WBLM overnites

[True Grit]

Made a quick down-and-back to Manchester yesterday and was listening to 'BLM on the return trip. Sounded odd, both in terms of music mix ('Valley Girl'? REO Speedwagon and Journey back-to-back?) and formatics (a lot of dead rolls). I havn't listened to them in years, so maybe this is normal, but it sure sounded different than the reputation it has.

 

[True Grit]

dead cold rolls, sorry.

 

[Nova931]

Did you happen to hear if there was a jock on the air? Ron Brown "The Red-Eyed Rocker" is legendary on WBLM, doing his own thing on the overnights. Most nights he does a themed block at 3am (The 3 O'clock break) and every song is picked out by third shifters. Listening to his show you would think that every single person who happens to be awake is listening to WBLM. He also loves to share fun facts about the music and does lots of prep. You'll almost never hear Ron Brown read a liner card or back to front sell without offering the listener some sort of compelling content. He also loves to "dig deep in the WBLM archives" and play songs you would never hear during the day. It's too bad the rest of the airstaff (particularly weekend and evening) can't follow his lead.

The only problem is that he is not always on the air. On nights he has lots of production to do he won't go on the air at all and WBLM will run jockless through the overnight. He even admits this on the air. I wish I had that kind of freedom when I did overnights on WKIT up in Bangor!

 

[True Grit]

Did you happen to hear if there was a jock on the air? Ron Brown "The Red-Eyed Rocker" is legendary on WBLM, doing his own thing on the overnights. Most nights he does a themed block at 3am (The 3 O'clock break) and every song is picked out by third shifters. Listening to his show you would think that every single person who happens to be awake is listening to WBLM. He also loves to share fun facts about the music and does lots of prep. You'll almost never hear Ron Brown read a liner card or back to front sell without offering the listener some sort of compelling content. He also loves to "dig deep in the WBLM archives" and play songs you would never hear during the day. It's too bad the rest of the airstaff (particularly weekend and evening) can't follow his lead.

The only problem is that he is not always on the air. On nights he has lots of production to do he won't go on the air at all and WBLM will run jockless through the overnight. He even admits this on the air. I wish I had that kind of freedom when I did overnights on WKIT up in Bangor!

There was a guy on, but I didn't catch his name. Also don't know if he was live, but live or tracked, there's no excuse for the cold rolls and (to me) odd music mix.

 

[Underminer]

Seriously. If you're a loyal Blimp overnighter, do you really want to hear that your favorite jock has too much production to do so you're just getting the run-of-the-mill music? Do you really want to be thought of as an afterthought to the commercials? Bush league. No wonder BLM is sliding ever further down the toilet.

Besides, the Red Eyed Rocker has to be one of the most cliche-ridden, boring jocks I've ever heard. Awful.

 

[coz]

Shouldn't we be happy that an Overnight shift even exists anymore? In whatever form? You folks never cease to amaze me in your comment on our dying medium. I knew Ron Brown he is a hard working blue collar guy who took a lot of crap and stayed right were he was because he loves to be on the radio. I loved to be on the radio. Some props for the folks taking the hit and marching on. Teddy Mckay also comes to mind.
http://www.wjbq.com/showdj.asp?DJID=40916

~C.O.Z~

 

[radiothis!]

Several of the above posts demonstrate why this medium is going the way of dinosaurs and Ricky Martin.

Seriously? You're worried about formatics and "cliched" on-air names on an overnight shift? At least one of you works at a cluster that is possibly more concerned about dress code than on-air product.

I used to work third shift (fairly recently) and Ron was worshipped. With good reason. I don't need another "that was that song, this is this song"/I tracked this at 2pm but "hey all you third shifters" when I'm working 9p to 5a. Being able to relate to your core audience should mean something in radio.

Sorry about yet another rant. I just hate to see a guy getting shot down for originality in this day and age. It's like hanging out with the dance band on the Titanic.

(Disclaimer: I do not know, have never hung out with, am not employed by any one at Citadel. Maybe they are a bunch of jerkfaces. But it seems doubtful. In fact, from my listener perspective, it sounds like they love radio... even in the face of crappy benny cutbacks and staff layoffs. There are definitely a handful of people at all our local radio clusters who fit that description--and more power to 'em. I like to think the average listener notices. But I've been dead wrong before. See my previous posts.)

 

[True Grit]

I like to think the average listener notices. But I've been dead wrong before. See my previous posts.)

I'd like to think they care, too. But perhaps the things being discussed in this thread are minutiae and not even recognizable to the 'dancing peasants' (as a consultant I once worked with referred to the listeners as)