Summertime … camping, surfing, walks on the beach. Burgers and corn on the grill. Outdoor movie nights on the back lawn. Temperatures in the 90s. And Christmas music on the radio.
Wait, Christmas music? On the radio? Yes, indeed. Saul Levine made the switch on KKGO’s (105.1 FM) HD3 stream on Aug. 21st. I think it is the competitive nature of Levine that pushed him to make the switch early … he can rightfully state that he is the first station in the country to do so.
Will it succeed? Actually, it doesn’t matter. Levine makes his money from Go Country 105, and uses his other stations and streams to play what he feels needs exposure. The holiday tunes help attract attention to the various formats and it worked — I have received numerous emails asking about it already.
Levine tells me that he also wanted to have a better version of the format on the air before the others arrive.
“We launched early to provide this beautiful classic Christmas music to the public,” he said. “We want to bring joy to the holidays and highlight the religious significance and spiritual value of the format before the commercial interests take over and bypass what is most important.”
If you’re interested in hearing it and don’t own an HD radio, Levine’s Mount Wilson FM Broadcasters now has a smartphone app that plays all of his HD streams, negating the need to download individual station apps or use generic apps that sometimes have problems with smaller broadcasters.
Search on your app store for “Mount Wilson FM Broadcasters.” The app will play the current lineup, consisting of the main Go Country, K-Mozart, Christmas, and Smooth Jazz.
Sinatra at Six
Can’t get enough Frank Sinatra? Brad Chambers’ MartiniInTheMorning.com plays a special selection of Sinatra music every weekday morning and evening at 6:00 local time. It’s called Sinatra at Six, and it is one of the online station’s most popular features.
Listeners make suggestions, and the MITM staff curates the selection based upon those suggestions. On the Friday evening edition, a special “guest curator” is chosen who gets to pick all the songs played on that segment each week. Chambers says that the requests also help shape the playlist for the station as a whole.
MITM is gearing up to celebrate 20 years on the internet airwaves with a fundraiser concert to be held Monday, Sept. 28, at the Catalina Jazz Club in Hollywood. Tickets run from $57 to $109, and all ages can attend. According to the “rules and conditions” listed on the website, “Dinner or two-drink minimum required in addition to the tickets, plus a $0.49 music royalty fee per patron.”
“We’ve already mentioned that our musical director will once again be singer, bandleader, L.C. Powell,” says Chambers in an email sent to station supporters. “She’ll be joined by actor, singer and versatile ‘behind the camera’ talent Don Most. Pianist for Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass, Bill Cantos, will bring his vocal talents to the show, along with Debby Boone. James Torme will make a return MITM appearance, and we’re waiting for confirmation and will have the rest of our ‘cast’ in the next few days.”
Go to MartiniInTheMorning.com for more details, as well as a chance to see and purchase the official MITM 20th anniversary martini glasses.
Another Survey
It’s time for another unscientific poll! Anyone who knows statistics knows that this is a heavily biased way of doing research, but as you know, that’s never really stopped anyone from doing it. In my case, I just want to get a glimpse of how you listen to the radio.
So if you have some time, please go to SoCalRadioWaves.com and take a quick survey on listening habits. How you listen, when you listen, and what you listen to when you tune into a radio station. I’ll present the results in a future column.
Richard Wagoner is a San Pedro freelance columnist covering radio in Southern California. Email rwagoner@socalradiowaves.com.