Hello all! I don't know if I mentioned this or not, but I will be into work late today. Hubby has a dentist appointment and since we are down to one vehicle I must wait. oh darn. So I am still at home getting ready.
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"Am I speaking in a language you're not getting here?"
It's bright and sunny in cheese-town today. Nice temps in the upper 30's again. The BAD news is they were predicting some MAJOR rain and thunderstorms for Saturday and Sunday with temps in the low forties. That's been revised. The precipitation is still expected but temps are supposed to peak out around 32 / 33 now That could mean lots of heavy, heavy snow. The kind of snow that the snowblower can't even handle
Two bits of good news on the station front though. First, that conversion project to bring all 150,000 songs in our library online is going to be finished by Sunday That'll be a big releif because I've been working on it constantly the last two weeks and quite frankly I'm sick of it.
The other good news is that Webdude tested out a mixing board last week with taking phone calls and broadcasting them and got it to work. So I ordered the same mixing board and it's due in today.
Next cookout we'll be able to have a REAL sing-along! And now we can take on-air phone calls anytime we want!
darleneapd wrote: Listeners??? What am I chopped liver??
Naaaaah, you aren't chopped liver Darlene
We really appreciate the loyalty of the listeners we do have. But I think I've come to realize there is a problem with the station.
In the first two years the growth was slow but steady. At our peak near the end of two years we were peaking out at as many as 150 listeners at a time. A big crash and some changes dropped us to about a third of that and over the last year or so we've only managed to get to a peak of about 60 at a time.
That's pathetic.
There's stations out there that broadcast to peak listener levels of 2000 at a time.
Now that I'm tying the station in with a business I have to take a more serious look at how to improve our numbers to make it a viable part of the business.
I have to figure out why people tune in and leave. It seems like even the hard core listeners fall victim of that. We gain one new hard core listener and another one fades away.
You can't make everyone happy all the time, but clearly the sound of this station only intrigues a very select few. And to be honest the people on the forum might very well choose another station if they weren't part of the forum.
Nah, I'd probably stick with the station for the request feature. But, honestly, after the crash where we couldn't request, I don't know if I would've checked back later to see if it was back up after a couple weeks.
I'll admit, this week I've been tempted to listen to our local radio station, but I haven't! Our local station is an independent station, and once a year they go through all their songs alphabetically by song title. It usually takes them about 2 weeks to do. So, it guarantees I won't hear the same song twice in 2 weeks, and it's neat to hear all the stuff they have.
At any rate, today has been a pain. Kind of literally, my head is pounding. We're having trouble with our email and internet at work, and it seems like everyone's computer is having one sort of problem or another. But it looks like it'll be a beautiful day outside.
Sorry to hear that Mz. Hope it all gets better quickly!
You know, there's nothing wrong with tuning out once in awhile. Hell, I listen to my own station probably less than YOU guys do!
There's some songs that get played too much (in my opinion) and because I just can't stand em' a lot of times I'll opt for just playing my MP3's. Other times I just like the idea of tuning in and NOT knowing what's coming next.
The problem is if I polled everyone in this forum you'd all have different dislikes about the sound of the station, and probably all have different LIKES about the station too.
I have to make a decision on the direction of the station that will likely leave some people unhappy and maybe even cost us more listeners in the short term.
It's kind of frustrating, but we can't keep cruising along the next two years with 60 listeners at our peak. That's just not good enough considering the expense and time that goes into this.
Over the next few months I'll probably be asking all of you a lot of questions about what you think of certain aspects of the station, so be ready
Well I am at work now. I hear what you are saying on the station JR. I like to tune in because the variety, but there are still those that request the same songs daily that makes me feel like I am listening to my regular FM station. And sometimes I am forced to use the mute button because I just can't take hearing that song again. We all have our favorites and I do try to mix it up. There were a lot of songs I didn't know but grew on me and I like that I am introduced to new songs and artists. I just love music!
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"Am I speaking in a language you're not getting here?"
Many days I just enjoy the quiet, don't turn anything on, and only listen to the other voices in my head . . . some days we even argue.
Some days, depending on my mood, I listen to a Christian station that plays a lot of the same p/w music that we play on Sundays. Its good to hear how the music is "supposed" to sound and this particular station I occasionally listen to broadcasts at 128k which sounds reallllly nice.
Some days, I spend time catching up on listening to tech podcasts that I've automatically downloaded days before.
Some days I listen to FFR.
Personally, I like the familiar. It's just the way I am. That doesn't mean that I want to hear the same bunch of songs every day, but I also don't enjoy listening to song after song after song that I don't know. I usually don't listen on theme days for that reason.
I'm hesitant to even write that for fear that someone might make it an issue, or take it personally. Please don't. Please don't think "Oh we better not start a theme because Web doesn't like it". I'm not that way about it, so please don't put more into it than that. If you all enjoy it, that's great, enjoy it. Its not even that I really "don't like it" its just that there's usually other things I'd rather listen to on theme days than a bunch of songs that are unfamiliar to me. A lot of times, even when I'm not listening, I still watch the dedications just to see whats going on and whats being requested.
Hey Web, I understand what you're saying, and it's not even necessarily just theme days.
Our large playlist is a selling point to hard-core music fans that WANT to expand their music base, but it's a turn-off to the average listener who wants to tune in and hear something they recognize or remember.
This all has to go into future consideration of the station.
With the new system coming online later this week, I would have greater flexibility to do more unique things.
For example, the request list could return to ONLY hit singles most of the time but one day a week could be "anything-goes".
It's a tough call and over the next few months I'll put a lot of time into researching how to grow the audience.
Like I said, I know we can't please everyone, but we HAVE to please MORE than we do right now.
not much play again today.
That could mean lots of heavy, heavy snow. The kind of snow that the snowblower can't even handle 
That'll be a big releif because I've been working on it constantly the last two weeks and quite frankly I'm sick of it.
