Posted by John from Wisconsin on October 10, 2023, 8:50 pm
Was out at a restaurant last night. While waiting for the food, I was thinking. I'm always think. Have my pen & paper (generational) and I write/think.
They had the TV on - no sound. Radio on a station I NEVER listen to. The thing I really noticed was the demise of the disc jockey! (I know there's no more discs and the jocks to play are spread thin, and/or unemployed.) Overnights, at times, evenings and many times, weekends are just sweeps and jingles.
There were THREE talk segments. All under 8 seconds. Tracked, obviously. Ads at :15, :45. I think 2 jingles in an hour. Slogan only.
I used to listen to the radio constantly. Always. Whether AM/AM AM/FM FM/FM or stream/stream. Now, I can go DAYS with QUIET! Nothing on in the home, car. Nothing! Is it me?
Playlists have been whittled. As a child, there were 40 songs, 5-10 new songs weekly. NOW, there might be 13-17 songs, one new song every 3-4 weeks! Tons of recurrents. Songs on the chart: Dance the Night-Dua Lipa 21 WEEKS! Calm Down-Rema & Selena Gomez 48 WEEKS!
So, in addition to a few others, I could turn the radio OFF. Turn it on a MONTH LATER and not much would change! Is it me?
To sit thru 8 MINUTES (and as long as 12!) to hear the same music I heard a month ago......
And I LOVE Top40/CHR. Never liked Classic Rock/Album Rock. All I ever liked was the single cut. Never the album. That's just me.
I'm not a 16 year old, pimple faced kid any more, but I didn't leave radio. Radio left me. It took a long time. (I still dx, but ...)
It's like a "water torture" ... (drips on water on the head, until you go nuts!) ...the SAME SONGS, the SAME commercials. (Hearing the same ad 3 times in an ad cluster?) I can only handle it so much.
And yet, I didn't expect to hear Barney Pip, Captain Whammo or Dick Biondi after every other song. Were they good for their day? Good in their time? I still LOVE the format. I still love RADIO. . . but I'm taking a breather. Going out for breath of air, taking a nap. Something.
I'm not BURNED out, but FATIGUED...yes. Maybe someone, somebody could do something. You look at life differently between 20, 30,.... There are other ideas, fresh faces, fresh input. When the "fresh" idea is B96 playing junk that's 20 years old, it shows a deficiency of product. Maybe if songs by other than 5-7 core artists were played.... (Z93 in Traverse City, Q105 Toledo is doing the same throwback stuff. Blah) The consultants, you know, the "experts" ....
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Heard an ad this morning "coming up on September 19th!" Um, on October 10th? or.....
"it's at 6 A.M. tomorrow morning"---ya mean not tomorrow night? God Awful! Kinda redundant!
Another thing: What is it with the two-person PM drive shows? Noticed this on Z100-NYC, 102.9theHog-Milwaukee, others. I don't know. Maybe it's me. You talk about anything, I punch your chatter out. I'm sorry. If I want a TALK station, I will listen to a TALK STATION. Is it me?
They do news with ONE MINUTE breaks! So, they might run 8-10 minutes an hour, but with a ONE MINUTE break, you might not tune out that much. "Traffic and weather on the 1's" (including where the speed traps are) and SPORTS at :15 & :45 "from Sports Net 960" -- "City News time 7:06" ---not like WBBM, "it's 7:09" (and not giving calls as often as they should! WBBM, noticeable has the newscaster basically doing the sports at nigh/weekends. City News has FIFTEEN MINUTE shifts! I'm not kidding! The newscaster changes at :00 :15 :45 & :45!!!! Listeing now at 7PM MDT, a two-person team! A fresh voice every 15 minutes. Unreal, (and I know people in Canada who say this operation has tightened/cut back,) The City News runs on: City News 680 Toronto, City News 1130 Vancouver, City News 660 Calgary, City News 95.7 Halifax, and City News 570 Kitchener,Ontario.
Listening to Z99-Regina https://www.z99.com/("Zed") (at :21) 8 MINUTES of ads. At :41 a promo for their morning show - SEVENTY SECONDS!!!!!! then into the next song. ANOTHER PROMO for the morning show at :04. Another minute plus! The listener tunes that out ---or play it into/out of a stop-set!!!!! This is basic stuff! Played: Every Breath You Take, Sting and Smooth, Santana. This on a "Top 40" station???? The "adults" are not listening at night and nights have always been tough, even back to the 1970's as I remember.
Too, Bob Conway is gone from WBBM-AM. They used to say "in for Bob Conway"...but that hasn't been said in months. Heard him on an old WLS aircheck from 1979, and I remember his booming voice from "All News 67." I hope he is an good health and has years to enjoy life.
If I've written too much I am sorry. I know this is a radio forum. One I highly respect. Not like others where the moderator has an opinion on everything and knows everything on every subject. Just ask him! There must be others this has affected.
Wow! You've got a lot here, and that's good, but I'm just running out the door and this really caught my eye: Bob Conway is gone from WBBM-AM. They used to say "in for Bob Conway"...but that hasn't been said in months. Heard him on an old WLS aircheck from 1979, and I remember his booming voice from "All News 67." I hope he is in good health and has years to enjoy life. Yikes! Last I heard he was having health problems. This is when Feder would've filled us in. I will ask around politely.
I think ever since Rob Feder stopped writing his daily column and retired after 42 years last July, there's been quite a void in the Chicago TV/Radio landscape. Feder was a go to source for news about the TV & Radio scene in this city. Not anymore.
If I could offer a random thought or 3 myself, there are 2 things about 97.1 FM The Drive I'd like to bring to the discussion. 1. I don't think they ever made it official, but I get the sense that Tim Spencer is the new evening host at "Chicago's Classic Rock". Truth be told, I'm not a fan of Spencer and his cracky voice. 2. They have a new guy on weekends in Dave Mazur, who sounds much better & clearer than Spencer. 3. Last but not least, I'd like for them to bring in another on air voice and expand the playlist.