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104.9 WOW-FM debuts in Gainesville

Sounds like they are stunting now. A bunch of music hooks saying 104-9 WOW FM.
 
According to a Gainesville Sun article today, they will officially kick off the new format at noon Saturday with 10,000 back to back songs. The moniker appears to be "Gainesville's Greatest Hits" which LPFM oldies station WERF (95.7) has been using for the past five years. I expect that WERF will not be very happy to have a commercial competitor.
 
Unfortunately, posters are reporting news elsewhere and not everyone is aware of things at the same time. Almost like radio, even posting has become fragmented. At any rate, JAWilson had the scoop on all this earlier on but that info didn't wind up here. Kmagrill pretty much summed things up.

I couldn't be happier for the folks in the Gainesville area for the Greatest Hits format. If a portion of the playlist allows them to differentiate themselves from everyone else, that would be a move in the right direction. My understanding is there will be live DJs. That's a plus, especially for certain dayparts.

Honestly, It's great seeing how a market the size of Gainseville appear to have at least the basic understanding in how the format works. Personality and music variety are musts. Time will tell but I do hope they make the right decisions and at a minimum meet expectations.

I've heard from a number of people about this flip along with some jabs for Jacksonville. What I told them and what I will say here is little pieces of the format appear here and there but it's not the real thing. Maybe no one really knows how to do the classic hits format in Jax.

JAWilson said it best. "Excited to hear this presentation of Classic Hits and see how well JVC does with it. Just too bad a big city like Jacksonville can’t seem to get it right and have a dedicated station to the Greatest Hits of All Time!"
 
JohnJax said:
...Honestly, It's great seeing how a market the size of Gainseville appear to have at least the basic understanding in how the format works. Personality and music variety are musts....
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Time will tell if they got the recipe right or not. This is the second time in 104.9's history that they have been oldies. The Kinney's managed to make a living doing oldies in the early 1990s. At the time, the station was WYOC and got around a 3 share.

So far, the present format sounds like the oldies format that was on WMFQ until they switched to hot AC a couple of years ago. All songs are up tempo and obviously well researched, but the format is pretty limited. I don't know how many tracks are in rotation, but I'd guestimate that the old WMFQ had about 1500 in regular play. I have concerns that a format with a (necessarily) stale playlist and relatively high rotation can garner significant AQH numbers due to listener burnout. I suspect it will cume well, but suffer in long term listeners. It will be interesting to see how they do with this format.
 
Expect this format to add slower and medium tempo songs after the initial start-up. Right now, as KMagrill explained, they are building cume with the up tempo and tested songs. I expect the initial phase to have a reasonable high cume while AQH and TSL will be created through additional song additions that were hits but are not yet on the playlist. To avoid listener burnout, if they have not already done so, I suggest they create music categories or seasonal categories that will rotate from quarter to quarter. In other words every 13 weeks a new set of classic hits are added to the playlist while the previous songs are rotated off. That way the songs rotated off will not be heard again for at least another nine months. This will avoid listeners listening to the same songs over and over with nothing new to add. I'm sure with the addition of live announcers forthcoming, creative contest and giveaways will be implemented, same as the way Top 40 radio was done in the '60s, '70s and '80s.
 
You are correct Mark. I am in S. Fla right now and I love hearing the format done right. I hope you get hired in Jax to help fill a huge programing hole.
 
I wish we could get them here in Daytona...I tried to do something similar with WROD but I was shown the door fast.
 
JohnJax said:
You are correct Mark. I am in S. Fla right now and I love hearing the format done right. I hope you get hired in Jax to help fill a huge programing hole.
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I'd love to do something in Jacksonville. However, as the saying goes, any station(s) in Jacksonville that can benefit from implementing a classic hits format first needs a commitment from management and the owner. You cannot help someone who does not want to be helped. Thank you for the vote of confidence.
 
Again you nailed it Mark. I have talked commitment from owners and managers in Jax for years to no avail. Classic Hits can be a valued format. If a strategy is formed based on why and how it can work,that shows some buy in. That has been the missing link.
 
JPlainJohn said:
I wish we could get them here in Daytona...I tried to do something similar with WROD but I was shown the door fast.
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I Consulted for all of a month & a half before I was shown the door.Started by adding the Classic Hits Core Artists as I was given the OK to go to 1985 initially,then ownership kept changing the post on me eventually saying I could not go past 1979 at which time I made WROD's imprint as a 1960's Oldies Station (Mainly Beatles-1970) about 20% 70's/early 80's and 5% Pre-Beatles. They were very impatient...we were sounding ok as a 60's Powerhouse (I thought)-they wanted to hammer me on about 150, 1980's title's they did not like.The last two weeks all I heard was "We should'nt be playing Billie Jean (Michael Jackson)"....constant in-fighting between Me the Morning Gal The Sales Manager and the Owner. Everyone knew how to Program better than I did....I was ready to quit two days before they managed to quit me first!LOL.
 
Your story is totally believable and that's what it makes it so sad. N.Fla has a very bad reputation when it comes to the classic hits format. Years of demarcation are not as pronounced as it once was. Billie Jean is usually near the top on most special listener voted countdowns. You worked for idiots. I'm so happy to be in S.Fla for the next week so I get WMXJ. They do it very well. I always dread the reality of bad radio as I get to the welcome to Jax sign
 
JohnJax said:
Your story is totally believable and that's what it makes it so sad. N.Fla has a very bad reputation when it comes to the classic hits format. Years of demarcation are not as pronounced as it once was. Billie Jean is usually near the top on most special listener voted countdowns. You worked for idiots. I'm so happy to be in S.Fla for the next week so I get WMXJ. They do it very well. I always dread the reality of bad radio as I get to the welcome to Jax sign
Click to expand...
I hear ya John. All my 80's was very well researched...but they were the EXPERTS not me!!!!!!:cool:
 
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