Worst Station I've Ever Heard

[TheLaffer]

The point I was trying to make is that 'major market stations' don't pay their DJ's 6 bucks and hour. 

REAL major market stations pay major market rates (6 and a quarter  ) and therefore SOUND like major market stations.

KAAM may be in a major market, but they're not RUN like a real major marekt station. 

And chances are that station that's ranked 30th is sounding like a major market station because it's TRYING to sound like a major market station.  i.e, they're hiring major market talent, paying decent wages, etc etc...

KAAM has neither the ratings, the revenue, or apparently the corporate management to run the station like a 'major market' station.  Like I said, they may be IN a major market, but that's as far as they go...

I know of many major market stations that are run like small market and small market stations run like majors. As a matter of fgact i would say more and more major companies sure run an Amateur operation these days. IE: Low wages, Skeleton staffs, Incompetetent people.

The way you constantly harp on KAAM i'm guessing you got blown out.

[KPLEXCOMPLEX]

It does appear that way. KAAM as noted here has many fans. They are not truly concerened about ratings,just serving a loyal audience. Funny, that's how radio used to be.

[little1]

Chuck Brinkman, Jack Davis,yeah they don't have major talent;) Thats a faux Paux. Major talent is a varied definition

So do you really think Brinkman is making 6 bucks an hour?  We may be talking about 2 diffeent things. I don't doubt that Brinkman, Bishop (who I've worked with in the past) etc are major market talents (although McCoy just seemed like a major market a-hole when I worked at KZPS back in KAAM's 1310 days)...

I think what WCFLWLS and I were talking about were some of the lesser lights...

[KPLEXCOMPLEX]

Perhaps we are,BUT it appears you just don't like KAAM due to format,and you had a bad experience with MCCoy. To be fair I  have heard JAAN is a bit of a jerk.

[little1]

I don't have a problem with the format.  From my days at NTSU (Back when it actually was NTSU) I have a real appreciation for big band stuff, I like ANY good singer, can live with most of the oldies they play, etc...

But if you listen at all to the station, you've probably heard some of their "DJ's"...and I'm sorry, they don't 'sound' major market to me...

But again, I don't expect that much from them...I know from my days at KZPS what kind of billing they were getting back then...and it wasn't much...I don't hear a lot of difference in either the type of advertisers or what I perceive as those advertisers ability to pay (for example, a mom and pop store is unlikely to be able to afford a massive schedule) in their current form...

So I don't fault them for paying 6 bucks an hour, it's what their billing allows...and I suppose it's better to have them than be automated...

(And if you don't think their billing was anemic back then, remember that they had the chief engineer as program director.  IIRC, they had 2 full time jocks, 1 fulltime dude as board op/Asst PD and the rest were part timers)

[KPLEXCOMPLEX]

Guy Johnson? hmmmmmmm

[WCFLWLS]

There are no major market talents at KAAM.  Chuck Brinkman is a good case in point.  KQV, Pittsburgh, in the 60s was an ABC o & o.  Many of the djs who worked there went on to bigger and better things such as Sam Holman who went on to program WLS and be a dj at WABC.  Chuck Brinkman worked with them at KQV in the 60s and was nothing more than a WABC, WLS wannabe and ended up in Dallas, a big step down from New York and Chicago.  In today's radio, finding a talented dj is a tough task but, as bad as most air talent is today, KAAM's talent is just inferior to most of what's out there.  KAAM is in a major market but, operates like a small market station in every way.

[BigBird]

It's amazing to me to see how much attention KAAM gets on this board.  They are what they are, and the IBOC is a waste on the listener that still tunes with analog dials.  They have a loyal following, and although small, they do carry an Arbitron rating in the market ... thank you loyal listeners. 

As for what they pay their jocks, I understand that $15 hr is the going rate, although I am sure that Brinkman negotiated better.  McCoy is a jerk to say the least, and a [EDIT]than indicated in a previous post.  He sounds like he is faking a Northeastern accent poorly. Sounds like he is eating mush to me. 

If KAAM wants to improve, bringing Jack Bishop back would be a good start. The loyal audience loved Jack, and removing McCoy as PD would be a godsend.  The females are so forgettable that I can't even remember their names.

The Saturday night guy referred to earlier in this post is likeable.  He doesn't pretend to be a major market DJ ... he is just a dude having fun on the radio one night a week.  He  had some pretty good talent filling in on occasion in the past, but haven't heard him on there in a while.  Probably another McCoy victim.

Anyway, in spite of the talent at KAAM, I'll keep listening because you get to hear what you don't hear anywhere else. 

With over 50 years in this industry, I am glad that I am no longer a part of the politics that has infiltrated what used to be the most fun a person could ever have ... and get paid for it!

[EDIT-vulgar and inflammatory]

[rbrucecarter5]

It's amazing to me to see how much attention KAAM gets on this board.  They are what they are, and the IBOC is a waste on the listener that still tunes with analog dials.  They have a loyal following, and although small, they do carry an Arbitron rating in the market ... thank you loyal listeners. 

Its a great station with great music.  The audio so poor, however, I've quit listening.  No - I'm not going to fork over $200 each for new radios at home, followed by $200 for a new radio in each car - just to hear KAAM.  It sounded just fine before constraining bandwidth, then finally going IBOC (which, by the way, self jams if you aren't exactly on frequency - and if you ever do tune perfectly, there is an annoying warble). 

I am forced to alternatives such as satellite until such time as the IBOC madness wanes and stations go back to having pride in their audio. 

[jbishop]

Big Bird thanks for the vote,but there is no way I would go back to KAAM. I would much rather work towards doing a better version of the standards format such as "Touch Class" fortmat idea as outlined on the softac/standards board on this site.KAAM on 1310 and 620 billed better than it has ever done on 770. When people start talking about billing fiqures I always wonder where they got them and what would they think was good billing?When I was at KPLX in the early 80's Larry Grogin always said a good sales department could do better than the station's numbers if properly managed and Grogin always did just that.