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Active rock goes inactive in Albany NY. And not even for a different format for the market. The WHRL is gone and now simulcasts News/Talk WGY as WGY-FM. In Burlington VT 96.7 FM has moved up more than 30 years, dropping its oldies format in favor of playing the hits of today as Planet 96.7. This is the sort of innovation that has AM/FM radio where it is today. One less music station to be replaced by something already on the air, and a station changing paths to now play the hits of the day.
WQFM Nanticoke PA has taken off its oldies format and sped ahead to a 90's alternative format. Now it will be known as WFUZ. I would have thought that "fuzzy" would have been better suited for oldies, but they didn't ask me.
Charleston SC area now has a third country station, and one less playing classic hits. WIOP 95.9 reportedly started the change by playing Alan Jackson's song "Gone Country".
Another attempt at "Mojo Radio" is working in Fargo ND. KMJO (get it?) 104.7 started working earlier this month.
Thanks to "reader" Jeff for the suggestion that we report on as many of the radio station format change announcements as possible around the country. He makes a good point that there hasn't been another good resource which consistently offers such info.
A new format is coming any minute now in Atlanta, as "Legend 96.7" and its country music format have been replaced. For now, the station is simulcasting "Groove 105.7", but that shouldn't last long. I do mean "shouldn't". There are 2 sides to this coin. I'm sure station officials figure that people will keep tuning over to 96.7 while awaiting whatever new format, and that it is a good way to hype the "Groove" format.
On one hand, there will be some people picking up on The Groove format, but won't realize they have to change over to 105.7 for it to continue. They could wind up thinking "The Groove" is gone when the station changes over to whatever it is going to do.
On the other hand, not tipping what the new format will do keeps any possible competitors in the local market from getting a jump, while curious radio listeners will monitor from time to time to see if and when the new format kicks off.
My feeling is they should have waited and gone to the new format within 24 hours. They forget that FM and AM Radio have so much competition and that listeners are no longer hanging around helplessly dependening upon radio. The question is whether or not people will break away from their MP3 players, portable phones, satellite radios, and other technology just to sample a "new" FM station.
Near Denver, KTNI Strasburg dumped its talk format and went R & B with Jammin' 101.5. Unlike the Atlanta story, KTNI pulled the switch right after a syndicated talk show (that it now used to carry) ended and rolled out the music. Since the station is actually located east of Denver, the station is already streaming, supposedly to enhance their "coverage" of the Denver market.
I'm not sure that going for the Denver market is going to work for the bottom line in this instance. They need to spend in order to promote the online "coverage" in Denver, as if people will be interested in a regional station over a true Denver station. And that's provided they are not distracted by the hundreds of online channels they could or may already be listening to.
More format change stories later in the week............
Fans of San Diego's Top 40 KCBQ from the late 50's into the mid-70's have a major treat coming up this Saturday, August 28th, when many of its former air personalities and other officials will gather to honor this once great station by dedicating a monument to be displayed on the site of the studios back in the day.
Here is the information:
http://www.falconvalleygroup.com/newsroom.php?id=129 For those who don't have your memories to listen to, keep in mind that airchecks are available today at:http://www.MajorLeaguePrograms.com So, yes, you can have the best of both worlds!
I have loved radio since I can remember. It got me interested in music and sports as a kid and that never stopped, and inspired early career decisions to make a living working for radio stations and networks.Over the past few years, I have observed helplessly as radio lost its competitive edge (primarily due to the drastic change in ownership restrictions), reduced its music playlists, started reporting sports rumors and speculations as if they were "news", and began to cluster more commercial time into a single break than they used to air during a full hour. During that same time, I have noticed how millions of others feel the same way, and thus the success of MP3 players, satellite radio (20 million subscriptons paying for a lot of content we used to get free), and online channels.Just when you think the current radio industry can't make it worse, along comes this bit of news:http://www.fmqb.com/article.asp?id=1919285 Are you kidding? The National Association of Broadcasters wants to make radio "mandatory" in cell phones? First question. At who's expense?Second question. How often can the police pull over a driver, bike rider, or even a power walker about listening on ear buds while on the road?If it's up to me, we should all demand that the members of the NAB pay for the 20 million satellite radio subscriptions and the millions of "replacement" cell phones for everyone in America who currently owns one. That's the one way their proposal has any merit.Whoever thought up this ploy should be sentenced to listen to his or her own station 24 hours a day for 10 years. It would save prison space, and probably have the same effect.This story had better be a hoax.
While the majority of over-the-air radio music playlists continue to shrink or hold steady at a few hundred, this makes what I term "invented oldies" even more of a shame.
After all these years, and the onslaught of MP3 players and music by download, most music stations still maintain rather restricted playlists.
As a "classic rock" and earlier "album rock" listener, I have long found it a disappointment that hundreds of tracks that used to be played within this format (going back to when the albums originally came out) have long since vanished from playlists.
It gets even more frustrating when it is a station which has been around for more than 25 years playing pretty much the same music. Stations like KSHE in St. Louis, WLUP in Chicago, and KLOS in Los Angeles come to mind in this category.
Yet, a listener not around in the 70's to listen to these stations, and ones like them, probably thinks that Aerosmith only released about 10 songs. That's about the number we hear. Yet, when their LP's would be released each year, these stations (and their likes in all markets) would generally play at least 3 or 4 selected tracks from each new album. My contention is that if these songs were good enough to be played on the stations then, they should be good enough to be played now.
Same thing with oldies stations. With most "oldies" stations now regularly playing songs through the 70's, I find it upsetting that most oldies stations continue to play only a few hundred songs.
Stations such as KRTH-FM in Los Angeles, which have been oldies or classic hits for the better of the past 25 years, started out playing a lot more songs from the 50's and early 60's than they do now.
Sure, I understand their argument that the age of the audience has something to do with not going back as far as often.
But what makes this all more aggravating is what I call "invented oldies". On the album or classic rock side, one example is "Moving In Stereo" by The Cars. It is from their first album, and it's a good song. However, I don't recall it being played at all when the LP first came out and for years after that. It seems to have become a classic rock "staple" within the past 15 years. It's as though we are being told it has always been a popular track. It wasn't. Same with Red Rider and "Lunatic Fringe". Many a classic rock station didn't play it when it was first issued, but now it plays as often as if it were a major part of their rotation the entire time.
The biggest example of an artist with "invented oldies" has to be KISS. Come on, people. When "Rock & Roll All Night" and "Shout It Out Loud" and others came out in the mid and late '70s, the album rock stations wouldn't even touch KISS or their songs. No way. Those were "teen" songs heard only on the top 40 stations. Yet, they are heard on classic rock stations and channels today as if they were always held in the same esteem as BTO or Bad Company.
From an oldies standpoint, I can't figure how Louis Armstrong's "Wonderful World" gets so much airplay. I even looked this one up. The song didn't even crack the national "Top 100" in the United States when it was first released in 1968. Yet, for the past few years, it has been played hundreds of times more than "Hello Dolly", which was a 1964 Top 10 hit for Armstrong. But I double dare you to show me any oldies station or channel that plays more than the Top 100 hits of any month from the 60's and 70's.
Another "invented oldie" is "You Got It" by Roy Orbison. Sure, it's a decent song, but it doesn't fit. It was released in 1988.
Again, I like every song named here. It's not that I don't enjoy these songs. What I don't understand is how these are among the songs "manufactured" within the respective format, while literally hundreds of songs that used to be a part of these formats haven't been played in years.
If I had the time, I would go through my personal MP3 player and count a total of the songs that I never hear on the radio any more, even though that is where I first heard and liked them enough to own them.
Then again, I shouldn't have to do that. The music directors of these classic rock and oldies stations are the ones who should have done so. Years ago. Instead, they wonder why so many people like me are listening to MP3 players instead of their stations. At least they can't "manufacture" an audience.
Hard to believe it was 40 years ago that Casey Kasem first told us to "keep reaching for the stars" at the end of his American Top 40 Radio Show. But it was. He took such a simple concept and yet made a successful national radio show out of doing nationally what top 40 radio stations had been doing locally for years. Just counting down (or should we say up) the hits week after week, and giving us faithful listeners an education about some of the songs and artists on the charts.
This very weekend (July 4th) marks the 40 year anniversary. The show still exists, although barely a shadow of its former self, and hosted by Ryan Seacrest. (Then again, that could be said about many radio and TV shows!)
To give you an idea of how far back AT 40 goes, the entire show for the coming week was actually mailed through the Post Office to each radio station. On vinyl records. With grooves between the segments of the show. Once a segment ended and the tech who was operating the radio station went into commercial, he or she (and it was mostly "he" back then) would simply cue up the next track on the album to be ready for the next segment of the show. It was the same as if he/she was getting the next song ready for airplay.
I remember it well. It was part of my responsibilities while running the board of a Chicago radio station on Sunday mornings, when Casey would "count 'em down" right after the religious and public affairs programming the station was required to air. Yes, in those days, radio stations had FCC requirements to run a certain amount of news, public affairs, and religious programming hours in order to have their broadcast license renewed. Many radio stations would cluster public affairs interviews and religious programming during the Sunday morning 4 AM to 10 AM (or less) time frame, when the audience was likely at its lowest available point.
Yet, I remember answering the station's phone line during the show, and people asking if they could talk to "Crazy Kasem" and variations, as if he was really in the studio playing the national hits. Never mind that he would have "a letter here from Joe in Tallahassee who wants to know......".
Of course, not all of the national hits were big in Chicago. The best example was in 1976 when the Miracles' "Love Machine" was in the national top 3, even "making it all the way to number one!" on American Top 40.....while Chicago stations were barely playing it.
Here's hoping that long-time radio listeners will "keep your feet on the ground, and keep reaching for the stars" in honor of American Top 40, after 40 years.
