Station vs. personal library size

[oldies76]

That may have been true in the 60's, but there are too many fast dining alternatives today for that to be the entire reason. The deciding factor for McDonald's among many nearby restaurants is just as I said: reliability, consistency, predictability, price, promotion and preference for the menu items.

Consistency?? No way.

Wanna talk consistency, price and preference, try In and Out Burger. (the BEST period)

McD's changes their menu too often and frankly, has too much. It should have only featured, Hamburgers, Fries and drinks. Maybe add the McNuggets and basic breakfast for variety's sake. The rest should have been dumped, or just never added. Too much is not good either.

 

[TheBigA]

That may have been true in the 60's, but there are too many fast dining alternatives today for that to be the entire reason. The deciding factor for McDonald's among many nearby restaurants is just as I said: reliability, consistency, predictability, price, promotion and preference for the menu items.

And if you notice, fast food places are like geese...they tend to hang together. So whenever a McDonalds pops up, you usually get three or four more options in the same area very soon.

 

[davideduardo]

Consistency?? No way.

Wanna talk consistency, price and preference, try In and Out Burger. (the BEST period)

But In And Out has nowhere near the national presence, and even where it does, it does not have the store density that McDonalds does. It's less convenient, quite a bit more expensive, and only one menu item. It perhaps has the best burger you can get in a chain operation in North America.

McD's changes their menu too often and frankly, has too much. It should have only featured, Hamburgers, Fries and drinks. Maybe add the McNuggets and basic breakfast for variety's sake. The rest should have been dumped, or just never added. Too much is not good either.

McDonald's is very successful with seasonal, regional and occasional menu items. In Argentina, they even have a McPalta... a Big Mac with avocado on it!

 

[firepoint525]

If you go to a McDonalds at breakfast time or in the Monday to Friday daytime hours, you find anything but kids there. People go there for comfort food, reliability, consistency, predictability, reasonable prices, etc. They are the CHR of fast foods.

We were in the then-new Hardee's shortly after they opened, on a Saturday morning, and they already had "regulars" there. These folks just go there to drink coffee and to socialize.

 

[hm insulators]

If you go to a McDonalds at breakfast time or in the Monday to Friday daytime hours, you find anything but kids there. People go there for comfort food, reliability, consistency, predictability, reasonable prices, etc. They are the CHR of fast foods.

That's probably the best description of McDonald's I've ever heard!

For what it's worth, I don't listen to CHR and I don't go to McDonald's--their food is inedible.

 

[oldies76]

But In And Out has nowhere near the national presence, and even where it does, it does not have the store density that McDonalds does. It's less convenient, quite a bit more expensive, and only one menu item. It perhaps has the best burger you can get in a chain operation in North America.

Hey, I actually agree with you here! And there's no In and Outs in Colorado either, the closest is in Utah, but are much more common in California. Every time I visit family there, that's the first place we eat at. The one at LAX is incredible with the planes flying nearly overhead as they approach the runway, but I prefer the one near I-5 and Avery Parkway in south Orange County.

But the menu is simple and to the point. I'm craving a double-double combo right now!

And yes, I do check in with KRTH while I'm there on the car radio. Why, I don't know, but I do.

 

[davideduardo]

For what it's worth, I don't listen to CHR and I don't go to McDonald's--their food is inedible.

When I lived in Ecuador, when I would get to Miami the first thing I would do is head for McDonalds. It was the most tasty thing imaginable when you lived in a place with zero fast food places, no frozen foods and few canned goods... everything being made fresh daily from scratch.

 

[firepoint525]

My parents, when they were visiting my sister in New England, while she stayed there training for a job, told me that the McDonald's in Maine has lobster sandwiches! (McLobster?) Anyway, it goes back to what I have said all along, got to have some LOCAL flavor every once in a while. Those big corporate behemoths usually can't give you that. There is a McDonald's at nearly every major interstate exit now (including even one in Newbern, TN!), but the wife and I are increasingly seeking out mom and pop places to eat while we are on the road, all the while listening to CDs that I have burned, because we don't want to just leave it up to whatever might be playing on local radio stations. (And those mom and pop places are getting space on those interstate exit signs, as well!)

 

[PirateJohnny]

...all the while listening to CDs that I have burned, because we don't want to just leave it up to whatever might be playing on local radio stations...

Drive up to Springfield and check out WSGI-AM 1100 during mid-days. "Daddio on the Patio" just might surprise you.

 

[firepoint525]

Drive up to Springfield and check out WSGI-AM 1100 during mid-days. "Daddio on the Patio" just might surprise you.

I have listened to him online from here at the house. Great program! And the owner of that station is the one who is trying to put the Ashland City station back on the air.

 

[PirateJohnny]

I have listened to him online from here at the house. Great program! And the owner of that station is the one who is trying to put the Ashland City station back on the air.

I had talked to him last year and he mentioned that. I even offered him my services, on and off air, free of charge, just to keep my chops up. Never heard back from him.

Oh, I also prefer my own home cooking to McDonald's.

No radio station is trying to compete with your personal music collection, or anyone's personal collection. People have had their own personal collections for years. When The Beatles came out, and radio played their songs several times an hour, it still wasn't enough for the die-hard fans, who played Beatle songs non-stop. There will always be a difference between personal music collections and mass appeal radio stations. Listeners shouldn't confuse the two, or see one as competing with the other. It's simply not the case....

Well, I'll try a rebuttal from a different direction. Before MP3s very few people could create a collection larger than a radio station's. How many high school/college students/young adults had over 500 songs on 45s or LPs? How difficult was it to play 30 or 40 songs in a row? Radio wants to keep listeners. Listeners only have so much time to listen to music. Anything that takes a listener away from a radio station is competition - another radio station, personal music collection, etc.. With digital music collections today most listeners can have a deeper library than any station they can tune in. And it's much easier to play 30 or 40 MP3s in a row, too. If radio can give listeners something better than their personal collections, radio gets listeners back. What's better? I think many people would say a larger library/less repetition. And I'm talking oldies/classic hits, not CHR (this <i>is</i> the 60s/70s forum). Also live, "life of the party" DJs that can get you excited about a song you don't like, or at least make the whole program something you want to keep listening to so you don't tune out a song you don't like.

It has been so ling since radio has sounded like a big party, there has to be a generation of listeners who has never experienced that. That would be something "new", and who knows, they might like just like their parents and grandparents did. It would sure beat their "lifeless" iPods.

 

[TheBigA]

It has been so ling since radio has sounded like a big party, there has to be a generation of listeners who has never experienced that. That would be something "new", and who knows, they might like just like their parents and grandparents did. It would sure beat their "lifeless" iPods.

A lot of formats today sound like a big party. Tune in to any country station or urban station at night, and it's one big party. They play special mashes of hit songs, take lots of phone calls from listeners, and just go crazy. So today's generation knows exactly what a party on the radio sounds like, because they hear it every night.

 

[firepoint525]

I had talked to him last year and he mentioned that. I even offered him my services, on and off air, free of charge, just to keep my chops up. Never heard back from him.

I called him about the (still off-air) Ashland City station. Sent him my stuff. Have not heard from him, either. He may have enough "in-house" to keep him going. Because of the distance from here to AC, I probably could not afford to work for him for minimum wage, except that my house is paid for. Radio will never again be more than a hobby for me, if that. I can't afford to work for what they could afford to pay me. And if we have another winter like we have had, getting to AC would be too tough, anyway.