Sorry about my article not showing up. Internal server errors. That also explains why there are two topics with this name.

I tried again but got only more ISEs! What's wrong with this site?

Ah screw it. I'll just post the link. http://www.westword.com/issues/2000-10-05/feature.html/printable_page

What exactly, is your point in starting this thread?

I want to start a discussion. Hopefully this story about a Colorado radio station behind evil deeds will encourage discussion about awful radio stunts across the country, or perhpas even the planet. But mostly I just want to see what people think.

I read that article and it makes me angry that the station gets away with that ••••.

Hey, why the name change?

The first title was too limiting. This opens it up into a more generic discussion about radio & radio stunts.

Good point.

Oh, BTW, is it just me, or are a couple of posts missing?

I'm happy to see that there is a Renaissance of Old-Time Radio (somewhat), although I find it interesting that about the only places I can find that sell the cassette/CD collections are bookstores. Although I did buy collections that originally sold for 60 dollars marked down to only 30 at a "Best Buy" near my place (and with 60 episodes, 20 tapes in a collection, that's a great deal!).

Michael Moore had an excellent rant in his latest e-mail newsletter about the state of radio. He correctly pointed out that pretty much every radio station in the country is owned by three guys, and that there really is no freedom of speech on the airwaves anymore, except from indpendent stations like 1190 AM in Denver.

Wow, this discussion is deader than a Neo-Nazi doing stand-up at the Apollo.

If we're not sticking to specific radio stations, can I just say how much better the quality of British radio is compared to that of British television at this moment in time? [No, you can't - everyone]

Well seeing as I'm not in England I wouldn't know. Although listening to a British internet radio station might be fun. You know any?

Any of the wireless BBC stations are on the Internet, as far as I'm aware, plus some exclusive internet-only stations too. Try the BBC website (needs RealPlayer installed) - of the new stations I'd personally recommend 6 Music, which went online very recently.

I'm less aware of any others, though.

WCBS-FM, which was probably the best known oldies station in the U.S., yesterday switched to something called the "Jack" format. That seems to be an eclectic mix of music; something for everyone. I don't know why Infinity Broadcasting suddenly threw away a format that had been working for 32 years.

They did it in LA as well KCBS-FM aka ARRO-93 (All Rock&Roll Oldies) went Jack as well.

Sometime new owners, or new management, come in and change things just to make their mark. Sometimes there is a drop in ratings and/or advertising revenue. Sometimes a new trend seems to be catching on and management does not want to be left behind. Sometimes a combination. I don't know which, if any, applies here, though

What I've also read about the "Jack" format is their lack of DJ's and radio personalities. Here in New York, "Cousin" Bruce Morrow, a local radio fixture for 40 years (he was also heard in the movie Dirty Dancing) is now out of a job.

No he's not. Cousin Brucie has moved to Sirius Satellite Radio. Howard Stern begins there in early January; he'll program three channels free of FCC content restrictions. One channel, already on the air, had allegedly been running sounds of flatulence. Stern was suspended from his Infinity Broadcasting show last week (for one day) for allegedly spending too much time talking about Sirius.

Recently, our Oldies station here in Knoxville, Tenn. went to the 'Jack' format as well.
I suspect a combination of lower overhead and perhaps dropping ratings were behind the change.
Under the Oldies format, the station seemed to be a slave to the request line. While they claimed to have a large music library, it was pretty much the same 200 or so songs every day.
I'll spare you the rant on the Oldies format in general.
A good one IMO is Scott Shannon's True Oldies channel. They're willing to play anything Rock/Pop from the mid 50s to the mid 70s, if they can lay their hands on it. Unfortunately, the station that had carried it locally changed formats as well.

Stern is now being sued by his former employer, CBS/Infinity Radio. Stern had a great take on it - he compared his dispute with CBS to a divorce, and CBS now wants alimony from him. More here and here.
Stern's replacement here, David Lee Roth (yes, the former frontman for Van Halen) is apparently DOA, as he's lost 2/3 of Stern's audience.

Pirate Jim has just reported that a deal may be worked out, in which cretins Opie and Anthony may return to terrestrial radio (CBS, in this case,) in a cleaned-up version of theit XM Satellite Radio show (which would remain in place.) They would replace David Lee Roth, whose show seems to be dying a quick death. More from Pirate Jim here.

I only listened to Roth once, when he had porn star Jesse Jane as a guest. I was not that impressed, but dead air would be better than Opie and Anthony. Does Roth want out?

Opie and Anthony are back on terrestrial radio, and the world is not better for it. Roth's last show was April 21. Now, it's reported that Howard Stern may be offered the same type of deal that Opie and Anthony were offered, to return to terrestrial radio.

Stern says he won't go back to terrestrial radio. The only reason I believe him is because of the censorship issue. But I still won't be surprised if he does return to terrestrial radio sometime in the future.

Baba Booey!

I won't be surprised, either. Too much money is, or probably will be, involved.
Stern and CBS have supposedly settled thair suit, but the terms have not been made public.

What looks promising is HD Radio, where a digital, instead of an analog, signal is sent. This allows for up to three channels (and formats) per station. More on HD Radio here.

It looks especially promising to the RIAA, because then they can make it illegal to record it, regardless of the AHRA.

An era ended this month, as 102.7 here in New York City retired its WNEW-FM call letters, and became WWFS-FM. Ever since they dropped the rock format that they had from 1967-96, the station management has been in search of a format, going from talk to dance, and now to soft AC.
Rumor has it that Van Halen may reunite, with Roth again on lead vocals, and Wolfgang Van Halen replacing Michael Anthony.

K-Rock is back. 92.3 WFNY-FM (formerly and again WXRK) learned the hard way, and dumped its talk format after a year and a half and returned to playing rock music on May 24, 2007. The talk format didn't work for WNEW-FM; what made CBS think it would work for K-Rock?

I noticed that the other day when I clicked on it, and the talk was gone. Has it really been a year and a half? Wow.

K-Rock did keep Opie and Anthony, though. 6-9 a.m. They kept playing music on weekends, even when they had talk during the week. Guess the Radio Chick and her crew have to find another home.
WCBS-FM, which went from an oldies to the Jack format on June 3, 2005, will return to the oldies at 1:01 p.m. on July 12, 2007. I wonder if CBS Radio will move the Jack format to one of their other New York stations. Maybe it could be a good choice for WWFS-FM (formerly the great WNEW-FM, 102.7); see my post of 1/28/07 for my lamenting the loss of WNEW.

The Jack format moves to the CBS-FM HD-2 channel, receivable only if you have an HD radio. Which is where oldies were broadcast before today, so in essence, CBS-FM is just switching formats around.

To hang on to the WNEW call latters, Infinity Broadcasting is now using them at a small urban contemporary format station in West Palm Beach, Fla. Running a legacy into the ground once again.

CD-101.9 in New York, my late friend Gwen's favorite station, just changed formats yesterday at 4 p.m., from smooth jazz to rock; the calls are now WRXP.

Oh, and the former CD-101.9 "smooth jazz" format has been moved over to the HD-2 channel. Not longtime DJ Dennis Quinn; he's left the station.

I am proud to report that Maine's only locally owned, locally operated, and locally staffed classic rock station WKIT 100.3, is still going strong!

Located here on Broadway in good ol' Bangor, Stephen King's Rock & Roll Station was the first one I started hearing when I was a kid, and I have been tuning in ever since. Basically, they are the only really good station that I can tune into at any time.

And hey, when I go south to Portland for whatever reason, I can always tune in their classic rock station WBLM 102.9. They are my two favorites in all of Maine!

Of course, there are a few others that are all right too, like the Public Radio stations, and there are also a few "Top 40" format stations in the area that are OK sometimes. I dont really care for most of today's "hits", especially the rap/hip-hop and country, so I really dont bother with that. But WKIT has been here all long as I can remember, and I think they will be broadcasting for a long time to come!

Seinfeld's David Puddy would be in heaven, as New York's WPLJ switched formats on 5/30/19, from hits radio to contemporary Christian. One more for his presents.

Sorry. Meant to say "presets". You know, as per the episode "The Burning".

WPLJ's old format was Hot Adult Contemporary,not Contemporary Hit Radio.