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WOGL Rebrands at Big 98.1
- Thread starter Route 222
- Start date
Big Message Board coming along and buying up this and all websites like it?
K.M. Richards
Program Director, The Eighties Channel™
No, that already happened when a dozen or so smaller message boards were combined into Radio-Info, the predecessor to this site, back in the early part of this century.
I must be missing something “big” with WOGL. I don’t find the music is that different than before. Same amount of stuff from the 70s as March/April it seems. The only change in the music that stands out to me is the slight increase in 90s harder rock like Metallica and Nirvana. It’s still almost older leaning than CBS-FM from what I’ve heard. Unfortunately Audacy can’t fix their websites to show the recently played songs properly so I just have to go off of what I’ve heard.
That’s kind of the point. To Audacy, it wasn’t so much a playlist issue (even though they made minor tweaks to lean more rock), it was a branding issue. The station didn’t change format, it just rebranded.
They did change formats. Big 98.1 plays the 2000s, something that WOGL avoided.
That’s simply an evolution of the format. It is not a format change.
The amount of material from the 00s is forgettable. CBS-FM has for several years. 94.7 The Drive plays a few 2000s selections as well.
It was a rebrand, not a format change as some have suggested. WOGL just happened to change the branding which brought more attention to the music than before. Yes they’ve made some changes but I doubt many would have noticed had the name not been changed and radio people listening for what they changed.
It was a rebrand, not a format change as some have suggested. WOGL just happened to change the branding which brought more attention to the music than before. Yes they’ve made some changes but I doubt many would have noticed had the name not been changed and radio people listening for what they changed.
It is a slight format change. More 2000s and they got rid of Bob Pantano.
K.M. Richards
Program Director, The Eighties Channel™
Not by the industry definition of a "format change". It is a tweaking of the music and on-air staff. That doesn't constitute a format change ... even slightly.
If the WOGL of 2015 flipped to Big 98.1 suddenly, it would be considered a format change. Going from the 60s-80s to the 80s-2000s and getting rid of all the DJs would be a format change has it occurred suddenly rather than gradually over 7 years.
That’s not a format change.
K.M. Richards
Program Director, The Eighties Channel™
You just contradicted your earlier post in which you said this was a "slight format change". This is more accurate ... a gradual tweaking of the music and now a new branding.
I'd imagine that the agencies and their clients are very happy with the number of under-55s now listening. They just want nothing to do with those set-in-their-ways 55-pluses and this is a good way to send at least some of them out to pasture. Any increase in listeners at the younger end of 25-54 is gravy.
Yes, this was at most a tweak. They came forward in time but they're playing comparatively very few "newer" titles. They are still basically an '80s station. I would venture to say, regardless of whether they want to say it, that "nobody plays more '80s."
Of the last 21 songs that played, 16 were released during the '80s. And the 5 that weren't were from pretty darn close: two from 1992, one from 1979, one from 1978, and one from waaaaaaaaaay back in 1975. (And that golden oldie was Fleetwood Mac's "Landslide" which I'm sure tests well with almost everyone.)
Not saying that the most recent 21 songs are the be-all, end-all for the format but it's at least instructive. I see also that they're still very repetitive. "Pour Some Sugar On Me" by Def Leppard has played four times since midnight. Probably no one who heard it once was listening long enough to hear it the other three times but still. Four times in 17 hours!
Of the last 21 songs that played, 16 were released during the '80s. And the 5 that weren't were from pretty darn close: two from 1992, one from 1979, one from 1978, and one from waaaaaaaaaay back in 1975. (And that golden oldie was Fleetwood Mac's "Landslide" which I'm sure tests well with almost everyone.)
Not saying that the most recent 21 songs are the be-all, end-all for the format but it's at least instructive. I see also that they're still very repetitive. "Pour Some Sugar On Me" by Def Leppard has played four times since midnight. Probably no one who heard it once was listening long enough to hear it the other three times but still. Four times in 17 hours!
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K.M. Richards
Program Director, The Eighties Channel™
Only because I don't have a client station in the market ...
They’re still playing more from before 1980 than after 1990. They still go as far back as 1972 and 1973.
I find it odd they don’t play “Philadelphia Freedom” by Elton John. I don’t believe any Audacy classic hits station plays it, but iHeart and Cumulus classic hits stations almost all do.
That's why they call it a rebrand. It's the same wine in a brand new bottle. They hope the new bottle will scare away the oldsters.
Disco sucks
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