[no subject]

[owner-tikievents@slick.org]

The Bay area lost its best station last weekend
Sender: owner-tikievents@slick.org
Precedence: bulk

960 AM - KABL changed its format from "classics" - 50s-70s and sometimes
current music that regularly included Bobby Darin, Buddy Greco, Rat Packers,
Martin Denny, Eartha Kitt, Julie London, Louis & Keely, even Don Ho!,
alongside decent new stuff by Brian Setzer, Linda Ronstadt - all of which
went well together. Amazingly KABL was a true alternative to the hundreds of
stations trying to chase the next trend or trying to calculate the perfect
mix of top 40 hits that "everyone" likes because they sold millions in their
time. KABL DJs stressed that the station was not an "oldies or nostalgic"
station and that they were simply playing good music from the present and
the past. Even more amazing was that everyone I know in the Bay Area
listened to KABL becasue the music WAS good. 

As you all know, I have been DJing in clubs/bars regularly for the past four
years and have been booking live music shows in Los Angeles and San
Francisco for about 6 years. Additionally I have reviewed hundreds of new
releases and reissues in my mag Tiki News. Despite trying to stay on top of
the music scene it never ceased to amaze me that the older DJs at KABL could
consistently entertain me and challenge my musical knowledge by introducing
me to something cool that I had not known before. Unfortunately this is all
gone as I
am not interested in hearing Lionel Ritchie and Anne Murray and lame soft
rock hits that I am all too familiar with despite not ever liking them.

It is emabarrassing to hear the KABL DJs say now that they are playing "this
kind
of good music"

If you have listened to the station before please tune in and tell the
management what you think of their new programming

960kabl@960kabl.com 

and cc the DJs at
jim lange <jlange@kablradio.com> , mike and marianne cleary
<mcleary@kablradio.com> , carter b smith <csmith@kablradio.com>

Below is a letter that local impresario/writer Will the Thrill penned to
KABL last week

Thanks
Otto von Stroheim
Tiki News
2215-R Market Street #177
San Francisco, CA 94114
www.tikinews.com
_______________
PLEASE FORWARD TO CORPORATE:

In the parlance of the twenty-somethings you think you are courting, the
"new" format "sucks." It is even worse than I feared. The form letter sent
out as a reply to initial concerns expressed by longtime fans (yea, we all
got it, you think we wouldn't notice?) is a flat-out lie - where are Sinatra
and Bobby Darin? You have completely demolished the truly wonderful, warm,
melodic, romantic spirit of KABL. Now you play all that "adult contemporary"
garbage you hear at weddings of the most boring, bland people you don't want
to know. Not only that, you force your DJ's to LIE on the air when they say
"songs you can't hear anywhere else" and then play the Beach Boys, James
Taylor, the Beatles, Olivia Newton-John, etc. Who does your research, some
stoned out hippie? Excuse me, but these are "hits" you can hear EVERYWHERE
ELSE! The TRUE KABL played songs you couldn't hear anywhere else (except in
my house or my friends'): Buddy Greco, Peggy Lee, Julie London, Louis Prima,
Keely Smith, Tony Bennett, Eartha Kitt, Sammy Davis Jr., Dinah Washington,
Martin Denny, Henry Mancini - you know, people with actual musical talent,
performing "America's Greatest Music." People are entitled to the hideous
playlist you're trying to sell to a younger demographic, but for that they
have the Quiet Storm (whatever call letters those are), KOIT and KFRC to
name a few. You have absolutely ruined the last truly great radio station in
the Bay Area. This leaves a huge gap in our everyday routine. It really was
the soundtrack of our daily lives, soothing and comforting and uplifting. It
was a radio station that spoke for us and to us and everyone we knew (and we
don't reside in a nursing home.) Every morning and throughout the day, in
the car or at home, we reached for the dial and turned on 960AM, and so did
all of our under 40 friends and their under 40 friends. In fact, everyone I
know, in this age group, ONLY listened to KABL. Why? Because you played
songs your truly couldn't hear anywhere else. NONE of them like this new
format, they are all stunned and upset. You have alienated more loyal
listeners than you will ever be able to count. 

And if you think twenty-something dot commers are going to bombard you with
advertising money, you are sadly mistaken. What you do not understand is
that to almost everybody of any age, Dean Martin is way cooler than John
Denver or  Jackson Browne. No 25 year old I know listens to Anne Murray or
Paul Simon. And if they want to, they already have plenty of stations to
turn to. We, your loyal fans, are left with nothing. You have lost probably
80% of your loyal audience, I imagine. Now you have to rebuild from scratch
and go up against FM giants with a long history of playing exactly the same
stuff you're playing right now, that you want your old time listeners to
believe is somehow "unique." KABl was already unique, that was its appeal -
how clueless can you get?? I hope Jim Lange quits in protest. He  - and
Carter and Mike - have way too much class and style for this TERRIBLE,
AWFUL, HIDEOUS, UNORIGINAL, "new" playlist. BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!! (that
young enough for ya?) 

I have to go now, I want to listen to the rest of the Mel Torme CD I have
on. Not the same without Jim Lange's voice announcing it, but as Sinatra
sang, "That's life." 

Goodbye.

Will Viharo (age 37)
Monica Cortes (age 27)
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