Re: Another thing that's hurting Mix...
> > 2. Mix... my reasons for this station's poor performance:
>
> > It's beginning to suffer the same problem Star 95 had, it
> > has poor direction musically (No surprise since over half
> > the staff is former 95.7 employees) and it's not the #1
> > choice for listeners. It's the station you turn to when
> > your favorite is playing commercials or a lousy song. One
>
> > minute they're playing 3 Doors Down and Collective soul
> and
> > the next it's Kelly Clarkson and Phil Collins. I know
> > that's what a Hot AC is these days but in this market it
> > just doesn't work. During the midday I'm sure they share
> > many listeners with FLZ, Point, Magic, and even Q105. It
> > just shares audience with to many other stations in the
> > market. The other major problme with Mix is the air
> talent.
> > Nancy Alexander... ok, she's decent but you either love
> her
> > or hate her. Mike Reeves... he's just along for the ride
> > and ya can't blame him for hangin in there. Shriner?
> > Average. Kristy Knight is at least entertaining to the
> > demographic they want and I think she still pulls decent
> > numbers. She's been holding down afternoons for what? 10
>
> > years on 2 average sounding stations. She's gotta be
> doing
> > something right. Not gonna comment on nights since more
> > often then not with AC stations it's a crapshoot
> saleswise.
> > And finally, please tell that traffic girl to put a sock
> in
> > it. Talk to me like a person and not a machine giving me
> a
> > 2 minute list of crap. Alright... I'm off to fight 275
> with
> > my XM... later.
> >
>
> Furthermore, is it just me or does it seem like they play
> nothing but ads
> during their "whatever weekends"? They'll play two or three
> songs and go
> right into ads, followed by that cheesy bumper music by that
> Lisa Loeb/Six-
> pence None the Richer knockoff. Also, is it just me again
> or is every other
> song on their playlist either "Live Like You Were Dying",
> "Accidentally in
> Love", or "Daughters"? Doesn't sound like a whole lot of
> variety when I'm
> hearing the same song every hour or so...
>
I couldn't disagree more on the imaging. I think it sounds really cool, and is very very catchy. I think they should continue to sound alive (which pulls them away from Magic) and it does fit the music direction. It's misused at times, with the relatively loud ramp coming out of things like Sarah McLachlan's Angel, but otherwise I like it. I'm sure a while back I heard Jeff Kagupi on air (did I?), and he certainly worked the imaging to make it sound excellent. I'd love to know what other posters think of it.
As for their music policy, I'm not sure it's the policy itself that's wrong, but the rotation. True, they play the three songs you mentioned (and others) a lot, but only 38 times a week, which isn't that outrageous. They do, however, only play those songs out of commercial sets, which is painfully obvious after only a few hours listening, and draws attention to them. As the old programming wisdom goes 'Play the songs that you're station is all about out of commercial sets'. If after a few days listening, you can realise the station is 'all about' ten or twenty songs, you're not likely to be very impressed. The rotation of 80's songs is quite frustrating really - there are only so many times you can listen to 'Bad Case of Loving You' and 'Heart and Soul' - why aren't there more songs from the 80s in the rotation? The Whatever Weekend seems like an admission of this. At the end of it all though, I'm a Hot AC fan and listener, and I think Mix has good music.
On the subject of commercial load, I think it would be nice if they let the three song sets play out without a jock talkup link. It would give the whole thing more continuity, but they'd still get in 5/6 links per hour.
I hope Mix does continue to improve its ratings, because at the end of the day its better than the Cox stations. Every time I see the 'New' Magic gain more listeners I feel like crying - if a station that bad continues to be that successful we should just all give in!<P ID="signature">______________
Owen</P>
