Re: Corperate radio/Clear Channel

[Kyle Stephanos <MajorRadioFreak@excite.com>]

In a message dated 5/6/01 12:48:47 AM Eastern Daylight Time, dib9@gwi.net
writes:

> I don't agree that WTOS was a great, or even good, radio station two years
>  ago.  I listened to the station a lot during that time period while
>  traveling around the state.  The station was unique, but did not meet the
>  definition of good radio that I had been taught.  The staff was self
>  indulgent and seemed to be doing what interested and entertained them,
not
>  what would interest and entertain the audience.  The morning show was
full
>  of bits that would go on and on and on and on without any payoff.  It was
>  often like bad college radio with a 100K signal.

Hello...
I personally found the "105 TOS" of 4 or 5 years ago, back when Mountain
Wireless owned them, to not only be a good radio station, but most
definitely
a great radio station! I used to drive many of the back roads of Northern
New
Hampshire and in Maine, and we almost always broke out laughing when one
of those Chris Corley ID's were played. I have heard Chris Corley in so many
markets across the country (96.9 FM Talk, 105.3 The Shark, WPRO Etc.), and
have never heard more outrageous and humorous liners then the ones that TOS
used to have on the air by him. Anyone remember some of them? "The station
that's better then sex.......ah, in prison! The Mountain of Pure Rock, 105
TOS" or the "We Rock, they suck, 105 TOS" and then dive right into F******
Hostile by Pantera.
One of the unique things About WTOS back then was that this 100Kw station
had absolutely no problem playing anything with swears throughout the day.
Songs such as "Ode To My Car," or that "Goat" cut both by Adam Sandler,
played anytime during the day, made me laugh. I guess when 1/3rd of your
signal
is in French Quebec, another 1/2 of it is covering the deep Alagash
Wilderness
with full quieting, and the rest travels the 48 miles to their own city of
license, you can get away with quite a lot! That in and of itself is very
unique, that a 100kw signal playing very hard rock music, (with live DJ's
day and night)at the edges of the Earth existed at all!
I also very much enjoyed the format in which their music was played. The DJ
would play two songs, then play a completely outrageous Chris Corley
sounder, then play two more songs, then recount what was heard. I always
knew what was coming. Reminded me of the old WCGY in a way, but was live and
funny! The other thing I found very unique to TOS was the way their DJ's
sort of "messed" with the listeners minds. I still wonder if the station had
meetings with it's on air staff to keep a certain "oh by the way" continuity
going through out the day or week. I was fascinated with what it was about
them that made me not want to miss anything that was said or played back
then. It seemed that the on air staff would always talk about what was
happening "right now," meaning, right at this moment. One time, one of the
DJ's just stopped playing music and said how horrified he was about
something that just happened. He said "Hear this sound?" and scratched the
mike. He then said, "This is the microphone used by all the DJ's here at the
Mountain of Pure Rock 105 TOS", and then explained that when he turned his
head to see who was entering the studio, his tongue accidentally hit the
microphone, and that in essence, his has put his tongue into the mouth
of every announcer that works here at the Mountain of Pure Rock, and that he
now has to run and use Listerine immediately! He then ran off, and I heard
dead air for about 30 or more seconds before he came back. Now, I am very
sorry to have typed all that stuff just now. I am sure there are many on
this list who would have preferred to not have heard that last story, but I
just wanted to make the point that back then, live radio was funny! (You had
to be there) 
Since then, Chris Corley's great ID's are gone, replaced by the "Monster
Truck"
voice, with boring id's, regular boring rock music, and no magic that I
could hear during the brief times I have caught the signal. The impression I
got of WTOS back then, was a sense of having fun. That seems unknown on the
air these days. What was up with Mountain Wireless owning a radio station
anyway?

With the big high pressure cell right over Eastern New England right now, I
tried to get TOS in tonight by the New Hampshire seacoast, but I only got
the 105.1 out of Johnston, RI. I did get many distant New England stations
last night however, what with all that ducting. Strong high pressure cells
like what we have overhead now (30.50 inches) are always good that way!

>  Clear Channel may be evil.  Consolidation may have negitive results, but
>  simply saying small good, large bad is overly simplistic.  In the 1980's,
I
>  worked for some local owners who were only interested in sucking as much
>  money as possible out if the station and treated their employees very
badly.
>  I worked for one station where the last person to the bank would have
their
>  pay check bounce.  Not everything about the past was good.
>  
>  You did raise an interesting question in an earlier post about Clear
>  Channel's domination of the Bangor market.  I was also surprised that
they
>  were able to get approval for so many stations.  My guess is that a few
of
>  the stations do not have a city grade signal in Bangor so they are not
>  couted towards Clear Channel's market total.  Does anyone know the real
>  answer?
>  
>  -- Dan Billings, Bowdoinham, Maine
>  
>  

Best Regards to everyone on this list. I make this a daily read
and enjoy the input everyone has very much! Thanks! :>)
I am not in the radio business, but I have always been very
interested in many aspects of radio. I hope my post did not
annoy anyone, but added to the dialogue.

Kyle (MajorRadioFreak@excite.com)






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