Stop whining about WFMX!

[badnews]

Have always read, never posted...but this is the biggest waste of time I've ever seen! Why don't you bunch of girls pull up your knickers and get over it! You're acting like radio is personal not professional...and the station is your dead momma.

No warning, no goodbye, no idea how this could happen. 50 years, 1996, childhood memories, and how poorly the move was handled...so what? NO ONE outside this board/business cares! I always get a kick out of how self-important radio folks always think the audience gives a crap about them, or what happens to them. That's fantasy. Most listeners can't even remember the names of the morning show, let alone how great that night guy was back in 1986. The listeners today use us as a companion, and nothing more. They are as fickle as can be, and have almost no loyalty for any media outlet. That's about the time we live in and the choices they have...not about any one company or the way stations are programmed.

Very few folks among this collection of radio geeks (of which I'm one, or I wouldn't be here) seem to have the slightest idea of how the business of broadcasting works...which is probably why they no longer work in it. I've been lucky enough to stay employed in our fun little business for almost 30 years...long enough to know that it's not a garden club or hobby! It’s also not my life, just how I feed my kids. If I spent this much energy worrying about anything other than my job at hand, I too would be out of work.

BTW, WFMX was a good station...no better or worse than others. Good people doing their best just like any other station. But to treat it like some deity simply because it was so far out in no man's land that it lasted almost 50 years without change, or attempts to upgrade it, is misguided. I know Billy and Ben are emotionally invested…but it’s not a fraternity, and “alum” just means you worked there. Ben was probably on his high school reunion committee too.

Moving WFMX isn't about history lost, it's about doing the most with the opportunities you have to increase your chances to succeed. I'm pretty sure that most of you would take a better paying job with Wal-Mart, than keep working at the drug store on Main Street that's been there for 75 years...if it meant a better life for your family. But God forbid a company do the same.

This whole "man keeping us down" thing is silly. God, you folks must have gone into a tizzy when they shut down the last drive in theater in your town!

 

[Matt]

He's obviously never read The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams.

Sir, if you've been in this business for all of those years and never allowed this medium to become "real" to you, I really feel sorry for all of the people you've disappointed in your career.

'Nuff Said,
Matt Smith

 

[badnews]

Son, radio is very real to me...but it's a real JOB! I'm sure just like being station manager at channel 39 is.

 

[youtheman]

The point I've been trying to make in all of this is that people here are acting like CC is doing something that no one has done before. All broadcast companies, large and small have shut down formats and stations and moved them into a larger market.

Just look at the Greensboro Market for example. Dick Broadcasting shut down an Asheboro FM and moved it to Greensboro to create Rock 92. The station that is now 102 Jams was shut down in Reidsville and moved to Greensboro. 94.5 FM was orginally the local FM in Eden. Some company long before Clear Channel was ever in this market shut it down and moved it Greensboro to create a station called I-95. All of this was going on way before Clear Channel and long before 1996. There were people involved with all of those stations who lost their jobs because of the move in.

I can't figure out whether the people having a cow over this situation just haven't been in broadcasting for very long or have conveniently forgotten what has been going on in this business forever. And lest someone accuse me of not having been in the situation that WFMX employees found themselves in, let me assure you that it has happened to me more than once. And if you stay in this business for 30+ years as I have, it will happen to you also.

 

[jcolletta275]

Son, radio is very real to me...but it's a real JOB! I'm sure just like being station manager at channel 39 is.

The problem with that statement lies... hell, all over it! If you view radio as a job, that's all it's ever going to be to you. If you view it as a hobby that you love, despite the fact that you're getting paid for it, you'd enjoy it a lot more and appreciate the medium much more than you've exhibited here.

 

[Matt]

The point I've been trying to make in all of this is that people here are acting like CC is doing something that no one has done before. All broadcast companies, large and small have shut down formats and stations and moved them into a larger market.

For a moment, I'm going to try to step out of my role as a broadcast professional and try to describe what is happening here from the viewpoint of my other vocation...that of minister and pastor.

What people are doing here is treating WFMX as something REAL, and as human beings possess, a PERSONALITY to itself. In the way people of the baby-boomer generation and those preceding it used radio, the attachment of these human characteristics to a broadcast signal is quite understandable.

It is just as understandable that when a personality with which we spend a large part of our lives is no longer a part of our lives, psychologically and spiritually we feel a loss of that interaction. That loss is expresed in GRIEF. Grief manifests itself in a wide variety of thoughts, words and actions. It is as much a natural part of human behavior...our way of disentangling our emotions from their attachment to the now-deceased personality.

To put it bluntly, the familiar personality that was WFMX has DIED. Whether it was murder at the hands of someone else, or just the effects of old age is an issue to be seriously considered by lawmakers and historians of a time to come. For those who knew the personality of WFMX intimately...those who passed through its doors in employment and those whose generations drew entertainment and information from the people they heard at 105.7...this is the time of grief and adjustment. The trauma that is to come is the realization of the loss of that now-stilled personality in their lives. For now, though, there is a state of spiritual and psychological limbo in these people as they deal with the grief.

I must count myself among the grieving as well, because I not only grew up listening to J. D. Benfield, Denny Millsapps and the others who made up the station's image, but also because I got to know them personally through two years of working for sister station WSIC. Like all of these people who are showing their grief (whining, as some have called it) over the situation, I feel the loss of the station. I do realize that my own grief will not be forever, and neither will that of most of the people posting here.

Now, for those of you who think all of what you see here is silly foolishness, think of what it was like when someone close to you died, or divorced, or for whatever reason was no longer a part of your life. Now, imagine someone blatantly telling you that you were silly for feeling grief over that person, or wanting things to be back as they were. Imagine that someone telling you that your grandma, laying in that coffin, was nothing but a bag of rotting flesh and bones and that there was no use in crying over it. Or that spouse that you spent five years forging a relationship with who for his/her own reasons drops the relationship and shacks up with someone else and you have to endure the comment that "...there are other fish in the sea...".

What would you think of someone who would say something like that at a tenuous moment in our psychological and spiritual recovery? Well, that is what we are thinking of YOU at this moment. Please, leave us to grieve until we have "made peace" with those powers, perceived to be higher than us, who are in control of the "personalities" which we feel have made our lives special.

In the present reality of our grief....
Matt Smith, Ordained Minister and Assistant Pastor
Sandy Cross Wesleyan Church
Reidsville, North Carolina

 

[spacetrucker]

I've been ot of radio now for over 25 years. Got out to take over my fathers business. Almost everyone, but most of all the FCC has forgotten that a stations purpose is/was to serve the community it is licensed to. I remember when a station owner could lose it's license if someone challenged it at renewal time and proved it had not been. About the only way to tell anymore what "community" a station is suppose to serve is by the first name they give at the top of the hour ID. People outside of the business do care that WFMX will no longer be. GREAT post Matt.

 

[test123]

Matt,

Well said...

I would like to add to the point Spacetrucker makes. Clear Channel was able to move WFMX by petitioning the FCC to change the COL from Statesville to Clemmons. Their argument was that Statesville is served by 3 radio stations, 2 AMs and WKKT, and Clemmons is served by none. The FCC agreed with Clear Channel and granted the COL change.

Here is my problem with this whole thing. It is assumed that the new WFMX will be aiming at an 'Urban' audience. The latest population statistics for Clemmons shows that 88% of the population is White and only 5% is Black. While I have no problem at all with Urban stations it is clear that Clear Channel is not planning to serve the community of Clemmons with this station.

My other problem is the way Clear Channel did this. From the beginning they have been trying to keep a cloud of secrecy around the move. Very few FCC records exsist showing applications. Like a thief in the night they took one of the last full service community 100KW FMs. A very viable station that could have been even more successful with the resources of Clear Channel.

A COL change to Clemmons could have taken place without moving the transmitter nearly as far as they did. I think a deal was struck with Dick Broadcasting to allow them their move in.

T123

 

[youtheman]

My other problem is the way Clear Channel did this. From the beginning they have been trying to keep a cloud of secrecy around the move. Very few FCC records exsist showing applications. Like a thief in the night they took one of the last full service community 100KW FMs.
T123

This is getting absurd. Now CC snuck into Statesville during the night and stole the station? Are you implying that they conspired with the FCC to destroy documents relating to the move? And Dick Broadcasting is part of a wider conspiracy with CC to deny the listeners of WFMX the right to hear country music and NASCAR racing? Did you see black helicopters? Are the Bildeburgers involved too?

CC was operating a business in Statesville. They decided they could make more money for their stockholders by moving the station to a larger market. The government said it was legal. Hell, blame the people who sold the station to CC. Are they not at fault also?

 

[test123]

youtheman(not)

There is nothing you can say to defend Clear Channel. It the world a better place since Clear Channel, no. Is the listener better served, no. Is the advertiser given a better deal, no...

The facts here are clear (no pun intended). WFMX was granted a license to serve the people of Statesville. They were serving the people of Statesville. Clear Channel took that away from Statesville. You can't spin that any other way. It is a bad deal.

Clear Channel is bad for you and bad for me. Just plain bad.

t123

 

[johnqdoe]

/quote]

Hell, blame the people who sold the station to CC. Are they not at fault also?
[/quote]





Exactly....Where was the bellyaching and griping when Mom and Pop took the money and ran years ago???? They got the best deal they could and cashed out...Same thing CC is doing now

 

[youtheman]

youtheman(not)

There is nothing you can say to defend Clear Channel. It the world a better place since Clear Channel, no. Is the listener better served, no. Is the advertiser given a better deal, no...

The facts here are clear (no pun intended). WFMX was granted a license to serve the people of Statesville. They were serving the people of Statesville. Clear Channel took that away from Statesville. You can't spin that any other way. It is a bad deal.

Clear Channel is bad for you and bad for me. Just plain bad.

t123

Fine. If it makes you happier to think of Cc as a big bad bogeyman, then knock yourself out.

But these facts are clear also. Every other broadcast company has done and is doing the exact same thing. You may not like the fact that this is a legal way of doing business, but it is absurd to hold CC to a different level of responsibility than you hold other companies.

Let me ask you a question. I don't know if you are currently working in broadcasting or not, but if Cc were to offer you a dream job in the perfect location, with a lot more money than you are making now and a better quality of life for you and your family that you couldn't find anywhere else, would you take it?

 

[CCX]

Kudos to you Test123! And, a kind and sensitive post my Matt. I think Youtheman obviously works for CC, where it's all about the price of the stock. They could care less about the community! What a joke! I've been force-fed by the spin doctors at Clear Channel in the past. Their managers have deluded themselves that they're "serving" the community. What a bunch of pusillanimous hypocrits! It's amazing to me the values that will be sacrificed in the name of the Money God. Youtheman's post name says it all.

I happen to think it's still possible to be a "good" responsible broadcaster, serve the community, take care of the employees, have fun, and still make money. I believe there are still a few "visionary" leaders in radio that can inspire their people to excellence, not "drive" them to make money. There may even be a few of them left at Clear Channel. However, as a whole, I think Clear Channel's core is rotten. It operates to satisfy corporate greed, NOT serve the community. It's a cancer to radio and our nation as a whole. So continue on your merry way Youtheman. You'll probably be very successful... for a while, but be careful how much of your soul you're willing to sell.

 

[youtheman]

Kudos to you Test123! And, a kind and sensitive post my Matt. I think Youtheman obviously works for CC, where it's all about the price of the stock. They could care less about the community! What a joke! I've been force-fed by the spin doctors at Clear Channel in the past. Their managers have deluded themselves that they're "serving" the community. What a bunch of pusillanimous hypocrits! It's amazing to me the values that will be sacrificed in the name of the Money God. Youtheman's post name says it all.

I happen to think it's still possible to be a "good" responsible broadcaster, serve the community, take care of the employees, have fun, and still make money. I believe there are still a few "visionary" leaders in radio that can inspire their people to excellence, not "drive" them to make money. There may even be a few of them left at Clear Channel. However, as a whole, I think Clear Channel's core is rotten. It operates to satisfy corporate greed, NOT serve the community. It's a cancer to radio and our nation as a whole. So continue on your merry way Youtheman. You'll probably be very successful... for a while, but be careful how much of your soul you're willing to sell.

Now CC is a threat to our nation? Because they moved WFMX and supposedly are going to change the format? The level of vitrol is becoming astounding. They were probably behind taking God out of our schools also. Has anyone checked to see if they're linked to Al Qaeda?

And be careful of selling my soul? WTH does that mean. I have a job in broadcasting. I long ago gave up on the notion that any company is going to look out for my well being. I'm doing a job I enjoy and I love to go to work each day. Most people can't say that. But I'm also working for a paycheck. If they can't continue to pay me what I think I'm worth then I'm going somewhere else. Does that make me money hungry? No. In fact, I would wager you approach it the same way.

As far as serving the community goes, tell me which broadcasting company does things any differently than CC does? There are certain legal requirements that every broadcaster has to do to meet the community service mandate of the FCC. Every broadcast company I've ever worked for meets those requirements and does very little more. So tell me how Entercom, Dick, Lincoln Financial, CBS, ABC, Curtis or any other company is doing anything any different? You continue to bash CC, so tell me how the others are different?

 

[Mr Winston-Salem]

I know all companies act alike in many ways, but some are a little more aggressive than others and do more damage to our communities. Those are the companies that recieve the most criticism. Wal-mart hurting all the downtown stores in small towns across America and hurting the tax base is an example. CC taking radio out of our communities (usually the top stations with great heritage) is another example you see on this board. It's funny hearing them trying to sound like they are in your city, when they are actually in another state. Sometimes they will take a chance and guess what the traffic and weather is. ;D I can remember when they did this not too long ago, and the weather was different from the five day forcast they got their info from. Today is a different world in radio and we do have to embrace it, weather we like it or not. If listeners reject it, it will be gone and I've noticed listeners rejecting it for IPods and satellite radio. We are waiting now for what impact this rejection could have? I do feel we have the right to be angry over the loss of local radio and the loss of local jobs, weather, news and community out-reach that goes with it. It's watching the slow decline of radio right before your eyes. There was a time when radio was a stable job and an important resource for the communty it served. Today it's chains, similar to McDonalds, offering their trademark brands for consumers.

I think back on all the great talent they aquired and let go of over the years. It is sad. Some of these people never made it back in radio and they were all good friends. Not just to those they worked with, but to the communities they served. Working in radio should be fun. Since 1996, the fun has slowly disappeared from radio until it is nothing more than a job. And an unstable one at that. :'(

 

[youtheman]

Working in radio should be fun. Since 1996, the fun has slowly disappeared from radio until it is nothing more than a job. And an unstable one at that. :'(

Please don't include me in that statement. I've been in broadcasting since the late 60's (started working part-time in High School) and I'm having more fun now than I ever have. We are in the beginnings of HD radio with new channels for each station coming. That means every radio station is going to add one or two more channels of content, meaning a 4 station cluster is going to go to 8 or 12 stations. AM radio is going to have the same sound quality as FM analogue stations have now, plus they will also be adding new HD channels, meaning that AM won't be relegated to just talk formats anymore. Streaming and the internet are bringing all sorts of new opportunities (and challenges) to broadcasting.

I'm having a great time. Yes, our jobs are unstable, but guess what, they were unstable when I started and nothing has changed. It's the nature of the business. During 30+ year's in broadcasting I've had 10 different jobs. That's an average of a new job every 3 years. But I changed jobs 7 times in the first 9 years. I've changed jobs 3 times since then.

 

[1q2w3e]

youtheman(not)

There is nothing you can say to defend Clear Channel. It the world a better place since Clear Channel, no. Is the listener better served, no. Is the advertiser given a better deal, no...

The facts here are clear (no pun intended). WFMX was granted a license to serve the people of Statesville. They were serving the people of Statesville. Clear Channel took that away from Statesville. You can't spin that any other way. It is a bad deal.

Clear Channel is bad for you and bad for me. Just plain bad.

t123

I used to work for Clear Channel. There is a lot of unnecessary ripping of Clear Channel. Contrary to popular beliefe, the markets are controlled locally. To blanket the whole company is not right. Your argument is with the local GM.

To say that a station is to serve ONE city is kind of absurd, wouldnt you agree? What 100kW ONLY serves its COL?

 

[johnqdoe]

youtheman(not)

There is nothing you can say to defend Clear Channel. It the world a better place since Clear Channel, no. Is the listener better served, no. Is the advertiser given a better deal, no...

The facts here are clear (no pun intended). WFMX was granted a license to serve the people of Statesville. They were serving the people of Statesville. Clear Channel took that away from Statesville. You can't spin that any other way. It is a bad deal.

Clear Channel is bad for you and bad for me. Just plain bad.

t123

I used to work for Clear Channel. There is a lot of unnecessary ripping of Clear Channel. Contrary to popular beliefe, the markets are controlled locally. To blanket the whole company is not right. Your argument is with the local GM.

To say that a station is to serve ONE city is kind of absurd, wouldnt you agree? What 100kW ONLY serves its COL?




I know for a fact the people running CC GSO are good people that care about their employees. I really miss the "good ole days" of radio too. You remember when the boss came to you and asked ..."Do you want Christmas or Thanksgiving off this year?"....

 

[badnews]

Let's see....now the simple move-in of a radio frequency from one town to another is racist, anti-American, theft, a conspiracy, and a akin to a "death in the family". Clear Channel is bad for the country, the source of all that is evil in our world today, and a "cancer". And the mighty WFMX, with all of it's mediocre product over the years, is the bar we should all strive for!

What a quaint load of crap.​

Hey Testy, since you think it would have been best for CC to let everyone know what they were going to do...[EDIT*]? And do you really think two [EDIT**] could make a deal? With that level of paranoia, you might want to finish putting up the tin foil on your windows before the North Koreans get here.

By the way MWS, for a guy infatuated with tall buildings...you got a lot of definitive facts about radio today that read like a tall tale. The idea that working in radio is still "unstable" is believed by the poor performers who were thankfully fired when we had the technology to do so, and our products could be programmed without their lack of ability or talent. Almost everyone who's left working in radio now is able to make more money, and work in one place longer... because we took away all of the flakes who thought they could "serve & educate" an audience, but were just doing really bad radio. And hey, real observant of you to notice I-pods and Satellite radio...and then suggest listeners are leaving radio because it's not local. Huh??

Also, nice try selling the idea that the 105.7 content was all about Statesville,...until you consider that WFMX ran Lia & After Midnight with Bozo Garner. Real local programming there. That's like saying you don't like fat girls...to your 400 pound wife!

Some of you folks should go into town, ask Mr Drucker if you can use the phone, and call in a request to KORN. (I'm sure you'll all get the Petticoat Junction & Hee Haw homage...since you're still living in the 70's) Wipe your nose, stop you're crying, and turn on WSIC for the Blevins Broadcast Bonanza...soon to be heard from 6:30-6:35pm every Monday, Wednesday, & Friday.

[EDIT*=inflamatory][EDIT**=name calling]

 

[Mr Winston-Salem]

When your "local" radio stations are nothing more than an IPod on a transmitter with commercials, then it makes sense to buy an IPod and enjoy the music with no commercials. The corporate board room radio has companies under pressure to make more and more money from the same properties for stockholders who know nothing about radio. Part of that is cutting local programing and the local talent behind it in favor of cheaper national programing that fits with their brand. It wouldn't surprise me if this new Kiss didn't have any local talent in the mornings. It's not a CC thing, but an everybody's doing thing. It is something we have to accept. As far as HD, that's one of those us radio geeks things. Most don't know about it. Now that the playing field for radio is the same as that of satellite, it makes the satellite product more attractive. As long as radio is local, or at least more local, it has an advantage. These days, young people don't look at radio the same anymore and have noticed the only difference between it and some of the other choices out there are commercials. That explains today's radio audience and why radio will continue to shift from local to national. CC has proven to be very innovative and will be a strong competitor, due to the pressure from stockholders. The future of radio won't include shows like swap n' shop, local bands or high school football though.

Those of you defending corporate radio will until the end and those of us who would like the return of local radio will also keep defending it until the end. I remember one time right after a purchase, employees went on vaction with their families only to find their job was cut while on vacation. No warning. There are always surprises. I don't think CC in the Triad would ever do anything like that though. That was extremely cold and different from the days when the owner was in the other room.