« Home | The High Cost of Email Interruptions »
Free Radio on Free FM
CBS Radio's new format concept -- Free FM -- is on the air and off to a good start for the most part. For brand new programming reliant on talk and interaction, there's been surprisingly few glitches (a very unusual happening and a good sign for Free).
Some shows are broadcast on multiple CBS/Free stations across the country, such as former Van Halen lead singer David Lee Roth, who's also gone by the nickname Diamond Dave when he hijacked MTV programming back in the mid-'80s. He's now broadcast on a half-dozen major markets. Also on multiple stations: Cleveland's Rover in the Morning (not in NYC, mostly in the midwest), West Coast Adam Corolla (from Comedy Central and Jimmy Kimmel's buddy) and Penn Jillette (a one-hour show known from the Penn & Teller Vegas magic/illusion busting group).
In addition, older shows are back. Leslie Gold (The Radio Chick) - formerly part of WNEW when it was Hot Talk 5 years ago and most recently on Sirius - is back in afternoons. And Booker -- formely on KRock and Z100 -- moved from afternoon to evenings, where he sounds best anyway. 2 new shows to the NYC region airwaves are JV & Elvis -- longtime successes from San Francisco radio for late mornings; and Jake and Jackie overnights...New Yorker comedy writers for TV.
There are four things most promising so far, from these ears at least:
1) They aren't broadcasting in a bubble. They take complaints, they acknowledge the old format, they talk about Howard Stern and wish him the best. The personalities aren't hiding from the 800-lb gorilla past...and that's good.
2) They are podcasting all of their shows and archiving old shows for iPod listening or aimply to listen to on your computer. Makes it more convenient to get to know the new shows whenever wanted. Also, there's easy instant feedback IMing straight to the on-air shows to bypass busy phone lines.
3) Every show is "morning show quality". The content, the style, the interaction between two or more hosts, the listener involvement, the topicality, the weirdness...24 hours a day, each of the Free shows would normally be only broadcast in the mornings. Now you can hear morning-style radio any time of the day. My favorite: The Chick.
4) Free FM has created something different that wasn't on the air before. It might sound a little like Howard Stern but it's not...it's just different. The real test will be to see what it sounds like 6 or 10 months later, when it is no longer new and heavily-scruntinized. Will it relax more? Get more or less bawdy? Will Roth Radio or any of the new shows create enough ratings and advertising results?
But, for now, Free is off to a good start...much better than the long, slow death of KRock of 2005 as Howard was walking off to space.
A negative: the website is actually too graphic/flash-heavy, bogging down your computer even with fast micoprocessors and high-speed broadband. Can't imagine you'd see much at all if you tried it with dial-up...which still is more than 50% of internet users nationally.
Funny side story: For an example of how the Internet can confuse new branding opportunities, try looking for www.free923fm.com. If you were a New Yorker, you'd think this would be the website for the new radio station. Actually, it's not. The webaddress gets forwarded to "www.douce100.com" selling website items and addresses to Howard Stern. Oooops!!
In reality, the proper webaddress is www.923freefm.
--Chris Kennedy
web site
posted by Unknown @ Thursday, January 12, 2006,
