Don't most format flips happen without notice. The jocks usually don't get a 3 day grace period before a flip or sale. Either the sale happens at midnight and the jocks are out the next day. Or the format flips and everyone gets fired.
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WAAF - what a mess!!!
- Thread starter MarkW
- Start date
Don't most format flips happen without notice. The jocks usually don't get a 3 day grace period before a flip or sale. Either the sale happens at midnight and the jocks are out the next day. Or the format flips and everyone gets fired.
I think that it is much more of a 50/50 instead. Qn Impending sale of a station almost guarantees a format change, if not even just a tweak instead.
Actually, station sales that involve successful stations (good billings and ratings) do not involve format changes. It is enormously expensive to change a format in a larger rated market, as you loose all the agency buys and much of the direct business. It does not come back for many months or even a year and only if the new format is successful .
Stations that are dogs, meaning almost all AMs and low rated or partial coverage FMs generally get format changes.
Re:
I would have a good sense of humor instead of being an uptight prude.
Very little cume overlap between the departing station and K-Love, and those very few future K-Love listeners who may have heard the shenanigans in the waning days of WLUP probably got a good chuckle out of it!
Non-disparagement clause? Sure. That's perfectly reasonable. However, to mandate restrictions on music is excessive and unnecessary, in my view.
I would have a good sense of humor instead of being an uptight prude.
Very little cume overlap between the departing station and K-Love, and those very few future K-Love listeners who may have heard the shenanigans in the waning days of WLUP probably got a good chuckle out of it!
Non-disparagement clause? Sure. That's perfectly reasonable. However, to mandate restrictions on music is excessive and unnecessary, in my view.
I've personally seen companies (not in radio, mind you) ask for quite a bit more for quite a bit less. It is all up to the buyer, as they are the ones with the cash. If K-Love said "We will buy your station, but you must sign off the moment the down-payment clears the bank" then it is up to the seller to decide if the terms are worth it.
This reminds me of a situation that happened in the 90's here in Minneapolis. ABC wanted to eliminate competition, so they bought said competition (because the competitor was also looking to get out of radio). Not only did they buy all the IP, but rumor has it that they told the seller that, if they wanted the money, then they would sign an LMA that let them take over the station less than an hour after the purchase agreement was signed. (This part may be exaggerated, but they definitely didn't tell the staff more than 2 hours before the sale). The buyer was in such a hurry to take over that only the on-air DJ got to announce anything, there was no time for "goodbyes" outside of one break, and the last song was actually cut off with a minute left.
So yeah, it happens all the time. I believe EMF actually is quite fair in these purchase agreements, giving the station time to say goodbye and even air tributes that can last days. As many have pointed out, there is very little crossover in audience, and those that have decided they will or will not listen aren't going to be swayed by a few nasty comments or songs.
As someone who's lived in Chicago his whole life, I've experienced both of those examples. I've recounted WLUP already, so I'm going to recap WZZN, which was an example of the former.
WZZN was owned by Disney, back when Disney was interested in owning radio stations that were not Radio Disney affiliates. This was when they had Touchstone developing mainstream and R-rated films, and Hollywood Records was signing rappers and metal bands. WZZN was first an 80's throwback station in 2000, and the KROQ-y stuff that would play struck a chord with listeners, so Disney had WZZN flip to an Alternative format to compete against legacy Q101 in 2001. Then the edgier songs on Alternative were getting the best feedback, so WZZN got edgier and edgier until it outright flipped to Active Rock in 2003.
Disney did not like owning an Active Rock, it went against Disney's image. They were in the middle of a management upheaval (a lot of stuff was going down with Michael Eisner at the time), and radio was beginning to suffer the long decline we all know about. However, in 2004, the Active format was bringing in ratings so Disney left it alone. However, WDRV flipping from classic hits to classic rock and WLUP flipping from classic rock to classic-leaning mainstream rock both did a number on WZZN's ratings, and when WJMK flipped from oldies to the "Jack" format, Disney saw an opportunity and flipped WZZN with hardly a warning shortly thereafter. James VanOsdol, who was DJing at the time, was told at 11 am that he was fired and the station would be flipping to oldies at noon. He did not even get an opportunity to broadcast a farewell message, all he had time to do was program "For Whom The Bell Tolls" by Metallica as the final song for the Active Rock-formatted WZZN before he was shunted out the door.
I think what EMF does with legacy stations is quite respectful, and the fact they turn the other cheek when the flipped station goes into an act of rebellion like WLUP did is rather admirable in a weird way.
If you don't know, Bob and Zip, for the last 2+ years, have a show on Worcester's 100FM The Pike on Saturdays from noon to 4 ("The morning show that starts at noon.") Heard a promo on the Pike from Bob and Zip that they are planning on more WAAF reminiscing during tomorrow's show that will include some special guests.
Last Song Black Sabbath by Black Sabbath
the most interesting thing in the final 30 was that they had a new morning show lined up, a co-host for Mike Hsu in PM drive, a local host at night to replace The Mens Room, and that they had been spending weeks getting ready for the new format tweaks for happen on 3/2.
They had hired people and everything
Mistress Carrie was near tears for most of the last 30
waiting for a legal ID now.... just dead air.... and there it is....
the most interesting thing in the final 30 was that they had a new morning show lined up, a co-host for Mike Hsu in PM drive, a local host at night to replace The Mens Room, and that they had been spending weeks getting ready for the new format tweaks for happen on 3/2.
They had hired people and everything
Mistress Carrie was near tears for most of the last 30
waiting for a legal ID now.... just dead air.... and there it is....
Mike Brangiaforte was going to be the new morning host. Mike Hsu's co-host was going to be a guy who had just moved here from, I believe, Colorado in July. I don't recall if they mentioned who the new night host would be.
I'm stunned that they would go through all of this effort and just end it all right on the spot like this. Something else is going on.
I would pay close attention to WODS the next few weeks, especially since the WAAF calls are being parked. You don't park calls unless you intend to use them again somewhere.
CBS parked WBCN on an AM station in Charlotte NC in 2009, and never moved them from there. It's still WBCN now owned by Beasley.
Hope I'm wrong, but I think all of this was a smokescreen to hide what was truly going on behind the scenes (i.e. Entercom shopping the station).
You don't let an asset rot for months on end when your long-term plan is to keep the asset and pump a bunch of new money into it.
My guess (again, hope I'm wrong) is that Entercom was negotiating in bad faith with the new talent it was supposedly hiring.
Aren't there legal ramifications for a corporation that would actually hire new employees, then tell them "Never mind" a little more than two weeks before they were to start?
Or was the timing of the switcheroo deliberately a little more than two weeks in advance of their on-air start so Entercom could turn around and say, "Well, the fools should have waited until exactly two weeks were left before giving their two weeks' notice at their old place! BwahahahahAAAA!"
Could Entercom look to put a new incarnated WAAF on 103.3? Would explain why the call letters being retained? Management is going to have to shift their attention to dealing eventually with WODS sooner than later.
I have a very good friend of mine who hates Entercom!
Unless a contract was entered between the parties that was subsequently breached by Entercom - NO.
The good news is WAAF's demise will make Rock 92.9's long-term viability stronger. Will also be interesting to see if Rock 101 WGIR or 94 HJY see any minor ratings gains in the Boston market.
Losing the 97.7 simulcast did indeed hurt WAAF's ratings. When you compare the numbers 6 months or so after the breakup to the numbers shortly prior to the breakup, they fell roughly 25 percent. Granted, poor programming decisions at 107.3 in the months that followed coupled with Rock 92.9's launch in early 2019 produced an even stronger adverse impact.
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