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The Breeze Blows Out of Town

Hot AC or classic rock are the only viable format options for 106.1. A second country station will do disastrously this isn’t Nashville or Kansas City. And if they go Active Rock that will just cannibalize the audience ALT 104.5 has
 
I have all due respect for Neil Sedaka but outside of Laughter in the Rain, not a real fan (and that one is marginal for me). I cop to having more of an appreciation for the cheesiness of Neil Diamond, and not just the seeming endurance of Sweet Caroline. If You Know What I Mean, Hello, Heartlight…and even some of his holiday recordings done with all of his trademark gusto.

Radio side note on If You Know What I Mean: I don’t remember ever hearing it on Philly radio growing up, and my parents had 610 WIP AKA Neil Diamond central pretty much locked in. When I do remember hearing it was on some station down at the Jersey shore on a visit to North Wildwood. Why that sticks in my brain I have no idea.
 
Hot AC or classic rock are the only viable format options for 106.1. A second country station will do disastrously this isn’t Nashville or Kansas City.
Boston ain’t exactly either of those cities.

And yes, no two cities have identical situations, but that Philly is not “Nashville” means nothing in and of itself.
 
Boston ain’t exactly either of those cities.

And yes, no two cities have identical situations, but that Philly is not “Nashville” means nothing in and of itself.
The iHeart country station in Boston has very low ratings and is far behind WKLB from Book to Book. But iHeart is probably making lots of money with WZLX, Kiss 108 and Jamin 94.5 and WBZ radio to care
 
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I thought Country could end up on 104.5, but it has to be a leading candidate for 106.1. On the other hand, here’s another thought…

What about a WKTU-like flanker format for Q? Perhaps that explains the simulcast with Q?
Didn’t iheart already attempt a KTU-ish type station with Philly’s/My 106.1 and Wake Up With Whoopi? Might not have been an exact clone, but was contemporary and rhythmic.
 
Here's the combined hourly ID of 102.1 and 106.1. To be nit-picky, it should just be WIOQ, not WIOQ-FM, and it lacks the required mentions of their HD signals.

I agree with you regarding the call signs. However, IOQ resembles the number 102 when the letter Q is written in cursive form, so I think they were going for a play on characters ("102 FM"). Most people won't get it, though.

I find it strange that soft AC was replaced by a simulcast of a CHR station. Soft AC and CHR are two formats that have little, if anything, in common. So, we are all here discussing what this could possibly mean.
 
Maybe trying to get a younger demo listening to 106?
This is all I can think of why you'd go from such an older format, to such a younger one in simulcast.
You know if they had a sense of humor, someone would be reading this board and do a wheel of formats and tease us for a while.
Could happen yet...
John
 
While I guessed country favorites earlier, let me add that Philly isn't Austin and I don't know if I can really see it being a two country-station town.

XTU's share with Country is typically somewhere in the 4's. Compare that to Beasley's rock stations -- MMR is #1 in the market with a share in the 7's and MGK usually has a share in the 6's. Don't those combined rock numbers look like a more attractive target to pick off than than country?
There's more money in the dominant country listening demographic than in any of the current-based rock demographics. A second country station clears Bones in Philadelphia and siphons off listeners that advertisers drool over. In a market the size of Philadelphia, a second country station with an overall "beauty pageant" number under 2.0 is still reaching enough advertising-receptive listeners to be considered a success.
 
There's more money in the dominant country listening demographic than in any of the current-based rock demographics. A second country station clears Bones in Philadelphia and siphons off listeners that advertisers drool over. In a market the size of Philadelphia, a second country station with an overall "beauty pageant" number under 2.0 is still reaching enough advertising-receptive listeners to be considered a success.
Plus, as much as I dislike Country music, the product coming out seems to resonate more and be more relevant than what's happening with Rock right now. Not to say that there's not good Rock music on the radio but the format seems to go through cycles...and Country seems to be somewhat immune from that. Country is probably the better option if they're looking to ever keep a format on 106.1 for longer than just a few years. Just my opinion.
 
There's more money in the dominant country listening demographic than in any of the current-based rock demographics. A second country station clears Bones in Philadelphia and siphons off listeners that advertisers drool over. In a market the size of Philadelphia, a second country station with an overall "beauty pageant" number under 2.0 is still reaching enough advertising-receptive listeners to be considered a success.

That's a fair assessment but on the other hand I don't think iHeart is looking for another overall "beauty pageant" number under 2.0. They have enough stations with middling numbers in Philly already and that's not a position iHeart is accustomed to being in. I think they'd like to knock Beasley out of the top spot and they aren't going to do that with a Country flanker.
 
Do these companies really care about the 6+ numbers? (Relatively few people ever seen them anyway.) Are they really positioning their stations to knock another company's cluster down a few pegs? Is that really how things operate these days? I'm under the impression everyone's just trying to improve the bottom line.
 
Look at iHeart's Boston country station 101.7 The Bull as what to expect. It was never planned to overtake WKLB (also a Beasley station), but it does "alright", and clears their syndicated country programming in a large market. They will place Bobby Bones in the morning, a voice tracker mid-days, likely someone local in the afternoon, and After Midnite. It gets around a 2 share but enough to take some off of WKLB.
 
Look at iHeart's Boston country station 101.7 The Bull as what to expect. It was never planned to overtake WKLB (also a Beasley station), but it does "alright", and clears their syndicated country programming in a large market. They will place Bobby Bones in the morning, a voice tracker mid-days, likely someone local in the afternoon, and After Midnite. It gets around a 2 share but enough to take some off of WKLB.
Agreed. I doubt very much that iHeart believes they have a chance of out-performing WXTU. They're just tryna make some money!
 
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