Planetradio

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Planetradio.us Manifesto


I thought I would spend a minute or two on what has become my latest plan for world domination. When I set up my planetradio.us facebook page, I invited a number of my friends and family to check out what I was doing, and being that facebook is the next big thing happening now, I figured I'd give the whole "social networking" thing a shot. I don't think what this was about was evident. The station has over 500 fans, but I wonder if many are aware of what we are actually doing. To help you and me, I will approach this in a journalistic manner....

Who? Me, I guess, and Mike too. I was in the radio business for approximately 33 years, 4 months and 23 days, but who's counting (this picture being taken at my last stop)? Most of my experiences were in "AOR", which stood for Album Oriented Radio. I started in Muscatine Iowa for a station that was a dream to work for. No play list, but we had to keep it relatively familiar. I guess it spoiled me, because later in my career, I always wondered why we didn't play a wider variety of music and that philosophy cost me a job or two. The consultants will tell you that you have to play the hits, one philosophy that I believe, but the constant repetition has killed classic rock and especially oldies radio. Anyway, leaving Muscatine for the Quad Cities and doing mornings on the real first rock station there WXLP, I moved to Kansas City to take the night shift to a number one ranking at the legendary KY 102 from 1979-1981. I moved to afternoons in 1981 and then moved to St. Louis in 1985 to helm the afternoon show at KSHE. I was number one in my demo for about 13 years. I left KSHE to be a part of their stiffest competition ever 97.1, The Rock! After KSHE bought us, and fired me, I spent 40 days wondering around in the desert, moving from Kansas City to Nashville, Bloomington Illinois, Springfield Mo and finally back here. I have been a programmer, consultant and market manager. I only say that to qualify my experience and knowledge of the format

Mike Batchelor has been a part of the St. Louis radio scene for a long time and is now getting into station management. I told Mike what I wanted and he provided it for me. I recommend him highly if you are considering this.

What? It's a radio station on the internet that Mike and I have taken total responsiblity for. I am the programming genius and he is the technical brawn. It's available at www.planetradio.us
I have attempted to carve out a niche for intelligent, knowledgeable rock listeners. The people who were not only followers, but fanatics. I think this station has a certain style and class. I think it's the intelligent alternative to the dribble that is on the radio now. We have 4,146 songs in the system and 413 unique artists. I'm almost done with the music, I'm just filling holes at this time. You'll hear everything from Bread to Judas Priest, from Gordon Lightfoot to Black Sabbath and let's not forget Cat Stevens did other songs than "Wild World" and "Peace Train". But if you were to ask me what artist most represents this station, I would say Steely Dan, The Beatles and Bruce Springsteen. We are easy to receive, just go to the website and follow the directions.

When? We signed on about a month ago and I really didn't think we'd be "public ready" until March. I like what I hear so far, but fine tuning is a never ending ordeal. We're on 24/7 365 unless technical difficulties (I lose the wireless signal). I find there are more people listening overnight than I expected. (Yes, I can track that).

Where? It originates out of my office in beautiful Kirkwood, Missouri. I have people listening as far away as Australia and Belgium. The word is slowly but surely spreading.

Why? I felt that there was a need for a wide play list full of intelligent music whether that music is played by Jackson Browne or Blue Oyster Cult. I grew up in a time where you could hear The Carpenters and Alice Copper back to back. I just wonder why we still can't do that. It's all good music. We have the hits here, but we also have the complete soundtrack to a generation of knowledgeable, passionate rock fans who want more from their radio. It is literally all here.

Planetradio.us mission statement:.."to provide the planet with the best sounding, most intelligent, widest variety of classic rock music available anywhere".

www.planetradio.us

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