The more I learn about the Mid-Century-Oak Ridge FM situation with those AMs and translators, the less I understand. There is a guy who comes to a lot of networking meetings in town who has a show on 1180 and sells for that station and all of Oak Ridge FM's stations, including 94.3. Some kind of informal LMA, maybe? No flip on 94.3 as of yet. We shall see.
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Jack FM returning to Knoxville?
- Thread starter BRH
- Start date
I would tend to agree that there must be some sort of agreement between Mid Century & Oak Ridge FM. It just seems a bit odd that they would end an LMA & then Mid Century go head to head with a similar format. My guess is 94.3 becomes Jack & ads are sold in some sort of an arrangement with the new active rock station. Personally, I hate that as I love the alternative format (especially the current indie pop sound), and don’t care for active rock at all, but active rock & a station like the old “X” will probably do better here in East TN than Alt, sadly. (Even though that’s not the national trend).
I personally would like to see 93.1 or 106.1 flip to Jack. I know they aren't part of this, but they may want to get it before 94.3 if that's the plans. I just don't want to see Alternative go. I can't remember a time that we've had Alt and Active at the same time. At least in my life. It works well having both in Johnson City. Not to mention we have 105.3 doing AAA and 103.5 doing Classic Rock. We currently have all the different spectrums of rock.
I don't really want the only Classic Hits to go away, though I'd still set a button for Jack. Could it be Pirkle registered the domain just so Summit can't have it? It wouldn't keep 93.1 from doing Adult Hits (Bob, Mike, whatever) so I don't quite get that, but stranger things have happened.
Here's some light on the situation...apparently Mid-Century is duplicating a format they run in PLattsburg, NY (as they do with the oldies) . https://radioinsight.com/headlines/175471/wvlz-brings-rock-to-knoxville/
Here's some light on the situation...apparently Mid-Century is duplicating a format they run in PLattsburg, NY (as they do with the oldies) . https://radioinsight.com/headlines/175471/wvlz-brings-rock-to-knoxville/
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I read about the duplication. Hopefully, they will still add dj's. Apparently Oz Kirk from the original X and also from 94Z has been commenting on their Facebook page and making post. He confirmed he is part of their team. I don't know what that means about on air though. Of summit really wants to do Jack FM the 931jackfmknoxville.com domain has not been registered. Pirkle only registered 943jackfmknoxville.com and jackfmknoxville.com. If nothing happens at 93.1, I would still love to see them drop Westwood one and do a local based Classic Hits much like 105.7 The Hog and 106.3 The Mountain.
I saw the story on the new OM at Summit. So maybe some tweaks will be on the way. As far as 93.1 goes, I would also love to see it go in house & have a little more effort put into it if it stays around. Also, it really needs to be moved forward a few years in focus. Most classic hits stations are solidly focused on the 80s as the core sound now. To my ears, 93.1 plays way too many 70s cuts for where that format should be. Also the fun 80s songs segued into the slow sappy 70s stuff they’re keeping in rotation is a train wreck.
Westwood One seems to have added more late 80s but still play a lot of 70s with that format. WW1 has always made some interesting and befuddling choices, which may have been good for music geeks but not for general audiences. They seemed to have an obsession with mid-charting 1980 songs for awhile. I caught The Whispers "And the Beat Goes On" a few times. Personally, I love the song. It just absolutely does not belong on 93.1. When even The Beach in Miami doesn't play it, it's questionable for a classic hits format anywhere else
Definitely, a piece of the puzzle I wasn't anticipating but it makes sense. Isn't this the second time Midwest has pulled alternative off the air in Knoxville (the first time being 95X making way for Duke)?
So, if you're the new ops manager of Summit in Knoxville, do you recommend to management keeping 93.1 as is, modify it or flip it. If you flip it, what to?
Here's the "other site" story: https://radioinsight.com/headlines/175526/wnfz-sold-to-midwest-flips-to-jack-fm/
So, if you're the new ops manager of Summit in Knoxville, do you recommend to management keeping 93.1 as is, modify it or flip it. If you flip it, what to?
Here's the "other site" story: https://radioinsight.com/headlines/175526/wnfz-sold-to-midwest-flips-to-jack-fm/
So Classic Hits 93.1 pulled listeners away from 97.5, which used to have a reasonable shot at replacing 107.7 at #1. Now 97.5’s owner is aiming to use 94.3 to pull listeners away from 93.1. Fair assessment or not?
Definitely a fair assessment. According to Tory from the morning after, they didn't make enough revenue so they sold to midwest. If a flip happens to 93.1 eventually, alternative might work there. Summit already owns some alternative stations and they are a much bigger company so they may be able to make it work. I'm loving Jack. I'm still bummed about not having alternative now though. Guess I'll just listen to Alt Radio on iheartradio for now. I'm still gonna miss The Morning After. They we're a good local morning show more suited for the nerds like me 😁
Summit does utilize quite a few HD2 formats & translators in its other markets. I wonder if there’s a chance they add some HD2 formats to their stations here. They are all running HD already. Are there any other available translators that could be upgraded for Sharp’s Ridge? If so, I could see them launching something that way. They do have an alternative station via an HD2/translator in Greenville, SC (“X98.5”). That might make sense here. Or anything else that could siphon a few numbers away from someone else. As far as their main signals, I would expect some tweaks with the new OM. (Maybe taking 93.1 local & in house with better imaging & playlist, & I also expect 100.3 to get a few tweaks & new imaging as this OM was programming a country station in Louisville. Don’t know about Star & Hot. They’ve done pretty well as is. Hot has always outperformed what I thought it would in this market & surprised me.). I think the classic hits format if done locally could perform really well on the big 100.3 stick too, but I guess country really needs the bigger signal for the more rural areas. But a big 100kw classic hits station could really throw a wrench into both 97.5 & 103.5’s shares & be interesting. (Actually, dropping country & putting classic hits on 100.3, then launching a soft AC/Breeze type format on 93.1 would be a move that could really stick it to Midwest. Wouldn’t be a bad idea). Anyways , we’ll just have to see, I guess.
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A piece of the puzzle is still missing. I know pirkle bought 1180am last year, but another article says after he bought it, within 6 months he sold it. Also who owns 97.1? Mid century told me in a private message that they don't own it and the current owners will be moving it to Sharps Ridge. Did midwest buy them too?
According to the FCC data, Oak Ridge FM owns 97.1. I would imagine we haven't had time to see any applications come through the site yet. The parties managed to keep this transaction amazingly hush-hush
Seems to me each group gets back what they put into their A’s. The guys on Amherst put some local effort into their two, and they appear to make a little money with them. The guys on the ridge run theirs more as juke boxes. When the money gets serious they’re used to carry bonus spots to make their big stations look more efficient.
Sorry...meant to quote gr8oldies on the previous post.
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