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Radio 104.5 and Voicetracking Gripe

M

mrbrightside

Radio 104.5 is now #1 18-34 AND #18-49. So how about some local DJ's?? The only local DJs that I know of are Johny and Wendy, the rest are voicetracked from other cities. For example...

http://www.radio1045.com/pages/kade.html


and....

http://www.987fm.com/pages/kade.html

and

http://www.kdge.com/pages/kade.html

Now I understand this is common practice, but this is Philly, not some small market. The worst of it is that he says thing like "Here in Philly," making it sound like he is here.

This morning- filling in for Johnny- "Here is your Radio 104.5 studio session playback song..." then no song, "That was your Studio Session playback song..." Come on Cheap Channel....
 
Apparently the listeners don't care, otherwise the ratings wouldn't be what they are. So why would CC want/need to spend the money?
 
chrocket87 said:
Apparently the listeners don't care, otherwise the ratings wouldn't be what they are. So why would CC want/need to spend the money?
Click to expand...

If they keep making mistakes, and referring to places by the wrong name they might...
 
chrocket87 said:
Off topic- But WHY are they playing Peter Gabriel's "In Your Eyes". This is too light for even 104.5.
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Too Lite? Not sure what you think Radio 1045 is, but it's a pop-alternative. I guess since I don't listen that often, I must be missing the "hard" stuff they play.
 
This shouldn't come as a surprise. There is no limit to how light Radio 104.5 will go. The station has played the following artists, none of which are generally thought of as alternative artists, and some of which have never been known for getting much airtime on alternative radio at all: Adele, All American Rejects, Blues Traveler, and The Fray, just to name a few. They also are probably the only alternative station left that actually plays old and new Goo Goo Dolls material after they denounced their alt-rock past and became Bon Jovi-esque pop balladeers ... and keep in mind that it's not songs like "We Are The Normal" and "Long Way Down", but stuff like "Name", "Slide", and even "Black Balloon". Of course, there's also the complete lack of reverence for the architects of this kind of music, never playing any Pixies or Replacements and barely touching The Smiths, New Order, and Depeche Mode. But that's Radio 104.5 for you: it's not pure alternative, but if people continue to listen, it's good enough for Clear Channel. They won't tinker with the music or the (mostly voicetracked) personalities.
 
In this day when our news comes from Fox and maybe CNN, our weather from the Weather Channel, our sports from ESPN and Fox, people really don't care where the voice on the radio is coming from. On music stations, if folks like the music, they will listen.
 
Radio 104.5 sounds more like the original Y-100 before it became alt-cool with its final (new) logo and after it incorporated elements and talent from DRE 103.9 after its demise. Radio 104.5 is actually playing some of the same songs ironically. LOL.

This is not a true alt station but I guess you cannot argue with its success. It is the first station I turn to for music as I listen to mostly talk now. (I'm 40). YSP is gone. MMR is just unlistenable (and I was a huge fan going back to DeBella and the crew for years). MGK is my second choice and it is solid as a classic rock station. When YSP was a classic rock station back in the day, it was my second choice behind MMR, so I guess the more things change...

Otherwise, the music choices in this town are lacking. Nobody has truly made up for the loss of DRE on the Philly airways. It would be a nice alternative (pun intended).
 
reality_check said:
FACT: As a former CC employee, I can tell you that the Radio 104.5 broadcast studio is only occupied by dust. Even though there are two local voices in the building, every shift is voicetracked. Johnny and Wendy record their shifts ahead of time from a small news production room off the main studio. There is absolutely nothing live on the station except when they cut to live performances from the station performance space. Having been involved in the somewhat encouraging initial launch, I find the station to be a huge disappointment as far as credibility goes, chock full of endless bits of smoke and mirrors via the imaging and the way the station is presented to the public.
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Agreed, especially when they say "Radio 104.5, this is LOCAL radio Philadelphia." I guess the computer that runs the place is local...
 
It's funny but its ratings have gotten better in the past 5 or 6 months and the music has gotten worse or at least softer. You don't even hear Alice In Chains or Beastie Boys anymore and maybe an occasional Offspring song. There have been new albums out in recent months by Red Hot Chili Peppers, Offspring, Foo Fighters and even a new Soundgarden single for the first time in forever and currently they play nothihing from any of them.

The Voice tracking is tiring. If what reality_check says is true, I was surprised that all of Johnny's and Wendy's shifts were voice tracked. I figured some of the day b/c they have other duties over the 6 hours they are on the air.

With that said though, it is crazy with WMMR's high paid talent they were only able to beat the cheaply run 1045 by .1 in the last book. Interesting, but both stations had very good numbers.
 
eshler5 said:
With that said though, it is crazy with WMMR's high paid talent they were only able to beat the cheaply run 1045 by .1 in the last book. Interesting, but both stations had very good numbers.
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It's because Alternative listeners do not care about talent, they want good music. And I've noticed Radio 104.5 has also gotten much more conservative in the past few months. They used to play a variety of Alternative music, now their currents seem to be mostly from the Top 20.
 
As someone who pretty much only listens to MMR, MGK and 104.5 (and ZXL and MGM down the shore) I never understand the "MMR is unlistenable" argument that gets put forth here from time to time. MMR seems to me to be the best of both worlds, it plays the classic stuff that's on MGK, some of the current alt stuff from 104.5 (avoiding the wussier stuff), and the terrible Nickelback sounding stuff that every rock station in America is sort of forced to play at least once an hour. I think I honestly might have 104.5 or MGK on the most length-of-time-wise but enjoy MMR the most. Also the fact that MMR jocks can deviate from their playlist more frequently is a plus ... but 104.5 has had more live performances lately.
 
MrBrightside was mentioning CC voice tracking. I'm in a smaller market where they do almost all day and nite VT. I didnt realize CC did that in a major market like Philly. They're the ones that started the decline of live programming and other companies have followed suit to cut costs.
 
Pinegroves said:
MrBrightside was mentioning CC voice tracking. I'm in a smaller market where they do almost all day and nite VT. I didnt realize CC did that in a major market like Philly. They're the ones that started the decline of live programming and other companies have followed suit to cut costs.
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Yes all of CC's newer stations like sunny104.5 radio 104.5, & my/philly's/mix106.1 are almost all VT. CC's older stations that had established on air staff when CC took over like Q102, power99, & WDAS-FM are still mostly local, although Q102 is heading towards being VT. Oddly enough CC's failed rumba station almost right away had live on air talent, even after it was moved to AM. They even had a big launch party. This despite the fact that many on here at the time said their wasn't enough of a market in Philly to support Rumba. I guess my point being the head of CC Philly was Manuel Rodriguez at the time, and obviously CC will open their wallets a little more when one of TPTB has a personal interest in the format.

In anycase won't be long before even NYC CC's are all VT.
 
"Radio 104.5 sounds more like the original Y-100 before it became alt-cool with its final (new) logo and after it incorporated elements and talent from DRE 103.9 after its demise. Radio 104.5 is actually playing some of the same songs ironically."

I agree. Philly needs another DRE or even Y-Not Radio on FM (which wouldn't remain so free form if it was)
Radio104.5 fills part of a void but not nearly the whole void. Channel104.3 in Baltimore tried the same approach but flipped when Alt fans kept following HFS wherever it surfaced. If there was a truly Modern/Alt station in Philly CC would definitely have to try harder! Kinda hard to not still be a little bitter!
 
I think 104.5 is working more on their overall sound. Many here will nitpick, but with the ratings they now have, clearly the majority disagrees with you in this thread. I agree they've certainly turned softer in their older stuff, but I think it's in part due to the fact that the stuff topping the charts right now is generally softer/more indie than it has been. Alternative is pretty diverse in what it can be and just tossing in older stuff that's harder will end up hurting the TSL and doesn't blend next to Of Monsters and Men or Fun. That's my bet at least.

MMR isn't un-listenable but it is becoming harder to tolerate. They pretty much are classic rock with a sprinkling of new stuff and many songs don't sound right next to each other. Eve 6 shouldn't lead in to AC/DC.
 
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