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What Format Am I?

C

cc333

I've been trying to figure out the format that best matches the sorts of things I play on my Part 15 AM, and I'm thinking it loosely fits a mix of MOR, gold-heavy Soft AC, soft oldies (ex., MeTV Music), Easy Listening and straight oldies.

I would like to focus it a bit more, but I'm not totally sure how to do it.

Any suggestions? Are there any old schedule logs I could study somewhere?

c
 
cc333 said:
I've been trying to figure out the format that best matches the sorts of things I play on my Part 15 AM, and I'm thinking it loosely fits a mix of MOR, gold-heavy Soft AC, soft oldies (ex., MeTV Music), Easy Listening and straight oldies.

I would like to focus it a bit more, but I'm not totally sure how to do it.

Any suggestions? Are there any old schedule logs I could study somewhere?

c
Click to expand...
This is just my opinion. But you can have a general format of AC and classic hits together. You don't have to narrow it down to only one format name. That's what KOIT 96.5 does. Their motto is "Today's Hits & Yesterday's Favorites." Here' a link to their playlist. Maybe you have some of this music on your playlist.

onlineradiobox.com

96.5 KOIT

Listen to 96.5 KOIT online
onlineradiobox.com onlineradiobox.com
 
Daryl Lynn L.A. said:
This is just my opinion. But you can have a general format of AC and classic hits together. You don't have to narrow it down to only one format name
Click to expand...
I surmised as much, but I wanted to be sure.

Daryl Lynn L.A. said:
That's what KOIT 96.5 does. Their motto is "Today's Hits & Yesterday's Favorites."
Click to expand...
I noticed that. I think I caught it while listening to the tail end of an older song (The Bangles, maybe? I don't remember for sure).

I don't quite know about yesterday's favorites, though.

Daryl Lynn L.A. said:
Here' a link to their playlist. Maybe you have some of this music on your playlist.
Click to expand...
I looked at the playlist, and all of them with the exception of Elton John are much newer than anything I play (save for a handful of smooth jazz and easy listening tracks).

Anyway, thank you for your thoughts so far. Let's keep them coming!

c
 
Daryl Lynn L.A. said:
cc333, Do you play any current pop hits, such as the ones in Ryan Seacrest's Top 40 playlist shown below?
Click to expand...
No currents.

Daryl Lynn L.A. said:
Or, do you play mostly songs from years past? You say that your soft AC is "gold heavy." You might just have a "Classic Hits" format. ( just an idea).
Click to expand...
That's a good point. It can't be AC if there are no AC currents being played, can it?

How about "classic AC"? Does that format exist as such, or is it usually just considered a softer variation of classic hits?

rosecitymedia said:
Personally, I wouldn't worry about creating a mass appeal playlist. Play what suits you, and you alone. No one else is listening to a Part 15 AM anyway.
Click to expand...
That's another good point.

I was looking into this mainly to learn something about how to program for a specific format. I can play what suits me all day long, but I am hoping to have an audience of at least two or three friends once I get past the experimental stage, and they don't all like everything I like 100% of the time.

Listening to a few stations, I think my playlist is an amalgamation of several stations and streams:
  • KFRC (Oldies)
  • WJEJ (Middle Of the Road, Adult Standards and Oldies)
  • KABL (Adult Standards)
  • KVOL/MeTV Music (Soft Oldies, Classic Hits)
  • Music Of Your Life (What's this format? Seems similar to MeTV's offering, but maybe a bit more varied)
  • Easy Listening streams
    • JIB on the Web
    • Smooth Moods
    • Beautiful Music 101
    • Sweet Melodies
    • WQEZ
  • KAHM, WHLC, WEMP (Easy Listening)
After giving it some thought, it seems a blend of MOR and classic hits fits me best. Opinions on this?

c
 
cc333 said:
No currents.


That's a good point. It can't be AC if there are no AC currents being played, can it?

How about "classic AC"? Does that format exist as such, or is it usually just considered a softer variation of classic hits?


That's another good point.

I was looking into this mainly to learn something about how to program for a specific format. I can play what suits me all day long, but I am hoping to have an audience of at least two or three friends once I get past the experimental stage, and they don't all like everything I like 100% of the time.

Listening to a few stations, I think my playlist is an amalgamation of several stations and streams:
  • KFRC (Oldies)
  • WJEJ (Middle Of the Road, Adult Standards and Oldies)
  • KABL (Adult Standards)
  • KVOL/MeTV Music (Soft Oldies, Classic Hits)
  • Music Of Your Life (What's this format? Seems similar to MeTV's offering, but maybe a bit more varied)
  • Easy Listening streams
    • JIB on the Web
    • Smooth Moods
    • Beautiful Music 101
    • Sweet Melodies
    • WQEZ
  • KAHM, WHLC, WEMP (Easy Listening)
After giving it some thought, it seems a blend of MOR and classic hits fits me best. Opinions on this?

c
Click to expand...
Yep. You got it ! I imagine that your friends and future listeners will appreciate the reflective and thoughtful approach that you give to your programming. (y) :)
 
Thank you for the kind words!

So it looks like I'm on the right track (no pun intended :) ), then!

Next I'll have to work on imaging. Probably something low key and MOR-like.

c
 
cc333 said:
Thank you for the kind words!

So it looks like I'm on the right track (no pun intended :) ), then!

Next I'll have to work on imaging. Probably something low key and MOR-like.

c
Click to expand...
The thing I'd work on is acquiring a Part 15 FM microtransmitter and relegating the AM to the junk drawer. They're truly not expensive. (Checking eBay, I see some for under $100, a few as low as ~$25.) If nothing else, the audio quality and frequency range will run rings around your AM version.
 
Weiserguy said:
The thing I'd work on is acquiring a Part 15 FM microtransmitter and relegating the AM to the junk drawer. They're truly not expensive. (Checking eBay, I see some for under $100, a few as low as ~$25.) If nothing else, the audio quality and frequency range will run rings around your AM version.
Click to expand...
Eh, I thought about it, but I'm a weirdo who actually likes AM. The bad frequency response doesn't bother me (and besides, the Part 15 rules are somewhat more relaxed than for FM, so it's easier to have a usable range beyond my house without violating those rules).

c
 
To add to my earlier post:

In defense of my sticking to AM, the overall sound quality of most oldies I'm playing (especially from before the early 60s) actually isn't a whole lot better than AM anyway, with the frequency response of many of the oldest songs in my library not even coming close to the 10 kHz cutoff (topping out somewhere between 3 and 6 kHz), so does it really matter what the bandwidth is, as long as it's better than 4 kHz or so?

And besides, nostalgia was the whole point, and I was striving for an authentic vintage AM sound as much as possible, and what better way to do that than broadcasting to a vintage AM radio?

c
 
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