Grab a Life Jacket, Theres Rough Water On The River

[Bob Campbell]

K King, you rock. Don't you hate it when I'm right??? Miss you guys.
Dave Diddle is now my brother in law.

[Cameron]

Dave Diddle is now my brother in law.

Damn, you said that in a public place.

[AC Carter]

Nunley, if you have room, hire Nate and/or AC for something. They'll work their balls off for you. Unless their wives are keeping them in a small jeweled box in the closet at home.

Bob,
Mine are actually being kept in a cardboard box now. Since I lost my job, we had to hock the jeweled box.

[Nate G]

Hey man, you have room in that box?

[AC Carter]

Hey man, you have room in that box?

I'll sublet a corner to you. Real cheap.

[Kiddconley]

I lived in Gallipolis for a year or so and went back & forth between Sunny and The River. I very much liked Nate & AC on the air. They were very solid.. I just couldn't take a Van Halen song every 35 minutes. You guys will not have a problem landing a better gig. Good Luck.

Kidd Conley

[genlock]

Public Broadcasting is looking for a newsperson.

[Bo Bo]

I wonder if anyone will ever check the Mod level?

[Nate G]

I liked most of the music selections, but I'm not a hard core "one format only" person. The imaging was well done, and the processing sounded as good as always. The automation had some kind of meltdown last night with some buzzing noises and dead air, but everything was rectified within a half hour and I haven't heard any problems since then. I do miss Nate and A.C., one of the area's strongest morning teams, and the rest of the familiar 101.5 voices. Someone turned The River into a 50,000 watt iPod.

yeah, a gay man's iPod

[Hoosier Daddy]

[Dr. Whiplash]

Admittedly I'm an old local radio guy with more prejudice than usual, being a Gallipolis native, but my ears say that BOB is nothing more than a half-ass 50,000 watt remote control jukebox.

This criticism is stale and predictable. And so's the format.

[The Big Ear]

I've listened to a little BOB. First of all, has the BOB format really "worked' anywhere? How is it different from "Jack?" We know how well that worked in Charleston from what I've read here. "We play anything" sorta sounds cool, until you realize it means we play the stuff nobody else wants to. Secondly, when you flip formats on a station that has some established folks, it would be better to stunt then roll it out with real people on the air. This is like listening to AOL radio. It was different when 97.9 came on because they were brand new and had no on air folks. They could go without personalities until they made the splash with their local voice lineup.

What used to be great about 101.5 was that it SOUNDED like a station in Gallipolis. That's no slam, it sounded LOCAL. I listened because it had some LOCAL value. The move to make it a Huntington station was one thing, but now it's just a quick stopover as I frantically flip looking for a halfway decent tune on the way to work. I know they'll put some local voices on there eventually. But you know all of the stuff that gets talked about by the dj's is either off some "prep sheet" that some consultant thinks would make for good stop-set chatter, or it's something I already heard on all of the TV stations or saw in the paper. Yawn.

I hope it gets better. I hope the local folks who are there either can stay there or find a gig on another local station.

[Swing'n Dick]

I've listened to a little BOB. First of all, has the BOB format really "worked' anywhere? How is it different from "Jack?" We know how well that worked in Charleston from what I've read here. "We play anything" sorta sounds cool, until you realize it means we play the stuff nobody else wants to. Secondly, when you flip formats on a station that has some established folks, it would be better to stunt then roll it out with real people on the air. This is like listening to AOL radio. It was different when 97.9 came on because they were brand new and had no on air folks. They could go without personalities until they made the splash with their local voice lineup.

What used to be great about 101.5 was that it SOUNDED like a station in Gallipolis. That's no slam, it sounded LOCAL. I listened because it had some LOCAL value. The move to make it a Huntington station was one thing, but now it's just a quick stopover as I frantically flip looking for a halfway decent tune on the way to work. I know they'll put some local voices on there eventually. But you know all of the stuff that gets talked about by the dj's is either off some "prep sheet" that some consultant thinks would make for good stop-set chatter, or it's something I already heard on all of the TV stations or saw in the paper. Yawn.

I hope it gets better. I hope the local folks who are there either can stay there or find a gig on another local station.

Bob is not different from Jack. Jack has found success in bigger markets and isn't going anywhere for a long time. LOCAL = 8+ years ago. You're kinda late for that complaint... I hope the former employee's find jobs as well. I've heard Gary Demon will be doing morning traffic and news in near future.

[Ace Purple]

First of all, has the BOB format really "worked' anywhere?

Bob FM in Austin, TX (KBPA) made it to #1 P25-54 in 2006. To my knowledge, that's the best success that the BOB FM format has had in the United States. I know that Bob FM in Oklahoma City had a strong start (it has dropped some since 2005) but I don't know if it reached #1 in that lucrative P25-54 demo.

"We play anything" sorta sounds cool, until you realize it means we play the stuff nobody else wants to.

I disagree. The format is very carefully tested; while it may appear to be playing music that's all over the road, it actually is very carefully targeted. Think hybrid Classic Hits/Hot AC (the original title of the format before "Adult Hits" or as I call it on my site "Variety Hits" became the popular title for it) with a wide playlist.

The satellite-fed versions of Bob, Jack, SAM, etc. don't allow for customization of the format in a given market, which takes away some of the advantages that can be had by tweaking it. For example, in Los Angeles KCBS-FM is a Jack FM station that leans toward Classic Rock, the station's former format.

There are some stand-alone Variety Hits stations that do quite well with live talent, such as WARH/St. Louis, KPKX/Phoenix, and WLUE/Louisville. The downside for that for programmers is that it costs more money that way to program, though in many ways that's a zero-sum appraisal of the format that doesn't take into account what having live jocks and local programming can do to increase listenership and thus allow for higher ad rates.

Here's an analysis of the format from Arbitron that might be of interest, though WRZA/Chicago really had no place in there since it is a different permeation of the format with 3,000+ songs and some of those tracks that you alluded to that might not appeal nearly as much to the mainstream:

http://www.arbitron.com/downloads/adult ... s_2006.pdf

[Big Media]

yeah, a gay man's iPod

That's all fine and stuff, but I still agree with Nate G. I was scanning the freqs today and stumbled on Bob playing Right Said Fred. I damn near drove my car into a flood wall at 95 MPH before I managed to get the freq changed.

[AC Carter]

Bob, Jack, Sam, Aunt Millie, Uncle Herb, Horatio ... call it what you will. I call it a job-killer, and so do many other folks around the country who used to be in radio. Not two months ago, Nate and I were told by Connoisseur Media LLC Regional VP David Bevins that The River's morning show was the anchor of the station. He said having a live, local morning drive show was one of The River's strengths. Then along came Bob ...

[Lester]

Yeah, Bob f*ck*d up my favorite radio station too....

...wait... wrong Bob.

[Ace Purple]

I call it a job-killer, and so do many other folks around the country who used to be in radio.

I feel bad for everyone who has lost a job as the result of the Adult/Variety Hits format. It surprises me that most of the stations in that format have not kept morning shows to one degree or another, though it's not always the case (such as Jack FM in San Diego having a live/local morning show.)

[AC Carter]

Most of the canned format stations (Bob, Jack, etc.) that I've looked at over the past two weeks either appear to be voice-tracked or simply don't have jocks at all. Obviously, my research was not extensive (20 to 25 stations nationwide). I realize that corporations are only concerned about the bottom line. No argument here. I like money, too. However (I held this view even before I lost my job), as the number of canned radio stations increases, the creativity decreases. Just my opinion.
(Ace Purple, thanks for the link to Arbitron. Interesting reading. Stuff I wouldn't have had time for if I was gainfully employed.)

[Clay JD Walker]

I'm sorry that the station's been blown up...I saw many of the jocks on the streets while I was working with Kindred, and I hope nothing but the best for you guys...I've gotta, however, give props to my cohorts down the hall down here in Greensboro...www.987simon.com Live, very local morning show, and locally programmed and imaged (many imaging pieces only hit the air once...that specific)...take a listen, if you wanna.

Seriously, River folk...best of luck to ya'll...these aren't easy times for anyone, even harder for disc jockeys.