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Can Wild 94-9 Be Saved?

HenryOchs

HenryOchs

Does anyone on here think Wild 94-9 can be saved from the ratings basement? If so, what needs to be done to reverse their downward trend?
 
Just curious, is Wild a Cumulus station still? (Couldn't remember if it was IHM or Cumulus or other)

This will guide my input btw.
 
radiorobert said:
Just curious, is Wild a Cumulus station still? (Couldn't remember if it was IHM or Cumulus or other)

This will guide my input btw.
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iHM. Cumulus has only one music FM in the Bay Area, KSAN (The Bone).
 
Lately there is usually only one CHR Mainstream in any market that does well. We will see a 'culling' of CHR's over the next few years as these stations are shifted or flipped to try to get higher ratings. It's the music. Its getting too disoriented and in a market like SF listeners want their specific genres and given the size of the market, they can have them. Pop has a limited pool in the big cities.

I doubt its a personality issue. IHM can pipe in whoever they want. Its just the given mix of pop -and- the market. The CHR bubble is gonna......pop. (Sorry couldnt help it)
 
I've noticed 99.7 has fewer commercials. WiLD seems to have more breaks. They also have the dj's talk more; don't know if this has any affect on ratings, but I've definitely noticed. On a side note, I think it's a bit creepy to still have the morning show named after JV. When your long time morning host contracts Lyme Disease and commits suicide, I think it would be wise to move away from that image, being the "Bay Area's party station" and all.
 
Street Novelist said:
I've noticed 99.7 has fewer commercials. WiLD seems to have more breaks. They also have the dj's talk more; don't know if this has any affect on ratings, but I've definitely noticed. On a side note, I think it's a bit creepy to still have the morning show named after JV. When your long time morning host contracts Lyme Disease and commits suicide, I think it would be wise to move away from that image, being the "Bay Area's party station" and all.
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"The Bay Area's Party Station" hasn't been 94.9's tagline for a long time - I think at least 10 years. Nowadays it's "The Bay's #1 Hit Music Station" - obviously incorrect based on the latest ratings book where 99.7 KMVQ is doubling and tripling them up!
Now that it's much easier to listen to music legally on the Internet (Spotify, YouTube, etc.) than my high school days (2005-09), stations like 94.9 have MUCH more competition than before. So the comment about major markets only being able to hold one CHR station rings true.
But doesn't 94.9 still emphasize rap and R&B more than 99.7? I think yes, judging by their current top songs list. In contrast from what I can see on 99.7's real time playlist they don't play as much rap.
My guess why one station is doing better: The on air personalities. Former 94.9 afternoon drive personality St. John now has the same time slot on 99.7 (thus bringing his audience with him). And "Big Bay Mornings" with Bennie and Greg, by now, probably has more interest than the (not) JV Show.
Meanwhile for 94.9, I was surprised to see Dreena Gonzalez still working the 10-2 midday slot. When I was in middle/high school I'd often listen to her during school holidays or sick days!
 
Yeah, I know it no longer brands itself as the "Bay Area's party station." But how can they say they're the "The Bay's #1 hit music station" when clearly they aren't? 😄
 
Street Novelist said:
Yeah, I know it no longer brands itself as the "Bay Area's party station." But how can they say they're the "The Bay's #1 hit music station" when clearly they aren't? 😄
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In advertising, that is called "puffery". Just like a soft drink saying it tastes the best.
 
DavidEduardo said:
In advertising, that is called "puffery". Just like a soft drink saying it tastes the best.
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I once asked a PD who had "The Number 1 Hit Music Station" as the positioner for his station what happens when there's a bad book.

The answer:

"We play number one hit music. And we're the number one choice for hit music among people who like us best."

When I was a 20-year-old PD in Ukiah, I cooked up the liner: "14/KUKI, with the best music in Northern California. And we prove it every single day. (Time) with (Jock name)." Jocks did it live, once an hour, as close to the :30 mark as possible.

It's a purely subjective claim, and when asked how I proved it every single day, my answer was "By playing it again tomorrow."

I know I stole the "with the best music" part from somewhere---but it was fun to hear Gerry Cagle using it a year later at KCBQ and five years later at KFRC, which at least suggested that I stole a good idea.
 
michael hagerty said:
I once asked a PD who had "The Number 1 Hit Music Station" as the positioner for his station what happens when there's a bad book.

The answer:

"We play number one hit music. And we're the number one choice for hit music among people who like us best."

When I was a 20-year-old PD in Ukiah, I cooked up the liner: "14/KUKI, with the best music in Northern California. And we prove it every single day. (Time) with (Jock name)." Jocks did it live, once an hour, as close to the :30 mark as possible.

It's a purely subjective claim, and when asked how I proved it every single day, my answer was "By playing it again tomorrow."
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This reminds me of something I heard a couple of years ago while staying overnight in Centerville, Iowa (where I spent a good chunk of my childhood). This is a city of fewer than six thousand people. The local graveyard AM-FM translator combo, really just an adjunct to its class-C FM station playing country, was basically plugged into a satellite service. The top-of-hour ID went, "Centerville's #1 Hit Music Station! KCOG Centerville."

This was factually true. KCOG was Centerville's only hit-music station.
 
Mark Roberts said:
This reminds me of something I heard a couple of years ago while staying overnight in Centerville, Iowa (where I spent a good chunk of my childhood). This is a city of fewer than six thousand people. The local graveyard AM-FM translator combo, really just an adjunct to its class-C FM station playing country, was basically plugged into a satellite service. The top-of-hour ID went, "Centerville's #1 Hit Music Station! KCOG Centerville."

This was factually true. KCOG was Centerville's only hit-music station.
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There's a great line on an old (late 50s/early 60s) KFWB Bill Ballance aircheck:

"KFWB. The Bill Ballance Show, the number one nighttime radio program in Los Angeles according to all three ratings services owned by my relatives."

Of course, at that point, KFWB was number one in every single daypart and by a wide margin, so Bill could have some fun and be telling the truth.
 
Street Novelist said:
I think it's a bit creepy to still have the morning show named after JV.
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I think that's the core of the problem. I've seen several stations have difficulty recovering after the death of a personality. KEGL in Dallas is still in the hole, and it's been several years. People don't listen to these stations for music only. The personalities are part of the attraction, and a big part of the presentation. When one passes under such tragic circumstances, it takes a while.
 
.00000001% pipe dream: Operators sell 102.1 and 94.9 to Cumulus. Cumulus moves KNBR to 102.1 and adjusts 94.9 to be a unique Bay Area focused multicultural CHR that pull the current CHR, Spanish modern CHR and K-Pop hits on steaming services. “The wildest station in the bay”

104.5 becomes an alternative competitor. Hmm?

Anyway, this is a bad idea and investing in the stock market would be less risky but I’d love it.
 
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