History TearJerker / Radio

* When a station changes formats, especially from a popular or rare style to one less desired (e.g., Christian radio corporation Educational Media is buying up AAA stations and grand old rock institutions like WPLJ and repeating its signal, turning them into identical, bland, automated ChristianRock stations, all called K-Love). Sometimes, [=DJs=] are given time to prepare [[NetworkFinale a last goodbye]], others [[NoEnding not.]]

*** Hope will find a way: Just before the end, AAA "Smart Rock" KCSN of Cal State Northridge and KSBR (mostly jazz) of Saddleback Community College merged and renamed themselves "The New 88.5". Six months later, Andy Chanley, the signature voice of KSWD, took over afternoon broadcasting, followed by KSWD regulars Julie Slater, Lesley James, Mimi Chen and several others, with an essentially KSWD format. The ''old'' KSWD. The website sported pictures of Music/NeilYoung, Music/TomPetty, Music/TheBeatles, and so on, and the words "You Deserve Better Radio." As if it weren't obvious enough, KCSN as of September 2022 has started calling themselves "The [=SoCal=] Sound."

** By 2010, when Music/MichaelJackson died, this was no longer done to such a massive degree. [=DJs=] played one or two songs and then went back to the regular format, albeit with news updates. (To be fair, many stations did this at the news of Lennon's shooting, before it was known that he had died.) However, some rock stations devoted several consecutive hours' worth of programming to [[Music/{{Rush}} Neil Peart's passing]].

---> ''This has been KSWD Los Angeles. This is The Sound.
---> And this dream will self-destruct in three, two --''

* When a station changes formats, especially from a popular or rare style to one less desired (e.g., Christian radio corporation Educational Media is buying up AAA stations and repeating its signal, turning them into identical, bland, automated ChristianRock stations, all called K-Love). Sometimes, [=DJs=] are given time to prepare [[NetworkFinale a last goodbye]], others [[NoEnding not.]]

** And to KSWD, 100.3 "The Sound" in Los Angeles, where programming director Dave Beasing made no secret of the management and staff's respect for pioneering rock station KMET, and the announcers (real LA residents, not voice-tracked robots 1000 miles away) made a point of connecting with the audience as personally as possible. Then owner Entercom merged with Creator/{{CBS}} and was forced to "divest" two of its stations and on November 16, 2017, The Sound left the air forever, replaced with K-Love. The outpouring of grief and love from listeners and staff alike lasted over a month, and the station's final moments can be found on [=YouTube=].

*** Hope will find a way: Just before the end, AAA "Smart Rock" KCSN of Cal State Northridge and KSBR (mostly jazz) of Saddleback Community College merged and renamed themselves "The New 88.5". Six months later, Andy Chanley, the signature voice of KSWD, took over afternoon broadcasting, followed by KSWD regulars Julie Slater, Lesley James, Mimi Chen and several others, with an essentially KSWD format. The website sported pictures of Music/NeilYoung, Music/TomPetty, Music/TheBeatles, and so on, and the words "You Deserve Better Radio." As if it weren't obvious enough, KCSN as of September 2022 has started calling themselves "The [=SoCal=] Sound."

*** Hope will find a way: Just before the end, AAA "Smart Rock" KCSN of Cal State Northridge and KSBR (mostly jazz) of Saddleback Community College merged and renamed themselves "The New 88.5". Six months later, Andy Chanley, the signature voice of KSWD, took over afternoon broadcasting, followed by KSWD regulars Julie Slater, Lesley James, Mimi Chen and several others, with an essentially KSWD format. The website sported a picture of Music/NeilYoung and the words "You Deserve Better Radio." As if it weren't obvious enough, KCSN as of September 2022 has started calling themselves "The [=SoCal=] Sound."

--> ''This has been KSWD Los Angeles. This is The Sound.
--> And this dream will self-destruct in three, two --''
*** Hope will find a way: Just before the end, AAA "Smart Rock" KCSN of Cal State Northridge and KSBR of Saddleback Community College merged and renamed themselves "The New 88.5". Six months later, Andy Chanley, the signature voice of KSWD, took over afternoon broadcasting, followed by Julie Slater, Lesley James, Mimi Chen and several others, with an essentially KSWD format. The website sported a picture of Music/NeilYoung and the words "You Deserve Better Radio." As if it weren't obvious enough, KCSN as of September 2022 has started calling themselves "The SoCal Sound."

* When a station changes formats, especially from a popular or rare style to one less desired (e.g., Christian radio corporation Educational Media is buying up AAA stations and repeating its signal, turning them into identical, bland, ChristianRock stations, all called K-Love). Sometimes, [=DJs=] are given time to prepare [[NetworkFinale a last goodbye]], others [[NoEnding not.]]

** And to KSWD, 100.3 "The Sound" in Los Angeles, where programming director Dave Beasing made no secret of the management and staff's respect for pioneering rock station KMET, and the announcers (real LA residents, not voice-tracked robots 1000 miles away) made a point of connecting with the audience as personally as possible. Then owner Entercom merged with Creator/{{CBS}} and was forced to "divest" two of its stations and The Sound left the air forever, replaced with K-Love. The outpouring of grief and love from listeners and staff alike lasted over a month, and the station's final moments can be found on [=YouTube=].

*** If you want to learn more and possibly help, look up "[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De-extinction de-extinction]]", "re-wilding" and "re-breeding", and NewAgeRetroHippie Stewart Brand's "Revive & Restore" project.

* Casey Kasem always used to do "Long Distance Dedications" on his "American Top 40" radio countdown shows. One from the late 1970s was particularly moving; it was one from a young woman to her older brother, who'd ran away awhile back. The woman hoped that her beloved, much-missed brother would hear what she had to say and come back home. The song she decided to dedicate to her brother was "This One's for You" by Barry Manilow.
** Almost every single goddamn Long Distance Dedication ever on American Top 40 was a TearJerker... one reason Casey, a dedicated vegan and animal lover, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6gPSSYxex0 went ballistic over a little dog named Snuggles]].

** Special mention goes out to the end of Detroit’s [[https://youtu.be/KdDJHgBE2_E “105.1 The Groove”]]. It starts out with a Barry White speech/song and keeps getting worse...and this from a format around for only ''two years'' . [[note]] At least its immediate replacement, “Magic”, was around for much longer (2001-2011), though as of 2021 it’s hip-hop station “The Bounce.” [[/note]]

** And to KSWD, 100.3 "The Sound" in Los Angeles, where programming director Dave Beasing made no secret of the management and staff's respect for pioneering rock station KMET, and the announcers (real LA residents, not voice-tracked robots 1000 miles away) made a point of connecting with the audience as personally as possible. Then owner Entercom merged with CBS and was forced to "divest" two of its stations and The Sound left the air forever, replaced with K-Love. The outpouring of grief and love from listeners and staff alike lasted over a month, and the station's final moments can be found on [=YouTube=].

** And to KSWD, 100.3 "The Sound" in Los Angeles, where programming director Dave Beasing made no secret of the management and staff's respect for pioneering rock station KMET, and the announcers (real LA residents, not voice-tracked robots 1000 miles away) made a point of connecting with the audience as personally as possible. Then owner Entercom merged with CBS and was forced to "divest" two of its stations and The Sound left the air forever, replaced with K-Love. The outpouring of grief and love from listeners and staff alike lasted over a month, and the station's final moments can be found on YouTube.

** Almost every single goddamn Long Distance Dedication ever on American Top 40 was a TearJerker.

** That's the [[http://birdnote.org/show/song-kauai-oo kauai oo]]. There is a [[http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2004/12/20/184723/82 whale who's apparently going through the same thing]].

** At noon on January 27th, 2020, all radio stations in the UsefulNotes/LosAngeles area went silent for one minute to mark the sudden loss of not a musician, but an athlete: Kobe Bryant.

** By 2010, when Music/MichaelJackson died, this was no longer done to such a massive degree. DJs played one or two songs and then went back to the regular format, albeit with news updates. (To be fair, many stations did this at the news of Lennon's shooting, before it was known that he had died.) However, some rock stations devoted several consecutive hours' worth of programming to [[Music/{{Rush}} Neil Peart's passing]].
** At noon on January 27th, 2020, all radio stations in the Los Angeles area went silent for one minute to mark the sudden loss of not a musician, but an athlete: Kobe Bryant.
* When a station changes formats, especially from a popular or rare style to one less desired (e.g., Christian radio corporation Educational Media is buying up AAA stations and repeating its signal, turning them into identical, bland, ChristianRock stations, all called K-Love). Sometimes, DJs are given time to prepare [[NetworkFinale a last goodbye]], others [[NoEnding not.]]