Yuku free message boards

This is wonderful news. I'd heard some rumblings, but it's great that this is confirmed.

Mike Bowe is a great Philadelphia-area broadcaster, and one of my earlier radio influences (particularly for AC, from listening to him on Magic 103). Somewhere around here I have a tape from him on WMGK (I'm pretty sure it's him) saying "something strange is going on at Three Mile Island near Harrisburg, we'll keep an eye on it for you."

I'm pretty sure this'll be the first time he's done mornings (permanently) since the Mike Bowe and Sue Serio show on Kiss 100 from 1992-93. Both Mike and Sue had been let go at the same time from WMGK, he was doing afternoons, and Sue was doing the "Magic After Dark" show. This allowed Greater Media to free up some salary for a new, big-name night host (whose salary was greater-- a lot greater, I was told, than Mike's and Sue's combined). Ratings plummeted, and this big-name quietly disappeared less than two years later. Any guesses as to who that big-name person was?

Back to WHAT, I too hope this means the station will be sticking around. It's still not quite how I'd program, image, or market it-- but nonetheless, it's nice to have. As Larry S recently pointed out, there are a lot of big cities with listeners who probably wish they have a Martini Lounge Radio. I'm looking forward to hearing Mike next week, and am curious to hear what the station's first live show will sound like.

CA Joe, you're absolutely right about the music. I find, as much as I enjoy the station (relative to what else is on the terrestrial dials), I cannot listen for more than 15-20 minutes at a time.

Since Bob Craig is in the fold there, it would be great if an arrangement could be worked out for him to program the station. I realize the budgetary issues, and guess it's still a miracle there will be a live morning show. But the repetition and unfamiliar tunes are severely stunting the station's growth.

(On the flip side, Marconi's other station, SkinRadio.com, is a VERY well-programed effort. Not the stationality I'd go for, but musically Alvin is doing a hell of a job with that one. I've been finding myself listening more and more to that.)

Back to Martini, I agree with everyone else that the station just sounds too damn automated. This is a format aimed at people who are expecting personality. Fortunately, they'll get that in the morning starting next week.

My jury's still out on whether or not WHAT would benefit by falling into a trap that many Standards stations did in the '90s-- adding MOR titles alongside Nostalgia and Big Bands. It CAN be done properly, but few seemed able to pull that off. I think WPEN went a bit overboard with this at the end, though I understand the thinking.

I also think it may soon be time to visit the possibility of phasing in use of the WHAT call letters. The station is aimed at an audience accustomed to hearing call letters, you know, before stations were taught to be ashamed of them. The question is whether or not enough time has elapsed from the Black Talk era of WHAT. I think there has been. Besides, again, the station is getting an audience of people used to station format changes that happened with no callsign changes whatsoever. (Just think, if WIP had gone Sports today, the oldest callsign in Philadelphia would most likely have been scrapped.)