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Hit the Road Jack 92.9 WGTZ Eaton Dayton

They played "Goodbye to you" and Kiss him Goodbye right before 5...

My lord...just heard the TOH ID at 7pm...Its Mitch Craig...legendary Top 40 image voice from the 80s and 90s...but he sounds 140 years old...wow...they DID use the classic "WGTZ, Eaton Dayton and Springfield Alive" verbiage, and a WGTZ Dayton Jingle at the end of it, but NOT the classic JAM cut...sounds like a TM Studio cut...
 
Listened to the first few hours of Z 93. I like it they are branding as "Classic pop and top40" overall a great mix - I find it very listenable compared to Jack FM. They even brought back the old "WGTZ Eaton Dayton and Springfield Alive" at the TOH.

I thought it sounded quite good, too, though I turned it off when it started playing "Hangin' Tough" by NKOTB. I've always thought the New Kids' music has aged better than I expected, but that one's still a clunker.
 
I never did understand that. I get that they’re masking the city of license. But why are they eating alive Dayton and Springfield? Not sure what that’s supposed to mean.
According to Wiki (take what you will from it), the phrase was coined by their original PD and morning host John King to position the station as a Dayton station and minimizing its COL.

WGTZ - Wikipedia
 
It will be interesting to see how these outlets do in the Dayton ratings. WGTZ-FM has format competition from WZLR 95.3 (Xenia) and WOXY (97.7) in Mason. The former plays mostly 80s while the latter plays a mix of 70s and 80s with some 90s thrown in.

With regard to WCLI-FM, while it is true that it is the only commercial alternative outlet in the market, it appears that there are a couple of non-commercial college outlets, most notably WUDR at 98.1 mHz, that play some of the same material. My guess is that WCLI will easily beat the college stations (they have low wattage and do not travel far) but the road may be a little harder for WGTZ-FM as both WZLR and WOXY appear to have fair, if not great, signals in the Dayton area.
 
I love the decision to bring back the Z93 brand with an updated version of classic hits. It is precisely the move Alpha should've made when it still owned the station.

I'm undecided on 101.5. A hard edged alternative similar to The X @ 103.9 (before iHM ruined that brand) was my hope. Alt 103.9 was incredibly lame and a poor fit for the market. I need to look at 101.5's music log or will need to listen online for a spell before I form an opinion.
 
It will be interesting to see how these outlets do in the Dayton ratings. WGTZ-FM has format competition from WZLR 95.3 (Xenia) and WOXY (97.7) in Mason. The former plays mostly 80s while the latter plays a mix of 70s and 80s with some 90s thrown in.
Z has a bit more of a younger, slight rhythmic lean compared to the other two. In addition, Eagle and Oasis haven’t really dug into the 2000s, but Z is.
 
Ok, now this is the way a classic hits format should be done. Absolutely loving this station & I really hope Connoisseur rolls this format out in other markets. The jingles, Mitch Craig voiceovers, & attitude type sweepers. I’ve always thought if you’re going to do a gold based format, it should have elements from & sound like it sounded in the original time period. (Not a watered down, AC sounding presentation). Big thumbs up for me & I’ll be streaming this station quite a bit.

Oh, & as far as the Mitch
Craig attitude sweepers. Just wish
Mark Driscoll was still around too. He was the greatest from this time period. I wish his family would license his voice for AI recreations. (love still hearing his old work in re-edits on K104 Poughkeepsie though. Still sounds great).
 
The processing on Z93's stream on TuneIn sounds pretty bad. I hope the OTA broadcast doesn't sound so tinny.

Mitch Craig still sounded very good 15 years ago, but man, his voice is definitely showing its age now. I would not have used him as my primary imaging voice.

Eric Edwards or Pat Garrett would've been better choices.

I will say the song selection is excellent. This is the type of classic hits station I like. Reminds me somewhat of the former Rewind 94.9 in Cincinnati.
 
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they DID use the classic "WGTZ, Eaton Dayton and Springfield Alive" verbiage, and a WGTZ Dayton Jingle at the end of it, but NOT the classic JAM cut...sounds like a TM Studio cut...

The jingle is from the TM Century "LA's #1 Hit Music Station" package (originally for KIIS) that they had in the early '90s. They seem to be largely mixing those jingles with newly sung cuts from TM's recent "WLS Classic Hits" package. They did feature the JAM Turbo Z TOH cut in the launch montage.

I do wonder if the music mix will eventually be steered towards a more mainstream Classic Hits sound. I feel like they're playing a lot of the types of songs that will likely attract strong initial attention for their "oh wow" factor, but might not be what a lot of people want to hear regularly in the long run. I'd be glad to be wrong though.
 
The processing on Z93's stream on TuneIn sounds pretty bad. I hope the OTA broadcast doesn't sound so tinny.

Mitch Craig still sounded very good 15 years ago, but man, his voice is definitely showing its age now. I would not have used him as my primary imaging voice.

Eric Edwards or Pat Garrett would've been better choices.

I will say the song selection is excellent. This is the type of classic hits station I like. Reminds me somewhat of the former Rewind 94.9 in Cincinnati.
Second that on the stream sounding like hot garbage.

I was honestly impressed with how quickly iHeart updated their logo. In the past, when I programmed non iHeart stations that were on their app, they gave zero f**ks regardless of how early you sent them a new logo. I remember one case where it took nearly two months to get an update through even after pushing them almost daily.
 
I do wonder if the music mix will eventually be steered towards a more mainstream Classic Hits sound. I feel like they're playing a lot of the types of songs that will likely attract strong initial attention for their "oh wow" factor, but might not be what a lot of people want to hear regularly in the long run. I'd be glad to be wrong though.
If classic hits wants to get younger, this is the direction to go towards. Yes, keep the 80s, but don’t ignore the 90s songs that actually do test well. Not to mention, 2005 is 20 years ago now - enough time has passed to vouch if these songs still hold up.
 
If classic hits wants to get younger, this is the direction to go towards. Yes, keep the 80s, but don’t ignore the 90s songs that actually do test well. Not to mention, 2005 is 20 years ago now - enough time has passed to vouch if these songs still hold up.

I agree and honestly I have listened a lot since it launched and it's a great mix. I can't stand to listen to most typical Classic Hit stations including the former Jack. This format is fresh and while it does dab in the 80's all the songs I have heard so far are true hits and the station is not afraid to touch the 90s and early 2000's (which at this point as said was 20 years ago!

There is definitely a place for a younger sounding Classic Hits station that isn't the typical 70s/80s/maybe a few 90s mix that most are.
 


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