Radio Waves Podcast #350

 Homework assignment:  A great commentary by Ken Levine "RIP Terrestrial Radio.....and good riddance"

Radio Waves: August 26, 2022

Naming a great format … poorly

What do you do when you have critical acclaim, devoted listeners, a lousy signal and little marketing? You change your name, from a rather forgettable “Independent 88.5 FM” to the even more forgettable “88.5 FM, The SoCal Sound.”.

OK, I am teasing … a bit. But I am old school – I like call letters, or variations of call letters. KHJ? KEZY? Ten-Q? KIIS-FM? K-WEST? KMET? KFI? KRLA? KOST 103? K-Earth? KROQ? Love them all. 

The Sound? Alt 98.7? Tolerated because the formats were/are great. Very listenable. And The Sound at least tried to match the name to the calls, though KSWD would hardly make someone think of “the sound,” so maybe they could have tried just a little bit harder.

My FM? Hate it … hate it. The format just can’t make up for such a lame name, which has nothing to do with the KBIG call letters. I have a similar issue with Jack-FM. And of course now there is the new “88.5 FM, The SoCal Sound.” It just doesn’t work for me. 

What’s my problem with it? No passion. Sounds weird. Too long. And yet, they actually have great call letters, though it is complicated with a two-station simulcast that tries to increase signal coverage. Personally, I’d just use KCSN (the simulcast station from Saddleback college, KSBR, is “OK” but definitely not as strong a brand. Maybe combine the two with the K and S that appear in both ad call it KS88, The SoCal Sound.” Much better overall, at least in my opinion. Less clutter.

By now you’re asking – why do I like real call letters? Simple …  like sports franchises, they belong to the city in which they live. There’s only one Dodgers. One Lakers. One KHJ. And one KIIS-FM. On the other hand, you can have an “alt” or a “my” in every city. And there are.

But this is not meant to take away from the 88.5 format – it’s an excellent adult album alternative (AAA) format that, like much of commercial LA radio skews too much into the oldies, but is immensely satisfying and can’t be found locally anywhere else on the dial. In spite of the name, go listen, either over the air, via an app, or at the website https://www.885fm.org. You’ll be glad you did.

Just ignore the name. Or maybe just tolerate it.

Wake-Up Call

I did an early semester lesson at San Pedro High recently, using sone geometry and statistics classes to demonstrate how surveys work and how data can be collected. Off the cuff, I asked six classes of students, all in grades 10 through 12, to write down their favorite radio station or favorite way to hear music.

There were 112 responses. Want to know how many radio stations were chosen? Four, with a total of six votes: KIIS-FM (102.7) garnered three, with KRRL (Real 92.3 FM), KKLA (99.5 FM), and K-Jazz (88.1 FM) earning one vote each.

On the other hand, 66 choose Spotify, 29 chose Apple Music, and the remaining votes were split among other online streaming services or apps.

That’s frightening, if you are a station owner or manager. Less than four percent of those surveyed chose a radio station as their favorite way to listen to music. In years past it would have been closer to 90.

But because the question regarded their “favorite” way to listen to music, a followup question became necessary to truly determine of their is an issue. That question is: What percentage of your music listening time is spent on streaming (Spotify, Apple, YouTube, etc), what percent on SiriusXM, and what percent on AM or FM radio?  Certainly streaming may be big as a first choice, but traditional radio has to be a close second, right?

Um … no. Just slightly more than 21 percent of the students surveyed listen to radio at all, and, and of those, over half said they listen to radio only about 10% of the time. On the other hand, fewer than 2.6 percent said that of streaming services, and fully 36 percent of respondents said they listen to streaming services at least 90% of the time.

I realize this is in no way a scientific, peer-reviewed, fully vetted survey using random sampling. But it surprised me, coming from a generation that grew up with the radio as one of our closest friends. Whether it was the top-40 days listening to Robert W. Morgan, Charlie Tuna, or Bobby Ocean, or the later days of Shana, Rita Wilde, Joe Benson, Jeff Gonzer, Jim Ladd or even Dr. Demento, radio was such a huge part of my life that I cannot imagine life without it. Yet many teens do just fine without AM or FM.

The trick is: can it be reversed? I think so. But I think it’s going to come from the small-time owners. The idea is so simple even a child could figure it out: play what kids want to hear, cut the commercials down to make each spot worth more and not drive away listeners, and get into their lives through promotions, live broadcasts, sponsored events and concerts. 

Kind of like radio used to do. You know, when it as an industry was successful.

Radio Waves: August 19, 2022

The Mellow Sound: A tribute

After some disagreements among current and former partners were finally settled, the original domain for the online tribute to 1970s and ‘80s Mellow Rock station  KNX-FM (now KCBS-FM, 93.1 FM) is back. 

This means that online listeners using a computer can find the tribute station at both TheMellowSound.Net and its original home of KNXFM93.com. Not that it’s a big deal — either one is pretty easy to remember — but it’s nice that the disagreements were settled and things are, um, mellow again.

In case this is the first time you’re hearing of this – the tribute station is an accurate recreation of the original, with music and features such as The Odyssey File (interesting and sometimes twisted news/features of the day). Some of the original in-depth interviews and concerts of artists that aired on 93 FM are periodically available on the tribute station as well. There are truly thousands of songs in the playlist!

All that’s missing are the personalties and commercials. Personalities — yes some of the originals — got sidelined due to the pandemic but are promised in the future, and commercials? You’ll just have to do without. As a tribute station, they run no commercials, though donations are appreciated to help offset the cost of licensing and streaming, and a swag store is in the works as well.

As described on the tribute station website, “In what was then a sea of typical Pop, Rock, Top 40 and MOR radio stations, KNX-FM 93 provided a very different listening experience and the vibe of the emerging musical genre of Mellow Rock. These were the glory days of Laurel Canyon and The West Coast Music Scene. Singer-Songwriters like James Taylor, Judy Collins, Kenny Loggins and Jim Messina, Janis Ian, Al Stewart, Jennifer Warnes, and Carly Simon were there, and are HERE, actually on board this journey with us and can be heard personally introducing their many songs we play with a nod to our mission.” 

The station also helped launch many iconic bands including Eagles, The Doobie Brothers, Little River Band and Steely Dan, as well as other then-trendsetting bans such as Ozark Mountain Daredevils, Pages, Little Feat, Sad Cafe’ and many others. The website continues:

“Most of these artists and bands owe a great deal of their success to KNX-FM 93 whose format was driven less by ratings and popular demand than it was by an understanding of how LA SHOULD sound. And it worked! Most importantly, The Mellow Sound was considered by the music and radio industries as simply the finest-programmed radio station in the US, and possibly the world. And it has been missed by these industries and listeners since it left the airwaves in 1983. “

I have to check details, but my memory is that — like so many stations that helped shape radio — the original KNX-FM was not supposed to have existed. Something about having to tell then-owner CBS’s management that they were doing something else. I’ll have that story, if my memory is correct, in a future column.

Celebration

Happy Birthday wishes to Art Laboe, who celebrated his 57th anniversary of his 39th birthday (can you tell I am a Jack Benny fan?) on August 7th.

Laboe is an absolute legend in both radio and records. He would often broadcast live from remote locations in his early days of radio, later going on to basically save KRLA (1110 AM) with his HitRadio 11 format in the mid 1970s. 

His record company, Original Sound Records, first promoted new and upcoming talent to the market, but later brought oldies but goodies into the hands of listeners and fans with original versions of music from the early days of rock and roll. One of my own early record purchases was an Oldies But Goodies album from Original Sound. I think it was volume two.

He is beloved by multiple generations of listers going back to his work that began in 1943 at San Francisco’s KSAN; he made his Los Angeles debut on KPOP (now KTNQ, 1020 AM). And he’s still working today, with a special syndicated show The Art Laboe Connection that runs locally on KDAY (93.5 FM) Sundays from 6 p.m. to 12 midnight and The Art Laboe Love Zone on Old School 104.3 FM (KOCP/Ventura and KQIE/San Bernardino) Mondays through Thursdays from 9 p.m. to 12 midnight and Sundays 6 p.m. to 12 midnight.

Happy birthday, Art!

Radio Waves: August 12, 2022

The great tuner shootout …

I spoke of doing a tuner comparison previously when I acquired a Denon TU680NAB tuner, at one time considered by some as the holy grail of home component tuners. At least the National Association of Broadcasters thought so — they commissioned Denon to build it and take advantage of the latest technology and designs in order to showcase AM and FM broadcasts in all their glory.

That was back in 1993 or so. Since that time a lot has changed in radio itself, but in general, tuners have not changed all that much. Sure digital HD radio is available, and some HD tuners, namely those from Sangean and a long discontinued Sony, do a spectacular job receiving stations clearly with the added benefit of decoding digital HD streams that are sent along with the analog stations.

But for pure sonic performance on analog signals, the Denon is a tremendous tuner. One of my favorites. I wanted to compare it against a couple other tuners from around the same era, all of which are capable of receiving analog AM stereo, among other features. I finally got around to doing so.

The contenders: the Denon, also known as “the Super Tuner,” a Carver TX11b, and a Modular Component System (MCS) 3050, a tuner once sold by JC Penny when it offered a line of component stereos under their house brand, much like Sears did with its LXI and Proformance brands.

I had previously compared the Denon and Carver head to head back in the early 1990s, and decided to keep the Carver because, at the time, I felt it performed a bit better. Plus I liked the rugged appearance that included a full aluminum front panel that reminded me in quality of the early superb Harman Kardon Citation tube series we once owned.

The MCS tuner has a solid build quality … metal front panel like the Carver, though not as substantial. The tuner is one of the earlier designs and did not include the expanded AM band that was proposed in 1988 and added in 1995, those stations from 1620 to 1700 kHz.

Reception on both AM and FM was fine, but the fidelity of the AM side left a lot to be desired. It is better than a typical AM tuner from that era or now, but it just didn’t sparkle like the others in this comparison. FM sounded fine, though not remarkable. I’d rate it a 6 out of 10.

I tried the Denon for a few weeks to get a good feel, and it performed admirably. It wasn’t perfect: age took its toll on some internal components so the FM side needed some time to stabilize after being off for a while. But AM reminded me of why the NAB commissioned this tuner in the first place … it sounded amazing. Not in stereo, unfortunately, as there are no local AM stations broadcasting in stereo. But the nice open-sounding wideband circuitry made AM stations sound great. Noise-blanking, a system to minimize interference, worked, though not perfect. If all tuners sounded like this one on AM, KHJ would still be playing top-40. 

FM reception was likewise excellent. Stations that my reference Marantz 2215B struggled with came in clean, and tightly-spaced stations including those from San Diego and Santa Barbara were able to be received when I made a few setting changes. Final rating: 8 out of 10.

But just like I remember, the true holy grail was the Carver. AM was even cleaner sounding, with a special sparkle in the high end that made stations on America’s oldest band sound better than any other tuner I have ever tried. KFI (640 AM), for example, sounded as good as if it were on FM … and I used the FM version of KNX (97.1) for comparison. I thought KFI sounded better.

Like the Denon, the Carver includes selectable bandwidth on both AM and FM (on both tuners the effect is different but definitely helpful with reception and sound quality), as well as special noise reduction circuitry that worked better for me than did the Denon. What I found interesting was that on FM, due to some special circuitry, very weak and close-spaced stations were able to be received even better than on the Denon. One station was clean and clear in stereo on the Carver, weak and mono on the Denon and MCS, and totally missing on the Marantz. Let’s call it 9.5 out of 10.

All the tuners used the same antennas, by the way.

For fun, I compared a Sangean HDT-1 … I’d put that toward the Denon and Carver overall. Reception was excellent on AM, though fidelity-wise no better than a typical modern tuner as this one focusses on receiving HD signals … and there are none in the area. FM was a little better, but the Sangean — when it receives weak FM analog signals — tends to sound a bit hollow, due to it tending to blend into mono fairly fast. They do sound clean, though.

So what did I do after all was said and done? Frankly, if I had the space, I’d use the Carver in my home. But it’s just too large to fit on the shelf I have set up, and the Denon currently needs a bit of work before it can be used daily. So my main tuner is another Sangean —  an HDT-1X. 

Yet all of this is somewhat moot, as my main home listening is on a smart speaker listening via apps over the internet. That, indeed, may be the future of radio.

Radio Waves: August 5, 2022

Radio Hall of Fame Inductees Announced

The Museum of Broadcast Communications in Chicago announced this week the final selection of nine new inductees into the Radio Hall of Fame. Of the nine, three have a direct connection to our local radio scene and one is a a favorite current morning jock.

Our big local winner: Ellen K, heard mornings on KOST (103.5 FM). If you listen you already know – Ellen exudes positive vibes on her show, one of the reasons she is consistently among the top-rated morning personalities in town among varying demographic groups. What you may not know is that she is an active volunteer in local community work, and — prior to her arrival at KIIS-FM (102.7 FM), she worked in San Diego, including at the legendary KFMB-FM (B-100) when she was known as Ellen Thomas … making her a Goddess in the radio world.

I have never heard a negative word from her nor her competitors … including those who competed directly against her. Perhaps the saying is true: the best “morning man” in town is a woman.

Walt “Baby” Love did not win for his work on KHJ (930 AM) in the early-mid 1970s, but that’s how I originally heard of him. Instead, he is being recognized for his work in creating and hosting the syndicated program celebrating Gospel music, Gospel Traxx. 

Love is an ordained Deacon and Elder in The African Methodist Episcopal Church, and is currently an associate pastor at the First African Methodist Church Los Angeles, also known as FAME. No local stations carry his program, but you can catch it online.

Jeff Smulyan’s connection to local radio is from the time his Emmis Communications owned KMGG (105.9 FM), which became KPWR Power 106 and the most popular music station in town for a while in the late 1980s. I was there as an intern for the switch – it was quite a fun time. When Power was at its peak as a rhythmic top-40 station, Emmis owned the top-rated stations in the two largest markets at the same time: Los Angeles and New York. That’s quite a feat.

Emmis is no longer involved in local radio, and owns just a handful of stations — all in Indianapolis, Indiana and New York, New York. The company currently focusses on sales and marketing, and in that way still has a connection to Los Angeles via Sound That Brands, a podcast marketing company developed by former Sound programmer Dave Beasing that was purchased by Emmis in 2019; Beasing acts as the CEO of the division.

Other inductees include Mark Dyson, a radio executive; Lon Helton, for his Country Music Countdown; “Broadway” Bill Lee for his work at WCBS-FM/New York; Carol Miller for her work at WAXQ-FM/New York; Chris “Mad Dog” Russo” from SiriusXM; and Suzyn Waldman from the New York Yankees Radio Network, part of WFAN/New York.

Too many New York people there … have to work on that next year. Or perhaps the Hall of Fame being put together by our own Pacific Pioneer Broadcasters/Hollywood Media Professionals will take care of the void.

Pointless Contest

Radio stations used to run contests in order to generate a buzz … excitement for listeners and a reason to tune in. That was the old days. Apparently current owners and managers forgot why contests exist at all, and have turned an old, effective tune-in to a modern tune-out.

I am thinking specifically of the current word game being pushed by iHeart Radio’s cluster of stations, including Alt 98.7, KIIS-FM, KFI (640 AM) and the rest. The concept itself is almost somewhat sound – DJs give a word of the hour, which listeners can then enter into a special box on each station’s web site. Which leads to problem number one: no excitement. Because it’s not a call in, nor winners apparently ever announced — at least I have not heard one yet — it becomes just more clutter. No one cares.

Then you add in the fact that it’s not even specific to the station you’re listening to. Nor the cluster of stations owned locally. In actuality, you’re competing against listeners from every iHeart station in every city. That’s 860 stations in 160 markets. Think you have a very good chance of winning? Hint: no.

And finally you find out it’s only a $1000 prize. Sounds great, except that KHJ once gave away $1000 a day for a month. all to local listeners of just one station. Another time they gave away a car a day for a month, and those contests were in the 1970s and ‘80s. KIIS-FM in the 1980s likewise had blockbuster contests with trips, cars, and a Daily Cash Payoff … Kind of typical of contests of the era. Even stations with small promotional budgets gave away albums and such to listeners. $1000 spread among 860 stations? That’s barely over $1 per station. No wonder they never announce winners. I’d be embarrassed if I worked for iHeart, too.