Wasted signals

[gar hi]

Another thing, speaking of programming, that's a pet peeve is when stations that claim to have a specific format sway away from their stated formats.

For example, we had a station that called itself 80s but they would throw in 90s and 70s as well.

Or the stations that call themselves 'Greatest hits of the 90s and today' and then they play some 80s too.

Online stations are notorious for this too. If I'm in the mood for some 70s, I don't want to hear 60s and 80s in there or if I want to hear 90s, I don't want to hear songs from the 2000s.

Do stations do this on purpose because it's some 'trendy' thing they decided we like or is it simply those who program the songs putting those other songs in by mistake?

It's not too much to ask to stick to a stated format, I would think.

 

[w9wi]

- Flip to ??? Probably religion. Maybe Hispanic? (there is no Hispanic FM station in Nashville)

We indirectly have one, part-time, via translator: WAMB (simulcast on 99.3) is Hispanic during overnight hours. I always figured that this was how we would get our first Hispanic station on FM.

And 96.7 in Smyrna relaying 810, but neither one is really much of a signal. FM signals generally trump AM but if the AM is 50,000 watts at the bottom of the dial and the FM is ten watts on a not-particularly-tall tower it doesn't really get the FM advantage

Not that it's anywhere near on topic but I'm utterly amazed we don't have a full-signal Hispanic FM in this market yet. And I do emphasize *yet*.

 

[joebtsflk1]

Growing up in Iowa, AM had a lot bigger advantage with the good ground conductivity. A class C graveyard AM gets out almost as well as a C2 FM. 5000 watt AMs above 1200 kHz do almost as well as most C1s. Of course that's assuming the AM radio is outside away from electrical noise sources.

That being said, I'll echo what someone further up the thread said, that the only wasted signal is a dark signal...if the station isn't on the air more than 540 days after a 3 year period, license goes back to the FCC.

 

[Time Traveler]

WWKBW 1520 in Buffalo might qualify for the list.

But it seems that time has passed them by, too. It might've happened as far back as thirty years. Yet that huge signal remains.
But for whom ?

You can add 1540-WDCD (formerly WPTR) Albany, NY to this list too....50,000 watts of right wing talk....that signs off at 10:00 PM these days....After going dark for a year...

 

[ftballfan]

Growing up in Iowa, AM had a lot bigger advantage with the good ground conductivity. A class C graveyard AM gets out almost as well as a C2 FM. 5000 watt AMs above 1200 kHz do almost as well as most C1s. Of course that's assuming the AM radio is outside away from electrical noise sources.

That being said, I'll echo what someone further up the thread said, that the only wasted signal is a dark signal...if the station isn't on the air more than 540 days after a 3 year period, license goes back to the FCC.

Good point. I'm looking at you, Radioactive LLC (not all signals apply), Cochise Media Licenses, Roy E. Henderson (not all signals apply), and Mt. Rushmore Broadcasting, just to name a few groups.

Back on the AM point, in parts of Michigan, FM translators get out better than some graveyards (WKLA-AM comes to mind here).

 

[firepoint525]

Another thing, speaking of programming, that's a pet peeve is when stations that claim to have a specific format sway away from their stated formats.
For example, we had a station that called itself 80s but they would throw in 90s and 70s as well.
Or the stations that call themselves 'Greatest hits of the 90s and today' and then they play some 80s too.
Online stations are notorious for this too. If I'm in the mood for some 70s, I don't want to hear 60s and 80s in there or if I want to hear 90s, I don't want to hear songs from the 2000s.
Do stations do this on purpose because it's some 'trendy' thing they decided we like or is it simply those who program the songs putting those other songs in by mistake?
It's not too much to ask to stick to a stated format, I would think.

Mustn't risk playing something that someone in some focus group has not heard of before! :

Our "'80s" station (with the slogan, "the best '80s and more") played anything from about 1975 to 1993. But, yes, they left a lot of great '80s tunes completely untouched. : Go figure. They would rather go wide than go "deep."

 

[rbrucecarter5]

I wish that the stations would also test ALL elements of their broadcast programming, and not JUST the music. They might find out that there is very little demand for those stupid morning shows (like Bob & Tom, John Boy & Billy, etc.) that they force upon us. : If just one bad song is a tuneout, then what about four or five hours of lame, NON-musical programming every morning? :

FINALLY somebody said it! Those inane morning shows - I tune them all out. I want MUSIC not some slob with an IQ of 40 talking about whatever comes to their mind - which isn't much.

Thanks, Bruce. I have been saying that for years! Including here. But it often gets buried among a page of replies and is never noticed.

To your 10-point scale, I would also add a deduction of 10 points for laughing at lame jokes, 20 points if laughing at one's own jokes! :

Add a deduction for anything related to bodily fluids.

 

[davideduardo]

Mustn't risk playing something that someone in some focus group has not heard of before!

Misconception:

First, focus groups are not used to test music. Focus groups are open-ended and relatively unstructured, with individual verbal participation. They are used for perceptual research, such as station images, morning show talent, etc.

And in a music test, one or two... or ten... people who "don't know" a song will not affect the results, since "unfamiliar" is generally an option in scoring and library cuts with strong unfamiliars won't get played anyway.

 

[Raider57]

96.7 WKLV is another one. New York lacks an alternative/rock station and 96.7 has the best suburban signal! Yet its wasted on a non local christian contemporary station with 1000's of translators.. I think 96.7 could be put into much better use. I also miss 96.7 the coast, since it was a unique Adult Contemporary station

 

[gar hi]

Mustn't risk playing something that someone in some focus group has not heard of before! Roll Eyes

Our "'80s" station (with the slogan, "the best '80s and more") played anything from about 1975 to 1993. But, yes, they left a lot of great '80s tunes completely untouched. Roll Eyes Go figure. They would rather go wide than go "deep."

Ours was on the air for almost 10 years and played the same very limited song selection the whole time.

How many times a day do you want to hear 'Every Breath You Take by the Police' 'Holiday by Madonna' 'Everybody Have Fun Tonight by Wang Chung' 'What's On Your Mind by Information Society' 'Heart Of Glass by Blondie' (which is 70s not 80s) 'I'm Too Sexy by Right Said Fred' (which is 90s not 80s)

All the time ignoring so many of the countless good 80s songs that bring back memories.

Even people I know said that you could turn on the radio to that station and pretty much guess what you were going to hear.

But that's what we want to hear, right? :

 

[davideduardo]

96.7 WKLV is another one. New York lacks an alternative/rock station and 96.7 has the best suburban signal! Yet its wasted on a non local christian contemporary station with 1000's of translators..

K-Love and Air 1 get very significant audience levels in markets where EMF does subscribe to ratings. And that means that those forms of Christian music programming are well received by a segment of the audience... a fairly large one by today's fragmented standard.

 

[firepoint525]

First, focus groups are not used to test music. Focus groups are open-ended and relatively unstructured, with individual verbal participation. They are used for perceptual research, such as station images, morning show talent, etc.

Well, fine, then. So we have "focus groups" to thank for John Boy & Billy, Bob & Tom, etc. :

 

[firepoint525]

How many times a day do you want to hear 'Every Breath You Take by the Police' 'Holiday by Madonna' 'Everybody Have Fun Tonight by Wang Chung' 'What's On Your Mind by Information Society' 'Heart Of Glass by Blondie' (which is 70s not 80s) 'I'm Too Sexy by Right Said Fred' (which is 90s not 80s)

I remember hearing Kid Kelly on Backtrax USA (the '80s edition) playing "Heart of Glass" and then back-announcing it by saying that it was from 1980! No, it was from 1979. If you wanted to play Blondie from 1980, you would play either "Call Me" or "The Tide is High." I am not altogether against playing something from outside of one's "own" decade, just don't misrepresent it as being from that decade. I was in high school during Blondie's heyday. I can definitely remember what years that certain songs of theirs were hits.

 

[davideduardo]

First, focus groups are not used to test music. Focus groups are open-ended and relatively unstructured, with individual verbal participation. They are used for perceptual research, such as station images, morning show talent, etc.

Well, fine, then. So we have "focus groups" to thank for John Boy & Billy, Bob & Tom, etc. :

;D Not really. You just mostly have very good Arbitron ratings to blame!

 

[firepoint525]

First, focus groups are not used to test music. Focus groups are open-ended and relatively unstructured, with individual verbal participation. They are used for perceptual research, such as station images, morning show talent, etc.

Well, fine, then. So we have "focus groups" to thank for John Boy & Billy, Bob & Tom, etc. :

;D Not really. You just mostly have very good Arbitron ratings to blame!

Well, let's see, there's...

John Boy & Billy
Bob & Tom
Rick & Bubba
Bob & Sheri
Free Beer & Hot Wings

I'm sure that there are many more that I have forgotten, but seriously, if we want to hear music, what choice do we have? Our own CD players? Well, you just lost a(nother) listener!

 

[gar hi]

I remember hearing Kid Kelly on Backtrax USA (the '80s edition) playing "Heart of Glass" and then back-announcing it by saying that it was from 1980! No, it was from 1979. If you wanted to play Blondie from 1980, you would play either "Call Me" or "The Tide is High." I am not altogether against playing something from outside of one's "own" decade, just don't misrepresent it as being from that decade.

So I guess it was decided for us that Heart of Glass is an 80s song. :

Blondie was a punk/new wave band but Heart of Glass was considered Disco and came along when Disco was still big on top 40.

But Disco quickly became pretty much dead by 1980.

No way that song should be on any 80s playlist.

Did some survey group decide that for us that it's 80s?

 

[davideduardo]

Did some survey group decide that for us that it's 80s?

It's much more likely that somebody in the food chain made a mistake as to the year of a song. Or they took a chart date from the tail end of the song's run instead of the debut as a reference.

 

[bobdavcav]

I do know that some songs have been released several times. I've seen stuff on ITunes that have the year as 1997 and the same song having the year as 1998. My guess is that the single was released at the end of 1979 and the album released in 1980.

 

[Schroedingers Cat]

Joel Whiburn has one publication that shows the debut date of a record, and another the date of the PEAK chart position of the record.

 

[gar hi]

My guess is that the single was released at the end of 1979 and the album released in 1980.

I remember very well when Heart of Glass was a big single. It was released in the early part of 1979, peaked as high as it would get in the spring, and was well gone off the charts by the end of the year.

The album it's from was released in the fall of 1978.

Doesn't belong at all in the category of 80s.