Well, I guess the email I sent to Entercom last week caught the eyes of the people over at "The Wolf". I received an email from the station's program director, asking if we could talk. So I sent him my telephone number and he contacted me. Our conversation lasted for just over thirty minutes and most of the conversation was dominated by him.
He spoke of the greatness of country stations like "The Wolf", and how the format is the most popular for "Country" music today. He called his station a leader in country music and compared it to KNIX in Phoenix. Had I been able to get a word in edgewise, I would have told him that I used to live in Phoenix and "The Wolf" is nothing like KNIX or the other Phoenix country station, KMLE.
He also lectured me on how "Classic Country" is dead and will never be played on "The Wolf." He reminded me that the station tried a Saturday morning "classic country " show in the past and nobody listened. Really? Well maybe if you gave it more than a couple of months, you would have seen some success. He also talked about a recent concert featuring an older act that had to give away thousands of tickets to the military in order to make the venue look like there were people there. I'm assuming he was speaking of the December concert featuring The Judds. But he didn't elaborate.
The program director also gave me some insight to other country acts like Alan Jackson and Martina McBride, saying that they were out, while others like Taylor Swift, Zac Brown Band and Rascal Flatts are the reason people listen to country these days.
We also talked about the two personalities that I have spoken about on this blog and elsewhere. While he completely agreed with me that the Alan Kabel show was a pathetic joke, he said that he had no control over that programming decision. On the subject of the new "Fitz in the morning" show, he completely backed the decision to bring this show to the Bay Area from Seattle. He indicated that this show was the direction that the station was going in, while also admitting that there is not much of a pool for morning talent to select from.
All in all, the conversation confirmed that "The Wolf" is not interested in hearing what true country music fans have to say about the state of today's country. It's all about the garbage that they call country. In this radio world that is dominated by corporations and big bucks, there is no room for the people who built the genre. So expect more Taylors and Rascal Flatts in the future, which means you can expect the music to continue to "devolve" into something even further from the crap we have on local radio today.
I ended our conversation by telling him that "thanks to The Wolf, my iPod has never gotten more play." Country Music in the Bay Area is still dead, and there is no hope for it at "The Wolf".
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Friday, December 24, 2010
Classic Country Front Porch: Album Review: EASTON CORBIN -by Easton Corbin
Classic Country Front Porch: Album Review: EASTON CORBIN -by Easton Corbin: "This is my first album review here on the Front Porch. I've chosen the self-titled debut album by Country Music newcomer, Easton Corbi..."
Classic Country Front Porch: Country Radio Review: 95.7 "The Wolf", San Francis...
Classic Country Front Porch: Country Radio Review: 95.7 "The Wolf", San Francis...: "As a life-long fan of Country Music, and one who grew up in the S.F. Bay Area, imagine my surprise when I left home for a few years and came..."
Thursday, December 23, 2010
My Email To Entercom Communications About 95.7 The Wolf.
It seems like the displeasure with the Bay Area's only major Country Music station (95.7 The Wolf) is growing. From Facebook to blogs, to listener forums, the number of people who are sick and tired of the station's format and syndicated programming (shows that are outsourced from other markets) is into the thousands. This is first time in my life that I have experienced such anger and passion over a radio station.
The personalities and management at the station don't seem to care about what the listeners have to say. They have deleted comments submitted to their internet forums, dismissed emails and have even displayed arrogance in public about their station. Somebody needs to tell The Wolf that they are out of touch with country music fans and Bay Area listeners. Who better than me to do this? So after my review of The Wolf got the boot from their Facebook page, I decided to take matters further. The following is the text from an email that I sent on December 23 to Entercom Communications. Let's see if they listen.
I'm writing today because I want to express my displeasure with your San Francisco "country music" station, 95.7 "The Wolf". I am a life-long Bay Area resident and a life-long country music fan. I have not been a regular listener of this station since it debuted three years ago. I recently started following the station and have noticed some disturbing trends. The station's morning drive and evening programs are syndicated from other markets. With technical glitches throughout theses shows, it becomes obvious that they have been outsourced. There is even a huge grass-roots campaign on Facebook to have the "Fitz in the morning" show replaced, with nearly 1,400 unhappy listeners in less than two months. My biggest gripe is that the station does not play any of the older country music, and chooses to fill the airwaves with the same "top-40ish" songs that all other A/C & Pop stations play. The personalities on "The Wolf" are boring and everything from the echo effects on their mics to the hip-hop beats constantly being played in the background are a distraction and not appropriate for a country music station. I am one of thousands of country music fans in the bay area who cannot continue to listen to your station with this format. I would be happy to share my suggestions, but apparently the station has chosen to block feedback from their public forums. With the low ratings this station has, somebody on the radio end needs to listen, because apparently not many people on the receiving end of your programming are. Thanks for your time.
Of course I will update you on the status and reaction (if any) to this email as details become available.
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Country Radio Review: 95.7 "The Wolf", San Francisco, CA
As a life-long fan of Country Music, and one who grew up in the S.F. Bay Area, imagine my surprise when I left home for a few years and came back only to find that this market no longer had a major Country Music radio station? For a few years, this was the case, as the major country stations in the area changed formats to urban or spanish music.
That all changed in 2007, when a new Country station called "The Wolf" debuted with a massive advertising campaign and a six-week long launch that featured nearly fifteen thousand songs without any commercials or dee jays. This is how new radio stations start out. They play continuous music for weeks and slowly start promoting who they are. This also happened in 2009 when popular Smooth Jazz station KKSF changed formats to Classic Rock.
Hearing non-stop Country Music was great. I quickly jumped on board, joining their listener club "The Wolfpack" and sending emails welcoming Country to the bay. I offered my own insights to Country Music and shared my memories of growing up with country giants like KSAN and KNEW and even KYA (when it became known as "Young Country"). I asked "The Wolf" to give us the music that we loved, take requests, bring country concerts back and always keep it country.
Apparently my emails went to their junk folder. They obviously did not listen to what I had to say. Shortly after the fanfare was over and the on-air personalities began appearing, I found I couldn't stand the format of this "new country" station. The dee jays were terrible and their shows were awful. The morning drive show quickly drove me back to Sarah and No Name (then Sarah and Vinnie). I even found myself listening to the dreadful Don Bleu over on Star 101. Finally I settled on the news and talk shows over on the AM dial.
When "The Wolf" filled the airwaves with this garbage that is about as far from Country Music as Neil Diamond is from Hip Hop, I knew there was something wrong and that I would not be part of it. This is also how I have felt about today's Country Music in general. It's not totally the Wolf's fault. They are simply a part of this massive effort from Nashville and the music industry to keep country relevant. The Nashville Sound has been replaced by corporate trash disguised as Country Music. The legends who built this music have been silenced in favor of teenagers and washed-up rock stars. I can rant about today's Country Music all day long. But this review is about "The Wolf".
Recently I was having a conversation with a good friend who has been a fan of "The Wolf" for a couple of years. She told me about the drama that was unfolding at the station over the departure of their morning drive team Ken and Corey. That show was replaced by show from Seattle called "Fitz In The Morning". The syndicated program is hosted by Cory "Fitz" Fitzner. This programming change at "The Wolf" had loyal listeners up in arms and in disbelief. Not only because their morning hosts had left, and were replaced by a show from another state. They were angry that one of the "co-hosts" from the prior program, Eddie King was relegated to doing traffic and weather reports. So she pleaded with me to listen to the station and let me know what I thought.
I gave "The Wolf" another try. This time it was worse than before. The Fitz show was neither here nor there for me. I find the guy a bit arrogant and unprofessional. He can't get through a segment without fumbling for words. During one of his "Fitzmas Wish" segments, he read a heartfelt letter that a listener sent in and then asked the listener what the letter was about. And don't get me started on the whole "Fitzmas" thing. A very bad play on words, AND a classic example of Fitzner's arrogance. I am not prepared to say that I think Eddie King should be given this station's morning show, but I think the idea of outsourcing your programming to a "sister station" is pathetic.
The problem with the programming at "The Wolf" is primarily that they don't play Country Music. They over play garbage from acts like Taylor Swift, Rascal Flatts and Keith Urban, and wear out songs by acts like Lady Antebellum and others who have found a home on a host of other non-country stations. They also don't play any music from country legends like Merle Haggard, Willie Nelson, Alabama, The Judds, etc. The dee jays are a group of hipsters who talk with echo effects and hip-hop background music that make me think I'm listening to a "top-40" or "urban" station. Those high energy beats and thumps are not meant for a country station.
But I've saved the worst for last. Forget about the morning show drama on this station. If Fitz fails to get your day off to a terrible start, the station's evening program will definitely give you nightmares. The real reason to never turn on "The Wolf" is Alan Kabel, host of "The 2nd Shift". This is another syndicated show that airs weeknights on "The Wolf". This guy is a total joke. Not a joker. A JOKE!! If you think a morning show piped in "live" from Seattle is bad for a local station. Try a night time show that is nationally syndicated and airs locally several hours after it was recorded "live".
The Alan Kabel show features plenty of phone calls and terrible bits that I guess are supposed to be funny, along with small doses of so-called Country. This "family friendly" program is better suited for Radio Disney. One night while driving home from work, I turned on his show and heard Kabel talking to an 11-year old girl who called-in, asking for Taylor Swift's phone number. He told her she would have to sing before he could consider it. After the girl made a fool of herself, Kabel delivered a punch line and moved on with the show. I was embarrassed for the girl, embarrassed for Kabel and "The Wolf", and I was embarrassed for myself.
You know...I remember circling the driveway, pulling up and turning down George Jones. Not only is that a line from Barbara Mandrell's song "I Was Country When Country Wasn't Cool", that was me, thirty years ago. And boy do I wish Country Music wasn't cool again. We used to hide the fact that we liked Country Music from our more hip friends. Today I still listen to rock and pop music. I just don't like pop in my country music. So I will go back to avoiding "The Wolf" and I know I'm not the only one. If this station doesn't get it's act together soon and start respecting the music that actually IS Country, Bay Area radio listeners will have another spanish or smooth jazz station at 95.7 on their FM dial.
UPDATE
In the two months since I wrote this review, KBWF and their parent company Entercom Communications have made a few changes. The Wolf (KBWF) has dropped "2nd Shift with Alan Kabel" from their line-up and replaced it with one of their local dee jays, Ali Wilder. While the music on the station still sucks (for the most part), Wilder is refreshing for a short car drive. The station continues to slip in the Arbitron ratings (currently 26th place). Entercom has sold their very successful (6th ranked) classical station KDFC, and replaced it on the dial with (gasp) ANOTHER classic rock station. It's anyone's guess why they would do this, but I suspect that it was a money grab.
That all changed in 2007, when a new Country station called "The Wolf" debuted with a massive advertising campaign and a six-week long launch that featured nearly fifteen thousand songs without any commercials or dee jays. This is how new radio stations start out. They play continuous music for weeks and slowly start promoting who they are. This also happened in 2009 when popular Smooth Jazz station KKSF changed formats to Classic Rock.
Hearing non-stop Country Music was great. I quickly jumped on board, joining their listener club "The Wolfpack" and sending emails welcoming Country to the bay. I offered my own insights to Country Music and shared my memories of growing up with country giants like KSAN and KNEW and even KYA (when it became known as "Young Country"). I asked "The Wolf" to give us the music that we loved, take requests, bring country concerts back and always keep it country.
Apparently my emails went to their junk folder. They obviously did not listen to what I had to say. Shortly after the fanfare was over and the on-air personalities began appearing, I found I couldn't stand the format of this "new country" station. The dee jays were terrible and their shows were awful. The morning drive show quickly drove me back to Sarah and No Name (then Sarah and Vinnie). I even found myself listening to the dreadful Don Bleu over on Star 101. Finally I settled on the news and talk shows over on the AM dial.
When "The Wolf" filled the airwaves with this garbage that is about as far from Country Music as Neil Diamond is from Hip Hop, I knew there was something wrong and that I would not be part of it. This is also how I have felt about today's Country Music in general. It's not totally the Wolf's fault. They are simply a part of this massive effort from Nashville and the music industry to keep country relevant. The Nashville Sound has been replaced by corporate trash disguised as Country Music. The legends who built this music have been silenced in favor of teenagers and washed-up rock stars. I can rant about today's Country Music all day long. But this review is about "The Wolf".
Recently I was having a conversation with a good friend who has been a fan of "The Wolf" for a couple of years. She told me about the drama that was unfolding at the station over the departure of their morning drive team Ken and Corey. That show was replaced by show from Seattle called "Fitz In The Morning". The syndicated program is hosted by Cory "Fitz" Fitzner. This programming change at "The Wolf" had loyal listeners up in arms and in disbelief. Not only because their morning hosts had left, and were replaced by a show from another state. They were angry that one of the "co-hosts" from the prior program, Eddie King was relegated to doing traffic and weather reports. So she pleaded with me to listen to the station and let me know what I thought.
I gave "The Wolf" another try. This time it was worse than before. The Fitz show was neither here nor there for me. I find the guy a bit arrogant and unprofessional. He can't get through a segment without fumbling for words. During one of his "Fitzmas Wish" segments, he read a heartfelt letter that a listener sent in and then asked the listener what the letter was about. And don't get me started on the whole "Fitzmas" thing. A very bad play on words, AND a classic example of Fitzner's arrogance. I am not prepared to say that I think Eddie King should be given this station's morning show, but I think the idea of outsourcing your programming to a "sister station" is pathetic.
The problem with the programming at "The Wolf" is primarily that they don't play Country Music. They over play garbage from acts like Taylor Swift, Rascal Flatts and Keith Urban, and wear out songs by acts like Lady Antebellum and others who have found a home on a host of other non-country stations. They also don't play any music from country legends like Merle Haggard, Willie Nelson, Alabama, The Judds, etc. The dee jays are a group of hipsters who talk with echo effects and hip-hop background music that make me think I'm listening to a "top-40" or "urban" station. Those high energy beats and thumps are not meant for a country station.
But I've saved the worst for last. Forget about the morning show drama on this station. If Fitz fails to get your day off to a terrible start, the station's evening program will definitely give you nightmares. The real reason to never turn on "The Wolf" is Alan Kabel, host of "The 2nd Shift". This is another syndicated show that airs weeknights on "The Wolf". This guy is a total joke. Not a joker. A JOKE!! If you think a morning show piped in "live" from Seattle is bad for a local station. Try a night time show that is nationally syndicated and airs locally several hours after it was recorded "live".
The Alan Kabel show features plenty of phone calls and terrible bits that I guess are supposed to be funny, along with small doses of so-called Country. This "family friendly" program is better suited for Radio Disney. One night while driving home from work, I turned on his show and heard Kabel talking to an 11-year old girl who called-in, asking for Taylor Swift's phone number. He told her she would have to sing before he could consider it. After the girl made a fool of herself, Kabel delivered a punch line and moved on with the show. I was embarrassed for the girl, embarrassed for Kabel and "The Wolf", and I was embarrassed for myself.
You know...I remember circling the driveway, pulling up and turning down George Jones. Not only is that a line from Barbara Mandrell's song "I Was Country When Country Wasn't Cool", that was me, thirty years ago. And boy do I wish Country Music wasn't cool again. We used to hide the fact that we liked Country Music from our more hip friends. Today I still listen to rock and pop music. I just don't like pop in my country music. So I will go back to avoiding "The Wolf" and I know I'm not the only one. If this station doesn't get it's act together soon and start respecting the music that actually IS Country, Bay Area radio listeners will have another spanish or smooth jazz station at 95.7 on their FM dial.
UPDATE
In the two months since I wrote this review, KBWF and their parent company Entercom Communications have made a few changes. The Wolf (KBWF) has dropped "2nd Shift with Alan Kabel" from their line-up and replaced it with one of their local dee jays, Ali Wilder. While the music on the station still sucks (for the most part), Wilder is refreshing for a short car drive. The station continues to slip in the Arbitron ratings (currently 26th place). Entercom has sold their very successful (6th ranked) classical station KDFC, and replaced it on the dial with (gasp) ANOTHER classic rock station. It's anyone's guess why they would do this, but I suspect that it was a money grab.
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Album Review: EASTON CORBIN -by Easton Corbin
This is my first album review here on the Front Porch. I've chosen the self-titled debut album by Country Music newcomer, Easton Corbin. It's been a very long time since I've reviewed a new country artist. That's mainly because there hasn't been much country in Country Music. Easton Corbin is an exceptional exception to this trend.
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Now & Then: December 11, 2010 and 1990
Welcome to a new feature on the Front Porch called "Now & Then". Each week I will post the current Top-5 country songs and select a week from the past. Then I will compare the two lists to show the difference between today's Country and Real Country Music.
Review of The American Country Awards show
With the CMA, ACM, CMT and now the ACA's, one has to wonder how many award shows country music needs? So I set my DVR to record FOX's foray into the Country Music Awards arena. I've learned with today's country to set my expectations very low so I won't be disappointed. And because of this, the first-ever "American Country Awards" live up to the expectations.
Sunday, December 5, 2010
The Original Country Music Front Porch
I have always wanted to be involved with country music. In the late 1980's and early 1990's I produced a few country music television programs for local cable channels in my home town. I also used to produce a yearly countdown of the top country music songs each year from 1980 through 1996 and share it with my friends and family. I grew up on Country Music and it is my passion.
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