New Feature on KOOL 105.5

[David]

KOOL 105.5 is promoting "Wow Wednesdays" on air & on their website. It's described on the KOOL 105.5 page as "deep cuts and one-hit wonders from the 60's & 70's you haven't heard in years every Wednesday". Kinda sounds like a variation of "Deep Tracks" on KRSP-FM HD2, but only for one day a week. Might be worth a listen to see (hear?) if any gems from the 60's & 70's are played that make you go "Wow!". 🙂

[amanuensis]

Thanks for reminding me about the Deep Tracks HD2 feed. I am listening to it now. player.listenlive.co/35911

[David]

Oct 19, 2021 15:25:42 GMT -6 amanuensis said:

Thanks for reminding me about the Deep Tracks HD2 feed. I am listening to it now. player.listenlive.co/35911

That wasn't really my objective, but que sera, sera. 🙂

For those who are interested, this weekend's feature on KOOL 105.5 is a "Wow Weekend". It's the Wow Wednesday theme extended from 12 Noon on Friday until 12 Midnight on Sunday. At least KOOL 105.5 isn't doing another all Beatles weekend like they did over the Halloween weekend. 🙄 Right now Commander Cody's "Hot Rod Lincoln" is playing on 105.5, which is definitely not a song I've heard on the radio lately. Good stuff!

[CAwasinNJ]

Is it supposed to be all "wow" songs or just some? I tuned in and heard "Don't Stop Belivin'" which has been huge on the radio for at least 15 years now.

[David]

Nov 6, 2021 21:26:15 GMT -6 CAwasinNJ said:

Is it supposed to be all "wow" songs or just some? I tuned in and heard "Don't Stop Belivin'" which has been huge on the radio for at least 15 years now.

As far as I can tell, this weekend's theme on KOOL 105.5 is the "wow" songs mixed in with the station's regular playlist. That's the way it's done on "Wow Wednesdays", so they're just extending the theme to three days for this weekend. I made a suggestion on KOOL's Facebook page to consider an all Rolling Stones weekend as a change of pace from the all Beatles weekends, but who knows whether anyone from Broadway Media reads the listener suggestions or not. For that matter, they could also have an all British Invasion weekend, with tunes from the Kinks, the Who, Dave Clark Five, etc. along with the usual Beatles and Stones greatest hits.

EDIT: The "oh, wow" or "Wow Weekend" sounders are heard just before a "wow" song is played on KOOL 105.5.🙂

[amanuensis]

When I have listened to Wow Wednesday, I haven't personally heard anything "Wow" worthy. I assume that whatever song they play after the Wow bumper is intended to be a Wow song. The other day, the "Wow" song was "YMCA" by the Village People. To me, that is making me want to change to a different station, not go Wow. Instead, do "Macho Man" or "In the Navy". YMCA is a song that everyone still remembers hearing played way too often back when it initially charted.

This is a problem I have with a lot of radio station play lists. "Signature songs" just get too much airplay, making me so tired of hearing them. I love Billy Joel's body of work, but I don't listen by choice anymore to Piano Man (despite that being a song that I used to really like) because it has just been overly used. Same with Men at Work and "Down Under". So play "Its a Mistake" (for example) for the Men at Work song when someone phones in a request for the band. I hate when stations claim to have an all-request lunch hour, or whatever time they do it, but then mostly play what is already in heavy rotation on the station's playlist. /Rantover

FWIW, I still recall the time in high school when I called a station and made a request for a deeper track by a popular group (and the group had other songs in the station's play list). The DJ said no, I won't play it; not in the play list. To me, what is the point of taking requests if the only songs that you are willing to play as a result of the request is a song that is already in the play list? /Rantreallyover

[David]

Amanuensis, your post explains one of the biggest problems with commercial radio: They like to play it safe, and usually stick with playing songs that will cause the fewest number of listeners to tune out. For most stations, that means playing the hits. I think it's part of the reason why the same old Christmas songs are played on the radio every holiday season, rather than some of the new music you mentioned in the thread about Christmas flips. Even when a station tries to appeal to the widest possible audience, there's going to be a certain percentage of people who won't like the way a station is programmed. I was chatting online last night with my friend who's the program director for an NPR station in a small city in Northwest Alaska, and he was flamed in a broadcasters group recently for saying that his radio station wasn't going to flip to Christmas music until after Thanksgiving. My friend's response to the naysayers was that he knows what his listeners want, and his job is to program the station accordingly. What works best for one radio station doesn't always work best for every station.

As for KOOL 105.5, I did hear several songs played this weekend that I haven't heard on the radio for awhile. Besides the aforementioned Commander Cody song, I also heard a Brothers Johnson song, and "Too Hot To Handle" by Heatwave. I also noticed that KOOL played several older rock songs from the late 1950's and early 1960's during the "Wow Weekend" that they don't normally play. I guess what you heard on KOOL 105.5 this weekend depends on when you tuned in, and how long you listened for.

[amanuensis]

I don't mind playing of the hits, per se. It is the overplaying them. What I guess I really want 105.5 to do on Wednesdays is to play songs that charted back in the day but for whatever reason are not typically on the play list of Oldies stations now. According to Billboard's website, while YMCA peaked at #2, In the Navy peaked at #3. So it should logically get airplay as well. www.billboard.com/music/village-people/chart-history

[CAwasinNJ]

amanuensis, what you're talking about is what Sean Ross tackles with his Lost Factor. That's the difference between airplay when a song was first released and how much it's played now.

radioinsight.com/author/rossonradio/

The Lost Factor posts go back over a year at least. His other articles have good insights too. The most recent article even names Kool FM.

[amanuensis]

Thanks so much CA for calling my attention to his posts. "Lost Factor" seems like the perfect term for songs that charted that get no airplay now. All of the songs on this list radioinsight.com/ross/196143/the-lost-factor-top-100-1975-79/ would be perfect for 105.5 to use as a Wow Wednesday play list. (And maybe put some of them into their regular rotation.)

I also like the term he has for songs that are more popular now in terms of airplay than they were back when they were new, "Lucky Stiffs".

[amanuensis]

I finally heard a song on Wow Wednesday that made me go Wow, I was not expecting to hear THAT! Rockin Rob introed a song by, as I heard it, "the Chairman of the Board". I thought, Wow, Frank Sinatra, that's something NOT in the usual playlist. Um, but no, it was a song by the Chairmen of the Board, a 70s Soul group that I had previously not been aware of. 

[dspete]

As a KOOL 105.5 listener how about just WOWING me everyday!!
Open up that playlist and let the good times roll!

[CAwasinNJ]

Let me guess what that Chairmen of the Board song was. "Give Me Just a Little More Time"? That may be a Wow Song here, but it's been a staple of oldies stations for decades. So much so that it was even on the Soul compilation album from CBS-FM in New York.

[David]

KOOL 105.5 has extended the "Wow" song concept to the other weekdays besides Wednesdays with the "Wow Work Day". No word on the station's web site or Facebook page what the hours for the "Wow Work Day" are, but I'm assuming it's 9 AM-5 PM every day except Wednesday.

[amanuensis]

Nov 11, 2021 16:53:36 GMT -6 CAwasinNJ said:

Let me guess what that Chairmen of the Board song was. "Give Me Just a Little More Time"? That may be a Wow Song here, but it's been a staple of oldies stations for decades. So much so that it was even on the Soul compilation album from CBS-FM in New York.

I don't remember what song it was.