Radio: November 18, 2022
KOSTing
into the holidays
I
was just thinking that it is about time for KOST (103.5 FM) to start playing
holiday music when I noticed: they are already playing holiday music. It began
this year last Friday, November 11th at 8 a.m.
Being
that it is not even Thanksgiving yet, it would be easy to make fun of the
switch being so early again this year. But the results speak for themselves -
as soon as the holiday music starts, the ratings jump upwards. Besides, when I do
make fun of the early move, I get emails chastising me for knocking what many
consider one of the highlights of season. So this year, I won’t.
And
of course timeline-wise, it could be considered late … stores like Costco are
probably sold out of Christmas items already. Unfortunately for me, between
that and the fact that the local Sears store is gone, I can’t do all my
shopping on the late evening of December 23rd any more. But I digress.
The
station is also offering a chance to win four-packs of tickets to a private
holiday party at Disneyland to be held December 7th. You can win tickets by
listening, shopping at Smart and Final, following KOST on Facebook, Twitter and
Instagram, and watching KTLA Channel 5… see the station website for more
details: https://kost1035.iheart.com/
KOST
has been making this switch yearly since 1999, and it is always a ratings
winner.
More
Holidays
One
holiday station just not enough for you? Good thing we have SiriusXM available,
Between the satellite and streaming, the service offers 19 holiday choices,
most of which started on November 1st.
Choices
on the bird include:
•
Holiday Traditions - Channel 71 - “traditional” holiday music
•
Holly - Channel 104 - Contemporary
•
Holiday Soul - Channel 49 - Soul, Rhythm and Blues, Motown
•
Country Christmas - Channel 55 - Country (obviously)
•
Acoustic Christmas - Channel 6 - acoustic holiday tunes
•
Jolly Christmas - Channel 14 - “upbeat feel-good holiday hits”
•
and a few more
Streaming
channels include classical carols, smooth jazz, kid-friendly tunes, Latin
music, “rockin’” music, Jingle Jams (hip-hop), instrumentals, all Mannheim
Steamroller, and more.
You
can get the full lineup of channels including the start and end dates at siriusxm.com.
But
There’s More…
Nineteen
holiday music channels not enough for you? Accuradio’s got you covered. The
free streaming service has over 100 holiday music channels - 111 to be exact -
which I believe breaks the record they set last year when they hit 100.
Acoustic,
Reggae, Brazilian, Celtic, Channel O (songs that being with the letter “O”),
Christmas Oldies, Christmas Party, Country, Standards, Classica, Choral, Easy
Listening, Latin, Holiday Spice, mixed channels, decades, wide playlists,
Hungry for Christmas (songs that mention food), K-pop, Old-fashioned, and even
one station dedicated to playing dozens and dozens of artists performing Mariah
Carey’s “All I want for Christmas is You.” Or a channel dedicated to
nothing but “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree.” Even jingles and music you’d
hear on TV are available.
I
think you get the idea.
If
you’ve never tried AccuRadio, you owe it to yourself to check it out at AccuRadio.Com. The service features music for
just about every taste, and even allows you to combine different formats into
one. All formats are curated by a real person, and not just an algorithm … that
and the personalization set it apart from most - if not all - other streaming
services.
Other
Choices
I
know that Saul Levine’s Mount Wilson Broadcasting station group will be
presenting holiday music as well; I’ve reached out to Levine and will have the
information once it is available. If the past is any indication, expect Go
Country 105 to start playing holiday tunes sometime just before or after
December 1st, and I expect he’ll offer some online streams or HD Radio sub
channels as well.
Radio Waves: November 11, 2022
Remembering Steven Clean
If you were
around Los Angeles for the early days of “freeform” album rock radio — before
it became “Album Oriented Rock” as an official format name — you probably
remember Steven Segal, known on the air as the “Obscene” Steven Clean, as heard
on legendary stations as KPPC (now KROQ, 106.7 FM), KMET (now KTWV, 94.7 FM),
K-WEST (now KPWR, 105.9 FM), and KROQ during the era of the AM -FM simulcast.
He is the
man who gave Dr. Demento — aka Barry Hansen — his name when they both worked at
KPPC. Described by some as “brilliant” and a “genius” on the air, Clean passed
away in his sleep on October 29th, at the age of 76.
In a tribute
by his friend Paul Rappaport (https://bit.ly/3FF9exb),
Rappaport writes that Clean “is a bit of an unsung hero. You see, Steven is one
of the most important figures in the creation of FM Rock Radio.”
Rappaport
explained that Clean “was a true genius on the air, imparting important
thoughtful cultural messages via spoken word intertwined with just the right
music to help bring his points to life,” and adding that “beyond the music,
disc jockeys imparted their own powerful messages. No one was more skillful in
this regard than Steven. Like Bob Dylan, this expertise didn’t come from years
of practice, it was a gift from above.
“Kids would
literally cut out of school early to listen to Steven just to make sure they
didn’t miss anything important. They exchanged cassettes of his radio shows
which were like mini works of performance art,” Rappaport wrote.
That’s the
connection with radio that I remember, a connection often lacking in today’s
McRadio version of the industry.
Admittedly,
you have to be of a certain age to have heard him on the air. He’s just
slightly ahead of my time, as I was still listening to top-40 by the time he
left town to return to WBCN-FM/Boston in 1977. But various airchecks offer
proof that he absolutely embodied the idea of freeform FM rock radio.
PastDaily.Com has a full unscoped hour (music and
commercials) of Clean on KMET from 1975 at https://bit.ly/3sUiypr;
the tribute referenced above has a scoped (edited) ’check from his arrival at K-WEST in
1976 … and includes, by the
way, a mention of Be-Bop Deluxe, giving a reminder of the huge variety of music
you could once find on the radio. If you’d like to hear more, there are a few
other air checks showing up on places like YouTube and MixCloud.com, which has eight recordings from
his time on KMET that you can find by searching his name.
More Airchecks!
Speaking of
MixCloud and YouTube, one of my favorite Mixcloud accounts, Retro Radio Joe,
has a new YouTube page, and both are filled with absolutely delightful
recordings. The big finds for me include three hours unscoped of
Mark Elliot playing part of the countdown of The Big 93 hits for the year 1972
on KHJ (930 AM), and on YouTube he has a television commercial reminding
viewers of the connection that legendary top-40 station KFRC/San Francisco had
with the Bay Area Links are at https://bit.ly/3U3Mtal
and https://youtu.be/pCs5e0y95TY.
SoCal Sound Web Update
The changes
referenced here last week regarding the moving of SoCal Sound 88.5 FM specialty
shows to new time slots should be at least slightly more palatable to fans very
soon.
The station
will be creating a new page on their website that will feature “SoCal Sound
Specialty Show archives- on demand.” All the shows that are airing late
and that were moved, will be there for listening whenever its convenient
… with one exception: “The Dylan Hours” can’t be posted on demand due to
copyright laws that prohibit the posting of content that includes the playing
of three or more songs in a row by the same artist.
Readers Respond
Regarding
new music on the radio, this email says exactly what I feel: “I just turned 59
and agree with you completely. The last 10 years and maybe longer than
that, I find myself just listening to mainly college radio. particularly 88.3
KUCR and 88.7 Claremeont. Best thing ever happened to me.
“I’ve gone
to the last 3 Joshua Tree Music Fests. Think very miniature
Coachella. It’s great. I still appreciate the classic rock. But try
to delve into the songs that are never played.” — Dan Reich
And in
relation to KGO/San Francisco’s change: “I think you missed the boat when
stating sports betting radio will fail. The success of this format is
definitely NOT tied to the success of the two sports gambling initiatives on
the California ballot. Most sports betting is done online either offshore or
with local sport books.
“As you
stated, the programming will be very inexpensive with the sports touts paying
for 30-60 minute segments. The only true thing about sports betting …
there is a sucker born every minute. This is the audience. I predict
it will do very well. I sincerely hope it does not come to KABC as they
have great programming!” — James Powell
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