Actually, we've been Charlie'd ........ as of last Monday.
Charlie started out long ago as a smaller station and ended up being bought by a large conglomerate. For a while, it was known as "The Walk" --- THE worst format ever. Some marketing genius somewhere decided we needed a "Christian/'positive country'" format. Oh boy, it wasn't like we didn't have 14 of each already around here. That lasted a little longer than I expected.
Then it went to all women's talk (using Greenstone Media's output with some other stuff). It was nice in theory, but even I could tell you the writing wasn't going to last very long on that wall, no matter what. I occasionally listened, but didn't really care for the Greenstone output. I mostly listened on lunch break (while in the car) to Dr. Joy Browne. I'm a sucker for radio advice/psychology. Anyway, "women's radio" pressed on, but then Greenstone went belly-up on the 17th. Oopsie.....
Last weekend, they played a bunch of different formats from some of their other stations out of our area. Then on Monday at noon, Charlie showed. If you're not familiar with the Jack format, read the Wiki. Ours happens to be called Charlie instead of Jack.
There's a part of me that isn't crazy about the Jack/Steve/Charlie format -- the part that would like to keep DJ's and other staff members employed. The part of me that prefers that the programming have at least a little method to the madness. The part of me that has read Jim Ladd's Radio Waves and wishes for every market to have a KMET and the tribal drum.
But there's the part of me that absolutely LOVES it. I love not knowing what's around the corner. I have heard Def Leppard, The Bay City Rollers, and Frank Sinatra (that's right, baby!) all in a 30-minute stretch. I've heard Johnny Cash on there. The other night, I heard Aerosmith followed by Prince ..... it was like living my best Top 40 memories from childhood. I found myself screaming at my radio, "God, do I love this!!!!" It was like WANS, circa 1983-84, all over again.......
We'll see how Charlie works out. So far, the larger part of me is enjoying it.
1 comment:
Johnny Cash is in the format, too?? Sounds to me like "Charlie" is a bit deeper and more eclectic than "Jack."
We had a JACK FM station in Savannah for about 18 months, and when you got past the novelty of the dry-wit sweepers, the music was little more than a "Classic Hits" station with a few pop songs sprinkled in.
You know we're on the same page re DJs. Sadly, the "Tribal Drum" sheepskin has become threadbare.
Post a Comment