suspect, makes his audience more receptive to such pleas than perhaps other stations'. Since his audience is one that is apparently considered to be a "hard sell" in the advertising world and his clients tend to be smaller, local companies, then he is probably under more pressure than most station owners in a big city market for the ads on his station to be able to quickly and consistently demonstrate results. My guess is that a big part of his advertising sales pitch is to emphasize the "loyalty" of his audience - and, if so, then his plea makes a lot of sense as a way of reinforcing that loyalty and making listeners understand why it is important.

So I say: good for him. I hope he is successful.

Jack Davis was giving some excellent background
on some of the songs, that kept me listening much longer than I would have otherwise...

He was on when I listened during the computer network outage at work. He actually gave a LOT of background information on one of the songs he had just finished playing when I tuned in. Not sure whether that is a good thing or not. It is a great thing as far as I am concerned. But I remember about a decade ago when KAAM was, for awhile, a hot topic on some usenet groups there being a lot of criticism about too much "chatter" on the part of its hosts and not enough music. Personally, I like such "chatter" so long as it is mostly focused on the music. If you just want nothing but a jukebox of music - well, get an ipod or listen to about 99 percent of Internet radio stations which are fully automated and cannot afford live announcers. Of course, ipods and most Internet radio did not exist at the time of those usenet discussions. For those who appreciate real live announcers, it is one advantage that terrestrial radio still has over the Internet.

And I should also note, given some of my prior comments, that on both occasions today, I did hear several recordings that were previously unfamiliar to me - which means that, at least some point in years since I stopped listening, they have updated the playlist. Not sure if they still play it into the ground like they did with their playlist several years ago. But it has changed. Whether the changes in terms of music selection are for the better in my own opinion is a different matter - and certainly irrelevant for them, I'm sure.

 

[MikeShannon914]

John Summers was the brains behind KLUV-1190. He posts here semi-regularly, so maybe he'll share some insight. Offhand, I know that's where KLUV-FM offloaded their doo-wop and other pre-1963 songs when the FM side was trying to update their format some. After 1190 was gone, those pre-1963 songs never returned to the FM side.

There's always Bobbin' Bob Allen's station in Sherman, KJIM-1500 AM. It's mostly canned, but the music is more palatable to me than KAAM's, and you do get a lot of local flavor. Wish the signal was clearer in east Dallas, but I was shocked the other day to hear how good it comes in around Downtown, Carrollton and the airport.

There's also KPYK 1570 AM out of Terrell. Chuck Mohnkern (ex-Star 105, Cozy 105 and elsewhere) runs it. Signal can get sketchy in Dallas, depending on location.

I like artist background information. It's a successful staple Bud Buschardt built his "57 Nostalgia Place" and Sunday oldies show on KVIL around, and it's an aspect I use freely on The Hi-Fi Club. But I also look for offbeat facts and details on the artists and songs so I'm not stating well-worn old stories, like I assume Jack Davis might be doing.

After reading all of these posts, and making an observation from my couple of tours of KAAM over the years, I think it's GLORIA at the front desk that's REALLY running things around there!

 

[woodyrr]

Just curious.

Does anyone have any idea how KAAM got Home Depot and Geico as sponsors? Since they are nationwide companies, I used to pass them and any any other "big time" sponsors off as being a part of the news or traffic reports. There is no longer news or traffic and, at least when I was in Dallas earlier this month, I recall hearing Home Depot and Geico commercials.

 

[little1]

Geico is traditionally one of the largest (if not THE largest) network radio ad buyer. If KAAM has ANY trade deals with a network, odds are pretty good that those spots are part of their commercial inventory barter...

I'd put money down that neither Home Depot or geico is buying KAAM directly or through an agency...

 

[dfaulkner]

John Summers was the brains behind KLUV-1190. He posts here semi-regularly, so maybe he'll share some insight. Offhand, I know that's where KLUV-FM offloaded their doo-wop and other pre-1963 songs when the FM side was trying to update their format some. After 1190 was gone, those pre-1963 songs never returned to the FM side.


I like artist background information. It's a successful staple Bud Buschardt built his "57 Nostalgia Place" and Sunday oldies show on KVIL around, and it's an aspect I use freely on The Hi-Fi Club. But I also look for offbeat facts and details on the artists and songs so I'm not stating well-worn old stories, like I assume Jack Davis might be doing.

 

[dfaulkner]

I need to apologize for my screw up. the post I just made looks like it's all a quote from Mike Shannon. I was trying to quote pieces of what he posted & comment on them . But that's not how it turned out. I need to learn to do this stuff correctly. Maybe I can remove it & start over.

 

[dfaulkner]

I'll fix my entry later. At least I removed my words so that they don't appear to be someone else's.

 

[dfaulkner]

Take Four...

Just wanted to say that I really enjoyed KLUV-1190 when it was around. The Doo Wop Show they had on Sunday evenings in particular. Was great to hear that 50's , early 60's music on that legendary frequency. Music sounds good on 1190. Better than on 770. Must be the equipment they're using or the way it's calibrated.

A great deal of my interest in music is the result of listening to "57 Nostalgia Place". It was a bone headed programming decision on someone at WFAA's part to cancel it. (They were trying a "Hit Radio" format in place of their MOR format & didn't think it fit in.) The KVIL oldies show was great as well. Hope Bud Bushardt is recovering well from his injuries.

I listened to KAAM's afternoon drive for awhile yesterday. At first, I wondered if they had been reading this blog. But decided not after listening a bit longer. Did hear some better song choices than on Tuesday, but some nonsense as well. If there's a real need to play "Sloop John B" the Kingston Trio version (which I think is the original) would better fit their format. The Andy Williams version of "Music From Across The Way" would probably appeal to more people than the Happy Good Time Chior's version. But they didn't ask me &
likely aren't all that concerned with what I think...

 

[crbigband]

This is a direct answer to Woodyrr regarding the Geico (and other national company spots) you heard on KAAM.

Little1 is correct in his assumption that these are bartered spots - this is no direct or agency buy. The barter is either for the use of their music scheduler program or their agreement to run Fox News at the top of the hour. At some point over the last few months evidently the decision was made to drop news at the top of the hour and I imagine that there may have been some residual requirements for airing the spots.

One of my production duties when I worked there was to download the spots from the RCS website for uploading to KAAM on-air computer. When we started doing Fox news it was something like 98 spots weekly between the music scheduler and Fox news.

Mike Shannon is also right about Gloria. The widow of "Deacon" Don Evans has been the receptionist there since 2001 and was one of my favorite people when I worked there. In fact, most of the people still there are pretty great.

 

[Lancer]

There's always Bobbin' Bob Allen's station in Sherman, KJIM-1500 AM. It's mostly canned, but the music is more palatable to me than KAAM's, and you do get a lot of local flavor. Wish the signal was clearer in east Dallas, but I was shocked the other day to hear how good it comes in around Downtown, Carrollton and the airport.

Precisely why I tune into KJIM, I also like the music & the local flavor. Just watch those overpasses & overhead wires that clobber the signal. ;D

 

[dismuke]

I listened to KAAM's afternoon drive for awhile yesterday. At first, I wondered if they had been reading this blog. But decided not after listening a bit longer......But they didn't ask me &
likely aren't all that concerned with what I think...

And they probably shouldn't be all that concerned with what you or I think. No matter what you do in radio, you are going to have some listeners who hate it and some who love it. And people like us who take the time to express their opinions in a message board or those who send emails to the station are most likely NOT typical listeners.

I am very small time - but I quickly figured out that if I took listener feedback too seriously and, heaven forbid, tried to implement all or most of it, I would end up twisting myself in all sorts of contradictory pretzels. So someone complains that they HATE particular recordings. Well, there's always plenty of people who DO like them. There are some individuals in this world who seriously expect a station to instantly change its programing just to suite THEIR particular tastes - and those people tend to be rather loud in making their views known and are a good example of why the squeaky wheel should NOT necessarily be the first to get the grease. That's not to say feedback from listeners isn't helpful and that listeners don't sometimes offer great ideas. But you have to have a clear vision of exactly what you are hoping to accomplish and a firm idea of who your target audience(s) is and weigh all feedback through that prism.

So on the off chance that Crawford, McCoy, etc do read these postings, the last thing in the world I would pretend is that the opinions I express here constitute advice that they ought to take seriously. I certainly have no way of knowing what their ultimate objective with the format is. My primary point is IF they wish to expand the appeal of "standards" to younger audiences who did not grow up with such music and wish keep it alive after the present audience is no longer around - well, it seems to me that they might need to question and reexamine a few premises. But I have no idea that such is even their objective in the first place. And I am certainly not part of their target audience. But if/when they start to hear the same sort of criticism that the various participants in this thread make coming from people who ARE in their target audience and from individuals they know and respect - well, that would probably be a good sign that it might be beneficial for them to at least give it a certain amount of consideration.

My attitude on handling criticism has always been, unless it is coming from the person who signs my paycheck, to listen and give it whatever consideration it is due (which may or may not be much) and then continue to act according to my best judgment. And if multiple people - such as a large customer base - sign your paycheck, well, it is impossible to please everybody and sometimes you have to decide which are more important to keep/go after than others. I suspect the same is true when building an audience - you can't please everybody.

 

[dismuke]

There's also KPYK 1570 AM out of Terrell. Chuck Mohnkern (ex-Star 105, Cozy 105 and elsewhere) runs it. Signal can get sketchy in Dallas, depending on location.

Too bad they don't stream online or I would check it out - their signal doesn't reach me in Fort Worth. From their website, it kind of reminds me of what stations of the format tended to be like about 20 years ago.

If anyone is interested in checking out a REALLY hard core and unusual oldies station, try KBRD 680-AM, a daytime only station out of Olympia Washington. Their terrestrial signal, which can be picked up in the Southern parts of Seattle, goes off at sunset - but their stream is 24 hours. http://www.kbrd.org/

The station plays some of the stuff that you would hear on KAAM, some of the stuff that Cary would present on his show, some of the stuff my station plays, plus blues, plus Western swing and even more. They are not afraid to play anything as long as it is old - they even play Edison cylinder records. The mix is quite eclectic - but usually it flows pretty well. The history of the their station is quite entertaining: http://www.kbrd.org/history.html Clearly an outfit that was founded for no other purpose than the pure fun of its late owner and its listeners - and is now kept going as sort of a memorial to the owner. If I lived in its broadcast area I would DEFINITELY be a listener anytime an AM signal is more convenient than an Internet connection. But then again - well, I am anything but a typical radio listener. It sure would be interesting to know what sort of audience the station has managed to accumulate over the years.

 

[woodyrr]

With this afternoon infomercial development, I doubt that it much matters what anyone thinks.

Maybe Horace and Myrtle will tune in to hear that nice financial guy.

Speaking of KPYK, I listened to "the pick of the dial" when we lost KAAM 1310. I was often in Plano at that time and the signal was rather marginal. The funny thing is, when I first started listening, they had like five songs in their rotation (I'm really not kidding) and one of them was Caledonia by Cab Calloway. I got so tired of "Caledonia, Caledonia, what makes your big head so hard!" The playlist broadened as time went by and the station was fun to listen to. I'm really glad to hear that it is still going: Didn't I read on the DFW board that the older gentleman who was involved with the station passed away not too many years ago? I haven't had any luck picking them up where I am when I'm in Dallas.

 

[dismuke]

Maybe Horace and Myrtle will tune in to hear that nice financial guy.

Problem for Horace and Myrtle is they'd have trouble figuring out whether they want to spend their leftover Social Security money with that nice financial guy or whether they want to take that really cool cruise with Jaan McCoy and his wife that's coming up. You know, Myrtle really likes her shuffleboard - and it keeps Myrtle out of what's left of Horace's hair for a few hours. Don't tell Horace, but she thinks Jaan is really cute. And then there's that upcoming cruise with Troy Dungan that's also all over the radio airwaves. Just think - an opportunity to take a cruise with a real life television weatherman! Wouldn't that make Myrtle the envy of her weekly bingo club? Decisions, decisions, decisions.

 

[MikeShannon914]

Didn't I read on the DFW board that the older gentleman who was involved with the station passed away not too many years ago?

Yes. Local radio legend Len Mohnkern died 11/18/2006 at 79 yrs old. He worked for KPYK, KTER (predecessor to KPYK at 1570,) KBOX-1480 and KDMM (the first and last All-Traffic format.) Chuck is his son.

And leave Horace and Myrtle alone, please. Horace took a Viagra at 6PM and now Myrtle just pulled the curtains to. Nighty-night...

 

[woodyrr]

Just brief note to Cary: I really enjoyed the Artie Shaw Clarinet Concerto last week and Harry James' Trumpet Blues And Cantabile last night. Arthur Lyman's Yellow Bird is always a welcome sound.

And leave Horace and Myrtle alone, please. Horace took a Viagra at 6PM and now Myrtle just pulled the curtains to. Nighty-night...

I guess the sight of Horace out in the front yard wearing his sport shirt, walking shorts, dress black knee socks, and black dress shoes was just too much excitement for ol' Myrt to take.

Looking at my work schedule, it looks like I listened to KPYK for about four years from the fall of 1994 until KAAM reappeared on 620 sometime in the fall of 1997. To its credit, KPYK made a tremendous amount of positive progress in that time period, but their signal into Plano just wasn't very good.

When KAAM fired up on 620, they appeared to be trying making some waves. I could usually pick up 620 loud and clear at home in OKC. I remember going several times to the German restaurant in Plano that advertised with them and also listening to the live musical remotes that they did. I recall going to an Italian restaurant sponsor in Plano where I picked up a brochure with a picture of the talent and the program schedule on it. I ran across it not too long ago. Typically, I put it in a pile on my desk where I could find it easily - "easily" apparently being a relative term. The idea is to scan it and post it on my flickr page. I also have a scan of a Legends 77 KAAM advertising postcard that came in the Dallas mail. One thing about these recent developments is that it has caused me to do a lot of thinking and remembering.

 

[dismuke]

I guess the sight of Horace out in the front yard wearing his sport shirt, walking shorts, dress black knee socks, and black dress shoes was just too much excitement for ol' Myrt to take.

Of course, the biggest excitement for Myrtle in recent years was on the last KAAM cruise when she cornered Jaan McCoy to tell him what a big Dean Martin fan she is. The conversation quickly turned to how she won first prize at the Texas State Fair for her corn-pickle relish. It has been years since Myrtle won that prize, but it was one of the highlights of her life and she has been talking about it non-stop ever since. McCoy politely listened and Myrtle got so carried away that she even inadvertently revealed its secret ingredient. Myrtle was thinking about what a great conversationalist McCoy is (though he hadn't uttered a word) when Horace finally showed up to rescue him by saying: "So, McCoy - has my wife been pestering you and talking your ear off about her corn-pickle relish?" When McCoy said the obligatory "Why, no - I think your wife is quite charming. I enjoy getting to know my listeners," Myrtle's heart throbbed like it hadn't since she and Horace shared a banana split on their first date outside the Kreamy Kream in Maypearl, Texas so many decades ago. Myrtle gushed about it to the girls at the bingo club for weeks. And not long after everyone returned from the cruise, the mailman delivered a very carefully packaged box containing a jar of homemade corn-pickle relish to the KAAM studios.

Watch out, Troy Dungan - by the time the ladies on the cruise are finished with you, you are going to think you are Elvis.