by Glen Livingstone » Wed Sep 06, 2006 10:40 am
Clear-FM?
How about trying some clear thinking?
If this station expected to kick some ass in the Vancouver market, a lot more thought should have been put into the format change before yesterday's launch.
Instead of hitting the ground running, Fred & Cathy lurched out of the gate like a couple of late starters in a slug race - this is supposed to bring in listeners?
As Tuned pointed out, the show lacks energy.
What is the reason for its existence? What makes it stand out above the competition?
Nothing.
Once again a program director with no vision has ventured into an area of broadcasting that should be restricted to access by people who are qualified.
You don't iron out the bugs live, every day, on the air, and hope that things work themselves out.
Before KHJ became Boss Radio in 1965, PD Ron Jacobs ran the station off-air for two weeks programming it into his office so he could pinpoint any problems and fix them before the station began broadcasting live.
Yes, that's right: Don Steele, Robert W. Morgan and all the other jocks came in to the station every day for two weeks and did their shows, commercials and all, while Jacobs sat in his office and listened.
Now that's what a goddamn Program Director does.
In hindsight, maybe it was a bad idea for Rogers to set up a home studio for Fred & Cathy.
Maybe the drive in from Tsawwassen to Vancouver every day would have given them a chance to wake up and shake away the cobwebs before starting their show.
As it is now, who knows if they even bother getting out of bed?
Maybe they just roll over and grab the mic when the alarm goes off.
There is too much going wrong here.
Again, as Tuned has already mentioned; Fred's confusion, the overall lack of purpose, the overly-long commercial clusters and the technical glitches will - in a very short period of time - come together in a perfect storm and bring this thing to a screeching halt.
The listeners who've already tuned in to sample it probably won't bother to come back.
Hate to be overly pessimistic but now, just two days into it, I believe that the show is unfixable.