Tuesday, September 06, 2011


What the hell was that over the three day weekend?

You guys sounded great. The "Now That's What I Call KSHE" had me listening  a lot this weekend.

So, what happened?

You're back today playing the same shitty 500 songs over and over again. Why did you do that this past weekend where there was NO playlist? To show your audience you could? What are they saying now? I think you guys took a classic dump on your fans this morning when you flipped the station back to Bob and Tom and the same 500 songs. What you've told your listeners is "screw you".

You had them program the station all weekend and now it sounds considerably different today. "Ha Ha, we have all of these songs, but you don't get to hear them...suckers. We'll only play them when we have a special weekend." And now you guys wonder why no one is listening.

KSHE, you have a thousand times as many listeners as I do and it's nice to see that you have come around to my way of thinking when it comes to programming a station that wants to  make a splash on the weekend. But, I would NEVER do that to my listeners.

I would never tell them to program the station and then in another move tell them that their music isn't good enough and our consultants know more than you, the faithful KSHE 40 year listener. We're back to the songs you've told us you're tired of cause very few of them made it on the air this weekend.

A once proud heritage radio station has to resort to tricks to get their PPM meters glowing.

If I was a faithful listener, I would wonder what message they are sending. Hey! We looooove you listeners and will give you a chnce to play whatever you want. But, on Tuesday, we were just kidding.

Nice to see that you guys are acknowledging and are aware of planetradio. I never thought you guys would be reacting to me and my little tiny media outfit. But, planetradio broadcasts 24/7 the songs that you haven't heard in awhile. In fact, KSHE sounded just like us over the weekend except for two things. I didn't have to play 14-15 minutes of commercials every hour. And my playlist today is the same one that was played yesterday and tomorrow and so on. I had 126 people listening on Saturday which, in itself is a drop in the bucket, but planet radio listeners came from somewhere.

And people wonder why I left.

I remember when The Rock! came on. I said something to Rick Balis about The Rock! while I was at KSHE and his comment was .."no one can hear this station and the songs they play don't test well. No one wants to hear these dead songs."

How did that work out for ya Rick? We handed you your ass until finally, after almost two years, you brought in a consultant that said..."just play the same stuff they do and you'll beat them." All of a sudden you started playing "those songs that no one wanted to hear." And your signal beat ours. So, now, that's twice, guys.

Twice I've been right while you flounder in your mediocrity.

Oh, and by the way, I was flipping the dial today and found that you even play the same songs as KHITS. Where's the variety? Two stations playing the same 500 song playlist?

Rick Balis (program director at KSHE forever)was quoted in the June issue of St. Louis Magazine as saying this..."we have a sophisticated music program that we spend an inordinate amount of time setting up...there are lots of types of songs we don't want to play too close together...female vocalists...jocks aren't computers and that's why we have computers..." And that's one of the reasons you aren't the force that you once were. My comment in that magazine about the current offerings in local classic rock radio..."tragic".

To this day, when I meet someone and I tell them who I am, invariably they will say,.."aren't you the guy..." and I'll say yes, that was me. And usually the next thing out of their mouths is ..."what happened to them?"

Stuff like taking their listeners for granted maybe?


Mike said...

I've pretty much given up listening to them. It has gotten to the point where I'm ready to take them off the preset because they don't play anything different. Boring rock radio is what it is.

Anonymous said...

I'll Second that motion....Wes.

Anonymous said...

About the time Bob and Time came on KSHE I left so I could hear some music somewhere else. I still have my The Rock! tee. Miss hearing you on the air in the mornings.

BTW, I also grew up in Ava and relocated to St. Louis

Anonymous said...

I used to come here to visit relatives back in the day and always listened to KSHE. Now that I finally moved here, I found out KSHE wasn't the station it used to be, very dissapointing.

Easy Cool said...

very nice...

Shauna said...

So miss The Rock! and you! So glad to have finally tracked down my Vera Cruz friend again. You guessed it - I grew up in Ava and still live in the St. Louis area. Pretty sure the previously mentioned The Rock! T-Shirt came from me when I met you at Bo Beuckman Ford on March 6, 1999 during The Rock! special event. Hey - it was my 26th birthday and it was quite a treat to meet you on my brithday. So love hearing you say "I'm right!" because you are. :-)

Anonymous said...

I generally agree with your remarks on "Now That's What I Call KSHE," Randy. We dialed it in at work, that weekend. Those long-forgotten tunes were fun to hear again. Returning to the present format was a drag.

I'm currently checking out Planet Radio. I'm diggin' a few tracks for the very first time.

Classic Rock has its place. If it were up to me it wouldn't be on KSHE, however. Growing up in the 70s, I fantasized that KSHE of the future would continue to evolve in whichever directions rock rolled -- always vibrant, relevant, attracting young audiences and leaving Classic Rock to the Oldies stations.

I interned at KSHE during the move from Crestwood to Union Station. While I was stoked to be a temp member of the staff, the new sleek, sterile studio felt like McRadio to me. Progressive commercial rock radio was already dead at that point, I suppose, but I could have done without the visual proof.

I'll check in with Planet Radio whenever I want a dose of yesterday. Thanks for your time on KSHE. Much success to you going forward.


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