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Post by John Quincy on Apr 6, 2006 13:46:50 GMT -5
Louisville has two FM mainstream oldies stations serving the area: WRKA 103.1 and WASE 103.5. If you listen to either regularly, which one? Why?
Which station has the best air personalities?
Which station has the best blend of music?
Which station has the best "production value" (jingles, promos, liners, etc.)?
Which station has the best promotions?
Which one is better overall?
What could the station you don't prefer do to become better? What could the station you DO prefer do to become better?
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Post by bruiser on Apr 6, 2006 15:05:12 GMT -5
I prefere WASE because they are not afraid to play fifties stuff from time to time. The music mix is better, in other words. I also think their personalities are better. I don't recall the last time I heard anything from the fifties on WRKA. Rock and roll didn't start with the British Invasion, as WRKA seems to think.
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Post by GilHerbigJr on Apr 6, 2006 15:56:08 GMT -5
I also think WASE is a better station overall. I try to listen to RKA but I end up switching back to WASE.
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Post by Ben Pflederer on Apr 6, 2006 19:22:10 GMT -5
When I travel to Big Lou, I will listen to WRKA in Indiana. When in Big Lou, I tend to listen to WASE. I agree with Bruiser the mix of music is better, and I do not believe it is voice tracted or automated if any. I could be fooled though. For some reason, WASE sounds more like the Might 790 was at one time. It just appears to be more listener friendly to me.
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Post by Max on Apr 6, 2006 19:58:05 GMT -5
Like I've said before, I can't really pick up WRKA in E'town, so I can't really say who is better. I can say that I don't believe there are any 24 hour live stations left in E'town. I believe WQXE and WASE were the last to be live 'round the clock, but alas I'm told now they both voice track some parts of their programming. For example, WASE's site, www.wase.org, does not indicate anyone from midnight-6 a.m. and I've tried to call WQXE repeatedly at night on certain occasions and didn't get an answer...drove by and the lights were almost all out and the parking lot empty...but I digress... WASE is pretty tight, but I still cannot do a proper comparison between the two. Usually if I'm in the car nowadays I'm listening to WJIE or 100.9 WLSK out of Lebanon, but that's out Louisville's listening area. (Good music format, but sounds as if it's mostly canned, though)
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Post by Kevin on Apr 6, 2006 23:51:24 GMT -5
I have always been a WASE fan, but decided this summer--when I do most of my radio listening for some reason--I will listen more to WRKA. Of course, I listen to WAKY Online alot when I am working on the computer.
To tell you the truth, neither of the stations are that great. As Max always says, they play too much of a rotation.
Productions wise I would say WRKA is a little more tight (tight being a word from someone that has no idea how radios work, but is describing a certain favorable quality). To become better they should get away from playing the same oldies over and over. I have to say that WASE mixes it up every now and then with some real surprises like Gary Wright's My Love is Alive, or Flock of Seagulls' Space Age Love Song.
By contrast, WRKA has a rotation that you could time an Apollo launch too. Like Blood. Sweat and Tears every 20 minutes, or the Supremes.
So overall I guess I would say WASE is the best.
(Then why am I changing?) I guess I like to live dangerously.
I'll stop now...
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Post by Travis on Apr 7, 2006 3:56:18 GMT -5
Hhmm. Les Cook, Mike Marvin and Steven Lee Cook at the same station. I'd love to hear it. Tell Les to get WASE on streaming audio so that I can check it out here in Florida.
I did get to hear Les' morning show when I was there for the first WAKY-WKLO reunion. Tight format with Les keeping much of his delivery confined to intros & extros. The jingles and news sounders were very familiar. Can you say WAKY-ish?
WASE came in just fine on a table alarm clock that was in my room at the Holiday Inn on Hurstborne Lane.
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Post by Max on Apr 7, 2006 5:14:11 GMT -5
Travis, I was surprised to hear the same PAMS jingles were used at WAKY, WASE, and at WIEL back in her Top40/Oldies era. I think I even heard the same jingles on an out of town station in my treks back and forth from Virginia.
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Post by Travis on Apr 8, 2006 2:18:11 GMT -5
Apparently, it's a nationwide thing. I listen to an oldies station in Sarasota, and they're using jingles & news sounders that I heard on WKLO in the late '60s and early '70s. In fact, I mentally substitute WKLO and Louisville in place of their calls & location whenever I hear them. ;D Now I've done it. I'll be hearing from my therapist later today.
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Post by Ben Pflederer on Apr 8, 2006 6:51:23 GMT -5
Travis, you are not the only one that may have mental issues when it come to jingles. Whether you sing with the records or jingles, same thing. I sometimes, during window-time in traffic, catch myself doing the same thing. At least my vehicles with the radio or CD on doesn't vibrate with the music going down the road. The Bass may be adjusted a little heavy, but that goes back like the good old days of radio and Rock N Roll, when Radio was Radio.
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Post by Travis on Apr 11, 2006 2:52:54 GMT -5
That's good to know, Ben. I would hate to think that I'm the only one who mentally alters jingles and inserts WAKY Shouts into intros as I drive around Sarasota listening to the radio.
So... which therapist do you go to? ;D
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Chad
New Member
Keeping Louisville Music Alive with my 45's
Posts: 38
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Post by Chad on Apr 11, 2006 10:10:35 GMT -5
Definately WASE. Michael Marvin even squeezes in a "lost" Louisville oldie every Wednesday evening around 6:45pm or so. Now if I could just get them to make their "Top 5 at 5" on Wednesday to be a Louisville version it would be so awesome As I sit here and listen to the Top 30 from April 10, 1971 from WKLO I see 7 songs that WASE plays (some more than others of course) and only 3 that WRKA plays. That is so sad. I realize that they may not have the ones that are not on cd yet...but they could contact me for them as I have put a ton of 45's on cd for my personal use As for personalities, WASE wins hands down. I have chatted with Michael Marvin several times and he is a great guy. I also sent him some obscure tunes sometime back and he used a few of them when he had his Tuesday night "Lost Oldies" show for an hour. The only downside is that WASE does seem to have more commercials than WRKA, especially in the morning. I like the morning program but they need to play more music on it. Les Cook has a perfect radio voice and is very pleasing to hear. Chad
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Post by kevin502 on Apr 16, 2006 0:44:23 GMT -5
Cleaned out my garage tonight and had a few people over for a garage party (my garage parties consist good cigars and some of Kentucky's finest sipping beverages and music no older than 1975.
Ended up listening to WLUE and WASE most of the night. Seems WRKA was not pleasing the guests. So I guess I'm back with WASE for another summer. But Louie 100.5 is pretty good.
Question: Is there a radio station sponsoring the WAKY get together this year? Because someone said they may not be able to attend if a rival radion station sponsers the event. Just wondering.
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Post by Recordhead on Apr 16, 2006 20:21:26 GMT -5
Since I can't stomach the vocal stylings of one Mr Oldies Michael "marble" mouth Marvin. A great guy I'm sure & he no doubt knows his stuff but I can't understand him half the time. I'd give the air staff award to WRKA.
The best blend of music would no doubt go to WASE but is that a good thing? Should WASE be playing Stairway To Heaven or Hotel California? NO!!!! Should they be playing a song by The Monkees that stalled at #57 on the top 100 chart? Maybe on a program that deals with the odd & obscure like Joe Donovan used to do. But not in regular rotation. WRKA recently added some non Motown R&B but they play the same (Al Green, Lou Rawls) songs way too much.
Production value again goes to WASE. Their jingles & bumpers sound like an oldies station w/o sounding dated.
I do like the way WASE has been sending listeners to oldies concerts w/ extras like dinner & a hotel stay so again WASE!
Better over all WASE.
WRKA should expand the playlist without going too deep that makes the listener (me) tune out the way WASE does. I love the addition of the 70's stuff on RKA but the Bee Gees did more that Sat Night Fever & Love Will Keep Us Together sounds like its in heavy rotation! WASE should tighten things up a bit but not too much.
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Post by Jim on Apr 18, 2006 12:26:28 GMT -5
I must agree with Recordhead.
It's kind of hard to believe that a smaller market station out of Elizabethtown, shows up in a forum such as this and receives the majority of positive accolades over a station that has been playing oldies in the market since the 1970s and is owned by one of the largest companies in the country, they need to re-invent themselves somehow.
Maybe the difference is that WASE sounds less formatted and less predictable, giving it a little more edge, more of a spontaneous "WAKY" type of sound.
Growing up in Valley Station in the 60's and 70's, we listened mostly to WAKY. My favorites were Gary Burbank, Coyote and Johnny Randolph. At night in the Winter the signal was sometimes hard to get and that is when I would switch to WKLO.
As for favorite air staff I would have to go with WASE on this one overall, though I know where Recordhead is coming from in afternoons. Sometimes Michael Marvin provides a little too much information instead of just playing the music that I tune in for. It's just that it is very difficult to pay attention to traffic on the Watterson and Spaghetti Junction at that time of day while trying to listen to all the minutia of chart positions of songs at the same time. Maybe that's why the long running Joe Donavan show used to be on from Midnight to Five AM. On the other hand, Larry Miller on WRKA keeps it tight and upbeat without all the talk.
As for music blend I would go with WASE, they say they are the best of the 60's and 70's but they also play music out of the 50's, that is when I switch. I've read the comments from others who post here who wonder why they never beat WRKA in the ratings?
Not being a radio programmer I certainly wouldn't pretend to know all the reasons, but in my opinion if they would just stick to the 60's and 70's which they definitely play a better variety of and not try to be all things to all people by going back so far with their music, the ratings would probably take care of themselves.
As for not playing Hotel California and Stairway to Heaven... my question would be, how could a station that bills itself as a 60's and 70's station Not play them? As best I can remember, Stairway to Heaven was one of WAKYs most requested songs and according to a program I watched on VH1 a few years ago, Hotel California was the title track of the single largest selling album released between the years 1900 and 2000. So what do you do?, take out those two songs and start playing One Bad Apple by the Osmond's and Little Bitty Pretty One by the Jackson Five instead? Don't know? It's probably more of a rotation issue.
As for jingles, again my vote goes to WASE, if only because their jingles are more reminiscent of the WAKY and WLS sound of the era.
For promotions, and this one is close, WRKA gives away many nice prizes including their current giveaway which includes a car. WASE mostly offers overnight stays with dinner at a local restaurant and concert tickets and seems to offer listeners more chances to get registered, however on this one, and only because of the car, I have to go with WRKA.
For Overall station honors it is WASE, mostly because their music variety of the 60's and 70's and their on-air presentation is more in line with the Top 40 stations I grew up listening to.
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Post by oldpro on Apr 18, 2006 17:57:16 GMT -5
This is an interesting debate. It seems that most of this sites contributors are very radio savvy people and they generally say that they prefer wase over wrka for a variety of reasons.
However when you look at the arbitron trends that Max posted and see that wase ranks 21st and wrka ranks #8, you wonder how the two could be so far apart?
Let's take a closer look shall we:
1) Of the two stations wrka plays no 50's music.
It's not that Elvis, Ricky Nelson and Chuck Berry made bad records, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is as far as you need to go to prove otherwise. But the harsh reality is that it was so long ago there are simply fewer people in those demos that will get a book. Period. End of sentence. If the 50's was in fact the era they grew up in, they are listening to this music on cassette or CD, that way they get 10 Fifties songs in a row, and are not waiting around to hear any station play the same tired handful of songs from that genre for the 14th Million time once every or every other hour. With this in mind it seems the last thing you would intentionally want to do is risk alienating the 73% of your audience who says they choose not to listen to 50's music. For whatever their reason.
To reiterate, as good as Carl Perkins and Fats Dominos tunes may have sounded to listeners over half a century ago, these songs are simply not compatible or relevant to the greater number of listeners who tune in to hear the Byrds, The Beatles or Fleetwood Mac.
Unfortunately, if ratings are what you are after you can't have it both ways.
A few days ago when in Louisville, I took a look at the wase site after hearing Les Cook, who by the way does an extremely nice job, talk about it on his morning show. While there I noticed a survey they are doing on-line which invites listeners to choose the musical era that they like most. The mere presence of such a survey on their own site must mean that there is some serious soul searching going on there in terms of the music they are playing.
Anyway, if you added together the 60's entries to the 60's & 70's entries on their survey, you came up with something like 73% in favor of 60's and 70's music as compared to only 4% of the entries in favor of 50's music. I thought to myself, right there on their own site is the answer to their ratings, or lack of, deliema.
I predict that wase will tire of getting beat like a drum book in and book out with an air staff and signal that is much stronger than that of their direct competitor. Maybe they'll say, hhmmmm looks like my core audience of 73% wants 60's and 70's music... versus 4% wanting 50's music. " Let's give 100% of our attention to the 73%, and serve and entertain them to the best of our ability from 6am to Midnight.
If that day ever comes, the gang down at Cox might as well pack their bags.
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Susan in St Matthews
Guest
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Post by Susan in St Matthews on Apr 18, 2006 21:05:11 GMT -5
Kool 103.5, no doubt about it!
They have better DJs and play better music. Very close to what I remember being played on WAKY and WKLO in the early to mid 70's. Though I sometimes have trouble picking them up in my office downtown, in my car they come in perfectly.
We listen to Les and Greg in the morning. Karen at night. The Super Gold request show on Saturday night and recently enjoyed hearing the weekend warrior Steven Cook who was on WAKY back in the early 70's. I once won a record from him. They all sound like they're having fun! Enjoy reliving these memories from my teen years.
Thanks
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Post by David Stockhoff on Apr 19, 2006 7:26:02 GMT -5
I think it boils down to format (WRKA) vs. personality (WASE), to me anyway. Alot of what has been said previously I agree with.
I think WASE has a slight edge (on this board here) on WRKA because I still think people like their "personality" better. WASE has a slightly loser play list than WRKA, which I like. The ratings show WRKA stronger because they are format driven and that is what radio (from the business end) has become. Diversity over variety!
I don't think WASE is as 50's heavy as might be implied either. They are, however not afraid to play Mary Wells or early Marvin Gaye, though. I do know that from time to time they have 50's weekends and, even then, only feature one ultra popular selection (mostly Elvis) a hour.
I am thankful that we have two good oldies stations here that we can debate about. There are plenty of markets that have none!
David :0)
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Post by Larry on Apr 19, 2006 8:28:22 GMT -5
Although oldpro makes some good points if I were the RKA DJs I wouldn't rush out to buy my bus tickets anytime soon.
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Tom in Mt Washington
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Post by Tom in Mt Washington on Apr 19, 2006 14:27:39 GMT -5
Like Recordhead when Michael Marvin comes on the air I switch to Coyote on WAMZ mostly because of all the talk. Later I usually listen to Karen Allen on 103.5. She plays the best music.
Used to be more of a WRKA fan when John Ramsy was on in the morning time period many years ago. Now for oldies its mostly Cool because they seem to know more of the songs that were popular around here.
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Post by Max on Apr 19, 2006 16:14:09 GMT -5
Yes, there is such a thing as information overload. While Michael has a great voice for radio, there comes a point where you ask...well...what's the point? At one of the stations where I worked (I'll withhold all names), I was told not to state the name of the albums the songs came from (at the time, I'd only done one or two...guess he caught them both), as we were not in the record selling business and not to 'chit-chat' with the talent doing the remotes (I'd said "now we go to ___ at the Pritchard Community Center where they're holding Expo '80. How's it going, _____?). While too much talk is annoying, there needs to be a healthy balance of humanity (this station is now chit-chatting their hearts out) and segue, lest becoming accused of 'robot radio' (which one of the jocks did call it). Thing is, Michael Marvin has a tremendous memory of music...guess he just wants to share it.
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Jan L Jeffersonville
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Post by Jan L Jeffersonville on Apr 19, 2006 20:08:17 GMT -5
I just found this site a couple of weeks ago thanks to a co-worker and have really enjoyed the visits. I grew up in Jeffersonville and remember going to the Ewing Lane Hop when the WAKY DJ's would be there. It seems I remember the Weird Beard was over there quite often. On the subject of WRKA versus WASE. My choice for favorite air personalities would be WASE. I really like the DJ's and most of the music they play. I'm really not into the Fifties music that much though. I was 14 in 1968 when I started listening mostly to WAKY so it was a little before my time. Thanks for providing this site and for rekindling so many really good memories that had been all but forgotten.
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Post by Jim on Apr 19, 2006 20:40:55 GMT -5
It would be good to read your take on favorite overall Air Staff between these two stations. As a Senior Member along with your insightful contributions to this site, surely on your visits to Louisville you've heard WRKA enough to share your opinion with us. How about it? Do you go along with the majority of the posts here and give the nod to WASE or will it be WRKA?
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Post by Jim on Apr 19, 2006 20:42:22 GMT -5
The previous post is for Max.
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Post by Max on Apr 20, 2006 5:23:34 GMT -5
As my drilling status has changed as of last fall, I'm not in Louisville as much as before. When I was, I usually listened to WLUE (LouisFM), although even that has changed. I will, however, make a concerted effort to listen to WRKA's stream to draw a comparison, of the on-air talent in particular. As stated by myself and others before, there isn't a whole lot to be said in regards to the music rotation of either, other than WASE does include more 70's. But after listening to WASE exclusively for many years and getting burned out on what was then a steady diet of the Supremes and Herman's Hermits and hearing the statement repeatedly "cause I need this gig", it's hard to force yourself to go back just for the comparison. But I will do my best!
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Post by Mountain Man on Apr 20, 2006 12:31:06 GMT -5
Max, I don't think Jim was trying to call you out or get you to say something you would be uncomfortable saying. I've only been visiting this site for a couple of weeks and during that time have noticed that you weigh in with excellent content on every topic that is up for grabs. I congratulate you and wish I'd known you 40 years ago. I guess he only assumed that someone who is into radio to the extent that they would launch WAKY On-Line would be able to say within a moments notice which of the only 2 stations in the market that programs music from the 50's through the 70's sounds the best. That's all. I agree with you, it seems that from time to time on all stations some artists are rotated faster than others. I think a lot of that depends on personal musical tastes of the PD and Music Director. Between the two acts you noted, it's usually the Supremes who are more likely to be overplayed, because in reality, they really were giants in the music industry. Though along with that also comes a much higher burn out factor that must be considered and handled with great care and rotational restraint. I don't quite understand the logic of overplaying Herman's Hermits though, that's a first. They were out, basically '64 to '66, a teeny-bop novelty group with 5th grade lyrics whose real hits can probably be counted on one hand excluding the thumb and index finger. Though as far as the music is concerned overall regarding these two stations, it looks like a whole lot can be said, and has been said, by over half the people on this page. Also, how does someone gets burned out on a guys "show closer" that lasts maybe 3 seconds, to the point it would bias his judgement on a given station the remaining 23 hours and 57 seconds of the day. A guy I used to listen to in Louisville had one, "No matter where you go there are." Sounds like something personal there. Of course, according to other information on the site, you did or still work for their competitor in E-town. That probably sums it up right there. If I were you, I wouldn't go to the trouble of making a concerted effort or forcing yourself to listen to either one of them. That was one of those questions you either have a feel for or you don't. To make a choice, under limited listening time and a forced pretense would more than likely taint the quality of listening and provide a less than true result, as radio personalities become winners or losers based on emotional likeability factors over a period of time and not a sterile analysis made in 15 minutes. My best to you Sir. Here's an idea, lets let these two stations slug it out, and the rest of us get back to talkin' about WAKY & KLO.
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Post by Kevin on Apr 20, 2006 12:59:49 GMT -5
Here's the bottom line on the WASE vs WRKA question:
WAKY WOULD HAVE BLOWN BOTH OF THEM OFF THE AIR.
Another WAKY story: I remember we were camping outisde in the mid-70's and as a joke I turned our transister radio to WTMT or WINN (Country) I can't remember which, and it took a while for someone to realize it was a country station instead of WAKY. I guess that goes to show that there was alot of country on WAKY. And also during that time there were many country hits hitting the TOP 40.
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Post by Max on Apr 20, 2006 13:11:30 GMT -5
Gee! Certainly my response to Jim wasn't meant to stir anybody up (and I hope Jim didn't take any comments the wrong way). I can see how posts from a year or so ago might have come across a bit aggrivated...nowadays I try not to criticize the competition. But since Jim has asked me to put in my two cents worth, I shall and make a later post...and it will be objective!! ;D
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Post by R J on Apr 20, 2006 14:17:12 GMT -5
Kevin,
You're right!
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Post by Max on Apr 20, 2006 15:51:47 GMT -5
Ooops...I just noticed a missing word from one of my sentences that "Mountain Man" referred to. The sentence should have read "there isn't a whole lot more to be said in regards to the music rotation of either", meaning comparisons on this messageboard between programming of the two have pretty much been exhausted. My humble apologies!
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