WERS

[Wimmmex]

Of course every independent station needs to stay alive, but at the end of the day this is a college station that happens to have a decent signal.

And...what? You have higher expectations because it has a better signal? It's still a college station, with almost no payroll, no news department, and less and less student interest. Have you found many young people interested in radio these days?)

Are you sure Emerson would never part with it?

Pretty sure.

What's it's purpose now?

Prestige?

How many students actually get to be part and learn from it's operation...

As many as want to.

or does it actually make money?

My understanding is that it's fully funded by the college. Any revenue it generates through donations is gravy.

Now, how many students are involved with WUMB?

 

[Eli Polonsky]

Now, how many students are involved with WUMB?

None as far as I know, maybe some in volunteer off-air background intern positions.

 

[inorm99]

Most stations that had specialty shows at night or on the weekend decided that stations in 2023 can't be playing 12 different kinds of music (Sun AM Jazz, Country Oldies, Lost 45's, etc.)

WERS did much the same, eliminating many specialty shows, and focusing on their core audience and programming, attempting to get a much more stable cume and more opportunities for the P1's to not tune in and hear something they don't like (Like "the playground"?) ;-)

Commercial stations made the stupid decisions to take away the specials on Sunday nights, and then some moron who has a history of programming boring commercial stations, is hired by WERS to turn a college station into an even more boring, non commercial station.
This is why commercial stations are S$%t, and now you can expect the young folks, and the older ones like me, who are musicologists the ones that are left, to tune out completely.
F ing stupid.
Morons

 

[SomeRadioGuy]

Commercial stations made the stupid decisions to take away the specials on Sunday nights, and then some moron who has a history of programming boring commercial stations, is hired by WERS to turn a college station into an even more boring, non commercial station.
This is why commercial stations are S$%t, and now you can expect the young folks, and the older ones like me, who are musicologists the ones that are left, to tune out completely.
F ing stupid.
Morons

How is a hodge podge messy smograsboard financially viable in a big city?

 

[Wimmmex]

This is why commercial stations are S$%t, and now you can expect the young folks, and the older ones like me, who are musicologists the ones that are left, to tune out completely.
F ing stupid.
Morons

I'm sorry, but I've looked and I can't seem to find the one positive post of yours. Maybe you can point it out to me?

 

[theotherguy]

Commercial stations made the stupid decisions to take away the specials on Sunday nights, and then some moron who has a history of programming boring commercial stations, is hired by WERS to turn a college station into an even more boring, non commercial station.
This is why commercial stations are S$%t, and now you can expect the young folks, and the older ones like me, who are musicologists the ones that are left, to tune out completely.
F ing stupid.
Morons

You are completely correct. I'm assuming other people on this board are alumni of WERS and I understand their loyalty and defense of it, but if I was an alumni I'd be completely disgusted by what that station has turned into from even 10 years ago.

 

[theotherguy]

Just did some digging - I've met many people who have proudly graduated with a radio specific degree from Emerson College. Looks like that was washed away into some sort of generic media arts degree. So does that mean WERS is now just a boring noncom Triple A station that happens to be owed by a college with a few student volunteers?

 

[CTListener]

I'm sorry, but I've looked and I can't seem to find the one positive post of yours. Maybe you can point it out to me?

It's beyond "Get off my lawn." Norm's gone full "Get off my planet!"

 

[CTListener]

Just did some digging - I've met many people who have proudly graduated with a radio specific degree from Emerson College. Looks like that was washed away into some sort of generic media arts degree.

As well it should be. Radio no longer stands alone in the media universe. It is part of the audio communications sector that includes internet broadcasting and other streaming media.

 

[TheBigA]

Just did some digging - I've met many people who have proudly graduated with a radio specific degree from Emerson College. Looks like that was washed away into some sort of generic media arts degree.

I've talked to university people about that. Radio isn't what it was 50 years ago. They used to teach script writing and performance. That's another word for speech. Those are great talents, but not as useful or as marketable today. Radio is more than opening a microphone and talking. The platform is much bigger that a tower and transmitters. People are looking for unique content, but they want to be able to listen to it on their schedule. So that's what Emerson is teaching now. Talking unique content and packaging it in a way that's more useful for the audience than accidently hearing a song that you might like. If that's what you want to do, there's this thing called YouTube. The way people use radio has changed, so schools like Emerson have to change the way they teach it.

 

[MassMusicMan]

and then some moron who has a history of programming boring commercial stations

Your "moron" is brilliant, kind, and funny. (Expletive) your nonsense.

 

[davideduardo]

This is why commercial stations are S$%t, and now you can expect the young folks, and the older ones like me, who are musicologists the ones that are left, to tune out completely.

I had to look up "musicologist" as I don't think I have ever heard or seen the term before (that is how obtuse and obscure it is!):

"Musicologists are scholars of music who consider the relationship between music and various subjects including geography, aesthetics, politics, race theory, gender theory, neuropsychology, and more."

(From the Berklee College of Music)

Also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musicology

I would hope any music station I've ever been involved with is fun, entertaining and simple to listen to and does not require a university degree and a knowledge of the psychological and sociological ramifications of music to listen to.

I deleted your expletives as they are not necessary. If you don't like a station, today you have about 10⁶ number of choices elsewhere.

 

[inorm99]

I had to look up "musicologist" as I don't think I have ever heard or seen the term before (that is how obtuse

I would hope any music station I've ever been If you don't like a station, today you have about 10⁶ number of choices elsewhere.

I would hope any music station I've ever been involved with is fun, entertaining and simple to listen to and does not require a university degree and a knowledge of the psychological and sociological ramifications of music to listen to.

You Would hope.
Unfortunately, all one have to do is turn on the radio, and observe how little fun pop radio is, and then hear a non comm. college station in a city that used to be a hotbed of innovative radio and a vibrant club scene which is all but gone, and WERS, switch to a boring, stale playlist , with announcers whose enthusiasm sounding forced, and a disingenuous, and inaccurate identifier that states " music discovery ".
And David, judging from your posts, and your rebuttals, you have your own agenda , which is neither fresh, exciting nor fun.
And as far as my use of the word musicologist, it's not as a curriculum culminating with a degree, but I've heard the word musicologist as more of a colloquialism for a radio announcer, and, or programmer who puts music, that is played on a station with a wide playlist above the priority of a radio station being strictly a business.
And what I notice out here on the
" radiodiscussions "is the polar opposite.

As far as my expletives go, I'm trying not to use them, but sometimes they slip out, when I get the types of responses , and comments out here what I feel are staid, and repetitive, and sometimes rather obnoxious.

It's been suggested that I could be banned from here, and frankly, if you feel you should, then go ahead, it's not my board

If you don't like a station, today you have about 10⁶ number of choices elsewhere.

No David, and you know it as well, having 10 clones are not 10 other choices

 

[davideduardo]

Unfortunately, all one have to do is turn on the radio, and observe how little fun pop radio is, and then hear a non comm. college station in a city that used to be a hotbed of innovative radio and a vibrant club scene which is all but gone, and WERS, switch to a boring, stale playlist , with announcers whose enthusiasm sounding forced, and a disingenuous, and inaccurate identifier that states " music discovery ".

Yet it is more than likely that the new, more unified and predictable format will attract more listeners than one that often is doing "not what I came to hear" when listeners turn on their radio or streaming device.

And David, judging from your posts, and your rebuttals, you have your own agenda , which is neither fresh, exciting nor fun.

Yeah, right. One of my better achievements was doing a "morning shows all day" entertainment format with music in market #14 and keeping it #1 in a 120 station competitive situation for over 25 years. Or doing a rock format with personalities, frequent live artist hours in prime midday hours and music only done by local artists in a market bigger than New York City where we were #1 with around a 20 share. And so on...

And as far as my use of the word musicologist, it's not as a curriculum culminating with a degree, but I've heard the word musicologist as more of a colloquialism for a radio announcer, and, or programmer who puts music, that is played on a station with a wide playlist above the priority of a radio station being strictly a business.

A commercial station that is not run as a business will not be in business long. And the business will only succeed if it has lots of listeners. Your statement basically recommends playing "lots of songs" which means going beyond those that research shows people want to hear and, thus, playing stiffs. No, I don't do that.

As far as my expletives go, I'm trying not to use them, but sometimes they slip out, when I get the types of responses , and comments out here what I feel are staid, and repetitive, and sometimes rather obnoxious.

Then present the counter point to the point of those responses. Otherwise, you sound like "F it, I'm taking my ball and going home..."

It's been suggested that I could be banned from here, and frankly, if you feel you should, then go ahead, it's not my board

Nobody who could ban you has suggested that. But you might reason your contrarian viewpoints rather than using the F-word.

No David, and you know it as well, having 10 clones are not 10 other choices

There are thousands of world-wide streamed web-only and local radio stations that are, in many cases, vastly different from each other. On the other had, music stations in a similar format in different cities are naturally and normally going to play about the same songs... as it has been since the first all-music format was created in 1951/2 in Omaha.

 

[vmorrison99]

And...what? You have higher expectations because it has a better signal? It's still a college station, with almost no payroll, no news department, and less and less student interest. Have you found many young people interested in radio these days?)



Pretty sure.



Prestige?



As many as want to.



My understanding is that it's fully funded by the college. Any revenue it generates through donations is gravy.

Now, how many students are involved with WUMB

Emerson stopped funding WERS a few years ago. When I was a student the completion for a shift on ERS was fierce. I was told by an ERS staffer that these days not many students are interested in working at ERS especially without being paid. Emerson also eliminated the radio concentration that was part of the Mass Communication major.

 

[Wimmmex]

Emerson stopped funding WERS a few years ago. When I was a student the completion [SIC] for a shift on ERS was fierce. I was told by an ERS staffer that these days not many students are interested in working at ERS especially without being paid. Emerson also eliminated the radio concentration that was part of the Mass Communication major.

Thats not my understanding....but things may have changed.

I was told by an ERS staffer that these days not many students are interested in working at ERS especially without being paid.

Emerson also eliminated the radio concentration that was part of the Mass Communication major.

Paid? For an extra-curricular? ;-)

Emerson eliminated the Radio major, because fewer people were interested in it. The apathy for all radio is evident and less and less students want to pursue a career in radio. (I could be snarky and say: "Can you blame them?")

 

[TheBigA]

Emerson also eliminated the radio concentration that was part of the Mass Communication major.

Because the concept of "radio" has changed to encompass other things, such as digital editing, social media, and voice-tracking. That becomes a very different kind of curriculum. Radio as it was known is part of a much bigger field known as "audio." You're not learning how to baby-sit a console, cue up records, or the history of NBC. You're learning a more useful set of skills that can be used in podcasting, satellite radio, or even internet media.

Students would be more willing to do WERS if it was more of a sandbox station where they can play whatever they want. That's better suited for an internet station. The purpose of WERS is more of a real-life experience, and that appeals to a more limited group.

 

[Eli Polonsky]

Students would be more willing to do WERS if it was more of a sandbox station where they can play whatever they want. That's better suited for an internet station. The purpose of WERS is more of a real-life experience, and that appeals to a more limited group.

Emerson still has all-student internet-only station "WECB" for that.

Formerly a very low power station sending carrier-current AM and FM signals into campus dorms, WECB is now internet-only.

 

[inorm99]

I'm sorry, but I've looked and I can't seem to find the one positive post of yours. Maybe you can point it out to me?

I've looked, and listened, and I can't find one positive thing about local commercial radio, but thanks for the free analysis

 

[Wimmmex]

I've looked, and listened, and I can't find one positive thing about local commercial radio, but thanks for the free analysis

Apparently not one positive thing about WBUR, WGBH, WUMB, or WERS either.....

Just whining and complaining.