For the first time today it actually sounded like a real morning show, with liners, bumper music, prizes, and commercials. A total 180 compared to what I heard Monday and Tuesday! I wonder if those first two days of Elliott on 92.3 were just a collection of pre-recorded "best of" segments?
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Alt 92.3
- Thread starter BJSteigner
- Start date
Hell no. This station has been pretty adamant about keeping the word “Rock” out of the imagining/branding/etc. As long as Kaplan is running the ship, I just don’t see it happening.
But I suppose stranger things have happened.
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That’s what my gut is going with as well. I can’t imagine purchasing that brand will cost all that much these days. Hopefully the rebrand will come with a shift towards Classic Alt like 91x.
WKQX is really hurting in the ratings right now, no show is close to the top 10 in any time slot. I could see Cumulus buying the Q101 branding off the squatter currently holding it as a desperation move to garner interest and ratings.
But what Q101 are we going to get? The mid-90’s glory days? The poppy late 90’s? The failed retro experiment in the mid-00’s? Or the Active-leaning KPNT clone from 2007-11 that closed out the branding’s run? Assuming that’s what is happening anyway…
The large market Audacy alts (and KYSR and WRFF) seem to get all of the discussion, I rarely ever see anything about WKQX which is essentially Cumulus’s only large market alternative effort. How do they compare to Audacy/iHeart?
I do agree Q101 would come back before anything. K-Rock seriously needs to be left in the ground, and a lot of alt hits aren’t “rock”. Those words don’t really go together.
Do you really think the problem is the branding?
I personally don’t think so, but I could see Cumulus thinking so.
The problems with WKQX are far deeper than branding.
I don't see them spending money to buy branding from an online station. They had a chance to do that when they bought the station and didn't do it then.
WKQX is largely unremarkable, which is part of the problem. It has lacked an identity for years and seems to lurch from trend to trend, trying to make something work but it never does. Their three heavies right now are two singles by veteran Alt acts ("Enemy" by Imagine Dragons and "Black Summer" by Red Hot Chili Peppers, which are the former #1 and current #1 on Alt respectively) and the pop hit "abcdefu". They seem to base their plays on chart status more than the preferences of the market, considering how many of their mediums are currently in the Alt top 10. They also add songs slower than Q101 ever did, and Q101 was notoriously slow. They also have a tendency to cling to recurrents well past their sell-by date, I remember "Waiting on a War" and "Heat Waves" being in power rotation six months after their recurrency dates.
Compounding the problem is that WXRT eats their lunch and the formerly-maligned iHeart neo-classic rocker WCHI has shot past them with an Alt-leaning classic rock playlist. One of WCHI's programs even placed in the top 10 in Chicago recently. When was the last time WKQX did that? WCHI probably is closer to being the ideal Alt for Chicago than WKQX is, to be completely honest, and WKQX probably is in no position to adjust to that now. It's too late.
So yeah I can see the possibility of Cumulus buying the Q101 branding, thinking that perhaps going for a 91X-style nostalgia play might be the only way forward for the station.
I don't think it's super likely either but it's a fun theory and I do think it's plausible that Cumulus would think this would be a good salve for the struggling station. There have been wilder radio rumors for the past year and change that wound up coming true. I'm not going to discount it.
Based on what?
I would not describe WCHI as "Alt."
It just happens to be a station that plays 90s rock more than any other decade, and there were numerous songs during that era that charted on both the Alternative and Active Rock charts.
WCHI in Chicago remains a station I do not particularly like, although I will note some minor tweaks to the station's sound have occurred in recent months for the better. Its ratings are in the same ballpark as that of the former WLUP. Clutter between songs has been reduced in recent months, the 90s-era Modern AC tracks have been scaled back (although not eliminated unfortunately) and the station does have a pretty wide musical lane all to itself since 101.1 is a very indie-flavored alt station and 97.1 is a rather timid classic rock station. In recent months, WCHI has added more late 80s butt rock / hair bands, which perhaps plays well in that market.
I was right:
BigA, you will be surprised to learn (as was I) that Cumulus has been working on this feat on and off for four years.
That brand was "damaged goods" from the Tim Richards (not to be confused with his much better predecessor, Dave Richards) era onward. Some woman who joined Q101 from WGN then proceeded to really drive Q101 into the ground. By the time a skilled programmer took over the reins, Emmis was looking to unload stations, and Q101 had already incurred many years of self inflicted damage. Really, both Q101 and WLUP were horribly run by Emmis for a number of years. I agree with BigA that the value of resurrecting the Q101 flag at 101.1 MHz is highly questionable.
BigA, you will be surprised to learn (as was I) that Cumulus has been working on this feat on and off for four years.
That brand was "damaged goods" from the Tim Richards (not to be confused with his much better predecessor, Dave Richards) era onward. Some woman who joined Q101 from WGN then proceeded to really drive Q101 into the ground. By the time a skilled programmer took over the reins, Emmis was looking to unload stations, and Q101 had already incurred many years of self inflicted damage. Really, both Q101 and WLUP were horribly run by Emmis for a number of years. I agree with BigA that the value of resurrecting the Q101 flag at 101.1 MHz is highly questionable.
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Betting on the sizzle rather than the steak is usually a foolhardy wager, but in this case it paid off!
It's actually been longer than four years. The current GM (who was also the one who while at Emmis sold it in the first place during the sale of the stations to Merlin) has merely been at Cumulus Chicago 4-5 years. Other attempts were made earlier including when Cumulus resurrected the format on 101.1, but back then Dubiel knew he had the leverage and was seeking a very high amount. Now Dubiel is self-financing an independent run for Senate and divesting of properties including Q101 and potentially 1530 WCKG.
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