Another log on the fire please

Camilles 'slag' of Coast 105.4 was a little off point.

"Wrong, wrong, wrong. If we are not careful, the music of our youth will simply be put through the blender and poured out as the allegedly 'timeless' but actually vanilla-flavoured stuff that they play on Coast. It will be piped through our retirement villages and we will forget that those decades actually did have some edge."

Coast Liner: "All the songs the other stations have forgotten" - Solid Gold have reason for skipping these whatever that is, and ZB's Nostalgia is really for over 60's. "Unforgettable Music" in Papatoetoe has returned on 106.7LPFM and wether it has anything to do with the arrival of Coast or not, this is a different colour again of the same crooner/boomer gap.

So its a slice of a musical pie that appeals to 45-59 years olds?
I listened to Jackie / Jaquie / Jacqui today (10-3) and while she invited us to email her, she only once specified how to spell her name. (the last sp was correct). I did however get a feel for Coast, and it sounds similar to Craig Newlands Goodtime Classics 1521 in Tauranga. In other words - an oldies 'hop'. I heard a mix of MOR sing along Carpenters/ABBA with Little Peggy March. It was pretty cheesy, and at times perfect for the older pink dollar but certainly gives competition to elevator music.
Mark Perry, err, I mean Mark Morgan is virtually On Air after 3pm (see: voicetracked considering he is a pirate on Hauraki in the mornings), so I can expect to hear him drop 3 more octaves to fit into the music, although he may go so low I may only hear silence when he does a break.

Seems to me, Coast is designed to suck up the Cool Blue loss through a small straw, and slide in as ZB's older brother as a sports massage. Camille may like to reconsider.

This week however, Diana Balham at The Listener made good with a complimentary piece on Times FM up there in Orewa:

"Rodneyites had to put up with weak signals from Auckland stations, and you can bet your triple-scoop hokey-pokey ice-cream that the good people from Warkworth, Helensville and Snells Beach didn't rate that too highly"

You may like to read the rest of the review here. I have been a friend of Times FM for almost a year now, having produced their 2004 Station Imaging from my CustomCuts Audio Production company (shameless self promotion!), but also watching that market's growth with one eye for a future home, and business venture.

Their 89.9 and 96.6 frequencies (great numbers huh?) get into most parts of Auckland and primarily cover the Rodney/Hibiscus Coast area right up through Whangarei. If you're reading from afar, then just think of your Radioworks Localworks station mixed with Classic Hits, or dare I say IXX or Coromandel FM, and you have community content mixed with safe AC/HotAC music plus a new breakfast host fresh outta Wanganui (who is already making an impact), plus Times FM are a child of Times Media, which also produces the Rodney Times Newspaper - so there are resources a-plenty.
Once Times FM purchases a transmitter capable of 5kw, they'll finally broadcast to their licensed power and reach further afield.