Rant here about Timeless Classics

[vchimpanzee]

PickleReport and ChrisInMI, could you please comment on Dial Global on my Dial Global thread so we can have all the comments in one place? Thanks.

As for Useless Classics, I don't have much to complain about if I happen to turn it on when they're playing songs that were already there. Even if it's not "The Good Stuff" it's still almost like it was at those times.

 

[vchimpanzee]

That may be true of the new 50 to 65 five year olds with different taste, but I do not beleive they are going to listen to AM radio to hear soft AC, when they can listen to it on FM. I highly doubt that any new listeners are comimng over to these modified formats , all they are doing is ailanating thier loyal listeners. Time for XM for me.

Yesterday I paid $190 after I pulled off the road and got stuck. So I can't be spending money on XM.

 

[ThePickleReport]

That may be true of the new 50 to 65 five year olds with different taste, but I do not beleive they are going to listen to AM radio to hear soft AC, when they can listen to it on FM. I highly doubt that any new listeners are comimng over to these modified formats , all they are doing is ailanating thier loyal listeners.

Assuming there is a Soft AC on FM in your market. For example, in mine there isn't.

 

[vchimpanzee]

I heard Andy Williams on Useless Classics for the first time since July. Now does that mean they're returning to "normal", or does it mean I've been very unlucky for six months?

Of course, I hear him all the time on Dial Global. Which had its afternoon show when I heard Andy. And the afternoon show is oldies/AC.

 

[radiopronouncer]

WTBF-FM 94.7 Brundidge/Troy, Alabama has the Timeless Classics format. The signal covers Enterprise and Ozark quite well, and can be heard pretty well in the northern part of Dothan and in the Andalusia/Opp area.

The station flipped from ABC's Unforgettable Favorites format (A/C oldies) when that format was cancelled in late 2006. Timeless Classics and Unforgettable Favorites were blended into one format. Timeless Classics now is pretty much a blend of the old Stardust format and the old Unforgettable Favorites format, with the emphasis on A/C oldies, with a little bit of Sinatra, Floyd Cramer, Billy Vaughn, etc. Joe Lacina and Eddie Hubbard are no longer on the format. There is no Big Band music.

We have complaints about this format all over the site. It's time to get them all in one place.

I'm not hearing the real standards (meaning recorded way back when) often enough when I actually get to listen, which is usually during a short time in the car. At home, at night, I rarely get a good enough signal this time of year to really listen.

Nearly every song other than the new recordings could have been played on oldies radio of 10 years ago or soft AC from 15 years ago. So much of what's there doesn't really interest me, though many of the songs would have been "acceptable" if I was hearing Sinatra and friends frequently. When it's mostly junk, then what was only okay becomes junk as well.

Now I like The Carpenters, John Denver, Barry Manilow and Neil Diamond. I like The Fifth Dimension. I like Petula Clark.

I'm still hearing The Lettermen and The Vogues. And Bobby Vinton and Frankie Avalon.

On the other hand, I like Bert Kaempfert, Perry Como, Jack Jones, Nelson Riddle and Henry Mancini. Where are they?

Glenn Miller, Artie Shaw and Count Basie don't seem to have been around lately either. And forget Saturday and Sunday evenings now.

I haven't heard the previous Stardust format in many years. I can't think of there being even one station here in Alabama now that's using Timeless Classics. We used to have them everywhere back in the 80's and early 90's. In fact, in Birmingham, 4 of the AM stations used the Stardust format at one time in the past (sometimes more than once).

I knew the format had changed (to what degree I didn't know), but I gave it a listen the other day on a station that was streaming online, and it basically is soft AC, or at least soft AC as we knew it 15-20 years ago...a cross between adult contemporary and "easy listening" artists, with some standards thrown in here and there. I like soft AC as it used to be programmed years ago, but it's sad to see the adult standards stations morph into nothing more than soft AC. There are a few adult standards stations left that really are adult standards. We have one here in Birmingham which switched to adult standards a few months ago, and although they have some 50's oldies occasionally thrown in there which really don't fit the format, it's a pretty good standards stations, compared to what's out there now. They even play a couple of big band hits every hour, too.





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Does anything last forever?
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[vchimpanzee]

I like the new Rod Stewart songs. Now "You're In My Heart" is another matter entirely.

 

[publisher]

This is a little OT since it's not a rant, but has anyone else noticed Timeless Classics on-air folks have been calling it Timeless Favorites for the past day or so?? I've heard Laurie Bandemir do it first, but thought it was s slip. Just a minute ago, however, Scott Reese called it that.

Now back On Topic, I've heard Johnny Mathis twice this afternoon. Maybe it's because today is Valentine's, but still nice. I think the past couple of weeks have had just a little more Sinatra, Williams and true standards in the mix. But that's just me.

 

[vchimpanzee]

This is a little OT since it's not a rant, but has anyone else noticed Timeless Classics on-air folks have been calling it Timeless Favorites for the past day or so?? I've heard Laurie Bandemir do it first, but thought it was s slip. Just a minute ago, however, Scott Reese called it that.

I was going to post about that. And what is this Laurie Bandemir person doing there anyway? She was part of the wacko AC/standards format known as Unforgettable Favorites. And she was on the night I discovered Joe Lacina was gone--replaced with Kenny Loggins!!!

Now back On Topic, I've heard Johnny Mathis twice this afternoon. Maybe it's because today is Valentine's, but still nice. I think the past couple of weeks have had just a little more Sinatra, Williams and true standards in the mix. But that's just me.

I hope they're learning their lesson. I heard Andy Williams for only the second time since July. I hear him constantly on Dial Global.

 

[vchimpanzee]

"Good Vibrations" by The Beach Boys. : Why have any hope whatsoever?

Meanwhile, Dial Global was doing "That's Life" by Sinatra. Though it was followed by "Let It Be", which has a nasty guitar solo that doesn't fit.

 

[semoochie]

The single doesn't have the guitar riff, only the album version.

 

[RMarino]

I heard this format for the first time last weekend while driving through Macon, GA on 1350 AM. I thought it sounded great. No, it's not pure standards, but so what? It's great for what it is. Why are you all putting it down? It's a lot better than all these boring mainstream ACs.

 

[vchimpanzee]

The single doesn't have the guitar riff, only the album version.

Well, I didn't listen for long enough to hear it.

 

[vchimpanzee]

I heard this format for the first time last weekend while driving through Macon, GA on 1350 AM. I thought it sounded great. No, it's not pure standards, but so what? It's great for what it is. Why are you all putting it down? It's a lot better than all these boring mainstream ACs.

It used to be a lot better than it is now. There's too much junk now.

For example, what's that instrumental song about surfing with all the drums? Totally out of place. This is not oldies.

 

[semoochie]

I'm curious. How can an instrumental song be about "surfin'" or any other topic? Are you referring to "Teen Beat", perhaps or something by the Ventures? Those are Oldies!

 

[vchimpanzee]

I'm curious. How can an instrumental song be about "surfin'" or any other topic? Are you referring to "Teen Beat", perhaps or something by the Ventures? Those are Oldies!

Nevertheless, it was Worthless Classics playing it.

Responding again to RMarino, the instrumental I mentioned to which Semoochie is referring was the first thing I heard one Saturday when I turned on the station expecting to hear "real" jazz on a special show that usually runs in the slot, hosted by the station owner (unless there is sports or a special live broadcast from a car dealer or something--but of course the satellite format provides the music for that, and the DJs just come on during commercial breaks), and of course I'm going to rant when that happens. Or when I turn on the radio on Saturday night expecting to hear Joe Lacina and get "Meet Me Halfway" by Kenny Loggins, which should not be handled by ordinary trash collectors but needs specia handling by crews in space suits.

On the other hand, RMarino may have been lucky. Useless Classics still plays a lot of good songs, and they can often put four or five together in a row. The problem is that Dial Global actually bothers to mix in what we consider the good stuff, and since I have an affiliate of that format too, it's pretty hard to be satisfied with anything Pointless Classics does when I hear how good it could sound. This is true even though Dial Global has a number of AC tunes which I don't think were on Hopeless Classics back when it sounded good.

 

[vchimpanzee]

I'm curious. How can an instrumental song be about "surfin'" or any other topic? Are you referring to "Teen Beat", perhaps or something by the Ventures? Those are Oldies!

Okay, found it. I was looking under "The Ventures" in Wikipedia and there was a reference to surf rock. After some effort, I found The Surfaris. I missed the crucial beginning of the song. It was "Wipe Out".

 

[vchimpanzee]

I just found the name "RMarino" in another thread. He thinks 95.7 The Ride in Charlotte is great. This is the problem. There's nothing wrong with us.

Yes, there are good songs on The Ride. But they're not really what I would choose. Most of us posting here probably wouldn't either.

There's less and less difference every day, it seems, between The Ride and Pointless Classics.

 

[RMarino]

I just found the name "RMarino" in another thread. He thinks 95.7 The Ride in Charlotte is great. This is the problem. There's nothing wrong with us.

Yes, there are good songs on The Ride. But they're not really what I would choose. Most of us posting here probably wouldn't either.

There's less and less difference every day, it seems, between The Ride and Pointless Classics.

Well I'm honored that you have chosen to sample my earlier work.

I'm thinking that you all are trying to make "Timeless Classics" into something it's not. I think maybe you are wishing it was "Music Of Your Life" or something. MOYL is what it is and Timeless Classics is something different. Enough on that. I'm not going to put myself in the position of defending a format that I've only heard for 45 minutes in Macon, GA before losing the signal. All I can say is that I liked what I heard.

As for "95.7 The Ride", well if you don't like wide classic rock playlists and would rather hear "Sweet Emotion" and "Sweet Home Alabama" for the one zillionth time, then go over to redneck rock on WRFX.

 

[semoochie]

Sometime after I posted, it occurred to me you might be talking about "Wipe Out". That song has a long tradition of teenage boys playing the drum solo on their desks or other surface with their fingers. For some reason, teenage girls can't quite get the rhythm down. Ask anyone in their 50s.

 

[vchimpanzee]

Well I'm honored that you have chosen to sample my earlier work.

I'm thinking that you all are trying to make "Timeless Classics" into something it's not. I think maybe you are wishing it was "Music Of Your Life" or something. MOYL is what it is and Timeless Classics is something different. Enough on that.

Well, we would like it to be Music Of Your Life. It once was like that. I told my local affiliate I had heard Music Of Your Life and it was so much better. The same owner had both stations, but the decision had been made to put what was then Stardust on the one when there was no Music Of Your Life, and there was no point in changing because the technical quality was better. Oh, please. The music is so much better on Music Of Your Life. I don't think the affiliate is going to change anyway because oldies fans migrated there when they lost their station. At least the ones who don't like The Ride.

As for "95.7 The Ride", well if you don't like wide classic rock playlists and would rather hear "Sweet Emotion" and "Sweet Home Alabama" for the one zillionth time, then go over to redneck rock on WRFX.

If it's classic rock and I like it, chances are The Ride plays it. But like I said, these days it's on Timeless Classics too.