Charleston Off-Topic

[krazeeboi]

Oh yeah, I guess the alphabetical order would explain it.

[Spartan]

Good call

[krazeeboi]

Some observations here after my day trip to Charleston yesterday.

I've walked around downtown Charleston before, but never as extensively as I did, along with my siblings, yesterday. So I noticed some things that I haven't previously noticed, and that one doesn't tend to notice while driving (except the first one).

I think it would be good if the street signs were on the mast part of the stoplights for easier visual reference. Sometimes they are hard to see on the corner.

I think a tremendous opportunity was missed for the Charleston Museum, architecturally speaking. It's pretty much a monolithic structure. I think if it had incorporated more glass it would have come off much better.

I don't know how I could have missed Washington Square after all these years! Simply beautiful.

[distortedlogic]

Ok, off topic here, but the wife and I will be in Chas for a couple of days in two weeks, and were thinking about doing one of the walking tours. Which ones are worth doing? She kinda wanted to do one of the ghost tours. I googled it, and several showed up. One goes through a "dungeon", another through a graveyard, and another through a jail. Are these any good? What about the history tours, what do they show, and which one is the best? How much do they cost (the ghost tours saw online were $18/person, and required a reservation)? Any suggestions for a poor visiting upstater?

[krazeeboi]

I'm not sure about any of the walking tours, but if you guys aren't planning on doing so, I would highly suggest that you just randomly walk around downtown. It's a good way to get familiar with the city's nooks and crannies that some of the walking tours may not cover.

As far as the ghost tours and the graveyards, I would expect that any ghost tour worth its salt would at least take you through the graveyards of the Circular Congregational Church and the Unitarian Universalist Church.

[gs3]

Hey DL, I highly recommend you do one of these tours. I did one called "Ghost & Graveyard"......really fun. Our tour guide was very theatrical, we all hand carried candle lamps and the evening of the tour, it was misty and foggy.

Some of the tours end at a pub where you get a free drink. Check into all of them.

I will say, the ones that are outside (graveyards, etc) tend to be better. Many of the ones that take you into dungeons, etc are taking you into attractions that may be free during daytime hours.

Have fun!

[Spartan]

Mount Pleasant got a good article in CNN/Southern Living...

http://www.cnn.com/2007/TRAVEL/getaways/07...html#cnnSTCText

[gs3]

^ Excellent article.

[Pillsbury]

What happened to 96 Wave???? I used to listen to it in Augusta and now its gone!!!

[ohioaninSC]

What happened to 96 Wave???? I used to listen to it in Augusta and now its gone!!!

Very upsetting indeed

I came into town today to see some customers, and hit the butten on my radio to put it on 96.1, and heard Rod Stewart

I hopped online the first chance I could to read in the P & C what happened, and it changed to something similar to one of those JackFM stations, called ChuckFM. WTF !!!!The station had started going down hill the last year, but it was still playing groups that you wouldn't hear on the other so called new rock stations like 98X or Rock 93.5 in Cola, or 106.5 The End here in Charlotte.

This is a sad sad day in Charleston Radio History, and somehow, I think it makes Charleston lose some of it's cosmopolitan feel b/c it had such a unique, great radio station.

[Spartan]

That explains it. I thought that I just couldn't find the right station for some reason last time I was down there. I always liked The Wave, its a damn shame they are off the air. That said, 98x does a decent new rock mix, so its not a total loss for Charleston in that respect- but I was kind of hoping that theirs would be a relationship like 93.3 and 96.7 in the Upstate (if you're familiar with that).

The End does a great new rock mix. 93.5 in Columbia sucks most of the time.

[ohioaninSC]

That explains it. I thought that I just couldn't find the right station for some reason last time I was down there. I always liked The Wave, its a damn shame they are off the air. That said, 98x does a decent new rock mix, so its not a total loss for Charleston in that respect- but I was kind of hoping that theirs would be a relationship like 93.3 and 96.7 in the Upstate (if you're familiar with that).

The End does a great new rock mix. 93.5 in Columbia sucks most of the time.

The End is pretty decent compared to 93.5 in Cola, but the problem is, it doesn't play some of the Indie Rock that The Wave played. I used to hear groups on that station that The End wouldn't even touch. I was able to first hear groups like Interpol, Silversun Pickups, Shiny Toy Guns, and SC's own NeedtoBreathe on that station, and I don't know a single SC radio station that plays alternative groups like these.

The P & C article mentioned their Arbitron Ratings had been slipping, but they obviously didn't call anybody that I know from down there. Everyone of my friends down there listened to The Wave. The problem w/ those Arbitron ratings, is they call people w/ landlines and not cell phones. Well, most people in my age group, like myself, don't have land lines anymore. We have broadband for our internet access, and our cell phone is the only phone we have, so these ratings services can't call us. It really sucks. The article also mentioned that the new station is trying to go after the 24-45 year old age demographic. Well, everyone I know besided my grandparents down there is in that age group, and none of them would ever listen to Rod Stewart or some of that other soft crap, or the old stuff like that. I guess the call the new station Variety Hits(new name for Adult Contemporary), and Charleston already has several stations like that like 96.9, 100.5, 102.5, and 105.5. How many adult contemporary, I mean Variety Hits stations does one town need? Heck even Charlotte only has 3, 102.9, 104.7, and 107.9.

Here's the article.

http://www.charleston.net/news/2007/sep/05..._its_tune14977/

[Spartan]

93.3 in the Upstate plays some local alternative/SC music, but its not a regular thing. And its by no means something they promote.

[Pillsbury]

Apparently they're still playing 96 Wave online. I agree, the station went WAY downhill in the last few years (much like 99X in Atlanta) but it was still much better than 98X. I guess I'm stuck with 100.5 and 105.5 (though not bad stations, they're not really cutting edge). There are rumors that it may come back on another frequency.

[krazeeboi]

Charleston was recently ranked as one of America's Favorite Cities by Travel + Leisure magazine. Specifically, it ranked 1st for most friendly cities, 2nd (after NYC) for shopping, and 4th for overall characteristics. Some pretty flattering stuff!

[Spartan]

No surprises there

[vicupstate]

Excellent ratings for Charleston in a huge travel survey. Great News.

Charleston ranks in top 3 nationally for favorite travel destination

[Spartan]

That link has expired. Thats good news though.

[krazeeboi]

It's kind of hard to imagine that it was unheard of for Charleston to be ranking at the top of such lists when Joe Riley, who was just elected to another term, took office in the mid-1970's. Since we're all used to it now, it doesn't seem like much of a big deal, but considering that 30 years ago is really relatively recently, it brings how much Charleston has accomplished (and is still accomplishing) in such a short period of time into focus.

[Spartan]

^Many native Charlestonians don't know any other mayor. Weird.

[vicupstate]

^Many native Charlestonians don't know any other mayor. Weird.

Assuming nothing unfortunate happens in the interim, sometime in 2009, Charleston will mark 50 years under just two mayors, Palmer Gaillard and Riley. That has to be some kind of record for cities over 50,000 or maybe even lower.

[pompusmaximus]

It's kind of hard to imagine that it was unheard of for Charleston to be ranking at the top of such lists when Joe Riley, who was just elected to another term, took office in the mid-1970's. Since we're all used to it now, it doesn't seem like much of a big deal, but considering that 30 years ago is really relatively recently, it brings how much Charleston has accomplished (and is still accomplishing) in such a short period of time into focus.

Yeah, I have lived here all my life (only 22 years but still) and the amount of progress I have seen in Charleston is amazing. A small but noticeable group always complains about Riley and the job he has done. They always say it's time for change and for the city to head in a new direction. I can never understand how they back up these arguments. Asside from the gentrification debates and the Sofa Super store accident, Charleston has thrived under Riley; If he continues to do a great job, why give him the boot? Anyway, in the future Joe Riley will become a cyborg and continue to be mayor for many years to come.

Oh and on another note, what are they going to do with the old IMAX building now that they moved?

[Spartan]

Their argument is that he is too focused on downtown and ignores the rest of the city (West Ashley). Thats partially why James Island was incorporated.

The Sofa Superstore incident was not Mayor Riley's fault, it was a horrible accident. If you can find a way blame it on him they you're just out to get him.

I'm all for him becoming a cyborg. The good kind though. Not the kind that abduct you and go on destructive rampages.

[NCB]

I'm not completely sure where I should post this, but I'll just go with the off-topic thread...

There was an interesting article about Charleston in today's New Orleans Times-Picayune. It highlighted the economic crisis Charleston faced after Hugo and the closure of a portion of the Charleston Navy Base and Naval Shipyard. It also profiles how Charleston turned things around and has risen out of its "economic ashes" to become a city with a larger and more diversified economy while still managing to effectively market itself as a great city for tourism.

The point of the whole article is to compare what Charleston did after its economic crisis to what New Orleans needs (and is trying) to do after its crisis; Katrina.

I'd like to hear what any locals have to say about the article and what took place in Charleston in the 90's, as I am in no way familiar with the city or its recent history.

City moves from darkness to Southern star

Times-Picayune article

[krazeeboi]

Wow, that's a very informative article. I was aware that the 90's was a really rough period for Charleston, but I wasn't really aware of the specifics as to how the area was able to bouce back, and rather quickly at that. I hope someone can shed some more light from a local point of view.