WKAK is now Nash-FM...

[radioboy]

So do you like it better than it was as K-Country, or not?

At least John Blake and Jaxon Riley are still on the air. I listened via iHeart but am not sure if they have changed the playlist or not.

 

[Bengalsfan]

It saddens me that these consolidators have no attachment to history. It's been K-Country for as long as I can remember (mid 80s) and that's what 99% of the listeners know it as. Could they not do the "Nash" format but keep the K-country name?

 

[radioboy]

Bengals,

At first it seemed like that is the way they were going to do it, but no such luck.

I just don't like this branding very well.

 

[Poledo]

It's Albany. It's Cumulus. Does anyone really care?

 

[radioboy]

Not that much. I DO like Jaxon Riley, though - one radio veteran still on the air.

And it is still better than CC Tallahassee's country station, which has never been "wonderful."

 

[Poledo]

Which big country station is tops in Albany/SW GA, Cumulus' WKAK or CC's WOBB? Or do most folks listen to the smaller local signals outside of the Albany metro?

 

[Bengalsfan]

It's Albany. It's Cumulus. Does anyone really care?

It seems you care enough to respond. So I guess you answered your own question.

 

[Bengalsfan]

Not that much. I DO like Jaxon Riley, though - one radio veteran still on the air.

And it is still better than CC Tallahassee's country station, which has never been "wonderful."

I worked with Jaxon over at Fox 31 20 years ago! My how time flies. Anyway, I haven't listened to country radio in 15 years. Not since "country" turned into pop. Give me Waylon over 90% of this crap that goes for country any day.

 

[Poledo]

It's Albany. It's Cumulus. Does anyone really care?

It seems you care enough to respond. So I guess you answered your own question.

Yeah, I guess I do. But Albany-Daughtry County such a crappy place that it seems like the perfect market to try out this new national format Cumulus is working on. I don't really understand why CC and Cumulus even have clusters in Albany unless it's just the convenient location between Macon, Columbus and Tally.

You know something about the market that I haven't thought of?

 

[nuffsaid]

There is some fairly good revenue in that maraket!

 

[Bengalsfan]

You know something about the market that I haven't thought of?

Yea, it makes money. That's all they care about.

 

[Gerry Marshall]

Folks, programming and branding moves, like NASH, are pretty much going to be what we're going to see from here on out. My theory is that terrestrial radio is moving toward emulating satellite radio in that no matter where you go, you can still hear the same station name, format, music, and personalities. I think this could have started a couple of years earlier if it had not been for the economy going into the crapper. Then they had to concentrate on just staying in business! As for country radio, I think the Cumulus hiring of Blair Gardner for the live New York NASH morning show is the first step to a morning drive vehicle that all NASH stations will be required to carry, with slots for quick local news, wx, traffic, etc. Again, this is just my theory and I could be wrong...because God knows I have been wrong many times over!! But the logic seems to make sense. For me, the bottom line is not being frustrated at where radio is going, but I mourn for the loss of what made radio stations the great media outlets that they have always been...communty-oriented...local and very, very personal to the listener. Any other thoughts? I'd love to hear what you folks think. Thanks for letting me pitch in my two cents..which, BTW, is all I have right now!

 

[Bengalsfan]

Folks, programming and branding moves, like NASH, are pretty much going to be what we're going to see from here on out. My theory is that terrestrial radio is moving toward emulating satellite radio in that no matter where you go, you can still hear the same station name, format, music, and personalities. I think this could have started a couple of years earlier if it had not been for the economy going into the crapper. Then they had to concentrate on just staying in business! As for country radio, I think the Cumulus hiring of Blair Gardner for the live New York NASH morning show is the first step to a morning drive vehicle that all NASH stations will be required to carry, with slots for quick local news, wx, traffic, etc. Again, this is just my theory and I could be wrong...because God knows I have been wrong many times over!! But the logic seems to make sense. For me, the bottom line is not being frustrated at where radio is going, but I mourn for the loss of what made radio stations the great media outlets that they have always been...communty-oriented...local and very, very personal to the listener. Any other thoughts? I'd love to hear what you folks think. Thanks for letting me pitch in my two cents..which, BTW, is all I have right now!

Excellent Gerry. Couldn't have said it better myself. What made the stations so attractive to begin with is what the big consolidators are now pulling out of it. When you guys were at WDEN in Macon, it was a popular (and high billing) station because it was local to middle Georgia. Same thing with K-Country in Albany and Kicks in Atlanta. Now, Cumulus is taking what made the stations so popular away. There's no way that Gardner from New York is going to be able to reach out and touch folks the way you and Laura and Rick and Tom did in Macon. The million dollar question is, what do they do with the stations when they've squeezed all the life out of them? Where do they go from there? If there is any place to go.

 

[Witchlover]

My personal philosophy, from the time I was a kid twisting the dial of Mom's old GE portable in the kitchen, is that radio works best as a local medium. What the consolidators lack is long-term vision. Bengalsfan asked where the consolidators go after they have succeeded in homogenizing all of the fine local stations into a monotone of canned playlists, national hosts and voice tracks. The answer is: They don't know and they don't much care. Their vision isn't the tradition that is years in the making; their vision is next quarter's P&L statement. When they have killed off radio, they will abandon the business and go in search of other prey. What's left? It does not matter to them. They are not broadcasters, not as I understand the word.

 

[nuffsaid]

If you read the trades you know the new morning show at Nash in NY is not scoring well with the listeners. They are basically saying the same thing we hear in other markets, "if I wanted to hear a lot of talk and miningless chatter I've listen any other station in town"! I feel the jury is way out on this new morning show as it apperas it's the same old chit chat with little to know local involvement and certainly not a lot of music. Think I would have puton a real music intense morning show with some local traffic, news, and weather until I knew how the listeners were going to react. Think the are hearing it loud and clear the listeners are not overly fond of the new morning show on Nash!

 

[Bengalsfan]

If you read the trades you know the new morning show at Nash in NY is not scoring well with the listeners.

Duh. I could have told them that before they spent the millions of dollars to put it on the air!

Think the are hearing it loud and clear the listeners are not overly fond of the new morning show on Nash!

Don't think for a second that's not going to stop them from continuing with it.

 

[Witchlover]

Don't think for a second that's not going to stop them from continuing with it.

Of course they'll continue with the show: They are the radio experts. We're just nobodies out in Flyoverville who don't know what we ought to be listening to, and are not smart enough to recognize genius when we encounter it.

 

[Gerry Marshall]

Sometimes I tend to think of radio as another form of M*A*S*H. The people in the trenches have the right gut feel and knowhow to get things done while the big brass sits back, smoking ceee-gaarrss trying to out do each other! When it comes to on-air and production folks, it's like BJ Honeycutt said in one episode, "What do we know...a-hilk, a-hilk! We're just a bunch of dumb doctors (djs)...a-hilk, a-hilk!!"

 

[htowler]

Guess kix 96 will change soon too in Savannah

 

[Witchlover]

Guess kix 96 will change soon too in Savannah

I think they will change to bring Savannah's stations into line with the programming philosophy. There is no compelling reason that I can think of why KIX 96 would not change.