102.7 The Ace

[Hardrocker9]

Great Rock Station! Down in Atlantic City this past weekend, and was listening to the ace. Had it on most of the time. Has a great mix of modern rock and alternative. What i particularly liked was that they did play the same artists but different songs. For example heard on thurs, disturbed - remember. Then Fri Disturbed - Liberate. Sat Disturbed - 10,000 Fists. This type of rock station would work in NY, now where to put it?

 

[htowler]

lol 102.7 nyc

 

[SoulCrusher]

I am also a big fan of The Ace (when I can hear it of course - I'm just off of Exit 67 and can't even get it here!). They're sometimes too eclectic (they play everything from Van Halen to Dashboard Confessional), but they're never boring, which is more than what can be said about 95% of NYC radio stations. They're also one of very few stations in the Northeast to broadcast Mancow's Morning Madhouse.

CBS is foolish not to try an approach similar to The Ace (perhaps with less Classic Rock) on any of their frequencies - guaranteed it would have done better than Free or Jack, or even Fresh for that matter. It also wouldn't be a bad option for the struggling PLJ either. There are too many stations targeting Women in this market and there's always bound to be some losers. If CBS knew how to manage and program K-Rock effectively, there wouldn't be this gaping hole in the market. They need to point the finger at themselves instead of the format and give it another try, because Free is going nowhere fast, Fresh is no different from Blink v2.0, and it would get quicker results than Jack.

 

[JimmyJames]

The Ace is nowhere near what Digital 102.7 was in terms of music mix. Digital was a true modern rock station.

 

[marko83]

Oooh Mancow and Mullet Rock just what NYC needs to fix radio.

 

[SoulCrusher]

The Ace is nowhere near what Digital 102.7 was in terms of music mix. Digital was a true modern rock station.

I can't argue with that assessment, but it seemed like the previous parent company had more of a vision for WJSE, whereas Access1 (who rebranded the station shortly after buying it) seems to be trying to position it as a sister station to its Classic Rocker, The Shark. I do like the station, but perhaps they would perform better by dropping the Classic Rock and targeting the Modern Rock audience exclusively.

 

[SmashTim]

Yes because rock stations perform so well in NYC.....

 

[SoulCrusher]

Yes because rock stations perform so well in NYC.....

Going on the history of what - K-Rock? K-Rock didn't know whether they wanted to target frat boys or forklift drivers, and neither are the loyal Modern Rock audience. If they had people working behind the scenes that knew what they were doing, maybe the station would still be on today. Instead, we had an "Alternative" that played the likes of Kelly Osbourne, Bon Jovi and Van Halen and deemed Limp Bizkit to be the saviors of rock music. It wasn't a matter of "if" it was going to fail - it was a matter of "when". Little surprise that CBS chose to abandon ship rather than look in the mirror to find the problems with the station.

 

[John Waywoods]

I really have difficulty accepting that Rock does not do well in NYC. Looks to me like a hybrid Modern/Active Rocker is the way to go. Management has to be able to sell to the target audience. Where are all the males right now? They sure aren't listening to FNY.

It is not a crime to play Ozzy followed by the Bravery, Slipknot, or My Chemical Romance.
And no, you cannot play Kellie Osbourne. You have to be true to the format or don't even bother trying it.

 

[SmashTim]

Yes because rock stations perform so well in NYC.....

Going on the history of what - K-Rock? K-Rock didn't know whether they wanted to target frat boys or forklift drivers, and neither are the loyal Modern Rock audience. If they had people working behind the scenes that knew what they were doing, maybe the station would still be on today. Instead, we had an "Alternative" that played the likes of Kelly Osbourne, Bon Jovi and Van Halen and deemed Limp Bizkit to be the saviors of rock music. It wasn't a matter of "if" it was going to fail - it was a matter of "when". Little surprise that CBS chose to abandon ship rather than look in the mirror to find the problems with the station.

Q104.3 in its Pure Rock says, as well as the first few years after K-Rocks change to modern rock from 96-98 or so

 

[Brooklyndon]

bands like disturbed and system of a down are responsible for rock radio's recent death. a real modern rock station should be playing franz ferdindand alongside blink182, guerillas, and classics from the cure and the clash. WFNX in boston is an ideal example of how sophisticated rock, aka rock that sells, should sound.

 

[John Waywoods]

I disagree with your mention of System but I did listen to FNX today and REALLY LOVED IT. Thanks.

 

[eatspaste]

Great Rock Station! Down in Atlantic City this past weekend, and was listening to the ace. Had it on most of the time. Has a great mix of modern rock and alternative.

93.1/106.7 WDOX was the REAL alternative rock station down the Jersey Shore!

 

[SoulCrusher]

bands like disturbed and system of a down are responsible for rock radio's recent death. a real modern rock station should be playing franz ferdindand alongside blink182, guerillas, and classics from the cure and the clash. WFNX in boston is an ideal example of how sophisticated rock, aka rock that sells, should sound.

I could take or leave Disturbed, but I have to disagree on SOAD. There is nothing out there that is quite like this band, and while their sound may lean toward hard rock/metal, they have enough quirky touches that put them right at home on Alternative, IMO. For sure they belong on Alternative more than dullards like Shinedown and Hinder, who are basically bland straightforward arena rock revivalists.

93.1/106.7 WDOX was the REAL alternative rock station down the Jersey Shore!

I'm a fan of The Ace and their eclecticism, but you are dead on about WDOX. Excellent playlist, lots of obscure cuts, and they played everything from Jack Johnson to Slipknot. The only thing that held them back was their small signal in the less populated segment of the market. Coastal Broadcasting thought they could do better with a hit music format (WSJQ) on 106.7, but its ratings have been generally lower than WDOX after four books. The time is right for this station to return for the third time, especially with the webcast coming to an end.

 

[kevinsealy]

John Waywoods,

>>>I really have difficulty accepting that Rock does not do well in NYC. Looks to me like a hybrid Modern/Active Rocker is the way to go. Management has to be able to sell to the target audience. Where are all the males right now? They sure aren't listening to FNY.<<<

It is a proven fact that Rock is not a very popular format in NYC, especially if we have more than two rock stations serving the area.

Twenty five yerars ago we had WNEW-FM, WPLJ and in the summer of 1982 WAPP wasa born. A year later WPLJ became a Top 40 on June 30th.

After WPLJ dropped out of rock, New York hasn't had three successful rock formatted stations. When we had three, one failed and switched.WNEW-FM lost its battle with WAXQ-1043.




Thanks,
Kevin L. Sealy

 

[SoulCrusher]

It is a proven fact that Rock is not a very popular format in NYC, especially if we have more than two rock stations serving the area.

Twenty five yerars ago we had WNEW-FM, WPLJ and in the summer of 1982 WAPP wasa born. A year later WPLJ became a Top 40 on June 30th.

After WPLJ dropped out of rock, New York hasn't had three successful rock formatted stations. When we had three, one failed and switched.WNEW-FM lost its battle with WAXQ-1043.




Thanks,
Kevin L. Sealy

There was a time approximately 10 years ago, when K-Rock was Alternative (and sounded like a good streamlined major market Alternative, like sister station KROQ in LA), WAXQ was a Hard Rocker for those with edgier tastes, and even WHTZ was in on it by going heavy on Modern Rock tracks. At the time, the market was saturated with current rock and it was inevitable that some stations would fail with competition like this.

A few years later, K-Rock lost their focus and became a jumbled mess of a station. No one that liked the station in the mid '90s could bear to listen to this dreadful hybrid of frat boy music (Limp Bizkit, Linkin Park), forklift driver rock (Led Zeppelin, Aerosmith) and only the safest rock acts of the '90s (Nirvana, Pearl Jam). WHTZ had reverted back to a straight-up CHR presentation, throwing its weight behind the once-again burgeoning bubblegum movement. And WAXQ? They were full-on trucker rock, 24/7. But they managed to trump their very similar sounding competition, WNEW - the only difference between the two stations was that 'NEW managed to throw in about 5 or 10 currents.

Fast forward to the present. K-Rock, after an ill-advised attempt to completely co-opt the sound of its fallen comrade WNEW as "K-Rock: Great Rock Period", became a Hot Talker in Free-FM ... nevermind the fact that the format crashed and burned as a successor to 'NEW on 102.7, and continues to disappoint to this day. WHTZ still plays the sounds that are popular with the kids today, which are basically self-absorbed pop (Pussycat Dolls, Gwen Stefani) and "I'm richer than you" hip hop (Ludacris, Jibbs and a slew of "Young" rappers). And WAXQ continues to slam the same 200 or so songs into the ground that they have played ever since the format switch. There is no other Rock station in town, not even one that plays any Currents whatsoever. Would you like to hear Disturbed, Korn or System Of A Down? How about The Strokes, Muse or Radiohead? Well then, you're out of luck - the programmers in NYC could care less about folks like you. If you love soft rock or new-school bling-obsessed hip hop, though, you can consider the George Washington Bridge and the Lincoln Tunnel as the gateways to Heaven.

NYC needs at least one station that plays current-based rock music - either Active, Alternative, or some permutation thereof. Just keep it from sounding like the awful mess that was K-Rock, which not only had terrible selection but played those same songs to death - they kept things as tight as your average "hit music" station, for crying out loud! I guarantee that this will perform better than Free, Jack or Fresh. CBS needs to realize that K-Rock fell out of favor not because of the format, but because of the way it was managed. There are other stations out there that could be doing better (*cough* WPLJ *cough*) - maybe they ought to consider a format change.

 

[John Waywoods]

Keep in mind that the switch to Free FM was pre-determined. I do not believe that if the Great Rock format would have proved successful, CBS would have decided to keep it going. They worked on the development of Free FM for well over a year. They assumed that they could retain Howard's audience and they couldn't. They should have placed Opie and Anthony (to this day I think they should still do this) in the morning and Alt. Rock the rest of the day. The audiences would have accepted that option more readily. These folks at CBS have the tendancy to gut everything (102.7, 101.1, 92.3)and think that their audience will stay on like lemmings. I was raised in New York and I say this with much love for my New Yorkers: New Yorkers are the biggest rednecks in the country. They do not accept rapid change, they have to brought slowly into something new. Free and Jack will always be a failure.

1. Bring back the Rock to 92.3.
2. Bring back some of the classic on air personalities to CBS.

This is my free advice to CBS. I put this in, not because you deserve it, but the under-served people of New York do. You serve them well and your profits wil soar. Else, you will languish and flounder.

 

[Brooklyndon]

One fact that comes to my mind is that whenever you ask any of the Gen y what kind of music they listen to, typically you'll hear "I listen to pretty much everything....except country." Obviously this broad taste in music creates a major challenge to any company trying to reach this demographic, through in Ipods and it almost makes no sense to even play music. I can understand why CBS went with talk, but obviously talk is a failed format.

Does it make sense to experiment with an "everything but country" format that touches everything from 50's doowop to 70's progressive rock and deep funk to 90's gangsta rap and alternative and everything in between with some techno and Sinatra ballads thrown in for good measure? Does it make sense to focus your target demo by expanding your playlist?

 

[Jacko]

Well, I think that the younger listeners that say they listen to "anything but country" are also not the listeners of anything pre-1970, like Sinatra, doo-wop and, I daresay, the Beatles. The best way, still, to run radio, in my opinion, is to have formats so the listeners know what station to go to to listen to particular types of music. We have the Jack stations, but in the world of iPods, the Jack stations don't fare very well. Perhaps in Canada, when Jack (or was it Bob?) debuted several years ago, there was little to no iPod or mp3 player market, so the idea of a station that played 'everything' was received much better. Now, younger listeners want everything on demand, so if someone wants to listen to Justin Timberlake's "What Goes Around Comes Around" RIGHT NOW, all the listener needs to do is click a few buttons and the song is playing, rather than waiting for 2 hours for Z100 to play it. Now, could radio still work, yes. But it needs to be marketed well and it needs to be much more interactive than it is right now. And I don't mean any of this corportate "you can download it from us" crap you get from Clear Channel or even the top 5 at 9 countdown, but there needs to be lots of promotions and events. WFNX/Boston and WBRU/Providence are excellent at this and have very loyal fanbases.

I feel that NYC could do without one of its AC-formatted stations and they just need to blow up Free FM. The rock that Free FM plays during the overnights and weekends isn't that bad (at least from looking at the logs on Yes.com), but NYC could use a current rock station of some sort that relies heavily on audience interaction and promotions, and yes, I am going to say this, NYC could use a COUNTRY station! There, I said it.

Jacko

 

[JimmyJames]

Actually, a LOT of young people listen to the Beatles. A fair amount also like Sinatra and swing music. To the younger audience, everything truly can mean everything.