My thoughts on radio

Oliver's Army · Post by **Oliver's Army** » Fri Sep 01, 2006 3:26 pm

Lets assume a few things, and Tiny please let me know where I am wrong.

If a radio stations sole purpose is to sell time and make money, then ideally you would find a format that appealed to a wide demographic of listeners and quickly build you listener base.

You then find advertisers who are both fans of the format, want sell products and services to these listeners of the format, and reap its benefits with sales and clients because of it.

â€œAlternativeâ€

bassjones · Post by **bassjones** » Fri Sep 01, 2006 3:34 pm

Co-Signed... I believe the format is officially called AAA - adult alternative something or other...

Oliver's Army · Post by **Oliver's Army** » Fri Sep 01, 2006 3:37 pm

You sir, are correct.

bassjones · Post by **bassjones** » Fri Sep 01, 2006 3:45 pm

The only reason I can think of why it wouldn't be huge here is related to the "brain drain". Fewer college educated people means few people exposed to college radio in the 80's and 90's = fewer people exposed to the music that would make up a AAA radio station.

sharkmansix · Post by **sharkmansix** » Fri Sep 01, 2006 3:55 pm

I was on the news because of 'Brain Drain'. Sweet!

bwohlgemuth · Post by **bwohlgemuth** » Fri Sep 01, 2006 4:07 pm

Add me to the list...91.5 is honestly one of the best stations I've heard in a long time (and it beats what is probably the founder of this format/WXRT in Chicago).

And "Mike" was a close second. Yes you would occasionally suffer through Whitney Houston, but then it would be followed up by the Violent Femmes.

echosauce1 · Post by **echosauce1** » Fri Sep 01, 2006 9:14 pm

I agree with you Ollie 100%. Hell, I don't even have to like all the songs played. I'd just be happy not to have to hear the same 15 or so songs every fricken hour. (That's how it seems to be anyways). For crying out loud, if you need to hear Godsmack or whoever every fricken 10 minutes quite being cheap and go out and buy the damn cd already. Give me some diversity. And I know, I can choose to turn off the radio and listen to my own collection but sometimes situations arise where I'm in the car, my ipod goes dead and the radio is all I have to listen to on a long drive.

I really didn't think I'd miss x102 being gone until I was in the car today. I tuned in to rock 104 to see what they were like now. It was a skynard song ending with a 3play of styx coming up. f**k. That's progress. I'm sure I can't find that on another station.

As an afterthought, I still don't get how radio makes money from advertisement. I mean, logistically, I understand the concept, but everytime a commerical comes on, I just change to another channel.

on edit, I guess it's like watching television. If a show holds my interest enough, I will sit through the commercials long enough so I don't miss the show. No radio station has kept me glued that much though. Sorry, I'm just ranting and answered my own question.

echosauce1 · Post by **echosauce1** » Fri Sep 01, 2006 9:16 pm

Also, what happened to "mike"? I was starting to tune into that station more and more but it seems to be gone too now. Did they change formats?

Hutnick · Post by **Hutnick** » Sat Sep 02, 2006 10:31 am

The other genre that Fort Wayne radio really seems to be missing the boat on is the alt/country/new grass thing, that sooooo many people(from a very wide age range) seem to be interested in these days. I don't think this music will be going away anytime soon. 91.1 The Globe-out of Goshen College seems to be the only station in the region that has any clue that this music exists, and unfortunately, you can't pick it up much farther south than Avilla. It really would be nice to see some diversity in the local radio market for a change.

Radio seems to be digging it's own grave, in much the same way that newsprint has. It's things like this very issue that are driving people to turn off the radio and log on to internet radio or satellite. Maybe it's just the natural progression and our generation is, unfortunately, right on the cusp and have to deal with the grey area of cultural change.

=^-..-^= · Post by **=^-..-^=** » Mon Sep 04, 2006 6:02 pm

Yeah, 91.5 is doing it right. A bunch of high skool kids are definitely showing everybody up. They probably wouldn't make it commercially in Fart Wayne, though. This is the town that wants to hear Metallica and Skynyrd once every hour.

A couple stations tried to do the eighties fad; but there's only so many times you can hear 'Video Killed the Radio Star.' It's cute for a night of nostalgia, but that's about it. 91.5 doesn't stay stuck in the past, but plays new stuff, keeping it fresh.

X102 started out ALMOST doing the AAA format; back when it was the Edge. The adolescent hijinx of the DJ's probably drove away most of that demographic, though. I won't miss its passing. All the songs sounded the same, and weren't an ALTERNATIVE to anything.

As far as the Newgrass - Alt Country thing: it seem s that 91.5 is picking up on that trend - Nickel Creek, Shaun Mullins, Mark Knopfler/Boonie Raitt, Old 97's.

I read an article on this dilemna in the JG the other day. It seems that Country stations in the US can't find enough of that alt/newgrass demographic anywhere to make it profitable. 90% of your Country listeners just aren't that sophisticated, and merely want a different version of the same song playing over and over all day.

QWETTY · Post by **QWETTY** » Mon Sep 04, 2006 6:11 pm

=^-..-^= wrote:Yeah, 91.5 is doing it right. A bunch of high skool kids are definitely showing everybody up. They probably wouldn't make it commercially in Fart Wayne, though. This is the town that wants to hear Metallica and Skynyrd once every hour.

A couple stations tried to do the eighties fad; but there's only so many times you can hear 'Video Killed the Radio Star.' It's cute for a night of nostalgia, but that's about it. 91.5 doesn't stay stuck in the past, but plays new stuff, keeping it fresh.

X102 started out ALMOST doing the AAA format; back when it was the Edge. The adolescent hijinx of the DJ's probably drove away most of that demographic, though. I won't miss its passing. All the songs sounded the same, and weren't an ALTERNATIVE to anything.

As far as the Newgrass - Alt Country thing: it seem s that 91.5 is picking up on that trend - Nickel Creek, Shaun Mullins, Mark Knopfler/Boonie Raitt, Old 97's.

I read an article on this dilemna in the JG the other day. It seems that Country stations in the US can't find enough of that alt/newgrass demographic anywhere to make it profitable. 90% of your Country listeners just aren't that sophisticated, and merely want a different version of the same song playing over and over all day.

amen my friend.

Krieves · Post by **Krieves** » Tue Sep 05, 2006 2:54 pm

Hmm, I miss X102. I didn't like everything they played, but for the most part it was who I listened to most. I think they did a lot to support local artists. I wonder if any stations will sponsor Sol Fest next year?

flapjacks · Post by **flapjacks** » Tue Sep 05, 2006 3:19 pm

bwohlgemuth wrote:
And "Mike" was a close second. Yes you would occasionally suffer through Whitney Houston, but then it would be followed up by the Violent Femmes.

whenever i was on there it was always some crappy song. and the violent femmes suck

Oliver's Army · Post by **Oliver's Army** » Tue Sep 05, 2006 3:22 pm

flapjacks wrote:
bwohlgemuth wrote:
And "Mike" was a close second. Yes you would occasionally suffer through Whitney Houston, but then it would be followed up by the Violent Femmes.
whenever i was on there it was always some crappy song. and the violent femmes suck

GACK.

I have no words.

flapjacks · Post by **flapjacks** » Tue Sep 05, 2006 3:24 pm

I'll say it again, maybe i'll get beef like the time i said I didnt like the American show "the Office" but I do not enjoy the violent femmes