We're posting this just in time to alert any interested parties that tonight at 8:00 Me-TV-FM kicks off their Saturday Disco Dance Party. (Man, wouldn't Jeff James make the PERFECT host for this thing???)
The station continues to find its way ... but we couldn't be more pleased with the direction we've heard so far ... so kudo's again to the brand new Me-TV-FM for stepping WAY outside the box ... and bringing variety and creativity back to radio again.
kk
Kent Kotal
Forgotten Hits
ME-TV-FM:
kk ...
LOVE the new radio
station!
I'm mid 50's and haven't really
listened to anything other than Talk Radio and Sports talk while in the car ...
to me, there was next no reason to even attempt to find something I'd like on
the radio, so I'd listen to my IPOD where I have all of my favorite 50's, 60's,
70's.
I was listening the other day and
in about 15 short minutes I heard:
WOLD by Harry Chapin (couldn't
believe my ears )
Watching The River Run by Loggins
and Messina.
I have to tell you that whatever
advertisers are selling on that station is what I'm buying ... ANYTHING to
promote this great music I have heard.
Bob Morrow from
Bolingbrook
Hi kk ...
I also heard a few quirks on the
station: Two James Taylor songs within about 30 minutes; two Paul Simon songs
within about 20 minutes.
Thanks,
Mike S.
Yeah, there've been a few like that
... or a Doobie Brothers song followed four songs later by something by Michael
McDonald ... an Eagles song followed a few songs later by a Don Henley solo hit
... that sort of thing ... all programming glitches in the early "fine-tuning"
process I'm sure. (The other day I heard The Commodores and then two songs
later a Lionel Richie track ... worse yet about an hour later they played Sonny
and Cher's "All I Ever Need Is You" ... when's the last time you heard THAT one
(and it sounded great) ... followed only one song later by Cher's "Gypsys,
Tramps and Thieves". Without question, there are still some things to sort
out. Regardless, I am HIGHLY optimistic that this is going to be a GREAT radio
station once it gets up and running. (kk)
I love it! This is like popping in
one of those Time-Life Soft Rock Hits CDs that plays non-stop for 24 hours a
day!
Janice
Hi Kent -
Thanks
for the info on Me-TV FM. I’ve been listening pretty consistently since your
first post and while it’s not perfect, it’s certainly the best thing on the
radio outside of Bob Stroud’s Sunday Morning Show. While I-Pods and CD’s help
avoid the wasteland that is Chicago radio, there is something very nostalgic and
wonderful about hearing a forgotten song on your car’s radio. The best thing so
far about Me-TV FM is that they make a concerted effort to play those songs that
no one else, other than Stroud, plays. In the first few days, I’ve heard songs
like Stoned Love, Bella Linda and Daughter of Darkness for cryin out loud … not
to mention a lot of entrees from our great local bands. The reliance on the
more easy listening songs can make things drag at times, but hearing Bobbi
Martin’s For the Love of Him was cool! (Great guilty pleasure!) Still I have
heard some rockers like She’d Rather Be With Me and Fun Fun Fun so there’s
hope. What would be so difficult about simply using the WLS or CFL top 40 lists
from 1960 to 1975 and play EVERTHING listed. If you wanted to extend into the
early 80’s use Billboard or Cashbox. With those sources and album cuts you’d
have millions of interesting and varied songs to throw at your
listenership!
Surfwoodie
I've
listened to the radio my whole life in the car ... and it's been one of my
greatest joys in life ... something I used to look forward to ... so these last
few years here in Chicago have been a MAJOR disappointment with the total lack
of selection and variety ... we may as well just have ONE station in town since
they're all playing the exact same thing anyway. As such, Me-TV-FM has been a
VERY welcome relief.
They're
not perfect ... but I believe they have the potential to get there. Hearing
some of these great songs again has been a real pleasure ... I've done less
button pushing in the past two weeks than I have since WLS dropped their tie-in
to The True Oldies Channel. Hopefully they can keep fine-tuning the station,
get some decent sponsors ... and downplay the repetitiveness ... what people are
loving right now is the fact that you can potentially hear just about ANYTHING
on this station right now. (Too bad ... because that was the whole concept
behind Jack-FM before they quick disintegrated!)
We
already have about four Journey / John Mellencamp / Steve Miller stations in
town ... and a couple of others that are extremely heavy on Pink Floyd and Led
Zeppelin ... Me-TV-FM needs to be careful not to become "The James Taylor
Station" (because right now I'll bet I've already heard about 30 tracks by him
... and I'm only in the car a couple of hours each day.) There are other
artists long absent from the airwaves that it's been nice to hear again ... but
quite honestly I don't think I'll have to listen to my Lobo's Greatest Hits CD
anytime soon ... and I also believe I've heard the complete Petula Clark Hit
Catalog now, too. Before you might hear "Downtown" and "Don't Sleep In The
Subway" ... otherwise, she's been long absent from the airwaves ... but, with
this many tracks to choose from, this borders on saturation of another kind ...
they NEED to mix it up a little better. And, simply put, some songs just don't
play well in heavy rotation ... Maureen McGovern's "The Morning After" would be
one of those ... and I've heard that one three or four times already. (I was
pretty sure I never needed to hear this song BEFORE Me-TV-FM signed on the air
... now I'm absolutely convinced!!!)
I
understand that every song can't be a gem ... but as stated earlier, too many of
the wrong choices will inspire listeners to see what else is on somewhere else
... and if they're playing a series of "winners" while you're playing some
obscure track just to be different, you may not get them back for awhile.
(kk)
You
were right about that being a program glitch in ME-TV-FM playing two out of four
songs by Petula Clark. Years ago in
broadcasting, the rule of thumb was you didn't play a commercial by a car
dealership back to back in a stop-set or more
than one in a commercial break stop-set.
Larry Neal
See some of our other
examples above ... clearly they've got to work some of this out.
(kk)
Thank
you so much for telling us about Chicago's newest station. I have heard so many
good songs again these past few days -- I didn't realize how much I had missed
some of these. I believe the station will be a hit.
Toby
They
ought to have billboards up all over town right now, letting potential listeners
know that Chicago has variety on the dial again. "Tired of the same old same
old ... then tune into Me-TV-FM and hear the songs that NO other station in town
is playing" ... tv spots, too. (Maybe they're advertising on Me-TV??? I don't
know) ... but something along those lines would at least inspire some curious
listeners to give it a shot. My guess is once they listen, they'll be hooked
too. (kk)
Kent -
I love the new 87.7 me fm. Variety is great. I
hope that very soon they have an announcer that will tell us what they're
playing. There a few this old musicologist can't even remember! Since I have an
old car, what a nice change from you know what. Yesterday was the first day I
could tune in on my old car ... it sure will not be the
last!!
Mike De Martino
When this station is
clicking on all cylinders, it's better than 100% of what's on the Chicago dial
today. When it's not -- it's still better than 70%.
Ron Smith
Robert
Feder reports that Neal Sabin of Me-TV-FM has been inundated with nothing but
positive response from listeners who have discovered the station ...
Feder
writes:
Since MeTV FM began in soft-launch mode
February 23, initial reaction has been overwhelmingly positive, according to
Sabin.
Typical of dozens of passionate letters and
emails Sabin shared was one that read: “I’ve been waiting for this station for
20 years. Keep the mix of popular and especially the more obscure songs coming.
I love it when I hear a song and say ‘I haven’t heard that song in years!!!’ I
was seriously thinking of getting satellite radio. Now I can’t wait to hear
which song you’ll be dusting off next!”
Imagine
that ... a public responding positively to variety in radio ... what a shocker!!! ... who would have
EVER have thought?!?!? (kk)
More
random glitches and commentary that we've heard or heard about ...
They
played The Youngbloods' hit "Get Together" both on the way to and home from work
on Friday ... and the track skipped both times in about three places. They need
to replace this with a clean version ... and then play it two or three times a
MONTH ... and not two or three times a day.
And
while I understand that they're still in the process of welcoming new listeners,
they're in overkill mode with this on-going hello campaign ... I've heard Lionel
Richie's "Hello" four times this week, Neil Diamond's "Hello Again" three times
this week and "Hello Goodbye" by The Beatles twice. (However I also heard "This
Boy" which is ALWAYS a welcome surprise on the radio.) TONS of James Taylor ...
a couple of "rare" tracks by Andy Gibb ("An Everlasting Love" and "(Our Love)
Don't Throw It All Away" ... quite a bit of Bread (including "Diary" and "Sweet
Surrender", two tracks NOBODY plays) ... but "Make It With You" and "It Don't
Matter To Me" several times each ... a "remake" version of "My Baby Loves
Lovin'" as well as a live version of Petula Clark's "The Other Man's Grass Is
Always Greener" rather than the hit single version ... "Summer (The First Time)" by Bobby Goldsboro, a song that
one FH reader claims always makes him want to shove freshly-sharpened pencils
into his eyes ... both "All I Know" and "Second Avenue" by Art Garfunkel (when's
the last time you heard EITHER of these?) ... and much, much more. Still WAY
more good than bad ... and if they can iron-out this programming glitch, this
easily could become The Forgotten Hits Dream Station ... EVERYTHING we've been
saying radio needs to be. A MAJOR surprise was hearing "White Bird" by It's A
Beautiful Day ... that alone would have won me over for good!
One
reader says he heard "Love Me Tender" by Elvis ... that would be the oldest
track played to date that I know of ... and there is absolutely NO reason why a
couple hundred songs from the '50's and early '60's wouldn't play well on this
station ... they fit the format PERFECTLY and I would love to see them play one
every couple of hours or so.
All of this is VERY encouraging. They're already getting into "special programming"
with a Saturday Night Disco Party (no host yet ... but wouldn't Jeff James, late
of 103.9, be PERFECT for this program???) ... and are even giving a way tickets
to a Gordon Lightfoot concert coming up later this month in Rockford. In my
mind, they are WELL on their way to establishing their mark here in Chicago.
(Now some will argue that the REAL appeal is the fact that it's "new" and
"different" ... and they're exactly right ... but I'm out to prove that variety
is the name of the game. For fifteen years I have criticized radio in general
for insulting their audience with the "research consultant" advice that the
typical listener cannot absorb more than 2-300 songs ... and maintained that if
only given a chance, I could prove this to the rest of the radio world. Well,
Me-TV-FM has taken that EXACT concept and is building a radio station around
it. Time will tell how well it succeeds ... but my guess is that once the word
gets out, frustrated listeners LONG bored by what passes today as radio
everywhere else on the dial will come running here in droves to listen to the
incredible mix of music.
I've got some other ideas that I think would fall perfectly into
their game plan ... and we would LOVE to help ... so Neal Sabin or Mark Zandaer
... CONTACT ME!!!
