Sound 800
All Memorial Day weekend, starting Thursday at 12 noon and running through Monday, The Sound (100.3 FM) will run a rather unique special: over 800 songs played in alphabetical order.
That sounds rather mundane, doesn’t it? Here’s the rub: listeners can vote “like” or “dislike” via text to 21003, and if too many “dislikes” are tabulated for any songs, programmer Dave Beasing says he’s “willing to yank them off the air even before they’re done playing.”
The list of “over 800” was out together by Beasing; he describes the list as “classic rock staples with some things we are thinking of playing more of, and some nuggets for variety.” The entire staff chipped in with ideas as well, he says.
Should make for s fun weekend.
Rams Sound
Don Barrett came out of retirement as he occasionally does over at LARadio.Com to post an interesting story: “New LA Rams Find Broadcast Home at KSPN and KSWD (100.3 The Sound)” reads the headline.
My first thought was that the station was either purchased by Cumulus or that owner Entercom had secretly hired Lew Dickey, former CEO of Cumulus. Only Cumulus or Dickey would do that, right?
Does anyone listen to sports on the radio in Los Angeles? We have three … or is it four? … all-sports stations with combined ratings that in the past would be considered a failure if on just one. And no station in the last decade has had a noticeable ratings boost with sports play by play, even when you count the Dodgers. It’s too easy to catch games on television.
So count me as cynical that the Rams will prove beneficial to The Sound. But, and here’s a big but: as of right now it is still rumor. And to add to the fun, of the few times I have been proven wrong about something related to radio, Beasing — arguably among the best programmers in town — is often the one doing it. Which means if he is behind this or supporting this in any way, it might have merit.
On that count I still don’t know. I did contact Beasing for comment, along with station manager Peter Burton. Neither would confirm or deny the rumor, basically leaving me with “no comment.” So while I believe the rumor is true, we’ll just have to wait and see.
Homework Review
Did you have a chance to check out http://thelegendsofrockandroll.com? It’s the front page of a site run by CVSC AVCO Broadcasting, and features a set of online stations all paying tribute to classic radio stations of the past: KFRC/San Francisco, KHJ/Los Angeles, KYA/San Francisco and more. Most are current streams playing oldies on actual broadcast stations that use the same name as the classics, but the KFRC stream is special, playing old airchecks as they originally aired on the Big 610. I’ve mentioned the KFRC page before, but only recently found its ties to CVSC AVCO.
As of press time this week, the KHJ stream is actually playing KOOL-FM out of Hanford, California, though last week it was indeed streaming a station calling itself KHJ-FM from a location I cannot yet determine.
Fundraising Success
Student-run K-Beach (KBeach.Org and 88.1 HD3), on the campus of Cal State University, Long Beach, wrapped up its 88.1 hour fundraising marathon last Sunday. University Media Coordinator Danny Lemos said he would not have a final tally immediately, but my own estimation is that the station will easily break it’s effort last year in which it raised just over $9000.
Lemos was heavily involved in the marathon, even doing a three-hour shift as “Chuy from La Puente” in the wee hours of the morning. “Chuy” was a recurring character on Rick Dees’ morning show on KIIS-FM (102.7) prior to the arrival of current morning man Ryan Seacrest. Lemos told me that he’ll make the segment available as a podcast.
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