They could run this same TV commercial -- just change the station ID:
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Big 98.1
- Thread starter AM/FMRAINMAN
- Start date
Yes. Budgets have been slashed. Over and over again, year after year. That doesn't change a truth of virtually every business: when a consumer product is not top-of-mind enough and it's attributes/usage not understood clearly enough by the target, it will often struggle to get all the consumption it needs to drive revenue.
Doubly true for a service dependent on getting core customers to use it multiple times a day. We can drill down further to the most specific goal for virtually all rated radio stations: Job 1 is to be very appealing to likely ratings survey participants, whether they are meter or diary carriers.
Listeners don't really know nor care about the industry issues. They are just looking for a quick hit of audio companionship, and there are a lot more places for that now that are a click away. Radio lost the exclusive on ease-of-use some years ago, and it was a bigger driver of usage than most in the industry give it credit for.
re: adult hits v classic hits, I was talking about the minimal music difference between the specific formats on WOGL & Ben. I think you understand that.
Yes, there IS a presentational difference but it's minor. Spend an hour with WOGL. You'll hear a lot of songs & sweepers back to back, with just a few PPM-brief speed breaks each hour, all voiced from out of market after 10am. Some of the VT breaks sound like they are cut for multiple markets, there are breaks that don't include the station name.
The one local daypart is mornings, and they play nearly as many songs an hour in the morning as Ben. Also there is a local host on Ben in the morning, though it's a very streamlined presentation (she is also the midday host on WMGK, thanks to 2025 budgets).
To my ear the real presentational difference is the markedly different imaging styles: WOGL has very energetic 'listener voices' & fast edits in most all of their imaging which mirrors KRTH/LA. Ben tries to keep it humorous with a touch of snark (a gentler than Jack style). Both are trying to create an atmosphere of fun, but from two different directions.
True, it is harder for stations to define themselves today and stand out -- but hasn't building a successful music blend always been about "a good mix of genres"? The ideal mix shifts a step at a time year over year, as listeners age through the demo cells, and the narrow slices of genre have shifted along with that, particularly in gold based formats. Ever see a market wide perceptual study with 25 or more music montages representing narrow slices across the major formats?
But there's no point in doing traditional mass marketing when most of the people who see it aren't likely to use your product.
What you mainly want to do is interact and engage with the people who listen. That's what social media is about.
Agreed. 300 weekly GRPs on TV is a waste of budget now.
Thankfully, there are lots of tools to target likely fans today. But then we get back to your point about paying the rent, salaries, etc first. Most big companies have far more needy stations than resources to help them, so a bigger priority always gets first crack at the $.
It'd be pretty hard to get Urich back.
And THERE it is. The perception that 98.1 is the “Oldies” station. WOGL can tinker all day long with 11% from the 70’s and 26% from the 90’s but none of it matters if a sizable portion of your target demo still associates you with the Pink Cadillac and Street Corner Sunday.
It’s interesting how CBS-FM has been able to evolve and perform well in key demos without shedding their brand. The imaging has become very similar to that of WOGL and other Audacy classic hits station, except CBS still uses jingles. Same VO, quick-hit sweepers. Jocks don’t talk much, either.
The acquisition of WBEB changed the playing field for Audacy and hurt WOGL the most in Philadelphia. Neither is as dominant as they were prior to the acquisition, but WBEB still performs well in demos. Clearly a cluster strategy, but WOGL has continuously sunk since that acquisition. I don’t think the presentation has anything to do with it. I saw posts earlier in this thread referencing board work and hitting the posts, but that can easily be done with the automation system. It’s the lack of local feel and generic programming that will be the downfall. Reading a liner and hitting a website feature isn’t compelling.
Ben has always been jockless and known for being music-centric. Music has also been a star at 98.1, but it used to be shared with good jocks. When the presentation is mediocre at best, and the music mix changes on a regular basis, is it really that surprising that it isn’t performing?
Ben has had jocks sporadically throughout it's 20 year history. Definitely morning/midday/afternoons, especially in the earlier years.
Ah, that’s right! And they still have a morning show host. Even with that in mind, the jocks were/are de-emphasized to focus on the music, unlike the case for WOGL for most of its existence.
I remember when Hot Hits WCAU-FM flipped to Oldies 98 because it happened on my birthday. I was in 7th grade, and the next day at school, we were all like, "How can this happen? What are we supposed to do?!" Kids are so dumb. We were so attached to this station that sounded like it played the same 10 songs over and over, we didn't even know that Eagle 106 had been a better option for the previous eight months!
Blaming it all on people's perceptions of 98.1 is too simplistic. Even after the recent tweak to pull it back towards mainstream Classic Hits, the playlist is still disjointed and gives you whiplash. You hear completely predictable stuff like Phil Collins, Billy Joel, Madonna, etc... then out of nowhere, Dr. Dre, Salt N Pepa, or Blink 182... then back to more Wham!, Cyndi Lauper, Prince, etc... so the '80s stuff they're playing is all the same you'll hear on an AC station like B101, but the '90s and newer stuff is mostly Hip Hop or Alt Rock, not mainstream pop.
98.1 needs to pick a lane and stick to it... not swerve back and forth trying to appeal to different demographics.
98.1 needs to pick a lane and stick to it... not swerve back and forth trying to appeal to different demographics.
The "Oldies Perception" idea didn't work for me either. I don't know anyone (regular, non-radio geek) who thinks of WOGL as an "Oldies" station--and most of the people who did are probably dead. So are people who thought of B101 as "Soft Rock." These days, they're all just radio stations that play stuff ya like...or stuff ya don't.
The fragmentation of popular music in the '90s--and its anticipated problematic impact on the Classic Hits format--has been covered ad nauseam here and elsewhere, but we're seeing it unfold before our very ears over the past few weeks. Classic Hits programmers all over the place are going to have to start throwing stuff at the wall and seeing what sticks in their particular market. (Which is why the "Why don't they just do what WCBS-FM is doing?" argument also doesn't work for me.)
The fragmentation of popular music in the '90s--and its anticipated problematic impact on the Classic Hits format--has been covered ad nauseam here and elsewhere, but we're seeing it unfold before our very ears over the past few weeks. Classic Hits programmers all over the place are going to have to start throwing stuff at the wall and seeing what sticks in their particular market. (Which is why the "Why don't they just do what WCBS-FM is doing?" argument also doesn't work for me.)
I know it's only a few anecdotal notes, but I've heard multiple people say to me over the past year or two "Oh my god, did you hear what Oldies 98 played???" It hasn't been Oldies 98 since what... 2005? (BTW- these people were in their early 40s)
Philadelphia folks are STUBBORN on dealing with change or letting go of things they've grown up with. (See: KYW teletype sound, Action News theme, calling it B101 when it was 101.1 More FM etc.)
I disagree. I’m not sure how old you are, but I’m around a lot of Gen X people and I promise you that there are many people on the upper end of 25-54 who know and remember Oldies 98 as much as they do WMGK and WMMR. They grew up with it because they have parents who are alive and well who listened to it incessantly. In fact some of these boomer parents (and grandparents) still tune in regularly. So long as WOGL is playing decades old pop music, many Gen X will always think of it as their parents radio station.
Overlap is not a bad thing. We know from the PPM that the concept of a "favorite" station is far less significant than what we saw in one-week-only diaries. Many people have several favorite stations, and from week to week the rank based on usage can change. So one of the objectives in a "perfect cluster" is to have a degree of overlap so that, even when a listener swaps their favorite stations they are still listening to one of yours.
K.M. Richards
Program Director, The Eighties Channel™
Which has been iHeart's philosophy since they were still called Clear Channel. Audacy does that a lot, and in any market where one owner has enough stations, that is often the game plan. It tends to result in buys that involve all (or nearly all) of the stations in a cluster.
Here in L.A., I have always wondered about Meruelo Media. They own KDAY (classic hip-hop), KPWR (current hip-hop and rap), KLLI (bilingual Spanish-language rhythmic) ... and KLOS (classic rock). The first three are likely top heavy with multi-station orders, but the fourth sticks out like the proverbial sore thumb.
WOCL/1059 Sunny FM here in Orlando, another Audacy Classic Hits station, seems to be taking a similar approach. I haven't listened in a while but had it on in the car for a while tonight. Looking at the playlist history, in the last few hours they have played:
I Kissed A Girl - Katy Perry (playing now) (likely overlap with sister Hot AC Mix 105.1)
My Own Worst Enemy - Lit (likely overlap with sister Hot AC Mix 105.1)
Uptown Funk - Mark Ronson (likely overlap with sister Hot AC Mix 105.1 and sister Rhythmic Throwbacks 102 Jamz)
Crazy - Gnarls Barkley (likely overlap with sister Hot AC Mix 105.1 and sister Rhythmic Throwbacks 102 Jamz)
Family Affair - Mary J. Blige (likely overlap with sister Hot AC Mix 105.1 and sister Rhythmic Throwbacks 102 Jamz)
Rolling In The Deep - Adele (likely overlap with sister Hot AC Mix 105.1)
Kryptonite - 3 Doors Down (likely overlap with sister Hot AC Mix 105.1)
This is all mixed in with the usual 80s centric stuff like Electric Avenue, Don't You Forget About Me, Pour Some Sugar On Me, etc. The overall presentation of the station sounds so different than when I was a big listener 6-7 years ago.
I Kissed A Girl - Katy Perry (playing now) (likely overlap with sister Hot AC Mix 105.1)
My Own Worst Enemy - Lit (likely overlap with sister Hot AC Mix 105.1)
Uptown Funk - Mark Ronson (likely overlap with sister Hot AC Mix 105.1 and sister Rhythmic Throwbacks 102 Jamz)
Crazy - Gnarls Barkley (likely overlap with sister Hot AC Mix 105.1 and sister Rhythmic Throwbacks 102 Jamz)
Family Affair - Mary J. Blige (likely overlap with sister Hot AC Mix 105.1 and sister Rhythmic Throwbacks 102 Jamz)
Rolling In The Deep - Adele (likely overlap with sister Hot AC Mix 105.1)
Kryptonite - 3 Doors Down (likely overlap with sister Hot AC Mix 105.1)
This is all mixed in with the usual 80s centric stuff like Electric Avenue, Don't You Forget About Me, Pour Some Sugar On Me, etc. The overall presentation of the station sounds so different than when I was a big listener 6-7 years ago.
Was any research project done before 98.1 made this massive change from what the core Classic Hits listener wants? If you are going to drastically your sound, it shouldn't just be based on the whims of a programming executive. CBS FM in NYC has evolved smartly and will continue to do so. OGL is a mess.