All-Access : WLFP (94.1 The Wolf)/Memphis To Move To 99.7, 'Sunsetting' Hot AC WMC (FM 100)

[Tibbs4]

Hehe...OF COURSE. 300% thrown at you, BigA. As in 300,000 watts and what nots. It's hot and smokey here. I need a beer. Ready? Not aimed at you specifically and you know that. Let's just say, I gotta major project that's had me off this fun and it's pretty legit that radio ain't near dead yet. Just need some new meds... (The meds comment is based on me..)

I am not into museums either. (You know i ain't smart enough for good art or places where I have 2 read or leern.) My point is branding TODAY with radio has to be about RADIO. It can't be something trying to be commercial free or sounding like the something that a teenager can beat on the internet. Heartbeats and heart and soul matter, like the many dead small town Main Streets are back and hotter than the dinosaur malls that they once could not beat.

I don't disagree with ya (y'all) on Memphis. That's a world away from Nashville. But, Chattanooga is a world away from Nashville and Memphis. I agree on the PROPER re-allocation of a legendary frequency and wattage. This could be the WSM-FM of Memphis. What that would look like and what that could be could be very interesting given the history and heritage. Memphis is
in many ways 10 years behind Nashville in terms of growth, transition and country music. EMBRACE and welcome that. DON'T program it from a computer in a office without touching down and looking around. That is the costly mistake that I am afraid is almost guaranteed. WMC may have 300,000 watts but it's still not a great listen 60 miles in any direction. I honestly would put the most viable financial powerhouse format on that stick if it were me that I believed I could grow 20-35% in the next 1000 days from the highest billing station in the market. That'll tell ya that they probably did not make a mistake on this. Execution, as you know, matters.

And let me say, BigA and Firepoint. I never thought KDF was a great station. It had it's moments. But, it was the most dysfunctional successful radio tin can powerhouse in Nashville. Success is 45+ years and a billion in revenues (lol) at the most interesting example of Tennessee radio success in this state - KZ-106. That's successful, connective real radio. That's what KDF messed up. But when I look at what just happened Friday in Nashville... play to your audience and protect YOURSELF with similar age/demo stations verses a hot for teens at the juggernaut home of 40+ - Midwest. Same for Cumulus Nashvegass sir -
WTN Talk, the seasonal waffle cone of sports radio, WGFX The Fox (LOL), WSM-FM, etc. That company would sell 25% more by adding KDF as a properly programmed semi-Southern rock station with classic hits legs and print money instead of give away a 100k stick. So it's progressive, not regressive or retro in my lack of logic. Move the ball forward and take the the money to the bank. Can you imagine for a minute if YOU, BigA, (as much as you'd botch it from your cubicle up Norf all messed up) if you owned those four stations as part of your own "small" company? Sports/Talk/County and KDF. We got all the business covered in Music City. I would not want to be iheart at that point. But, it really would probably position them better, too and cement the market for the last great upcoming decade of FM Radio. Next beer.

 

[Tibbs4]

ct - copy that. I really do need a cold beer. It is frustrating that radio is still the coolest business that "we've" messed up. biga, i'm scared to capitalize your name now. / maybe we should chap(i)talize like wine. Seriously, you know a few people at Aud. It's messed up and they are worrying about things like "nashville" when they are going to potentially botch, NYC and memphis, etc.
focus. i cannot not capitalize NYC. it's too large of a city. they gotta stop messing with all the side projects that don't have the quick profit potential and get into the markets and get the stations aligned for on-air and online success. a pretty sign on a pretty cool old building on broadway in nashville isn't something that's going to help the stock go from 3 cents to four....

 

[TheBigA]

Hehe...OF COURSE. 300% thrown at you, BigA. As in 300,000 watts and what nots. It's hot and smokey here. I need a beer.

The funny part about this is when the Audacy sales to EMF were first reported, there were also stories about a possible trade of stations with Cumulus, either in Memphis or Buffalo. Neither has happened. Now that Audacy has announced this move of country to WMC, that likely kills any possibility, at least in Memphis.

 

[Tibbs4]

What is scary is the pick off of so many stations to EMF. Short term gains are leading to a listenless radio dial that quickly renders more success and chances of survival for the big three. EMF wins the chess game and hasn't even taken a seat to play chess...

My question, BigA (biga) seriously - EMF is in Nashville right? But, we don't see them. My guess why? Underground bunker pumping pure oxygen and like 100,000+ telemarkers types calling everyone involved with iheart and cumulus and audacy 24/7 saying "selllllll....selllllll....it's the right thing to screw...i mean dooooo"

 

[TheBigA]

What is scary is the pick off of so many stations to EMF. Short term gains are leading to a listenless radio dial that quickly renders more success and chances of survival for the big three.

Keep in mind there was a time when there were only five stations in a typical town, all on AM. If you don't listen to a station, it doesn't exist. Doesn't matter if the format is religious or ethnic or a music you don't like.

 

[Tibbs4]

that is a heritage mindset.

nowdays, these young wippersnappers don't know what a radio station is. (Truth - in the survey I menetioned, 17% of people under 26 years old have not listened to an actual radio station on their own accord nor would they in the future.) why should they?

 

[TheBigA]

nowdays, these young wippersnappers don't know what a radio station is. (Truth - in the survey I menetioned, 17% of people under 26 years old have not listened to an actual radio station on their own accord nor would they in the future.) why should they?

Looking at it from a glass half full, that leaves 83% of people under 26 who have, right? Is 83% a majority in Tennessee?

The ones I know listen because it's cheap and easy. And doesn't require a subscription, user name, or password.

 

[CTListener]

While that is true, if/when a station gives up its longtime call letters, that opens the door for said station to change its call letters every year from then on! I know of a couple of stations in Ashland City and Clarksville that have done this. Hard to keep track of their calls because they change so often anymore!

Do either of those stations use call letters in their imaging, or even say them on the air other than a top-of=the-hour whisper?

 

[CTListener]

ct - copy that. I really do need a cold beer. It is frustrating that radio is still the coolest business that "we've" messed up. biga, i'm scared to capitalize your name now. / maybe we should chap(i)talize like wine. Seriously, you know a few people at Aud.

I don't. I swear I'm not an insider, just a fan, albeit an unusually obsessive one. My nature as an ex-copy editor is to try to memorize minute details, and that's been how I've been about my radio fandom as far back as I can remember. If I can get people thinking I'm an insider, so be it. I've had an inconspicuous career far from the major leagues of newspaperdom, and now am retired in Vermont pushing pixels around on the internet between betting the horses online and keeping a steady flow of baseball going in the background.

OOPS. Never mind. You swerved back to Big A, who presents as an insider, mid-thought! Carry on,

 

[Tibbs4]

CT - most stations don't. It is a formality. But, then you have some major ones that that's all they do. Like CBS-FM. What are their call letters? Can you name their frequency without looking it up? In Nashville, since we touched on that market have WSM-FM, WSM-AM and 99.7 WTN. Would WMC help or hurt a country station in Memphis? Maybe KLAC doesn't matter in LA. People know those call letters. Most people really don't know WJXA or WCJK and they are the two top rated stations in Nashville. How do you get Mix out of a JXA. But we had the WRMX call letters in Nashville at the station that is now Jack-FM. Moving them to Mix 92.9 just wraps the Mix brand with one more element of good business. What were jack-fm's call letters in nyc? no one remembers. Branding today is vastly different than even a decade ago. Radio has to connect people to Radio, even if it is 100% online. How do you think a 25 year old female is going to search on her phone for WABC? She is not. True. But if she has heard of Jack radio, them what are the chances of her finding the Jack in her city that would connect her to listening and/or supporting ads on their website? Almost impossible. Why not just stop all branding and have five major formats with one formula across the country. Country. Rock. Urban. No branding. No frequencies. Just say. Listen to iheart across america online and play the same thing on the radio and have just cover the formats and be done with anything remotely local? that would save iheart billions. The FCC should just assign frequencies to the top 10 companies to cover the entire US. 92.1 can be country. 93.3 can be conservative talk. throw away transmitters. just use satellite in cars. that would make sense in 2023.

Like newspapers today. Who really needs em? radio is working it's way to that. we all know that.

 

[CTListener]

CT - most stations don't. It is a formality. But, then you have some major ones that that's all they do. Like CBS-FM. What are their call letters? Can you name their frequency without looking it up? In Nashville, since we touched on that market have WSM-FM, WSM-AM and 99.7 WTN. Would WMC help or hurt a country station in Memphis? Maybe KLAC doesn't matter in LA. People know those call letters. Most people really don't know WJXA or WCJK and they are the two top rated stations in Nashville. How do you get Mix out of a JXA. But we had the WRMX call letters in Nashville at the station that is now Jack-FM. Moving them to Mix 92.9 just wraps the Mix brand with one more element of good business. What were jack-fm's call letters in nyc? no one remembers. Branding today is vastly different than even a decade ago. Radio has to connect people to Radio, even if it is 100% online. How do you think a 25 year old female is going to search on her phone for WABC? She is not. True. But if she has heard of Jack radio, them what are the chances of her finding the Jack in her city that would connect her to listening and/or supporting ads on their website? Almost impossible. Why not just stop all branding and have five major formats with one formula across the country. Country. Rock. Urban. No branding. No frequencies. Just say. Listen to iheart across america online and play the same thing on the radio and have just cover the formats and be done with anything remotely local? that would save iheart billions. The FCC should just assign frequencies to the top 10 companies to cover the entire US. 92.1 can be country. 93.3 can be conservative talk. throw away transmitters. just use satellite in cars. that would make sense in 2023.

Like newspapers today. Who really needs em? radio is working it's way to that. we all know that.

If the new country station on 99.7 is going to retain its "Wolf" imaging, it would have retained WLFP, right? Our two country "Wolves" here in Vermont are WXLF and WZLF, after all. So maybe transferring WMC-FM to the new format has a chance, unless Audacy thinks it's found a better (how?) set of wolf-ish call letters to use.

And as for WLFP going to Hartford, who knows? Maybe Audacy intends to flip 93.7 (WZMX) from its hip-hop monopoly to challenge iHeart's established -- 35 years! -- WWYZ (Country 92.5) with a "hotter" approach to country.

 

[Tibbs4]

CT - I recall some of these details, I believe. That you love radio is of massive importance. Radio sadly doesn't love radio. But, most every one in this damn industry actually still does. Or wants too. It's a crazy business. Tough and getting tougher by the minute. We have enough outside forces eating our lunch. So we don't need to kill ourselves. Like you would be precise on copy, I believe radio needs to cross every "i" and do every "t." I also have seen that when we give listeners a total package, even with the contraint of revenue and tight budgets, we have the absolute greatest technology that can make us sound like we have a million bucks. That was not the case when things were actually more profitable back in the "good ole daze." Like I said, you have to embrace things based up today. I believe the mast on a newspaper is just as important as call letters, but people probably don't notice when you change the way the front page looks. "We do" and that help us feel confident on the product we serve up to people.

Firepoint - got one for you. So, many stations run nightly shows. Alice Cooper is one of them. Love him or hate him, he can rock at night. I was talking to him a few weeks ago and he was telling me some stories of listeners and comments. One was from a listener in Warsaw, Indiana and he said the listener seemed articulate but could not spell the city they lived in. They spelled it WRSaW The call letters of the station he was on, with an added A. Once he pieced it together, he said he would never forget WRSW call letters and had not made the connection. It really is the fun little things.

Scared of pixels and horses, but I would trust you, CT! I mean that. Never leave this board.

 

[Tibbs4]

This is a "tough" one in my mind on the use of WLFP, CT. BigA and David and anyone else willing to speak up, too?

Knowing the market of Memphis and all that is happening, my two cents would be to kill off the Wolf and create Memphis Country WMC. I am optional on the We're. Actually 20%. Let the WMC be the star. I also admit in 2023 that I can't see how 99.7 and 100 properly should click. Hence, how do you brand something that has been 100 when its 99.7? So, I can't say what numbers to assign the branding off the top of my head. If I had the WMC100 letters on a tall building in downtown Memphis them I would be able to easily run with that. I will say, and this is kind of a copyright issue, but WLFP Memphis doesn't connect. WLFM would be perfect for this transition. See my comment on slightly altered WLFM calls below. But, it's once an hour. I could also see a play on MAX Country, WMC 100, etc. This station has something with 300k that should be played up. In a sense, isn't this station the highest FM wattage in America?

I think literally 100% of people over 25 in Memphis know what WMC and maybe 100 are. Heritage or not. You are telling your listeners you care about them and I would never mention Wolf again and I would absolutely be proud to play country music on the powerhouse, legendary FM 100, WMC and watch the rating and revenues soar. You have to be vibrant, do remotes and tell the listeners to spread the word. Memphis this is your station. Be proud. I think the carrying on with an automated wolf this and that over and over with a lackluster approach will be eaten alive.*

*same with Y'all106.7 in Nashville.

BigA, I am a risk taker, you know the WMLF would work for a rock station anywhere. Tricky. Those are the odd things that might bite ya too. But you noticed.

 

[davideduardo]

Do either of those stations use call letters in their imaging, or even say them on the air other than a top-of=the-hour whisper?

And we know that in much of the world, call letters are not even used. Long ago, a comparison was done between a market where most stations went by call letters and another where nearly no station used them. Where names instead of calls were prevalent, the average person could name twice as many stations as in the market where call letters were mostly used.

 

[anotherguyTN]

Obviously used to listen to them quite a lot back when I still lived in west TN and could still do so, but I probably aged out of their format about 30 years ago!

Means that we will probably NEVER hear this on the radio again, although I can't be sure how much airplay that it has gotten in recent years. I know that Olson played it right before he transferred over to 'RVR.

I hope FM 100 plays this at the end.

I don't know if I'll be able to catch the end but I'm going to try to record it. I know I won't get to hear the changes on 94.1 and possibly 94.9 because I live and work too far out, but I hope someone will be able to record and post them.

I've said before that Audacy deserves the blame for this, not EMF, but I wish that EMF had been able to buy 98.9 instead.

 

[firepoint525]

Do either of those stations use call letters in their imaging, or even say them on the air other than a top-of=the-hour whisper?

Rhetorical question, right? I live out of the range of some of these, and not sure if they even stream.

 

[firepoint525]

Firepoint - got one for you. So, many stations run nightly shows. Alice Cooper is one of them. Love him or hate him, he can rock at night. I was talking to him a few weeks ago and he was telling me some stories of listeners and comments. One was from a listener in Warsaw, Indiana and he said the listener seemed articulate but could not spell the city they lived in. They spelled it WRSaW The call letters of the station he was on, with an added A. Once he pieced it together, he said he would never forget WRSW call letters and had not made the connection. It really is the fun little things.

Actually had a former coworker who had transferred here from there. He had worked for WRSW when he lived there.

 

[eacalhoun1]

I just noticed this “classy” move on the FM100 Memphis FB page. Comments have been disabled for the two most recent posts.

 

[firepoint525]

I just noticed this “classy” move on the FM100 Memphis FB page. Comments have been disabled for the two most recent posts.

Who didn't see that coming?

 

[RadioDoogie]

I see heritage call letters like a phone number you’ve had for 50+ years. You don’t want to give that up because you’ve had it for so many years and everyone is familiar with that number. I’m sure most people can identify FM100 as WMC-FM. I’m certain they’d have issues with identifying the call letters on younger stations. The WMC name and call letters have been with Memphis for 100 years. It would be hard in my opinion to part ways with this.