Will Nashville Follow the Trend to Resurrect A Once Popular Format?

[scottwmro]

Like it or not, but the days of these , as someone called them, "Heritage formats" is long gone from regular FM radio. Satellite radio is the place where you can find these formats, however, there is one problem though. Except a few hours a day, the DJs are voice tracked. That spontaneous live DJ thing is gone. The good news is that the deep musical selections more than make up for those lost elements.

I e-mailed one of the KMET FM and KPPC FM progressive radio jock (Cosmos Topper) sometime back. He told me that until a station can play what they want, when they want to play that song, radio will never be the same again. I just do not see programmers being that adventurous ever again. When guys I worked with tell me that The Grateful Dead is not rock and Def Leppard or Boston is the real stuff, well you can determine the state of radio the last several years. Satellite is the new wild wild west. I hope satellite takes off and soars.

You are correct! Satellite Radio is the future of Radio! The NAB might as well shut up and get on the same bandwagon that the consumers are! Terrestrial Radio is dying FAST! As I ride down 386 to Rivergate, I've never seen so many XM receivers in the mounted in the windshields of cars. AM is dead (and I hate to say this even though I own a little AM station) and FM is on it's way, dying! FM saw it's heyday and now it's XM's turn. Satellite Radio is so cheap that anyone can afford it. If they say they can't afford Satellite Radio, I wonder how they afford to pay Comcast, Direct TV, etc, for all the great line up of TV channels they provide?

 

[briancraig]

--Satellite Radio is the future of Radio! The NAB might as well shut up and get on the same bandwagon that the consumers are! Terrestrial Radio is dying FAST! --


As of right now that statement is utter nonsense. 95 percent of all Americans listen to terrestrial radio in a given week. Only 5 percent of Americans listen to satellite radio in a given week. From 2006 to 2007 that number only changed by 1 percent.

 

[radiorob2.0]

My money is on web. Your cell phone, whatever form it takes, is the new millennium pocket transistor radio. Wi-fi is spreading so now the web is almost to the palm of your hands. Somebody might respond to this message via one of those contraptions.

Scott is right, AM, with very few exceptions, is dead. Of course we said that 25 years ago when WABC went talk but today news/talks are starting to move to FM since few under the age of 40 even use AM. FM itself is on borrowed time and will move to the net, along with any remaining AM's, once it's determined there are enough receivers (cell phones or other devices) to have Wi-Fi access.

To think at one time to cover the country you needed a 50kw transmitter hooked up to a diamond shape Blaw-Knox tower. Today internet access allows you to cover the world without the large power bill.

 

[Nock]

As of right now that statement is utter nonsense. 95 percent of all Americans listen to terrestrial radio in a given week. Only 5 percent of Americans listen to satellite radio in a given week. From 2006 to 2007 that number only changed by 1 percent.
[/quote]

That may be the case with satellite however what has been the increase in ipod useage? Has anyone put the new ipod in their hands and given it a test drive? I have, the internet is now in the palm of your hands and so is music from around the world. Apple continues to change the way we listen to music. Check one out I am sure we will hear alot about it this holiday season.

Nock

 

[scottwmro]

--Satellite Radio is the future of Radio! The NAB might as well shut up and get on the same bandwagon that the consumers are! Terrestrial Radio is dying FAST! --


As of right now that statement is utter nonsense. 95 percent of all Americans listen to terrestrial radio in a given week. Only 5 percent of Americans listen to satellite radio in a given week. From 2006 to 2007 that number only changed by 1 percent.

You must NOT own an XM radio. Thirty Bucks for the receiver at Wal-Mart will get you one. Much better quality than FM, and no matter WHAT format or music one like, there is something for everyone on XM. XM can program locally to each market with local news, traffic, weather, etc., but the NAB went to the FCC and got that stopped that due to the fear that it would hurt the current AM & FM stations. I say the NAB is WRONG and that's one of the reasons why I'm not an NAB member any more. They have made a mess of this industry. Get out of the way NAB and let technology take its course.

 

[SwissVol]

It seems to me that terrestrial radio bigwigs are not that concerned about satellite radio just yet, but I think what ScotWMRO meant that the potential of satellite radio could be really special somewhere down the road. As of now, the numbers might not suggest that satellite radio poses any problems other than better music programming options. By better I mean more musical depth. I do not want those of you who have programmed radio stations to get bent thinking I was criticizing what you might have done in your past efforts. But then again, none of you probably ever had the boss say: Let her rip!! Program this puppy as if it were your station.

Radio has been studied, surveyed, coded, consulted, dried, fried, multiplied, freeze dried, shaked and baked and so on and so forth. Satellite offers the consumer a wild wild west approach and in time, could possibly be a problem for regular radio, if not a pain in the ole... lol

 

[SwissVol]

I broke down and got one of those classic ipods. I program my own tunes rather than hit random play. That way I can go from Rogger Mcgguin "It's alright" to Buffalo Springfield to Wishbone Ash to Gov't Mule to Walter Trout without the clash in styles. There is nothing like local radio though. News and information with that local feel. As of now Satelite and ipods just can not deliver much in that area, but what you can do in musical presentations is awesome!!

 

[scottwmro]

It seems to me that terrestrial radio bigwigs are not that concerned about satellite radio just yet, but I think what ScotWMRO meant that the potential of satellite radio could be really special somewhere down the road. As of now, the numbers might not suggest that satellite radio poses any problems other than better music programming options. By better I mean more musical depth. I do not want those of you who have programmed radio stations to get bent thinking I was criticizing what you might have done in your past efforts. But then again, none of you probably ever had the boss say: Let her rip!! Program this puppy as if it were your station.

Radio has been studied, surveyed, coded, consulted, dried, fried, multiplied, freeze dried, shaked and baked and so on and so forth. Satellite offers the consumer a wild wild west approach and in time, could possibly be a problem for regular radio, if not a pain in the ole... lol

\

SwissVol,
I think Satellite Radio is here, although we have seen a decline in receiver sales in the past 2 years, it's still a buyable product & will remain around, just like the FM band did in the 40's-60's. What this means is the programers will need to adjust themselves to this form of media. Satellite Radio can be programed like a "Jack" with no jocks or personallity radio. Lets take Dick Biondi on the Oldies formated FM in Chicago. Right now, his show is just plan local programming for Chicagoland, but with XM, his show can become national or worldwide with our current technology.
XM has the capibility to program locally, but as I said the NAB has got in the way. Otherwise, XM would have taken off like a boom. When the public who still listens to regular ole radio learn about Satellite, they more and more will hop aboard, just like they did when AM was king and FM was struggling to stay on, then in the mid to late 70's, FM was the future.
My views of AM, well, they are mixed. I guess it will die as Rush, Shawn, Phil V. and other major talk programs move to FM. We'll see nothing but religion on AM until these preachers that are on ego trips learn, nobody's listening to AM, it's dead. Then it will be gone.

 

[firepoint525]

Forgive me if inject a few comments about FM 100.1. For a station no one listens to, their fans, what few of them there are, get riled up if too much criticism is directed at that station. I know, I work with a guy who loves this station. When I tel him that they get a new album in the studio and feature one cut for a few weeks, then break out another fresh track from that CD, how is that different than Top 40 radio, other than being more selective to what the National forums call Adult Alternative.

I have never understood how they could call their station progressive. As one who came up in progressive radio, that station does not sound progressive to me.

He gets riled up when I bring up that argument. XM's XM Cafe does a much better job at delivering what I think the format should be. Either that or "The Loft, or a cross between those two channels.

Lightning 100 plays the same singles from the same albums that the other stations play. They've been playing the same tracks by the likes of The Fray and K. T. Tunstall that the other stations have been playing. The main difference is that Lightning 100 tends to break them a couple of months sooner than those other stations start playing them.

I'm still sick of Maroon5 from hearing "This Love" on Lightning 100 so many times! :

 

[SwissVol]

Back in the old days of progressive radio, when a new album came in, the jocks would feature most of the good tracks. Example of that was Led Zeppelin 1. When that album came in, radio was all over it. Just about every track was played. No waiting a few weeks or months before a new track was introduced! Now there were limitations of course. There were some songs that the jocks would stay away from just because those tracks were not appealing enough to the listeners. Even in the early days of freeform rock, there were some limitations. I know some program directors would check certain songs indicating that those songs should never be played.

The freeform era is long gone now. We might as well be talking Moses parting the red sea or something. In many, if not most cases, consultants suggest what songs get played. They get run through the tester to see how well received those songs are. Many songs that once made up oldies and classic rock formats have been tossed into the dustbins, only to be retrieved now and then , such as Labor Day countdowns or A-Z type programs.

I heard a deep cut weekend once on some classic rock station once. That station played "Brown Sugar" by The Stones and called that a deep cut. Excuse me? Deep cut??? Ahh, no!! Perhaps a cut that does not receive any airplay anymore and gets tagged as a deep cut. When a song such as "Brown Sugar by The Stones that was once in heavy rotatation on all top 40 stations, gets tagged as a deep cut or forgotten oldie, well you see the disturbing thing about radio these days. Just my opinions!.

 

[scottwmro]

Back in the old days of progressive radio, when a new album came in, the jocks would feature most of the good tracks. Example of that was Led Zeppelin 1. When that album came in, radio was all over it. Just about every track was played. No waiting a few weeks or months before a new track was introduced! Now there were limitations of course. There were some songs that the jocks would stay away from just because those tracks were not appealing enough to the listeners. Even in the early days of freeform rock, there were some limitations. I know some program directors would check certain songs indicating that those songs should never be played.

The freeform era is long gone now. We might as well be talking Moses parting the red sea or something. In many, if not most cases, consultants suggest what songs get played. They get run through the tester to see how well received those songs are. Many songs that once made up oldies and classic rock formats have been tossed into the dustbins, only to be retrieved now and then , such as Labor Day countdowns or A-Z type programs.

I heard a deep cut weekend once on some classic rock station once. That station played "Brown Sugar" by The Stones and called that a deep cut. Excuse me? Deep cut??? Ahh, no!! Perhaps a cut that does not receive any airplay anymore and gets tagged as a deep cut. When a song such as "Brown Sugar by The Stones that was once in heavy rotatation on all top 40 stations, gets tagged as a deep cut or forgotten oldie, well you see the disturbing thing about radio these days. Just my opinions!.

You are correct, it's too bad that we live in the corporate world. One of my all time favorite jocks of the past was Pete "Maddaddy" Myers, whom in the 50's worked at WHK in Cleveland and in the 60's at WINS and WNEW in NYC. In the late 60's, as program directors and consultants took over scheduling the music to be played each hour, and the jocks freedom to break in new music and artist was taken away because of payola scams, he woke up on morning and was scheduled to work at WNEW-AM 1130 that night. He took a gun and killed himself because of the industry change.

In the late 60's and early 70's, FM was ignored by the masses, so the jocks on the newly perogressive rock station like Bob Cole, Jim Eskew, etc. on KDA-FM, were able to play what they wanted. But by the mid 70's, FM and AM took a sharp turn and the P.D.s and consultants started to ignor the AM's and took over the FMs, as the masses moved to FM in the major and medium markets. By the 80's, they ruled the music world and one time hard rock artist, like say Journey, brought in lead vocalist Steve Perry and they developed "Corporate Rock", played through the 80's and 90's on KDF. Corporate Rock was developed to crossover to CHR and make the artist, the music industry more money. Now they rule the world.

 

[SwissVol]

ScottWRMO, there are some really good articles how progressive radio became AOR. I know Lee Abraham's had a hand in the transformation. Abraham's thought the old progressive radio people were elitist music snobs that ignored some bands and artists.

He wanted to throw out the mosts obscure aspects of the progressive format. You know the story. That "Superstars" format. As you know many of the coolest progressive rock stations in the USA would succumb to the Abraham's formula.

Some jocks refused to go along with this and either quit or either quickly shown the door. The fans of the old progressive radio days were in many case outraged, but over time, those stations picked up newer listeners.

As I recall one of the first radio stations to phase out progressive radio and phase in what would later be called AOR was KLOS FM in LA. But in no way was KLOS a complete sell out though. The jocks might have had more freedom than a typical AOR station of that era. I do not think this was an Abraham's programmed station, but Abrahams would get his hands on one the pioneers of progressive radio later in the seventies. KMET FM would be consulted by the Abraham's formula.

As you said ScotWRMO, back in the late sixties, they were almost giving away radio frequencies. Only those who were music lovers had FM radios. The majority of most listeners only had AM radios. As FM improved the radios and the signals and particularly when the FM radios were widely available in many cars, that is when the corporate bigwigs got their clutches on the FM rock formats.

I know the mention of Lee Abrahams brings out disgust with many radio people. As You all know, he has had a religious transformation in all of this and is now trying to right a big wrong that took place under his directions.

 

[firepoint525]

I heard a deep cut weekend once on some classic rock station once. That station played "Brown Sugar" by The Stones and called that a deep cut. Excuse me? Deep cut??? Ahh, no!! Perhaps a cut that does not receive any airplay anymore and gets tagged as a deep cut. When a song such as "Brown Sugar by The Stones that was once in heavy rotatation on all top 40 stations, gets tagged as a deep cut or forgotten oldie, well you see the disturbing thing about radio these days. Just my opinions!.

I can top that. 105.9 once played "Hey Jude" by the Beatles and called that a "deep cut"! How can the biggest hit by the biggest band ever, be referred to as a "deep cut"? Apparently, "deep cut" is just another radio cliche that is rapidly losing any real meaning!

 

[scottwmro]

ScottWRMO, there are some really good articles how progressive radio became AOR. I know Lee Abraham's had a hand in the transformation. Abraham's thought the old progressive radio people were elitist music snobs that ignored some bands and artists.

He wanted to throw out the mosts obscure aspects of the progressive format. You know the story. That "Superstars" format. As you know many of the coolest progressive rock stations in the USA would succumb to the Abraham's formula.

Some jocks refused to go along with this and either quit or either quickly shown the door. The fans of the old progressive radio days were in many case outraged, but over time, those stations picked up newer listeners.

As I recall one of the first radio stations to phase out progressive radio and phase in what would later be called AOR was KLOS FM in LA. But in no way was KLOS a complete sell out though. The jocks might have had more freedom than a typical AOR station of that era. I do not think this was an Abraham's programmed station, but Abrahams would get his hands on one the pioneers of progressive radio later in the seventies. KMET FM would be consulted by the Abraham's formula.

As you said ScotWRMO, back in the late sixties, they were almost giving away radio frequencies. Only those who were music lovers had FM radios. The majority of most listeners only had AM radios. As FM improved the radios and the signals and particularly when the FM radios were widely available in many cars, that is when the corporate bigwigs got their clutches on the FM rock formats.

I know the mention of Lee Abrahams brings out disgust with many radio people. As You all know, he has had a religious transformation in all of this and is now trying to right a big wrong that took place under his directions.

If I remember correctly, Lee had a major partner in his consulting firm as well. I recall in the early 80's hearing a story or (rumor) of where a consultant wanted to take KDF to an AC format within three years. That's when the guys out of Knoxville brought in Lee & Company and put in the "Superstars" Format.

Think about it, formulas created by Lee and his group are to bring in the masses of listeners to generate big dollar reveune for stations. Lee believed in uniformity, but uniformity that made sense.

 

[SwissVol]

There were several things that spelled the end of progressive rock in the seventies. Of course the formulated music formats of consultant firms, but it was also a changing rock radio audience. As much as that hurts me to say that, that part might have been the biggest thing that ended progressive rock radio.

By 1975, most of the college age folks of the late sixties had aged into their mid to late twenties. Younger kids were hopping on board of the rock format. I remember reading how jocks would get requests from listeners in their late 20's who wanted to hear Bob Dylan or Fairport Convention. The younger audience wanted to hear Black Sabbath, Uriah Heep and Grand Funk and the harder end of the progressive rock format. There was a music clash to some degree.

Abrahams saw this and the rest is history. Ratings is what you all know this business is all about. No ratings means change in formats or the station going out of business.

I remember when KDF FM was bought. There was an article in the Tennessean explaining what the new ownership wanted to do with the rock format. Bob Cole and the late Steve Henderson were jocks at KDF and they had the station sounding pretty damn fine again in terms of rock radio. The new owners came in and said: We plan to make this station that a wide range of listeners can enjoy. :::Gulp:: I knew what that mean because those words have been uttered many times. That mean "Superstars format or worse. As I remember this was right about the time WKQB FM was transforming into Rock 106. We have discussed Rock 106, but I always wanted to know who programmed Rock 106 and did he have pretty wide latitude to program. I always though Rock 106 was more consistent in terms of rock than post Bob Cole, Steve Henderson KDF. That is just my opinion. I remember telling friends that jocks like Dave Walton. Moby and Hunter Harvey were over at 106 and the station was rockin'. Those were names that people knew from KDA FM or KDF FM. Anyway, sorry to ramble, but this , at least to me, is interesting.

 

[scottwmro]

There were several things that spelled the end of progressive rock in the seventies. Of course the formulated music formats of consultant firms, but it was also a changing rock radio audience. As much as that hurts me to say that, that part might have been the biggest thing that ended progressive rock radio.

By 1975, most of the college age folks of the late sixties had aged into their mid to late twenties. Younger kids were hopping on board of the rock format. I remember reading how jocks would get requests from listeners in their late 20's who wanted to hear Bob Dylan or Fairport Convention. The younger audience wanted to hear Black Sabbath, Uriah Heep and Grand Funk and the harder end of the progressive rock format. There was a music clash to some degree.

Abrahams saw this and the rest is history. Ratings is what you all know this business is all about. No ratings means change in formats or the station going out of business.

I remember when KDF FM was bought. There was an article in the Tennessean explaining what the new ownership wanted to do with the rock format. Bob Cole and the late Steve Henderson were jocks at KDF and they had the station sounding pretty damn fine again in terms of rock radio. The new owners came in and said: We plan to make this station that a wide range of listeners can enjoy. :::Gulp:: I knew what that mean because those words have been uttered many times. That mean "Superstars format or worse. As I remember this was right about the time WKQB FM was transforming into Rock 106. We have discussed Rock 106, but I always wanted to know who programmed Rock 106 and did he have pretty wide latitude to program. I always though Rock 106 was more consistent in terms of rock than post Bob Cole, Steve Henderson KDF. That is just my opinion. I remember telling friends that jocks like Dave Walton. Moby and Hunter Harvey were over at 106 and the station was rockin'. Those were names that people knew from KDA FM or KDF FM. Anyway, sorry to ramble, but this , at least to me, is interesting.

Lisa Richards was PD over WQKB at the time. Her and Moby left the market as soon as Sudbrink bought WLAC and WKQB and made a mess of both of them, like bringing Neal Rogers from WNWS in Miami to do talk on WLAC in the early evenings. It took a new owner (before the C.C. days) to straighten the combo out. WLAC should have went back to old R-n-B or straight up "Blues" in the overnight with Spider Hairrison. Spider and I talk on occasion and he's doing o.k. out in L.A. I've suggested the overnight blues idea to the current sale mgr. at WLAC, but he thinks the audience is no longer to be had, and it would be a hard sell, which may be true.

It was interesting the day 105.9 went from AC to Classic Rock in the late 90's. Thier were actually calls to the station from folks saying "We're Glad You're Back", remembering the old Rock 106 days. But honestly, today's 105.9 sounds nowhere near the rock music mix of the old Rock 106.

It's STRANGE to hear that Moby is playing country. I forget what station he's at, but I saw a website a while back with pics of him and his wife. He looks like a settled down ole cowboy! I never thought Moby would play country, but country has changed.

 

[junebaby62]

The good old days of Rock 106, my all-time favorite Nashville radio station. It's sad that when their station changed ownership, that the new owners did'nt like Rock music so they run all the DJ's off by switching formats to easy listening "The Joy of Nashville". The sad thing is that Rock 106 was beating KDF in the ratings at the time, or at least holding it's on.

 

[scottwmro]

The good old days of Rock 106, my all-time favorite Nashville radio station. It's sad that when their station changed ownership, that the new owners did'nt like Rock music so they run all the DJ's off by switching formats to easy listening "The Joy of Nashville". The sad thing is that Rock 106 was beating KDF in the ratings at the time, or at least holding it's on.

Oh, they were beating KDF down hard. 1979-1980 was when bad changes started to happen in Nashville Radio.

In my opinion, WMAK with it's Majik 13 format was starting to sound good, and what George should have done was to have sold it to a major black broadcaster, instead of F.W. Roberts. 1978-1980, WMAK was killing WVOL, especially at night, due to WVOL's highly directional pattern. Chris Romer has metioned many times that he wasn't real fond of that format, but I liked it and it did have a audience.

About that time Rock 106 was really kickin tail! Al Woody in the morning, Sherm at night playing Black Sabbath. That station was doing well. Yes, the old farts of Subrink in FL hated owning a Rock station, so that's why it was change to the S*** of Nashville. The minute Rock 106 was gone, KDF went down hill!

KDF's playlist started to slide as well after the death of Rock 106 on 12/24/80 at 12 Noon (I was listening at that time) . KDF, still claiming to be AOR, was sounding like a "Rockish AC" station. It stay that way for about 3 years or so. That's why talent like Bob Cole and Moby didn't go back to KDF in 1981. The early 80's days for KDF sounded terrible, and what was so funny, the masses called what they played "Hard Rock"? Come on....REO Speedwagon's keep on "Keep on Lovin You" and April Wine's "Just between you and me"......Give me a break, that's not kick butt AOR. That was AC for the day. KDF should have been trackin cuts from Judas Priest, Saxon, Iron Madien, etc. in the early 80's, instead, we heard slow AC ballads from REO, Hall & Oates, April Wine, Juice Newton, etc. You guys have got me on a roll here!

There were other BAD things happening to Nashville Radio in the early 80's that I could go on and on about!

 

[Tibbs4]

I also blamed The Clash and The Police for wimping KDF out. You're spot on Scott. Still not a big fan of April Wine, REO,
boring Styx, etc. Whose fault was it that KDF took the more lightly traveled road? Why doesn't Crum just throw Real
Rock on 97.1 this week, it's past due for a new format of the month. Steal some from The Buzz, a fraction from Jack
and a point or two from The Rock and you have a chance to get a 4.0. Whether you could sell the damn thing is a
good question. Not like it's billing much now, though. Maybe they could sell Rock Block sponsors for $25 an hour or
something unique. That'd be more than it's getting now. AND, they could throw the FAN in on the 'mix' for a buck.

 

[scottwmro]

Fellas,

Check out this link:

http://www.aroundtheblock.us/timeline/

Hudson Alexander did a great website about the WKDA/KDF days.