1 of 1- RadioActive
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Poll: Personalities Are The Top Reason For Radio Tune-In
I'd love for this survey to be true, but I find it somewhat hard to believe it's the top reason. Unless it's something like talk shows, it would seem to me music is the main reason people choose a specific radio station and not the on-air personality. Although less are choosing to listen at all.
Personalities Are The Top Reason For Radio Tune-In
- Dale Patterson
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Re: Poll: Personalities Are The Top Reason For Radio Tune-In
---. I don't need FM for music, especially when the playlist is shallower than a Turtle pool.
Amen to that.
Last edited by Dale Patterson (March 19, 2025 12:57 pm)
"Life without echo is really no life at all." - Dan Ingram
- 67GreenRambler
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Re: Poll: Personalities Are The Top Reason For Radio Tune-In
Last 2 weeks I have heard 4 tracks from the new Ginger St. James album 'Told Ya" on my home reciever. Free to air from Toronto and Hamilton college radio stations. None are presently available on Spotify. Radio is immediate and retains an ability to inform that music streaming services cannot match.
- RadioActive
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Re: Poll: Personalities Are The Top Reason For Radio Tune-In
The funny thing about this survey is that personality used to be among the most important features of a station to me. Back in the days before online was a thing, I would twist my radio at night in any direction I needed to hear the late, great Oogie Pringle on WNBC and then later the amazing Real Bob James on WGAR Cleveland.
They played the same music as CFTR or CHUM, but it was what they did BETWEEN the songs that made the difference. They were hysterical and you never knew what they would do or say next.
Oogie, for example, once did an entire show as if The Soviets had taken over the radio station. (This was long before SCTV did the same thing.) During a fake traffic report, he noted in a Russian accent there was a huge backup on the main highway into Moscow because the yak died. It was hilarious.
Another time he did the entire Halloween show - all three hours - as "Oogie's Ghoul-Friend," complete with Dracula accent - even the live commercials. It was amazing.
Bob James fronted a high energy joke-a-minute show with amazing drop-ins and weird phone calls between the songs. And God, was he funny, even doing throwaway lines during live spots.
Not only are so many evening music shows now either syndicated or automated, they simply don't have the same energy or talent those guys did. Both worked for stations where the P.D. asked every jock in every shift to act like they were a morning man. And I only wish I could have heard those stations during the morning, as well.
Those were the glory days of Top 40 radio. Now, not so much. Which is why I'm skeptical of personalities making much of a difference anymore.
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Thread Starter- Easily Amused
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Re: Poll: Personalities Are The Top Reason For Radio Tune-In
Yappy happy talk announcers do little to enhance music listening. I must be a real curmudgeon, but I generally end up quoting Dr. McCoy in Star Trek VI: "I'd give real money if he'd shut up."
- mace
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Re: Poll: Personalities Are The Top Reason For Radio Tune-In
RadioActive wrote:
The funny thing about this survey is that personality used to be among the most important features of a station to me. Back in the days before online was a thing, I would twist my radio at night in any direction I needed to hear the late, great Oogie Pringle on WNBC and then later the amazing Real Bob James on WGAR Cleveland.
They played the same music as CFTR or CHUM, but it was what they did BETWEEN the songs that made the difference. They were hysterical and you never knew what they would do or say next.
Oogie, for example, once did an entire show as if The Soviets had taken over the radio station. (This was long before SCTV did the same thing.) During a fake traffic report, he noted in a Russian accent there was a huge backup on the main highway into Moscow because the yak died. It was hilarious.
Another time he did the entire Halloween show - all three hours - as "Oogie's Ghoul-Friend," complete with Dracula accent - even the live commercials. It was amazing.
Bob James fronted a high energy joke-a-minute show with amazing drop-ins and weird phone calls between the songs. And God, was he funny, even doing throwaway lines during live spots.
Not only are so many evening music shows now either syndicated or automated, they simply don't have the same energy or talent those guys did. Both worked for stations where the P.D. asked every jock in every shift to act like they were a morning man. And I only wish I could have heard those stations during the morning, as well.
Those were the glory days of Top 40 radio. Now, not so much. Which is why I'm skeptical of personalities making much of a difference anymore.
When I was in my teens and early 20's, the jocks mattered to me. Dan Ingram and Cousin Brucie on WABC, Larry Lujack on WLS and Ron [King B] Britain on WCFL Now the voices are interchangeable. Nothing noticeably special about many of them.
- martyb
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Re: Poll: Personalities Are The Top Reason For Radio Tune-In
SiriusXM has done a decent job of having entertaining hosts and good music, maybe less commercials and more live mentions or hourly sponsors...
- Radiowiz
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Re: Poll: Personalities Are The Top Reason For Radio Tune-In
SiriusXM has done a decent job of having entertaining hosts and good music, maybe less commercials and more live mentions or hourly sponsors...
Sirius XM is also offering 3 months free (if desired) when one uses SKIP +
FM radio has a lot to compete with. Radio talent is what keeps the station alive.
I listen to Boom 97.3 because it has great music, but I also enjoy hearing the radio announcer chatting with callers in between calls. Great Radio. Go to just music, liners and station ID, and I may as well listen to my YOUTUBE music.