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Tom Kent "Can't"... on DRC-FM

T

TropoDuckie

It's Official... One less local slot on the air and more sydication. Tonite was the start of Tom Kent 7-12PM on DRC-FM. The guy's website says it eminates from his basement and it sure sounds like it. Kent's website also states "We’re on a crusade to end boring radio!" Doesn't sound live, the automation sync is all screwed up and it's certainly not local (from North Carolina perhaps), and it's just the opposite of Rob Ray... it's dull, boring, out of town and out of touch with the interests of DRC's targeted audience. Nothing interesting about the music nor the artists presented. The music seems to be used as filler in between not funny nor engaging bits. Another Tesh wannabe! Just another reason to consider alternative options like streaming something else from another market maybe WLNG Long Island which is live, local and engaging, although not in CT (but they do answer the phone at night and will play any request). "Sheer Idiots" are slowly destroying what little non-daytime audience radio has left. I'm beginning to think that all terrestial radio stations should be all daytimers on AM only. What's the point of having a 24 hour a day signal if the effort to make it worthwhile to listen to after dark is just not put in. Maybe I should be watching TV instead... is it just me... or am I missing something about the appeal of American Idol??? Kent is not even as entertaining! Sorry DRC... But "stick a fork in me... I'm done." :mad:
 
Buckley used to run Kent in that slot at WSEN-FM Syracuse before they sold the station, so maybe he has some connection to management.

Terrible to see 7-12 go satellite like this; it was consistently the most interesting and musically varied daypart on DRC-FM, especially when Grahame Winters and, way before that, Mike Stevens were handling the shift. Rob Ray wasn't bad, but, like Grahame, he has a lot more important stuff on his plate there than doing a DJ shift, live or VT'd. Guess advertising still hasn't come back to the point that they can think of hiring again. At least nobody got laid off ... I hope.
 
CTListener said:
Terrible to see 7-12 go satellite like this; it was consistently the most interesting and musically varied daypart on DRC-FM, especially when Grahame Winters and, way before that, Mike Stevens were handling the shift. Rob Ray wasn't bad, but, like Grahame, he has a lot more important stuff on his plate there than doing a DJ shift, live or VT'd. Guess advertising still hasn't come back to the point that they can think of hiring again. At least nobody got laid off ... I hope.
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Glenn O'Brien and Jack Carney are two other jocks that did that time slot as well. As for lay-offs, I guess we'll find out Saturday at 3PM. That's the other time slot Rob Ray was in.
 
While I haven't listened to Tom Kent on DRC, I have heard him on other stations where he sounds "technically" bland. I'm sure he didn't sound that way on, for instance, WLS. I haven't listened for long to Rick Dees and certain others for the same reason.
 
Wait 'til you hear him say"gargantuan"10 times per show.Very annoying.I listen to him in Portland Maine where they can't seem to get rid of the technical glitches.
 
JPB ENT said:
Is Kent really a good fit for "Good Time Rock 'N' Roll?
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The music is. He's playing hits of the '60s, '70s and '80s, most of which are already on the DRC-FM playlist. Here's tonight's 7-8 p.m. hour:
Stevie Wonder - Signed, Sealed, Delivered I'm Yours
The Bee Gees - Nights On Broadway
Blood, Sweat & Tears - You've Made Me So Very Happy
Supertramp - Goodbye Stranger
Fine Young Cannibals - She Drives Me Crazy
The Doobie Brothers - Listen To The Music
Gwen Mccrae - Rockin' Chair
The Electric Light Orchestra - Don't Bring Me Down
Tommy James & The Shondells - Crystal Blue Persuasion
Badfinger - Come And Get It
Gordon Lightfoot - Sundown

Other than the McCrae and Supertramp tunes, this could be any hour on DRC-FM.
 
CTListener is right, and I'd be surprised if the McRae and Supertramp weren't on DRC-FM as well. I've only heard a bit of Tom Kent in the past, but it's not like the guy lacks credentials. Since I did evenings for six years there, nobody wants localization to go away less than I do, especially on this heritage station. However, this appears to make business sense in today's environment competing against companies that own multiple FMs in the market, Rob and Grahame have lots of other duties, the music is consistent, Ron Sedaille is still local Saturday nights and it's not the first time DRC-FM or other stations have run syndicated programming. They were one of the first Casey Kasem outlets 40 years ago, Westwood One's Oldies Channel ran overnights (and provided Hartford market research for me as MD), there was Dick Clark's Rock, Roll & Remember, Romancin' the Oldies and now there's Charlie Tuna on Sunday nights.

Time will tell whether or not the change works. That will depend on whether the average listener gets what they tune in for.
 
From the sampling I've heard of this guy, I already don't like it. It kinda sucks, since Rachel Lutzker is voice tracked at the same time on WHCN-FM 105.9. I've never liked her and think she's terrible as a disc jockey. Getting back to WDRC-FM, I still heard some of the voice tracked Rob Ray stuff around 1 this morning, so maybe he will still be on this Saturday at 3 PM.
 
TropoDuckie said:
What's the point of having a 24 hour a day signal if the effort to make it worthwhile to listen to after dark is just not put in. Maybe I should be watching TV instead...
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Apparently that's what's going on. Because radio listenership after 7PM drops off the face of the earth. People have 500 choices of cable for entertainment, plus movies, outside activities, and the internet. Radio is something they use going to and from other places. The reason stations are replacing live hosts after 7 is because live & local simply isn't attracting a big enough audience. If it was, they'd stick with it. I've often said that you can almost predict which stations are going to drop local talent by listening to the commercials. If you're hearing more national spots than local, you can expect syndication to come in soon. Say what you will, but Tom Kent is one of the best. His energy level is high, and he actually broadcasts from Cleveland, home of the R&R Hall of Fame. I chuckled at the North Carolina mention, because that's where the late Wolfman Jack did his syndicated show from in the 80s. If it was good for the Wolfman, it's good for today.
 
>>>Say what you will, but Tom Kent is one of the best...<<<???
If he's one of the best... I'll go back to my original contension of placing all stations on the AM band as daytimers only. Maybe the government can sell off the FM spectrum to some corporate interest (get some of our $700B back) and then lease everything out on the AM band at night to Canada... or maybe Cuba! Better use of the spectrum than anything "Kent"... except for maybe "Clark" who this guy must think he is... some "Superman" who's "... on a crusade to end boring radio!"... so his website says. If that's the case... please somebody... please... crucify me!!! This guy could put a speedfreak to sleep with any single one of his totally-not-funny comments alone. You don't have to hear anymore... just a TOTAL and COMPLETE BOREFEST!!! DRC also trashed the most musically diverse best part of the broadcast day for this total dribble??? I'm literally done with radio at this point. Not worth the cost of the electricity!
 
RobertAnthony said:
And you can also blame the government thanks to Telecom 96!
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Nothing in Telecom 96 that has anything to do with syndication. It was being done long before 1996.

If you want to "blame" something, blame a bad economy, and too much competition for advertising.
 
RobertAnthony said:
That's Buckley for you!
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They hung in there longer with live, local programming than CBS or Clear Channel did and really tried a lot of interesting stuff in their attempts to get 7-12 to generate numbers and dollars, but if radio is only being listened to in the car and at work these days, then you're just tossing money into a pit by going local in that timeslot. Again, Rob Ray and Grahame Winters have important behind-the-scenes jobs at the station, so nobody's being hurt here but the fans of the local 7-12 programming -- and they still get five hours of oldies and classic rock hits every weekday, just with a different voice between songs.
 
>>> Again, Rob Ray and Grahme Winters have important behind the scenes jobs at the station--- and they (listeners) still get 5 hours of oldies/classic rock hits every weekday (night), just with a different voice between the songs.<<< NOT!!!

NOT... the same level of diversity of music at all...
NOT... anything to be said ... AT ALL! Even John Tesh does a better job... even with the same recycled bits airing over and over and over and over AGAIN! Tesh has a personna... this guy is vapid!!!
Tom Can't sounded best the first hour 7-8PM on Monday night's premier of the show on DRC... when the automation was screwed up and all you got when Can't spoke was dead air. Since then the automation has been fixed and it's been all downhill since. This guy doesn't even sound good enough to be phoning it in!!! :p
 
TropoDuckie said:
>>> Again, Rob Ray and Grahme Winters have important behind the scenes jobs at the station--- and they (listeners) still get 5 hours of oldies/classic rock hits every weekday (night), just with a different voice between the songs.<<< NOT!!!

NOT... the same level of diversity of music at all...
NOT... anything to be said ... AT ALL! Even John Tesh does a better job... even with the same recycled bits airing over and over and over and over AGAIN! Tesh has a personna... this guy is vapid!!!
Tom Can't sounded best the first hour 7-8PM on Monday night's premier of the show on DRC... when the automation was screwed up and all you got when Can't spoke was dead air. Since then the automation has been fixed and it's been all downhill since. This guy doesn't even sound good enough to be phoning it in!!! :p
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You're assuming that everyone listening was tuning in to hear "The Hunter Gets Captured By the Game" or "The Family of Man" or any of those other oddball "lost hits" rattling around in the Big D hard drive. That's highly unlikely; the average listener has forgotten those songs -- that's why every time the request line is opened they get requests for "Happy Together" or "Brown Eyed Girl." I'm an oldies geek myself and will miss the lesser-known songs, but I repeat, Kent is playing just about everything on the standard DRC playlist plus a few songs DRC hasn't been playing, most of them classic rock titles.
 
CTListener said:
RobertAnthony said:
That's Buckley for you!
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They hung in there longer with live, local programming than CBS or Clear Channel did and really tried a lot of interesting stuff in their attempts to get 7-12 to generate numbers and dollars, but if radio is only being listened to in the car and at work these days, then you're just tossing money into a pit by going local in that timeslot.
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CBS:
WZMX has jocks on the air til 2AM. (3AM on the weekend) Then they flip on the automation.
WRCH is local until Midnite when Delilah comes on.
WTIC-FM uses syndication. They used to have a jock on in overnights.

Clear Channel:
WWYZ uses Premium Choice 7-Midnite and then airs After Midnite 12AM-5AM.
WKSS has jocks until at least 1AM.
WHCN has Rachael Lutzker on at night albeit Voice-Tracked.
WKCI-FM has jocks until 1AM.

The other 2 stations Redwolf's WMRQ and Marlin's WCCC both have jocks in that timeslot. Kaiser is on WMRQ 7-Midnight. Then the automation comes on. And CCC has jocks round the clock I think.
 
MarcB said:
WTIC-FM uses syndication. They used to have a jock on in overnights.
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WTIC-FM still has live jocks overnight 7 days a week, and there's an actual body in the TIC-FM studio 24/7 even during syndication.

MarcB said:
The other 2 stations Redwolf's WMRQ and Marlin's WCCC both have jocks in that timeslot. Kaiser is on WMRQ 7-Midnight. Then the automation comes on. And CCC has jocks round the clock I think.
Click to expand...

WMRQ has traditionally been voicetracked from Ledyard outside of AM Drive. Overnights are tracked too. With the lineup shakeup there may be more live shifts.

WCCC is still live 'round the clock.
 
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