A few years ago, this would have been a five star review…read more
First the good: I've been listening to Mixx 96 since the day they went on the air, years ago. The DJs are amazing. I love Dave, Ann, RP and Jennifer. I really like their banter, their good rapport with each other and their laughter. Their community involvement is good, with great events and public service announcements. I love the good mix of music, old and new. They have good contests and giveaways. I even love that they sprinkle in holiday music at the right times, not too much but enough to keep in the spirit. They are still my favorite radio station - after all they are LOCAL to our Thurston county area.
Now for the not so good: The news reports should lead with more LOCAL news, and then maybe a bit of the national. I guarantee we've heard enough of the shootings in Paris, or California through many other news reports, but there is so little on the LOCAL big sports, school, theater or music events, and so little coverage on the new events right here in Thurston county. Need to LEAD with LOCAL news. They also need to keep up their social media pages a bit more, many of us now turn to that for more information since they don't have to answer the phone which they are often too busy to do, but can update their pages with info.
And now for the ugly: The traffic reports. This is why I tune in to Mixx 96, as my listening time is during my commute, most days. This is my highest priority in radio, thus the two stars in my review since this is my reason for listening. As I said, I've been part of their audience since they went on the air years ago and was lucky enough to be listening when they had the REAL Freeway Hero, who was on the ground, on the LOCAL roads and out there actually seeing our LOCAL traffic, accidents and road news right here in Thurston county. They had the BEST traffic reports back then, it was one of the reasons Mixx was so highly rated. (YOU remember, don't you?)
Then the bad economy happened and they got rid of that LOCAL traffic program, and hired some city yahoos sitting up in Seattle (SEATTLE!) to look at cameras, (guess what guys, we can get the cameras on our own phones now, doesn't tell us much, we need a real report) and these Seattle guys try to guess what is going on in our county in less than a two minute broadcast. And of course, THEY DON'T! Almost 80% of the time the traffic reports are what is going on UP IN THE SEATTLE AREA! Whassisname leads with what's happening in Federal Way, or even worse, talks about some accident that is blocking Pacific and turns out nope, it's not our Pacific exit on I-5 in Lacey, here in our LOCAL area, it is some Pacific up in Tacoma close to Federal Way and nothing to do with us and now we're confused. I've listened every single day and almost every single day they might say one tiny thing about the Olympia area, at the END of the traffic report but they rarely get the info I need, which is the accident that just happened and is causing a backup that I need to know about so I can take a different route so I'm not late for work. Far too often the Seattle guys say nothing about our county, and I'm left wishing I had known to get off at the state capitol exit because now I'm sitting for half an hour because of an accident I didn't know about. Or they say our county roads are all fine, and I'm shaking my head because I'm sitting in a backup they obviously missed because they aren't LOCAL! Those Seattle guys don't even know we HAVE a State Capitol exit and our own Pacific exit.
Don't get me wrong, it is fine to do a little bit of traffic up north or down south because yes, some people are driving that way and probably are interested, though they could switch to a Seattle station for that if they needed it and were traveling outside our county. But news flash! This is Thurston County, and the majority of people listening to OUR radio station here in Olympia want OUR LOCAL traffic to be right here in Thurston county. We want someone back on the road, driving around seeing what is going on, and yes, viewing the cameras HERE to see what they can't see from the Freeway Hero van, and yes, getting calls from local people to give you updates on side roads (ANSWER THE PHONE!) - but mostly we want OUR LOCAL commute info, which 80% of your listeners are LOCAL drivers and most of us listen to your station during our commute to get LOCAL traffic while we are trying to get to work.
C'mon Mixx 96. The good economy is coming back and we want our Freeway Hero to return to the LOCAL streets and the Thurston county roads, and our LOCAL traffic reports back again as it used to be. I think some budget shifting needs to happen here. I'll be happy to update my review to a 5 stars,if that happens. Because the DJs and the rest of the broadcast deserves it. And because I'll still be listening, because this is my LOCAL radio station.
