davidtanny
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Memories of Analog TV: The 1980s
Correction. WTCG was launched on satellite in 1976, not 1986.— April 8, 2009 12:56 p.m.
Past Cable Channel Lineups
I have one memory of what I saw on Community Video Channel on cable 24. It was about 1978. There was a film called "Bogaton Video" or whatever it's called, and they showed a parody of Rocky that was called "Bear", there was a shot of a deer in a convertable, and the camera panned to the front of the car and when it stopped on the hood, we saw a hunter tied down onto the hood. There was also a funny programming announcement about a college football game where the USC Trojans would meet the Washington State Diaphrams in an intercourse game or something like it. Wish someone would post it on Youtube. That was probably the weirdest thing I saw on early cable TV. Anybody want to add to this?— March 2, 2009 7:38 p.m.
Memores of Analog TV: The 60s
I would drop cable entirely since I much never bother with the cable channels. The extended cable package is $35 a month. Too expensive for 1-2 channels I watch. I would keep limited because I can't receive KFMB and KGTV at my place. I'd like to see someone come up with a way for an upstart company to compete with Cox by offering just a package of local stations (all of the full powers, low powers, and Tijuana stations) and all of the local and TJ AM and FM stations. Cox likes to cherry-pick the local stations and I don't see everything the locals have to offer. Cable was better when all it had were the local and L.A. channels.— February 26, 2009 10:30 a.m.
More Radio Ga-Ga
KGB should rehire Ditch and Bobbie Hill. They still have money to hire some other guy for midday according to another radio news website. That's not fair! Bobbie gets laid off in the Jan 20 mass firing. Now someone else gets hired instead of Bobbie. Who does Clear Channel San Diego think they're fooling.— February 9, 2009 9:54 p.m.
Thoughts About The Clear Channel Massacre
I remember discovering KSEA back in 1974 when I first got an FM radio. I believe it was San Diego's first attempt to have an FM radio station that played current popular music, but it didn't last long. In 1975, a second station, B100 (100.7), started playing the popular hits.— February 3, 2009 8:19 p.m.
Letters
re: Name Withheld's definition on what radio is Since the dark cloud of corporate control of terrestrial radio covered most of San Diego, Internet has become radio while AM and FM have become anything but radio. Since the mid-90s, the definition of what a radio is has changed to mean streaming audio from websites, and that has become the new meaning of radio. Satellite delivered playlists of music is also called radio. Podcasts are not, however, radio, but more like shows on demand, but many people are thinking that it's radio. What is no longer radio, however, are the stuff that comes between the AM frequencies of 540 and 1700 kHz. What it is are mostly right-wing wacko propagation machines in the guise of talk, religion, and news shows. The music played on the AM band tends to be aimed for people in the AARP age group. Generally, younger people think of AM as their grandparent's band, and is not relevant to their lives. FM is the younger people's parent's band. That band too tends to play music that is controlled by suits in far away places who have no connection with what the general public wants to hear. On the corporate-run stations that's anything but radio, all you get is lite pop rock music aimed at young females, worn out dinosaur rock for what's left of the older listeners, watered-down country and alternative rock, light jazz, adult contemporary that sounds like rock, rock that sounds like adult contemporary, R&B that has anything but house music, and other monotonous ideas. With younger listeners flocking to radio (Sateliite, Internet, whatever else) and away from merely corrupt AM/FM, the collective numbers for the radio stations continues to fall, with many more stations going below a 1.0, and a sizable portion under a 0.5 rating. As long as radio station decision makers continue to shoot themselves in the foot, the ratings will continue to ebb, advertising dollars fall, and deficits on the rise. Stations are going dark, asking for donations, cutting back on local talent in favor of cheaper programming, and adding more informercial blocks. In short, radio is out of ideas on what to program to get an audience. On the Internet, you can find oldies that go far deeper than what The Walrus is daring to do, dance mixes that commercial stations avoids, real comedy that you won't find on the morning talk shows, blues, bluegrass, folk, rock-country, and other genres that go ignored on the AM and FM bands, and so forth. It makes me wonder why it is worth it for a radio station to keep pushing the same old stuff again and again when the audience doesn't care for it anymore. Get some refreshing talk programming that doesn't slam people and you'll get ratings. Get some music that has a beat, pulse, groove, and a real riff and you'll get some listeners again. So when will the terrestrial analog streams on the AM and FM bands start acting like radio once again?— January 10, 2009 8:44 p.m.
Cretins, Nutterbuckets, and Cutters host group bike rides around San Diego
WHAT??? No brakes?!? AAAAAHHHHHH! CRASH!— December 31, 2008 12:44 p.m.
Chris Cantore and Hilary Chambers leave San Diego Clear Channel stations
We need music directors to discover good new songs to play on the radio instead of the corporate-chosen crap that's a staple on contemporary hit radio. Too much of the new songs being selected are unmemorable and boring. Funny music artists are producing parodies of today's crap so that their "covers" would sound half as crappy as the original, but it's their fault that they're listening to uninspiring contemporary hit radio for parody ideas that don't appeal to most people in my age demographic. I'm way outside of the demographic of Channel, Star, 91X, Sophie, and Z90 so I never tune them in. Clear Channel has done one thing right though. It launched a I Heart Music website for ordinary joes like myself to upload songs. I even got one of my songs uploaded and noticed by several podcasters, so I won't bash Clear Channel here, though I got no word if any local hosts played my song from this past Christmas season. I listen to downloads, Internet radio, satellite radio, cable radio, FM 94/9, and podcasts for music. I'm all for outsourcing syndicated talent (not the vertically-aligned shows) if the shows are interesting enough to attract listeners and advertisers. I could offer one of my podcast shows on a terrestrial stick and radio can pay me a fee for the service, while selling the advertising slots so they make money. Independent podcasters and netcasters can find music the suits never dreamed of putting on the airwaves. Offer multiple streams of stations and podcasts from their websites so portable music devices like iPhones can tune them in easily. Radio needs to seek out independent average joes for ideas and pay them to try out new ideas. That's what radio needs to survive.— December 31, 2008 12:06 p.m.
AM? Please!!
The last sentence sounds incomplete. The Walrus-FM is operated by BCA, not Clear Channel. Why do we need XTRA Sports on 95.7? If CC can't do 95.7 right, just donate it to UCSD or SDSU and be done with it, else put on something that people want to hear. Sports talk? Nope. Pride? Could work. Oldies? Walrus will get pissed off about it. Reruns of DSC? Don't even think about it. It's too horrible of an idea. From the editor: You are correct, David Tanny, Clear Channel does not operate "The Walrus." (I screwed up the edit.) Note to everyone else: I revised that sentence, so don't try and comprehend this reference. -- Robert Mizrachi— October 1, 2008 8:45 p.m.