• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

Stations With Hilariously Bad or Inaccurate Imaging

A

AKDXer

What's your best example?

Mine would be all of the commercial radio stations in southeast Alaska. Juneau, Sitka, and Ketchikan, all owned by the same entity. About 9 stations, in 3 different markets.

Imaging depicting the stations as being merged with other stations even though they're not, or heavily advertising their online stream/smartphone app more than being local. Commercials for Juneau businesses on Sitka radio. Etc.

Is this even LEGAL?
 
Falsely claiming to be affiliated with another entity might not be legal, but the other party would need to force the issue in court. The rest of it is certainly legal.
 
Kiss 102.3 in Saint Johnsbury, VT and Mixx 99.3 in Newport, RI. Both are CHRs, and both lack energy, personality and actual professionalism in their imaging. An average Joe could make the imaging heard on these two crap shows. Listen to the stations and you'll know what I mean.
 
"Easy" 105.9 and 100.7 Myrtle Beach SC does play a number of songs that would still be considered easy listening, but come now. Even if they don't use the word "relaxing" all that much, "Hurts So Good", "Keep On Loving You", "Do You Believe in Love", "Don't You", "Always Something There to Remind Me", "Sweet Dreams" (NOT Patsy Cline), "Black Velvet" ...

There was even one occasion when the station played "Sunglasses at Night". The poor DJ was trying to call the station "lite" and "refreshing", or whatever description he was using, and he sounded really confused.
 
in 2004, when Dallas radio personality Russ Martin went Syndicated in just one market (which might had been a test market) and as well as the fallout from what was then Clear Channel (now iHeartMedia) canceling their deal to air Howard Stern's show in syndication in select stations they own in several markets, what was then Infinity Broadcasting (which was renamed to CBS Radio in 2006 as part of CBS and Viacom's split and then merged into Entercom in 2017), flipped a urban AC station in Austin to Hot Talk with the the branding of "104.3 The Coyote". that branding was perfect for Austin, but there was one problem, the branding does not match with hot talk. and Russ Martin did mock the branding too during his brief syndication run in Austin. needless to say, the hot talk in Austin experiment was a bust and they flipped back to Urban the next year with it's previous branding of The Beat, and then CBS Radio sold the station in 2006 to the company it would end up merging with Entercom, and then Entercom sold it to Univision and they flipped it to a Spanish language station.

meanwhile in Dallas, i think 97.1 The Eagle as a branding for a hard rock/alt rock station doesn't match the current format as is. but it might match Classic Rock or Country or News/Talk if one of those format was to be used, but it stayed put in 1992 when the Eagle became a Hard Rocker the first time, and when 97.1 went back to hard rock in late 2007, they brought the iconic branding back due to the station's calls and being a heritage station.
 
MarcB said:
WRCH in Hartford is Lite 100.5 and has been using that name since 88 so 30 years. They're not so Lite anymore. Playing stuff I have heard on hip-hop stations, Alternative Stations, etc.

"Angel" by Shaggy, "Crazy" by Gnarls Barkley, "Blurred Lines" by Robin Thicke, "Bad Romance" by Lady Gaga, "Poker Face" by Lady Gaga, some Rhianna song. etc, etc, etc.
Click to expand...
WLYT Charlotte was calling itself "Lite" and playing "Straight Up" by Paula Abdul. But that was nothing. One time I heard the Lite station ID and an appropriate description, followed by "Separate Ways" by Journey. Several years ago they started playing "anything" and were recently number one in the market. "Lite" in NYC plays "Living on a Prayer".
 
vchimpanzee said:
"Easy" 105.9 and 100.7 Myrtle Beach SC does play a number of songs that would still be considered easy listening, but come now. Even if they don't use the word "relaxing" all that much, "Hurts So Good", "Keep On Loving You", "Do You Believe in Love", "Don't You", "Always Something There to Remind Me", "Sweet Dreams" (NOT Patsy Cline), "Black Velvet" ...

There was even one occasion when the station played "Sunglasses at Night". The poor DJ was trying to call the station "lite" and "refreshing", or whatever description he was using, and he sounded really confused.
Click to expand...

These song are considered "lite" Some are over 30 years old. Compared to today's songs, they would be considered light songs for the millennial generation. REO has replaced Manilow for light favorites to the 35+ (or little older crowd).
 
Groove1670 said:
These song are considered "lite" Some are over 30 years old. Compared to today's songs, they would be considered light songs for the millennial generation. REO has replaced Manilow for light favorites to the 35+ (or little older crowd).
Click to expand...
The station is trying to keep the imaging from when they still played Sinatra and Nat King Cole. The one obvious difference is the absence of "The Relaxation Station" but I think they believe people will believe it hasn't changed.
 
My pet peeve is with stations that call themselves "new" or even "all-new" literally for years in some cases, basically indefinitely. One such station even incorporated the words "the new" into their then-new logo, never mind that it was a return to a format that they had had just a couple of years earlier. (I'm guessing that they did not have the legal right to return to their previous name.) Calling themselves "new" turned out to be the kiss of death. They only held onto that format for about a year or so.
 
Actually, most of the time, WEZV's music is consistent with its imaging. It's just that if they play something really loud and then a station ID or DJ calls the station "refreshing and relaxing" or even "lite", it just sounds weird.

"More refreshing than ever before." What does that even MEAN? Not softer, certainly.
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.
Back
Top Bottom