What happened to Funny 95.5?

[WaterBird]

Hey, what happened to the comedy station? I went out of town for two days, came back and it is a pop station? What happened. Their website is down and so is their Facebook page. Anybody know the scoop and if there is any way to get it back? It was so great to drive around laughing!

[meherc]

I was just listening t o it yesterday (against doctor's orders). I crash my car a lot.

[tomcat]

Yep, I guess it just happened yesterday. Don't know the details, but I was highly disappointed also. I really enjoyed a radio station that made me laugh whenever I tuned it in.
I still miss KVRE too!

Tom

Hey, what happened to the comedy station?....

[SandBar]

Thanks for someone asking. Yesterday morning it was comedy. I drove down to Cotati and in the afternoon it become light rock. I love light rock but I also loved having laughs on my drive. I first thought that maybe Cotati was out of range. So what happened?

Yep, I guess it just happened yesterday. Don't know the details, but I was highly disappointed also. I really enjoyed a radio station that made me laugh whenever I tuned it in.
I still miss KVRE too!

Tom

[theindependenteye]

>>>Thanks for someone asking. Yesterday morning it was comedy. I drove down to Cotati and in the afternoon it become light rock. I love light rock but I also loved having laughs on my drive. I first thought that maybe Cotati was out of range. So what happened

No surprise. Commercial radio will broadcast anything that promises a larger listenership with minimal long-term investment. If some station in Alaska got higher ratings in the 18-35 demographic for non-stop broadcast of elephants farting, guess what?

Cheers—
Conrad

[Roland Jacopetti]

Commercial radio will broadcast anything that promises a larger listenership with minimal long-term investment. If some station in Alaska got higher ratings in the 18-35 demographic for non-stop broadcast of elephants farting, guess what?

You're right, Conrad. Stations often change format like they change their socks, and often don't say a word about it on the air. "Oh, no, we've always been this way." I listened to that "light rock" for about twenty minutes, then turned it off, never to be turned on again unless someone tells me they turned it on and heard Jerry Seinfeld or Lewis Black or George Carlin. Too bad. I suggest we all call the station and ask why they changed, and then report what we've been told on Wacco. I plan to call on Monday.

Roland

[SandBar]

Thanks Roland for taking on that task - I want funny radio back. Let us know if we can do anything to bring back our favorite and new comedians.

...I suggest we all call the station and ask why they changed, and then report what we've been told on Wacco. I plan to call on Monday.

[urlove]

I know. I was shocked to hear music. I, too, loved to listen to the station and laugh/drive.

[Peace Voyager]

I noticed it too this weekend; boy what a mistake! It's not hard to find oldies stations; but comedy is unique on the radio..

That station was sometimes my medicine; responsible for helping me through some deep grief and severe sadness.

If enough of us contact them, maybe they'll reconsider. We have to also be willing to support their advertisers and let them know Funny 95.5 is where we heard about them.

[CatA603]

I don't know..but I'm not happy! This is going to affect my commute for sure! It was a great station and I turned a lot of people on to it!

[WaterBird]

Wow! What a great response! Maybe we can get some support from the local businesses that were advertising there. I know of at least one that told me that of all the Wine Country Radio stations (they are the owners of that station are they not?) they advertised on, that was the one that brought in the most business. They also said it was dirt cheap advertising, so maybe the station wasnt charging enough?

Thanks to the person who offered to investigate, please let us know what you find out. I also posted on the 24/7 Comedy main site, maybe we can get an answer from them. I saw that they just lost a major Atlanta station too, many complaints from the folks there.

I too will never turn on that station again until it is back to comedy. Talk about boring!

Raye Elaine

[lindasw]

Try leaving a message for the general manager at Wine Country Radio, Debbie Moore, letting her know that you are one of many KSXY listeners who are not happy campers! This was A GREAT station that offered us yuks and giggles and the opportunity to hear both new and old comedians. Bummer. This is the time of year that the Arbitron ratings come out (these are the radio ratings that owners and GM's rely on to gauge ratings, listeners, etc.)..I checked the stats for September and Funny 95.5 is not in the top 20, but it isn't the absolute worst with the numbers either. WC Radio could have new owners who decided that the crappy format they just switched it to is more in line with the Sonoma County listener's demographic...bah...who knows the method to their madness might be. All i know is that we sure do miss "getting our laugh on" (thanks Wanda Sykes) and that this is a real mistake and disappointment. Call! Write! email! Let them know!

Hey, what happened to the comedy station? I went out of town for two days, came back and it is a pop station? What happened. Their website is down and so is their Facebook page. Anybody know the scoop and if there is any way to get it back? It was so great to drive around laughing!

[Roland Jacopetti]

Hi, again, Waccohedrons [I love it! -Barry]. Coincidentally, I received this post from my old friend Edward Bear today. It's in answer to questions asked by a friend of his in Santa Barbara, his home, but he makes some good points about radio in general, and besides he says so many nice things about me that my ego forces me to share them with you. Bear is one of the most politically-conscious progressive people I know, and he always sends great stuff to those on his email list. Besides, he became a member of NIONSC years ago, (Not In Our Name, Sonoma County) and much of what he sends out goes there, too. I'm writing this on Sunday, and will be contacting Wine Country Radio tomorrow. I'm not expecting much except "I'll pass this on" from whoever answers the phone, but I will report on the exchange tomorrow afternoon or evening.

Stay tuned.
Roland

---

From Edward Bear: (images added by Barry)

Good idea, Ray. But you might have a problem with the owner. Think of it from his standpoint. Most owners are motivated to maximize profit, so setting up any part of their business enterprise as a non-profit will go against their primary reason for having a business. If, however, you can arrange the non-profit structure to create a good enough deductible tax advantage for the business that it won't cost him anything, then it becomes more feasible and he or she may be open to considering it.

There is always this inevitable contradiction: Why would you create something that attracts a lot of people, which will give what you created power, and then not use it to make money? Perhaps, if a freeform station was able to attract listeners in a way that would also promote the rest of the enterprise, like by calling the station "Happy Harry's Freeform Dream," it would work as a good P.R. reference for the rest of the "Happy Harry's Radio Networks." You know, an additional hook for the larger business.

Then again, if your owner has some interest in doing good work in the world as well as making money, that would help greatly. Doing good work and making money at it sounds like a perfect enterprise. As it turns out, it's also possible. There are many good examples of that.

In planning for a freeform station, I'm assuming you want to create a complete listening experience with nothing but pleasure for the listeners, which is why you want to make it a non-profit and, presumably, commercial-free station. But that's entirely possible even for a commercial station, as long as you make sure that everything that goes on the air is a pleasure to listen to. That means the commercials too, which is also entirely possible. I think a key part of the original KMPX phenomenon will be useful to relay here. [Besides the wikipedia link, also see this page for photos of the the KMPX staff and more - Barry]

When we began freeform radio in San Francisco in '67, everything we did was done from scratch. It was on an FM station when AM Top 40 stations were the dominant listening choices. KMPX as a freeform station started with zero listeners. Before the freeform DJs were installed one day, the station was selling its time in blocks to amateurs for programs like "The Chinese Hour" and "The Polka Hour" etc. Really.

In addition to hiring unusually knowledgeable and creative DJs, along with musically astute women board operators, Donahue also had vision enough to hire a very funny man who was a sometimes radio guy and a sometimes theatre director as the station's Production Director. His job was, of course, to produce the commercials, PSAs and promos for the station. In addition to himself, he used the talent that existed in-house. His name was (and still is) Roland Jacopetti and he remains a dear and close friend. He still does a weekly radio show in Marin County just for the fun of it.

Roland was very creative and began writing these little 60-second stories, or serial-ads that went on for several commercials through the course of a week. They were interesting and often funny and always brought you to remembering the sponsor, one way or another. Most importantly, they were devoid of pretension and bullshit and were as refreshing and amusing as the music was expansive and exciting.

Along with some of the other DJs, I had a knack for doing accents and becoming different characters in Roland's brief radio plays. Roland also knew other talent from the San Francisco theater and comedy scene that would drop in, sometimes for pay if the sponsor would go for it, and sometimes they would just do stuff for the fun of it.

The ads went over in a huge way and, I think I've mentioned this before, listeners would call in with requests for some of the ads as well as for songs. That was an absolute first in radio! (It does not have to be the last!)

When the Sales Manager told some of the advertising agencies who wanted to buy time on our increasingly popular station that we preferred to do the commercials ourselves, most of them, certainly the national agencies, wouldn't hear of it. That was undercutting their creative raison d'être and they flatly refused. If we wouldn't take their commercials, whatever they were, they said they simply wouldn't buy us.

This tug-of-war started when some of the DJs complained about some of the ads that came in being so offensive and so "not in the spirit of what we were doing." We lobbied the General Manager and Sales Manager against a few particularly awful ads and begged the owner to refuse the buy. At first we were told to save our breath. What radio station turns away an ad buy if its time isn't sold out?

So Roland and the air staff kept creating funny and lovely ads and I was also able to do really solid, straight ads, and KMPX still accepted agency-produced ads as the station's popularity kept growing. And growing. And it kept growing up to the point where we were often sold out for a good portion of the week.

And the rates went up and we were still getting sold out while producing more and more local ads with our own talent. Popularity, as fickle as it can be, certainly imparts power, so it's a sound business as well as creative choice to do things consistently well enough to have your listeners love what you're doing and keep giving them strong reasons to stay with you. KMPX got to where it was turning down agency buys out of New York and LA because we had enough local San Francisco advertisers that we didn't need the national ads.

Then Roland began using other talent in the city, like members of the great and funny improvisational theater group, The Committee, and the station's ads got even better. With our in-house talent and the city's overall talent, and Roland writing and directing most of it, our entertaining ads became an asset to our programs instead of a necessary liability. I mean... why not? If you can do it... why not do it?

Eventually, some of the national agencies came around and bought time giving us the main material they wanted to get out and leaving it up to us to produce spots in a way that was consistent with our overall output. Mainly, our point was that we didn't want to offend our listeners with bullshit. The agencies had to approve the ads before they went on the air, but it was still revolutionary in the way radio operated. Some agencies who had barely tolerated us at first, had to swallow their pride and play ball with us because we so owned the 18 to 35 demographic they so wanted to reach in the Bay Area. That was all part of the amazing transformation that was underway at that time.

Now we are in another time, but there is a concept here that can and should be utilized. What you broadcast is what you broadcast, every last second of it. Like... if a song has one bad note in it, the beauty and the ability of the song to touch someone is shattered. Period!

If your broadcast attracts a listener and holds that listener because it touches her or him with something --- the beauty of the music, its power, the pleasure of an unusual and exciting segue, great new music that they're hearing for the first time, some fun or interesting information sprinkled on top --- why would you ever want to stop the pleasure to have some insincere rent-a-voice hyping something or just reducing the comfort and the high you're feeling from the great music and the good company of the person on the air? First order of a good DJ is to be a good companion. In the house I share with my wife, Lori, we don't let in fools of any kind. There's a "No Bozos sticker of the front door. When I'm on the air with you, I don't ever want to let liars and hustlers into the space we're sharing either.

Radio broadcasts are a one-on-one conversation between the DJ and the artists he or she plays, and the listener. At least that's what it can be if the DJ is honest, interesting and worth listening to and the music is well selected. If some unpleasant person keeps interrupting that conversation with jive-ass crap and empty hustle, often backed by uninspired jingles, the connection won't sustain in a meaningful way. It doesn't happen in regular life and it won't happen on the radio if the interruptions are stupid, phony or are simply bad sound. Commercials don't have to be bad! In fact, they serve the sponsor better when listeners enjoy listening to them and come away with a pleasant and positive impression of the sponsor.

So -- in creating broadcasting of any kind that you want to make successful, that gathers and holds loyal listeners, you can do it as a non-profit with so-called "sponsorships" and "Brought-to-you-Bys" that are plain and inoffensive, at least, and give some recognition to the outfits that are footing the bills, which is appropriate, ...or you can have a commercial enterprise that makes money but take care to not do damage to the essence of what you're doing with lesser quality output.

One question you and your owner need to ask is: Is it worth it to your enterprise to attract an audience with beautiful and dynamic music programming and interesting and solid DJs and, at the same time, offend or even bore that audience with content that will turn them away?

A second question you might also ask: Is it necessary to carry content, commercial or otherwise, that is below the standards and the reasons the listener came to you in the first place, in order to make a living? ---> No, it isn't necessary! In fact, it's bad business. Look for long term success and build your station with strong foundations at every corner. If you know your audience, then you should probably know what will turn them on and what may turn them off. A final question: Is it worth it to the enterprise to bring displeasure from any source down to a minimum, whether it's programming, on-air talent, technical quality, or commercial content. If the answer to that is yes, then just do it.

For your part, Ray, if you believe that you are capable of making those judgment calls, then let that be known, make those calls, trust your own judgment, and build a broadcasting station that will be successful and that you can be proud of. Do not allow a time frame to be put on it ("I need this baby to be born in five and a half months. I can't afford to wait for nine months!"), and build it properly at every step from the bottom up. If you plan to hire the best freeform programmers, consider also hiring a commercial production team or person to create effective and enjoyable commercial content so that you don't have to put your station's ass out on the street for anybody to poke if they have the money. Think holistically about your entire output, and the project will have a cohesive, satisfying and ultimately successful result.

Onward and Upward,
EB

[meherc]

Barry, as I commented on this the other day, when all of my posts disappeared,. it was on one day and off that afternoon. I really needed to listen to it. I also tried calling the KRUSH and the number I was given was wrong. They've been turned over to the big boys too. Let's find out who took it over and bombard them with complaints.

I don't know..but I'm not happy! This is going to affect my commute for sure! It was a great station and I turned a lot of people on to it!

[Dixon]

Commercial radio will broadcast anything that promises a larger listenership with minimal long-term investment. If some station in Alaska got higher ratings in the 18-35 demographic for non-stop broadcast of elephants farting, guess what?

Where on the dial can I find that elephant fart station? It'd certainly be better than most of what's broadcast. It'd be sort of avant garde. Or derriere garde?

[Dixon]

I suggest we all call the station and ask why they changed, and then report what we've been told on Wacco. I plan to call on Monday.

Hey, Roland, what's their phone number?

[lindasw]

588-0707 wine country radio...debbie moore, general manager

[Roland Jacopetti]

Well, Dixon, that's a good question. Go to Wine Country Radio on line and click on 95.5. What I get is Facebook. I think the actual number is 588-0777, and I plan to call it after 9AM, which is about ten minutes from right now. Keep in touch.
Roland

Hey, Roland, what's their phone number?

[Roland Jacopetti]

Or maybe it's 588-0707. You never can tell.
Roland

[Roland Jacopetti]

Hello, again. Well, I made the call to 588-0707, and got right through to the telephone answerer. I asked to speak to the station manager, and was connected to voicemail. I identified myself, asked why the change in format, and left my phone number. I called 588-0707, and using a transparently altered voice, asked the telephone answerer why the format change had been made. She said she didn't know, that comedy could still be heard on 24/7comedy.com, and gave me an email address to write to, which I didn't copy down. This completes the test of the emergency broadcast system.

Roland

[Roland Jacopetti]

Oh, now I see. Funny Radio is a canned format, that radio stations all over can buy and plug in as their format. As I thought from the beginning, none of what we were hearing on 95.5 was actually originated in Sonoma County. So, if you go to 24/7comedy.com, what you get is all the material available to radio station subscribers to Funny Radio. Well, not exactly the same. If you mess around with 24/7comedy while you're driving, I think you're breaking the law. I still think it's a good idea to call KSXY locally, and register your opinion about the format change.

Roland

[WaterBird]

Thanks Roland for making the initial call.

I agree that we should make a campaign to deluge WCR with complaints and requests to bring it back. I Googled them and got a one page website with all their stations on there. Funny 95.5 is still shown but when I click on that logo it takes me to FB and my own page. There is no email on the site for WCR (strange, what if I wanted to advertise on there?), only a phone number, so I guess we have no choice but to call them , the number again is 588-0707, fax is 588-0777 if you want to fax a message.

Obviously this station was uplifting for many, so let's at least take a stab at it.

Thanks!

Raye Elaine

[WaterBird]

Managed to get the email address from the receptionist, she sounded a bit annoyed, so she may be getting a lot of calls.

[email protected]

Lets go for it!

Raye

[auntjennifer]

Try leaving a message for the general manager at Wine Country Radio, Debbie Moore, letting her know that you are one of many KSXY listeners who are not happy campers! This was A GREAT station that offered us yuks and giggles and the opportunity to hear both new and old comedians. Bummer. This is the time of year that the Arbitron ratings come out (these are the radio ratings that owners and GM's rely on to gauge ratings, listeners, etc.)..I checked the stats for September and Funny 95.5 is not in the top 20, but it isn't the absolute worst with the numbers either. WC Radio could have new owners who decided that the crappy format they just switched it to is more in line with the Sonoma County listener's demographic...bah...who knows the method to their madness might be. All i know is that we sure do miss "getting our laugh on" (thanks Wanda Sykes) and that this is a real mistake and disappointment. Call! Write! email! Let them know!

I just spoke with Debbie Moore, the general manager. She said the decision was made by the owners, and it was made for fiscal reasons. She said they were not able to get enough advertisers, nor the loyal fan base that made it worth keeping. I told her that the music they were now playing could be heard anywhere, and since they were no longer offering a true alternative, I would no longer be tuning into their station. I asked if there was any chance the owners would change it back, and she said she really doubted it. So there it is.

[Roland Jacopetti]

Hi, again, Waccodoxics. Actually, Bear makes an error here. I never did work at KMPX - I believe their Director of Production was Paul Boucher. When Tom Donahue approached Metromedia in 1968 and sold them on the KMPX notion of free form radio, they purchased a nearly defunct classical music station with the provocative call letters KSAN. Boucher continued as Production Director until 1970, when he was moved to the Program Director post and I was hired as Production Director. I had done a few radio ads at KMPX in '67, working with Boucher and with my old pals from Berkeley theater, the psychedelic comedy group The Congress of Wonders. And I did meet Bear when he was at KMPX. Confused? Find out more about the glory days of free form radio at Jive95.com.

Hi, again, Waccohedrons [I love it! -Barry]. Coincidentally, I received this post from my old friend Edward Bear today....

[seenhear]

I just spoke with Debbie Moore, the general manager. She said the decision was made by the owners, and it was made for fiscal reasons. She said they were not able to get enough advertisers, nor the loyal fan base that made it worth keeping. I told her that the music they were now playing could be heard anywhere, and since they were no longer offering a true alternative, I would no longer be tuning into their station. I asked if there was any chance the owners would change it back, and she said she really doubted it. So there it is.

Yesterday, I emailed Debbie at the email address above, and got the following response a couple hours later:

from:		Debbie Morton
to:		seenhear
date:		Wed, Oct 9, 2013 at 3:13 PM
subject:		RE: Bring back 24/7 comedy, please!

Thanks for your feedback, I'll pass it along.

Debbie

From: seenhear
Sent: Wednesday, October 09, 2013 1:04 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Bring back 24/7 comedy, please!


Hello Debbie,I've heard through the virtual grape vine that the decision to remove 24/7 comedy from the Sonoma County radio waves was made in part due to the lack of a fan base. I have to say, nearly everyone I know around Santa Rosa misses that station and does not choose to listen to the replacement light rock music. I understand that the decision was not yours, but as manager of the local radio station franchise, you must have some influence or ability to inform the decision makers. I hope you'll do your best to bring back 24/7 comedy's stream to the SoCo airwaves! Tuning to an internet stream isn't possible in the majority of cars on the road!

Thank you,
seenhear

[lindasw]

just read your e-mail to miz moore at wine country radio....the inside scoop is that the owner just woke up one morning and decided to change the format, bounce around long-time people's scheduling and to fire some long-time staff...

But here's the craziest part with the excuses about advertisers not wanting to fund this station. typically, when the advertising dollars are down, and as long as your arbitron numbers aren't in the toilet, you don't change the stations's format! you change or re-inspire your sales and marketing teams to get on the stick and start approaching a broader range of possibilities!! if all else fails, then you change it up if you have to---that is, if you're truly needing to make some bucks as a station owner---unless its just that one has too much dough, too much time on his hands, and too little to do between golf sets--and this is what you do when bored! either way, this owner seems like one of the rare few who has no bead on the market that he's serving...otherwise, he would have understood how this county truly welcomed, embraced and supported this new, funny and exciting --and one-of-a-kind!---radio station.

what a sad loss.....no offense to the listeners of KZST but do we really need another one of those? and, i'd bet the ranch that all the advertisers supporting them aren't going to switch their advertising $$$ over to this new second rate, KZST knock-off!

Hey, what happened to the comedy station? I went out of town for two days, came back and it is a pop station? What happened. Their website is down and so is their Facebook page. Anybody know the scoop and if there is any way to get it back? It was so great to drive around laughing!

[WaterBird]

Hi Everyone,

Thanks for keeping this alive! I too have multiple friends that are disappointed and dont want to listen to the new station. Maybe if we keep making noise about it we can get it back. It's worth a try. I did email Debbie but got no reply. I did mention to her how many reads there were on this thread, and that it was a good thing for the county to have people driving around laughing instead of stressing out about traffic or work or whatever. Laughter is good medicine!

just read your e-mail to miz moore at wine country radio....the inside scoop is that the owner just woke up one morning and decided to change the format, bounce around long-time people's scheduling and to fire some long-time staff...

But here's the craziest part with the excuses about advertisers not wanting to fund this station. typically, when the advertising dollars are down, and as long as your arbitron numbers aren't in the toilet, you don't change the stations's format! you change or re-inspire your sales and marketing teams to get on the stick and start approaching a broader range of possibilities!! if all else fails, then you change it up if you have to---that is, if you're truly needing to make some bucks as a station owner---unless its just that one has too much dough, too much time on his hands, and too little to do between golf sets--and this is what you do when bored! either way, this owner seems like one of the rare few who has no bead on the market that he's serving...otherwise, he would have understood how this county truly welcomed, embraced and supported this new, funny and exciting --and one-of-a-kind!---radio station.

what a sad loss.....no offense to the listeners of KZST but do we really need another one of those? and, i'd bet the ranch that all the advertisers supporting them aren't going to switch their advertising $$$ over to this new second rate, KZST knock-off!

[Barrie]

I really miss Funny 95.5, it was a huge disappointment when I realized that it was gone. It was perfect for driving around town, doing errands, etc. If there's any chance of getting it back I'll write the station owner a letter. Maybe they weren't appealing to the right advertisers. Barrie

Hi Everyone,

Thanks for keeping this alive! I too have multiple friends that are disappointed and dont want to listen to the new station. Maybe if we keep making noise about it we can get it back. It's worth a try. I did email Debbie but got no reply. I did mention to her how many reads there were on this thread, and that it was a good thing for the county to have people driving around laughing instead of stressing out about traffic or work or whatever. Laughter is good medicine!

[Barrie]

I still miss KVRE too. Who do we call to ask for Funny 95.5 back?

You're right, Conrad. Stations often change format like they change their socks, and often don't say a word about it on the air. "Oh, no, we've always been this way." I listened to that "light rock" for about twenty minutes, then turned it off, never to be turned on again unless someone tells me they turned it on and heard Jerry Seinfeld or Lewis Black or George Carlin. Too bad. I suggest we all call the station and ask why they changed, and then report what we've been told on Wacco. I plan to call on Monday.

Roland