WDET drops music programming

We've seen it before. The local public station drops the music programming and goes talk. The ratings often jump, but it is a sad day for all. WDET is dead.

A message on wdet.org states that the station’s music programming “posed challenges for station fund raising and audience growth.” A euphemism for "the old people don't like it, and they have the money." At the NON-COMMvention 2004 in Philly the "graying of AAA" was a hot topic. An exodus of non-com AAA stations flipping to News/Talk has been predicted by more than one radio pundit. Ever the cynic, I question this as the right choice. Register for the Non-comvention 2006 here.

I for one, see some of them eventually coming back to the music. While Triple A fears its aging audience, flipping to N/T is not the solution. The median audience for NPR talk is aging too. While ditching Triple A may yield better donations in the near-term, there is an inevitable problem twenty years down the line as these listeners... die off. Both formats are an endangered species. Was that a surprise? (pdf in header) I quote:

"The median age of an NPR listener is 48 and, while commercial radio stations have been very slow to recognize the potential of the over-35 audience, NPR regularly introduces that audience to new artists and music. While the NPR audience has grown, it has also aged. The average listener keeps getting older every year -- now up to 47 years old. That means NPR is not attracting younger listeners even though more people are tuning in." More here.

In particular WDET is flipping News/talk in the same market at the already established WUOM. So now they directly compete or the same "graying" audience. AND the Canadian public station CBE. Ultimately I see this as a long hard road for all of them. More here.

Driving from RDU to ATL

I've driven over 1000 miles down the east coast this week and seen many cities from the rooftops where I end up working. No fruit is in season now, and that leaves me investigating greasy spoons instead. (Magic mushroom pizza in Atlanta, and the pork Carnitas at Azteca in Charlotte, NC.) My girlfriend has good-restaurant homing powers, and if she did not travel with me, I would probably be less adventurous.


Many radio discoveries so far. I found that 89.5 WHRV has lost Rollie Bristol from its ranks since I last heard them. Rollie had a friendly and deep old-school radio voice. He had comparisons to Paul Harvey but he had none of the schmaltz. Rollie won Best DJ in the local papers of Norfolk several times. He had been the voice of NPR's All Things Considered, and host of Rollie Radio. When WHRV and WHRO split in 1990, Rollie Went with WHRV to lead it as a pioneer of eclectic music for all of Norfolk. In his hands it became a respectable Triple A behemoth respected by all. His career stretched over 30 years including a stint as a jazz program on WGH-AM 1310 for years.

I heard Bob Rogers Blues Show Friday Night on WSHA which is truly a gem in their crown. "The Blues is the Blues." I wish I knew more about the show. But there website has no info.
In Gastonia I caught 660 WLFJ-AM around noon in Greenville, SC. There was a bonafide cooking show on that radio. They're supposed to be a christian talker, but there wasn't any of that while I was in town. There are cooking podcasts out there but I thought the cooking radio show was extinct. Nice to catch this on exhibit. Cooking Podcast here:
I Atlanta I found that the old war of indie music ideology has raged on. I am speaking of WRAS Vs. WREK. Ultimately the difference is that 91.1 WREK (like WFMU) is trying so hard to be eclectic that they are trying to make you change the channel. I deeply respect the idea that some outlet needs to do this. I just never like this when I hear it. 88.5 WRAS on the other hand is trying to treat college rock like a radio format. As much as any station does (Ex. KCMP) they do. Stations like WRAS sell records and break new bands. Purists try to argue to me that this isn't what college radio is for. Bah! Hell yes it is. Mister DJ play the records you love, try to sell those records, and break those bands.

Radio Evangelist And Carny

Nice history here:http://members.aol.com/jeff560/kfsg.html

I once had to tell a friend these two rules.
1. Do not date Carnys
2. Do not date people who could be carnys.

Radio has been home to many people who would otherwise been carnys. Hucksters, loonies, and a great assortment of wackos that just need attention. Aimee Semple McPherson could have been a carny. Instead she was one of the very first christian radio evangelists, and she founded the very first all religious radio station in the world.

Aimee was no ordinary evangelist. She was a charismatic freak of untold proportions. The radio made Aimee's voice one of the most recognizable of that era. Those who tuned to KFSG (or dayshare KRKD) to listen to her, heard her open with the same words each day: "You thousands of people here, you in the orchestra, you in the first balcony, you in the second balcony, you crowds standing in the rear, you thousands listening in over the radio!" Her ego was a titanic thing of legend. Sister McPherson kept busy, working spread the word of Jesus as far and wide as she could. Besides the KFSG broadcasts and the illustrated dramatic [these involved actual theatre] sermons performed onstage at Angelus Temple, she also syndicated some of her sermons, which were recorded and sent to various radio stations across the nation. A scenario played out on public access today.

But there are so many fervent christian radio evangelists on the radio. Why is she special? During the earliest years of KFSG and the Angelus Temple, Aimee Semple McPherson's name had appeared on the front page of Los Angeles newspapers an average of 3 times a week. A similar amount of press coverage on Aimee had taken place in the New York Times and other large newspapers, between 1926 and 1937. Up until 1937, there had been about 45 lawsuits filed against Aimee and/or Angelus Temple. It was that year she cut her traveling back to a minimum and started her "no interview policy" with the newspapers. She was as well-known then as Elvis is today. She even cut back on speaking in tongues and faith-healings.

Without getting into the details of the lawsuits,  (which are a vaudeville stage show of their own) I'll just start with the drugs. Amiee did a lot of drugs. She wasn't the first San Franciscan to do drugs, but she was the the best at it bar none. Heroin, cocaine, morphine, opium...Timothy Leary had nothing on this woman's idea of a heroic dose. Then there was the embezzling. I won't get into the dollar amounts but drugs are expensive. In 1925, the license for KFSG was suspended by the Commerce Department (pre-FCC) for deviating from its assigned frequency. McPherson sent an angry telegram to then-Commerce Secretary Herbert Hoover ordering his "minions of Satan" to release her station at once. This woman was a certifiable nutbar.

Oh wait there's more..... there was a kiddnapping scandal.As McPherson later told it, she was kidnapped on Tuesday afternoon, May 26, and spirited away to a cabin where she was held prisoner. That evening, it was announced at Angelus Temple that Sister had gone for a swim, failed to return, and was presumed drowned. For the next few days, Los Angeles talked of little else fearing her dead. Thousands walked aimlessly on the Ocean Park Beach where Sister had last been seen, and an elaborate memorial service was held for McPherson on June 20, 1926.

Three days later At Agua Prieta (near Douglas, Arizona) on June 23, McPherson reappeared with a tale of having escaped from kidnappers across the desert on foot. The crowds that had mourned her loss prepared a lavish welcome home ceremony. But the law found several holes in her story.

Then witnesses came forward stating that they had seen McPherson with KFSG engineer John Ormiston at various hotels over that period. Ormiston was married to a different woman! The accusations of infidelity were aimed mostly at the now twice-divorced Aimee. McPherson and her mother were charged with obstruction of justice. Aimee proceeded to have a series of nervous breakdowns, which continued until the charges were mercifully dropped. There had been many theories on what had happened. She had plastic surgery. She had an abortion. She was having an affair. She had an affair and plastic surgery. No one suggested in the news that she went to Tijuana and went on a 30-day drug and tequila bender. But that's what I think.

On September 27, 1944 she was found dead of an overdose of heroin and/or opium. Once again, rumors flew, this time conjecturing suicide. It may have been accidental. But the christian biographies of her skip this part entirely claiming she died of kidney failure. Fans of CSI will tell you that drug overdoses can cause kidney failure. It's akin to saying that President Kennedy died of lesions on the brain. McPherson's funeral took place on her fifty-fourth birthday, October 9, 1944. Ever the carny, her will insisted that she be buried with a working, wired telephone for... well who knows why.

While KFSG wasn't the first religious station in the country, it didn't miss by much. The station was a true pioneer broadcaster, like the other L.A. radio stations that first went on the air in the tumultuous 1920s, radio's first big decade. During those "pioneering" days of radio, KFSG set a standard for future Christian broadcasting, and cleared a path for the nearly 2000 religious radio stations on the air in the U.S. today to follow. It can be said, the lady dressed to impress.

All Shopping Radio K-SHOP

Way back in 1985, 92.1 WBKF was a perfectly normal radio station in Macclenny, Florida, that (also typically) played country music and church programs. The station was bought by Sarah and Greg Perich; who left things initially relatively unchanged. The call letters flipped to WJXR and it re-branded as "Shark Country" and the religious programming stayed put. Then they started their own morning show starring themselves.. and changed the logo. All relatively innocuous.

The Bargain Channel Program was started as a once-a-week show. As more listeners tuned in, the program hours increased. The Bargain Channel slowly became a 5-day program that started at 8 a.m. and ended at 9 p.m. Country music was moved to overnights.

By 1993 WJXR was an affiliate of ABC Radio Networks and FRN (a local FL sports network) hosting Florida Gator football, the local Baker County sports, Jacksonville Suns, Trinity Christian Academy football, the Jacksonville Jaguars, and the Jacksonville Tomcats. (lots of college ball) The Bargain Channel now airs 7 days a week from 6 a.m. to midnight. The staff includes more than 25 people, far from the two who first assumed all titles. All offices are opened 7 days a week, times vary.
While WJXR may have ben the first shopping radio outlet, KSHP is the first to do it 24/7. KSHP "Retail Radio" http://www.kshp.com/
It's in vegas. Of course.

The Many Flavors of Radio

I tend to explain things in metaphors. Radio formats are like Ice cream. AC is like vanilla. Lots of people love vanilla. And most people think it's ok. Almost nobody hates vanilla. Whereas a format like Americana is more like Chocolate marshmallow which is #15 off the list at only 1.3%.

There are over 2000 country music radio stations in America, that's a whopping 14%. Not quite as popular as vanilla but more popular than chocolate. That's a freakish notion, country music radio is more popular than chocolate icecream. It seems counter intuitive actually.

The problem being, most common does not mean most popular. In some cities the #1 station is a talker. In others its a tropical station in others AC. The demographics of each city vary as do the successful branding and marketing of each set of stations. While New york can support two tropical spanish stations Des Moines cannot. So when people throw these numbers at you, stick it in the circular file. Know your market, ignore the rest.

So does most common radio format = most popular music? No. In fact country music has relatively low ratings in many markets. For example New York City number uno in radio the bull cow, the bull god, the Mattatuck... the biggest market in America has no country radio station. It's been tried before and it failed before. Actually Clear Channel just snuck one in 2 days ago via HD multicast but that's currently almost the same as not existing. Did you know that counting illegal immigrants NYC is a bigger market than LA and chicago (markets 2&3) combined?

So anyway back to the food = radio thing.
The top 10 most popular Ice Cream Flavors are as follows:
1. Vanilla - 29%
2. Chocolate - 8.9%
3. Butter pecan - 5.3%
4. Strawberry - 5.3%
5. Neapolitan, 4.2%
6. Chocolate chip, 3.9%
7. French vanilla, 3.8%
8. Cookies and cream, 3.6%
9. Vanilla fudge ripple, 2.6%
10. Praline pecan, 1.7%
Source: International Ice Cream Assoc.
http://www.iaicv.org/

I had to ask my girlfriend what Neapolitain ice cream even was. But I have to ask professionals what Hurban is all about too.

Top 10 Most common radio formats
1. Country, 14%
2. News/Talk, 9.2%
3. AC, 7.1%
4. Oldies, 6%
5. Latin, 5.2% (yeah I know this is multiple formats)
6. Christian Con., 3.7%
7. Hot AC, 3.6%
8. Classic Rock, 3.4%
9. CHR. 3.3%
10. Gospel, 3.1%

Adult Standards comes in at #11 for the record... So think about who you know listens to these stations. Are they Vanilla kind of people or are they Strawberry Cheesecake kind of people?