OK... is it just me or are the songs on ZXL fast? I know this is common practice on CHR radio, but rock? I heard a song on ZXL and MGM close together and ZXL sounds ridiculous.... what are they trying to do, fit in more commercials?
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'ZXL on helium?
- Thread starter Up_N_Down_The_Dial
- Start date
Perhaps not helium, whomever came up with that concept is on CRACK! I don't even like it when a CHR does this (Q102 and WCAU-FM back in the day were notorious for this practice).
Gary Fischer ordered this move shortly after taking over the group from VinRah of new jersey. Which was HOW many years ago?
They have been unlistenable for the same amount of time. The results you get when someone runs the station from a bean counter viewpoint. He has no interest in what good programming could or should be, nor does he care. On top of all that he's a METS fan Too... (sorry I couldn't help myself)
They have been unlistenable for the same amount of time. The results you get when someone runs the station from a bean counter viewpoint. He has no interest in what good programming could or should be, nor does he care. On top of all that he's a METS fan Too... (sorry I couldn't help myself)
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Soon Yi CIV.V
Guest
Have you ever tried listening to WAYV (Gary's CHR down there)? Talk about grating. Does pitching up 10 songs in an hour even gives enough wiggle room for an additional ad? I mean, really... How many more ads per day can they fit in with this awful practice? At any rate, radio's not about listeners and that's why these stations have sounded like shizznit for so long.
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eyg2181
Guest
wow, i have NEVER heard of a rock station speeding up the songs. if your in wildwood area, just put on 93.3 or 93.5.
GSP163 said:
So is 103.7 .... but BETTER YET ... so is 100.7 Maybe 1 listener in 100 even notices
the music is pitched up a little. It makes the other stations sound slower if you are
used to listening to it. Bottom line, people like local stations. If you are in Cape May
County, you stick with YOUR station, not some hillbillies out of Delaware or city
slickers out of Atlantic City.
Some obsevartions.
1. WZXL studio is about 1000 yards from the "city slicker" Atlantic City border. It left Wildwood years ago.
2. Those "hillbillies" in DE had enough sense NOT to vote criminals back into office (Torecelli) while the Governor was running around with the State Police guarding he and his boyfriend. Their state is also rediculously business friendly and some how manages not to float out to sea because it doesn't have 7%^ sales tax...it has none. Yeah, NJ, home of the brilliant "what's in it for me?" voter and bankrupt coffers.
3. Personal opinion: Speeding up "Stairway To Heaven" or "Lucky Man" changes the key from a minor to a natural, or worse, a major. It ruins the mood of the song intended by the artist, and just sounds plain silly.
Top 40 is one thing, but Rock? Just my opinion.
1. WZXL studio is about 1000 yards from the "city slicker" Atlantic City border. It left Wildwood years ago.
2. Those "hillbillies" in DE had enough sense NOT to vote criminals back into office (Torecelli) while the Governor was running around with the State Police guarding he and his boyfriend. Their state is also rediculously business friendly and some how manages not to float out to sea because it doesn't have 7%^ sales tax...it has none. Yeah, NJ, home of the brilliant "what's in it for me?" voter and bankrupt coffers.
3. Personal opinion: Speeding up "Stairway To Heaven" or "Lucky Man" changes the key from a minor to a natural, or worse, a major. It ruins the mood of the song intended by the artist, and just sounds plain silly.
Top 40 is one thing, but Rock? Just my opinion.
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eyg2181
Guest
amfmsw said:
i agree 100%. if the local station sucks, go where the good music is. it dont matter where the station is. if it comes in, people listen to it.
Zackster said:
Now that's funny... the city slickers (as amfmsw) pointed out are in Linwood, NJ (if you are speaking of MGM), and the Cape May county "local" station is in Bay Port One... which is in West Atlantic City... hmmm.... sounds like they are about 6 or so miles slicker than MGM....
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Scott Hamilton
Guest
Zackster, I'm going to respectfully disagree. I think, there are some local only type listeners in smaller markets, however the perception of the public is completely different than the perception of people in and on radio. A listener will listen if the station comes in clearly, has music and/or announcers they like. Especially with the advent of syndication and satellite.
I grew up in Medford Lakes, NJ which is in the Philadelphia radio listening area. Hot Hits 98 WCAU, 94 WYSP and 93.3 WMMR were MY stations. Yes, they were based in Philly, but they were on my radio dial and were mine.
When I was doing morning's on 'ZXL in the 90's, we used to make fun of Millville and Cumberland County because a) they weren't in our market as per Arbitron, b) my partner Joe Ciapanna lived in Millville at the time, and c) well, it's Millville, what can I say? LOL! Even some of our liners purposely excluded Millville, et al.
The station basically told Cumberland County residents to stop listening, metaphorically.
Anyway, lots and lots of Millvillians (and other Cumberland County residents) would call in and participate on our show (some faking anger, some just calling to make requests, etc.), and show up at our live broadcasts. To them, if they listened to us, we were THEIR station.
So, the city slicker comment really only pertains to radio insiders. Seriously, until 1998, 'ZXL was in Wildwood, yet the tower was outside of Sea Isle City, if I remember correctly. Now the station's just outside of AC, and I think the tower is still in the same place. The Shark (103.7) studios are in Linwood on Route 9, yet the tower is in Sea Isle City.
99.9% of the listeners don't know and don't care about any of that. They turn on the dial and listen. If they like the majority of songs on a station, they listen frequently. If they like the morning show, it becomes THEIR morning show.
As discussed before, satellite didn't have the explosion we all thought it would, yet Howard Stern still has listeners for his show from all over the country.
I grew up in Medford Lakes, NJ which is in the Philadelphia radio listening area. Hot Hits 98 WCAU, 94 WYSP and 93.3 WMMR were MY stations. Yes, they were based in Philly, but they were on my radio dial and were mine.
When I was doing morning's on 'ZXL in the 90's, we used to make fun of Millville and Cumberland County because a) they weren't in our market as per Arbitron, b) my partner Joe Ciapanna lived in Millville at the time, and c) well, it's Millville, what can I say? LOL! Even some of our liners purposely excluded Millville, et al.
The station basically told Cumberland County residents to stop listening, metaphorically.
Anyway, lots and lots of Millvillians (and other Cumberland County residents) would call in and participate on our show (some faking anger, some just calling to make requests, etc.), and show up at our live broadcasts. To them, if they listened to us, we were THEIR station.
So, the city slicker comment really only pertains to radio insiders. Seriously, until 1998, 'ZXL was in Wildwood, yet the tower was outside of Sea Isle City, if I remember correctly. Now the station's just outside of AC, and I think the tower is still in the same place. The Shark (103.7) studios are in Linwood on Route 9, yet the tower is in Sea Isle City.
99.9% of the listeners don't know and don't care about any of that. They turn on the dial and listen. If they like the majority of songs on a station, they listen frequently. If they like the morning show, it becomes THEIR morning show.
As discussed before, satellite didn't have the explosion we all thought it would, yet Howard Stern still has listeners for his show from all over the country.
Atlantic Broadcasting of Linwood...city slickers? Brett DeNafo, Paul Kelly et al? More like Equity's estranged child don't you think? I've heard that Equity's influence is noticeable in some of ABL's operations.
Scott Hamilton...good to hear from you. I haven't seen you around this board in a while. Last time I saw you post a bunch of us thought you were bucking to get your Morning Show gig back. I guess if you live in Cape May County ZXL is "your station". I think the studios on New Jersey Ave still have WZXL painted on the wall outside. I bet half the county doesn't know the studios moved to the Black Horse Pike...their world still stops at the bridge! Personally I haven't listened to ZXL since the days of Molly McClain.
In regard to pitching music. It's been practice w/Equity for years. Maybe you notice it or maybe you don't until those rare occasions when MGM plays the same song. Personally, I don't think it matters as much on a station like AYV (of course musical dreck Nickelback or MatchBox 20 could use the help). But, IMO, Classic Rock should never be pitched! By definition it compromises the integrity of the music and, therefore, the station. (I'm sorry. Did I infer WZXL and WAYV lack integrity? I must have thought this was a Coastal Broadcasting post.)
Whichever side of the issue you fall on, it comes down to the most basic rule of radio: If you don't like it, don't listen.
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Scott Hamilton
Guest
Xpatriate,
Much appreciated. And, just so you know, if I was bucking to get the morning show back on the air, I probably wouldn't do it here, or in a passive-aggressive way like just showing up and posting about random subjects. Besides, with all the handles, I have no idea who I'm posting to, and I've seen people on here just massacre others when they think they have an agenda, or are hiding behind a handle.
At any rate, I found out about the site, and being an old radio rat myself, I thought it'd be fun to read. If the subject, or mood strikes me, and I think I can add to the discussion, I'll occasionally post (i.e. one of my good friends, Vince Thomas passing away, etc.).
And, that brings me to the original subject here, pitching. I've never heard of pitching being done to get another ad spot in, I really don't think it's possible. With 8-10 songs an hour, you can't make up 30 seconds in that hour, I don't think, without sounding like your really on helium.
Pitching has been a practice to make a station sound more lively, and it's been associated with CHR/Top-40. I don't see how or why you'd want it on a rock station, classic, new or otherwise. But again, I'll say this is more an inside radio discussion rather than for public consumption. Most listeners don't have an ear to know the songs being pitched. And, like you said: if you don't like it, don't listen.
Much appreciated. And, just so you know, if I was bucking to get the morning show back on the air, I probably wouldn't do it here, or in a passive-aggressive way like just showing up and posting about random subjects. Besides, with all the handles, I have no idea who I'm posting to, and I've seen people on here just massacre others when they think they have an agenda, or are hiding behind a handle.
At any rate, I found out about the site, and being an old radio rat myself, I thought it'd be fun to read. If the subject, or mood strikes me, and I think I can add to the discussion, I'll occasionally post (i.e. one of my good friends, Vince Thomas passing away, etc.).
And, that brings me to the original subject here, pitching. I've never heard of pitching being done to get another ad spot in, I really don't think it's possible. With 8-10 songs an hour, you can't make up 30 seconds in that hour, I don't think, without sounding like your really on helium.
Pitching has been a practice to make a station sound more lively, and it's been associated with CHR/Top-40. I don't see how or why you'd want it on a rock station, classic, new or otherwise. But again, I'll say this is more an inside radio discussion rather than for public consumption. Most listeners don't have an ear to know the songs being pitched. And, like you said: if you don't like it, don't listen.
Scott Hamilton said:
WMGM's tower is in Pleasantville, near the Atlantic City Expressway toll booth.
WZXL's tower is in Swainton, on the Avalon Boulevard. (WMGM-TV's tower)
I was program director of WMGM in the 80's when WZXL came on the air, and we clearly
saw the Cape May County audience tune to WZXL and the ad dollars in Cape May County
go over to them. Strong signal and local presence mean a lot in radio.
We pitched the music up 1.5% on WMID-FM 99.3, it's very subliminal, no one notices.
well someone noticed it on ZXL I guess
I remember when 'zxl first started pitching the music. The engineer cranked up the pitch control while I was playing Rush-"new world man", and Red Hughes hearing aid starting feeding back in the Wcmc am studio next door. Jack Weigand came in and said whatever we were doing was messing with Reds head and we should stop it. I've been against pitching any music ever since. :
E
eyg2181
Guest
evolve991 said:
wow, and they wonder why the young generation hates radio.
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