Stop whining about WFMX!

[Matt]

*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.

If my idea doesn't have merit, you wouldn't have bothered to mention it. After all, as you say I am one voice in a place where few will read my thoughts and probably even fewer will even attempt to do them.

All I can contribute here is words, and words such as mine should never worry someone who has nothing to fear.

Personal to the one whose quote is above...as a pastor, I know how to forgive...and that's what I give you now for any intentional ill will you have toward me.

Later....
Matt Smith
WGSR-TV

 

[johnqdoe]

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?

ya know, it seems like more people would carry Paul Harvey in North Carolina.

 

[XTalker]

With all due respect to Pastor Smith - and he deserves a lot of respect for the time he spent moderating this board - the boycott you suggest would be a waste of time. CC and most other broadcasters pay no attention to such things. And Arbitron reports who is listening - rather than who is not. There would be little notice.

Truth is, there is really nothing that anyone can do short of lobby the US Congress to change the rules and break up Big Radio as they did the phone company some years ago. Look what that did for us!

 

[spacetrucker]

Good one Blanch.
Hey OJ thanks for speaking YOUR mind and not just spouting off the company line. Sounds like you might be from Stony Point. I wonder if we could squeez a FM in there.

 

[badnews]

This is kinda like sitting in the lobby of a small town station listening to the local wanna be sell him self as the next Elvis.

*Opie should have plenty of time on his hands to squeeze in a a trip to the unemployment line after this thread.

*The Pastor is way off base. The only reason I mentioned his idea it was the absurdity of the concept. My idea of sarcasm.

*I can actually hear Radioguy squealing lik my 11 year old daughter...which means I must be doin' my freakin' job. Pointing out his complete lack of understanding, or ability to handle the real world.

 

[RobynWattsV2.0]

With all due respect to Pastor Smith - and he deserves a lot of respect for the time he spent moderating this board - the boycott you suggest would be a waste of time. CC and most other broadcasters pay no attention to such things. And Arbitron reports who is listening - rather than who is not. There would be little notice.

Truth is, there is really nothing that anyone can do short of lobby the US Congress to change the rules and break up Big Radio as they did the phone company some years ago. Look what that did for us!

And the phone company is steadily becoming an monopoly again! Case in point, Bellsouth's acquisition by AT&T this past spring.

Don't worry about CCU, Infinity, Cumulus, etc., let the marketplace decide the future of radio (which has been steadily declining over the last decade) and let them run themselves into the ground! If there comes a day where any of those companies has to declare themselves bankrupt, so be it! Just don't come whining to the government in order to be bailed out!

BTW: Could you imaging the pleas if that was to come true?

"But we need the money in order to serve East Podunk (never minding the fact that we've moved to Bigtown years ago). The constituents in East Podunk won't have radio service anymore. Please, please give us the money to be bailed out!"

Robyn

 

[youtheman]

Just catching up on the latest posts here. Couple of comments.

Why does Opie continue to work for The Great Satan?

And I would like to offer my forgiveness to the Pastor for his intentional ill will he has towards CC (The Great Satan) and it's employees who like working there. That of course exludes Opie.

 

[XTalker]

Problem with the marketplace making the decision is it will take a generation or two. Big Radio will continue to suffer losses - and cut expenses. Next thing you know, there will be NO studios in the COL and maybe even in the market.

Since you love to pick on Clear Channel, let's examine the cluster they have in Greensboro.

* They have little on the air that couldn't come from - say Charlotte.
* Only thing they need locally is a sales team. As they rely more and more on agency business, most of that work can be done on the phone from Charlotte too!
* The engineer can live on the mountain - no studio to maintain.
* For the occasional remote, [ublic appearance, etc - Angie Ward and the promotions person can drive to Greensboro.
* No need for an office staff in Greensboro - OK, one person to watch the public file.

And after that dust settles, they could move the Raleigh operation to Charlotte, too! Then A couple of the South Carolina markets could be moved. Imagine the savings!

See, it is about the percentage of profit! As long as they can grow the profit number, they don't care! And it's not just CC - it's all of the Big Radio guys.

There are two ways to grow profit - increase sales and reduce expenses. At the top level, it is the path of least resistance! As long as technology and the law allows, they will consolidate, condense, and cut expenses everytime!

The marketplace could have an impact - but unfortunately, Big Radio controls the marketplace and there is little or no room for the small, hometown competitor to force the issue.

 

[johnqdoe]

Problem with the marketplace making the decision is it will take a generation or two. Big Radio will continue to suffer losses - and cut expenses. Next thing you know, there will be NO studios in the COL and maybe even in the market.

Since you love to pick on Clear Channel, let's examine the cluster they have in Greensboro.

* They have little on the air that couldn't come from - say Charlotte.
* Only thing they need locally is a sales team. As they rely more and more on agency business, most of that work can be done on the phone from Charlotte too!
* The engineer can live on the mountain - no studio to maintain.
* For the occasional remote, [ublic appearance, etc - Angie Ward and the promotions person can drive to Greensboro.
* No need for an office staff in Greensboro - OK, one person to watch the public file.

And after that dust settles, they could move the Raleigh operation to Charlotte, too! Then A couple of the South Carolina markets could be moved. Imagine the savings!

See, it is about the percentage of profit! As long as they can grow the profit number, they don't care! And it's not just CC - it's all of the Big Radio guys.

There are two ways to grow profit - increase sales and reduce expenses. At the top level, it is the path of least resistance! As long as technology and the law allows, they will consolidate, condense, and cut expenses everytime!

The marketplace could have an impact - but unfortunately, Big Radio controls the marketplace and there is little or no room for the small, hometown competitor to force the issue.

Good Lord.

 

[XTalker]

Are you suggesting it couldn't happen? It may be a bit extreme, but who would have thought stations would be 70-80% voice tracked!

 

[johnqdoe]

Problem with the marketplace making the decision is it will take a generation or two. Big Radio will continue to suffer losses - and cut expenses. Next thing you know, there will be NO studios in the COL and maybe even in the market.


There are two ways to grow profit - increase sales and reduce expenses. At the top level, it is the path of least resistance! As long as technology and the law allows, they will consolidate, condense, and cut expenses everytime!

The marketplace could have an impact - but unfortunately, Big Radio controls the marketplace and there is little or no room for the small, hometown competitor to force the issue.

Didn't the late , gret, "live & local" WFMX run Lia at night?? And Blair Garner after midnight??? You people act as if CC is the only company to VT or run syndication. Someone was bemoaning the lack of small town training grounds for young radio folks in an earlier thread...Is that ALL CC's fault??? There are plenty of mom & pop outlets that are on the bird 24/7. Why??? Because it's cheaper. It doesn't matter if the $$$$ goes to an account in San Antonio, or the 1st National Bank on Main St., if you can cut corners to increase the bottom line, you will. That's just business. Why does nobody blame mom & pop for selling out to these big corporations a few years back??? Maybe cause nobody can find them since they've been living in their big, beachfront houses after taking the money and running.

 

[radioguy801]

No, WFMX did NOT run Lia at night. They did for a short time about 2-3 years ago. Yes, they did have After Midnite. But they had After Midnite almost since its inception. Believe it or not, there were a lot of people that listened to After Midnite.

OJ

 

[johnqdoe]

No, WFMX did NOT run Lia at night. They did for a short time about 2-3 years ago. Yes, they did have After Midnite. But they had After Midnite almost since its inception. Believe it or not, there were a lot of people that listened to After Midnite.

OJ

So, it's ok to take jobs away from young broadcasters if the syndication or VTd show gets more listeners???

 

[radioguy801]

Don't ask me! I didn't start that discussion!

OJ

 

[Walken]

Ah the young 'uns can just board monkey the network shows like the rest of us had to. The broadcasting school of hard knocks is still in existence, it just looks a little different.

Walken

 

[Mike Sheridan]

[
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?


[/quote]

Okay here is some neccessary ripping of Clear Channel. I was out of work and had some friends of mine who work at a CC station invite me to apply for weekend work on a station I left a few years prior. The PD and APD heard the aircheck, liked it and said you've got the job. Hours were not specified but the money was chump change but that's not the issue. They wanted me to sign a 6 month non compete! I said no thanks and went to work for their direct competition another big bad group but at least they don't pull stuff like that.

Don't waste my time saying they can't inforce a non compete. I don't have enough money to hire a lawyer to find out. If I did I wouldn't have considered working for chump change in the first place!

This isn't the first time big groups controlled radio. Check it out it also happened in the 1930's. The FCC broke up the big groups in the early 1940's. There just might have been a reason.

At least Country listeners have other options. When WWMG dropped oldies we didn't have another station to turn to for the same format.

 

[thebroker]

Some irony...

I find it quite ironic that the WFMX thing happened to blow up when it did. Just three weeks before the switch, Mr. Garrett Alderfer passed away. Mr. Alderfer, a man who forgot more about radio in his time than any of us will ever know, is the gentleman who, so many years ago, made WFMX the first Country radio station in the United States.

I just find it ironic that WFMX stood for all those years, almost just like he created it so many years ago, until just a few short weeks after his death.

 

[spacetrucker]

Better question would be what 100kw DOES serve it's COL.

 

[johnqdoe]

Better question would be what 100kw DOES serve it's COL.

top of the hour is about all I can think of

 

[wnih-wayne]

No, WFMX did NOT run Lia at night. They did for a short time about 2-3 years ago. Yes, they did have After Midnite. But they had After Midnite almost since its inception. Believe it or not, there were a lot of people that listened to After Midnite.

OJ

So, it's ok to take jobs away from young broadcasters if the syndication or VTd show gets more listeners???

No it is not ok to take jobs away from the young broadcaster...but at that time WFMX never found or probably didn't want a young broadcaster in there at that late an hour...sometimes I do believe that the DTMF tones, were just perfect in WFMX for shows on the late night, and don't flame Opie. I have known him since I worked there 2 years ago, and quite honestly, he was there when the rest of the crew wasn't....except sometimes myself, but I would be in the AM control room board opping a game or something, and there is nothing wrong with a VT'ed or Syndicated Program, as my station that I run, Is all syndicated...well i have synd. programming, but I rarely do a talkover or VT, I leave in the auto mode and it picks songs and ads at random, so hey, if you wanna flame someone, flame yourself for making such a harsh comment to a fellow broadcaster and his friends....

Wayne