Iheart and Audacy has been flipping underperforming radio stations as of late. is ALT 104.5 on the chopping block. With it's 1.5 share
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radio format change at 104.5?
- Thread starter CassChopper96
- Start date
At this point, what could Audacy switch to? I don't see a need in this market. Sports/Gambling-no, Rock-no, Urban formats-no, New/Talk-no, Spanish-no, A/C-no. Jazz-no, Country-no.
The only thing I can think of is a hybrid. Time will tell.
The only thing I can think of is a hybrid. Time will tell.
Better question is how is WRFF is billing? It likely complements the iHeart Philly cluster nicely. Only format "hole" I could see iHeart trying is country against WXTU, but I doubt a second country station would do as well.
Right now they appear somewhat "boxed in" unless you want to take a sliver from someone else (assuming no real marketing goes behind anything new, which I have a hunch is a safe assumption).
Alternative does well in Philly, even if the Jan ratings may not show it. But I bet Alt 104.5 bills decent for iHeart, enough to keep it around. Philly is a rock city for sure, so 104.5 has enough reason to stay as it is. Even if it's not what I'd call alternative, it's better than another country station.
What is your basis for saying "alternative does well?"
The main things it does for iHeart are it clears Woody, and it's staff costs are fairly low. The format nationally is at a low point now.
Alt 106.7 Detroit and alt 105.7 in Atlanta both flipped formats with ratings right around were alt 104.5 is so anything is possible if I heart doesn’t wanna flip alt 104.5 they. Need to remove woody from mornings and mabye tweak the music to have a few harder tracks that’s what’s being done at alt 103.7 in Dallas and the ratings actually improved
The PD in Dallas was previously the PD at WRFF. There is no morning show at all in Dallas.
The situation with Alt 104.5 is one where looking at the ratings tells less than half of the story. After all, the health (revenue) of the entire cluster is what iHeart has to consider. I doubt Alt 104.5 is losing them money but even if it were, they have to consider whether replacing it would fix the problem or make it worse. If iHeart thought there was something to put on 104.5 that would make more money, you can bet your sweet bippy that it would already be on the air. Absent that, I believe the station is actually a lot safer than people seem to think.
This is fair. And they certainly don’t need to remove the morning show. It’s a vauable clearance. That matters.
I don't think the station is safe at all. Even when its ratings were pretty darn good five plus years ago, billing stunk. I suspect billing is significantly poorer now than even back then.
iHM sacked in the last few years underperforming alternative stations in Detroit, Atlanta, St. Louis, Dayton, Raleigh (only a translator yet was around for a good seven or eight years, I believe) and perhaps other markets I'm overlooking. Woody aired on each of those first three stations.
It blew up an underperforming country station in Chicago recently and is in process of flipping an underperforming CHUrban station in Seattle.
iHM sacked in the last few years underperforming alternative stations in Detroit, Atlanta, St. Louis, Dayton, Raleigh (only a translator yet was around for a good seven or eight years, I believe) and perhaps other markets I'm overlooking. Woody aired on each of those first three stations.
It blew up an underperforming country station in Chicago recently and is in process of flipping an underperforming CHUrban station in Seattle.
It doesn’t. But there’s nothing viable for them to do better if all it will amount to is a sliver of someone else’s piece of the pie.
Iheart owns WDAS and Power 99 so there definetly will not be an urban format
the only format hole in philadelphia is Hot AC. WXTU got the country format holded down
I can give you a preview: It would be very similar to how iHeart does alternative. They'd run Bobby Bones in the morning, and several other national hosts. Perhaps they'd be live in afternoon drive. Very similar playlist to XTU, except they'd probably play the currents more often.
I think the station would be far behind WXTU in the ratins though
Beasley and iHeart compete in the country format in Boston, and Beasley is kicking iHeart's butt.
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