more Chicago and L.A. Radio Recordings

RadioRecordings.com continues to make more memories available via its expanding series of classic radio air checks. Just added are Chicago radio classics, including Larry Lujack on WLS from a 1971 morning show and his final WLS show from August 1987. The '71 recording includes the famous Lujack quip after reading a news teaser about a potential disaster and saying "and if the world comes to end, you'll hear about it first on W L S", as only he can.

In addition, recordings of WLS legends Joel Sebastian, Kris Eric Stevens, and J.J. Jeffrey, are now available.

Fans of Los Angeles radio may be interested in a recording of Ted Quillen recreating KFWB Color Radio from April 1958, which he produced for KRLA in April of 1988 30 years later.

Listeners in both cities in the 60's (and up until today in Chicago) can find an air check of Dick Biondi from Super CFL in Chicago from his afternoon show in 1971.

RadioRecordings.com plans to add more vintage air checks from around the country over the coming weeks.

From this current batch, we, as always, recommend the Larry Lujack recordings.

Have a great holiday!!

A Radio Fantasy? League that is...........

It's as though the world of sports has taken over the radio industry over just the past few days. The story of CBS Radio and Clear Channel literally trading some stations sounds like it was concocted at the baseball winter meetings instead of the boardrooms of the two largest radio station ownership groups in the country. And a playlist to be named later.

At almost the same time, two Chicago powerhouse stations were involved in major management changes. The story broke that Bob Shomper has left WGN Radio as Program Director to move literally down the street (less than a mile away, physically) to become PD at news/talk rival WLS-AM. And, presto, WGN brings in Kevin Metheny from Cleveland to replace Shomper.

As an aside, Shomper's timing is impeccable. WLS-AM is enjoying ratings success of late and seems to be holding its own under the PPM audience measurement, which not all talk shows and stations are doing. WGN has seen a dip in its large audience. Some say it is because the Cubs baseball season ended in October, and others say it is a reflection of the PPM system. Others say it is both. Nonetheless, Shomper departs with a dip in overall audience, and within hours of the retirement of morning market leader Spike O'Dell. WGN will be hard pressed to maintain its morning numbers, and Metheny might just be starting under more pressure than one might expect for joining WGN Radio.

Here we are within a matter of days seeing a trade of major market radio stations and a change of Program Directors involving major market stations. In the past, these would be "once in a lifetime" stories, and here they both happen at the same time with less fanfare than many would expect.

Could this be the start of things to come? If so, I'd like to propose starting a "Fantasy League" for radio fans. Just as baseball and football fantasy leagues are rampant as a means to maintain fan interest in games even though we are priced out of the market to attend them in person, maybe a Fantasy Radio League will give some folks a reason to still pay attention to local radio stations.

After all, a CBS + Clear Channel trade is like the Red Sox and Yankees doing a swap. As a fantasy general manager, we could draft the radio markets we think will increase billing the most for 2009, and then draft and trade the stations within that market to maximize the profit potential.

For example, when the NBA Playoffs are about to start, I would draft KLAC Radio because the Lakers post-season games will probably increase their audience. For this week, with the cold and snow storm sweeping the northern part of the country, I would bid for KOA in Denver and WCCO Minneapolis, figuring their audiences will rise as people seek weather coverage. And so it goes.

Some of the radio publications would then start publishing the dates that the leading air personalities' contracts will end so that we can ponder their free agency. If we think that the top rated morning man will change stations next summer, we might not draft his or her station for the year. We'll be seeking rumors and speculation about which stations will be up for trade in the various market clusters.

A format change will be devastating as an injury to a (fantasy) general manager. Many times format changes mean a reduction, if not short term elimination, of commercial time, along with firings. Both of those mean reduced revenue for that station for the short term. Or the long term if the new format is not successful.

Shall we schedule a draft?

Sirius XM enhances "Lifetime" subscription offer

Either satellite radio as we know it is in trouble, or there is a revenue push toward the end of the calendar year. Or both.

Sirius Satellite has made a "lifetime subscription" available over the past 3 years for a one-time fee of $500, although they have kept that option rather quiet over the past 18 months or so. Today (Dec. 5th), they e-mailed their monthly and annual subscribers a special offer to "Save up to $150" on a lifetime membership. It appears that they are allowing an "upgrade" for the original Sirius subscribers to ADD "The Best of XM".

And, they are trying to get their annual and monthly subscribers to up the ante and go for a lifetime subscription.

With speculation about the future of the combined entity now known as Sirius XM, there have been several comments appearing lately about how lifetime subscriptions are now considered risky based on rising uncertainty.

But I digress. We supposedly have a merger of these 2 companies, one which took more than 18 months to finally complete. That's more than a year longer than the Exxon/Mobil merger took years ago. Now, since the "merger", subscribers to one part of the "merged" service are now being asked to pony up ADDITIONAL funds for only a "Best of" package. (????)

Looks like it is time to stand up and be counted. Why should consumers have to pay more for what they are supposed to get at no additional cost? If XM and Sirius aren't ready yet with the technology to present all of the channels for both at the same monthly cost, shouldn't the cost for a PARTIAL plan be reduced?

I was all for the merger thinking I would get everything both services have to offer at no additional cost. After months and months, the merger was approved. Now I am getting a request for more money for an additional "Best Of".

If this is how this supposed combined company is going to operate, it won't be long before they are called "Ex-M".

Steve Dahl signs off Chicago's JACK-FM

It's the radio version of the chicken or the egg. Rumors were abundant all week that Steve Dahl would be fired any minute from Chicago's JACK-FM as CBS Radio continues its cost slashing.

On Friday morning (Dec. 5th), Dahl told the remaining listeners that we was signing off and ending his show. It's the old "You can't fire me - I quit!" story, unless there is more than meets the ear.

Dahl's contract is/was supposed to run well into 2011. I suppose it is possible that both Dahl and CBS have agreed to make it appear as a resignation to avoid further embarassment. CBS has suffered with JACK-FM in Chicago, although a recent tweak toward more 80's music has stimulated a few more listeners into November. Yet, Dahl's ratings got to the point of being worse than some of the music hours. Let alone that Dahl was the only live voice on the station.

I'm betting that there will be no replacement named, and the station will go right back to their music format in the morning. Dahl was moved over to JACK-FM due to a format change at the former WCKG Radio on which he did afternoons for a few years as his ratings bounced up and down.

CBS Radio had dumped its Oldies format on 104.3 FM to become JACK-FM, which has yet to catch on in Chicago. Meanwhile, WLS-FM and its oldies format, consisting of former 104.3 personalities, has now entered the top 6 overall in the November monthly Chicago ratings, taking that format to near its highest level in recent memory.

Meanwhile, CBS Radio in Chicago has already rid itself of the $1,000,000+ contracts of morning hosts Mike North (formerly WSCR-AM) and Eddie and Jobo from B-96 FM. Next comes Dahl. Ooops, this is supposedly a resignation.

During his "sign-off" speech on the air, those few who were listening heard him complain about how the PPM audience measurement is hurting those stations which don't play music because the PPM's account for "background listening". I supposed Dahl was too busy inventing his excuse to notice that WBBM-AM is a top rated station in Chicago, and they have been all news for 40 years. Hardly a background choice, especially in today's economy.

Come to think of it, this story today is probably the most people who have heard about Steve Dahl in a number of years.

Clear Channel reduces its own HD listening audience

With so much of the attention on the realignment of Sirius XM (and it is understandable), so much of the focus has been taken away from HD Radio. Many believe that HD Radio is a major reason that Clear Channel fought the Satellite Radio merger and helped the merger process drag on months longer than it should have.

Last year when Clear Channel began to add HD channels for many of its stations, the CC web site included a regularly updated list of its HD channels online, along with links so that people could listen to a choice of their HD stations via the internet.

Personally, I took advantage of that several times and liked what I heard on some of the channels their stations offered. Granted, some of the specific channels went the 'catchy name' route, and as a result I had no idea what they were programming. But that is a marketing issue.

Many of their HD music channels went away from the typical Clear Channel restricted playlists and were actually worth a listen.

It had been a month or so since I had listened to one of their HD channels while working in my office, and this morning I went to the site that would enable me to see which HD channels were available via the various markets across the country. And for the first time in over a year, there were no HD Radio choices that I know of.

This web page seems to have been replaced with the menu of online stream choices from Clear Channel around the country. Yes, the actual over-the-air radio stations, which can be selected by music or talk format.

I'm sure that the response from the Clear Channel powers that be will be something along the lines of how they wanted people to sample the HD channels as an incentive for them to buy an HD Radio set so they could enjoy their local HD services. And I can appreciate and understand that response.

However, it is not as though HD Radio has caught on to the point where taking the HD stations away from the internet is not a big deal. As listener dissatisfaction with radio grows, only having their over-the-air stations available for streaming is not going to make people want to rush out and buy an HD Radio for what they will perceive as "more of the same". When they don't enjoy "the same" nearly as much as they once did.

Face it, if AM and FM radio had the degree of competition and over-the-air stations making the effort they once did, there probably wouldn't be any worry about satellite, HD, online channels, or any of the other radio alternatives that have spung within the past few years.

I'm not sure how typical of a radio "consumer" I am these days. But I can tell you that now that the Clear Channel HD Radio channels are not an option for me, I have already gone back to an assortment of online "free" music channels in the different categories that I enjoy.

I wonder whether or not radio station owners will be able to get enough of the population base to sample HD Radio. Not having it available online, and not telling anyone (that I know of) that it has been moved, is not the way to make it happen.

3 formats this year - so far - for Jacksonville station

Let me count the ways. Or should I say the format changes. I'm not even going to bother with comments about how by the 10th of November 2 stations in Milwaukee and 2 stations in Boston have already changed over to holiday music.

But Jacksonville Florida's WSJF 105.5 FM takes the cake this year. Last week, this station began their third different format. This year.

As of this writing, WSJF has become progressive talk on weekdays. Yes, after the election is over they made the change. In August of this year, they became on oldies station. That replaced their sports format from way way back to this past spring.

Now I wonder if they'll switch to holiday music for December too.

Meanwhile, for those who missed this, the excellent radio site, LARadio.com, is free for the remainder of November, so take advantage. It goes back to paid subscriptions for much of their material come December 1st, so enjoy it while you can.

remembering WAKY Louisville 790

Years later, there is still no doubt about the best radio memories from the Louisville market. With all due respect to the full service and tradition of WHAS, the memories of the good old days of AM radio in Louisville continue to reside from the next spot over to the left - 790 WAKY, from its hey days of the 60's and 70's.

RadioRecordings.com has just listed an entire series consisting of more than 7 hours of scoped air checks recalling the great WAKY sound of the 70's. All together on an 8 CD series.

There is even one CD devoted to the "Final Day" of the legendary top 40 station. The rest of this series are devoted to its most important and most remembered personalities. Nights in Louisville have never been the same without Coyote Calhoun. Even after all these years, his 70's afternoon drive air checks continue to sound a lot like Kris Eric Stevens.

This series also features the legendary Gary Burbank, including a full CD air check of his final WAKY show, before he moved on to Cincinnati powerhouse WLW to continue one of the most significant radio careers ever.

You can also remember Bill Bailey in the morning. (This is one of the Bill Baileys that had a stint on WLS Chicago.) Two of the CD's in this series bring you vintage Bailey.

And, we wouldn't be in "line" without including Mason Dixon. Actually, Mason Lee Dixon, and more than 90 minutes of airchecks from 1971 and 1972. Included in this set is Dixon's memorable interpretation of Don McLean's "American Pie" as it originally aired back in 1971.

That segment is probably one of the most important air checks in the collection. While hearing and re-living the memories of the good old days of radio is so enjoyable for most of us, I so enjoy these type of features that tie us to a particular date or era. The "American Pie" interpretation is one of them. It is fun to remember how many of the dj's of that era tried to put their own spin on the meaning of the lyrics. That song was far from being the first about music, but was a long way from "At The Hop" and "gotta be Rock & Roll Music if you wanna dance with me".

"American Pie" had a serious overtone. A message about the music. The writer honestly saw a change he didn't like after the fatal Buddy Holly plane crash and used a curious code to vividly express himself. It seems as though at least one dj in each radio market sought or received some notariaty by issuing his interpretation of those lyrics. Dixon's was among those.

In fact, Bob Dearborn authored perhaps the most famous interpretation of "American Pie". Or, maybe it became the most famous because he was on Chicago's WCFL. In any event, Dearborn still has his writing about it available via his blog, and this is 37 years later with Dearborn on the air in his native Canada.

Most of the time, the RadioRecordings.com air check series are anywhere from 1 to 3 CD's for an entire series. In the instance of these WAKY air checks, and the memories they bring back, the decision was made to issue them as an 8 CD series.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=120331545898&ih=002&category=307&ssPageName=STORE:PROMOBOX:NEWLIST#LIST

If you are among those who decide to acquire this series, I'm sure that our group would appreciate your feedback. Not only about the wonderful WAKY series, but about the issuing of expanding and offering larger CD series in tribute to the great stations.

Milwaukee radio gets Jacked - at high Noon today

WKTI-FM 94.5 Milwaukee became the latest Milwaukee station to change formats, with an all-of-a-sudden switch at high Noon today (Thurs. Nov. 6). The "hot contemporary" format they had been doing as recently as this morning disappeared, and on came "Lake 94.5" with an "all music no air personality" approach. It looks as though the air staff is being let go. Word is the station will not have air personalities until 2009 at the earliest.

So those are the facts. Thus far, the playlist is 60's to today with no live announcers. They don't say "Jack-FM", but I would say it's only because they can't. But they might as well. After all, that is the best excuse to not have any air personalities and cut back on payroll.

Once upon a time when AM + FM radio actually made a difference, Milwaukee radio had some degree of innovation and was a breeding ground for young talent headed to Chicago and points beyond. Now, this market recycles everybody else's ideas that are killing the radio we once knew, enjoyed, and cared about.

Last week's Milwaukee format change was 95.7 FM suspending their classic hits (yep, remembering you can't say "oldies" anymore) format to begin playing holiday music during the warmest start to a November in many years. In September, it was WOKY-AM dumping their retro 60's rock and jock format - not for talk - to change to country music with a weak night signal on the AM dial.

I could go on about WKTI-FM and its place in Milwaukee radio over the years, the long time personalities, and the effort made toward its morning drive presentation. But that won't bring it back. Yes, Milwaukee radio truly got "Jacked" today. Again.

Air check preferences

I have had this discussion with several "long timers" and thought I would open it up for some input. Just like with sports and politics, there seems to be a lot of disagreement over what constitutes the best possible air check.

Personally, I enjoy an unscoped hour or more of a program. Keeping the music and commercials in as they ran back in the day. To me, it is not "just" the air personality, it is the overall sound of the station and the difference that hopefully he or she made while on the air.

If all I hear is the DJ sounding totally pumped coming out of a Kiss record and then 10 seconds later I hear him sounding mellow introducing Neil Diamond, it comes off as having something missing. The music of that very hour, plus the commercials, and often the news headlines, all added to the sound of the show no matter how great the personality may have been.

However, for the most part, there is nothing we can do about a scoped aircheck. The music and commercials and all the rest are, for the most part, gone forever. Many of the airchecks were either edited down many years ago, or were taken from the studio tapes when PD's would record only when the microphone went on. (And I can understand that.)

It is probably too late to find and preserve the vast majority of these, if they even still exist, but I often wonder what became of the old slow speed reel-to-reel tapes of everything that aired that most radio stations kept in order to meet FCC requirements. Those would have it all. If only I thought about it years ago when the reel-to-reel machines were first becoming outdated.

I equate thorwing away the "raw" hours of recordings of music stations across the country to those of us who tossed out our boxes of baseball cards in the 70's that would have rivaled our 401k's in value if we still had them today. At least I can't blame my mom for throwing away hours of radio tapes.

At least I have some "entire" hours to enjoy. As today's over-the-air radio continues to go downhill with conservative, non-local, often pre-recorded air personalities and 500 song playlists, I'm finding myself listening more and more to radio as I still want it to be. To what got me excited about it many years ago and made me want it as my career until I just couldn't take it anymore.

But they leave me wanting more!

Smaller stations try a different format.........

Let's try another format! Some smaller stations have decided to start all over again within the past few days.

In the Chicago area, the 3-station suburban cluster known as "Nine-FM" with a moniker of "We Play Anything" has given up the battle after barely registering in the ratings books for the past three years. As of last week, they are now simulcasting 820 AM, giving the market a simulcast of 4 different AM/FM signals all with a talk format. FM talk stations have traditionally not done well in the Chicago market. Long time talker Steve Dahl recently had his 9 - 10 AM hour taken back so that "JACK-FM" could add an hour of music into morning drive in hopes of building some ratings. And now, just days before the Presidential election, a cluster of stations goes talk. Wonder what there will be to constantly talk about after the election hype finally ends.

Maybe they will do a continuous open line, and change the slogan to "We Talk Anything".

In Madison WI, "the Lake" changes to "Jamz". 93.1 FM goes from The Rolling Stones and Aerosmith to hip-hop. Talk about a total audience change. Or attempt to change over the audience. WIBA-FM figures to be the big winner, as the likely choice of even more classic rockers. At least in this instance, it is to become the first hip-hop station with a signal strong enough to cover the Madison area.

It is possible, but I'm not sure there are enough local advertisers in the Madison area to make "Jamz" a fit.

a Boyce from the past

There won't be anyone left to care. While I would like to congratulate Phil Boyce on his work at 77 WABC New York over the past 14+ years, his leaving the station could be a big blow for the industry. Under Boyce's regime, the talk station generated its best numbers since the good old days of Musicradio.

The thinking is that Boyce will join with Sean Hannity, who continues to grow in syndication which happened to begin under Boyce's tenure.

Tough act to follow for whoever gets the chance.

Air checking - October 9th....

C'mon radio people. Please stop shooting yourselves in the foot. I understand that there are some concerns about the new PPM ratings system. But airing the dirty laundry is going to result in permanent damage if we don't take a different course.

Certain stations in markets such as New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles, have shown significant drops in listenership based on the early PPM numbers just released. I can understand they are upset, but they need to take a step back.

These stations have sold, and more significantly, continue to sell a high inventory based on the "old" numbers. Obviously, year after year, a station such as WGCI in Chicago has done well for its advertisers or they wouldn't be as financially successful as they have been - at any ratings.

Now here are stations such as KRTH in Los Angeles and WDRV in Chicago "suddenly" showing tremendous numbers that help to call attention to the surge in music formats not shown in a number of years. So what happens? Other radio station executive have screamed so much that politicians have been called upon to look into this matter.

That should be warning enough. If the politicians "looking into this" do the same as they have done for the nation's current economic system, people will be giving away radios by the end of the year.

The publicity surrounding the PPM's should be about how many formats were UNDER reported all these years.

Radio executives continue to forget that radio is not one choice out of a couple of options like it used to be. And giving potential advertisers reason to doubt the system at such a critical time is absolutely the worst possible strategy.

TV campaigns for radio stations not successful? Here's why not......

I think of it as a reverse "chicken or egg". Are ads for radio stations on TV not doing well because of the campaigns themselves? Or is it because people are getting so turned off by local radio?
The recent MediaWeek article did a good job at pointing out something I have been concerned about for years, but didn't address the possible reasons why.

http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/content_display/news/local-broadcast/e3i90ecdc5551eec733a3ec9e368ad77a4e

I'll say it's the chicken. People know these local radio stations are there, but continue not to listen like they used to.

There never used to be clusters of commercials often lasting 5 minutes or longer before getting back into music, talk, or whatever the format.

When the air personality finally comes on, he or she is often voice tracked, sometimes not even in the same city as the station. Yet local radio is supposed to have the local appeal. But without true local personality like there always used to be, many radio stations are no longer the first destination when something major happens in the neighborhood.

The music comes on, and we continue to get edited down versions of longer songs. As I have said for years and years, a song is either good enough to be played on the air or it isn't. If listeners don't like a particular song, they are gone. Those that do want to enjoy it to the max. But if I am going to hear a favorite song with three minutes edited out, I am better off to play my CD with the entire song on it. I'll enjoy that more, and again, it is something that I cannot get from my local radio station.

Now, when a radio spot comes on TV, too many people probably think about the reason(s) why they no longer wish to listen to whatever station, instead of a reminder about why they should.

Your thoughts are welcome.

Meanwhile, this story snuck under the radar late last week. The annual Radio & Records Awards were given out over the past weekend. The winner of "Station of the Year" in the classic hits/oldies category? WCBS-FM New York.

This snuck under the radar because hardly anyone else in the media caught the irony of all this. Station of the year? It wins after a RETURN to a format it had dumped two years earlier for less success. They bring back the format as best radio can. Not exactly what it used to be, as the playlist sways a few years later than their previous incarnation. And now comes the recognition.
In other words, correcting a mistake generates more recognition than before they made it.

The "music on the AM dial" saga takes another turn in Milwaukee. WOKY 920 AM flopped after going retro and bringing back its 1960's sound, complete with hourly newscasts. Weak signal and all, especially at night. So what do they do instead? Last week they become "The Wolf". And, of course, you have to ask, "What is The Wolf?". You guessed it, it is another music format. Now they are trying their hand at Country Music on the AM dial. There. That ought to fix it.

That Milwaukee story was almost overshadowed by the change in Sioux City announced last week. 102.3 FM announced that they have abandoned their "BOB-FM" format of "We play anything". The change was announced the same day it was completed on the air.

Now that you are all excited to find out what 102.3 FM changed to, and in case you missed the major press release, we will tell you. The station is now known as JACK-FM. The new slogan is "Playing What We Want". BOB finished at 9 AM and a mere 3 hours later at Noon the same day, along came JACK.

I suppose with the right TV campaign......................

Air Checking - Sept. 1 update

It seems like radio is becoming much more of a content provider for other media than the innovative originator of programming it once was. New technology isn't stealing the content. Radio is providing it, yet is going to continue to lose out on ad revenue because of it.

Mike & Mike and Imus are among the actual radio shows televised live in part or in full on a daily basis. Other shows such as ESPN's panel talk shows (such as PTI) are nothing more than radio concepts where you can see the people instead of just hear them. WGN-TV America will soon begin showing daily highlights from the syndicated Bob & Tom Morning Show during late night programming.

I commented about mobile service coming into play, such as Sprint bringing live NFL play-by-play to certain subscribers which will come from a team's radio broadcast at http://MajorLeaguePrograms.blogspot.com a few weeks back.

To me, this is radio giving away its product. The same advertisers stations and network hope to attract by offering these programs in the first place now have choices for where they want to reach their target audience. If I want the Bob & Tom audience, now I will be able to compare buying their radio show on a local or regional basis with buying their TV show the same day. And if they go onto satellite, I would have that as an option, based on the number of subscribers. I would like to think radio would do more to protect its programming, and not let it get away.

Meanwhile, this came up in a conversation with a local radio announcer the other day, and it got me thinking. He asked me "What is or would be your favorite air check of all time?".

There is a question I hadn't thought about in all these years. Even with the thousands and thousands of hours of listening to stations locally and in my travels around the country. Yet, even though I had never taken the time to think about it, I had an answer for him within 30 seconds. And it so happens I have the actual aircheck to go along with my answer.

Personally, my "all-time" pick is WCFL Chicago from the afternoon of March 15, 1976. The day the face of rock radio changed forever, and not necesarily for the better. That was the last day of the great Chicago radio wars between WCFL and WLS for top 40 supremacy. Bob Dearborn's final sign-off leading into the song "You're The Best Thing That Ever Happened To Me" followed by Larry Lujack doing the final 3 hours of "Super CFL". Including commercials by the other rock stations in town, such as WLS and WBBM-FM. I haven't listened to it in a few years, I'll admit. Probably because even at my age, I might once again tear up when I hear it. The end of an era when I couldn't wait to get my radio on at every opportunity.

Granted, not everyone actually has the air check of that one show or one moment in time when that personal most memorable moment was on the air. But I find this a fascinating topic.

If you could, or do, have that one aircheck from AM or FM Radio in your lifetime, what would it be? And why?

I'd like to publish the responses and see where it goes. Maybe we could come up with a "top 10 airchecks" list, but if not we'll still have some fun with this.