WNOK And then there was one

[snailboy]

Trent- "Less is more?" oh sorry more is less or with Clear Channel.....nothing but AUTOMATION is more. WNOK was a great station back in the days.

 

[CrazeeCarroll1]

That is the Clear Channel way for sure... CC1

 

[Lhsh]

It is not only Clear Channel proigating this style and you have to remember back in the early and middle 70's, WNOK and WZLD both were "automated." This seems to be a trend again these days because many corporate driven stations are finding this a cheap way to run radio.

 

[DudeFan]

WNOK is less one more local person. Wes McCain is LJ Smith's latest victim. McCain shifts to a Premiere Network position after Jan. 8, 2008.

 

[snailboy]

Long as LJ keeps letting people go LJ will have a job. :-\

 

[Hammer5]

Sounds like CC-Columbia could probably have a staff meeting in a booth at the Waffle House on Greystone.

 

[whopper]

If they could trade it out.

 

[DudeFan]

Lol!

 

[PdMdOnAir]

Trent- "Less is more?" oh sorry more is less or with Clear Channel.....nothing but AUTOMATION is more. WNOK was a great station back in the days.

You speak like you have been burned by CC... I just hope WNOK burns to the ground. And it will. It's sad :'( to see something burn like that. In time it will come back ;D...till then... ???

 

[pokerface]

Those were not Drake-Chenault tapes on WNOK-FM in the 70's, they were Century 21. WZLD was running Drake stuff, however.
Interesting side note about how WNOK-FM sounded in the 70's. When the station went Stereo (sometime prior to Top 40), they had two telco lines running from the station to the transmitter...one for left channel, one for right channel...They went through completely different Southern Bell systems. One channel went through 5 points which is prone to flooding. When it rained, the vu meters looked pretty interesting, and the audio was....well................you can imagine.....

I don't know about WNOK in the 70's, but in the mid-late 80s, it was Z-96 that used phone lines to carry it's STL, and it was our line going through 5 points that regularly went down.

As far as what CC is doing, while I emotionally hate the idea of so much voice tracking, it is merely a sign of the times. Like it or not, radio is in decline. It's becoming an ipod world, more so every day, but, that's merely the latest nail in the coffin. Back in the 70s, radio played a much bigger role in peoples' lives. The only real competition for peoples' attention was TV, and there were only a few choices there. Over the last 35 years, as more and more radio and television stations have signed on, as cable TV has grown, as the internet and video games have exploded, as sat radio and ipods have become part of the landscape, people have had many, many more choices in ways to amuse themselves in their free time, and each of those has taken a bite out of radio.

Just as FM in the 80s eclipsed AM, all of the above are deep into the process of eclipsing FM. It's only going to get worse. Look at the complete indifference to HD radio, for example. Change is inevitable.

As radio loses it share of peoples' attention, advertising becomes harder to come by. It's just another reality. Stations are billing less, and that's a trend that is going to continue.

It's not just air talent that has been cut back. I can remember when WNOK had two full time engineers. WCOS had three (one dedicated strictly to remotes). Office staffs are cut back, too.

Understand, I'm not agreeing with these practices, but, I believe you have to understand the realities of the situation, and see what the future holds. As much as I loved radio, it is a medium in decline, and all we're going to see is more cutbacks, not less.

The fact is, if you fully staffed a radio station with great talent, with big research, promotion, and advertising budgets, you still couldn't get the kind of numbers WNOK used to have. Even if you could, you couldn't turn those numbers into the kind of advertising dollars WNOK used to make. The problems of the media itself eclipse the ability of any single radio station to overcome them. As time passes, radio will continue to get smaller and smaller, and there's nothing anyone can do about it.

Here's my favorite WNOK part-timer story. It's the late 80's. WNOK is at the top of the market, and they are literally sold out of commercial inventory from 6a-mid. It's a Sunday afternoon, and I'm driving back from Camden, where I'd ended up spending the night with a girl I'd met at Xanadu (give me a break, it's the 80's).

I listen to WNOK on the way back, and notice the DJ hasn't said a word in the past 4 songs. I keep listening. 4 more songs, no DJ. Just as I pull up at my apartment, I notice a song I'd heard earlier has repeated. I know their power rotation isn't that fast, but, I'm late for another date (give me a break, it was the 80's), and need to grab a shower, so I run in and do so. On the way over to pick up my date, I realize the songs are still repeating, and the DJ has not yet said a word. It's more of the same as we drive to the restaurant.

An hour or so later, we get back in the car, and the songs are still repeating, and the DJ ain't talking. Curiosity overwhelms me, and I drive over to the studios. When I get there, the part-timer who is on the air (I can't remember who it was) is standing by the door, looking very flustered. He tells me he'd loaded up the cart machines with songs, jingles, and sweepers, then run out to his car to get something. He'd accidentally locked himself out!

He said he didn't know anyone's phone number, and was just waiting for someone with a key to notice the problem and come let him in. It had been over 4 hours since he had locked himself out, and no one had caught it yet. I told him if it was me, I'd break the front window out and get back in there. He knew I worked for a competitor, and didn't trust me. He said he was just going to wait. I told him a lot of spots were being missed, and, since no one had access to the remote controls, the station was broadcasting with an unattended transmitter. I promised him I wasn't trying to fool him, and told him again that, if I were in his shoes, I would do whatever it took to get back in that building. He didn't trust me, so I left.

I went by my office and made a few calls to see if I could get ahold of anyone from WNOK's home number, but struck out, so, my date and I went on to the movies. When we went in, the same songs were still repeating. When we came out, normal programming was back on.

I don't remember what the fallout was for that poor DJ, but, remembering that, and many other "spectacular" stories of part-timers' escapades over my years in programming made VTing weekends with Maestro a lot easier to accept years later.