Why Isn't This A Format?
Written Dec. 18, 2008 by Larry Rosin in Content + Satellite with 7 Comments
At my house we get DirecTV, and I have it rigged up so that I can play audio from the television on various speakers throughout the house. So, for several years we had MusicChoice, and then XM got the contract maybe three years ago.
When we had families over, the XM channel of choice was Flight 26 - essentially a Modern AC. It worked very well for all ages.
Well, recently we had several families over but the stations had changed to the new XM-Sirius merged lineup. Suddenly, Flight 26 was unavailable to me - there was a whole new lineup of unfamiliar names and stations.
I clicked around with my TV remote - and landed on Channel 51 "The Coffee House." The adults repaired to the living room.
Soon thereafter someone stopped the conversation to ask: "What radio station do you have on? I have loved every song I've heard." The rest of the group - all adults in their 40s -- quickly began to discuss how much they liked the mix of songs they were hearing.
Essentially the station is what many Triple-A stations have been playing on their Sunday morning acoustic specialty shows - 24 hours per day. The channel is a mix of familiar singer-songwriter hits, unfamiliar currents from some known and some unknown acts, and a nice sprinkling of covers - acoustic re-interpretations of famous songs.
And it makes me wonder - why hasn't this been tried (at least recently) as a commercial radio format?
Many readers will instantly think of stations from the 1970s like KNX-FM Los Angeles and WBBM-FM Chicago - the singer-songwriter driven stations of the early FM era. But in the new singer-songwriter era, the genre has landed, but never taken up permanent residence at Modern AC, Triple-A and the handful of commercial American stations. So while a KINK Portland has elements of this music, this is still something else.
So take a look at the slightly Christmas-tinged sample hour below and ask yourself if there just might the makings of a format here. This would be at-work friendly, at-home friendly, and something that could lure adults back to the radio at night besides "Delilah" - essentially all the things that 'Smooth Jazz' has been trying to be for years, but from an entirely different angle.
2008 was a great year for the type of singer-songwriter music that might have otherwise not have made it to the radio. But if there's not another "I'm Yours," "Love Song," or "Bubbly" next year, it won't be because there aren't artists supplying that type of song or audiences who want to hear them - it will be because other formats go in a different direction. So why not a full-time home for singer-songwriters?
Please deliver your comments on this below - is this a potential commercial radio format in 2009?
Here's the channel at 10 a.m. this morning:
Dave Matthews Band, "Crush" (Acoustic)
Ben Harper, "In The Colors"
Jem, "Maybe I'm Amazed"
John Mayer, "Neon"
Joshua Radin, "Brand New Day"
Sixpence None the Richer, "It Came Upon a Midnight Clear"
David Gray, "Sail Away "
Jason Mraz, "I'm Yours" (Acoustic)
Freedy Johnson, "Bad Reputation"
Ray Charles & Norah Jones,"Here We Go Again"
Ryan Adams, "Evergreen"
Katie Melua, "Just Like Heaven"
Steve Earle, "Sparkle and Shine"
Catherine Feeny, "Christmas Song"
Elliott Smith, "Somebody That I Used to Know"
KT Tunstall, "Suddenly I See" (Acoustic)
Josh Rouse, "1972"
Jewel, "Foolish Games"
Reader Comments
Your 2¢, in chronological order — add your comment below.
Looks pretty darn close to how our actual "commercial radio format" looks TODAY....... We've been playing singer-songwriters' music on our station for years. Maybe it's just a "Nashville" thing.
Isn't this a little like KFOG, SF?
It would work as a format if it was mostly familiar and the texture was consistent.
Defintely a "mood" station.
I would love to see a modern-day version of KNX-FM/'BBM-FM today. I don't know why no one's tried it.
For the record, The Pulse is the replacement for Flight 26 on SIrius XM (and is probably on the same DirecTV channel that Flight 26 was on).
And Flight 26 was inspired (in part) by something we were doing a year or so beforehand on WXRY. Handed John Zellner my card to tell him to check us out to hear one of his former jocks doing our station liners...
There are formats like that across the country, usually on the left end of the dial, the public stations, NPR and community stations plus regular commercial stations as well. Look for them, Triple A is the name of format, seek them out, become involved in their activities. How? Google an artist you like and never hear on the radio, like Marc Cohn or John Hiatt or Joan Osborne or Bonnie Raitt and see where they show up on playlists, these station are on the dial, only about 120 nation wide, so take the time to find them, and be part of you local musical community. Commercial radio and public radio, most have extensive websites, listener parties, private concerts, it is well worth the effort to find the Triple A station in your area. Pre- programmed satellite shows are fine and fun to hear, but nothing replaces the live DJ talking to you about music and issues in your area and playing artists you apprecite. Radio and good music programming is alive and well, just a little harder to find these days.
My take-away from all this is tangent to everyone else's. You didn't hear Flight 26 and assumed that it was gone, which makes me wonder how many other subscribers had their favorite channel change its name (though not necessarily its format) and think that it was gone. Though it did get you to flip around and discover something new on the service!
We're approaching our first year of singer songwriter AAA here in Door County Wisconsin! I feel the same way about the format's potential. Check out fm1069thelodge.com