Wow! The 10,000 songs in a row bumper! Going to miss this station. :-/
-
Get involved.
We want your input!
Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.
After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.
After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/
Thanks in advance and have fun!
RadioDiscussions Administrators
The Breeze Blows Out of Town
- Thread starter kenneykop
- Start date
I know iHeart upgraded that signal somewhat after acquiring it, sacrificing some of the non-essential coverage of WWBB (the other B101) in Providence. I’m not sure if it’s deficient in areas where country is more popular in the market, though.
For all the attention on 104.5/106, let's not ignore iHeart is in a great position with WDAS, and solid with Q. They have a strong leading station in the cluster. Putting a chink into Beasley, taking the statements provided at general face value, doesn't mean a somewhat middling second country station is a failure. It could, theoretically contribute nicely to the cluster, clear the Bones show and ding up Beasley. Same if a rock format doesn't do much more than nibble at MMR/MGK.
There's no disputing that, especially in the southern and western suburbs and exurbs. It's fine in Boston itself, but that's not where the country listeners are.
Due to WWBB. So if that’s the case, I’d say they’re doing pretty well against Beasley if they aren’t even able to hit a lot of listeners.
No, WWBB is a tiny signal now, and has no affect in the suburbs south of Boston. The only problem with WBWL's signal is that it's only a class B1 vs WKLB's class B. BWL doesn't reach the edges of the market as well as WKLB, where there are a lot of country listeners.
The Bull does NOT exist to beat WKLB and never did. It exists to keep it down in demos to help boost Kiss 108 and to provide a top 10 market clearance for Bobby Bones and the "iHeartCountry" national sales/marketing platform.
OK. I'm STILL scratching my head at iHeartRadio's execution here. The ONLY mention of anything is on their website, but only on the little freakin' header that is barely visible in my browser because I have so many tabs open. The Breeze logo is still on the website. No social media posts (other than Valerie Knight's) saying goodbye or thank you. No on-air mentions, just the Q102 simulcast.
It's baffling, and just piss poor execution.
It's baffling, and just piss poor execution.
It has nearly never been the custom of stations that change format to address issues related to the old format once the new one is inaugurated. Doing so is confusing to new listeners, does nothing to satisfy old listeners and simply wastes time.
Since radio is free, nobody is out of money, defrauded or mistreated. And since, nearly everywhere in America, there are dozens of on-air options as well as thousands of streams, nobody is deprived of anything.
Think of it the way you'd consider a store you used to frequent closing at your preferred location. Maybe they had a sale the last few days, or perhaps they took all the stuff to a new location. But they didn't spend time dwelling on the change. This is the classic "move on, nothing to see" situation.
The "iHeartCountry" national sales/marketing platform has its own festival, and it does contesting around that. Philadelphia is comparable to Boston in terms of a country concert town. Kenny Chesney has said they're two of his favorite places to play. To host the iHeartCountry Festival at Lincoln Financial Field would be huge. Something that WXTU wouldn't have.
Back when Cumulus launched it's NASH network ten years ago, the goal was to sell country as a national format. The problem was Cumulus didn't have enough major market country stations. iHeart does. So even if a country station in Philly doesn't make a lot in local sales, it contributes to the national sales numbers, which is important. That's certainly more valuable than having a soft AC station.
Exactly, which will be the same strategy in Philadelphia if country is tried on 106.1. IHeart isn’t stupid, they know beating XTU is a long, long shot but if they can siphon some listeners they’ll probably be happy.
I should have worded it better (my bad)! If a store goes out of business, there's usually at least a sign on the door that says they've closed.
A sign on the door... or at least a post to social media, or something on the website, acknowledging the store has indeed closed (or in this case, the station is done) seems right. (I know, they're not required to do the "right" thing). But at the moment, it's like the store is closed, but people are still seeing brochures or Google Maps listings that they're still open. (Man I hope my analogies make sense! lol)
They also have power 99 that does respectable
Well, it seems we've basically come to the conclusion that the most likely replacement is country on 106.1. Not my favorite by a longshot but from all the great analysis by others, it seems most likely.
Still not ruling out a rock replacement, or even some variant of AC, but country seems the best bet by now.
Still not ruling out a rock replacement, or even some variant of AC, but country seems the best bet by now.
It's exactly what they did in Seattle with KUBE. It really doesn't matter. It's not like people are glued to their radio. And if they are, this is an "intermezzo."
When Audacy flipped its Buffalo alternative station to country, it took weeks for its digital team to catch up. They hired a local morning person, and it took two weeks to add her name to the web site. THAT is piss poor execution.
The new format will probably run commercial-free for a few months, so there won't be any revenue to make. The ratings will not be anything sellable until the format is fully staffed and operational. So there's no rush. Anything they say or do will be taken as an indication of their direction. So they're better off saying nothing.
Our family has a history of favorite casual restaurants we enjoy up and closing. Most of the time, we’ve found out by pulling up to a locked door. More often than not, no goodbye sign, no explanation. Those that had/have social media presence (as a multi-unit business) frequently take time to remove our local location when they get to it. They don’t do a goodbye; they seldom acknowledge questions on social media. They just up and locked the door one night, and that was it. Certainly exceptions are there. One just last week announced the closing of one of three locations they have, with all of about two hours notice.
Never any perfect parallels, but sometimes things just turn off the lights and move on.
You make a good point that non-insiders don't pick up on because it's related to the business side of radio.
The fact is that a new format creates very little income in its first six to ten months, and it usually takes a year to be profitable. A lot of ads run in early months are either "pioneer packages" of very cheap rates or bonus spots for clients on other cluster stations.
And it's always been that way. My first station billed less than $50 a month for the first six months, and that was way back in 1964. Yet when the ratings came out, it was #1 and gradually filled up. There are exceptions, but for the last half century at least, new formats take a long time to produce a profit.
True, there is a sign. But if it was a one-location operation, the sign usually says "for rent".
In radio, we think that anything that is not the current brand is a distraction and confusing. We even bury the call letters because that confuses our name identity. And since radio is all audio, we can only do one thing at a time... and anything that does not promote continued listening is noxious.
Is it possible 1045 gets blown up for talk, country, hot ac, whatever and Alternative moves to 106.1, but like the old WDRE and WPLY a whole fresh NEW start, mix of heavy current, not chicken alternative, Past, Grunge, Punk old school 70s, like the X on the left coast, this would not interact with 933 or 1029. There is still life in this format if done right not safe.
- Status