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101 WYDE....what a joke

A

ALRocker

Guest
I know I've posted on this before, but how long will Crawford let this go on? They're down to a .7 in the 12+ numbers. For goodness sake they should try anything to try to get their ratings up. It's just a big waste of a monster signal. They would be better off going country and compete with the other 50 country stations around the HAM. If it was mine, I'd do mexican in a heartbeat.
 
ALRocker said:
I know I've posted on this before, but how long will Crawford let this go on? They're down to a .7 in the 12+ numbers. For goodness sake they should try anything to try to get their ratings up. It's just a big waste of a monster signal. They would be better off going country and compete with the other 50 country stations around the HAM. If it was mine, I'd do mexican in a heartbeat.
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Don't ya know...it's all in the works. Crawford is going to bring back 101.1 as "Fun"...um..."Star"...um..."The New 101.1"...yeah, that's the name. I knew I'd get it eventually, lol. j/k of course. My attempt at radio humor. :)

Seriously, though...those #'s they have now are terrible and that format oughta be yanked. Their ratings aren't anywhere near where they were in the "Source"'s previous life. I thought they should have held out for a little while longer with the previous talk format. Sure, the ratings were down, but were much better than they are now, and they might have come out of their slump eventually. The ratings didn't improve with the classic hits format, either, so now that they've returned to talk, they just have a fraction of their former audience. I don't understand Crawford's reasoning of "reincarnating" formats on the same stations (such as "The Source" and "Legends 1260") or even recycling the programming on their other stations. It's bizarre to me. I used to listen to "Legends 1260" a lot on this last attempt, but when I heard a few years ago that Crawford was bringing it back, I had mixed feelings about it. I knew I'd probably listen to it, but why bring it back? It didn't have much success then and no surprise...it didn't pan out on attempt #2. So...now there are four stations here Crawford has in which they're duplicating the programming on, at least in part. ???
 
In all honesty, WRRS "101.1 The Spot" would be the only thing worth recycling on that frequency. It could come back either as a Hot AC again, or even as a 90s-based station (like in Louisville or Sacramento).
 
Here's my idea for a slogan: "Broadcasting wyde n' clear across the heart of dixie; from Prattville to Fayetteville, this is your home for the legends of Country 101FM The Legend." :D

It would be at least a different sound on the radio, and something that kinda hasn't been tried in 12 or 13 years.

Or, Just sell it. If a large company is going to buy it, I wish that an unfamiliar company to this area would, like CBS. I've listened to two of their stations, WOCY 105.9 in Orlando and WRBQ 104.7 in Tampa, and the two are a class act in my opinion. I'd love to hear one of their stations up in this area.

Travis
 
Sell, and move to Los Angeles.


I'm sorry, I got confused. This is my suggestion for the Jacksonville Jaguars, Buffalo Bills, St. Louis Rams, and/or the Oakland Raiders. Then again, given WYDE's current loser status...
 
William_Yeager said:
In all honesty, WRRS "101.1 The Spot" would be the only thing worth recycling on that frequency. It could come back either as a Hot AC again, or even as a 90s-based station (like in Louisville or Sacramento).
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Good suggestion on the '90s. I like Sacramento's "106.5 The Buzz"--I'm streaming them right now.
 
They have several problems. One is that they do not cover southern Jefferson and Shelby counties. They are blocked by Red Mountain and Shades Mountain. They are about 60 miles away in Cullman. They are OK to fair in a car on the interstate, but they do not penetrate buildings so in home and in office listening is impossible.

Second, they have no program director, no general manager and no one that knows anything about talk radio in the company. Their programming decisions are made by Crawford's executive assistant. Third, they have no local talent on the air. Total syndication with third and fourth string programming.

If they really want to make an impression and the dollars to go along with it, they would do Christian programming on 101.1 and cover from north Birmingham to the Tennessee line. They could sell that area as well. Just look at all the small towns that would just eat up a good Southern Christian station. Then they could free up WDJC to do something else.
 
TALLRED said:
If a large company is going to buy it, I wish that an unfamiliar company to this area would, like CBS.
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Good luck with that. They've been dumping their smaller markets and focusing only on the majors. If they didn't want to be in Memphis, I doubt they'd even give B'ham the time of day.
 
Giving God all the Praise everyday.  This is the all new "Praise 101.1 FM" WPRZ Cullman/Birmingham. Birmingham's choice for great Inspirational Music.

R.D.P. <><

P.S. That's an idea Crawford should consider running with, since B-Ham has been without Urban FM Gospel for a while now.  This idea would be potential goldmine for them, if they were to go with it.
 
R.D.P. said:
Giving God all the Praise everyday. This is the all new "Praise 101.1 FM" WPRZ Cullman/Birmingham. Birmingham's choice for great Inspirational Music.

R.D.P. <><

P.S. That's an idea Crawford should consider running with, since B-Ham has been without Urban FM Gospel for a while now. This idea would be potential goldmine for them, if they were to go with it.
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IIRC, WENN-FM was pulling consistently good numbers as an FM urban gospel station. What was their undoing was that CC was unable to sell the station to advertisers. I think a similar fate would be the undoing of any other station trying to do that format in Birmingham.

The next day I work in radio will be my first, but isn't the biggest basic obstacle to WYDE's success is that its tower is too far from Birmingham to have a truly listenable signal? That was also one of the downfalls of the Spot. At the same time, the tower is too far from Huntsville for it to be a player in that market as well. So, until Crawford figures a way to move the COL to Empire, Blount Springs, Allgood or Pinson, and start broadcasting off of WPXH-44's tower, they're going to be stuck with a 100kw signal that reaches a lot of pigs and cows and a relatively smaller population base in Cullman, Blount and Winston counties.. Or, they could opt to change the COL to Priceville and broadcast from the tower of one the Huntsville stations and concentrate on the Huntsville-Decatur market.
 
I agree with Charles. 101.1 should decide whether to focus solely on Birmingham and move to Blount County or move the tower closer to Huntsville and target Huntsville. If 101.1 were to move north and become a Huntsville market station, how far north would the station signal be able to reach before interference from Nashville stations comes in?

It would be neat if 101.1 could be Huntsville's true top 40 station ala WDOD Chattanooga. There are so many different options for 101.1, but really they need to decide to focus on either just Birmingham, just Huntsville or simply reduce the signal greatly and focus on Cullman, Winston and Blount counties.
 
This is one time I would have to disagree with RDP... Although Urban Gospel would do great in either Huntsville or Birmingham, the strong chunk of the signal in in Cullman. Being a lifelong native of Cullman, and although the Cullman area is a great low crime place to raise a family, there is a certain history with the area. Urban Gospel would be the last thing most listeners in the area would listen to. Not because of the "Gospel" (Cullman is very conservative,) because of the "Urban" ( the style of Gospel is too hip and flashy for Cullman's taste).

The signal already is city grade throughout Blount, Cullman, Lawrence, Marshall, Morgan, Walker, and Winston. If it focused on that area, and had advertisers in that area, it would sell, but never be a player in either Huntsville or BHM.

Long story short, As long as Crawford owns it, it will never focus on where the signal truly is. Also, If the transmitter was moved, and the power was lowered, it may cover Bhm well, but it would never have the coverage area it once had.

Anyone remember when 102.5 was on the Tuscaloosa tall tower? Now look at their coverage outside Bhm. Crawford could at least move their Southern Gospel to 101.1. It's the only thing they have that hasn't been tried yet - unless you go back many years when WFMH may have aired some gospel on Sunday mornings.

Travis
 
Given the signal issues that Charles1 noted, I think 101.1's best hope (as engineered now) is some cheap satellite oldies or AC format that anyone from Athens to Alabaster might scan and stay for a song or two.

R.D.P. said:
Giving God all the Praise everyday. This is the all new "Praise 101.1 FM" WPRZ Cullman/Birmingham. Birmingham's choice for great Inspirational Music.
That's an idea Crawford should consider running with, since B-Ham has been without Urban FM Gospel for a while now. This idea would be potential goldmine for them, if they were to go with it.
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Not on 101.1, but WXJC 92.5--and that's despite 92.5 covering the metro even worse than 101.1 does. In a metro where Kiss, Jamz, Hot, and WAGG never starve for audiences, I think there's enough in-car listening to pull a ratings number cheaply. You could go the turnkey satellite format with it also, with Sheridan's The Light or Urban Choice's Rejoice! Musical Soulfood.

With DJC, Praise @ 92.5, and southern gospel on 850, Crawford could have marketing to the family/faith-based crowd locked up.
 
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