• 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

B101

T

tommygraser

B101 is playing lots of 80s and 90s with a few 2000s Tossed in. I never really listened to them much before as I stream music from Apple CarPlay. Is this a tweak to there music? because I’m really enjoying the station.
 
Was this the station that was going to stay all-Christmas all week? Did it do so through Friday and end the stunt on Saturday?
 
AbrahamJSimpson said:
Their online ”recently played” shows something quite different, interestingly.
Click to expand...
Pretty odd that it's acting like they're still playing Christmas music. I don't even know how that's possible! I actually was in the car yesterday morning around 10am when they flipped back. I started the car and B101 was already on, playing a Christmas song. I plugged in my phone and it switched to my own Christmas music. I thought, "Well, this is probably the last day for Christmas on the radio, so let me hear them out." I unplugged my phone and they had flipped back during that minute when I was listening to my own music!
 
Interestingly, they fixed the problem retroactively to Saturday morning. It's now showing the songs that actually played. Makes me wonder if the Christmas library was still playing somewhere, just not on the air or the stream. Not sure how that's possible, but I suppose anything is possible.
 
80s almost every other song...this is definitely a post Christmas change. Tend to be softer 80s tunes like Peter Cetera and Tina Turner. Whereas 98.1 is definitely rocking harder since their changes. Really opens up a Hot AC position now in the market.
 
Seltzer said:
80s almost every other song...this is definitely a post Christmas change. Tend to be softer 80s tunes like Peter Cetera and Tina Turner. Whereas 98.1 is definitely rocking harder since their changes. Really opens up a Hot AC position now in the market.
Click to expand...
Came here to say this too. B101 is definitely sounding softer/older since St. Nick went away. Rod Stewart's "Forever Young," Peter Cetera, Chicago "Hard to Say I'm Sorry" etc. It's not quite back to playing Michael Bolton and Celiene Dion, but it's like they moved back to what they played before B101 became "More FM" to try to shed the "old" image.

Maybe an attempt to move WBEB older/softer so they can push WTDY a little more Hot AC to boost their sagging ratings?
 
Faith Hill reappears? A remnant of the country-crossover era of the late 90s/early 00s that seemed dead and buried isn't so dead after all.
 
Vanessa Williams ("Save the Best for Last")! Journey ("Open Arms")! Strange indeed that these old-school AC warhorses are getting another shot at an Audacy major market station, especially since iHeart has signaled that such music isn't even fit for an HD-only format in most markets. Someone's research isn't coming up with the right result, apparently.

The segue from "Open Arms" into Taylor Swift's "Blank Space" just now, though ... I don't know how research could support that. Ah, the mysteries of the 25-44 female musical mind!
 
Seltzer said:
80s almost every other song...this is definitely a post Christmas change. Tend to be softer 80s tunes like Peter Cetera and Tina Turner. Whereas 98.1 is definitely rocking harder since their changes. Really opens up a Hot AC position now in the market.
Click to expand...
What a long way 98.1 went downhill, it was WCAU FM with great jingles, and then a decent oldies station as WOGL, holiday countdowns, even a top 2,000 at one time, and then the switch to Classic Hits, not too bad, and now comes The Big 98, now they're just another run of the mill A/C outlet.
 
WOGL isn’t AC.

As for the transitions between songs on the B, a generation coming of age with iPods and the like is different and has different expectations and experiences.
 
The thing about B101.1 that I'm not understanding is the...processing, I guess? I've mentioned this here before--probably during the 2021 Christmas music season. I don't know how to describe what I'm hearing on there other than to say the music sounds heavy and plodding and definitely with more bass than I'm used to hearing on the radio. At first, I thought it was my car speakers (or the fact that I have progressive hearing loss in one ear), but then I occasionally find the same song playing on 99.5 (or another station) and I'd switch between 101.1 and 99.5, comparing the two, like a mental patient, and whatever the song was, it always sounded brighter and crisper on the other station. When I do listen to terrestrial radio, I rarely even stop on 101.1 anymore because I don't like the sound of it. (I still hear them plenty due to captive listening, of course.)

As for the softer stuff creeping in: I noticed it starting pretty quickly after The Breeze went away. Judging by the posts above, it's accelerated since the Christmas music ended. Probably not a bad idea to make TDY skew a little toward Hot AC, if that's what they're trying to do.
 
Fully acknowledging there are always flaws in comparisons, but it feels like if Audacy can get the pieces in place, they could, maybe, align TDY, Big and the B creating a synergistic cluster akin to Beasley with MMR, MGK and Ben.

Sure, they’ve had the properties, but the rebrand for 98, and whatever tweaks to the B have been made, could do enough to make them more aligned than they have been.
 
How many stations does Audacy run in Philly, I know WOGL is theirs (or was)
 
AbrahamJSimpson said:
Fully acknowledging there are always flaws in comparisons, but it feels like if Audacy can get the pieces in place, they could, maybe, align TDY, Big and the B creating a synergistic cluster akin to Beasley with MMR, MGK and Ben.

Sure, they’ve had the properties, but the rebrand for 98, and whatever tweaks to the B have been made, could do enough to make them more aligned than they have been.
Click to expand...
100% agree. It's like threading a needle (well, actually, it's like threading three needles), but I will be mighty impressed if they manage to "soften" B101.1, "hotten" (word I made up) TDY, and "Biggen" up 98.1 and increase revenue.
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom