94.7 is changing formats today

[Barry]

I checked the website for WNSH HD2. Though it currently is a jukebox with country music interrupted only by jingles, the Schedule indicates it will carry the national weekday programs. Katie and Company is said to be scheduled for middays, Rob & Holly will be carried nights. If this is accurate, then for 10 hours a day it should sound similar to the WNSH that just left the air.

WNSH HD2 Schedule

 

[TheBigA]

Country music in the '70s was in a very different place. Much of it could have passed for MOR, and indeed, there were plenty of country crossover hits.

It was not unusual to hear the songs on WHN also played on WNBC or WABC. Olivia Newton-John being an example. There were fewer radio stations, fewer formats, less fragmentation, and the music was being made to be played on the radio. Not always the case today.

 

[pjc1961]

Daily update (rather than updating as it happens since there is not much changing yet on the playlist):

Enjoy TuneGenie! On Air Playlist from Oct 23, 2021

The latest Playlists for Enjoy TuneGenie!

wnsh.tunegenie.com

New songs added to playlist on Saturday 10/23/2021:

9:34 pm Lose Control - Missy Elliott ft. Ciara & Fat Man Scoop
8:23 pm Hold On, We're Going Home - Drake ft. Majid Jordan
6:55 pm Right Here (Human Nature Remix) - SWV
6:34 pm Flashing Lights - Kanye West ft. Dwele (+ Connie Mitchell)
5:52 pm You Can Do It - Ice Cube ft. Mack 10 and Ms. Toi
5:28 pm What's Your Fantasy - Ludacris ft. Shawnna
3:56 pm Paris - Jay-Z & Kanye West
3:52 pm Ride Wit Me - Nelly featuring City Spud
2:11 pm Honey - Mariah Carey (ft. Puff Daddy, Mase + The Lox)
2:08 pm Rude Boy - Rihanna
2:03 pm Between Me And You - Ja Rule ft. Christina Milian
1:32 pm Hotline Bling - Drake
1:21 pm If I Ain't Got You - Alicia Keys
12:58 pm Can't You See - Total
12:31 pm Jesus Walks - Kanye West
10:07 am Take Care - Drake ft. Rihanna

 

[Syfy]

I checked the website for WNSH HD2. Though it currently is a jukebox with country music interrupted only by jingles, the Schedule indicates it will carry the national weekday programs. Katie and Company is said to be scheduled for middays, Rob & Holly will be carried nights. If this is accurate, then for 10 hours a day it should sound similar to the WNSH that just left the air.

WNSH HD2 Schedule

Oh so i guess I was right? They are retaining the wnsh hosts for the hd2 channel or will they just be playing replays of their old shows although that wouldn't make sense because they are current event based shows.

 

[Deus Ex Machiato]

But most of today's country artists write and sing of a lifestyle foreign to New Yorkers, and while many of the tracks feature electric guitars and loud percussion, you'll also hear steel guitar, fiddles, Dobros and even banjos prominent in the mix.

At the risk of being all "get off my lawn," I'd argue that the "lifestyle" is also foreign to most of the country listeners in big markets. Yeah, they may drive trucks, but they ain't waking up on the farm with cakes on the griddle and uncle Jim-Bob playing fiddle on the porch.

 

[CTListener]

No, WMOD (Barry Richards, PD) and WEEL (Where I briefly in 1969 worked looking for FMs to buy) were started in the late 60's and they played as far back as Little Richard, Buddy Holly, Danny & The Juniors, Paul Anka and an amount of Doo Wop even.

Re-read your original. You said the late-'60s stations would be playing songs from 1965 and 1966. You mean '55 and '56. I get it now.

 

[Marcos_C]

Country music in the '70s was in a very different place. Much of it could have passed for MOR, and indeed, there were plenty of country crossover hits. WHN avoided whatever twangy, rural, fiddle-and-steel-heavy tracks were making the national charts.

Not all of them. WHN did play "The Devil Went Down to Georgia" by Charlie Daniels.

 

[Rusty Muck]

Oh so i guess I was right? They are retaining the wnsh hosts for the hd2 channel or will they just be playing replays of their old shows although that wouldn't make sense because they are current event based shows.

Quite a bit of the WNSH air talent was syndicated to other Audacy stations. Shouldn’t change much here.

 

[Least]

Pages back, posters were asking about having on-air personalities on the HD-2 country. That would be outside the norm for flipping any format and putting the former format on HD-2. Regardless of the format (be it Oldies/Classic Hits, Alternative, Rock, or in this case Country), it essentially becomes a Jukebox of the former format. I can't speak for country, but for "modern" formats, with less talk and less ads, you tend to hear more songs that probably wouldn't get played on the original station, but you get virtually no listeners. Only diehards tend to listen.

Not knowing much about NYC or coverage area of 94.7, I can't add any anecdote to the impact of this change. But, some notices (and I'm sorry that I didn't compile them in quotes):

A. One post cited that listeners on the station said that station did a good job becoming ingrained in NYC (paraphrase).

Because a percentage of people who listened to and enjoyed the station called and said nice things doesn't necessarily reflect the overall population of the New York market.

B. Southern New Jersey has more rural areas that would match a country format (paraphrase).

Great, but 94.7 targets NYC as it's market. What good is it to format a station for a population that does nothing for the people buying ad time? Not like most people in rural Southern New Jersey are going to NYC on a regular basis, nor are people in NYC going to Southern New Jersey on a regular basis. Also, does 94.7 even reach Southern New Jersey?

C. Why did WNSH get the ax over WNYL (paraphrase)?

People ask that kind of thing all the time. In Boston, then-Entercom had a wall-of-women for a while when it merged with CBS. Us listeners all asked why have three stations all geared towards females. Last year, when some listeners thought they would zig (flip possibly to Alt or a format that didn't lean female), they zagged (flipped to Boston's "Big," a Jack-esque Adult Hits format). To end this diatribe, they have a reason for keeping Alternative on 92.3 (at least for now) and taking Country off 94.7.

My personal opinion is that Country in a market like NYC is like a square peg in a round hole. However being transparent, I question Country in most top urban markets. Boston supports two country stations. Obviously, I'm not an expert with the ins and outs of formatting a station. Just that I don't see NYC as a market where Country would thrive long term. I get it for people who listen to Country. My preference is Rock, yet Boston can't support a single modern rock station at this time. It can support two Country stations however. So the answer is that if you like a type of music, and nobody on radio is covering it in your area, it's time to move other resources. Streaming, Sattelite, downloads, etc. And to CTListener, you stated that you haven't heard Rock blaring out of cars. Well, you haven't been driving around me. 🤣 I feel like a "Last Man on Earth" with that.

As for throwbacks, I question if the new format evolves into a modern/throwback hybrid in time, to compete. As people posted here, that's what WKTU is aiming to do.

 

[Marcos_C]

Where did the NASH format/brand even work? I can't think of a single station/market (not counting NASH Icon, which actually DID work at WSM-FM).

It was probably the biggest failure of a brand implementation across-the-board and is one of many reasons why the Dickeys are no longer in the industry at all.

To me, the brand felt unnatural and awkward, which was part of the reason why I never really listened to the station until last Friday. Sure, the station had changed its brand to New York's Country 94.7 two years ago, but I could never let the station live down the old brand.

 

[MVB13]

Pages back, posters were asking about having on-air personalities on the HD-2 country. That would be outside the norm for flipping any format and putting the former format on HD-2. Regardless of the format (be it Oldies/Classic Hits, Alternative, Rock, or in this case Country), it essentially becomes a Jukebox of the former format. I can't speak for country, but for "modern" formats, with less talk and less ads, you tend to hear more songs that probably wouldn't get played on the original station, but you get virtually no listeners. Only diehards tend to listen.

Not knowing much about NYC or coverage area of 94.7, I can't add any anecdote to the impact of this change. But, some notices (and I'm sorry that I didn't compile them in quotes):

A. One post cited that listeners on the station said that station did a good job becoming ingrained in NYC (paraphrase).

Because a percentage of people who listened to and enjoyed the station called and said nice things doesn't necessarily reflect the overall population of the New York market.

B. Southern New Jersey has more rural areas that would match a country format (paraphrase).

Great, but 94.7 targets NYC as it's market. What good is it to format a station for a population that does nothing for the people buying ad time? Not like most people in rural Southern New Jersey are going to NYC on a regular basis, nor are people in NYC going to Southern New Jersey on a regular basis. Also, does 94.7 even reach Southern New Jersey?

C. Why did WNSH get the ax over WNYL (paraphrase)?

People ask that kind of thing all the time. In Boston, then-Entercom had a wall-of-women for a while when it merged with CBS. Us listeners all asked why have three stations all geared towards females. Last year, when some listeners thought they would zig (flip possibly to Alt or a format that didn't lean female), they zagged (flipped to Boston's "Big," a Jack-esque Adult Hits format). To end this diatribe, they have a reason for keeping Alternative on 92.3 (at least for now) and taking Country off 94.7.

My personal opinion is that Country in a market like NYC is like a square peg in a round hole. However being transparent, I question Country in most top urban markets. Boston supports two country stations. Obviously, I'm not an expert with the ins and outs of formatting a station. Just that I don't see NYC as a market where Country would thrive long term. I get it for people who listen to Country. My preference is Rock, yet Boston can't support a single modern rock station at this time. It can support two Country stations however. So the answer is that if you like a type of music, and nobody on radio is covering it in your area, it's time to move other resources. Streaming, Sattelite, downloads, etc. And to CTListener, you stated that you haven't heard Rock blaring out of cars. Well, you haven't been driving around me. 🤣 I feel like a "Last Man on Earth" with that.

As for throwbacks, I question if the new format evolves into a modern/throwback hybrid in time, to compete. As people posted here, that's what WKTU is aiming to do.

As for rural areas. Northern NJ has rural areas Sussex County and Northern Passaic County.

 

[Barry]

Pages back, posters were asking about having on-air personalities on the HD-2 country. That would be outside the norm for flipping any format and putting the former format on HD-2. Regardless of the format (be it Oldies/Classic Hits, Alternative, Rock, or in this case Country), it essentially becomes a Jukebox of the former format. I can't speak for country, but for "modern" formats, with less talk and less ads, you tend to hear more songs that probably wouldn't get played on the original station...

The website for WNSH HD2 does show under "Schedule" that it will be carrying two of Audacy's national Country shows, on weekdays. Guess it will become clear tomorrow whether that is correct.
IHeart had a Country HD2 prior to WNSH becoming Country. It also carried some of their national Country shows, including the Bobby Bones morning program.
Though it would be cool if they broadened the playlist, I haven't heard any songs on the HD2 that didn't also previously air on New York's Country.
Schedule

 

[Rusty Muck]

Oldies "took off" in the very late 60's with ones like WMOD in DC in '68 and WEEL in Fairfax following about 6 months later. They played back as far as about '65 and '66, or a 12 to 13 year span.

Likewise, the adult contemporary format as we know it today had origins with KXOA Sacramento and 1220 WGAR, both programmed by Jack Thayer… WGAR explicitly separated their playlist by groups of five years (1955–1960, 1960–1965 and 1965–1970), along with soft-ish current product.

At the time WGAR flipped in September 1970, WIXY and WJW 850 had incredibly disproportionately large audiences outside their core demos in Cleveland ratings surveys, and Thayer, John Lund and Co. saw an opening. It worked, so much so I’m baffled Nationwide didn’t migrate the format over to 99.5 c. 1980.

 

[dcowboy7]

It was not unusual to hear the songs on WHN also played on WNBC or WABC. Olivia Newton-John being an example. There were fewer radio stations, fewer formats, less fragmentation, and the music was being made to be played on the radio. Not always the case today.

Yep they played "magic" by onj alot & that didnt even make the country chart.

To me, the brand felt unnatural and awkward, which was part of the reason why I never really listened to the station until last Friday. Sure, the station had changed its brand to New York's Country 94.7 two years ago, but I could never let the station live down the old brand.

I just dont get comments like this.
They played songs on the current country chart.
If someone likes country like me thats what i want.
What does branding have to do with it ?

 

[Jeffrey]

At the risk of being all "get off my lawn," I'd argue that the "lifestyle" is also foreign to most of the country listeners in big markets. Yeah, they may drive trucks, but they ain't waking up on the farm with cakes on the griddle and uncle Jim-Bob playing fiddle on the porch.

That's a good point. Country does well in Boston and it's not exactly Tennessee. That said perhaps it's more of the mentality of the populationof NYC. NYC attracts typically ambitious, artistic, alternative types and the locals grew up dealing with the rat race that is NY and an intense urban environment. This make up in addition to NY's massive ethnic population just don't mix with songs about wagon wheels, beer, church and trucks.

 

[CTListener]

That's a good point. Country does well in Boston and it's not exactly Tennessee. That said perhaps it's more of the mentality of the populationof NYC. NYC attracts typically ambitious, artistic, alternative types and the locals grew up dealing with the rat race that is NY and an intense urban environment. This make up in addition to NY's massive ethnic population just don't mix with songs about wagon wheels, beer, church and trucks.

Boston is far less non-European ethnic than New York City, for sure. It's far easier to get Irish-Americans whose families have been in Boston for a century-plus to listen to country than first- and second-generation Dominicans.

WWYZ launched in Hartford, another non-traditional country market, in 1988 with a mix of music that, like WHN, avoided anything too stereotypically "country." It was an immediate success and remains a solid performer to this day, but its playlist now looks a lot like any other hit country station's, including recent hits like "Country Again" and "We Didn't Have Much" and, as gold, "Wagon Wheel" and "Where the Green Grass Grows," along with many other big rural-themed hits of the '90s through the current decade. Hartford is a majority-minority city (largely Black and Hispanic) but the suburbs are overwhelmingly white, though not rural.

 

[Marcos_C]

B. Southern New Jersey has more rural areas that would match a country format (paraphrase).

Great, but 94.7 targets NYC as it's market. What good is it to format a station for a population that does nothing for the people buying ad time? Not like most people in rural Southern New Jersey are going to NYC on a regular basis, nor are people in NYC going to Southern New Jersey on a regular basis. Also, does 94.7 even reach Southern New Jersey?

WNSH does cover portions of South Jersey, according to the Radio-Locator.com coverage map. However, I have not read about anyone south of Trenton who was listening to the station. Besides, people in South Jersey can listen to Thunder 106 or 92.5 XTU.

WNSH Coverage Map on Radio-Locator.com

 

[victorres43]

WNSH does cover portions of South Jersey, according to the Radio-Locator.com coverage map. However, I have not read about anyone south of Trenton who was listening to the station. Besides, people in South Jersey can listen to Thunder 106 or 92.5 XTU.

WNSH Coverage Map on Radio-Locator.com

Given that WNSH (soon to be WXBK) will move its transmitter closer to the city, expect less Jersey listeners. Although, the station format is less focused on someone from Hopatcong, Hackettstown, or Somerville.

 

[johndavis]

I just dont get comments like this.
They played songs on the current country chart.
If someone likes country like me thats what i want.
What does branding have to do with it ?

"Nash" as imagined by Cumulus was not a radio format, it was a "lifestyle brand."

They imagined a nationwide magazine and radio station serving the "country lifestyle." That was the meaning behind the Country For Life slogan.

Problem was, "Country For Life" doesn't mean anything. There's no "country lifestyle" in many of the markets they tried introducing it in, and in the markets where the "lifestyle" angle might mean anything, they killed off brands that meant something locally for something off the bird from Nashville.

It was stupid. And when you do stupid branding things that don't mean anything, you get no loyalty... so people get their music somewhere else.

If what's between the records didn't matter, we'd all just play music from our phone.

 

[Jeffrey]

"Nash" as imagined by Cumulus was not a radio format, it was a "lifestyle brand."

They imagined a nationwide magazine and radio station serving the "country lifestyle." That was the meaning behind the Country For Life slogan.

Problem was, "Country For Life" doesn't mean anything. There's no "country lifestyle" in many of the markets they tried introducing it in, and in the markets where the "lifestyle" angle might mean anything, they killed off brands that meant something locally for something off the bird from Nashville.

It was stupid. And when you do stupid branding things that don't mean anything, you get no loyalty... so people get their music somewhere else.

If what's between the records didn't matter, we'd all just play music from our phone.

That "country for life" slogan was so ridiculous. I remember a billboard, at the beginning of the Nash brand, off the LIE in Queens that showed the station and underneath said "country for life". To the average passer by I can't imagine it meant anything and would be more than confusing. What a bazaar idea it was.