calguy said:
flyonthewall said:
Calguy-- I love LISTENINGto late 60's, 70's and 80's music. I am talking about the fact that many of the discussions on this board are about what went on in LA radio behind the scenes, during the 60's and 70's. People post all the time about KMET which went off the air in 1987. Yes, it was an amazing station but it has been gone for more than 20 years.
Now, you have accused me of " getting my panties" in a bunch" so I am assuming you think that I am a woman. LOL!
Even Channel Flipper's last post was about KMET's " King Biscuit Flour Hour" in the 70's? HUH? I was not even born yet when that was on. Nostalgia is great but there are other things to discuss on this board.
This is such an interesting time in radio, I wish there were more posts on here that were about what is happening NOW. I do like the Sound, but that is not the only subject I have posted about. After Channel Flipper posted that no one is safe with the Cumulus take over. I posted again. Channel Flipper gets credit for starting it, and now there is a thread that is worthy of a conversation. I have written a book, but have never written any pr material. And, I guess I write like a girl. Funny
Never said you were a girl, or that you write like one. "Don't get your panties in a bunch" is an expression of speech. There are plenty of posts about what's happening now in radio, an industry you seem to think is going through interesting times. I would submit to you that radio is going through a major crisis. But since your new to the industry take this as a learning experience. The reason people post about the past is that they are comparing the industry's current state to what radio was like before it became what it is now. You see, radio used to be run by broadcasters, not equity firms. Back then you could only own 7 AM and 7 FM stations total. Now they can own hundreds and up to 8 stations in the big markets alone. In 60's, 70s and most of the 80's programmers didn't see research as the be all and end all. Now nobody takes a bowl movement without research. Now hundreds of stations take their programming orders from one or two people and sound so similar to each other that there is little individuality and customization for stations. Now with voice tracking the industry has fewer jobs and again, more uniformity and less creative individuality. You see where I'm going here? That's why when you gush about how cool KSWD is, most of us seasoned broadcasters give you a collective yawn.
I'm skeptical of your claim that KSWD sounds a lot like other stations in Los Angeles. Granted, they have many, many of the same songs in their playlist that other "classic rock" stations have. Yes, their strategy, like many other stations, is to play mostly the hits, the songs that people have been familiar with for decades, because that's an easy way to get ratings. BUT, there are significant differences. For one, they are not an obnoxious non-stop contest promoter like K-Earth, with idiots calling in every ten minutes because a fake jet "flew by" and they want to win a trip to Hawaii (God I hate that promotion so much, when will it end?!). They don't have a "wacky morning zoo" show like KLOS and so many others.
Yes, their DJs are voicetracked, oh my God, what a sin! The difference is that it's not promoted as a station that you call to get on the air live, so who cares if the DJs are live or not? It's not like they're mixing voicetracked DJs with live callers like K-Earth sometimes does. And strangely enough, if their programming were on an NPR station you most likely wouldn't complain that everything's prerecorded. Oh come on, you know a lot of stuff on NPR is prerecorded, yet oddly they don't get crap for it, why is that?
Finally, their DJs give more extensive commentary than other stations, and they sometimes get interesting people. One night I heard a legendary Beatles producer talking up songs, and that was pretty cool.
Look, I'm not saying the station is perfect, or even that it's great, I'm saying that compared to the other crap in L.A. it's pretty good. I only see it as being somewhat similar to other stations because of the playlist, but the playlist isn't everything.
