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What's good in Birmingham
- Thread starter jo-nathan
- Start date
You know, I have both Sirius and XM, and I can't say that any channel on either one is any less cookie-cutter or formulaic than any broadcast station. Yes, there's more niche choices, but the programming itself is very vanilla and bland. And the talent reminds me of the satellite formats of 15 years ago. All that's missing is the "localization bumps" at the end of their patter with obvious tape hiss.
Charles1 said:
Does the advice count if I bought the XM receiver at the Circuit City across from my hotel? LOL
BTW, you're right: B-ham is as cookie cutter as any other market I've ever been to. There was one station (The Vulcan?) that sounded ok but otherwise it's the same stuff old stuff. And can I just say: The Q sucks out loud. Advice to Clear Channel: If your jocks' talk breaks are going to consist of "That was Fergie on 103-7 The Q. For your chance to win free concert tickets be sure to visit 1037theq.com" then don't bother. It was after I heard that that I wheeled into Circuit City's parking lot. Yes, I'm serious. That's the straw that broke the camal's back.
Oxnard, you asked: "What makes a station stand out from Cookie Cutter Radio? Imaging? contests? content? Music features? Or just the music itself?"
What makes a station stand out - in my humble opinion - is localization, and making sure that you are tuned into what people are really interested in hearing about in your format AND your stations' target demo. People can get music from a million places now (even on their cell phones), contests come and go (quick- who won Season 4 of American Idol?), and imaging - though important - I think means more to us radio geeks than the listeners ( when was the last time a listener came up to you and talked about how great a sweeper/bumper was?).
Ya gotta talk about what people in your city are talking about, and ya better know what they are watching/reading/listening to too so you can relate to them. The mindless "air-filler" Charles1 was talking about: "That was Fergie on 103-7 The Q. For your chance to win free concert tickets be sure to visit 1037theq.com" is a prime example.
How do you win the concert tickets? Is it fun? Is it at Oak Mountain or the BJCC? Are they even for Fergie? Did she really piss her pants on stage in that picture of her flying around the internet? That's the stuff people wanna hear, if they're listening to Q 103 that is. I should know. I interviewed to do mornings there three different times (anyone remember Crash or Billy Surf) over four years, and thank GOD, I never got the job.
Any monkey can read a "visit the station website" liner. If you want to take your show to the next level, ya gotta do more than the norm. Always remember - passion begets passion on the radio. Your listeners can sense if you're phoning it in, and they'll punch out ( or flip to satellite or their cell phone or their Ipod or the Internet) if they think that you're just going through the motions and collecting a check.
What makes a station stand out - in my humble opinion - is localization, and making sure that you are tuned into what people are really interested in hearing about in your format AND your stations' target demo. People can get music from a million places now (even on their cell phones), contests come and go (quick- who won Season 4 of American Idol?), and imaging - though important - I think means more to us radio geeks than the listeners ( when was the last time a listener came up to you and talked about how great a sweeper/bumper was?).
Ya gotta talk about what people in your city are talking about, and ya better know what they are watching/reading/listening to too so you can relate to them. The mindless "air-filler" Charles1 was talking about: "That was Fergie on 103-7 The Q. For your chance to win free concert tickets be sure to visit 1037theq.com" is a prime example.
How do you win the concert tickets? Is it fun? Is it at Oak Mountain or the BJCC? Are they even for Fergie? Did she really piss her pants on stage in that picture of her flying around the internet? That's the stuff people wanna hear, if they're listening to Q 103 that is. I should know. I interviewed to do mornings there three different times (anyone remember Crash or Billy Surf) over four years, and thank GOD, I never got the job.
Any monkey can read a "visit the station website" liner. If you want to take your show to the next level, ya gotta do more than the norm. Always remember - passion begets passion on the radio. Your listeners can sense if you're phoning it in, and they'll punch out ( or flip to satellite or their cell phone or their Ipod or the Internet) if they think that you're just going through the motions and collecting a check.
jo-nathan said:
When I lived in Birmingham, I got XM because of talk radio; the sound quality of the music channels was too disappointing to be a serious contender. Well, the SQ went up (then back down after they added MLB and college sports) but now I am hooked. And markets like Birmingham are why XM is my first choice for in-car entertainment.
Sadly the most interesting things to listen to in Birmingham, in my opinion, are on all on AM: WJLD (1400) with their "party blues and oldies" service and then all the Mexican outlets. I'm sure that even these stations are 'off the sat' but they are at least a lil' different.
Right now I'm listening to the 60's on 6 program that plays segments of old top 40 stations of yesteryear. It's a replay on the XMX channel 2 of their salute to WABC in New York. And hearing jock banter and interaction and the general kookiness of their demeanor is just so... Odd. Ya just don't hear that much anymore on the radio.
The closest thing Birmingham has to that is Nick Nice on the Q (love him or hate him at least he isn't just reading liner cards.) Heck, I dunno if he's even on the air anymore since I moved to Mississippi last year. A state, I might add, with worse radio than anywhere "back home"!
If I could pick up Vulcan 105.5 and Rock 99.5 (only to listen to Coyote J's Edge show) on a FM radio from where I'm at in the Huntsville/Gadsden market, then those be the stations I would listen to. Otherwise, I stick with the mp3/cd player.
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