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103.1 The Wolf is doing quite well for itself so far!
- Thread starter MarkW
- Start date
Was about to mention those WWWF v WALK numbers this fine Sunday morn until I saw Barry's post.
The new kid in the Connoisseur board room (the one with the cowboy hat) seemingly affected their WKJY as well.
Heading into the colder seasons and the exodus from the Hamptons probably will usurp some listeners from WJVC as well. The thought here is *that* drain will be minor, though, as well as anything WWYZ will see. That station covers far more of the East End than WWWF can, anyway, much like the WPLR and DRC-FM signals do.
So WWWF's next chore -- it's only one -- is to stress going West. HD is not going to be of any notable help. They should be texting the FCC daily about that 'major incursion' from the 99-watt translator. Just because a facility gets licensed to raise power certainly doesn't mean it's approved and permanent. I know this firsthand*. The FCC works on complaints, some of those sprouting from within their own spacing rules.
* Another topic altogether.
The new kid in the Connoisseur board room (the one with the cowboy hat) seemingly affected their WKJY as well.
Heading into the colder seasons and the exodus from the Hamptons probably will usurp some listeners from WJVC as well. The thought here is *that* drain will be minor, though, as well as anything WWYZ will see. That station covers far more of the East End than WWWF can, anyway, much like the WPLR and DRC-FM signals do.
So WWWF's next chore -- it's only one -- is to stress going West. HD is not going to be of any notable help. They should be texting the FCC daily about that 'major incursion' from the 99-watt translator. Just because a facility gets licensed to raise power certainly doesn't mean it's approved and permanent. I know this firsthand*. The FCC works on complaints, some of those sprouting from within their own spacing rules.
* Another topic altogether.
Honestly, I am not surprised, Country has been a tough sell on Long Island, but hey, they are giving it a shot...... let's see how the summer goes for them!
Since we discussed The Wolf's overall ratings last October, they had risen considerably, and then dropped significantly from 3.5 to 2.1 over the past two months.
It's not the most exciting Country station. They are automated evenings and weekends (except for a national countdown show Sunday mornings). Many of the sweepers have been running almost since the station went on the air a year ago. But I'd say the playlist has quite a good mix of recent and 90's songs.
Nassau/Suffolk Ratings
It's not the most exciting Country station. They are automated evenings and weekends (except for a national countdown show Sunday mornings). Many of the sweepers have been running almost since the station went on the air a year ago. But I'd say the playlist has quite a good mix of recent and 90's songs.
Nassau/Suffolk Ratings
Has C&W or Country *ever* done well on the very long Long Island?
I recall in the WJRZ days of Countrypolitan 97 -- the 60's -- that WFYI 1520 Mineola gave the format a try. But they were a bland version, no pizazz, and got blown into the ocean by WKBW even before sunset sometimes.
1580 Patchogue (as WSUF? or WDRR?) gave it a spin in the 70's. They were another daytimer at the time, though.
And 94.3 'Smithtown' tried it for a while. A gal I kept company with, a former Led Zeppelin fanatic, said she hated the phony laughter on morning shows and found the music okay.
A better gauge of Country's appeal on Long Island would be, of course, some huge FM signal trying it out, like WWYZ in CT and WXTU Philly. Scant chance of that happening, though.
The music itself bears some blame. Now, I'm an old city goat who grew up with Ernest Tubb, Don Gibson, Loretta Lynn, Red Sovine, Sherill-Sutton, etc. And the newer stuff has certainly gone through its stages, what with the Outlaw days, the more-Los Angles-less-Nashville sonics, the MTV treatment, the same homogenization and just-add-some-likker to a formula that pop music has too long settled for product from three music companies. I can't tell the diffence at times between if I have on an A/C, Country or Contemporary Christian station playing in the car. And when some boom-boom-clap of sampled Rap gets tossed into the kickapoo punch, I'm gone.
It's probably not a matter of a market of some 2,500,000 'deserving' its own Country station. No more than NYC's 16,000,000 people accepted one. Barring a blockbuster movie or TV show I'm too reminded of years ago when stations played the Italian hours on weekends, and today out here when stations do the same for Polka and Irish shows -- and think that Country on Long Island is headed that same way.
I recall in the WJRZ days of Countrypolitan 97 -- the 60's -- that WFYI 1520 Mineola gave the format a try. But they were a bland version, no pizazz, and got blown into the ocean by WKBW even before sunset sometimes.
1580 Patchogue (as WSUF? or WDRR?) gave it a spin in the 70's. They were another daytimer at the time, though.
And 94.3 'Smithtown' tried it for a while. A gal I kept company with, a former Led Zeppelin fanatic, said she hated the phony laughter on morning shows and found the music okay.
A better gauge of Country's appeal on Long Island would be, of course, some huge FM signal trying it out, like WWYZ in CT and WXTU Philly. Scant chance of that happening, though.
The music itself bears some blame. Now, I'm an old city goat who grew up with Ernest Tubb, Don Gibson, Loretta Lynn, Red Sovine, Sherill-Sutton, etc. And the newer stuff has certainly gone through its stages, what with the Outlaw days, the more-Los Angles-less-Nashville sonics, the MTV treatment, the same homogenization and just-add-some-likker to a formula that pop music has too long settled for product from three music companies. I can't tell the diffence at times between if I have on an A/C, Country or Contemporary Christian station playing in the car. And when some boom-boom-clap of sampled Rap gets tossed into the kickapoo punch, I'm gone.
It's probably not a matter of a market of some 2,500,000 'deserving' its own Country station. No more than NYC's 16,000,000 people accepted one. Barring a blockbuster movie or TV show I'm too reminded of years ago when stations played the Italian hours on weekends, and today out here when stations do the same for Polka and Irish shows -- and think that Country on Long Island is headed that same way.
My question to you is how do you define "done well?" Are you using 6+ numbers?
It's unfortunate for The Wolf that the W276AQ 103.1 translator in Fort Lee NJ was fairly recently authorized a substantial power boost to 99 watts. Its signal clobbers The Wolf's in many parts of western Nassau County. But the broadcast maps indicate that The Wolf's primary coverage area only includes eastern Nassau County. So the owners may have determined it would not be worthwhile to challenge this move.
Searching old FCC data, it seems W276AQ used to have more of a "diamond" shaped radiating pattern, from at least 1993 (as WJUX) up until about 2008. I wonder how that all changed.
Attachments
@The Big A
I'm gainfully retired out here a hundred miles west of Times Square, Big A, thirty years after leaving radio behind. But Long Island was my home and radio employer for most of the previous 26 years. I follow radio and music with fond allegiances for a few markets but am otherwise well out of any industry loop, trade site or demo. So yeah, 6+ is all I have to go by. Real rudimentary stuff, for certain; 'damned statistics' the same time they establish a basic mood. And the communications yen has been in this former rock-and-roller punk, since age 11. That's in most formats.
Any observations or comments here are thus of the nostalgic sort, those that the odd-person-out in a think tank group might supply for discussion.
One recall, however, might be relevant here on the posted topic, though. The words of a new owner (now a quite wealthy man) of a station I worked for. He noted and quoted more Arb numbers and day parts than any owner or GM ever to sign my paychecks. One opine of his was that the more west you drove or lived or commuted through the very long Long Island market toward NYC, the more apt the traffic, commerce, travelers and residents -- society -- leaned toward regarding civilization and its media to the east as less 'sophisticated'.
It's eternally moot how a WWWF would have fared against NYC's Nash-FM. Or how relatively stingy-signalled WWSK would be able to compete with a huge, more modern Rock station atop the ESB. But the feeling here is that the farther east you go on the lengthy Island -- decreed at one time as three separate markets -- the more the law of diminishing returns accelerates. Country or no Country.
Thanks for the ear!
I'm gainfully retired out here a hundred miles west of Times Square, Big A, thirty years after leaving radio behind. But Long Island was my home and radio employer for most of the previous 26 years. I follow radio and music with fond allegiances for a few markets but am otherwise well out of any industry loop, trade site or demo. So yeah, 6+ is all I have to go by. Real rudimentary stuff, for certain; 'damned statistics' the same time they establish a basic mood. And the communications yen has been in this former rock-and-roller punk, since age 11. That's in most formats.
Any observations or comments here are thus of the nostalgic sort, those that the odd-person-out in a think tank group might supply for discussion.
One recall, however, might be relevant here on the posted topic, though. The words of a new owner (now a quite wealthy man) of a station I worked for. He noted and quoted more Arb numbers and day parts than any owner or GM ever to sign my paychecks. One opine of his was that the more west you drove or lived or commuted through the very long Long Island market toward NYC, the more apt the traffic, commerce, travelers and residents -- society -- leaned toward regarding civilization and its media to the east as less 'sophisticated'.
It's eternally moot how a WWWF would have fared against NYC's Nash-FM. Or how relatively stingy-signalled WWSK would be able to compete with a huge, more modern Rock station atop the ESB. But the feeling here is that the farther east you go on the lengthy Island -- decreed at one time as three separate markets -- the more the law of diminishing returns accelerates. Country or no Country.
Thanks for the ear!
I was saying, the old pattern of W276AQ looks like it used to have more of a directional pattern towards Long Island, and even to some extent, WJGK. I wonder how was that allowed to be done away with. 🤷♂️ Usually directional protections don't just disappear like that.
Owner Connoisseur Media has hired radio veteran Robby Bridges as PD and new midday personality for The Wolf. To make sure he is kept busy, he will also be PD of sister station WEBE in CT. Bridges has managed and been on-air on several Country stations, including WCTK in the Providence area.
Bridges expressed his intention to "Grow 103.1 The Wolf/WWWF into one of the biggest country stations in America."
He replaces former midday host Alexa Neo.
From Radio Insight
Bridges expressed his intention to "Grow 103.1 The Wolf/WWWF into one of the biggest country stations in America."
He replaces former midday host Alexa Neo.
From Radio Insight
They now need to add HD. They could put more oldies on an HD2.
The best a Country station has ever done in the Nassau/Suffolk book was a second-place 5.0 share for WYNY in the Summer 1991
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Now that The Wolf's owner Connoisseur Media has absorbed Alpha Media, which has several Country stations, I wonder whether a show from one of them will run at night/weekends. The Wolf has never had any personalities on past 7 pm on weekdays, or on weekends, other than Lon Helton's Country Countdown.
It should not cost much to run a program from a sister station, or voicetrack one of their personalities.
It should not cost much to run a program from a sister station, or voicetrack one of their personalities.
Warshaw has been very emphatic about local radio, with local staffing and local sponsorship. So that would surprise me.
The Wolf runs the syndicated Big D & Bubba show during morning drive. It's a good show, and the hosts do customize it a bit with local mentions.
But it's not a local program. The same sort of customizing nights/weekends could be done by personalities from Alpha's numerous Country stations.
And of course Lon Helton's countdown show is also not local.
We'll see. Alpha's country stations run Bobby Bones in mornings. Here's one of interviews on what he hopes to do:
Forget the noise. Jeff Warshaw’s answer to what works? “Local, baby.” - Editor and Publisher
Connoisseur Media CEO Jeffrey Warshaw isn’t chasing trends—he’s doubling down on what works: local content, real relationships, and a service-first sales strategy. In a no-nonsense conversation, Warshaw explains why legacy media still has power when it’s community-rooted and advertiser-driven...
www.editorandpublisher.com