Well, as promised I'm starting a thread that will detail the changes I plan for FFR as it moves from listener owned back into a hobby station.
At this point I'm not even sure we'll be on the air much longer. Everything depends on if I can get a decent sounding microphone set up going. But I'm tired of waiting to formulate a plan so I'm going to just start moving ahead as if we'll remain on the air and if we don't then so be it.
Later in the week the cables I need to hook up the sound card should arrive and hopefully that will give us some final answers.
As for this thread, I'm still trying to decide how the station will run and sound once listener ownership ends, so it will be an ongoing thing.
These are the changes I KNOW will occur as of now. Check back every few days for updates.
1) The request list will be made considerably smaller. I've already started the process by removing many of the songs that have never been requested. I mean LITERALLY, not one request. This will help make searching the request list easier and will make two-fer Tuesdays a little better because the computer generated pick won't have as good a chance of being something really obscure.
2) My goal is to be on-air weekday mornings at least three days a week from about 8 AM to noon. Some of those days I will be able to take requests from our ENTIRE CD Library. So while the playlist may be getting smaller the amount of music actually accessible to our listeners will be expanding during the weekday morning hours.
3) On October 1 we will stop being listener owned and the request system will be opened up to everyone again, free of charge. If you are a subscriber PLEASE cancel your subscription at some point during the month of September. If you find you still enjoy the station and want to make a donation to offset the cost of streaming that would be appreciated, but not necessary. At some point I may set up a VIP section that donors would have private access to, as a thank you to those that choose to help out.
4) The stations default will move more toward an Pop / Rock / Adult Contemporary / Top 40 sound. Extreme music and other genres will be available only by email or phone request and during special shows like the ones JD does on Sundays.
For example, the country music genre will no longer be on our request list, however, exceptions will be made for some songs and artists when it seems reasonable. A song like "Take This Job And Shove It", while technically a country song, is such a classic that even non-country fans often enjoy it, so it would stay. So would more contemporary country music from artists like Faith Hill, Martina McBride and Shania Twain. Although in all of those examples the decision on whether or not to include their music in our playlist will depend upon the song itself and how much cross-over appeal it appears to have.
There's more changes I'm considering, but at the moment these are the only ones set in stone.
I hope everyone understands that as I will be taking the station back as a hobby and paying the considerable cost of running it out of my pocket again it is important that it gets back to a point where it's listener-ship is growing.
I can't justify continuing to do this to broadcast to the 8 or 9 people that are tuning in right now. Friday we had 4 listeners most of the day.
When a new person tunes in I believe they need to hear music they know if we have any hope of hooking them. I also believe the station has to have an identity of some sort. It can't be all things to all people. While we have a collection of folks here who truly seem to love all different music, most people tend to be looking for a specific thing (ie: country, 80's, current hits, hard rock, etc).
So I'm sorry in advance if the station changes in a way that makes you enjoy it less and I understand if you have to find an alternative station. But hopefully a day or two a week you'll be in the mood for what we offer and you'll tune in.
-- Edited by Jeremy Riggs on Sunday 30th of August 2009 01:25:46 PM
