Is it time yet?

[djj]

Very well said, Sky! As long as people remember you and JMF and a number of others fondly, you will live forever.

Ditto, SFStatic!...
Especially your line, Bobby:
>> They died out, not because of the times or advancing digital age, but because of lack of support, no back up. Once clusters of frequencies began to form, loyalty to Listeners and their Pipers, faded to black, replaced immediately with the ubiquitous, intemperate, piggishness that we know now.

And, JMF, we will continue our good thoughts, despite the negativity that permeates
what's left of the (creative) radio arena...
--jay

[DavidKaye]

The once buoyant, boisterously cheerful voices behind the mics and music of the 60s and 70s are not with us any more. DJs, as we have known them, are dead.

They died out, not because of the times or advancing digital age, but because of lack of support, no back up. Once clusters of frequencies began to form, loyalty to Listeners and their Pipers, faded to black, replaced immediately with the ubiquitous, intemperate, piggishness that we know now.

No doubt, JMF and Bobby Ocean were incredible to listen to.  But this post reminds me of an old James Cagney movie where everybody's bemoaning the death of Vaudeville because the Next Big Thing, talking movies, has come on the scene. 

C'mon folks!  Times change.  You want DJs?  Listen to the non-comm stations, where interesting DJs are alive and well.  You want to hear interesting mixes?  Go to a club or bar where DJs are in big demand for their mixes. 

[Lkeller]

The once buoyant, boisterously cheerful voices behind the mics and music of the 60s and 70s are not with us any more. DJs, as we have known them, are dead.

They died out, not because of the times or advancing digital age, but because of lack of support, no back up. Once clusters of frequencies began to form, loyalty to Listeners and their Pipers, faded to black, replaced immediately with the ubiquitous, intemperate, piggishness that we know now.

No doubt, JMF and Bobby Ocean were incredible to listen to.  But this post reminds me of an old James Cagney movie where everybody's bemoaning the death of Vaudeville because the Next Big Thing, talking movies, has come on the scene. 

C'mon folks!  Times change.  You want DJs?  Listen to the non-comm stations, where interesting DJs are alive and well.  You want to hear interesting mixes?  Go to a club or bar where DJs are in big demand for their mixes. 

Chill, David.  First, the discussion is about radio DJs - radio personalities, really...but in any case, it's not about club DJs and mixes.  Last time I checked, this was radio-info.com.

Second, people are allowed to engage in a little nostalgia - and talk about the "good ol' days," and it doesn't necessarily mean they're denying the existence or the greatness of the new "Big Thing." Actually - despite the reported evils of radio consolidation, there are a few good young DJs on commercial radio - including a few on Wild 94.9, MOViN, and other stations.  But I can like them and even enjoy the occasional hip-hop song, and still talk about Ocean and JMF, and what a great station KFRC was...right?

Blame that KIFR guy...he started it.

[1069_KIFR]

I take full responsibility. But LKeller, you stand corrected, you can reminise all you want. As a matter of fact, amyone on this board can reminise.

[michael hagerty]

David Kaye makes an interesting point about noncomms. I've found that the jocks who are closest to what I grew up with (in terms of content and relatability, if not style) are the ones on the NPR classical and jazz stations here in Phoenix. And I was stunned to discover this. I'm digging the midday jock (Janine Miller) on KBAQ more than anybody else on the air (save KOOL's Steve Goddard, who continues to amaze me with how he does more with less).

But beyond that, David...this isn't merely an exercise in nostalgia, nor tilting at the windmills of changing times. As Osh notes in his post, the DJ (and with him/her, the passion, excitement and human element of radio) wasn't done in by technological advance or changing tastes, but by a lack of support from those who run the stations, who over a 25-year period have devalued the contribution of those talents to the point where they're forbidden to create, entertain and inform and are now seen by the audience as irrelevant...because that's all they've been allowed to be for so many years.

It has, simply, killed a once-vital American industry. And it's because the industry didn't maintain the relationship with its audience.

As much as I love Bobby Ocean and John Mack Flanagan, I'd love more to be able to post on here about the dozens of great talents I've heard since Osh and JMF moved on to other endeavors. The ones that are on the air right now.

But the problem is there haven't been dozens. The business hasn't fostered the replacements...and every conversation about attempting to do great radio in San Francisco....not just among the contributors to this board, but apparently in the executive suites at CBS, keeps coming back to the call letters KFRC...a station that for all intents and purposes was dead the day Walt Sabo walked in the door a quarter-century ago.

[dungboy]

David Kaye makes an interesting point about noncomms. I've found that the jocks who are closest to what I grew up with (in terms of content and relatability, if not style) are the ones on the NPR classical and jazz stations here in Phoenix. And I was stunned to discover this. I'm digging the midday jock (Janine Miller) on KBAQ more than anybody else on the air (save KOOL's Steve Goddard, who continues to amaze me with how he does more with less).

But beyond that, David...this isn't merely an exercise in nostalgia, nor tilting at the windmills of changing times. As Osh notes in his post, the DJ (and with him/her, the passion, excitement and human element of radio) wasn't done in by technological advance or changing tastes, but by a lack of support from those who run the stations, who over a 25-year period have devalued the contribution of those talents to the point where they're forbidden to create, entertain and inform and are now seen by the audience as irrelevant...because that's all they've been allowed to be for so many years.

It has, simply, killed a once-vital American industry. And it's because the industry didn't maintain the relationship with its audience.

As much as I love Bobby Ocean and John Mack Flanagan, I'd love more to be able to post on here about the dozens of great talents I've heard since Osh and JMF moved on to other endeavors. The ones that are on the air right now.

But the problem is there haven't been dozens. The business hasn't fostered the replacements...and every conversation about attempting to do great radio in San Francisco....not just among the contributors to this board, but apparently in the executive suites at CBS, keeps coming back to the call letters KFRC...a station that for all intents and purposes was dead the day Walt Sabo walked in the door a quarter-century ago.

Wow! Great post! You really get it. Thanks

[RadioStarOne]

"KFRC died the day Walt Sabo walked in the door a quarter-century ago."
   
"Michael:  Nobody on this board could have said it any better! I was listening the morning "The Game Zone" started during the last 30 minutes of the doctors show, had no idea that there was going to be any different programing coming up at 9 am till the newspeople mentioned it.  I remember thinking to myself whomever came up with this idea is out their minds! That was the real day KFRC died without a doubt.

                                              "Walt Sabo burn in Hell!"

[DavidKaye]

the DJ (and with him/her, the passion, excitement and human element of radio) wasn't done in by technological advance or changing tastes, but by a lack of support from those who run the stations, [....]

I disagree.  If listeners wanted to hear radio personalities the stations would still have them.  What people wanted was the music.  During the heyday of the DJ/personality, there was only the radio.  Listeners heard the song first on the radio and then if they could afford it, they bought the record at the store.

Now they get the music from their iPods and MP3 players, CDs, etc.  It's clear they don't want to hear radio personalities much anymore.  Or if they do, they want to hear talkshows.  While radio personalities are still alive and well on non-comms and eclectic stations such as KPIG, the audience is barely there for them.

[RadioStarOne]

"Now they get the music from their iPods and MP3 players, CDs, etc.  It's clear they don't want to hear radio personalities much anymore.  Or if they do, they want to hear talkshows."

DavidKaye:  Well, who would have thought it? Why do you think there are so many talk stations in the bay area? DUH! Tell us something we don't know already. But thanks for playing!

[Lkeller]

the DJ (and with him/her, the passion, excitement and human element of radio) wasn't done in by technological advance or changing tastes, but by a lack of support from those who run the stations, [....]

I disagree.  If listeners wanted to hear radio personalities the stations would still have them.  What people wanted was the music.  During the heyday of the DJ/personality, there was only the radio.  Listeners heard the song first on the radio and then if they could afford it, they bought the record at the store.

Now they get the music from their iPods and MP3 players, CDs, etc.  It's clear they don't want to hear radio personalities much anymore.  Or if they do, they want to hear talkshows.  While radio personalities are still alive and well on non-comms and eclectic stations such as KPIG, the audience is barely there for them.

Michael Hagerty's post was teriffic...really well written too.  But I have to agree with David too, up to a point.  Even back in the heydey of Top 40 and MOR radio, the majority of people I knew wished they would just "shut up and play the music."  We who post here all loved the Real Don Steele.  Many of my friends thought he was loud and obnoxious - they just didn't appreicate his 'act.'

By the 80s, when there were still many great personalities on the air, most of my friends couldn't name more than a couple of jocks, and often didn't even know station call letters...they'd say things like "I listen to that station..y'know...99 point something."

Like most things, it's been evolutionary, and gained momentum with the growing popularity of the FM band.  I remember when KLOS came on the air in Los Angeles - I thought it was a truly dull, bloodless station.  Unlike KMET which had a few jocks that liked to talk - KLOS only allowed their jocks to back-announce the songs, read the weather, and say "Rock N'Stereo KLOS."  I'm sure they talked less than KOIT jocks do these days.  As I remember, KLOS was the first AOR station in LA that gained mainstream popularity, and beat the competitors in the ratings for a number of years.  That was 38 years ago.