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103.9 Garth FM

I was rather surprised by this change, too. Must have skewed too old.

My first thought was Easy 103.9, but, if Summit thought Country Legends swung old, Easy 103.9 would do about the same. Plus, Lite 106.9 would seem to take the biggest hit, even if it doesn't sound like the WVEZ of 10 years ago.
 
radiofan502 said:
Country Legends 103.9 WRKA has started stunting with "All Garth All The Time"
I didn't see a format change coming with 103.9 because of their good ratings. Any thoughts on what's next for WRKA???
http://radioinsight.com/blog/headlines/88780/wrka-stunting-with-non-stop-garth/
Click to expand...

I never listen to the station, but I heard this tonight and thought this was some sort of temporary thing until they return to normal on Tuesday (since a lot of stations are doing special things this weekend, such as "One Hit Wonders Weekend" on 102.3), but now that I see that they've went and created an entire website, Facebook page, and plan to nuke the 103.9 page, it is obvious that something is in the works.

My guess is that the numbers are somewhat meaningless here. The numbers may have been good, but how well does classic country sell with advertisers? Who exactly is the audience? I'm not an insider, so I can't say for certain, but my guess would be older men (i.e. over 50, maybe even over 60). That seems to be a hard sell to me, and it is hard to imagine what sort of ads they could sell there. I would also guess that it doesn't sell to a very affluent audience.
 
It also seems that they've been rather meticulous in planning this. The Facebook page for Garth FM was created in March, two months ago.
 
I was hoping to find some hints somewhere of a new brand/format for 103.9, and I don't think that I've come up with anything. The best that I could do was to find a blank Facebook page for a "Pulse FM 103.9" that was created May 2nd and has zero likes so far (https://www.facebook.com/PulseFM1039), but there are tons of 103.9 FMs out there, and I really think it is just pure coincidence.
 
I just remembered that 103.9 did the Garth FM thing before.Back in 1992 WZKS 103.9 was Garth FM before switching to Hot Country 103.9.That was of course after KISS 104 was leased to the owners of WDJX.
 
I wonder if classic country will return in the next few days, but with a new branding. The more I think about this, I feel like they wouldn't even bother going with Garth Brooks if they were planning to go a totally different direction. And I don't think that they could go modern country since they'd be competing against their own 103.1.
 
sdskees said:
I wonder if classic country will return in the next few days, but with a new branding. The more I think about this, I feel like they wouldn't even bother going with Garth Brooks if they were planning to go a totally different direction. And I don't think that they could go modern country since they'd be competing against their own 103.1.
Click to expand...

Unless 103.1 is going to flip with 103.1 moving back to 103.9
 
That's another good possibility... of course if that is what is about to happen, then there is the question of what they'll do with 103.1.
 
It looks like we're going to know what is happening Monday morning at 7 AM... they're now XXXXX-FM. Here's their "explanation":

"A NOTE FROM TODD SCHUMACHER, GENERAL MANAGER.

First….the response to XXXXX FM has been overwhelming. Thanks to those of you who have reached out to us via phone, email, and social media. Unfortunately a certain artist's legal team has contacted us and told us in no uncertain terms that we can no longer use the name XXXXX FM. So from this point forward, we will no longer use the name XXXXX FM. Our Programming team is currently behind closed doors determining the evolution of our radio station. We don’t have a solution now, but we will soon. Tune in Monday morning at 7am to hear the debut of the new 103.9. In the meantime, enjoy more music from one of country music’s greatest artists."
 
Just came across this article.... http://www.savingcountrymusic.com/garth-brooks-serves-a-cease-desist-to-garth-fm

Besides this website taking the whole cease and desist thing as something real rather than a marketing gimmick that Summit came up with, I think that there is a good chance that they've nailed what is going to happen with 103.9... they'll be back with a "newer" classic country format on Monday, sort of like "the new" Lite 106.9. That would make the Garth FM format fit just perfectly. I'd still rather see something besides country on there though. Some may argue that Louisville only has two country music radio stations if 103.9 leaves, but there are many more from nearby markets that come in very loud and clear here...
 
The "new format" is being advertised as something that Louisville has "never seen or heard before." I'm not sure how much I'm buying this, but are there really any formats we've never actually seen before?
 
The new station is "True Country 103.9 The Hawk" So 103.9 is returning to the "Hawk" name that they started in 1993. Wonder if the WHKW call letters will return?
 
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It looks like a religious AM station in Ohio is using the WHKW letters. I'm surprised they've held on to the WRKA letters as long as they have. Those letters have been around here long enough to almost have a legacy, sort of like WLRS... of course, we saw what Mainline thought of those letters.
 
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