Well, there's been little going on here over the past several months. I had been posting on my web site, Off the CyberShelf. But, I'm currently redoing that site. So, I'm back to Blogger, for those who still have me on RSS. No, I hadn't vanished, just been spending time at my .Mac time share, if you will.

I wanted to just post up something that has been running through my mind for the radioheads out there--unfortunately, not the band. But I have the tendency, from time to time, to get caught up in terrestrial radio. And so it has been the past day.

Freedom has fallen amidst the halls of CBS radio these past few days as plans came to life to bring back the the once mighty KROCK, the flagship station that helped launch Howard Stern's media empire before he left last year for sattelit radio. The station, for reasons I can't imagine, went over to full-time talk except for weekends. It stumbled for awhile, trying to find a solid mix of voices. And finally, only a couple of weeks after their mid-day show was pulled after complaints, what was formally known as Free FM fell to the slavery of poor market ratings in America's largest radio market.
I'm not surprised by this move, though a little upset that virtually their entire on-air staff was fired just a couple of hours before listeners figured out that something was going on at the station, WFNY 92.3. Radio continually rises up as the worst possible example on how to fire employees. Despite this, it was pretty clear from the beginning that management was tepid, at best, in offering its complete support of its on-air talent--a good sign to not file away your air-tape and resume because you'll probably need it on a minute's notice.

Radio is strange, like that. Instead of thinking how it can actually market itself in a way that can establish a solid listening base, it doesn't completely commit to something new and cutting edge. Just take a listen to the music it kicked off with after returning to KROCK. It sounds like nothing has changed at the station since 1997. The problem is that Q104.3 (New York's Classic Rock) has slowly been creeping in more modern bands from the 1990s, and the new Jack 101.1 FM has cornered the market on filling the void that KROCK left, with the addition of everyone's secret music colection from middle school.

I can't imagine New York really needs another station that plays Van Halen. They had a chance to market on the appeal, or disappeal, that shock jocks have had since Imus got fired last month. "What will they do next to shock us all?" listeners might have thought tuning into find out if "Talk that Rocked" was going to shake the feathers of Al or other action groups.

There move was clearly a ratings decision, not one of fear out of what DJs might say on the air. There feet were cold from the launch in January, 2006.. And now, I'm sure, they will be even colder as they loose an audience that had been loyal for the past year, and try to find another one that has matured during their absence and moved over to the softer Jack FM, while moving into their new homes in Park Slope or JC.