Local (and other) radio news

[radical347]

So I found out my new ride also has HD Radio...
I was flipping through the stations and found the following still active on HD2:

97.7: Air One Christian Radio (Nothing on 104.5, however)

Interesting -- remember when KFOG's HD-2 was all-10@10-all-the-time?  I wonder when that ended.

At some point during the DC era it disappeared, but ended up coming back (still with Dave). I’m not sure when it got axed for good though.

[dischead]

I'm good with all of those, plus They're Coming To Take Me Away, just 'cause it's so weird. How did songs like that get on the radio?

More generally, the '60s were perhaps not only a golden age of pop/rock, but of radio as well.  There was such an explosion
of new music, and even on a Top 40 station one could hear songs heavily influenced by blues, classical, folk, gospel, etc.  And
radio was not the top-down, corporate-dictated, nationally-homogenized industry of today.  There were wide variations in
local markets across the country, and many stations' playlists were strongly influenced by listener requests.  A DJ on one
station might introduce a song, people started requesting it more often, word would spread to other stations in other areas,
and it would literally sweep across the country.  They're Coming To Take Me Away, The Ballad of Bonnie and Clyde,
and Gimme Dat Ding are just some of the novelty songs that made it into the top ten on the charts.

When people tell me that music sucks these days, I tell them that music is just as good if not better than ever.  It's radio
that sucks.

[RGMike]

103.7 is now running Classic Casey Kasem (the '80s version) Sunday mornings from 8 to noon.

[RGMike]

I don't tend to listen to The Peak outside of 10@10, but with my 2 main standbys (WLNG and CKWW) both down today, I've been listening the past hour. They're playing the new Bob Weir, which I kinda liked,. Ditto Trigger Hippy  (it's "New Releases Wednesday". Older gems included "Substitute", Nick Lowe "So it Goes" and now here's Zevon's "A Certain Girl".  OTOH: Pearl Jam and GooGoo Dolls songs that I never need to hear again.

[urth]

So in the wake of WTF's extended hiatus, I have been checking out the Peak and the Coast among others over the last couple of weeks. I like the Peak, but its playlist seems to cleave a little too close to standard classic-rock fare. But I have been very much enjoying KOZT --  it too draws from a lot of the core classic rock artists, but it seems to be digging a bit deeper, and it mixes in some more current songs too. They do seem to have an affinity for Clapton and Knopfler, to name just two, but they're hitting deeper cuts far more frequently than they are Layla and Sultans of Swing. And as a number of their staff are alumni from bay area stations of yore, there's an unspoken feeling of continuity from KFOG, KSAN, KKSF and other long gone SF stations.

Also, they allow their airstaff to stretch out and talk about the music and the artists, and it doesn't seem forced or scripted. And their ads seem to be mostly local, not the national stuff you get on the bay area stations. Good station, and I like their small-town yet professional vibe.

[ggould]

So in the wake of WTF's extended hiatus, I have been checking out the Peak and the Coast among others over the last couple of weeks. I like the Peak, but its playlist seems to cleave a little too close to standard classic-rock fare. But I have been very much enjoying KOZT --  it too draws from a lot of the core classic rock artists, but it seems to be digging a bit deeper, and it mixes in some more current songs too. They do seem to have an affinity for Clapton and Knopfler, to name just two, but they're hitting deeper cuts far more frequently than they are Layla and Sultans of Swing. And as a number of their staff are alumni from bay area stations of yore, there's an unspoken feeling of continuity from KFOG, KSAN, KKSF and other long gone SF stations.

Also, they allow their airstaff to stretch out and talk about the music and the artists, and it doesn't seem forced or scripted. And their ads seem to be mostly local, not the national stuff you get on the bay area stations. Good station, and I like their small-town yet professional vibe.

They also have a smartphone app that makes it real easy.  Ditto for what Jim said.

[radical347]

Live 105's Not So Silent Night is back to 2 nights this year, December 9-10. (Friday/Saturday.) That means there will probably be about 12 bands (although with the rotating stage they introduced last year, they may have room for a couple more.)

The lineup will officially be revealed next Monday but you can usually figure out some of the lineup by seeing who other stations have at their Holiday concerts around the same time (usually the stations in Seattle, Portland, San Diego, Sacramento, and Denver announce their lineup before SF), seeing who's currently unusually high on Live 105's playlist (this would include, say, the Head and the Heart who they bumped back up to high rotation last week, but wouldn't work for bands like the Red Hot Chili Peppers because they always play them in high rotation) and going to the artists' websites and seeing if there are available tour dates, in particular ones surrounded by other west coast dates.

So far, my predictions include (I'm not going to try to guess whether they'll be on night 1 or 2 ): Empire of the Sun, Jimmy Eat World, Phantogram, Glass Animals, The Head and the Heart, Kaleo, Grouplove, Bishop, Beck, Capital Cities, K-Flay (the last one could be part of their pre-party, although I suspect they actually may put her on one of the real nights since she's local, they've been playing her on Soundcheck forever, and she finally got signed to a label.)

[RGMike]

For those who care (or wish to avoid), KOIT flipped the switch to all-Xmas yesterday.

[radical347]

For their 30th anniversary, Live 105 is currently featuring a different year every hour. So far we've gotten 1996, 1988, 1998, and 2006. It's like nonstop 10@10s...almost.

[RGMike]

Somewhat astoundingly, KFOG was up again in the most recent ratings book -- giving them a 2.0 for the first time since before the "Evolution".

Elsewhere: The Bone was also up nicely, Live 105 continues to tread water, and The Breeze beat KOIT!  (of course, that will change now that KOIT is all-Xmas

[RGMike]

Latest ratings: KFOG, amazingly, up another tick to 2.1. KNBR plunges from 5.0 to 3.5 -- losing the Warriors hurt them, plus the Niners suck.  KOIT, of course jumped way up thanks to all-Xmas, but The Breeze wasn't hurt by that: they moved up from 4.0 to 4.3

[RGMike]

For you South Bay types, KBAY has flipped to a Classic Hits format --

http://news.radio-online.com/cgi-bin/rol.exe/headline_id=n33674

It's basically what 103.7 was before they switched to all-'80s. A typical hour:

8:24AM Brown Eyed Girl Van Morrison
8:20AM Another One Bites The Dust Queen
8:11AM Escapade Janet Jackson
8:08AM Jessie's Girl Rick Springfield
8:05AM You Make My Dreams Hall & Oates
8:01AM Part Time Lover Stevie Wonder
7:53AM Cat's In The Cradle Harry Chapin
7:48AM Billie Jean Michael Jackson
7:45AM Call Me Blondie
7:40AM In The Air Tonight Phil Collins
7:37AM Tainted Love Soft Cell
7:29AM Careless Whisper Wham!

quite predictable and consultant-approved. A lot more '80s than '70s and I assume a smattering of only the most obvious '60s (as evidenced by "Brown-Eyed Girl" -- sheesh)

[RGMike]

Latest radio ratings out today. KOIT is King, naturally, thanks to the all-Xmas stuff being part of the ratings period.  KFOG dipped from a 2.1 to a 1.8 -- their first drop after 4 or 5 months of doing a slow, steady climb.

[RGMike]

I didn't get around to posting about the KCSM situation last week. It was suddenly announced last Sunday nite that they would be eliminating all their live evening programming -- in addition to the 10pm "Evening Jazz" shows disappearing (replaced by pre-recorded voicetracked stuff), they were also cancelling Harry Duncan's Sunday nite "In the Soul Kitchen" as well as the Thursday "In the Moment", which features music recorded live at local venues.

This was happening because the Community College Board of San Mateo (CCBSM), which owns the station's license, had, out of the blue (and one month after the station's latest pledge drive), ordered KCSM to drastically slash their budget. The Chron wrote about it midweek:

http://www.sfgate.com/music/article/KCSM-jazz-station-cuts-programming-10966603.php

It didn't seem to make sense: KCSM is a listener-supported station that not only consistently meets its pledge goals, but has a MILLION DOLLAR "rainy day fund" in the bank -- money that has accumulated over the years from all the times they exceeded their pledge goals.  Meanwhile the CCBSM is about to sell KCSM-TV for which they will net TEN MILLION. So neither side is anywhere near broke.

The outcry over the cuts, particularly about the loss of "Soul Kitchen" (arguably the station's most-popular program) was loud, and by the end of the week, Duncan's show had been reinstated, at least temporarily. The conspiracy-theorist in me wonders if that cancellation/reinstatement thing was pre-planned as a way of attracting attention. But the question remains what the CCBSM is really up to. The part-time jocks at KCSM are unionized and the CCBSM would love to replace them with unpaid students, apparently.

[RGMike]

As if KCSM wasn't having enuf troubles, Thurs nite they played the wrong "Jazz Profiles" show (after having promoted a different one all day) and the Sat nite they apparently forgot to set their clocks ahead and everything was off by an hour this morning. Oopsies.