MemBirdman said:
Tynosaur said:
MEEPSTER: "So...I don't know exactly what "TYNO" was trying to get at...
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So...what ARE you saying?
What kind of "Blinders" are you referring to, and exactly WHO is wearing them?"
It seems to me the issues most discussed on this board are:
1. Classic Rock
2. Any other kind of rock
3. Sports radio
4. Engineering issues
5. Old times
6. Mongolian Throat Singing
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10. Urban/Gospel radio in all their forms
That is my perception and it looks like blinders to me. I just want to see a more open discussion from ALL sides of the business.
*shrug* I get what you're saying. I get the impression that the loyal board members are of the non-urban inclination. And since we generally talk about what we're interested in, in life as much as on message boards, our conversations tend to track into those slots. Not because we don't know about them but, generally, because we don't care. I don't consider it to be offensive that I don't really care for Urban music and do care for Christian rock, so I find it equally inoffensive that I like talking about Radio U or KLove and don't like talking about K97 or V101. And it may be coming from a naive place but I don't think anyone's motives are any more sublime than that.
Not saying that discussion isn't open, just not a lot of discussion-starters here for certain parts of the biz. Maybe that's why you're here?
Just a thought...
Hey guys, I am late to this discussion, but I want to let you know that though I prefer R&B, I also listen to other stations and don't find this conversation offensive. Furthermore, I did post about CC (including WDIA) in the CA article, albeit late:
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I, too, am opposed to companies coming in and buying out competitors with no intention of improving the market. Clear Channel claims they are losing money. Of course they are -- I'd lose money, too, if I programmed homogenized radio. As long as you keep playing the same 300 songs over and over AND over again, people are going to turn you off and go to different sources. Nobody wants to listen to a broken record. People have more music on their MP3 players than Clear Channel has in all of their libraries -- worldwide. What advertiser in their right mind would buy a spot on stations that play Muzak? The personalities at least helped break up the monotony, and now that they're gone, the only ad spots that will sell are Check and Grab, Title Pawn, We Tote The Note, and Male HardOn.
Anyone who grew up in Memphis prior to the mid-nineties can remember when most radio stations were programmed to near perfection. The stiff competition demanded it: contests were local and the prizes were respectable; the jocks were affable and were actually able to play requests; the music libraries consisted of more than 15 CDs; and the talk shows dealt with local issues. Now K97 is audio porn, Rock 103 is a pebble, WREC is syndication city, WDIA is the BS station (yeah, I said it), and Hallelujah and KJMS play urban Muzak. God bless Stan Bell -- I know he must REALLY love radio to stay at V101 -- because I would have BEEN out of there.
As for WDIA, I know Nat D., Brother Wade, Moohah, Rufus, and Jaye Michael Davis are spinning in their graves now to see the Goodwill Station turn into the BS Station. WDIA, which maintained its Top 10 Arbitron status because it is (or WAS) a personality-driven radio station, now only has someone on the air for ninety minutes between 12 o'clock noon and 3 am every weekday. That's a 15-hour block people -- unheard of in WDIA history. A nuclear bomb could drop on Memphis and everyone else would interrupt programming, but on WDIA, "Lovely Day" would likely be playing. That's all Clear Channel thinks Black radio is good for -- sex talk and a niche for bad credit and male enhancement advertisers.
Bobby O'Jay can make all of the excuses he wants to (he has to -- after all, he has to pay his $800 MLG&W bill like everyone else), but he knows that his station has been systematically destroyed by people who have never understood rich tradition of the Memphis radio market and never will. He's pretending everything is "alright," but he knows it isn't. He's living with the reality that one morning he'll be escorted out by security while WDIA will be playing Tavis Smiley, Al Sharpton, and Michael Eric Dyson in his place.
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BTW, until the suits stop, this will continue:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/columnists/chi-sun_phil_1111nov11,1,7903697.column
But since I'm already a rather devout Drake and Zeke listener I don't know how much I'll listen to the new 103 morning show. I did tell Ric I'd give it a chance, and I will, but I don't hold out a lot of hope for it.