Notes, mailbag, and a message to stations

Remember the mailbag? When we converted to a blog in 2007, we discontinued the mailbag in favor of the comment boxes. However, we still receive email on occasion and I did promise that the more interesting ones would be addressed here.

This email is from Reader ‘Ed’ who writes:

Eric, I somehow ended up on this site while surfing…sort of like going into the store for razor blades and you buy ice cream. Why does Pittsburgh radio suck???? All of the morning shows are so lame and sophomoric – not to mention the chic and girly man hosts. Went to Sirius a long time ago and do not regret it. Is it a reflection on this region’s demographics???

Ed, we’re very happy to be the ‘ice cream’ in your razor blades of life, but we cannot necessarily endorse your opinions either. (We try to be fair.) I’m pretty much of the mind that whether you were in Pittsburgh, Boston, L.A. or D.C. the answer to this question would more than likely be the same. Most commercial radio stations are trying to appeal to a common age group – the 25-54 group and usually female. It’s all about the potential advertisers who want to appeal to this group. I think this mentality has increased in the last decade and that is why we have such a minimum amount of formats on the air in just about any city. It’s pretty predictable too. There’s always one station with a major format – we’ll say ‘AC’ and then there is typically a station that has a similar or slightly different flavor of the same format so there is some competition. And since there are only so many signals per market which can be used, it really does numb the dial a bit. Oh, and then you can’t forget about the consultants who are the driving force behind how stations sound. “What’s good for one market will be fine in another,” is the mentality here.

Probably with the current exception of the WDVE Morning Show with Jim Krenn and Randy Baumann, you’re not likely going to see a whole lot of creativity on the air – at least not on the commercial stations. Gone are the days of “O’Brien (no relation) and Garry” or “Cordic and Company” whose programs were full of creative sketches and bits which Pittsburghers loved. Isn’t it a shame how big business got in the way of the public’s airwaves? There is just no room for the creativity when listeners supposedly just want the most music possible. 

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Now a note for our friends inside the radio stations. We’d love it if you would add PBRTV to your press release list! We’ll be happy to share your story of a recent event, new airstaff/off-air staff, new format, etc. All you have to do is send your press release to PBRTV@aol.com. All releases will be considered for posting, but we do reserve the right to reject it if we choose. Thank you for your consideration!

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That’s all for today, but stay tuned for more breaking coverage…assuming our ‘issues’ end.

If what I am about to say seems offensive, please understand that it’s not meant to be offensive. Ok, here goes…

PBRTV.com is virtually a one-man operation. The fact that it actually has three men operating it has nothing to do with anything. The three men involved operate independently of each other and on a rare occasion they might actually talk to one another. With that said, please understand that we do not operate like a newspaper or TV station. Like you, we do have other things which occupy our lives and even though at least one of us is mobile, we may not always have a connection. Therefore, rest assured that even though we may not be as on top of things as everyone else is. But we are a blog (which existed before ‘blog’ was a word) which strives to bring you the information as soon as possible. Thank you to those of you who have emailed us stories – especially one which I am about to address – but chances are one of the three men have already heard and just couldn’t get to the computer right away. Thank you for your understanding. (The fact that the main man of this one-man operation is having ‘issues’ with his ISP has little or nothing to do with it. But often we find ourselves in the Murphy’s Law realm of being out of reach when something major breaks.)

So WAMO is reportedly being sold. Already the speculation is starting, “What’s going to happen to Lynn Cullen?” Well the answer is, “we don’t know.” We know nothing about St. Joseph’s Missions other than it’s likely to be a religious-oriented company. The Pittsburgh Courier reports and PBRTV confirms that nothing could be found online. If we find something, we’ll let you know, but in the meantime, plan for some new religious formats…and save your letter-writing hand to try and save WAMO, it’s likely not going to do any good.

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