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Froggy stations Westwood One
- Thread starter Seltzer
- Start date
I think the end of the local brand happened when they sold WOGH to EMF. The strength of those stations was as a group. Once WOGH was sold, that weakened their impact. I doubt DSY will see much of a bounce, and they have money problems of their own.
Is this on all dayparts? Because I'm checking out the stream right now, and it sounds like normal programming with local DJ
Only daypart that is local is in the morning. This is Froggy 94.9 and Froggy 104.3. Perhaps you're listening to a different one.
I was listening straight through the Froggy/Forever Pittsburgh website. Heard a local jock with a very local talk break go straight into traffic. (I know traffic can be inserted into national programming etc.)
I understand what you're saying. No...I looked at the lineup. If you google any of the names...other than the morning show...they are names from other places. Perhaps they figured out a way to add in some localization. Since they had you believing, it must work.
The 2 Froggys combined don't really have a chance to earn a significant ratings position in Pittsburgh. As BigA noted, you don't see them in the ratings anymore, which means they must have stopped subscribing. Audacy and IHeart have full market FMs doing country. Both 94.9 and 104.3 signals are suburban, especially given Pittsburgh terrain.
Forever did the exact same WW1 move on secondary markets/stations maybe a decade ago (this happened a few years before most of those markets were transferred to 7 Mountains when Kerby Confer left Forever). They kept a local morning voice on some of those stations.
Forever has the look/sound of a company that is trying to sell everything. The recent sale of WSTW was a big tell IMO. You could say Forever isn't, after all.
Forever did the exact same WW1 move on secondary markets/stations maybe a decade ago (this happened a few years before most of those markets were transferred to 7 Mountains when Kerby Confer left Forever). They kept a local morning voice on some of those stations.
Forever has the look/sound of a company that is trying to sell everything. The recent sale of WSTW was a big tell IMO. You could say Forever isn't, after all.
Looking at their websites, Froggy is running Westwood One’s Mainstream Country, and Pickle is running their Classic Hits format. Both are available for delivery through Westwood One’s Storq program, which gives stations the option for localized breaks twice an hour.
The markets where 7 Mountains Media took over former Forever properties have lost their Westwood One jukeboxes and are programmed locally again. Wild to think Froggy Pittsburgh and Pickle are Westwood One and Froggy Meadville, Froggy Altoona and Froggy Johnstown are more local than Pittsburgh at this point.
It's easier to do local sales in smaller markets than a major.
Well, sorta. 7 Mountains did get rid of Westwood One but didn’t they just turn on their own jukeboxes? Out of market talent from Kentucky and New York VT a lot of dayparts now.
But your key observation is correct. Suburban Pittsburgh does have less customization than Meadville. And that’s a sad reality of the business now.
when i saw some numbers years ago (was meadville once rated by arbitron? I swear it was, but it doesnt appear to be now)..... Froggy meadville with its 2 good signals signals were the #1 with double digits. Froggys way less than full market signals probably do way worse in the numbers game than meadville, hence why theres more local in meadville. those stations in meadville have done well for awhile
As someone who's got 104.3 punched as a preset on my car radio, I didn't know how it was programmed. I'm not sure if I see this as much of a loss - it was pretty much a jukebox already anyway. Musically, at least, I doubt the WW1 format would be much different.
It was always a "if there's nothing else good on, let's see what they've got on" station for me anyway and not one I ever listened to much otherwise.
It was always a "if there's nothing else good on, let's see what they've got on" station for me anyway and not one I ever listened to much otherwise.
I've also listened to their 98.5 out of Meadville. It's... not a great sounding station and by a long shot at that. Highs are all rolled off. It's been a little while since I've listened to it so I don't recall much more than that but yowza I think it wins the worst sounding FM I've heard (that's not a translator) award.
When I worked for the Forever Meadville cluster in the mid-2000s we were rated, yes. I remember Froggy having something like a 20 share once, and the entire Forever cluster (Froggy, WUZZ and Kiss-FM) had overwhelmingly dominant shares. Froggy would also show up in the Erie book.
I think i was working for Laurel Media In ridgway, 2011-2014 when i saw the numbers
In my opinion ever since Cumulus acquired Westwood One their programming has gone downhill.
Difference between being owned by 7 Mountains Media. Appears 7MM is still interested in radio broadcasting and Forever Media is selling markets and getting out.