We live in fame or go down in flame................

[Reese K Rickards]

I remember that line from the US Air Force Anthem as a kid.

B93 is living the song. February trends fell to an time low. The Roofsit, which created it's heritage status has been kneaded into some ugly corporate loaf in order to curry favor with the DeVos and Van Andel Families. They even found a way to move half the morning show out of state.

When was the last time someone updated a personality web page?

How many heard the Birthday Bash Tree fall when it was cut down?

Some may argue the event became to big to organize. I say the B-93 became to small to organize or run it. Birthday Bash was born as a thank you to listeners. What does it's demise say?

I heard Dave Taft on the air in Tampa the other day.

B93, like the one in Tampa, used to be a local radio station. Then it was all about making money on and with the internet, Now it's Lets make a fortune with podcasts. Maybe people listen to podcasts because local radio sucks so bad and is so fragmented.

When B93 ran Bash at the racetrack, parking alone took in 600 K. How many stations are making even that much today?

ATTENTION OWNERS... There is a way to make a lot on money with a local radio station. Just become one.

[TC Talks]

Are you turning this forum into your personal blog?

I've never heard of you, but you seem like a bit of an attention whore.

[imstudwell]

Glory Days, pass you by, Glory Days....

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk

[Barry Sanders]

Congrats Reese! You wrote an entire post without mentioning how much money you used to make.

Radio is not the same and hasn’t been for a while. We all know this. Somehow you always seem to turn the stale “dying industry” talk into a conversation about YOU. Well done.

In all seriousness, I greatly respect your career success but I genuinely wonder why you wouldn’t have moved on mentally by now. You and Neil had a very good run. VERY good! All good things come to an end. Why continue to concern yourself with it?

Go. Move On. Life’s too short to concern yourself with this nonsense at your age. Trust me. I’m your age.

[imstudwell]

Maybe its the Colt Malt Liquor 45's talking. I agree very impressive the roofsit and the Birthday Bash. Heck Artprize was awesome and Rick Devos moved on....

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk

[Autoblemike]

The song 'Time Marches On' comes to mind. I remember when B93 Started, we would listen to "what is he holding in his hand" on the way to school, for almost the entirety of the 90s. Working there part-time out of high school was like a dream come true, and getting fired was a blessing in disguise. At first, the culture still seemed local... We had a great team... Every shift was live and my favorite shift was Sunday overnight and hanging out with you in the morning... One year we had Thanksgiving together with listeners, it was a really neat station to be a part of. Along with the 'Moynin Show,' Conrad was a staple in my opinion to the on-air lineup. John the Canuck was the overnight Talent, I got to know him really well at the B93 Bowling league in Lowell. When I first started at B93, Canuck and I didn't really get along... I blame myself, I was a bit of a 'know it all'...Toward the end of my time, we had a good time together. I hope his family is doing well. Neal's son Jordan worked with me part-time there as well. Jordan was the type of person that lit up a room. His sense of humor was about as good as it gets. Jordan was very kind and always funny with a heart of gold.

Radio's demise was like a slow-flowing river... Steady, consistent, and unstoppable. In my opinion, The Telecommunications act was the beginning of the end. When one company is allowed to dominate multiple markets it slowly sucked the blood out of radio... being live and local. It reminds me of globalism today and how dangerous it is. Today, we have the same thing happing in different industries.... Sears is being crushed by Amazon, Taxi companies are being crushed by Uber, health care is being crushed by Drug Companies, and restaurants are being crushed by the government. There are countless examples of 'Time Marching On.'

Towards the end of my time there, it seemed like the only purpose of the signal was to drive traffic to the website... That is the day when radio lost its luster. New technology brings new benefits. One thing I love about the internet is that we are able to seek out content that is relevant to exactly what we are interested in. Today I listened to podcasts about real estate investing, wealth generation, daily devotionals, parenting, etc... All things that improve my life and well-being. The content that is being put out by radio today is just recycled garbage. While I miss the glory days of radio, I really like the choice of content that we have today. My biggest concern is government/corporate censorship... I fear that is also a slow-flowing river.

[Frosty]

I was in radio in the '80s (great times) to the mid '90s (beginning of the end). What I don't understand is the benefit of radio driving its audience to the website. Sure, there's ads on the website, but is that the bigger revenue-maker of the two?

I rarely go to a radio station's website, but I do listen to radio in my car every day. OK, so I am now out of a desirable demo.

Can someone explain to this old fart? And it's OK to use, "OK, boomer." I kind of like that phrase.

[TC Talks]

I remember being at the party when Wjfm flipped from musak over to classic hits prior to clear channel buying them. That was when they broadcast from the building next door to the Holiday Inn where we all went and got snookered after the format change. Them was the good old days radio in Grand Rapids.

Who remembers Red Noise or Mel and Frank. They were real talent.

Then clear channel turned it into B93 and I haven't listened since.

[Realist]

I remember being at the party when Wjfm flipped from musak over to classic hits prior to clear channel buying them. That was when they broadcast from the building next door to the Holiday Inn where we all went and got snookered after the format change. Them was the good old days radio in Grand Rapids.

Who remembers Red Noise or Mel and Frank. They were real talent.

Then clear channel turned it into B93 and I haven't listened since.

Could easily pick up JFM in the Tri Cities (prior to Flint’s Club 93.7 going on the air). It was obvious at timed that whoever programmed it wasn’t a classic rock fan, as there were too many times where back to back song duos would just end after the first song i.e. Led Zep’s Heartbreaker would end without playing Livin’ Lovin’, Queen’s We will Rock You would stop without playing We are the Champions. Way too weird

Red Noise on LAV was funny to listen to the few times I could when I was in that area. Cancer, which he died from way too early, just sucks

[TC Talks]

The classic hits was just another automated format largely. Back when they were 320,000 watts they would show up in the Chicago arbitron.

Do you remember "The Franceman"? He was my neighbor and completely psycho.

[Trophyhead]

I do remember Mel and Frank being shipped to 1340 before they split town. Can't say what the format was that surrounded their show. My wife moved to town and was listening to Red Noise, back around 1990. She won tickets to see Howie Mandel at the Orbit Room from his show. I didn't enjoy his show as much as she did.

[BayCityJohn2337]

Stern was so popular on KLQ people would listen in fringe signal areas and tolerate it. A perfect example would be a town like Greenville. WCEN out of Saginaw would crash into KLQ and folks would still try to listen to Stern. Nothing like Brooks and Dunn boot scoot boogie mixing with Stern. Hahah

People where hard up for good radio back then.

[TC Talks]

Mel and Frank were actually brought in as program Consultants by Adams radio just before they sold out. I think they might have been friends with one of the owners at Adams. Mel and Frank started when they realize they hated Grand Rapids and wanted to move back to San Diego. It literally was designed to burn down 1340 which at that point was a throwaway a.m. they were testing things prior to moving over to wlav's Morning Show. Looking back I can't believe how many general managers of other stations would listen because they couldn't believe somebody would do that in Grand Rapids.