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Radio Is Still Great

R

RobHarder

I just discovered this board and I'm glad to have done so.

It's been a while since I worked in Memphis radio but I still have lots of great memories and see the names of a lot of REALLY talented people on this board. I will tell you I learned from each and every one of you and it is good to see your input.

I'm in another town now but still visit my family in Memphis. I always spend plenty of time listening to the radio of course.

Radio is still the most intimate and immediate medium. For those of you on the air, never forget that you never know when a listener is having maybe the worst day of their life and you give them pleasure or relief with a thought or even a song. You have impacted and are impacting people positively who will never have the chance to tell you, but that is the reality.

If I sound out of touch in an internet world, I can't help it. I love radio. By the way, we'll rule the internet too.
 
Good post Rob! You're right radio is still great and the internal strives to remain top of mind across all formats and demographics have been impressive, everyone has had to step their game up in one way or another and I think every act in Memphis has done so (some stations better than others...). Yeah, there have been major changes, but like Sam Cooke said change is gone come. In addition, working in radio is still fun and exciting under a entirely new landscape, but it's still an enjoyable profession. Cracking that mic is a mix of emotions, it's magical, serious, fun, challenging, and in moments of tragedy (ie the death of Luther Vandross) it can be difficult.. Overall, its a great craft and it beats diggin ditches for a living.
 
wow Rob Harder!
I can't even imagine how many hours I spent listening to 96X.

Just had a conversation about 96X with my friend Richard aka Metal D*** not too long ago actually.
 
Thank you both.

Michael, Richard is a great guy. I have so many good memories of 96X. I was lucky to have been in that format at that time. It definitely was the music of the 90s.

The Morning Rage was just fun and dark and sick and I loved it.

Thank you for listening.
 
Rob, great to see you on the board. I have always enjoyed listening to you. I had forgotten about the morning rage. I liked 96X and was disappointed when it flipped. I was listening to you back in the day on 98. I also remember Malcom Ryker from then. You guys are great. Where are you now Rob? Miss listening to you. Would you ever come back home to Memphis? Great post Rob. I agree with every word you wrote.
 
RobHarder said:
Thank you both.

Michael, Richard is a great guy. I have so many good memories of 96X. I was lucky to have been in that format at that time. It definitely was the music of the 90s.

The Morning Rage was just fun and dark and sick and I loved it.

Thank you for listening.
Click to expand...

One of my favorite memories of my time at CC was being there for the last days of 96X. I was very sad to see it go, but was glad I was there to witness the end- a lot of good, talented folks walked through those doors.

The station was great when it started, kinda had a rough go of it in the middle, and the last day was something of the best music the station had played in quite sometime.

It'd be nice if we had a 'true' alternative station today....but I guess that doesn't line the wallett as well.

Oh well.
 
Man I miss 96X - I was only there for it's final 8-9 months but I friggin' LOVED working there. The day it switched and I was the ONLY soul left I did the only thing I could.

I swiped as much as I could fit in my car.

;D

The chamelion and a huge bus stop poster were on my wall up until about a year ago.
 
Thanks for the kind words DoubleM. I am a manager for Black Crow Media. We have stations in various markets across the Southeast. It's a great company and small compared to the CCs of the world but radio is still radio.

It is interesting what happeded to Alternative. It was so fresh when it started. Then it got the usual treatment of being copied, splintered and shredded by its own popularity. Look at all the Alternative artists who became part of the mainstream from Alanis to Dave Matthews, etc.

The stations that stuck with it have had a difficult time defining themselves and trying to recapture the vibe that made it special.
 
Alternative isn't dead yet! Some of us are still out here making it work! ;)

Rob, I was always a big ol' fan of yours. You are one talented doode. Glad to see you are doing well.

I could talk about Alt. Rock radio all day but, thanks to the Selector-induced CTS, I'll just say this:

When Rob said "the stations that stuck with it have had a difficult time defining themselves and trying to recapture the vibe that made it special", he couldn't have been more right. In an age where music is a commodity, ALL stations must have a "vibe that makes it special". This takes manpower, talent, experience, and -gasp- money. Not just one or two of those--all of them. So many companies saw Alternative Rock radio as a self-sustaining format. The music alone was enough to carry it. That may have been true at first, but that gift certainly didn't last forever. Having and maintining a "vibe", let alone a full staff and a decent budget, cost more than most companies were willing to pay, so when the grunge wave died down and music alone couldn't carry the stations, many stations were flipped to formats that corporate-types assumed could be run by a skeleton crew. It's too bad. It didn't have to be that way.

Obviously, this isn't a problem specific to Alternative Rock stations. It's now just about everyone's problem. I just think that this way of doing business turned off the AltRockers first. Can't say I blame 'em.

Fortunately for 96X, we had some cool, talented people that had a blast trying to make it work. We also had some good folks at Rock 103 that looked out for us and were rooting for us. It's bittersweet for me, because I loved 96X so much and still love Memphis a great deal. On the other hand, if 96X hadn't have gone away, I probably would have missed out on all the great stuff that's happened to me since 96X went away. So then there's that. :)
 
I moved to Memphis in the last week of March, 1999. My radio was constantly on 96X for that week. Just from that one week I miss it terribly!

Wonder if anyone out there has any airchecks....
 
John Michael it is good to hear from you! Good points and thanks for the kind words.

Again, I'm really glad I found this board.

I look forward to checking back in often. I don't live in town so I'll have to keep up through what I see on the board.
 
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