My reaction to this thread was similar to Goat Rodeo Cowboy: "I do not think that word means what you think it means." ;D
It sounds like you're looking for local sounding stations vs. what used to be described as a full-service format.
(Suddenly I feel a million years old...)
Full-service (as a format) USED to mean:
* Some music, often MOR but could be pop, country, etc through the hour. The number of records per hour varied depending on the number of elements and length of elements in each hour.
* News, both national and local, often at both the top and bottom of the hour. Breaking news events were often covered as well.
* Frequent weather updates, twice or more an hour.
* A sports update, perhaps a minute or two, most if not all hours of the day & night.
* Traffic updates, often every hour of the day in larger cities.
* Friendly banter (including Public Service announcements / community events) from a local (& used to be live) DJ. "Community Calender" was a regular part of most full-service stations.
The format as it used to be described could contain a lot more but wasn't all obituaries and lost dogs... although it COULD include those. It wasn't about inexperienced broadcasters, either... we had a 50,000 watt clearchannel AM where I live that was doing amazing full service up until about 10 years or so ago. The broadcasters there were legendary, and could have jocked circles around any of the FM liner jocks in town.
It sounds like what you were looking for were stations with unique local content... and that has a great appeal to me as well. Bright Star 100.1 in Bartlesville, OK is a fantastic little local operation that keeps it very hometown and is tremendous fun to listen to. I also might consider them full-service during the day as they do news, weather, sports, stocks, and on and on. However, it doesn't really sound like the full service powerhouses of yesteryear.
...OK, I'm going to take my walker and head down to the dining hall now... I hear we're having PUDDING tonight!!! ;D
It sounds like you're looking for local sounding stations vs. what used to be described as a full-service format.
(Suddenly I feel a million years old...)
Full-service (as a format) USED to mean:
* Some music, often MOR but could be pop, country, etc through the hour. The number of records per hour varied depending on the number of elements and length of elements in each hour.
* News, both national and local, often at both the top and bottom of the hour. Breaking news events were often covered as well.
* Frequent weather updates, twice or more an hour.
* A sports update, perhaps a minute or two, most if not all hours of the day & night.
* Traffic updates, often every hour of the day in larger cities.
* Friendly banter (including Public Service announcements / community events) from a local (& used to be live) DJ. "Community Calender" was a regular part of most full-service stations.
The format as it used to be described could contain a lot more but wasn't all obituaries and lost dogs... although it COULD include those. It wasn't about inexperienced broadcasters, either... we had a 50,000 watt clearchannel AM where I live that was doing amazing full service up until about 10 years or so ago. The broadcasters there were legendary, and could have jocked circles around any of the FM liner jocks in town.
It sounds like what you were looking for were stations with unique local content... and that has a great appeal to me as well. Bright Star 100.1 in Bartlesville, OK is a fantastic little local operation that keeps it very hometown and is tremendous fun to listen to. I also might consider them full-service during the day as they do news, weather, sports, stocks, and on and on. However, it doesn't really sound like the full service powerhouses of yesteryear.
...OK, I'm going to take my walker and head down to the dining hall now... I hear we're having PUDDING tonight!!! ;D