Local (and other) radio news

[RGMike]

Sadly, Philly's WDAS-AM, that fabulous classic soul station, is no more 

[radical347]

Steve Masters's Modern Mix tracks for last week:

Monday: The Human League “Don’t You Want Me”
Tuesday: Men Without Hats “The Safety Dance”
Wednesday: Erasure “Oh L’Amour”
Thursday: Laid Back “White Horse”
Friday: Information Society “What’s On Your Mind (Pure Energy)”

The first three are pretty mainstream and 4 & 5 aren't terribly unusual either.   The vintage tracks are gradually being dumbed down, I fear.

Agreed. This morning he did Siouxie's "Cities in Dust" (12" mix)

They seem to have scaled way back on the "classic alternative" stuff generally.

I haven't heard the Modern Mix for the past week and I've been tuning in at 8:30, so it appears to be gone unless they played it early and/or moved the time, for multiple days in a row.

Also, after hearing Daft Punk, Neighborhood, Capital Cities, and Imagine Dragons virtually every hour on Live 105, I checked their playlist and...

lw   TW   Artist   Title   TW   lw   Move   Aud
1   1    DAFT PUNK           Get Lucky                 100   94   6   0.6239
5   2    NEIGHBOURHOOD   Sweater Weather   94   66   28   0.6014
2   3    CAPITAL CITIES   Safe And Sound           87   80   7   0.5283
4   4    IMAGINE DRAGONS   Demons                   85   72   13   0.5332
3   5    IMAGINE DRAGONS   Radioactive           84   75   9   0.53

  .

They did something like this last year during their "Energy 105" phase (which was also the recent period when they were getting the highest ratings).  But 169 spins of Imagine Dragons/week?

This is par for the course for Live 105.  Every 3-6 months they seem to drastically change things up.  Some of these periods are better than others.  Since they went through the trouble of bringing Steve Masters back, and really played up their gold selection, I was hoping this would finally be the change that would stick.  Sadly that wasn't the case.

[RGMike]

This is par for the course for Live 105.  Every 3-6 months they seem to drastically change things up.  Some of these periods are better than others.  Since they went through the trouble of bringing Steve Masters back, and really played up their gold selection, I was hoping this would finally be the change that would stick.  Sadly that wasn't the case.

Too bad, as the alt "classics" you don't hear everyday were the reason I've been listening to them lately.  OTOH, I don't need to hear "I Melt With You" multiple times a week either.  Gotta assume KFOG's latest incarnation has made Live 105 go back to the 85+ spins-per-week model, for currents.  I like the Daft Punk tune but jeezus.  Something tells me the Masters experiment is not long for this world.

[radical347]

Gotta assume KFOG's latest incarnation has made Live 105 go back to the 85+ spins-per-week model, for currents.

Yep.  Every time a station gives Live 105 a reason to be worried, it adapts.
And likewise, when the other station dumbs itself back down, Live 105 does too.

When Channel 104.9 moved to 92.3 and expanded their reach up to SF, Live 105 suddenly started playing a lot more experimental songs (and golds).
Then when Clear Channel turned 92.3 into a Live 105 clone (~June, July 2010)...Live 105 turned itself back into an even worse Live 105 clone.

I credit DC's "let's be more alternative than Live 105" strategy with giving Live the kick in the @$$ it needed to start sounding good again.  Now it's no longer being kicked.

[RGMike]

according to a post on radio-info.com, Derek Madden, PD of The Bone, is leaving.  I'm guessing Mr Pugh of KFOG will probably assume his duties (it's cheaper).  But let the rumor-mongering begin!

ETA: apparently the reason for that post is that Madden changed his FB status from "works at 107.7 The Bone" to "worked at..."  But he's still on their website.

[urth]

according to a post on radio-info.com, Derek Madden, PD of The Bone, is leaving.  I'm guessing Mr Pugh of KFOG will probably assume his duties (it's cheaper).  But let the rumor-mongering begin!

ETA: apparently the reason for that post is that Madden changed his FB status from "works at 107.7 The Bone" to "worked at..."  But he's still on their website.

I've never found the verb tense on FB profiles to be particularly consistent or accurate, so if that's what they used for a source for their story without at least getting some kind of corroboration, that's kinda lame.

[radical347]

From Facebook:

Derek Madden
No show today. REALLY BIG news tomorrow AM. That is all.

[Big Fingers McGee]

From Facebook:

Derek Madden
No show today. REALLY BIG news tomorrow AM. That is all.

At least he didn't use exclamation points.

I need to find a way of filtering out posts with an excess of capital letters and exclamation points. They're never worth reading.

[urth]

So Pugh is taking over the PD role at the Bone *and* joining the Morning show with Greg G. (wonder how long that will last?), Tim Jeffries is going to afternoons on the Bone, and Webster is coming back to do afternoons on KFOG (which I suppose means that Dred and Rockwell are resuming their previous time slots).

Correctamundo. I seem to recall that DC was co-PD of KFOG and the Bone for a while, no? Somebody was. 

[urth]

So Pugh is taking over the PD role at the Bone *and* joining the Morning show with Greg G. (wonder how long that will last?), Tim Jeffries is going to afternoons on the Bone, and Webster is coming back to do afternoons on KFOG (which I suppose means that Dred and Rockwell are resuming their previous time slots).

Correctamundo. I seem to recall that DC was co-PD of KFOG and the Bone for a while, no? Somebody was.

Dude, not sure what happened here, but it looks like you modified my post and deleted a bit of it (nothing crucial, to be fair), then added your response that looks like it's part of my post. I know it had to be an accident, so just be careful if something looks weird, it probably is.

Btw, here's the all-access article announcing the changes:
http://www.allaccess.com/net-news/archive/story/120094/derek-madden-officially-named-pd-at-klos?ref=mail_bulletin

[RGMike]

So Pugh is taking over the PD role at the Bone *and* joining the Morning show with Greg G. (wonder how long that will last?), Tim Jeffries is going to afternoons on the Bone, and Webster is coming back to do afternoons on KFOG (which I suppose means that Dred and Rockwell are resuming their previous time slots).

Correctamundo. I seem to recall that DC was co-PD of KFOG and the Bone for a while, no? Somebody was.

Dude, not sure what happened here, but it looks like you modified my post and deleted a bit of it (nothing crucial, to be fair), then added your response that looks like it's part of my post. I know it had to be an accident, so just be careful if something looks weird, it probably is.

Btw, here's the all-access article announcing the changes:
http://www.allaccess.com/net-news/archive/story/120094/derek-madden-officially-named-pd-at-klos?ref=mail_bulletin

I cannot tell you how many times I've clicked "Modify" when I meant to click "quote".

[RGMike]

June SF ratings in.

http://ratings.radio-online.com/cgi-bin/rol.exe/arb009

same-old, same-old as far as the KFOG/Bone/Alice/K-FOX/competition goes. Live105 actually dropped a couple notches. Sheesh.

KNBR drops from 5.8 to a 5.3  -- that's what happens when the Giants start to suck donkey balls.

(OTOH, the A's are smokin' hot and that hasn't helped 95.7 The Game)

[RGMike]

Gotta assume KFOG's latest incarnation has made Live 105 go back to the 85+ spins-per-week model, for currents.

Yep.  Every time a station gives Live 105 a reason to be worried, it adapts.
And likewise, when the other station dumbs itself back down, Live 105 does too.

When Channel 104.9 moved to 92.3 and expanded their reach up to SF, Live 105 suddenly started playing a lot more experimental songs (and golds).
Then when Clear Channel turned 92.3 into a Live 105 clone (~June, July 2010)...Live 105 turned itself back into an even worse Live 105 clone.

I credit DC's "let's be more alternative than Live 105" strategy with giving Live the kick in the @$$ it needed to start sounding good again.  Now it's no longer being kicked.

Tomorrow is "Throwback Thursday" on Live 105 -- they're soliciting requests.

[RGMike]

Gotta assume KFOG's latest incarnation has made Live 105 go back to the 85+ spins-per-week model, for currents.

Yep.  Every time a station gives Live 105 a reason to be worried, it adapts.
And likewise, when the other station dumbs itself back down, Live 105 does too.

When Channel 104.9 moved to 92.3 and expanded their reach up to SF, Live 105 suddenly started playing a lot more experimental songs (and golds).
Then when Clear Channel turned 92.3 into a Live 105 clone (~June, July 2010)...Live 105 turned itself back into an even worse Live 105 clone.

I credit DC's "let's be more alternative than Live 105" strategy with giving Live the kick in the @$$ it needed to start sounding good again.  Now it's no longer being kicked.

Tomorrow is "Throwback Thursday" on Live 105 -- they're soliciting requests.

Oy: "Throwback Thursday" so far has amounted to one or 2 songs an hour -- one of which, around 6:30am, was "Under Pressure", which between KFOG, K-FOX, The Bone and Oldies 103.7 you can probably hear 87 times a week in this market. Are you really telling me somebody requested that song because they hadn't heard it in ages? Good gawd.

[radical347]

Gotta assume KFOG's latest incarnation has made Live 105 go back to the 85+ spins-per-week model, for currents.

Yep.  Every time a station gives Live 105 a reason to be worried, it adapts.
And likewise, when the other station dumbs itself back down, Live 105 does too.

When Channel 104.9 moved to 92.3 and expanded their reach up to SF, Live 105 suddenly started playing a lot more experimental songs (and golds).
Then when Clear Channel turned 92.3 into a Live 105 clone (~June, July 2010)...Live 105 turned itself back into an even worse Live 105 clone.

I credit DC's "let's be more alternative than Live 105" strategy with giving Live the kick in the @$$ it needed to start sounding good again.  Now it's no longer being kicked.

Tomorrow is "Throwback Thursday" on Live 105 -- they're soliciting requests.

Oy: "Throwback Thursday" so far has amounted to one or 2 songs an hour -- one of which, around 6:30am, was "Under Pressure", which between KFOG, K-FOX, The Bone and Oldies 103.7 you can probably hear 87 times a week in this market. Are you really telling me somebody requested that song because they hadn't heard it in ages? Good gawd.

The other ones were "Girls" by the Beastie Boys, "Pictures of You" by the Cure, and "Damnit" by Blink 182. 

Live 105, despite having their periods of blah, usually delivers when they use a fancy phrase like that.  (Even something that could have easily been horrendous, their "Nothin' But 90s weekends," turned out awesome.)  But not this time.