Michael Moore could probably put the difference in a comparison of restaurant serving sizes.
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New Miami FM - The Shark
- Thread starter AMRocks
- Start date
Michael Moore could probably put the difference in a comparison of restaurant serving sizes.
Nearly all the Miami / Ft Lauderdale commercial FMs are C's with 100 kw. The few that are not, WCMQ and WRMA (I don't count the Leisure City station as being a Metro signal) are two of the SBS stations that are Spanish language and whose coverage is quite good for the Hispanic population (although the rapid move north into Broward by Hispanics is changing the viability of those two signals).
There is no signal advantage by having 100 kw as all the direct competitors have parity signals.
Listening outside of Miami/Dade and Broward won't help at all. West Palm Beach is a separate rated market and is bought separately.
I would include WRTO.
All three are fine in Dade County, but I would not program any of them in English
I must admit that this caught me by surprise. When looking at the format "holes" in the market, Rock/Alternative was a major one. On the other hand, CHR is over-represented in this market. However, two other formats that might work in this market:
1. Dance/EDM with a Latin flavor. I'd almost think of it as a sort of Power 96-of-the-early-90s format. Lots of mixing, some Spanish-language music thrown in.
2. Classic Hip Hop - something similar to Boom 92 in Houston, with perhaps more of a focus on mix shows and even some Latin flavor mixed in.
What do you all think?
1. Dance/EDM with a Latin flavor. I'd almost think of it as a sort of Power 96-of-the-early-90s format. Lots of mixing, some Spanish-language music thrown in.
2. Classic Hip Hop - something similar to Boom 92 in Houston, with perhaps more of a focus on mix shows and even some Latin flavor mixed in.
What do you all think?
93.1 did a dance format when they dropped classical in 2001, It lasted a few years. A Latin flavor could be interesting. Florida has several FM "hot talk" stations,WZZR, WTKS in Orlando and The Bone in Tampa. Wonder if a similar station would work in Miami-Fort Lauderdale? WZZR simulcasts 105.9's morning show,then goes classic rock. Classic Hip Hop reminds me of the old "Jammin" format. It doesn't seem to have staying power. Seems most formats are covered in South Florida. As you mentioned, CHR is over represented, as in Sports on three excellent daytime signals 560,790 and 940. Two seem to be enough for any market. WINZ always hovers around a .2, the least successful of the Sports outlets,but ratings really don't matter in that format.
WRTO's 65 dbu hits the center of Ft Lauderdale, and the 60 pretty much covers the whole market, so it is somewhat less than the Gannet tower and vicinity Class C stations, but still viable as north Broward is less populated than the southern half.
But they are all working and billing relatively well.
There is not much Latin flavored EDM, unless you look at "Latin" to mean Italian. As always, it's very European in the mainstream area. And not very successful in Latin America except, oddly, in Mexico City where there is a pop EDM station generally in the top 10 (out of 60 stations)
Very good probability that it would work, given the numbers on Power and WEDR and the hip-hop and rhythmic stuff on the CHRs. However, this format seems to be given to immediate launch success but a failure to get into a permanent orbit.
I agree, and it's because the music library doesn't wear well. That's inherent to building a format around a genre rather than a lifestyle. I believe that for this format to work, it needs to mix up the music a bit more.
Looking at this corporately, Entercom has a lot of history with the Alternative format in a lot of markets like Sacramento. No history with EDM or hip hop. If they don't know the format, they won't know how to sell it, and this station wouldn't benefit from the synergies available around the company. So Alternative is an easy choice in the corporate office. Based on what I see around the country, they'll stick with the format a while and see if it takes hold.
You are definitely focused on the real issue, which is the core programming proficiency and comfort zone of each company. Entercom is very focused on non-ethnic formats.
In the case of Miami, they must be thinking that there are "enough" non-Hispanic whites to make the alternative format work. What they may have missed is that the market has very little history of playing any alternative, as the CHRs have been very rhythmic going back to Y-100 and I-95 back in the 80's. Thus the Latin influence has flavored the market, permeating everything.
It will be interesting to see if owning the new stations in San Diego, LA, and Miami change the thinking in the company. My sense is it won't.
I don't think so... although the success with KRBQ in San Francisco with a very rhythmic format may be an eye opener for them. In particular, since that signal was part of an aborted effort to do a rock simulcast for the Bay Area; they may now realize that there are markets where very "white" formats are not the answer.
G
Groove1670
Guest
I don't see this change working. A rock format in South Florida is a risky chance. The demographics are not there, and those who have remained in South Florida grew up on stations with a rhythmic lean. I would of taken a chance on a classic Hip Hop/rhythmic format (yes, I know that is risky too and longevity is also a question). The current change was a bold move, and I wish them success.
It's about time! There are still some white people in South Florida, and we've been grossly underserved for over a decade.
Big is total Clear Channel crap.. generic "classic rock". Majic is no better.
My wife even likes The Shark (she mostly listens to XM Spectrum, the Loft & the Coffeehouse) as there's actually a music station on the dial she can listen to. With a lot of the playlist shared with Triple A, I think this is a station we can both agree on - though in the first weekend alone, we were both really sick of the repetition. But we know it's new, and perhaps, with some personalities (I hope) the playlist can be expanded a bit.
I'll repeat. The horrible soundscape in South Florida if you're not hispanic or "urban" has made me go against every bone in my body and PAY for radio. May The Shark be the think that allows me to cancel my XM subscription (though it probably won't, as I need P2, P3, P4 stations too)
Big is total Clear Channel crap.. generic "classic rock". Majic is no better.
My wife even likes The Shark (she mostly listens to XM Spectrum, the Loft & the Coffeehouse) as there's actually a music station on the dial she can listen to. With a lot of the playlist shared with Triple A, I think this is a station we can both agree on - though in the first weekend alone, we were both really sick of the repetition. But we know it's new, and perhaps, with some personalities (I hope) the playlist can be expanded a bit.
I'll repeat. The horrible soundscape in South Florida if you're not hispanic or "urban" has made me go against every bone in my body and PAY for radio. May The Shark be the think that allows me to cancel my XM subscription (though it probably won't, as I need P2, P3, P4 stations too)
That's a really simplistic statement. The rhythmic nature of most stations is a reflection of the changes in Miami that started with the arrival of the first Cuban refugees 55 years ago. As the population became more Hispanic, their influence was felt in all areas, right down to the music played at High School events and in clubs, bars and restaurants.
Anyone growing up from the 60's on in Dade was under this influence. This influence moved gradually into South Broward in the 80's and then farther north progressively.
So the bulk of the market has been affected by the Hispanic influence. Add to that the national surge in interest in r&b and hip hop and you have a consequent change from interest in rock to rhythmic by all sectors of the population. Even the AC stations are influenced by this, just as they are in other cities where there are large African American and Hispanic populations.
Miami has seven FM stations aimed mostly mainstream, not that much different in sound than if they were in Minneapolis or Seattle:
93.1 WFEZ Soft AC
93.9 WMIA Hot AC
99.9 WKIS Country
101.5 WLYF AC
102.7 WMXJ Classic Hits/Oldies
104.3 WAXY-FM Sports (till it switched to Alternative)
105.9 WBGG Classic Rock
and with a decent car radio, you can pick up 100,000 watt 97.9 WRMF, 98.7 WKGR, 103.1 WIRK and 107.9 WEAT from West Palm Beach.
Plus I'm not sure that Top 40 97.3 WFLC and 100.7 WHYI sound all that much different than Top 40 stations elsewhere. So I doubt anyone in Miami should feel he's not being served by local radio.
(Maybe only having one English-language Talk station, WIOD, is an oddity for a market the size of Miami, especially when the AM dial was home to several Talk stations a few years ago. But there are three English-language Sports stations plus on FM an NPR News/Talk station. Not to mention the over-representation of religious stations. So there are still a good number of spoken word formats in English in Miami.)
93.1 WFEZ Soft AC
93.9 WMIA Hot AC
99.9 WKIS Country
101.5 WLYF AC
102.7 WMXJ Classic Hits/Oldies
104.3 WAXY-FM Sports (till it switched to Alternative)
105.9 WBGG Classic Rock
and with a decent car radio, you can pick up 100,000 watt 97.9 WRMF, 98.7 WKGR, 103.1 WIRK and 107.9 WEAT from West Palm Beach.
Plus I'm not sure that Top 40 97.3 WFLC and 100.7 WHYI sound all that much different than Top 40 stations elsewhere. So I doubt anyone in Miami should feel he's not being served by local radio.
(Maybe only having one English-language Talk station, WIOD, is an oddity for a market the size of Miami, especially when the AM dial was home to several Talk stations a few years ago. But there are three English-language Sports stations plus on FM an NPR News/Talk station. Not to mention the over-representation of religious stations. So there are still a good number of spoken word formats in English in Miami.)
That one is very much balanced for Hispanic appeal, so it might do less well in Fargo or Minneapolis.
Both are fairly rhythmic and they don't play a lot of the alternative leaning or rock sounding cuts that a comparable station in a less ethnic northern market might. But they are typical of CHRs in most markets with a significant Black or Hispanic influence.
The problem is that practically no other area AM covers both Miami/Dade and Broward day and night. To have a full coverage talker means taking a valuable Class C FM for it... and with the market 70% or more ethnic, that's not a likely happening.
It's all going to be about ratings and revenue.
1) Will WAXY as a stand alone AM loose ratings/revenue from this change? Likely
2) Will WAXY-FM do better with ratings/revenue as "The Shark" than when it was a simulcast with 790? Likely
3) Will the revenue coming in from both stations as a split signal do better than the simulcast? I'm betting yes.
Plus, what other format would be a good format to do to compete in Miami? Pretty much everything is being done already -- except for some rock-based format (other than BIG's classic rock)
- PS: we've already got 3 CHRs!
G
Groove1670
Guest
There are several format options available in Miami. Demographics show that rock is not one of them. Past history has shown the format hasn't worked.
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