For the second time in the past 4 years, my favorite oldies radio station abruptly is going off the air!! Back in May 2005, when I lived in Oregon, I lamented the fate of KISN 97.1 FM. One day I was listening to my beloved 60s music and the next day it was replaced by some eclectic corporate new wave crap. At least, in that instance, a form of KISN remained on the air on the AM dial.
Now, four years later, I just learned that The Eagle 97.7 out of Olympia will turn into KOMO-FM tomorrow morning. Not only will a Seattle group take over the station, but the format is switching to a Talk/News format. Double Yuk!!!
While this "news" bums me out to no end, I again feel worse for the 15 or so employees who will lose their jobs. Many of them just learned of this radical change in their lives -- in this wonderful economy, no less -- only a day or two ago. Of course, the owners of South Sound Broadcasting must be sitting pretty as I'm sure this deal with a media conglomerate means big bucks for them.
The Eagle is/was the only halfway decent radio format we can pick up in South Bend. Most of the few other stations on the dial are Christian, Spanish and country stations. Surprisingly enough, despite the fact Pacific County is rural, we have NO radio stations of our own. Not one. So, news from Seattle isn't particularly germane to our area -- we're actually closer to Portland, OR than to Seattle.
I find this lack of a local radio outlet appalling (even one with a format I might dislike). In almost every other rural area I've ever lived in, there has been at least 1 local radio station. Such a station served as the fulcrum for local news and community events. It was a place that broadcast local high school sporting events, city council meetings and area public service announcements.
But not Pacific County, Washington! The closest we can get to "local" is Aberdeen/Hoquiam (35 miles north) or Astoria, OR (50 miles south). And now we can't even get oldies music either!!
I'm going to have a good cry now. :(
Now, four years later, I just learned that The Eagle 97.7 out of Olympia will turn into KOMO-FM tomorrow morning. Not only will a Seattle group take over the station, but the format is switching to a Talk/News format. Double Yuk!!!
While this "news" bums me out to no end, I again feel worse for the 15 or so employees who will lose their jobs. Many of them just learned of this radical change in their lives -- in this wonderful economy, no less -- only a day or two ago. Of course, the owners of South Sound Broadcasting must be sitting pretty as I'm sure this deal with a media conglomerate means big bucks for them.
The Eagle is/was the only halfway decent radio format we can pick up in South Bend. Most of the few other stations on the dial are Christian, Spanish and country stations. Surprisingly enough, despite the fact Pacific County is rural, we have NO radio stations of our own. Not one. So, news from Seattle isn't particularly germane to our area -- we're actually closer to Portland, OR than to Seattle.
I find this lack of a local radio outlet appalling (even one with a format I might dislike). In almost every other rural area I've ever lived in, there has been at least 1 local radio station. Such a station served as the fulcrum for local news and community events. It was a place that broadcast local high school sporting events, city council meetings and area public service announcements.
But not Pacific County, Washington! The closest we can get to "local" is Aberdeen/Hoquiam (35 miles north) or Astoria, OR (50 miles south). And now we can't even get oldies music either!!
I'm going to have a good cry now. :(
When it comes to the "oldies" -- I miss those AM radio stations that played big band music from the 30s through the 50s. Chicago is a great town, but no true oldies station like that. We do have some musical variety. San Diego was the worst radio market. Very little audio variation there.
ReplyDeleteThat's why I listen to the radio on TV. I receive very good feeds by cable: 60's, 70's, romantics, rock, Mexican, whatever.
ReplyDeleteI'm lucky, I live in a nice small town (I can't stand cities) but it's right next to Canada's capitol so we do get quite a few stations.
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