W261BX is back on the air, once again simulcasting WENN-AM's variety hits format. Just wondering as to whether this will be the final format for 100.1. A "little bird" told me that he has heard that WEZZ's soft adult contemporary format is in its last days, at least on 97.3 FM. He said he had heard that info "through the pipeline", so who knows...could just be rumor, but then again, WEZZ's 12+#'s are only drawing about 50% of what they were a year ago. If it is indeed true about 97.3 playing "musical chairs" again with their format, will the soft AC format be jettisoned to the 100.1 frequency, in much the same way that "Y'all" was downsized from 97.3 to the 102.1 translator?
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Birmingham 100.1 Translator (W261BX)
- Thread starter passtheword
- Start date
Just my two cents here...This might be a great opportunity for a more standard AC format to take on Magic 96. The programming at WMJJ is atrocious. These CHR recurrents they're playing alongside 80s hits will alienate listeners. Then you add to that the fact that they're pitching up their songs to a comical level. Might be time for a true middle-of-the-road station to come in and fill the gap.
Oddly enough I think Y'all is actually a well-programmed station for what it is. Not sure if it would work on 97.3 but clearly the soft AC format is not doing much better. It wouldn't hurt to keep Easy on a signal that covered downtown, though. A 2.3 rating isn't much, but it's still something.
Oddly enough I think Y'all is actually a well-programmed station for what it is. Not sure if it would work on 97.3 but clearly the soft AC format is not doing much better. It wouldn't hurt to keep Easy on a signal that covered downtown, though. A 2.3 rating isn't much, but it's still something.
Isn't the current format on 97.3 the most competitive one, at least from an overall ratings standpoint, that's been tried on that signal since maybe the early days of Real Rock 97.3 (WRLR)? I can't think of one that has really been that successful. CHR was marginally successful until 103-7 the Q found their mojo, but besides that, this frequency has wallowed near the bottom of the heap almost since it signed on.
Move Birmingham Mountain Radio to 97.3-1.
What benefits would be gained by moving Birmingham Mountain Radio to 97.3 HD1 (from HD2)? Most of the the BMR listeners are listening to the station on the 107.3 translator, anyway. Case in point: when BMR began broadcasting on 107.3 FM, TuneIn began listing the station as WEZZ-HD2, which created a lot of confusion with listeners. For the first few days after BMR began broadcasting on 107.3, I remember reading several listener comments on BMR's Facebook page about how the station's TuneIn listing was incorrect because it showed the station as "97.3" rather than "107.3". Of course, most of us on these boards would realize why TuneIn listed BMR that way, because the station originates on WEZZ-HD2, but to the average listener, they don't have a clue what "HD2" means. They just see "97.3" on the listing and assume it's wrong because 97.3 (at least in their minds) is "Easy 97.3", not Birmingham Mountain Radio. I have seen many instances on Twitter where Scott Register and others at the station have promoted BMR as "97.3 HD2". To me, that is a BAD idea to do so because most listeners are unaware about BMR originating on WEZZ-HD2 and are clueless as what HD radio is. I doubt SummitMedia would try BMR on WEZZ's analog, but if they did, that would definitely be a great asset to the BMR listeners. 97.3 doesn't have the greatest signal compared to the other Birmingham FM's, but it is considerably better than the 107.3 translator that barely gets outside Jefferson county. Maybe 97.3 and 107.3 swap programming? Not likely, but not impossible.
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The HD-1 must carry the analog "traditional" channel. It can not be independently programmed.
In other updates...WENN has been off the air for several days now (I know you just wanted to hear that, Zach, lol). W261BX is still on the air, however, IDing as "WENN-AM, Birmingham and W261BX, Birmingham".
I just noticed your update for WENN on your ALmediapage site. I see the folks at Summit Media are streaming WENN's variety hits format once again, but they are doing so on the Birminghameasy.com website they set up last year? What is up with that? I know that website was put in place to stream the soft AC format that WENN inherited temporarily during the Christmas holidays...but why place the variety hits format/stream on the Birminghameasy.com website now? Seems to me that would be seriously confusing to the Easy 97.3's listeners who are still accessing that listen link from way back in December. The Birminghameasy.com website is no longer shown on the easy973.com website, so that at least does avoid some confusion between the two websites. Still...really strange. I've seen some of Easy 97.3's listeners fussing lately on the station Facebook page about WEZZ's stream no longer being accessible via the website and TuneIn. Not sure if anything was ever done about that or not, since their comments were never addressed, at least on the Facebook page.
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Groove1670
Guest
AC/Hot AC along with 80's and 90's hits actually works well with researched songs from those decades. WMJJ has done well.
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