The Ride WXRC

[Mike Sheridan]

We have one station in the market that is locally owned and programmed and it seems to get more jabs than the corporate mess we have with the other stations.

Granted "The Ride" is not my main choice but I know lots of people who listen to the station. So why all the fuss? Do you really want another KissLakePowerKatLinkEnd?

 

[The danimal]

'The Ride' definitely has a dedicated fan base. 95.7 always had a loyal following whether it was album rock, AAA, active rock, etc. over the last 25 years. They've always been a little different than the rest of the dial.

I'm glad 'The Ride' is still locally owned and has a wider playlist than your typical classic rock station. My personal criticism of the station is that they are so entrenched in sounding like something 30-40 years ago, not only with their musical rotation, but their imaging and announcing as well. As an up and coming city of the future, I wish some of our media here in Charlotte wern't so stuck in the past.

What drives me even crazier is how some people make such a sacred cow out of this station as if it was so innovative, and can't understand why others don't like it. Sorry, but sounding old and not changing anything over 10 years is not innovative at all.

Even your typical oldies or classic rock station manages to sound fresh in 2012. Old houses and buildings need updates and renovations every now and then. 'The Ride' does too.

 

[frdeaconjosephz]

What would YOUdo to improve the station?

 

[w00t]

I've been saying this for a long time. The Link offered something unique to Charlotte for years but everyone on here bashed it and said it should change formats.

No offense people, but from what I read on the Charlotte board, it seems everyone is in an old age home and wishes stations would play Captain & Tenille and Air Supply on repeat.

 

[Mike Sheridan]

I've been saying this for a long time. The Link offered something unique to Charlotte for years but everyone on here bashed it and said it should change formats.

No offense people, but from what I read on the Charlotte board, it seems everyone is in an old age home and wishes stations would play Captain & Tenille and Air Supply on repeat.

I like the idea of a personality FM like "The Link". If you like the people on the air you'll generally put up with a song or two that you don't like compared to a station without personalities.

As for Air Supply and Captain & Tenille not on repeat, but once in awhile would be okay. There are people over 50 who are not being served. My musical taste skews a bit older than most to songs recorded before I was born. Judging by the music posted on YouTube I'm not the only one. Aren't there enough stations so that we could have a least one station for just about every musical taste? There is so much more music than just the narrow slice that is played on the radio.

 

[vchimpanzee]

As for Air Supply and Captain & Tenille not on repeat, but once in awhile would be okay. There are people over 50 who are not being served.

If you live in south Charlotte you can at least hear something close from 9 A.M. to sunset. I don't know whether WAVO 1150 playes these artists but they do play some of the related songs.

 

[eacalhoun1]

We have one station in the market that is locally owned and programmed and it seems to get more jabs than the corporate mess we have with the other stations.

Granted "The Ride" is not my main choice but I know lots of people who listen to the station. So why all the fuss? Do you really want another KissLakePowerKatLinkEnd?

There you go, Mike. You just created a new station - KissLakePowerKatLinkEnd - has a nice ring to it.

 

[The danimal]

To answer a couple questions...

How would I improve 'The Ride'? I've said it before in my post and posts in the past. Fresher imaging and announcers and add some current tunes that none of the other commercial stations are playing. I sure even baby boomers still like to be introduced to new music every now and then. Less Heart and Boston (let the Fox have them), throw in some Gotye, Feist, etc.

To answer Sheridan's question about the oldies and other format holes, I was pleasantly surprised to discover 90.3 WRBK out of Chester while I was left of the dial these past few days. Very wide oldies playlist and the signal seems to go well into south Charlotte. That is a fun station to listen to.

As much as I hate to say it, and some hate to hear it, oldies seems to be going the way of easy listning, adult standards, soft AC & jazz. I wouldn't be surprised if rock as we know it isn't far behind.

Honestly, I'm very surprised a more mellow, softer format hasn't broken into the mainstream again. What are the dentists going to play now that the Lite's and EZ's of the world are fading away? Seriously, as stressed out as people seem to be these days, you'd think a softer format would hit the bigtime now. Just sayin'.

 

[Mike Sheridan]

To answer a couple questions...

How would I improve 'The Ride'? I've said it before in my post and posts in the past. Fresher imaging and announcers and add some current tunes that none of the other commercial stations are playing. I sure even baby boomers still like to be introduced to new music every now and then. Less Heart and Boston (let the Fox have them), throw in some Gotye, Feist, etc.

To answer Sheridan's question about the oldies and other format holes, I was pleasantly surprised to discover 90.3 WRBK out of Chester while I was left of the dial these past few days. Very wide oldies playlist and the signal seems to go well into south Charlotte. That is a fun station to listen to.

As much as I hate to say it, and some hate to hear it, oldies seems to be going the way of easy listning, adult standards, soft AC & jazz. I wouldn't be surprised if rock as we know it isn't far behind.

Honestly, I'm very surprised a more mellow, softer format hasn't broken into the mainstream again. What are the dentists going to play now that the Lite's and EZ's of the world are fading away? Seriously, as stressed out as people seem to be these days, you'd think a softer format would hit the bigtime now. Just sayin'.

I can agree with this. New songs but only those that fit with the base library. It would be easier to expose listeners to new music if someone was setting it up with some talk about the new song/artist.

The soft format is working in Miami, after trying Rock, Party, etc they took one of their FM's in a soft A/C direction and it's working. There are a lot more music choices in Miami.

As for what the dentists are listening to I can answer that one. Mine listens to WDAV but they aren't happy with it because even the Classical stuff gets a bit raucous at times they told me. A soft A/C could work here just on the basis that it's now something different that no one else is doing. You don't have to go back all that far either. Lots of 80's and 90's soft A/C hits have been forgotten.

 

[Steve.Gates]

'The Ride' definitely has a dedicated fan base. 95.7 always had a loyal following whether it was album rock, AAA, active rock, etc. over the last 25 years. They've always been a little different than the rest of the dial.

I'm glad 'The Ride' is still locally owned and has a wider playlist than your typical classic rock station. My personal criticism of the station is that they are so entrenched in sounding like something 30-40 years ago, not only with their musical rotation, but their imaging and announcing as well. As an up and coming city of the future, I wish some of our media here in Charlotte wern't so stuck in the past.

What drives me even crazier is how some people make such a sacred cow out of this station as if it was so innovative, and can't understand why others don't like it. Sorry, but sounding old and not changing anything over 10 years is not innovative at all.

Even your typical oldies or classic rock station manages to sound fresh in 2012. Old houses and buildings need updates and renovations every now and then. 'The Ride' does too.

The Problem (as always) is Money. The first thing that ''Dave & Co'' needs to do is replace their Transmitter. I think they have a Orban 8200 or maybe an even earlier model than that. What I do know, is that on the 2011 and 2012 ''Loaner Cars'' that I've been temporarily given, I do not see any ''RMS Data'' on the Radio. There is no ''Friendly Name'', nor are the ''Song Details'' scrolling down the Screen. 95.7 is the ONLY FM Radio Station in Charlotte that lacks ''RMS Data'' --- even 90.3 WRBK has it now! That is where I would start. But... don't tell Management what they will have to spend on an Orban 8600 Pro. It might just freak them out. Steve.

 

[yugoidar]

Steve, a new transmitter or a new audio processor. As far as I know, Orban does not manufacture transmitters. Why in your opinion would the "The Ride" need either?

 

[nuffsaid]

I can only hear The Ride from time to time when I am in the area but I agree with most that has been stated here. Engineering is a must for The Ride not to mention announcers, liners, and attitude. If I am not mistaken, this is one of the last independently owned stations in the area and Dave can do as Dave pleases with his "locally" owned station. Recently while passing through the signal area I heard a couple of songs that I did not remember and a couple that were so out of context with the station that I turned it off. Was able to hear the new Lake and found it to be pretty well on target.

 

[Mike Sheridan]

Steve, a new transmitter or a new audio processor. As far as I know, Orban does not manufacture transmitters. Why in your opinion would the "The Ride" need either?

This is true Orban only does audio processing. Their signal is good, I don't detect a problem. The RMS Data is nice but very few radio can decode it. A nice feature but not that important.

Funny how everyone says that want variety but the get all upset when a song that doesn't fit comes on. I like being surprised by a song I didn't expect, as long as it's not a train wreck. Sometimes those can be fun too!

 

[test123]

I know very little about WXRC's engineering but it doesn't sound all that bad to me. At one time they were using WireReady's ControlReady for playout. I demoed ControlReady for a client. I liked it because it was simple. It plays audio files one after another.

ControlReady supports RDS. It will feed out what it is playing through RS-232 which would work with about any RDS Encoder. Again not knowing how he gets his audio from the studio to the transmitter it might not be possible.

I might be the exception to the rule but I don't care for RDS on FM. It seems to me there is no standard as to how the receiver handles the data. Stations try to put way too much info on the screen. And scrolling doesn't seem to help. I would rather it just say 957THERIDE or something like that instead of a scrolling mishmash.

957THERIDE THREEDOGNIGHTONE

If he could afford it he should go IBOC. He could run two sub channels and run his two AMs on them. That would be worthwhile I would think...

t123

 

[The danimal]

Yeah, adding 'Big Ways' to an HD subchannel would be ingenious. Getting a translator to air it in Charlotte for the non HD users would be over the top.

As for RDS displays, I could go either way, with all the scrolling, etc. I'd rather use the Shazaam app on my iPhone to identify an unknown song. Then again, Inguess looking at either while driving is not too cool.

 

[mp3RadioGuy]

I can understand why the guy won’t spend the big bucks on HD Radio.

What I don’t understand is why the guy won’t go out and spend about 150 dollars on an RDS generator and send Artist and Title info out the serial port to the generator.
Almost every FM in town (including WDAV) has it on their air.

Every so often I’ll hear a tune on XRC that I haven’t heard before and I’d like to know who it is.

Common dude don’t be so cheap.

:

 

[Mike Sheridan]

I can understand why the guy won’t spend the big bucks on HD Radio.

What I don’t understand is why the guy won’t go out and spend about 150 dollars on an RDS generator and send Artist and Title info out the serial port to the generator.
Almost every FM in town (including WDAV) has it on their air.

Every so often I’ll hear a tune on XRC that I haven’t heard before and I’d like to know who it is.

Common dude don’t be so cheap.

:

Have you ever heard that little voice that comes on at the end of a track and gives the title and artist? WSPA-FM had it for awhile. I don't think they use it anymore but that would do the trick and you wouldn't have to take your eyes off the road.

We used to have something even better a long time ago, PEOPLE who talked about the music...I think they were called DJ's?

 

[mp3RadioGuy]

I can understand why the guy won’t spend the big bucks on HD Radio.

What I don’t understand is why the guy won’t go out and spend about 150 dollars on an RDS generator and send Artist and Title info out the serial port to the generator.
Almost every FM in town (including WDAV) has it on their air.

Every so often I’ll hear a tune on XRC that I haven’t heard before and I’d like to know who it is.

Common dude don’t be so cheap.

:

Have you ever heard that little voice that comes on at the end of a track and gives the title and artist? WSPA-FM had it for awhile. I don't think they use it anymore but that would do the trick and you wouldn't have to take your eyes off the road.

We used to have something even better a long time ago, PEOPLE who talked about the music...I think they were called DJ's?

People!

You don't really mean actual live People!

Come on...now your really dating yourself.

 

[Mike Sheridan]

I can understand why the guy won’t spend the big bucks on HD Radio.

What I don’t understand is why the guy won’t go out and spend about 150 dollars on an RDS generator and send Artist and Title info out the serial port to the generator.
Almost every FM in town (including WDAV) has it on their air.

Every so often I’ll hear a tune on XRC that I haven’t heard before and I’d like to know who it is.

Common dude don’t be so cheap.

:

Have you ever heard that little voice that comes on at the end of a track and gives the title and artist? WSPA-FM had it for awhile. I don't think they use it anymore but that would do the trick and you wouldn't have to take your eyes off the road.

We used to have something even better a long time ago, PEOPLE who talked about the music...I think they were called DJ's?

People!

You don't really mean actual live People!

Come on...now your really dating yourself.

We could always call them carbon based units. Maybe management wouldn't catch on for awhile! ;D

 

[hschutte]

What the heck?? I noticed "Baby I'm a want you" from Bread and "Lady" from the LRB were played. Could it be that Dave is wanting to include an audience like me?

Maybe not.. Pop music probably is not his specialty..