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Paul Berry
6 to 10am

Programming Schedule

Tuesday May 13, 2008
Ut Health Center Tyler
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ASK THE GENERAL MANAGER

Use the form to the right to communicate with our General Manager!

Paul Gleiser-Owner/General Manager of KDOK

This is your chance to ask our owner and general manager, Paul Gleiser, any question you may have about past, current or future programming, radio legislation, the future of broadcasting in general, photography, aviation, how he thinks the [insert any sports franchise here] will do this year or basically anything you want to ask. Not all questions will be answered here.

See below to read the questions and responses.
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Table of Contents


QUESTIONS/RESPONSES


QUESTION:

Is there ANYWAY to download some of the songs that ya'll play to my cell/mp3 player? I LOVE the music and streaming isn't available if I'm flying.

ANSWER:

The songs we play can be downloaded but WE can't offer the download. That would be an infringement on the rights of the record companies that own the recordings.

Free dowload of mp3s has always been illegal. Now it is being vigorously prosecuted by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), the recording industry trade association.

That's why websites such as Napster and Kazaa were forced to quit offering free music downloads.

I'm afraid that you'll need an account with a legal music download site such as iTunes in order to download the music we play.

We do appreciate, however, the fact that you like what we play sufficiently to want to download it.

Thanks for your interest and I hope I have answered your question.

Paul Gleiser

QUESTION:

Why can I listen to other Texas stations without subscription and without living there, and you require both?

ANSWER:

The quick answer is because the other radio stations do not broadcast 100% of their over-the-air programming on the internet. In almost all cases, they separate at the commercial breaks and run either fill music or commercials that are locally produced and do not employ announcers or actors that are members of the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA). Many have a completely separate automated music service that they stream over the internet, playing the same music that they play on the air but without the simultaneous content of the terrestrial signal.

AFTRA is the national union that represents performers that appear on television and radio programs and commercials. Early in the lifetime of internet radio station streaming, AFTRA took the position that their master contract, to which almost all national advertising agencies are signatory, did not include performace over the internet. AFTRA maintains that streaming over the internet constitutes a performance of the work that is separate and distinct from performance over the air. AFTRA believes that their members are entitled to additional compensation for that additional performance.

As a result, national advertisers began stipulating in their ad buys that the commercials they placed could not be included in radio station audio streams. This had enormous operational and logistical implications.

The immediate impact on us was profound. Our streaming provider at the time, Yahoo! Broadcast, the successor to Broadcast.com, Mark Cuban's company, terminated their contract with us rather than run the risk of us streaming them an AFTRA commercial which could lead to Yahoo! being named in a suit.

The capital outlay necessary to install a system that will automatically separate the audio streams when a commercial break starts is not supported by the potential revenue. I simply decided that the costs far outweighed the benefits.

And that led me to develop the model that you now see. We limit our streaming to those who are already entitled to hear our audio over the air. We use audio streaming as an enhancement to our terrestrial signal, making it easier to hear the station in workplaces and buildings that are not structurally friendly to radio. The subscription simply provides a mechanism for us, via the billing zip code of a credit card, to establish legitimate residency within our ARBITRON-defined metro area (ARBITRON is the national research firm that conducts radio station ratings). It's not about the fee for us. We do not keep it. We donate it to the Boys & Girls Clubs of East Texas.

We are taking the position, so far unchallenged, that simply repeating our audio signal on the internet within the geographic area we are already licensed to serve, and having an auditable mechanism to prove that, does not constitute performance over the World Wide Web and thus does not infringe upon the rights of AFTRA performers or anyone else.

Eventually, as the internet continues to grow in importance within the advertising industry, the "AFTRA problem" will probably be sorted out in a way that works for everybody.

In the meantime, however, for us it is either this model or no streaming at all.

Thanks for your interest and I hope I have answered your question.

Paul Gleiser

QUESTION:

Dear Sir, You claim to play Top 40 hits from the 60's and 70's, is this correct? If so I have NEVER heard the following #1 million dollar sellers of the 60's on KDOK 92.1FM:

I have listened to KDOK both daytime and nightime and have never heard these #1 top 40 hits? Can you explain why? Thank you in advance.

ANSWER:

Thank you for your interest and your question.

Your short list of songs barely scratches the surface of songs that were very successful when they were released that you almost never hear on the radio today.

The simple answer to your question as to why practically no radio station plays them is because they don't "test well."

Unlike the competitive landscape when these songs were new releases, today's marketplace for pairs of ears is unimaginably competitive. We compete now not only with other radio stations, but also with i-Pods, satellite radio, CD players and the internet for the attention of listeners.

The competition is intense and the stakes are very high.

Accordingly, we spend a great deal of time and money every year on listener research. We employ one of the best music research firms in the country. They come to Tyler, create a sample and test listener reaction to thousands of songs.

Percy Faith's "Theme from a Summer Place" is a good example. It happens to be one of my favorite cuts. My opinion of it, however, is not shared by the majority of listeners to KDOK in Tyler or listeners to Oldies stations around the country. Don't ask me why, because I cannot tell you. I think it's a great song. But a mountain of research on this title tells us that when it comes on, we will immediately lose listeners to tune-out as they seek something they like better. And unlike the day when Summer Place was new, the listener has an entire raft of listening choices that did not exist then. At one time, if you heard something on the radio that you didn't like, the sheer lack of choice caused you to stay put. Not today. Listeners will bail in an instant if they hear something they don't like. That is our reality.

Over-the-air radio, (called in the industry "terrestrial radio") walks a very fine line. On the one hand, if we play too many cuts that don't index high in our music research, we risk immediate and unforgiving tune out. On the other hand, if we get the playlist too tight, we risk alienation of listeners who become frustrated that they can't hear the music they like and seek what they want on satellite or i-Pod or the internet, the very competitors that force us to be so careful in the first place.

Your list is, with a couple of exceptions, a good one. Sukiyaki and Dominique came pretty close in their day to being what radio programmers call "novelty songs." They were hits because they represented such a strong departure from what was playing around them. When they died off, they weren't played much as "recurrents" and they enjoyed little airplay subsequent to dropping off the charts.

But the rest of your list is just solidly good music that, for some reason, has little following among the very people that at one time loved it. Some songs that were big No. 1 hits in their day are still very much liked by listeners. Some others, such as those you list, did not bring their once strong following into the 21st century. If you could quantify the reasons why, you'd be a very wealthy man.

Rest assured that we don't make any arbitrary decisions on music and that we are not governed by our personal tastes. The stakes are just too high for that today. Each and every song that we play is very carefully considered and is regularly reconsidered. The same goes for songs that we don't play. We retest songs that did not make the cut to see if their prolonged absence has caused hearts to grow fonder of them.

I hope this answers your question and I appreciate your interest.

Thanks for your interest.
Paul Gleiser


QUESTION:

I recall the "Old Days" when KDOK was on 1330 AM, located in downtown Tyler! Since I have not been in Tyler for many years, what happened to 1330 AM?

ANSWER:

We moved KDOK's call sign, format and legacy to 92.1 FM in 1994.

We continued to operate 1330 as a simulcast until 2003. We sold the station to a broadcaster who has gospel formats in markets around Texas and that's the format that is on the air now.

Thanks for your interest.
Paul Gleiser

QUESTION:

I live in Longview and as you might already know we have lost our oldies station to smooth jazz and soon to be rock (KFRO 95.3). I find that the signal for 92.1 is a little weak and fades in and out here. Can you do anything to help the signal's power? You now have a whole new listening fan club in Longview and that means more sales for this listening group if the signal can be increased for constant clearity. I'm on the tail end of the baby boomers and we have the money right now ; and you have our music! WIN--WIN situation. Help if you can, your oldies fan, Eddie

ANSWER:

Hi Eddie, we feel your pain.

Unfortunately, much as we'd like to, there is not a lot we can do to improve KDOK's coverage over Longview.

Our operating parameters are set by the FCC and are a part of our license. If we could increase KDOK's power or antenna height, the two variables that determine the coverage for an FM station, we would have already done so.

I appreciate your interest and I'm sorry you've lost your oldies station.
Paul Gleiser

QUESTION:

I hear a lot, lately, about "Voice Tracking" in regards to a lot of FM stations. What exactly is "Voice Tracking"? Also - do you use it for KDOK? If so what are the advantages and/or disadvantages associated with it?

ANSWER:

You asked a very astute question. You've been paying attention.

Voice tracking is a phenomenon in radio born of the computer age.

Most radio stations have all but ceased playing music and commercials from vinyl discs, compact discs and magnetic audio tape. The vast majority of radio stations today play all of the recorded matter they air, commercials and music included, from a computer hard disc.

Since it is possible to play music from a computer, indeed since it is possible to let the computer play the music almost totally unattended, it is also possible to pre-record the disc jockeys' record intros, time checks, image liners, etc., etc. (i.e. just about everything that a disc jockey says), and instruct the computer when to play each resulting voice track.

Voice tracking, then, is the utilization of computers and specialized software to SIMULATE the presence of a live disc jockey in the control room producing a show.

You asked what the advantage is. It's all about reducing costs. Voice tracking can be done in advance and doesn't have to be done in real time. That is to say, unlike doing it live on the air, you don't have to wait for each record to end and each commercial to end to record what you are going to say. You can record everything the announcer would say in a four hour air shift in about 30 minutes.

This, together with the ability to send a lot of data from one computer to another over the internet or via dedicated data circuits, makes it possible for one "disc jockey" to record voice tracks for multiple stations that all play the same format only in different cities. So, for the price of one disc jockey working in one studio, you can have a "virtual" disc jockey at dozens or even hundreds of radio stations.

I can't think of any group of radio stations that makes more use of voice tracking than the stations across the country owned by Clear Channel Communications of San Antonio. In Tyler, they own KNUE, KISX, KTYL and KKTX. Little of what you hear on these four radio stations originates in Tyler. Something between 16 and 20 hours of every day, depending on the station, is voice tracked in a studio in another city, most often in their case Austin, and uploaded to the computers here in Tyler.

And yes, we voice track, but not to a huge extent. We voice track parts of our evenings on KDOK and our overnights. We voice track these dayparts because there is not much audience available and even less revenue available. In managing our costs, it makes sense to spend the least amount of money on the dayparts that produce the least audience and revenue.

All other dayparts on KDOK are done the old fashioned way; a live disc jockey working in the studio on a single radio station in real time.

Even though the technology is very capable, it cannot recreate the energy, the hard-to-pin-down "X Factor", of having someone doing it for a real audience in real time with no chance to do it over if a mistake is made. And of course, no voice tracked disc jockey can talk about weather and traffic and current events that are happening in real time.

Thanks for taking the time to ask.
Paul Gleiser

QUESTION:

Why have you discontinued "Sounds of Sinatra" and "Dr. Demento"?

ANSWER:

We have heard from many of you concerning the recent cancellation of two programs that had been airing on KDOK; Sounds of Sinatra and The Dr. Demento Show. We cancelled them after a great deal of thought. The decision to cancel Sinatra was a particularly difficult one for me. I am a very big Sinatra fan and consider myself a fairly astute "Sinatraphile."

Just about every vocalist working today in very nearly every musical genre (with the possible exception of rap), traces his or her roots and owes an unpayable debt to Ol' Blue Eyes. I think it highly unlikely that there will ever again be a singer with a career to match Sinatra's. Having said that, it had become clear to all of us with bottom-line responsibility for KDOK that Sounds of Sinatra had ceased to be a good "fit" in the station's programming lineup.

In the 12 years that Sounds of Sinatra has been airing since I first bought KDOK, a significant demographic shift has taken place, and our core listener today is not the same listener as a decade ago -- and definitely not a core Sinatra fan. Sounds of Sinatra was increasingly out of place and that fact was plainly evident in the ratings. So with great sadness, I agreed with our programming department and we cancelled Sounds of Sinatra.

As for Dr. Demento, I personally like the show and have liked it for the many years it has been in production. I like it, that is, all except for the "blue" material. (For the uninitiated, "blue" is a term programmers use to describe material that is risque, profane, blatantly sexual or otherwise not fit for polite company.) As most recognize, this market is fairly conservative. As most know about me, I am fairly conservative. While I am no prude, I also am careful what I say in mixed company and around people I don't know. In other words, when in doubt, keep it clean.

The Dr. Demento show doesn't always keep it clean. In fact, it makes a sufficiently high number of references to bodily functions, anatomical features, sexual practices and the like that it offends a significant number of people. So while Dr. Demento is a good show, it's not so good that we have to risk being offensive.
Paul Gleiser

QUESTION:

Why have you stopped streaming your station on the internet...again!? Will it be back?

ANSWER:

KDOK has, once again, been forced to stop its streaming audio.

Yahoo! Broadcast, the service provider for our audio streaming, exercised their right to terminate the contract under which they were providing streaming service. They did so because of the recent action taken by the Library of Congress setting royalty payments to recording companies.

For many years, radio stations have paid royalties to the composers of the songs that are played on the radio. When internet streaming came along, the organizations that collect composer royalties, principally ASCAP and BMI, quickly put in place an equitable system for collecting modest royalties for songs played over the internet.

However, in an exemption that goes back to the early days of radio, stations have not historically paid the record companies any royalty for playing their recordings. The record companies recognized that radio stations served as a powerful promotion tool for record sales and have, accordingly, never sought payment for radio stations playing their recordings on the air.

That exemption does not extend to the internet. After a lengthy debate and a turn through the courts, a rate has been set for the playing of recordings over the internet. That price, together with a very burdensome record-keeping requirement, makes it economically unfeasible for radio stations to continue internet audio streaming.

We do not anticipate that KDOK will resume streaming in the foreseeable future.
We deeply regret the circumstances leading to this decision.
Paul Gleiser

QUESTION:

"Why does Dr. Bob sign off and say, "I'm Dr. Bob Peters and that's thirty?

ANSWER:

"In the days of linotype machines for setting type, multiple pages of copy contained the footer "-more-at bottom of each page". The end of the copy on the last page carried the footer "-30-". That told the typesetter in a definitive fashion that he had reached the end of his copy. Why "30"? No one I have ever asked knows. But the designation "30" has stuck as an indication of "the end".

Dr. Bob adopted this convention years ago when he was a neophyte broadcaster.
Hope this answers your question. Thanks for listening to us and thanks for taking the time to write".
Paul Gleiser

QUESTION:

"KTBB and KDOK appear to be major forces in the area as far as radio stations. What role do KEES and KGLD play? They appear to be rather weak links in your chain of stations".

ANSWER:

Yes, they are weak links. And that is because they have weak signals. The AM band, as it is currently constituted, is a prisoner of history. When the FCC was formed by the Communications Act of 1934, one of the FCC's principal mandates was to create order out of chaos in the allocation of frequencies to communities across the U.S. The Standard Broadcast band, what we call the AM band, occupied the range of frequencies from 540 kHz to 1600 kHz. It has since been extended up to 1700 kHz. One of the physical characteristics of radio waves in this band of frequencies is a phenomenon called the skywave. During the day, ionization of the atmosphere by the sun suppresses the skywave. At night, when the sun sets, the skywave is able to travel extraordinary distances.

The FCC of the early 30s had a balancing act to perform. On the one hand, the FCC wanted every community to have as much radio service as possible. On the other hand, if they had licensed fulltime, well-powered stations in every community, at night the interference would have been horrendous. So they struck a compromise. The allocated high-power, fulltime signals to large cities and they allocated lower power, daytime only stations to smaller communities. The theory was, when the sun set in Tyler, people here would at least be able to hear stations like WBAP from Ft. Worth and WOAI in San Antonio.

When the FM band became commercially viable beginning in the middle 70s, the value and usefulness of these low-power AM stations suffered greatly. In an attempt to compensate for this, the FCC has authorized many formerly daytime only stations to operate at night at severely reduced power. KGLD is an example of this.
With the prospect of digital broadcasting on the horizon, the FCC will soon be faced with some tough decisions regarding the AM band. Truth be told, a large number of the KGLDs of the world should really be taken off the air. But it's hard to say what will ultimately happen. I hope this answers your question. Thanks for writing.
Paul Gleiser

QUESTION:

"I listen to your station 5-8 hours everyday. I compared KTBB with at least 4 other stations. You have too many commercials. I know you have bills to pay, but when I can go to one station when your commercials start tune back in 10 minutes and am still hearing commercials. Don't worry I will always listen, but will tune out the never ending spots.?"

ANSWER:

There's a saying that perception is truth. And it seems to be your perception that we play more commercials than other radio stations in similar formats.

The truth, however, is that our commercial load is identical to other news and talk stations. That is because much of our programming is network-originated. The network leaves very specific holes for local commercial insert and we fill those holes. Try this: listen to KTBB AM 600 from 1 - 4 p.m. and compare us to WBAP 820. You'll find that we take our breaks at exactly the same time and the breaks are exactly the same length. In our locally-originated programming, we play 17 minutes of commercial matter per hour in a maximum of 19 units. (A :30 second commercial uses one unit but only half a minute.)

This is pretty much industry standard for news and talk stations. Now if your comparison was between KTBB and any of the music-formatted stations on the FM band, your perception is correct. Typically, music stations play 10 to 12 minutes of commercial matter per hour.

For example, our FM Oldies station, KDOK 92.1 FM, plays a maximum of 12 minutes or 14 units. It is the nature of the news and talk format that it permits more commercial matter. And yes, we do have bills to pay. A boatload of them. Thanks for taking time to write.
Paul Gleiser

QUESTION:

"A year ago, I found KDOK. Kudos to you and your staff, Mr. Gleiser. Just recently I've been hearing songs you were not playing until now. I love it! How does a radio station choose songs? Do you plan on adding more songs? I love the variety. It's exceptional. Thanks. "

ANSWER:

Thanks for your input, Elizabeth and thank you for the compliments. The FM band is one of the most competitive marketplaces on earth. There are, to be blunt, too many radio stations for the number of people available to listen and therefore, we must win a listener at the expense of one of our competitors.

In music formatted stations, music selection is a very critical component of a station's success. The radio industry has tried, with some success (but also to much excess), to make a science of music selection for programming radio stations. Almost every competitive radio station employs some form of music research and testing. We do as well. From time-to-time, we will employ an outside research firm to assemble a group of people that are representative of our target audience and we will play to that group of people "hooks" from the hundreds of songs available for us to program. From their reaction to those hooks, we will formulate a framework for our playlist.

Among the things we decide are, should we play the song?; if so, in what dayparts?; and how heavily should it be rotated? But ultimately, what we do is more art than science. When it finally comes down to it, we listen to our radio station and, utilizing a career's worth of knowledge of songs and artists, decide if a song should be added or deleted. It happens in formal programming meetings and it happens as we pass one another in the hallway ("Say, are we playing 'Does Anybody Know What Time it Is' by Chicago?) We are? What rotation is it in? I never hear it." or, "Let's back off of 'Unchained Melody' for a while. I think we're burning it up."

So the answer to your question is that we are adding, resting and deleting song titles on a daily basis. Thanks for taking time to write.
Paul Gleiser

QUESTION:

Paul, In general what age group do you feel KDOK has "hooked"??? Thanks for the updates daily on the stock market.

ANSWER:

Hi Connie,
KDOK is an oldies station. It is targeted at first-wave Baby Boomers. Our broad demographic target is adults 35 - 64. Our core listener is someone age 45 - 54.
Paul Gleiser

QUESTION:

How do I find a radio station that streams "Sounds of Sinatra"? WPHT in Philadelphia (Sid Mark's station) doesn't.

ANSWER:

Hi Bob. Here is the info we received, from Sid, on stations streaming Sounds of Sinatra:
www.960kabl.com Sunday 7-9pm PT
www.kjwl.com Sunday 9-11am and 9-11pm PT
This is info was valid as of 10/31/04 - and may be subject to change. Thanks!
Paul Gleiser

QUESTION:

Why am I being asked to enter a security code when using one of your forms?

ANSWER:

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