10@10: Alternative Takes

[dischead]

A thread for discussion about 10@10 in general.

Comments, observations, insights, complaints, whining...

[dischead]

In another thread I mentioned that in six months of hosting 10@10, Renee
has yet to do a "set of mystery."  Recently I noticed another staple has
long been absent.  The last "vertical tasting" -- re-branded by AL as
"chartbusters" -- was July 5, 2011.  I'm not at all saddened by this.
I've never heard a vertical set that I particularly liked.  But perhaps
it's of interest to others.  BTW, this would correspond to about the
time that shifts were made in the musical direction of KFOG, the
Saturday marathon was eliminated, etc.

[CapnJack]

The one vertical tasting set I enjoyed was a Friday the 13th "Hits From Hell" edition.
I can't remember the exact setlist from that episode, but I do remember John Denver's
"Thank God I'm A Country Boy" was played. 

[Big Fingers McGee]

General list of complaints which are specific to RR (and I'm even giving her a very reluctant pass on her rather uninteresting setlists):

1) Pathetic social media interaction.
2) Clips that are:
     i) too long
    ii) not really relevant
3) Songs being played in wrong (and in many cases multiple) years.
4) Amount of errors, both on the technical and the factual.
5) Lack of sense of humor about #1-4.

[RGMike]

In another thread I mentioned that in six months of hosting 10@10, Renee
has yet to do a "set of mystery."  Recently I noticed another staple has
long been absent.  The last "vertical tasting" -- re-branded by AL as
"chartbusters" -- was July 5, 2011.  I'm not at all saddened by this.
I've never heard a vertical set that I particularly liked.  But perhaps
it's of interest to others.  BTW, this would correspond to about the
time that shifts were made in the musical direction of KFOG, the
Saturday marathon was eliminated, etc.

VT/Chartbuster sets were always, by their very nature, kinda uninteresting because the idea was that these were "big hits" from the Billboard chart.  Dave and AL might throw in one chezzy pop song if it happened to fit, but mostly it was songs that we now call LNs.  Given how many hits DC makes RR play daily, such sets would be redundant.   But yeah, "Mystery Years"were always fun.

When AL took over, she was told to cut way back on theme sets, so a lot of Dave's great staples (Strictly Instrumental, Motown Monday and of course Hits From hell) fell by the wayside, sadly.

[CapnJack]

Another complaint, but this one is probably directed at DC...

Not taking requests or suggestions on Facebook (or email).

[RGMike]

Another complaint, but this one is probably directed at DC...

Not taking requests or suggestions on Facebook (or email).

It's funny, really, how stations fall all over themselves to have a "social media presence" and to *appear* to be interacting with the audience, but AL actually DID that, in spades, and spent many hours each week at it, and suddenly Cumulus was like "wait, you're actually playing songs the listeners ask for? WTF?"

We tend to dump on RR for her "I don't do social media" thing, but I'm sure DC was very happy to let the FB-request thing die. I'd've loved to be a fly-on-the-wall during his arguments  with AL about the songs she played that he disapproved of.

[urth]

General list of complaints which are specific to RR (and I'm even giving her a very reluctant pass on her rather uninteresting setlists):

1) Pathetic social media interaction.
2) Clips that are:
     i) too long
    ii) not really relevant
3) Songs being played in wrong (and in many cases multiple) years.
4) Amount of errors, both on the technical and the factual.
5) Lack of sense of humor about #1-4.

One more: the uninspired, cookie-cutter, by-the-numbers (literally) script she reads as a backsell after each set. "...the XXth song of our set today...."  More evidence that she hasn't spoken an original thought on-air since the Clinton administration.

[Big Fingers McGee]

General list of complaints which are specific to RR (and I'm even giving her a very reluctant pass on her rather uninteresting setlists):

1) Pathetic social media interaction.
2) Clips that are:
     i) too long
    ii) not really relevant
3) Songs being played in wrong (and in many cases multiple) years.
4) Amount of errors, both on the technical and the factual.
5) Lack of sense of humor about #1-4.

One more: the uninspired, cookie-cutter, by-the-numbers (literally) script she reads as a backsell after each set. "...the XXth song of our set today...."  More evidence that she hasn't spoken an original thought on-air since the Clinton administration.

Thanks Urth. This, very specifically this. For all the excuses given RR ("oh DC is making her do this"), the very least she could do is make it sound as if she cares.

[radical347]

General list of complaints which are specific to RR (and I'm even giving her a very reluctant pass on her rather uninteresting setlists):

1) Pathetic social media interaction.
2) Clips that are:
     i) too long
    ii) not really relevant
3) Songs being played in wrong (and in many cases multiple) years.
4) Amount of errors, both on the technical and the factual.
5) Lack of sense of humor about #1-4.

One more: the uninspired, cookie-cutter, by-the-numbers (literally) script she reads as a backsell after each set. "...the XXth song of our set today...."  More evidence that she hasn't spoken an original thought on-air since the Clinton administration.

Thanks Urth. This, very specifically this. For all the excuses given RR ("oh DC is making her do this"), the very least she could do is make it sound as if she cares.

Yes, this.  I just don't think she's ever sounded very good on air and especially not very good handling KFOG's signature show.

#s 3 and 4 are the really big pet peeves of mine.  I can probably tolerate some songs being one year off, but some of her songs are off by 3 years.  :-/  That makes it sound less like a show about highlighting one year and more like a KFOX or Alice sample hour.

I'm willing to give her a pass for #2.  I agree that a lot of them are too long but she--or is it Icky?  Is he even still around?--actually has had a bunch of clever/relevant clips, in my opinion.  AL and Dave's weren't always relevant either and AL's production was kind of shaky for the first year or so.  In fact, interestingly enough I think AL's production & clips only started getting *really* good after DC laid the smack down about song selection.

[urth]

General list of complaints which are specific to RR (and I'm even giving her a very reluctant pass on her rather uninteresting setlists):

1) Pathetic social media interaction.
2) Clips that are:
     i) too long
    ii) not really relevant
3) Songs being played in wrong (and in many cases multiple) years.
4) Amount of errors, both on the technical and the factual.
5) Lack of sense of humor about #1-4.

One more: the uninspired, cookie-cutter, by-the-numbers (literally) script she reads as a backsell after each set. "...the XXth song of our set today...."  More evidence that she hasn't spoken an original thought on-air since the Clinton administration.

Thanks Urth. This, very specifically this. For all the excuses given RR ("oh DC is making her do this"), the very least she could do is make it sound as if she cares.

Yes, this.  I just don't think she's ever sounded very good on air and especially not very good handling KFOG's signature show.

#s 3 and 4 are the really big pet peeves of mine.  I can probably tolerate some songs being one year off, but some of her songs are off by 3 years.  :-/  That makes it sound less like a show about highlighting one year and more like a KFOX or Alice sample hour.

I'm willing to give her a pass for #2.  I agree that a lot of them are too long but she--or is it Icky?  Is he even still around?--actually has had a bunch of clever/relevant clips, in my opinion.  AL and Dave's weren't always relevant either and AL's production was kind of shaky for the first year or so.  In fact, interestingly enough I think AL's production & clips only started getting *really* good after DC laid the smack down about song selection.

Re #2, I think they've (RR/Icky or whoever's engineering the show/DC/player to be named later) been coming up with better clips lately--actual news/event related stuff rather than just old commercials and such. And their segues have started to improve as well.  AL leaned heavily on vintage car and other sorts of ads in her first year or so, too. Just sayin'.

I do think they're harvesting some clips (and bites thereof) from Dave's old sets.  In the 74 set we had recently there were two very brief snippets of Sammy Davis Jr.'s Manischewitz White Concord Grape commercial that Dave used to drop in periodically.

I'd *love* to hear that old M & L Cocktail Lounge spot again.

[RGMike]

agreed on the above comments about clips. Dave's news clips were often VERY long, esp if he was trying to make a political point, and he played movie clips that were often endless (Victor/Victoria comes to mind, and I recall a Fried Green Tomatoes thing that had to be 5 minutes long).  The first thing I noticed when AL took over was that her clips were much shorter, which I saw as a "this is NOT your father's 10@10" thing.  And she made it work. I don't mind a lengthy digession if it's interesting, but some of RR's clips just seem too random.

[Tinka Cat]

In another thread I mentioned that in six months of hosting 10@10, Renee
has yet to do a "set of mystery."  Recently I noticed another staple has
long been absent.  The last "vertical tasting" -- re-branded by AL as
"chartbusters" -- was July 5, 2011.  I'm not at all saddened by this.
I've never heard a vertical set that I particularly liked.  But perhaps
it's of interest to others.  BTW, this would correspond to about the
time that shifts were made in the musical direction of KFOG, the
Saturday marathon was eliminated, etc.

VT/Chartbuster sets were always, by their very nature, kinda uninteresting because the idea was that these were "big hits" from the Billboard chart.  Dave and AL might throw in one chezzy pop song if it happened to fit, but mostly it was songs that we now call LNs.  Given how many hits DC makes RR play daily, such sets would be redundant.   But yeah, "Mystery Years"were always fun.

When AL took over, she was told to cut way back on theme sets, so a lot of Dave's great staples (Strictly Instrumental, Motown Monday and of course Hits From hell) fell by the wayside, sadly.

Mystery and Themed sets are often pretty fun (as are mystery theme sets!), but the VT/Chartbusters were uneventful.. Like listening to the last half hour of Casey Kasem's countdowns. 

About the clips.. I do not mind long clips.  In fact, I prefer longer clips often, esp if the source is something I didn't know too well.  I know it's music show, but I'll happily delve into some film for a minute (which is REALLY long by radio standards) if the clip is well-chosen and evocative.

But I agree on the wrong year stuff -- there's no wiggle room there.  Pick a standard (US Release date sounds about right) and effing stick to it. 

We need some music nerds up in the KFOG, yo!    Renée comes off like a so many people in the digital age who half-assedly try some randowm activity -- juggling, ghost riding the whip, mentos and Diet Coke, deejaying a radio show in a major market, whatever -- and claim they have expertise in it because it was captured on film/tape and uploaded to YouTube.   

[dischead]

The one vertical tasting set I enjoyed was a Friday the 13th "Hits From Hell" edition.
I can't remember the exact setlist from that episode, but I do remember John Denver's
"Thank God I'm A Country Boy" was played. 

5/13/05 - Oh No!!!  Friday the 13th!!!!  Today is a "Vertical Tasting" HITS FROM HELL!!!!

1. 1975 - John Denver - Thank God I'm a Country Boy
2. 1976 - Henry Gross - Shannon
3. 1977 - Leo Sayer - When I Need You
4. 1978 - Michael Zager Band - Let's All Chant
5. 1979 - Village People - In the Navy
6. 1980 - Air Supply - Lost in Love
7. 1981 - Sheena Easton - Morning Train
8. 1982 - Paul & Stevie - Ebony & Ivory
9. 1983 - Styx - Mr. Roboto
10.1984 - Kenny Loggins - Footloose

[CapnJack]

The one vertical tasting set I enjoyed was a Friday the 13th "Hits From Hell" edition.
I can't remember the exact setlist from that episode, but I do remember John Denver's
"Thank God I'm A Country Boy" was played. 

5/13/05 - Oh No!!!  Friday the 13th!!!!  Today is a "Vertical Tasting" HITS FROM HELL!!!!

1. 1975 - John Denver - Thank God I'm a Country Boy
2. 1976 - Henry Gross - Shannon
3. 1977 - Leo Sayer - When I Need You
4. 1978 - Michael Zager Band - Let's All Chant
5. 1979 - Village People - In the Navy
6. 1980 - Air Supply - Lost in Love
7. 1981 - Sheena Easton - Morning Train
8. 1982 - Paul & Stevie - Ebony & Ivory
9. 1983 - Styx - Mr. Roboto
10.1984 - Kenny Loggins - Footloose

That's it! 

I taped every Friday the 13th episode of 10@10 I could during the Dave Morey era.
I have that episode lying around somewhere...