Stop whining about WFMX!

[wnih-wayne]

And anyway....

WFMX was not sold out by Clear Channel....they applied for the move, and to top it off...if you wanna blame anyone for letting them go, blame Mercury....they were the original host to FMX....ok...I know, that was where i got my check from.....

I am sorry to bitch....but I worked for both WFMX and WSIC about 2 years ago and will be applying for work when WSIC offers it again....and they were a good company...so if anyone wants to correct me...don't....b/c I can get Greg Ryan, Billy Buck, Keith Todd, Mark Rose, Dave Michaels, and the whole set to back me up....they were like brothers to me....and you know what..I enjoyed my time there....

So, you know what...it is as was stated in an earlier post....."'NUFF SAID"

Wayne

 

[youtheman]

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.

If you look at the history of radio, what we are seeing right now as far as the proliferation of syndicated programming goes is actually a return to the early days of radio. In the 20's, 30's, 40's and even into the 50's, most popular stations in the country carried syndicated programming from CBS, NBC, Mutual, ABC and other smaller networks. Even most local stations carried one of the networks morning shows such as Arthur Godfrey, The Breakfast Club with Don McNeill or any of the dozens of syndicated programs offered. For those of you who remember Bob Poole from WBIG, even he at one time did a syndicated show on the Mutual Network. Then after morning drive, stations carried Soap Operas and variety shows at night. The Grand Ole Opry is one of the longest running syndicated radio shows in history. If you find an old programs listing of a radio station even well into the 50's, you will see that most of their programming was not local but syndicated.

The move to completely local programming didn't happen until the late 50's when TV took all of the most popular shows. Then radio started concentrating on music programming and having local jocks.

When the FM revolution started taking off in the 70's and AM's found they couldn't compete with music formats, they started moving to talk programming. Then we started to see more syndication again. This time of talk programming. ABC had a 24 hour talk network it offered in whole or in part to affiliates in the early 80's. Other smaller networks started offering several hours of talk programming each day to stations. Eventually, syndicated programming started appearing on FM's when networks started offering 24 hour music channels to local stations and the most popular show hosts in the country started syndicating their shows. Now we have Imus, Stern, John Boy and Billy, Opie and Anthony, Don and Mike, ESPN, Tom Joyner, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Air America.....the list goes on and on. We have actually come full circle back to where radio started.

Our memories of radio, with the local jock, and local programming is actually not what radio has been for most of it's existence. So to say that if a station carries a syndicated morning show or if they use a jock from another market to voice track a music show, that they are not somehow serving their community or is destroying local radio, is completely bogus.

 

[XTalker]

You guys have all missed the point. The people who have worked at FMX and many of it's listeners, felt a part of it. That's OK. Now, they miss it. That's OK too!

Truth is radio has changed dramatically in the last ten years. You want to thank someone, thank the US Congress for the telecom act of 1996 that allowed the consolidation we face today. Whether bad or good, it is different. Your own personal position today determines your view.

Clear Channel is a business and the company makes decisions that it feels is good for the business. Right or wrong, its their money. You can talk about who made the decision - Mercury, by the way, is just a holding company owned by CC.

You can be sure that the local GM didn't make the decision to move the station. You don't just make that kind of decision locally. Might have started there, but I doubt it. The move came about when CC and AM/FM merged. It put them over the limits in Charlotte and Greensboro. They had to sell some stations and some (like FMX) they put in the holding company until they could figure out how to keep them.

The move has been no secret. The applications are public record. They were even advertised in the local papers and newspapers did articles on it.

Let's not get so caught up into the personal attacks and talk about what has happened to radio. And lets talk about solutions.

For those FMX alum, I feel for you. Been there, done that. It happens every day in America and it happens many times to stations like FMX.

 

[Mr Winston-Salem]

When WSJS hit the airwaves for the first time, the first thing those first listeners heard was... Easter Service from Home Moravian Church. WSJS was there for news, visits from important people, had air time for locals running for office, covered many local events and a number of local musicians recorded at WSJS back then. All of this in addition to the regular network programing you talked about. In the 1950's and early 60's, Wake Forest Students could also be found at WSJS with their own show. Today we see a station like WFMX drop a local Keith Todd Morning Show and the talented Mark Rose and Edd Robinson for what I will guess will be a VT'ed Kiss. If it has a morning show at all; it will be syndicated. I didn't miss the point. I see what is being lost and the inferior prepackaged product replacing it. Today's generation though expects that lower level of quality and service from terrestrial radio. It's unfair to place all the blame on CC. They aren't the only ones doing this and it is a business. A very profitable business and CC is a very good competitor and innovator in this industry. XTalker is right. It is congress and their love of $$$ over the people. I do realize this is the future of radio, but it is sad to see this happen to listeners, employees and the communities as a whole. The less they spend on each broadcast outlet; the more profits they have to show for Wall Street.

 

[radioguy801]

When WSJS hit the airwaves for the first time, the first thing those first listeners heard was... Easter Service from Home Moravian Church. WSJS was there for news, visits from important people, had air time for locals running for office, covered many local events and a number of local musicians recorded at WSJS back then. All of this in addition to the regular network programing you talked about. In the 1950's and early 60's, Wake Forest Students could also be found at WSJS with their own show. Today we see a station like WFMX drop a local Keith Todd Morning Show and the talented Mark Rose and Edd Robinson for what I will guess will be a VT'ed Kiss. If it has a morning show at all; it will be syndicated. I didn't miss the point. I see what is being lost and the inferior prepackaged product replacing it. Today's generation though expects that lower level of quality and service from terrestrial radio. It's unfair to place all the blame on CC. They aren't the only ones doing this and it is a business. A very profitable business and CC is a very good competitor and innovator in this industry. XTalker is right. It is congress and their love of $$$ over the people. I do realize this is the future of radio, but it is sad to see this happen to listeners, employees and the communities as a whole. The less they spend on each broadcast outlet; the more profits they have to show for Wall Street.

Great way to put it Mr. Winston-Salem! BTW, it IS supposed to be a syndicated morning show. 3 guesses who? Can we say Steve Harvey! Yes, the Steve Harvey morning show is SUPPOSED to be the morning show. Yuck!

OJ

 

[mediaspeaks]

No amount of complaining or blaming will bring WFMX back ..... no amount of whinning will bring back Magic 96....

you want to blame someone?.... blame the FCC for changing th ownership rules - not the companies who "play" by those newer rules.


NUFF SAID

 

[XTalker]

It wasn't the FCC - it was the US Congress that changed the ownership rules - Telecom Act of 1996.

 

[MediaTech]

It took me a min. to get up off the floor, from the guy who wrote earlier in this rant about CC stations being locally run. Thats right there is some funny shit. If they are locally run then how come all their music info has to be run through Covington,Ky??? It ain't just to create an RDS signal!! You Kool-Aid drinkers (drunks) are funny, the way you type, you actually believe that shit your spewing.

By the way since its only been hit on a few times, Mercury, a holding company for CC, was one of the ways CC skirts the rules and now that is failing, which is why FMX is now in Clemmons (where the signal is awful at best).

 

[johnqdoe]

It took me a min. to get up off the floor, from the guy who wrote earlier in this rant about CC stations being locally run. Thats right there is some funny ------. If they are locally run then how come all their music info has to be run through Covington,Ky??? It ain't just to create an RDS signal!! You Kool-Aid drinkers (drunks) are funny, the way you type, you actually believe that ------ your spewing.

By the way since its only been hit on a few times, Mercury, a holding company for CC, was one of the ways CC skirts the rules and now that is failing, which is why FMX is now in Clemmons (where the signal is awful at best).

I've worked for CC in markets ranging form unrated to top 10.....I've been overnights, PD/mornings, and everything in between...and I've NEVER been issued a playlist or a mandate on what to play. If all the music was force fed, why do I need to spend 2 hours a day editing music logs????

 

[longjohnmaroon]

It took me a min. to get up off the floor, from the guy who wrote earlier in this rant about CC stations being locally run. Thats right there is some funny ------. If they are locally run then how come all their music info has to be run through Covington,Ky??? It ain't just to create an RDS signal!! You Kool-Aid drinkers (drunks) are funny, the way you type, you actually believe that ------ your spewing.

Wow, I guess you'll call me a drunk also, but that is an outlandish statement to make. The majority of PD's employed by CC have too much intergrity to allow themselves to be dictated to by corporate when it comes to programming their own stations. And the fact of the matter is, it wouldn't work. You can't program the music on a station in Greensboro, Charlotte, Raleigh or any other market without doing research for that particular market. Some songs will work in some markets and won't work in others.

And yes, the music feed is going through Covington KY for the RDS and because that is where the CC web site servers are located. The RDS feed also provides the last 10 songs and current song playing data for the web sites.

 

[pbf1]

If they are locally run then how come all their music info has to be run through Covington,Ky??? It ain't just to create an RDS signal!! You Kool-Aid drinkers (drunks) are funny, the way you type, you actually believe that ------ your spewing.

Thanks for the umpteenth Kool-Aid reference. Can't come up with anything new?

And Covington? Nobody's there anymore. They're in Cincy.

I've programmed for CC since before CC bought Jacor. I have never, ever been told what to play, or that my stuff was not right. The RDS info goes through Cincy so it gets onto the website's Last 10.

If anybody's "drinking Kool-Aid," it's anyone who thinks any company can sit and watch what 1200 are doing every minute.

 

[1q2w3e]

It took me a min. to get up off the floor, from the guy who wrote earlier in this rant about CC stations being locally run. Thats right there is some funny ------. If they are locally run then how come all their music info has to be run through Covington,Ky??? It ain't just to create an RDS signal!! You Kool-Aid drinkers (drunks) are funny, the way you type, you actually believe that ------ your spewing.

By the way since its only been hit on a few times, Mercury, a holding company for CC, was one of the ways CC skirts the rules and now that is failing, which is why FMX is now in Clemmons (where the signal is awful at best).

You know what is really funny is people that THINK they know what they are tlkaing about and really dont!

The reason it goes through Cincy (not Covington) so they can post up the music list on the web site, and so the servers are maintained by a small group 24/7. The peopel that run the RDS servers are top notch. If I had any trouble they would handle things real quick! Configuration for RDS was a snap due to their work. It makes sense to do it this way so you dont have 200 engineers trying to do the same thing over and over.

No Kool Aid here! I USED to work for Clear Channel. I dont any more and dont need to support anything that CC does. I am just stating FACT.

I suggest that you educate yourself before you open mouth insert foot.

 

[spacetrucker]

What will be real interesting is to see what the "NEW" station will to do to serve Clemmons. That should be good for a laugh.

 

[badnews]

Evidence the total lack of understanding of the general goals of commercial broadcasting displayed on this board/thread:

*BS thinks the fact that 105.7 took on a direct competitor to get their ratings and revenue...should have chosen a format that no one else had (a "purpose"), because no one would listen to it.

*Opie, is stupid enough to publicly bash the company that sends him a check twice a month!

*Traditional thinks the August 1st Arbitron will show how the new station is doing.

*Pastor Smith wants to use passive protest and actually get the few people that read this stuff to listen to another station, in hopes they get a diary and can honestly report support of a station no one cares about.

*Radioguy just sounds like a little girl who lost her boyfriend.

 

[eacalhoun1]

...and whose "badnews" are you, badnews?

Eric

 

[badnews]

It would appear I'm "badnews" to all the out-of-work, never-been-in-the business, estrogen-filled radio geeks that are living here in thier own fantasy land.

 

[radioguy801]

OK, I actually have a job and sure, I may have bashed the company but THAT'S MY OPINION, not yours!

Let me worry about it. Instead of pointing out other people's mistakes, or what you think are mistakes, DO YOUR FREAKIN' JOB!!!

OJ

 

[johnqdoe]

What will be real interesting is to see what the "NEW" station will to do to serve Clemmons. That should be good for a laugh.

They'll do the minimum requirements and not much more...just like 99.999 % of the station in the country. Have you ever listened to the radio at 7am on a Sunday???? "Faces", "Issues", "Triad Today"...Whatever they call the local public service requirement is all on at the same time. Same with racing coverage. People were bemoaning the lack of NASCAR coverage now that FMX is gone. Hit scan next time the race is on...The radio will stop at least 5 times on the race.

 

[Blanche]

What will be real interesting is to see what the "NEW" station will to do to serve Clemmons. That should be good for a laugh.

They'll do the minimum requirements and not much more...just like 99.999 % of the station in the country.

The problem of getting good domestic help in Bermuda Run is foremost on the KISS-FM Public Affairs agenda, I have it on good authority!

 

[vchimpanzee]

I only want to say one thing about WFMX. They aired Paul Harvey's News and Comment and The Rest of the Story.

News and Comment you could get online, but I can hear it on WSAT Sailsbury, a local station with a sort of local owner (he used to live in the area but came back because he liked the town so much he moved there and bought the station).

The Rest of the Story was subject to being moved due to Qualifying. So I'd miss it and have to hear it the next Monday morning on WSAT--only half the time they got it wrong and aired one I had already heard. WSAT also seems to think they're too good to air the Saturday Rest of the Story.

But Paul Harvey doesn't put those on his web site any more. I asked him to because of the WFMX and WSAT problems. No, conservatives think it's all about making money. Now he's the nicest man in the world to listen to even if you don't agree with most conservative views. But a liberal would argue, in my opinion, that the stories had educational value and ought to be on the Net for free. I do too. He used to put them there for a week, but now he doesn't put them there at all. What exactly would that take away from the stations?