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Spinning The Dial Today

R

Retro

This afternoon I gave a listen to the FM dial and here are a few observations.



WERS continues to sound more relevant. Not only did they one new song, but two! They were played back to back including the new one by Stan The Man!



94.9 seemed to playing classic R&B for part of the afternoon.



WROR continues to be a constant fall back, with somehow playing the 80's, and yet still fitting in the best relevant 70's tunes as well.

Big 103 While very randomly relevant, it just seems to pale in comparison to Mike-FM, during decades past.



Mix 104.1. I heard that Greg Daniels was is vacation. While Fast Freddy did a drop in, the station oddly sounded music intensive!

That was my impression of the FM Band today. I just thought I would post.
 
Retro said:
WERS continues to sound more relevant. Not only did they one new song, but two! They were played back to back including the new one by Stan The Man!
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And doing things a commercial station that can't survive on a one share would not do.
 
Retro said:
94.9 seemed to playing classic R&B for part of the afternoon.
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Do you mean 95.9 WATD from the dump, I mean Marshfield, or 94.9 WHOM from Mt. Washington? A classic soul block on the latter -- as safe and conventional an AC station as one can find -- would be a shocker!
 
Retro said:
No, I had tuned into WZMR-LP 94.9 FM ZUMIX Radio | ZUMIX instead.
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That's a non-comm community access station with different types of programs scheduled every couple of hours and different types of shows every weekday, the station doesn't have just one format. They must have someone doing a classic R&B show on Tuesday afternoons. You'll hear something completely different on another day, and/or in another time slot.
 
Eli Polonsky said:
That's a non-comm community access station with different types of programs scheduled every couple of hours and different types of shows every weekday, the station doesn't have just one format. They must have someone doing a classic R&B show on Tuesday afternoons. You'll hear something completely different on another day, and/or in another time slot.
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Pretty much guaranteeing that whatever listeners the station has are mostly either relatives or friends of the DJs.
 
Retro said:
The committed listener benefits, nonetheless.
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Yes, both of each show's moderator's parents will be very proud.

This is the same format as the Pacifica stations, and in markets of well over 10,000,000 they average a few hundred listeners. Handing out handbills on the street would reach more people.
 
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DavidEduardo said:
Yes, both of each show's moderator's parents will be very proud.

This is the same format as the Pacifica stations, and in markets of well over 10,000,000 they average a few hundred listeners. Handing out handbills on the street would reach more people.
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If you think that, then what is your sources to back this up, considering that the stations last rating was in the upper 1's?, which is outstanding for a Boston non profit music station.
 
DavidEduardo said:
This is the same format as the Pacifica stations, and in markets of well over 10,000,000 they average a few hundred listeners. Handing out handbills on the street would reach more people.
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WERS is not formatted like Pacifica stations at all. WERS is a formatted music station, no talk programming, with the same music format (alt-rock based AAA) on most of the time. Pacifica stations have lots of talk, political, and community issues programs, and many completely different types and genres of music programs in one or two-hour blocks. WERS is nothing like that.

With the exception of an R&B show late weeknights and some weekend specialty shows, WERS is consistently programmed to fit the niche of being Boston's alt-rock based AAA station the rest of the day and night. That's why it most recently got a 1.7 in the 6+, the highest rated of the music non-comm's in Boston.

Its only competition in the market (besides maybe lower wattage, more free-form college stations) is commercial AAA WXRV "The River" which is targeted to a somewhat older audience, and has a mediocre signal in parts of Boston (despite some directional boosters around the city) due to its main transmitter being stuck 30 miles north.
 
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Eli Polonsky said:
WERS is not formatted like Pacifica stations at all. WERS is a formatted music station, no talk programming, with the same music format (alt-rock based AAA) on most of the time. Pacifica stations have lots of talk, political, and community issues programs, and many completely different types and genres of music programs in one or two-hour blocks. WERS is nothing like that.
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Sorry, my search brought up the wrong station.
Eli Polonsky said:
With the exception of an R&B show late weeknights and some weekend specialty shows, WERS is consistently programmed to fit the niche of being Boston's alt-rock based AAA station the rest of the day and night. That's why it most recently got a 1.7 in the 6+, the highest rated of the music non-comm's in Boston.
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AAA is a very troubled music format today. It is a generally a very old leaning format, and as many markets become more ethnic, there are fewer listeners. An aging format that basically appeals to older non-Hispanic white guys has limited audience.

Averaging Oct-Nov-Dec, they had a 1.4. The normal range is in the low 1's. They average 22nd among all stations. For an AAA, it is unusual as it gets the same share in 18-34 as it gets in 65 and older.
Eli Polonsky said:
Its only competition in the market (besides maybe lower wattage, more free-form college stations) is commercial AAA WXRV "The River" which is targeted to a somewhat older audience, and has a mediocre signal in parts of Boston (despite some directional boosters around the city) due to its main transmitter being stuck 30 miles north.
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The issue is not competition, it is the decreasing appeal of the format and its tendency to attract only older white men.
 
DavidEduardo said:
Sorry, my search brought up the wrong station.

AAA is a very troubled music format today. It is a generally a very old leaning format, and as many markets become more ethnic, there are fewer listeners. An aging format that basically appeals to older non-Hispanic white guys has limited audience.

Averaging Oct-Nov-Dec, they had a 1.4. The normal range is in the low 1's. They average 22nd among all stations. For an AAA, it is unusual as it gets the same share in 18-34 as it gets in 65 and older.

The issue is not competition, it is the decreasing appeal of the format and its tendency to attract only older white men.
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But WERS is not AAA though, they have been best described as Alternative instead.

WERS seems to be filling a hole in the market. I would agree that WXRV, which is independent (do you see a pattern here?) Is the stations closest competition, that is if you want to call it that.
 
Retro said:
But WERS is not AAA though, they have been best described as Alternative instead.

WERS seems to be filling a hole in the market. I would agree that WXRV, which is independent (do you see a pattern here?) Is the stations closest competition, that is if you want to call it that.
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Boston is a very unique market in that the college/AAA stations completely negate the need for a commercial alternative station. Between WERS and WXRV, the spectrum of "soft-alt and new indie" is covered. WMBR does a great job with classics and rarities, WMFO does folk and americana, and WZBC rounds it out with the fringe/freak stuff. So that's 5 stations covering "alternative" -- a true spoil of riches.

For all the talk about an "alternative hole" in the Boston market, there isn't a clearly available lane. A "classic alternative" station would bump up against WBOS and WZLX, and a "new alternative" strategy would fall flat against the diversity and depth of the college stations.
 
leftofthedial said:
Boston is a very unique market in that the college/AAA stations completely negate the need for a commercial alternative station. Between WERS and WXRV, the spectrum of "soft-alt and new indie" is covered. WMBR does a great job with classics and rarities, WMFO does folk and americana, and WZBC rounds it out with the fringe/freak stuff. So that's 5 stations covering "alternative" -- a true spoil of riches.

For all the talk about an "alternative hole" in the Boston market, there isn't a clearly available lane. A "classic alternative" station would bump up against WBOS and WZLX, and a "new alternative" strategy would fall flat against the diversity and depth of the college stations.
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You forgot WUMB, which has evolved from a pure folk station to a folk/America/roots mix with dabs of country, heartland rock and Celtic thrown in. I know it's not the most popular of stations in this forum due to its exclusion of college students from its air staff and its huge collection of stations simulcasting it 24/7 over much of eastern and central Massachusetts, but to exclude it from the conversation about AAA on Boston radio is just plain wrong.
 
CTListener said:
You forgot WUMB, which has evolved from a pure folk station to a folk/America/roots mix with dabs of country, heartland rock and Celtic thrown in. I know it's not the most popular of stations in this forum due to its exclusion of college students from its air staff and its huge collection of stations simulcasting it 24/7 over much of eastern and central Massachusetts, but to exclude it from the conversation about AAA on Boston radio is just plain wrong.
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sorry. I meant WUMB instead of WMFO! hard to keep track of all the letters in my head sometimes.
 
leftofthedial said:
For all the talk about an "alternative hole" in the Boston market, there isn't a clearly available lane. A "classic alternative" station would bump up against WBOS and WZLX, and a "new alternative" strategy would fall flat against the diversity and depth of the college stations.
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If it was not reported as being #2 among men, then I would have suggested that WBOS fill that niche. However, we all know that they have not done a very good job in history with the Alternative format in general.

While I do know the numbers at all, what are the odds of Audacy flipping Mix to "Alt 104.1?" Kind of has a nice ring to it! Just pondering is all.
 
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Retro said:
If it was not reported as being #2 among men, then I would have suggested that WBOS fill that niche. However, we all know that they have done a very good job in history with the Alternative format in general.

While I do know the numbers at all, what are the odds of Audacy flipping Mix to "Alt 104.1?" Kind of has a nice ring to it! Just pondering is all.
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Wouldn't bet a penny on that outcome even if you gave me 10,000 to 1 odds.
 
TheBigA said:
Because they're having so much success with that format in other cities? And did so well with WAAF?
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They seem to be in competition with iHeartRadio for the format, albeit limping along the way, but especially in L.A. with formerly world famous KROQ!
 
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