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The X
- Thread starter lovejamminoldies
- Start date
Jasonroberts is right, never seen a station make it that didnt have tightly researched playlist, Us humans like whats familiar to us. Always funny how people think they can do it differently and its gonna work, If you want a 4,000 song playlist, radio is not your go to place an Ipod is! This why the "We play everything" stations usually have mediocre numbers(There are a few exceptions), it gives the listener the impression they are all over the road and when they tune to the radio they want to hear what is familiar to them, the music they love.
I went to NKU and interned at WNKU, cant follow their thinking today. If they were smart they would do what the University of Florida in Gainesville does and put a commercial station on the air at 105.9 to better the commuciations department at the school and would be a great way for students to cut there teeth in this very competitive market we live in.
XtraXtra, I always hear good stuff about WZIP, I may be wrong but I heard they follow a more traditonal approach to AAA than WNKU which is more eclectric and all over the road, hence the numbers.
richstrunck said:
You know, I'm not up in NE Ohio so much anymore and I'm haven't listened long enough to know what format they are. From what I have heard, however, they seem upbeat CHR which sounds good to my white-boy ears (it's got a beat, without going too far into urban). That's why I like Wild 93.9 a lot. Granted, I'm in middle age, but I still like that sound.
I think back in the old days, they didn't give people in these parts enough credit and they made the Top 40's were too slow and rock-laden. Conversely, you put too much urban in there and you turn people like me off. WZIP is memorable to me because I like what I hear, and that's rare anymore.
XtraXtra said:
I know it's bad form to quote yourself, but I wanted to add something. You never know, maybe someone will pick up on it and give me the product I want.
As stated in the previous post, the music and format I like the most is upbeat CHR. Music with a beat, but without a lot of black music. I've noticed three things over the years with regard to this format: 1) It rarely gets put together; 2) when it does get put together it is very popular; and 3) when traveling to other cities, the station INSTANTLY sounds great to me (the station doesn't have to grow on me).
Some examples of stations that sounded pretty good to me like INSTANTLY were the late-80's/early-90's Power Pig (Tampa) and WYTZ Chicago. More recent honorable mentions go to some of the stations I've mentioned here, such as Wild 93.9, WZIP and the old WKDD Akron (when it was on 96.5). Of course I couldn't listen all the time, but any time I would drive through those areas it would be a real treat to hear those stations and they rarely disappointed.
What I've noticed, however, is that these stations for the most part only have a couple of years of good runs. What happens? Why does something that seems to resonate always get dismantled? Is this an issue of egos where someone higher up in the food chain imposes his music or is it more that people move on and its hard to find people who program music in this way?
Music changes and goes in cycles. There are hood years for CHR and bad years. It;s been that way since 1955.
Rock 40 was a reaction to the backlash against disco. A lot of folks didn't want to hear anything that even remotely resembled disco, so most R&B product was pulled.
Rock 40 was a reaction to the backlash against disco. A lot of folks didn't want to hear anything that even remotely resembled disco, so most R&B product was pulled.
Just read an article on New Country. I was pondering the state of radio early this morning and what changes lie ahead this year. One of my thoughts was that CHR style country stations will make a comeback this year. Remember the "Young Country" days. Radio and music are like fashion, what is hot today will not be hot next year but hot again in ten years, you have to roll with the punches. I too love the Rythmic CHR stations and have programmed some, but they have been taking a beating the past few years. The Beat/Atlanta, The Wild formats in Knoxville and OKC were dethroned both flipping to News Talk, but they will be back so when the time comes enjoy the ride!
richstrunck said:
Well, if you go back to when I was a teenager in Dayton, the University of Dayton had WVUD (99.9)...operated it with an auditioned and selected student air staff, but paid, professional programmers and sales people. They got reasonably good numbers for a long time with their "progressive" album rock format...and brought forward personalities like Patty Spitler, Dan (Patrick) Pugh, Steve Kerrigan, Kevin Carroll, just to name a few.
Me? I always get squeamish when I hear about a college radio station doing "anti-radio" and thinking it's going to work. Or, even worse, the "we won't get volunteers to DJ unless we let the students play what they want to play" and end up in a situation where the students bring their i-Pods to school and play crummy sounding unknown music mp-3's, with no thought of rationality or reality behind them. (and the S and F bombs some of these songs bring.)
That's not the way commercial radio works. And I think any college that does these things is doing their students a great disservice. Because when they get out in the real world and manage to get a job in a radio station, they won't pick their music, and no-one in management will give diddly squat to their opinions about what should be played. At least...not in the first few years, anyway. You're in the business to be a "broadcaster"...not simply a "DJ".
Sorry...but to me, so-called "professors" who've never worked in real-world commercial broadcasting have no business teaching radio classes, or administering college radio stations.
Yes...college stations are a place to be creative, and I'm not saying creativity should be outlawed or avoided. But, there should be a rhyme and reason (aside from "we're going to avoid what's done on professional commercial stations") to what is played on them. But, still, use specialty programming on those stations to allow for "creativity". (album features, local music shows including interviews with the local artists if possible, local and school sports if possible, etc.) Give your students plenty of ways to hone their craft, but do it in as professional and in as much of a "real world" setting as possible.
These students who have an expressed interest in radio broadcasting (and that includes internet radio) deserve to know what to expect when they get out in the world.
Oh...and before you lecture me about the "brave new world" of internet radio...go figure out how to make all of those stations make money first...because that's what's going to have to happen before internet radio will survive.
A million internet stations with 3 listeners apiece will never make money.
UD still has Flyer Radio (WGXM 98.1 and translator at 99.5) The kids get in the studio in groups of 3 or 4 and talk...and talk...and talk. Not like the old WVUD days. WVUD must have done something right..it encouraged WTUE to drop top 40 and pick up its longstanding AOR format.
UD still has Flyer Radio (WGXM 98.1 and translator at 99.5) The kids get in the studio in groups of 3 or 4 and talk...and talk...and talk. Not like the old WVUD days. WVUD must have done something right..it encouraged WTUE to drop top 40 and pick up its longstanding AOR format.
It's sad to see what has become of "The X", Kramer was a good jock and many before him who have dissapeared...Vinny, Shaun and Todd, Sandy and Nikki, BC, Jeff Stevens, Frankenberry and the list goes on. Good talent moved aside for a computer program? What happened to personality? Is this what radio is becoming? I listen to a few stations in Dayton that seem to have DJ's but it's getting less and less...Very sad 
Doodical said:It's sad to see what has become of "The X", Kramer was a good jock and many before him who have dissapeared...Vinny, Shaun and Todd, Sandy and Nikki, BC, Jeff Stevens, Frankenberry and the list goes on. Good talent moved aside for a computer program? What happened to personality? Is this what radio is becoming? I listen to a few stations in Dayton that seem to have DJ's but it's getting less and less...Very sad
Well let's take a look at the CC cluster.
94.5 Lite FM - Looks like Kim Faris and Ryan Phillips are there local.
Channel 999 - Only local jock is Drake on weekends.
103-9 The X - Dent's the only local jock there... wonder what will happen with X Fest this year.
104.7 WTUE - Almost all local! They even have local weekend jocks. They run Bob & Tom and Sixx Sense and some syndicated stuff but this looks almost untouched.
Big 1065 - All premium choice.
Mix 1077 - Local music logs, but they have some PC jocks with Cindy Spicer on.
980 WONE - Been syndicated, gonna stay syndicated except for afternoons.
So besides WTUE and Mix, everything else is mostly screwed... it's a mess. I don't see why other companies don't try to come in and attack CC. Lite FM is so soft AC, someone coming in with a "fresh" format could win. Dayton could use another CHR, but nobody will do it with Hot 1029 dominating.
No one is going to take on the CC juggernaut directly, and unfortunately to most listeners who aren't on this board, the Premium Choice programming sounds just fine. B-Man, as far as I know, is a Premium Choice jock but still has a show locally on WTUE. Mainline has one jock per station (not sure about Hot) and that seems to be working.
Repetitive as hell, but just fine. I don't care what anyone says, being live and local in the community, doing remotes, playing music to your market will ALWAYS win over syndicated, canned programming. Main Line has 2 jocks on Hot and 2 jocks on WROU. I believe 1 on Click as well. Nobody has the $$ or wants to spend.
Go to any office where they have the radio playing and tell me who in the office is paying attention to anything a DJ is saying. Was an eyeopener to me back in the 80s. Do people really pay attention to car dealer remotes? I like the old days too but reality is what it is (sadly).
I remember the WVUD of those days, and was a great tool for those training in this industry and launched great careers for many students. I got my first job in radio when a guy who owned a local radio station heard me on their student ran radio station, which ironically followed somewhat tight but unresearched playlist and had formatics in place. I got lucky then by getting to work with Industry vets like Mike McVay, Charlie Cook and the late Tom Land (who passed away from cancer last year and was VP/Programming at Journal). I learned about music testing, research, formatics and how ratings and revenue mean everything. I went on to program myself and eventually got into station ownership. More importantly the things I learned from them I passed on to those who worked for me and have moved on to programming and on air positions at top rated station in New York, Miami and Denver.
It all came from giving a shot to a young college kid at NKU, The sad thing, so many others didnt get that shot and lacked the proper training to pursue the career they loved because the school lacked the proper training to make it. A Diploma is worthless unless you have the proper training and skills.
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It all came from giving a shot to a young college kid at NKU, The sad thing, so many others didnt get that shot and lacked the proper training to pursue the career they loved because the school lacked the proper training to make it. A Diploma is worthless unless you have the proper training and skills.
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BTW please dont think by my post that I do not believe in a college education. It is very important. I just dont remember learning a lot about things such as AQH, TSL, Cume, target demographics and how to crunch those numbers to find out where you truly are in your market and how that needs to be sold to advertisers. I didnt get the coaching to be a top rated air personality in my market, I learned that from veteran Pds with great coaching skills and werent afraid to tell me to pipe down. I didnt learn the ins and outs like I did from ppl like McVay, Cook, Land or Bill McElveen(former NAB President) who was one of the great GMs I got to work for.
The key is finding the right school that will teach the proper tools to succeed in this. School will not cut your teeth in all of this of course some of that comes from working in this tightly leveraged industry. That is becoming harder to do in the day and age of voice tracking, its not just about being a DJ anymore but how to succeed at the whole game.
The key is finding the right school that will teach the proper tools to succeed in this. School will not cut your teeth in all of this of course some of that comes from working in this tightly leveraged industry. That is becoming harder to do in the day and age of voice tracking, its not just about being a DJ anymore but how to succeed at the whole game.
You're right on the money ljo! Here's the official ML FM line-uplovejamminoldies said:
CLiCK-"Nick on CLiCK"-M-F 2-7P.(Live/local).
HOT-Scott Sharp M-F 2P-7P, "Partyman" M-F 7P-Midnight.(Both live/local).
WROU-Faith Daniels middays M-F, Garth Adams Afternoons M-F(Both live/local).
WGTZ/Fly-Danielle 10A-4P(Live/local), BC Saturdays 10A-3P(Local, possibly VT'd).
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