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105.9 The Edge...D.C.'s biggest fail ever?

S

superjj

Could someone please explain how a classic rock station in D.C. doesn't even rank in the top 15 men 25-54? How is that possible? Chick stations like WASH and WIHT rank higher with men.I really don't get it.
 
D.C has always done fairly poorly in the Classic Rock area.

105.9 WCXR when it was Classic Rock before, then 94.7 WARW, and now "The Edge". Not sure why, as some of the other stations in and around the area have done well for years. I do know that all the CLassic Rockers that have come and gone always seemed to rely on one large personality, and tight playlists of the same 'ol stuff.
 
That or Cumulus makes it a Journey format that they fired up in Atlanta and Cincinnati. Of course they would probably bring WRQX back to its top 40 roots if they did. Or they could give DC a third Country station.
 
105.9 has a type of classic rock programming that misses the older (albeit less attractive to advertisers) part of the classic rock audience and uses imaging, and a moniker, suggesting alternative rock. WYSP, in Philadelphia, was the fourth of four rock stations, and it used a similar approach. It will be gone next week. Based on that last comment, you would correctly surmise that I am not from this area. I assume that WBIG's tweaking must have worked.

WCXR may have been underperforming, but in its day, was a very listenable station, I thought, much more so than the Arrow and the Globe.

Certain frequencies in every market have a history of difficulty, and in this one the two most obvious ones are 94.7 and 105.9. The constant spinning of the format wheel does catch up after a while...
 
observer2 said:
105.9 has a type of classic rock programming that misses the older (albeit less attractive to advertisers) part of the classic rock audience and uses imaging, and a moniker, suggesting alternative rock. WYSP, in Philadelphia, was the fourth of four rock stations, and it used a similar approach. It will be gone next week. Based on that last comment, you would correctly surmise that I am not from this area. I assume that WBIG's tweaking must have worked.

WCXR may have been underperforming, but in its day, was a very listenable station, I thought, much more so than the Arrow and the Globe.

Certain frequencies in every market have a history of difficulty, and in this one the two most obvious ones are 94.7 and 105.9. The constant spinning of the format wheel does catch up after a while...
Click to expand...

Are you saying The Edge will be gone next week or WYSP?
 
observer2 said:
WCXR may have been underperforming, but in its day, was a very listenable station, I thought, much more so than the Arrow and the Globe.

Certain frequencies in every market have a history of difficulty, and in this one the two most obvious ones are 94.7 and 105.9. The constant spinning of the format wheel does catch up after a while...
Click to expand...
WCXR from their sign-on in 1986 until 1993 when they changed owners was a good listen. They would play lots of good stuff that other classic rockers would overlook. 100GRX after they flipped to classic rock in '86 couldn't hold a candle to them. For them to have lasted as long as they did during that time means something was right then. Now I do know that after WCXR changed owners the playlist became watered down and would stay so until its demise a year later.
 
The Edge is just buying time until the simulcast of WMAL is confirmed.
 
Interesting. I don't listen often (maybe part of the problem?) but when I have its an OK station. I say OK, because it plays the standard, tried and true stuff that isn't too threatening to it audience. I haven't heard anything really exciting or which would make me want to listen exclusively, even late at night. Sounds like piped-in satellite feed to me.

I do agree CXR used to be a great station. Lots of interesting music, good on-air personalities, and plenty of presence in the area in the form of promotional stuff and live remotes. That died toward the end and so did the station. Too bad. Still, I don't know why D.C can't seem to hold a Classic Rocker. Maybe it isn't the city, but every attempt hasn't hit the nail on the head? I don't know.
 
DC now has only one classic rock station, 100.3 which played essentially the same tunes as 105.9. In other words, the same 40 or so songs over and over. As anyone knows, there is a LOT of excellent 'classic' rock out there that never gets heard anymore. DC used to have an excellent rock station, 105.7 ( I think ) back in the early 80's that played all types of rock, mostly classic, but a lot of new stuff. And this station was THE most popular in town which is saying a lot considering we had two very good others in town plus Baltimore's 98 Rock.

PLEASE bring back some good variety classic rock! It's bad enough there's ANOTHER talk radio station. Is this the price I have to pay for not buying satellite radio??
 
DC never had anything on 105.7 to my knowledge and not in the last 30 years at least, anyway. 105.9 has been occupied by various stations for that long and in the early 80's it was a country station. I doubt anything ended up on an adjacent.


100.3 WBIG was a lighter version of classic rock, even a bit more on the light rock side until the last couple weeks, when they obviously saw the writing on the wall for WVRX and began to ramp up their classic rock offerings. In fact, just last night for one of the first times, I heard them use the term "classic rock" on-air, and there has been a lot of heavier clasic rock rotated into their playlist. About mid-last week they were playing Pink Floyd, and last night I heard Led Zeppelin. Definitely falls into the classic rock genre now.
 
The RDS on my Grundig now shows "Classic Rock" when tuned to 100.3 WBIG.
 
Here's WBIG's ten most played songs over the last week... which of these are newer additions to their playlist?
http://www.yes.com/#WBIG?chart

1. Aerosmith - Sweet Emotion
2. Boston - Rock And Roll Band
3. The Who - Baba O'Riley
4. Pat Benatar - Hit Me With Your Best Shot
5. Lynyrd Skynyrd - Sweet Home Alabama
6. Foreigner - Cold As Ice
7. Fleetwood Mac - Go Your Own Way
8. Pink Floyd - Money
9. Tom Petty - Free Fallin'
10. Queen - We Are The Champions
(Queen's "We Will Rock You" is actually listed as No. 11 - yet it comes before "We Are The Champions"... SMH)
 
I'd say just about all of those are new additions to the playlist. A month or so ago, they sounded more like a throwback to the 70's with a lighter edge. Some disco tunes, and early 80's stuff too, but not as hard-driving.
 
Classic rock premiered in DC on 105.9 at or near 1988 as WCXR. I think that was the station you were thinking of.

What I liked about "The Edge" was the harder stuff, Motley crue, Ratt, Living Color, The Cult. That was what made them unique, I don't think we'll hear any of that on 100.3
 
shadough said:
Classic rock premiered in DC on 105.9 at or near 1988 as WCXR. I think that was the station you were thinking of.

What I liked about "The Edge" was the harder stuff, Motley crue, Ratt, Living Color, The Cult. That was what made them unique, I don't think we'll hear any of that on 100.3
Click to expand...

Yup. 105.9 was the old Country station WPKX KIX-106, then they changed format to WCXR around '88 or so.

I'd bet that as things evolve around Big 100, you'll see more of that sound creep in.
 
shadough said:
Classic rock premiered in DC on 105.9 at or near 1988 as WCXR. I think that was the station you were thinking of.

What I liked about "The Edge" was the harder stuff, Motley crue, Ratt, Living Color, The Cult. That was what made them unique, I don't think we'll hear any of that on 100.3
Click to expand...
WCXR made its debut in early 1986. Its AM then became a satellite-fed classic soul format (as WCPT?).

Yeah, I thought featuring the solid rock you mentioned on 'The Edge' was an asset and the station should probably have played more of that stuff, but sadly didn't.
 
I think I would vote for WMAL-FM in the mid-70s for that dubious distinction. I loved the station but it was never a ratings nor a revenue success.

As for Classic Rock IMO it has gotten predictable, hence boring. Many evergreen stations are adding deeper cuts by the core artists and have placed several of the tired tracks (half their traditional library) into slower rotations. Of course, there is also the steady march in the direction of Classic Hits and away from Classic Rock in hopes of getting females.

Guys are experimental and even 55+ blue collar men are looking to the Internet or going with Sirius/XM. At this point I am not sure that Classic Rock as we've come to know it is long for terrestrial radio.
 
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