"I program an oldies station now, and KFRC just doesn't have any punch to it. Its more than just the same old songs thats affecting it. Listen to K-Earth, with a tighter playlist, its brighter, with personality and sounds great all the time. I haven't listened enough to completely put my finger on it, but compared to most oldies/classic hits success stories in the major markets and beyond, KFRC would be ranked dead last."
My opinion only as a listener - the KFRC play list is fine - it's a good balance of songs with a decent amount of variety...so it would make a good juke box - but the other elements of a fun radio station are missing.
The K-Earth jocks are obviously on a very short leash, and I think they're usually reading liners. But they never sound like liners. The DJs are pros who make it sound like they're having fun, without any of that stilted liner reading attitude you hear on stations like KOIT. They're also allowed to open the mic more often than the KFRC jocks. And never underestimate the hook of those old Drake style jingles. They're short, catch, fun, and they stick in your brain like glue. KFRC is using an odd combination of their mid and late 70s post-Drake jingles which I never thought were that great to begin with.
Another thing I've noticed lately...I'm not a radio professional or a technical person, so I probably can't explain it well. The microphone sounds tinny or something, and it seems like on the talk-ups, the mic volume is turned too low. I was listening to Jay Coffey yesterday who has a strong voice, and it seemed like he was talking loudly, but you could barely hear him. This morning, Tom Gomez sounded flat and tinny on air...he doesn't have the strongest set of pipes in the business, but he usually sounds fine.
The KRTH jocks
are on a short leash, but they do have a small amount of freedom. As for the mic's, I took a look at recent video of KFRC on You Tube and I can't tell what they are. From the wind screen and shape of mic it looks like they may be using a short shotgun mic, but it's hard to tell. The problem is that it's very hard to find engineers now days who have the "ears" needed to know how to supply the studio with good mic and most of all how to process them.
The other problem is that most of us remember what 610 KFRC sounded like. For the most part they had the very best engineers and for much of KFRC's golden years they used an RCA BK5B Ribbon mic that had phenomenal processing on the mic chain. Where I work we have engineers who just don't seem to be able to tell the difference anymore. This could be the case at CBS SF now as well... By the way, KRTH is using Shure SM5B's now. A great mic and a Jhani Kaye favorite. Problem is that Shure quit making them in the mid 1980's...
