Thoughts on She

[johntherogger]

?

I'm not originally from the Miami market so to me I didn't know anything about "She". Everyone I talk to basically says to me that "Oh yeah She's still around? I didn't know that" as If it never left

Considering it's not a "Rock" station like it once was, how well do you think Clear Channel's plan is working? Using the "She" name has really given them an avenue to lure people to the station (for those who remembered it)

I personally worked and loved this variety hits format...I honestly loved it so much that I never turned off my radio, even through the commercials. But I have read through the message board a bit and saw that most of you think this format may not work in this market.

So I figured let's get a thread started...it's been a couple weeks, imaging has improved and more songs have been added. As a radio professional or what have you, how do you think "She" is doing and where does it go from here?

Let's just play Big Time from Peter Gabriel one more time though ok? Love that song! Coast certainly doesn't play that, and they claim to be the big "80s,90s" station

 

[RadioGuy2004]

As long as SHE's around playing SOMETHING, close enough. Long after the station was gone, you saw the bumper stickers on cars, windows, etc. Still do actually. And they're not the remakes of the web version of SHE.

The blame for the demise of WSHE Mark I lays at the feet of no other than Bud Paxson.

His purchase of 'SHE and 1580 WSRF in 1995 set in motion many changes that resonate to this day - 'SHE getting blown up for Modern AC and calls sent to Orlando, ZETA going from classic to alt rock, WIOD getting gutted, etc., and then he dumped his whole radio division on Clear.

WSHE, the first big station he blew up, is back in some form, ZETA, Love, are long gone. The latter were blown up by Clear and the former was resuscitated by Clear.

Irony sure works in mysterious ways, huh?

 

[johntherogger]

Indeed it does. I do not understand people who blow up stations with a long history of success....even if they are falling apart, they can always be repaired because of their names.

Where I was from in St. Louis they have a few names that could NEVER change or they'd be sorry.

Y-98 has been around since the 80s and it has simply "grown" with the people but everyone still knows "Y-98" no matter what format's on it

KMOX is the same way...the biggest Talker in the Mid-West....call it News/Talk or Newsradio doesn't matter...it's KMOX

KSHE is the ROCK station of St. Louis....classic, new or whatever...people know "KSHE"

The one that shocked me was KEZK...Soft Rock 102.5 had been # 1 for years.....they've upped the pop of the station and changed it to "Fresh 102.5"....no idea why....everyone still calls it KEZK and when they hear "Fresh" they say "huh?"

Bad move in my opinion...change the format? fine, keep the name or face losing the people...that is if the station has been around a long long time though.



In the case of Florida....it's a shocker that Zeta (as popular as it was) is gone...but you can't beat SHE 103.5, 97.3 The Coast, Power 96, Y-100, Big 105.9 and 101.5 Lite FM...they are all "well known" no matter who you talk to.

 

[Time Traveler]

I always listened to WSHE on visits to South Florida in the mid-late 70s....I don't get the varienty hits format though....The concept of Megadeath into Madonna into the Beatles simply doesn't work for me...Maybe thats just me....

 

[johntherogger]

I always listened to WSHE on visits to South Florida in the mid-late 70s....I don't get the varienty hits format though....The concept of Megadeath into Madonna into the Beatles simply doesn't work for me...Maybe thats just me....

It really depends on your taste.....which is what makes radio so cool

I love it...I haven't turned it off once since they signed on. But, then again...I like a lot of music. To me it's an iPod on steroids...great music, fun liners, (hopefully) great DJ's and commercial info (including weather, traffic) about what's going on in town....can't get that on an iPod

 

[longtime listener]

I suppose it was a matter of timing back in the 90's when Clear Channel acquired its various stations in Miami-Ft. Laud, but I always wondered why they didn't just keep 103 SHE as a rocker - even a classic rocker. Would it have made more sense than completely rebranding 105.9 to classic rock BIG which at the time was the station formerly known as WAXY. And 103.5 went thru a succession of failed formats. Oh well, you know what they say about hindsight...

 

[560QAMFAN]

She reminds me of planet 103.5 honestly!

 

[Mike Sheridan]

For many WSHE will never be what it was and that's a free form album rock station. That's radio from another time. The pressure to perform now is too great. You can't go back.

 

[longtime listener]

When i was a little kid, my older brother would listen to SHE in the mid 70s. During the news, they'd play instrumental spaced out music in the background. The end phrase by the laid back reader would be "and that's all the news she's got..." I remember Buzz Kellman as one of the jocks/ readers. Definitely radio from another time.. When I was older and went to BCC, we had a class trip to the SHE studios in the early/mid 80s. They were much slicker then, but it was still pre clear channel. Randi Thomas was midday jock. Now she does voice overs from LA for everything from awards shows to TV stations around the country.

 

[richiedon]

I think they are
1. starting to play more songs that I never heard
but also
2.are repeating songs like Hella Good, I Love Rock and Roll, and Learn To Fly.
You'd think with 10,000 songs they wouldn't play any of them more than once.

 

[sflaboy]

They never said "10,000 different songs" in a row. They are probably playing
The same 500-900 songs 10,000 times in a row! It is corporate radio after all.

 

[Schuyler]

For many WSHE will never be what it was and that's a free form album rock station. That's radio from another time. The pressure to perform now is too great. You can't go back.

That's sadly true, and I think most people who enjoyed free form back in its time have accepted that it's gone. But that's not to say the new SHE couldn't play much of the same music and/or its contemporary counterparts within a formatic structure, rather than pass off that ersatz Mike/Jack/Frank pop variety format as today's WSHE. More like "Sheesh!"

 

[johntherogger]

For many WSHE will never be what it was and that's a free form album rock station. That's radio from another time. The pressure to perform now is too great. You can't go back.

That's sadly true, and I think most people who enjoyed free form back in its time have accepted that it's gone. But that's not to say the new SHE couldn't play much of the same music and/or its contemporary counterparts within a formatic structure, rather than pass off that ersatz Mike/Jack/Frank pop variety format as today's WSHE. More like "Sheesh!"

You don't like that?


See that would be an interesting debate to hold....some people I talk to HATE this format...mind you most of these people are radio people in some way, shape or form.

On the other hand the people I talk to (friends, family, strangers) absolutely LOVE this format, myself included. I like having all these songs in one place. I want to hear them all and the only way i get that is an IPod.

So in my opinion, i'd rather hear liners and commercials than an Ipod with song after song....so interesting

 

[Rosie Maldonado]

They never said "10,000 different songs" in a row. They are probably playing
The same 500-900 songs 10,000 times in a row! It is corporate radio after all.

Agreed.

 

[chrocket87]

You don't like that?

See that would be an interesting debate to hold....some people I talk to HATE this format...mind you most of these people are radio people in some way, shape or form.

On the other hand the people I talk to (friends, family, strangers) absolutely LOVE this format, myself included. I like having all these songs in one place. I want to hear them all and the only way i get that is an IPod.

This. Most people I've met, even people in the 18-35 demo, who aren't really targeted by this format, really like Adult Hits. At least of the people I know who I've talked radio with, music listeners don't seem to care about jocks anymore. It's all about the music. Pretty sad.

 

[Schuyler]

Like whatever kind of music you want; nobody's stopping you. But don't call it "SHE" when it's totally antithetical to what SHE meant to so many for so long. It's a different genre, target, corporate philosophy, everything. It's absurd to brand it that way. That has nothing to do with how many people think the music there now is the greatest thing since indor plumbing.

 

[nfladxer]

So in my opinion, i'd rather hear liners and commercials than an Ipod with song after song....so interesting

Yikes! ???

 

[johntherogger]

You don't like that?

See that would be an interesting debate to hold....some people I talk to HATE this format...mind you most of these people are radio people in some way, shape or form.

On the other hand the people I talk to (friends, family, strangers) absolutely LOVE this format, myself included. I like having all these songs in one place. I want to hear them all and the only way i get that is an IPod.

This. Most people I've met, even people in the 18-35 demo, who aren't really targeted by this format, really like Adult Hits. At least of the people I know who I've talked radio with, music listeners don't seem to care about jocks anymore. It's all about the music. Pretty sad.

Well can you blame them? Corps have tamed down the jocks to the point of where all they do is say the name of the song and the weather report. Now take a jock like Gnarly Charlie....he makes all of his listeners (young and old) want to listen to the music AND the DJ...............but how many of those talents exist anymore? And of them, how many have been constricted by the owners/pd's?

If you mix real Dj's and this format, I could see it being the revitalization of broadcast. It mixes good and good.....that is if they actually do that

they may not do anything which would be sad because a DJ is important whether they believe it or not




@Schuyler I recognize what you're saying but good luck convincing them that. What CC is doing here is using a historic name with a new twist...I assume they are thinking "1. it will bring back any and all listeners who remember she, 2. Will give them the ability to bring the She name back and 3. use the variety hits format to draw in new listeners who think "She" is "jack" or "mike" from other cities"


I see both ways....On one end, it's a win and on the other it's annoying to die hard fans of she...........however in 5months that will be irrelevant because we will stop complaining and more than likely give up the fight, just as the fans of the 80s weekends did when the Coast compromised with their adding of the 90s to a "retro weekend"....people have just gotten flat out lazy


I am not from Florida originally so I know nothing of the She life or name, but it seems that it was "cool" at one point....so for the name sake I hope they make this "she" as cool


@nfladxer lol....thats just the "sum up" way of saying it. I prefer radio vs ipod. Local content, local information, digital processing and the way the music and liners flow makes it worth listening to me. Listening to "just music" is rather boring and i hate waiting for the player to move on to the next song, radio does that for me with "fun" liners and "dj's"....something you won't get on an iPod

 

[nfladxer]

@nfladxer lol....thats just the "sum up" way of saying it. I prefer radio vs ipod. Local content, local information, digital processing and the way the music and liners flow makes it worth listening to me. Listening to "just music" is rather boring and i hate waiting for the player to move on to the next song, radio does that for me with "fun" liners and "dj's"....something you won't get on an iPod

Johntherogger, I've been in the business for quite awhile, and I'm really happy that you still prefer radio over an ipod - that's encouraging! I was just surprised you liked the pre-recorded "liners" and commercials in between the songs, that was a new one on me! LOL But that's what makes broadcasting interesting, just like with music, the same goes for radio formats - in essence, every person has their own unique take on the product. Happy Listening

 

[Mike Sheridan]

I used to listen to the radio to find out what was going on. You don't get that if the show is voice tracked. If they don't care enough to have a DJ show up than why should I show up to listen? Much of radio today is like listening to someone else's iPod (with commercials).

A 3 minute spot break is fine but some go on for 6-7 minutes. That's way too much!