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Pleasant Surprise In Las Vegas

They're all right, but not nearly as good as they used to be. KJUL used to air cool programs like Sounds of Sinatra and Big Band Jump. That's gone now, replaced with much more modern music than they used to play, i.e. music you can hear on numerous other stations. I understand why they've done this, but it's still kind of a shame.
 
In a place like Vegas, you have to have bad lounge music. Anything with Sinatra and big bands should be there too.

I remember 20 years ago America's Best Music was number one there, which isn't surprising.
 
Absolutely--here in Vegas, we want plenty of Sinatra/big bands/loungy classic crooner stuff. I've made a point of seeing these artists live, as well. If KJUL would play more of it, I'd be happy, but they've younged up their playlist quite a bit--now when you hear a big band, it almost comes as a surprise. Too bad--I love standards etc., and Vegas is the place for them.
 
Speaking of Vegas, CBS Dallas has a very good rat-pack era station on KJKK-HD2 called "The Sound of The Strip" which oddly isn't on even the HD2 channel of any of their Las Vegas signals.
 
Other CBS stations do run it in other markets as well, but I have no idea which ones. It does get a little repetitive if you listen to it a lot, but for the occasional listen it's quite good. I-Tunes has it in their radio section, and you can also stream it from the KJKK website.
 
As for repetition in playlists, I'm finding that to be true for any station when you listen on a daily basis. It almost gives you the sense that they're purposely programming to the occasional listener and don't really expect people to listen all the time. A little bit of a paradox, I'd say.


Pebble said:
They're all right, but not nearly as good as they used to be. KJUL used to air cool programs like Sounds of Sinatra and Big Band Jump. That's gone now, replaced with much more modern music than they used to play, i.e. music you can hear on numerous other stations. I understand why they've done this, but it's still kind of a shame.
That may be true, but when I was out there in the car using the seek & scan, the music stood out like a sore thumb among the pounding rhythms of the Katy Perry type of stuff. I found it a welcome relief which underscores what I said on here several years ago. Differentiation is key in getting your station to stand out from the rest of the pack.
 
I'm able to be more accepting of certain songs when the alternative is "the Katy Perry type of stuff".

Still, the station I listened to at the beach played Tony Bennett once when I was listening, but that was a duet, probably with Michael Buble.
 
Is the daytime station at AM 1000 from the Arizona/Nevada border still playing standards, I seem to recall being able to here it in the car in the southern areas.

As for KJUL, it is not perfect, it is better than hearing the same rock or pop songs ten times a day, they also have a better signal now.

I also liked the oldies played on AM 1280, that used to be talk. They seemed to play a nice amount of 60's music.

I was not aware that CBS had an HD station like you mentioned. I don't like the technolgy, most don't know what it even is.

With almost all major markets with no type of standards station, why hasn't CBS put in on all the big cities?

Promote it and let senoirs know that if they buy a special radio they can here the music they like. This would have sold a lot of radios. Instead they put on a format very close to the real station or simulcast AM stations that you can hear just fine on a standard radio.

I wonder why HD radios never caught on?? Could it be that they, in most cases, don't give listeners any real reason to buy them?
 
Going back to Nashville said:
I wonder why HD radios never caught on?? Could it be that they, in most cases, don't give listeners any real reason to buy them?

Yes.

You see, when HD Radio was launched in the early 2000's. it promised "Lots of exciting new stations"

What listeners got was "lots of exciting new MP3 players" and "lots of exciting unknown syndicated alternative talk networks" and "lots of exciting BBC World Service feeds".

Listeners, naturally, were expecting Sirius/XM type talent and really deep specialty formats (or at least something that lived up to the hype.) That never materialized. Secondly, to this day, very few commercial stations actively promote their HD stations (few even promote their main stations!)

Public radio has been better at this. Slightly. But their HD offerings for the most part, like the commercial broadcasters, have been second/third rate filler. Not a serious competitor with Sirius/XM.

But at that time, the radio industry still was polishing off the leftovers in that buffet known as Telecom '96. The radio minds then thought "Listeners....HA!....Just set it up and turn it on. We'll just slap on whatever and they'll listen. This satellite and online streaming is just a fad"

And they still think like that today.

HD is now becoming standard in most new cars and while that's a big boost, it's not going to mean much if there isn't anything good to listen to. But if you think they're being skimpy on their main channels (it shows a lot more painfully than the industry heads care to admit), their HD channels are REALLY sorely lacking.....





.
 
Regarding HD channels: I agree with Bongwater. There are some exceptions, though. WBFO HD-2 in my hometown of Buffalo NY offers "Jazz Works." It's syndicated from somewhere, plays mainstream jazz (not smooth jazz) and is hosted!

I'm out of state, but I listen to it online all the time. If I lived in Buffalo and had an HD equipped car, I'd be listening while driving, for sure!

Nick Summers
 
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