Comment/Question: I'm a Londoner who moved to St Louis in 2009 and started listening to 100.3 almost as soon as the station launched. My complaint is that the British artists you choose to break onto the St Louis network are never properly followed up with new singles.
 
The Script are a good example of this. 100.3 repeatedly plays their 2008 release "Breakeven" but The Script have since released 3 more singles, their 2010 release "For The First Time" having reached #4 in the UK.

You've flogged La Roux's June 2009 "Bulletproof" to death but won't play "I'm Not Your Toy". Other huge British artists making waves in Europe such as Paloma Faith, Ellie Goulding, Plan B and Eliza Doolittle haven't been phased in either.

I know you've got to cater to the demand. But please, freshen up your selection because I'm finding I have to turn off and find another station, not because I'm a Briton looking for British music, but because so much of your "popular" music is dated. I would hate to h  ave to endure the plasticky trash 107.7 spits out as an alternative. - Caroyln

Answer: Hi Carolyn!  Love London!  You must miss it terribly.  Anyway welcome to Missouri and thanks for your note.  There is truly a ton of great music from the UK the EU that never connects in the states and I have never understood why that is. 

We did try to play the follow up Script single and though it was very good, it just did not connect with people here.  And I've never even heard of some of the other groups you mentioned but I'm glad to know of them now from you!  (We did not play LaRoux, actually.)

Honestly, we try to follow listener suggestions and to go by what is hot in area music stores and downloads, and we use our own music tastes as a last resort.  So please do suggest anything new that you think we should be considering, and by all means include it on the You Guys Should Play This page on our website!  We've played some pretty different stuff based on suggestions like yours.

Comment/Question: Dear the Sound, I love your station for the music like driving into work listening to "Beautiful Day" by U2, but now love your station even more that your "presenter" Alan Cox isn't afraid to voice his liberal opinions on air. 

I agree 100% with him wishing happy birthday to the abortion pill.  We don't all have to agree on the abortion issue but should be able to celebrate another choice for women in this country, a  choice that has been available around the world for much longer than here.  Its a choice that is private and personal and should be left up to each woman in consultation with her family, doctor and her god.

So, thanks to your DJ for supporting more choices for women!  My family will continue to listen to your station!

Answer: Hi Kate!  Thanks for your note and nice compliments.  We just encourage our presenters to be real and to be themselves.  Seems there are already plenty of deejays in STL who are just uninteresting voices, so if you like Alan we really appreciate that you get how he's trying to be different.

When 100.3 changed formats on the day after Christmas 2009, I was listening excitedly on iHeart Radio in Atlanta, where I was packing furiously to move to St Louis to be the station's program director.

But despite my excitement, management told me that 100.3 was "signal challenged," meaning that our transmitter could not reach everyone in the St Louis area.  They said I should have reasonable expectations of success with such a little station. 

But when I arrived on January 1, I was so wowed at the response The Sound had gotten from listeners!  People were installing antennas to pick us up better and going out of their way to stream us on the internet.   

When we hired Todd, Tessa and Alan, I was as proud of their work as I was of the music playlist and the concept of "Modern Music For St Louis."   I only wished that more people could hear us!

Well, the big secret that we've been keeping is ... a NEW TRANSMITTER! 

Daryl and Dave, the most incredible engineers on the planet, fired that big monster up yesterday (9/30) and I think I saw a blinding nuclear flash when the thing went on-air.  

I live right across Forest Park from the studios on Hampton/I-40 and couldn't get the station on my radio in the kitchen - but boy, I can now!  Booyah! 

We've heard from a lot of people who are getting 100.3 clearer, and I hope you notice a big improvement on your radio as well.

Thank you for listening to our "little station that could."  Watch out other St Louis stations, because we're one of the big dogs now. 


Jeff