Radio History in Seattle tomorrow (Monday) 1st CAT DJ in the WORLD

[DJ Alan]

With all of the recent bad news we have seen, it is time for some warm and fuzzy… literally.

DJ Magic- the 1st cat DJ in the world with a fulltime radio job will hit the airwaves tomorrow at 10:00am on Seattle’s 101.9 FM ‘The WHORE’. You read that correctly- Magic is a cat- of the furry, quadruped, tailed, sharp teeth and claws, variety. The DJ Magic show airs Monday through Friday from 10am to 3pm.

I hope you are within listening range of this pirate station, if not, try listening via Peercast (peercast.org – load peercast, click on ‘play’ button on Peercast ‘Yellow Pages’). The latter will only work if Peercast fixes its yellow pages as they are not loading correctly as of today- Sunday.

DJ Magic has watched me spin for many years on the radio and at plenty of parties (without ID he could never come see me in the clubs). He would occasionally try to assist, AND USUSALLY MESS THINGS UP REALLY BAD. Magic is my best buddy and I have always encouraged him to keep working on his skills. I THINK HE IS READY! We’ll see how things go tomorrow at 10. My only worry is that he’ll take one of his random cat naps during his air-shift… That and some concern about how bad a beating my vinyl collection will take- with his sharp claws and all.

Also, a great friend of my partner and I, DJ Cykotic hits the air at 7pm. Cykotic is one of the coolest people on the planet! She is a broadcasting student- has a great voice- and a great future in front of her. All of us at ‘The WHORE’ are very happy that she is starting her journey here at 101.9 FM and I am very happy to give her that ‘first shot- on the air’. YA!

You’ll be able to get to know these two ‘RADIO STARS’ better once our website goes live.

Have a GREAT DAY!!!!
DJ Alan ;D

 

[Bongwater]

With all of the recent bad news we have seen, it is time for some warm and fuzzy… literally.

DJ Magic- the 1st cat DJ in the world with a fulltime radio job will hit the airwaves tomorrow at 10:00am on Seattle’s 101.9 FM ‘The WHORE’. You read that correctly- Magic is a cat- of the furry, quadruped, tailed, sharp teeth and claws, variety. The DJ Magic show airs Monday through Friday from 10am to 3pm.

I hope you are within listening range of this pirate station, if not, try listening via Peercast (peercast.org – load peercast, click on ‘play’ button on Peercast ‘Yellow Pages’). The latter will only work if Peercast fixes its yellow pages as they are not loading correctly as of today- Sunday.

DJ Magic has watched me spin for many years on the radio and at plenty of parties (without ID he could never come see me in the clubs). He would occasionally try to assist, AND USUSALLY MESS THINGS UP REALLY BAD. Magic is my best buddy and I have always encouraged him to keep working on his skills. I THINK HE IS READY! We’ll see how things go tomorrow at 10. My only worry is that he’ll take one of his random cat naps during his air-shift… That and some concern about how bad a beating my vinyl collection will take- with his sharp claws and all.

Also, a great friend of my partner and I, DJ Cykotic hits the air at 7pm. Cykotic is one of the coolest people on the planet! She is a broadcasting student- has a great voice- and a great future in front of her. All of us at ‘The WHORE’ are very happy that she is starting her journey here at 101.9 FM and I am very happy to give her that ‘first shot- on the air’. YA!

You’ll be able to get to know these two ‘RADIO STARS’ better once our website goes live.

Have a GREAT DAY!!!!
DJ Alan ;D

Your cat probably has a BIG career in major market commercial radio:

1. Cans of sardines, Fancy Feast and catnip are cheaper than full salaries.

2. Voicetracking is perfectly suited for cats.

3. Cats don't complain about programming direction.

4. Cats don't type angry posts on Radio-Info. They don't speculate on rumors.

5. Cats can be easily appeased with a treat and a scratch on the head (try THAT with human jocks and you'll get a broken arm.)

MEOW!

 

[SeattleRadioPro]

This thread is proof positive of what a joke this board is.

 

[AQH]

This thread is proof positive of what a joke this board is.

It's a lot like a traffic accident, isn't it?

 

[Bongwater]

This thread is proof positive of what a joke this board is.

It's a lot like a traffic accident, isn't it?

No, the radio industry is the traffic accident. We're just the people staring at this mess and commenting on the sidelines.....

 

[AQH]

This thread is proof positive of what a joke this board is.

It's a lot like a traffic accident, isn't it?

No, the radio industry is the traffic accident. We're just the people staring at this mess and commenting on the sidelines.....

No, you're the ones with all the purported solutions to the radio problems, yet you don't have the guts to go and fix the problem now, do you?

 

[Bongwater]

This thread is proof positive of what a joke this board is.

It's a lot like a traffic accident, isn't it?

No, the radio industry is the traffic accident. We're just the people staring at this mess and commenting on the sidelines.....

No, you're the ones with all the purported solutions to the radio problems, yet you don't have the guts to go and fix the problem now, do you?

For FREE? HELL NO!!

 

[AQH]

This thread is proof positive of what a joke this board is.

It's a lot like a traffic accident, isn't it?

No, the radio industry is the traffic accident. We're just the people staring at this mess and commenting on the sidelines.....

No, you're the ones with all the purported solutions to the radio problems, yet you don't have the guts to go and fix the problem now, do you?

For FREE? HELL NO!!

Please. :

Just do exactly what Sparknet Communications did when creating Jack. Create a trademark for your product and services, make the other party sign a non-disclosure and and voila, you'll be protected against infringement. There. You're legally protected and will be compensated.

Now, are you going to sell your ideas?

 

[HowardMBurgers]

For FREE? HELL NO!!

So radio station owners are not allowed to be capitalists, yet in order to "save" radio from itself you want a piece of the action.

Hypocrite? Could be!

 

[TVradioguru]

Very observant Mr. Burgers! At least it's easy to tell the difference between the radio professionals and the non-industry types. There is very little gray area, thats for sure!

 

[DJ Alan]

AQH, Yes I plan on offering the service. You have my plan understood.

SRP, lighten up… or light up, whatever will chill you a bit. This was all just for .comedy stress relief… (dotcomedy- did I just coin a phrase?), and remember that ‘you are on the internet’. What do you want? Rubber Biscuits? But I do have to thank you too for your gripe as it is well known in the industry, that you have not hit the tipping point of success until you start to hear from the disgruntled, the crazies, the stalkers, etc.

Bongwater, DJ Magic is a live cat and he does not use voice-tracking. (I hope SRP caught that intentional grammar joke),. We spent quite some time coming up with a brand new technological breakthrough that we have dubbed ‘MeowTracking’… again,

BTW... DJ Magic did GREAT for his first shift. One CD skipped a bit around noon. I don’t know if he accidently leaned against the FF button, or pushed the wrong button, heck the CD could be dirty too. But that was the only issue- no ill-timed catnaps at all.

Have a GREAT EVENING everyone! And tune into our other new team member DJ Cykotic starting at 7pm tonight. Cykotic is 100% real human, just in case there is some concern that even more of the business is totally going to the cats- and the dogs.

DJ Alan

 

[Bongwater]

Look AQH, you're the damn "expert" here who's demanding I come up with something YOU don't know (some "professional" you are!)

Well, YOU'RE the damn "expert" here. I came up with what I know long enough on this board for free and if you or anyone else can't get it....TOUGH! We've got better damn things to do. And we're not going to waste any more breath on damn fools like YOURSELF without a HELL of a lot of CASH-UPFRONT....and LOTS OF IT.

Until then....like I say....TOUGH!

And if YOU (being the "professional") can't figure it out without all your criticism and pandering to the status quo - TOUGH!

Does it mean I DON'T have the answers to radio's problems? Maybe I do, maybe I don't. but like Bill Gates said, his biggest enemy is the person who experimented on their own and found the best thing yet to his empire.

For me, that's Ubuntu Linux.

For you.....keep listening......and BEWARE. Maybe advertisers and listeners will just simply get SICK of terrestrial radio altogether....You can't BLAME them exactly, now CAN YOU?!

I can't save something from ITSELF. You'll just have to DEAL WITH IT. After all....YOU'RE PAID to be the "professional". Not me. Wanna fork out a few millions - upfront - in CASH for the answer you're looking for-RIGHT NOW?! I'll bet SOMEONE will take you on......

 

[TVradioguru]

Wow AQH, nicely done!

Let's check the tally board...3X "damns", repeat and rambling sentences. Even a reference to "Ubuntu Linux", (whatever that is) for good measure.

Oh and Sir Bong, if indeed you want to compare yourself with Bill Gates (but of radio), you need to actually do something with your ideas. I believe that was AQH's point to begin with.

 

[Goldilocks94941]

Boys: The predictable "oh, don't criticize how we run 'our' radio stations" responses are just as tired and repetitive as the radio stations some of you program. If you're looking for 'free advice' for something new and original, try reading without your righteous anger blinding you from some of the ideas discussed here. And ask the public (especially your non-listeners) for some of theirs, too.

Otherwise, I think those of us who still bother trying to share ideas on this board are pushing you who are in management positions locally to try coming up with something once in a while on the many licenses that you all are hording that isn't another pale imitation of someone else's formula from another market, and take responsibility for doing something original yourself. You've got the basic formats covered. But there's more signals than you need for that, and a lot more possiblities that you're not trying. Or won't your corporate culture allow that without having a sacrificial lamb if the Arbitrons don't jump a point in three months, despite little if any off-air promotions budget?

I think you guys presume the prospective audiences in Seattle are all the same kind of people. May I respectfully suggest you get out of the dive bars a little more often and notice there are other types of people in this region whose interests go beyond "both kinds of music." I think education level is an important demographic determinant that you overlook.

And there's probably some real air talent still in town that can do something more than read liners and slogans in order to connect with listeners. Too much of what's on the air is just promoting and 'selling' a weak brand, so why expect different results from doing essentially the same thing over and over? Isn't that behavior what the professionals call "crazy?"

Do you realize how much some of you guys try to sound like Bill OReilly or Limbaugh or Hannity or Coulter or any of the other zombie millionairs whose screeds just are not relevant to more than a small fraction of the Seattle population? Smart-ass retorts on the air or on this board don't really amount to anything useful. Maybe it's time for a different tune for a change.

I think we're all mostly people on this silly little forum who love radio as a medium, as an industry, and as a communication tool. Many of us got out of the 'biz when there wasn't much of a biz left to work in -- and not always our choice. Or we found new jobs with new technologies or in other industries, but still have radio in our blood. Or maybe we don't want to work for some of the conglomerates out there. That doesn't make us "failures" or "losers." So why not try to take advantage of the collective brainpower here?

We're only suggesting that programming is your main "product," and prompting you try a little harder to offer something else than the same half dozen some formats we're getting in most markets like Seattle. What can you do to get people excited about what's on the air that isn't syndicated or a simulcast? Who can you hire to get people actively wanting to turn on their radios to your station? Everybody I talk to is hungry for some real quality and innovation that they just don't feel is in commercial radio.
It's just background noise, at best. Fine for some stations. But there's enough frequencies on the dial that you could try something new here and there, where the goal is to develop a listening habit, reduce "tune outs" and don't worry foremost about "crushing" your competition. If your product is strong enough and good enough, you'll make out fine. And so will some of your competitors. Right now, the radio industry can re-establish itself and relevant and something that reflects our communities, and brings us together, or else it will become more and more irrelevant as people go elsewhere for what you're not providing. It's up to you guys where this goes next.

What do you really want to accomplish with all of these radio signals?

Meow,

GL

 

[LITTLEBOYBLUE]

We're only suggesting that programming is your main "product," and prompting you try a little harder to offer something else than the same half dozen some formats we're getting in most markets like Seattle. What can you do to get people excited about what's on the air that isn't syndicated or a simulcast? Who can you hire to get people actively wanting to turn on their radios to your station? Everybody I talk to is hungry for some real quality and innovation that they just don't feel is in commercial radio.
It's just background noise, at best. Fine for some stations. But there's enough frequencies on the dial that you could try something new here and there, where the goal is to develop a listening habit, reduce "tune outs" and don't worry foremost about "crushing" your competition. If your product is strong enough and good enough, you'll make out fine. And so will some of your competitors. Right now, the radio industry can re-establish itself and relevant and something that reflects our communities, and brings us together, or else it will become more and more irrelevant as people go elsewhere for what you're not providing. It's up to you guys where this goes next.

I think I'm in love! Thanks for putting this "out there". Much of it has been said before, of course, but that only matters if someone will LISTEN!! Good luck!

 

[TVradioguru]

Boys: The predictable "oh, don't criticize how we run 'our' radio stations" responses are just as tired and repetitive as the radio stations some of you program. If you're looking for 'free advice' for something new and original, try reading without your righteous anger blinding you from some of the ideas discussed here. And ask the public (especially your non-listeners) for some of theirs, too.

What do you really want to accomplish with all of these radio signals?

Goldi, First of all I do appreciate your articulate and well thought out posts, even though we disagree (and that you place us professionals on par with right-wing talk hosts). :

I won't pretend to speak for the other few broadcasting professionals that read or post on this little forum, but in short, here are some reasons why I respond to some of the posts:

It's quite easy for some vocal minority poster's on this site to take on an arm-chair attitude without knowing what the inside issues are. My interest is to educate those folks that there is a big difference between what you hear coming out of your clock radio speaker and what happens behind the scenes. The assumption with many here seems to be that the pro's just sit behind their giant desk in a corner office not caring about what people want, lighting their cigar with fifty dollar bills. That couldn't be further from reality. Don't want to hear reality and just want to vent? That's fine too. I just won't sit silently while rumors and uneducated comments to others who also don't have working knowledge of the industry.

Let's say you worked in management at a retail establishment and in some little Internet forum an individual posts a claim that your store was selling junk merchandise and that you personally as manager enjoy selling said poor quality merchandise. There are no specifics to the post, no details on the claim, nothing to back up the claim other than a vague impression of that individual. Wouldn't you want to know more specifics when you know for a fact that there are numerous transactions and happy customers to your store every day? What if then another poster then jumped in to claim that all the clothing in your store was violet, that all workers had red hair and there was inadequate parking, even though you know that there is ample parking and nobody working in the store has red hair? Wouldn't you respond if you knew otherwise? And better yet, wouldn't you want to know from the individual specifically what they would want to change? It's the same thing here. Without naming individuals; the same old posts from self-proclaimed authorities on how to run radio come up.. AM stations can play modern rock, there needs to be all-reggae stations, hire old talent back who was a poor or middle-pack performer in their day, or my favorite; "just play something different".

I was manager of a radio station in Portland, Oregon many years ago. One of the AM stations in the market even went so far as to adopt an all Elvis format. Needless to say, that didn't go well and the station closed down because they hadn't done research nor was it in touch with what listeners wanted. I gave them props for sticking their neck out, but unfortunately their head got chopped off in the process. Fortunately that wasn't one of my stations, nor would I have allowed that form of loose cannon programming. It's easy for someone on an irrelevant discussion board to rant and point fingers when they're not putting their own career on the line.

I've said this before and I'll say it again; radio is a business. Always has been, always will be. Guy's like me are paid to make the owners and shareholder's money by selling advertising on radio and television stations.

Individual radio stations can't please everyone's individual tastes all the time, period. That's why there are over sixty radio stations in the Seattle-Tacoma DMA. Don't like those formats? Great! Buy yourself an IPod. The fact remains that millions of people tune into radio every hour of every day because its free and available.

Unlike what you read here, radio isn't dying. A statement like that couldn't be further from the truth. Is the traditional broadcast revenue model struggling right now? You bet! But I assure you that unlike what is presented by some here, it isn't because of what the music stations are playing, right-wing talk hosts, or lack of niche' formats to suit everyone's tastes all the time. It's because the economy is causing some of the largest advertisers on radio and TV to pull back or completely cut spending. It's that simple really; no alien influence, no subversive plans, and no owners or managers with big cigars laughing while Lonely Summer is forced to listen to an old AT40 that features disco.

Oh, and to your question; "what do we want to do with all these radio signals?" Simple, we want to make money with them!

 

[TVradioguru]

Goldi, First of all I do appreciate your articulate and well thought out posts, even though we disagree (and that you place us professionals on par with right-wing talk hosts). :

I won't pretend to speak for the other few broadcasting professionals that read or post on this little forum, but in short, here are some reasons why I respond to some of the posts:

It's quite easy for some vocal minority poster's on this site to take on an arm-chair attitude without knowing what the inside issues are. My interest is to educate those folks that there is a big difference between what you hear coming out of your clock radio speaker and what happens behind the scenes. The assumption with many here seems to be that the pro's just sit behind their giant desk in a corner office not caring about what people want, lighting their cigar with fifty dollar bills. That couldn't be further from reality. Don't want to hear reality and just want to vent? That's fine too. I just won't sit silently while rumors and uneducated comments to others who also don't have working knowledge of the industry.

Let's say you worked in management at a retail establishment and in some little Internet forum an individual posts a claim that your store was selling junk merchandise and that you personally as manager enjoy selling said poor quality merchandise. There are no specifics to the post, no details on the claim, nothing to back up the claim other than a vague impression of that individual. Wouldn't you want to know more specifics when you know for a fact that there are numerous transactions and happy customers to your store every day? What if then another poster then jumped in to claim that all the clothing in your store was violet, that all workers had red hair and there was inadequate parking, even though you know that there is ample parking and nobody working in the store has red hair? Wouldn't you respond if you knew otherwise? And better yet, wouldn't you want to know from the individual specifically what they would want to change? It's the same thing here. Without naming individuals; the same old posts from self-proclaimed authorities on how to run radio come up.. AM stations can play modern rock, there needs to be all-reggae stations, hire old talent back who was a poor or middle-pack performer in their day, or my favorite; "just play something different".

I was manager of a radio station in Portland, Oregon many years ago. One of the AM stations in the market even went so far as to adopt an all Elvis format. Needless to say, that didn't go well and the station closed down because they hadn't done research nor was it in touch with what listeners wanted. I gave them props for sticking their neck out, but unfortunately their head got chopped off in the process. Fortunately that wasn't one of my stations, nor would I have allowed that form of loose cannon programming. It's easy for someone on an irrelevant discussion board to rant and point fingers when they're not putting their own career on the line.

I've said this before and I'll say it again; radio is a business. Always has been, always will be. Guy's like me are paid to make the owners and shareholder's money by selling advertising on radio and television stations.

Individual radio stations can't please everyone's individual tastes all the time, period. That's why there are over sixty radio stations in the Seattle-Tacoma DMA. Don't like those formats? Great! Buy yourself an IPod. The fact remains that millions of people tune into radio every hour of every day because its free and available.

Unlike what you read here, radio isn't dying. A statement like that couldn't be further from the truth. Is the traditional broadcast revenue model struggling right now? You bet! But I assure you that unlike what is presented by some here, it isn't because of what the music stations are playing, right-wing talk hosts, or lack of niche' formats to suit everyone's tastes all the time. It's because the economy is causing some of the largest advertisers on radio and TV to pull back or completely cut spending. It's that simple really; no alien influence, no subversive plans, and no owners or managers with big cigars laughing while Lonely Summer is forced to listen to an old AT40 that features disco.

Oh, and what do we want to do with all the signals? Why we want to make money with them of course! ;D

 

[SeattleRadioPro]

Re: The radio industry today

Unlike what you read here, radio isn't dying. A statement like that couldn't be further from the truth. Is the traditional broadcast revenue model struggling right now? You bet! But I assure you that unlike what is presented by some here, it isn't because of what the music stations are playing, right-wing talk hosts, or lack of niche' formats to suit everyone's tastes all the time. It's because the economy is causing some of the largest advertisers on radio and TV to pull back or completely cut spending.

An absolutely brilliant, concise and accurate synopsis, Guru! This paragraph should be a sticky at the front page of this forum.