Things that stations do that drive you crazy etc...

[FOZZIE BEAR]

1) Personally, I do not understand why a station would run a sweeper etc... that tells the listeners that THEY get back to the music faster. This is beyond stupid to me. If I am a loyal listener... then it doesn't matter. I was jumping around the dial this afternoon and came across a station that runs this exact sweeper and when I heard it... I switched over to the competition and they were already playing music. Matter of fact, the song was ending and going into another track. It just seems as very pointless self promotion.

2) I love it (thats sarcasm) when some Jock tries to be edgy. As far as I am concerned. You are either EDGY or your not. If your not... then give it up. Also, I love it when the jock is trying to be real edgy... way to edgy for his or her format/demo. That is some BAD radio right there.

Of course... these are just MY pet peeves.

 

[critic319]

Interesting observations Mr. Bear. I too have found the "you get back to the music" sweeper ironic, as if the listener should have to pay some dues or endure another iteration of the horrible "trucks, trucks trucks" commercial in order to hear music. I realize that advertiser spots are necessary (unless you're Lonestar ) but it's silly to remind listeners that there are more commercials coming when most listeners would simply sleep through them without selecting another preset.

 

[Robert Bass]

EAS Tests (Wolf! Wolf!)
Lengthy commercial breaks (As in anything over 3 minutes(
Voicetracking
Going from regular music to holiday music in the middle of the day, and vice versa (are you reading this, Ben?)

Is that enough...?

R

 

[Marco53]

The usual upbeat, contrived banter between male morning DJ and female news person.

Enough!!! It's overdone!

 

[bucwhyl]

The use of the word "New", even though the station signed on a few years ago.

 

[kb5tmd]

AM stations that insist on running IBOC. It doesn't work unless you're within about 10 miles of the transmitter and that "hash" on either side of the frequency is really annoying. I noticed WBAP is running it now as well during the day. Too bad.

I've noticed the word "new" used quite a bit myself.

 

[its time w (your name)]

VOICETRACKING. No radio station that voice-tracks is following the terms of its license. Why has no one folllowed up on this legally? You cannot serve a community if you are NOT THERE. You also are falsifying your documents if you are working in one studio and signing a log in another. You certainly arent doing any good by your advertisers shoveling out canned radio. The public does become hip to the fact that you arent really there, or they just lose interest as you drone on about "50 minutes of your favorites with fewer commercials and the station we can all agree on..." blah blah blah blah blah ----Puke! One studio- one operator. And someone needs to be able to talk, or else you arent there and your station is running ILLEGALLY.

If you cant afford live talent, dont tell me how successful your operation is. Obviously, you are doing something wrong. No smart advertiser will buy from a station which resorts to voicetracking. Dont take my word for it. Look at the numbers. PPM wont save anybody, Bob.

LIMITED MUSIC ROTATION--- Dont tell me you play the hits if you only play a select few. What the sweepers should say is "WE play some of the hits, the ones that "tested" well in our controlled survey." Of course, there really shouldnt be sweepers. No one listens to sweepers---they are audio wallpaper.

LINER CARDS--- If you're gonna talk to me--- say something. Dont read me a "listener benefit." If there is a "benefit" to listening to you, I'll know it when I turn on your station. No successful business sells you its "benefit" in lieu of actual product. This would be like the NFL stopping in the middle of a play to tell you how much you like them. A lot of successful products dont even tell you what they do, and people beat a path to their door. I still dont really know what an I-Phone does, and all I know about I-Pods is that they turn you into a psychotic but cool dancing shadow. The concept of "listener benefit" is beyond stupid.

There are so many things I need to know, or would be interested in knowing, ways we can relate, and you can even (gasp) tell me a joke if you like. All I am saying is if you're gonna talk to me, say something. When you say a bunch of nothing, no one listens, and that is all I am hearing from idiot corporate stations.

Btw, If you are a jock and youre allowing yourself to be voicetracked, you are putting yourself and someone else out of a job, and you are complicit with the sale of bad product. You are like a top chef selling big macs. No one wins, except a corporation. All the rest of you can jump off a cliff if you like. I refuse. I dont need radio to feel like someone. My kids and I just need to eat.

 

[old man river]

SIR, YOU ARE SO DEAD RIGHT ON EVERY POINT YOU'VE MADE. I WORK AT A FORMER CLEAR CHANNEL CLUSTER IN THE SOUTHEAST...NEW OWNERS ARE LOCAL AND REGIONAL SMALL MARKET FOLKS. THE THING I HATE IS THAT THEY CAN'T OR WON'T HIRE ENOUGH AIR STAFFERS TO RUN MORE THAN ONE OR TWO SHIFTS LIVE ON ANY OF OUR FIVE STATIONS. FOR EXAMPLE, I'M ON ALL FIVE IN EITHER A LIVE, VT OR NEWS/WEATHER/SPORTS MODE. OUR BIGGEST FM IS AT 61% OUTPUT AND OUR NUMBER 2 FM IS AT 79 TO 80% OUTPUT...BUT THEY HAVEN'T ALLOWED OUR ENGINEER TO ORDER TUBES! I'VE BEEN A BROADCASTER FOR 43 YEARS ...STILL LOVE THE LIVE SHOW BUT THE INDUSTRY SUCKS AS A WHOLE....BIG TIME! THERE'S REALLY NO REASON FOR ANYONE TO LISTEN ANYMORE.

 

[Robert Bass]

And when those tubes fail, the engineer will get the blame...

RE operating without someone actually in the studio, is legal. If you do it right, most listeners won't even realize it. But anything that is automated, should be programmed by the station itself, with no voice tracking from outside staff members.

RE Sweepers: Depending on the kind you use, they can work for you. The sweepers need to say more than just "now back to the music" or "getting back to the music faster" etc. An effective sweeper is one that says who you are and what you do.

R

 

[VERITAS DE VOCE]

Ooowe, another chance for a list:

1. Buc, I am right on board with the "New" moniker. The worst culprit - KISS. Kidd must have molested that word for more than two years. It was on everything. Note to idiot PDs in Big D: You are new for six weeks. That is usually the duration of bad food on the shelves. Comprende?

2. I think this is unanimous - voicetracking blows. It removes all sense of "live and local" from the listener. Despite reoccurring trends in technology, people can sniff that out. Canned radio only works when you are trying to preserve it, not deliver it. And what happens if the board op screws up the buttons? All your witty banter is throttled. Nice.

3. Liner cards, but for a different reason than you think? What about the promotions department that can't write? Rhyns on KTCK is brilliant at pointing those flubs out. If you can't read, don't bother. If you can't write, check out Hooked on Phonics. It can work for you (rock me). ;D

4. Fake sentiment. Hate to whiz all over Kidd's show, but man, he is bad at this. When Julie came back, that was emotion. When Kidd recollects a childhood memory thanks to the last Journey song he played, not so much. Why not voicetrack your verclempt and really show how great production works (note to Delilah on KVIL, it is the holidays you know)

5. Lines are open. B$&% S@*$(! If you are on talk radio, those lines usually stay jammed with people trying to dazzle you with their wit and give a shout out to the peeps. Give the number, go to a break and be done with it. Don't fecundate that spittle with angling for listeners. If your lines are really open, then talk about something interesting. Oy!

 

[Tom Wells]

Directing people to OTHER MEDIA!

Running ads for TV shows, stations, tells them to ignore your station when they get home.
Why not just tell them to quit listening or give them a reason to turn on the radio and continue listening once at home?

I know the TV station is paying good money but assisting the competition is madness.
In most cases, the radio station can only lose.
Now maybe if the were a swap 30 seconds for 30 seconds, a promo for radio on the TV would seem fair.
But I think the ad rates make this impossible. So when did radio stations first start carrying TV station promos?
Not multi-group same owner properties...I mean competing outlets.

 

[oaktree]

Unprofessional, says nothing, no matter how bad it sounds "brokerism" just to make a buck...and a discounted one at that all for the sake of $$$$ ... and too many times when the rest of the station sounds like garbage at that ... brokered or not. "You, too, can be a radio star..."

 

[its time w (your name)]

And when those tubes fail, the engineer will get the blame...

RE operating without someone actually in the studio, is legal. If you do it right, most listeners won't even realize it. But anything that is automated, should be programmed by the station itself, with no voice tracking from outside staff members.

RE Sweepers: Depending on the kind you use, they can work for you. The sweepers need to say more than just "now back to the music" or "getting back to the music faster" etc. An effective sweeper is one that says who you are and what you do.

R

Operating on auto-pilot may be "legal" in practice and for lack of enforcement, but it severely violates the spirit of the license of the station. You cannot serve a community if you are NOT THERE. I would just as soon call up a business that is closed and listen to their answering machine, as listen to a voice-tracked shift.

How about in lieu of a sweeper, which arguably is nothing more than audio clutter, you use a LIVE PERSON to say "who you are."

I dont need the station to tell me "what you do," because I'm not an idiot. As soon as I tune them in, I know "what they do," and I either like it or not.

If you want to save money, fire an overpaid executive or two. Tell them you're "voice-tracking" their jobs. You can pay three of me for what you spend on them. I add tremendous value to your product and inspire listener and client LOYALTY. The suits---??? You wont miss them.

 

[Robert Bass]

And when those tubes fail, the engineer will get the blame...

RE operating without someone actually in the studio, is legal. If you do it right, most listeners won't even realize it. But anything that is automated, should be programmed by the station itself, with no voice tracking from outside staff members.

RE Sweepers: Depending on the kind you use, they can work for you. The sweepers need to say more than just "now back to the music" or "getting back to the music faster" etc. An effective sweeper is one that says who you are and what you do.

R

Operating on auto-pilot may be "legal" in practice and for lack of enforcement, but it severely violates the spirit of the license of the station. You cannot serve a community if you are NOT THERE. I would just as soon call up a business that is closed and listen to their answering machine, as listen to a voice-tracked shift.

How about in lieu of a sweeper, which arguably is nothing more than audio clutter, you use a LIVE PERSON to say "who you are."

I dont need the station to tell me "what you do," because I'm not an idiot. As soon as I tune them in, I know "what they do," and I either like it or not.

If you want to save money, fire an overpaid executive or two. Tell them you're "voice-tracking" their jobs. You can pay three of me for what you spend on them. I add tremendous value to your product and inspire listener and client LOYALTY. The suits---??? You wont miss them.

WOW, what an attitude!

You completely missed my point that if you utilize automation CORRECTLY, most listeners won't even notice. I'm talking correctly as in, do it in a way that continues what you do the rest of the day. Want an actual example? Tune to 88.5 FM.

And while you as a regular listener already knows what the station does, new listeners may not.

I don't disagree that technically operating without someone present in the studio is not in true spirit of what broadcasting is all about, but the fact remains this is where the industry is as a whole. If you need a scapegoat, the actual stations should be the last on your list.

R

 

[its time w (your name)]

WOW, what an attitude!

You completely missed my point that if you utilize automation CORRECTLY, most listeners won't even notice. I'm talking correctly as in, do it in a way that continues what you do the rest of the day. Want an actual example? Tune to 88.5 FM.

And while you as a regular listener already knows what the station does, new listeners may not.

I don't disagree that technically operating without someone present in the studio is not in true spirit of what broadcasting is all about, but the fact remains this is where the industry is as a whole. If you need a scapegoat, the actual stations should be the last on your list.

R

You'll have to excuse my attitude Robert. I've lost too many gigs in recent years because a corporate operator decided to compensate for their incompetency by cutting me out to the street, to appease and impress their stockholders with paper gains. My kids and I just have this small need for health care and food, thats all. Granted, I'm working and feeding us now.

The sad thing is, they could benefit so greatly, as they have for years, from the use of dynamic personalities.

Radio is a far better product when people like me are allowed to relate to its audience--- thats just a fact, which will become even more evident after all the hype of PPM. Some stations will gain, some will lose, but the fact is, radio as a whole is losing.

The only way they could compete with new media is to offer something you cant get on satellite and IPOD, etc. Live, Local HUMAN CONTACT. Its the reason you dont want to "press one/press two" when you call a business. What do you want? You want to talk to a real person. And you want to feel like youre plugged into what is happening.

I stand by my belief that automation and excessive formatic constraints are destroying the intimate relationship once held between radio and its listeners.

 

[tomservo]

You folks have done a great job covering some of the more esoteric gripes with radio (and I'm 100% with ya on the "New" moniker and contrived morning show banter) so I'll cover a few technical issues...

It's a huge pet peeve for me to come across a station with 'sound quality issues'. Whether it's a balance issue, lossy audio compression artifacts or AC hum, they are all detract from the final product and make for an unprofessional sound. Now, I'm in Mississippi, not Dallas -- so forgive me if the big city is free of these problems... But out here in the sticks the mom and pop stations aren't exactly the most technically adept sounding things around. We've got an AM talker whose levels are so low you can't actually hear anyone, an FM public radio satellite that has balance issues, a nice lil' R&B outlet that has a nice 60Hz hum 24/7... And over in Birmigham several of the stations sound like they're running music in the mp2 format at about 112 kbps. Ugh!

Just because I'm a dumb listener doesn't mean I don't notice these things... :

 

[Radiogre]

These are all interesting observations. Most of them stem from stations being over-consulted. We now see music stations suffering through playlists under 300 songs, with some sort of ostentatious overproduced sweeper or liner or jingle crammed in between EVERY song. I have even heard stations slip those "We get you back to the music faster!" liners into the MIDDLE of a 7x:60 spotstack. The only thing that ridiculously redundant identification will assure, is that the listener will know for sure who they are turning off.

 

[poops]

And when those tubes fail, the engineer will get the blame...

RE operating without someone actually in the studio, is legal. If you do it right, most listeners won't even realize it. But anything that is automated, should be programmed by the station itself, with no voice tracking from outside staff members.

RE Sweepers: Depending on the kind you use, they can work for you. The sweepers need to say more than just "now back to the music" or "getting back to the music faster" etc. An effective sweeper is one that says who you are and what you do.

R

Operating on auto-pilot may be "legal" in practice and for lack of enforcement, but it severely violates the spirit of the license of the station. You cannot serve a community if you are NOT THERE. I would just as soon call up a business that is closed and listen to their answering machine, as listen to a voice-tracked shift.

How about in lieu of a sweeper, which arguably is nothing more than audio clutter, you use a LIVE PERSON to say "who you are."

I dont need the station to tell me "what you do," because I'm not an idiot. As soon as I tune them in, I know "what they do," and I either like it or not.

If you want to save money, fire an overpaid executive or two. Tell them you're "voice-tracking" their jobs. You can pay three of me for what you spend on them. I add tremendous value to your product and inspire listener and client LOYALTY. The suits---??? You wont miss them.

WOW, what an attitude!

You completely missed my point that if you utilize automation CORRECTLY, most listeners won't even notice. I'm talking correctly as in, do it in a way that continues what you do the rest of the day. Want an actual example? Tune to 88.5 FM.

And while you as a regular listener already knows what the station does, new listeners may not.

I don't disagree that technically operating without someone present in the studio is not in true spirit of what broadcasting is all about, but the fact remains this is where the industry is as a whole. If you need a scapegoat, the actual stations should be the last on your list.

R

Hi Robert,

I disagree with your assumption that the listenters (whether new or old) will notice the difference if a station is voice tracked. I travel pretty often, having a chance to listen to other areas than my own, and I can tell pretty quick if a station is voice tracked. No request lines, or any interaction with the listeners is a pretty big give away. It all sounds too contrived when the station is voice tracked, the DJ always says everything right with no mistakes in his/her dialogue. I'd rather listen to Mel Tillis stuttering while DJ'ing a station than some of the smooth sounding VTs that are passed off to us listeners.

BTW a pet peeve of mine is a station comparing them self to another station. You're just giving them free air time. Example KMAS (fictional) 101.7 plays 20 fewer commercials than KCKA (Fictional). Hello.... Free air time.

Poops

 

[Tom Wells]

You folks have done a great job covering some of the more esoteric gripes with radio (and I'm 100% with ya on the "New" moniker and contrived morning show banter) so I'll cover a few technical issues...

It's a huge pet peeve for me to come across a station with 'sound quality issues'. Whether it's a balance issue, lossy audio compression artifacts or AC hum, they are all detract from the final product and make for an unprofessional sound. Now, I'm in Mississippi, not Dallas -- so forgive me if the big city is free of these problems... But out here in the sticks the mom and pop stations aren't exactly the most technically adept sounding things around. We've got an AM talker whose levels are so low you can't actually hear anyone, an FM public radio satellite that has balance issues, a nice lil' R&B outlet that has a nice 60Hz hum 24/7... And over in Birmigham several of the stations sound like they're running music in the mp2 format at about 112 kbps. Ugh!

Just because I'm a dumb listener doesn't mean I don't notice these things... :

God, yes! All these problems and more! I want to just go and volunteer sometimes.
WSPT? WSBT? in Stevens Point Wisconsin has a NASTY parasitic oscillation somewhere in the xmtr, just tearing it up somewheres in the
20 khz range. So I stopped in in July while I was starting up a press in Stevens Point, to tell them what THEY needed to tell a contract engineer. (Too small to have in-house for sure)

Returned in early October to do an adjustment and correct wiring mistakes by others.

Guess what? Same awful oscillation, like an un-neutralized amp into a linear with no shielding.... Arrrghghh!
Someone would run a station like this? Why? WHY?

How about them splat/clipper analog AMs making splat 60 khz wide?

 

[Accuracy]

KLLI 105.3. I cringe whenever they run a promo for an appearance by a host/"producer", etc. All of their promos are worded exactly the same, just insert name of "talent," sponsor, location, etc. For example:

"Hi, I'm Eric from The Pugs and Kelly show, and I want you to join me Monday night at.......I'l have free Live 105.3 t-shirts......."

The problem is, every spot takes the same format. The other day I heard three promos in a row with same wording for three different
sponsors, except for the "insert your name here" part. Three identical promos in a row. Have they just given up on putting any effort into their product at all?

If you were a sponsor, would you want to be the third promo of the three with the same copy? I've asked before and I'll
ask again, how does Gavin Spittle keep his job?

Another thing to fit this topic: Jagger's show may be good, I don't know. It's hard to tell with four people talking over each other
all the time. Their numbers stink so I can't be the only one bothered by that.