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Americas Best Music dropping all DJs

K.M. Richards said:
As long as it can be marketed to the same advertisers as the old format, there was probably very little thought given to what the new format would be. Station managers were probably saying "just put something on the air".

Or, given that this mostly affects AM stations, which are going to be the weakest in any cluster of co-owned stations, they just picked whatever seemed the same, without even listening to it beforehand. There would be no press release for the news media to pick up on, and I bet calling the station would get you either a meaningless answer or something along the lines of what I just said.

At some point you will have to accept the fact that this is going to keep happening, until you are eventually left with nothing on the air that pleases you.
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I need to explain the specifics of this situation. The same man is running the station, and another one as of April 1, who owned the station from 2002 to 2014 (and only that station). He played music similar to America's Best Music on the station he used to run but didn't own, though it was the station owner that liked the music on that other station. When he bought this station, Unforgettable Favorites was chosen. When other stations in the area had Timeless Favorites after that replaced Unforgettable Favorites, America's Best Music replaced it. And I've been hearing for years how much people liked the station. It is true that the morning show leaned a little more toward oldies even during the decade that America's Best Music was played the rest of the day (but you know he liked the music too; many days, the final hour began with "Nothing But the Best" by Sinatra and the morning show still ends with "May Each Day" by Andy Williams and used to end with "Mr. Lucky Theme" by Mancini), and the most-requested songs at the end of the morning show when requests were played leaned more oldies than standards. Although these days those most-requested songs are not the oldies that weren't being played before. Those people requesting the songs, I'll bet, are people not hearing that style of music except in the morning.

The local college bought both radio stations in town intending to train students (and only owns those stations). But they decided not to make changes on the America's Best Music affiliate and don't seem to have had the students do much on that first station. Asked what kind of music should be played on the station they bought this year (prviously political talk, which was judged inappropriate for a college station), those surveyed apparently chose country over oldies. There was no hint of a change on the first station until October 1, long after the DJs left. And I did talk to someone on the phone and was told the station was "still oldies", which indicates there are people who don't know the difference. It is a BIG difference.

Meanwhile, the second station, as far as I know, hasn't been doing much on the air to indicate they are training students. The country music has satellite DJs. I haven't heard the morning show.
 
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JeffM said:
I thought that already happened long ago... :D
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You would think so. I finally realized I was one of the lucky ones. Emphasis on was. Charlotte has a good standards station but it's not close enough to where I live. I have one radio at home which can pick it up.
 
PTBoardOp94 said:
Music of Your Life has gone through its own modernization over the last 4-5 years. It used to be a super-sleepy standards format. Today it's substantially more uptempo. No Sinatra or other crooners. Lots of what I'd describe as jazz vocals.

I think I just heard Helen Reddy's cover of "Delta Dawn", up next to "Before the Next Teardrop Falls" by Freddy Fender. And lots of vocalists that I couldn't recognize.
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I checked the Music of Your Life web site and they're celebrating Sinatra's 100th birthday with just his music. That hardly sounds like a format that has dropped him. And the web site gives no clue that any of this has happened.

What you're describing sounds like the Timeless Favorites format that went under several years ago, but I would hope they're not doing that.

Although given my current radio situation, I think I'd settle for Timeless Favorites. A former affiliate in my area is hard to hear because of a Jack station on the next frequency.
 
I'm reading that some of these channels have hired back their announcers. I don't know that as a fact. But has anyone heard DJs back on these stations?
 
vchimpanzee said:
I checked the Music of Your Life web site and they're celebrating Sinatra's 100th birthday with just his music. That hardly sounds like a format that has dropped him. And the web site gives no clue that any of this has happened.

What you're describing sounds like the Timeless Favorites format that went under several years ago, but I would hope they're not doing that.
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What I wrote was based on listening to their web stream for an hour or so. I would say that MOYL does sound like "Timeless Favorites" circa 2008-09. Definitely didn't hear any Sinatra, Bennett, Bing, etc.

A few more i was able to recognize tonight: "Wonder Like You" (Ricky Nelson), "Santa Claus is Near" (Ralph Burns), "Happy Together" (Jason Donovan, I think). I did hear one instrumental that I didn't recognize.
 
Gold99 FM -- Ocala/Gainesville/The Villages has hired local talent. They are on the air M - S from 6am to 6pm.
 
vchimpanzee said:
If this is the song I think it is, that's The Turtles.
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Anyone who has ever heard the Turtles version would not mistake it for Jason Donovan's cover. It is amazing to me those artists who think they can improve upon a classic.
 
It was definitely not the Turtles who were played on MOYL on Wednesday. It was an 80s or early 90s cover by a male vocalist.
 
Very late in this thread but I'd like to wax some sentiment/personal background if I may.
If it's overlong, my apologies but I feel like writing it just the same.

First off, no nerdiness taken-thank you for providing a play by play of Jeff's last broadcast day. That day slipped by without me even knowing so it was appreciated.

My own connection to ALL OF THIS syndicated format music dates back im thinking the late 90s/early 2000s. Camping in Northern michigan a nearby station(which for a few years id thought was THEM producing it, to their credit!)
Later on I found out what all the cumulus and Westwood stuff was.

Still, that music of my youthful years...essentially my mom and Dad's music-Kaempfert, Humperdinck,Sinatra, Cole et al...to hear it while hearing a breeze through the pines and reflections off the Au Sable river, I didn't care Where it was streamed from, just that the music was as timeless as the great outdoors.

In 2013, the Gannon broadcast system(WGRY, Grayling, MI) had sold it's ownership sadly due to Gannon having had a stroke. The new owners replaced Americas Best Music with a much needed Sports format, pfffffff!!!

That was an initial precursor to the release of DJs in summer 2015. Something id finally clued in on after listening to an affiliate closer to home(WXLA, Lansing)and simply not having heard Jeff or Carl's voice in sometime.

Prerecorded or tracked...it simply didn't matter to me. THEIR voices were as much a memory to me ALONG with the music. I'll always love those golden tunes of yesteryear, but it will be with a twinge of sadness how somethings seemingly perfect can never stay that way forever. Such is life.
Savor the good things as they come your way and enjoy them while they are there to be enjoyed.

Good luck Carl and Jeff and thank you "For the Good Times".
 
If something is wrong with my car I want to spend the money only if it's something essential to making the car work. The squealing noise on AM radio if I'm not near the station can't be a priority.

So I don't know if I actually heard Jeff at 10 in the morning on the way to the beach or Carl at 1:00 going home. I heard someone do a station ID but I couldn't even hear the words being spoken, much less make a positive ID. Last year I was able to hear and clearly identify both of them. So maybe whatever caused the noise wasn't doing it at the time.
 
Throughout my childhood and early teen years, I listened to America's Best Music all the time! This was in the late 1990's and early 2000's when they still played a lot of true standards. I remember Jeff Rollins, Chick watkins, Ed Brand, Jim Bane, Casey Hayes, and "the Bill Jones Boy."

When I became interested in radio, I would often call the network studio line and ask them questions about the inner workings of the network (such as how they triggered the local IDs). They were never rude and if they had time they would always answer my questions. Ed Brand was especially helpful. I also talked to Jeff Rollins and Chick Watkins. They were my early mentors and I found them to be just as nice in person as they sounded on the air.

In 2009 I thought the network was reverting back to it's original format, as a new feature called "Big Bands Remembered" was added and a lot of older artists like Joan Webber, Johnny Ray, and Doris Day were also added. However this was shortlived, and when they started automating overnights I knew it wouldn't be long before the rest of the announcers would be gone as well. It was a great service for almost 30 years, and I am sad to see it go.

All I can say now is thanks to the announcers for all those years of entertainment, and to the few people who did what I should have done and recorded hours and hours of the service on tape. Maybe one day us fans of the network can bring it back again!
 
I worked at an affiliate of that network, which was then known as either "AM Only" or simply Westwood One Adult Standards. They promoted the best of the 40s, 50s and 60s though I think the only 40s song they played was "In the Mood". THey were playing an instrumental (primarily as fill) that we were getting a lot of calls about (at that facility, 5 was a lot). I called to ask and amazingly enough, PD Chick Watkins answered the phone , told me what it was, and the fact it really had no distribution but might be able to be ordered. Very nice and helpful.

I had my "I'm not the Wolfman" moment there. I was caretaking this facility after Cox bought the FM and was spinning off the AM. A guy comes in and wants to leave something for Jeff Rollins. I had to tell him that Jeff Rollins wasn't actually working in Piqua, Ohio. I explained these people are so talented, we wouldn't even be able to afford one of them, but if a couple of hundred stations like us pool our resources, we can bring this to you. I guess he bought it
 
gr8oldies said:
They promoted the best of the 40s, 50s and 60s though I think the only 40s song they played was "In the Mood". THey were playing an instrumental (primarily as fill) that we were getting a lot of calls about (at that facility, 5 was a lot). I called to ask and amazingly enough, PD Chick Watkins answered the phone , told me what it was, and the fact it really had no distribution but might be able to be ordered. Very nice and helpful.]
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And actually "In the Mood" was written and recorded in 1939, so it is not a true 40's song!
 
Actually, the version of In the Mood that was played on the network was the stereo version from 1983. They did play other songs from the 40's, such as:

The Three Sons - Twilight Time
Dick Haymes - Little White Lies (1948)
Dick Haymes - You'll Never Know (with piano, not the accapella version from 1944)
Perry Como - They Say it's Wonderful (Original Version from 1946)
Frankie Laine - That's My Desire (updated version with electric piano)

And of course they played updated versions of big band songs from the Spitfire Band, Glenn Gray, and Ted Heath.
 
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