107.3 The Eagle - The Alleged Classic Hits Station

[DToTheJ]

I just don't understand why they call themselves a "classic hits station" when they're, for all intents and purposes, a classic rock station.

You say you're a "classic hits station," Eagle? Play me some Spnners or some Maxine Nightingale. Please, who are you trying to kid with this "classic hits" bit?

Here are some examples of true classic hits stations:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classic_hits

 

[gamefreak]

Cox has different definitions of formats than only companies. Cox considers Classic Rock to be really heavy rock from the 70's to 90's including Heavy Metal. Hense 102-5 The Bone. A station like WXGL is considered too light by Cox to be deemed "Classic Rock". It seems stupid but Cox does formats differentely. Cox just doesn't consider Elton John , Fleetwood Mac and Paul McCartney and Wings Classic Rock. Clear Channel but bot Cox.

A Cox station that actually plays pop other than CHR and a few AC's are very hard to come by.

I do agree though. The Eagle should be called Classic Rock.

 

[billalm]

I think it's to make the station sound more appealing to a broader audience. Some people will hear the term "rock" and immediately discount the station as a "hard" rock station and turn away. Using the term "hits" is more friendly and less abrasive. And even though you might consider that true "rock" dominates the playlist, most if not all of the songs were "hits" during the 70's and 80's. So I think it's just a positioning statement to appeal to the biggest audience available... and from what I've seen and heard from the ratings in the last few months, it's working.

 

[Parttimer]

"Classic Hits" is a format of Classic Rock songs that were hit singles.

A Classic Rock station also plays songs that were only album cuts.

If you play the pop stuff, it's an oldies station with a different target audience.

 

[badjef]

Cox has different definitions of formats than only companies. Cox considers Classic Rock to be really heavy rock from the 70's to 90's including Heavy Metal. Hense 102-5 The Bone. A station like WXGL is considered too light by Cox to be deemed "Classic Rock". It seems stupid but Cox does formats differentely. Cox just doesn't consider Elton John , Fleetwood Mac and Paul McCartney and Wings Classic Rock. Clear Channel but bot Cox.

A Cox station that actually plays pop other than CHR and a few AC's are very hard to come by.

I do agree though. The Eagle should be called Classic Rock.

"Wit-chay Woman" most definitely was a classic hit.

Jeff in Sa-ra-so-ta!

 

[DToTheJ]

@Parttimer: I see your point, as WXGL doesn't have that AOR aura. But consider:
http://classicrock.about.com/od/recommendationsandreviews/a/top100_bands.htm

On that first page is 25 artists. I would say outside of The Byrds, Blood, Sweat and Tears, and maybe The Moody Blues, every single artist listed on that first page are in heavy rotation on WXGL, whether they're "hits," album cuts, or not.

But they're in third place in the most recent book, so as Bill writes above, it must be working.

Maybe this will lead to a new distinctive trend at Cox: classic rock stations that play primarily classic rock artists, but calling themselves "classic hits" stations.

 

[faaradar]

Maybe this will lead to a new distinctive trend at Cox: classic rock stations that play primarily classic rock artists, but calling themselves "classic hits" stations.

That is certainly what Cox did to 'SFR in Louisville.

 

[vadar]

Such a tired, weak format. The same 200 songs over and over.....

 

[DToTheJ]

@faaradar: Just got a look at the "Eagle" station in Louisville... My goodness, they've got more live talent on that station than the Eagle in Tampa - and Tampa is a far bigger market!

 

[MsMusicRadio]

I can get Max 98.3 in Temple Terrace and Brandon like a local, even on a small house radio. I think it is far superior to the Eagle. I think they only have two jocks, but the playlist is so much deeper and their liners are less annoying. I never listen to the Eagle because of the presentation. I think it is an insult to the listener, but I guess I am in the real minority

 

[badjef]

I can get Max 98.3 in Temple Terrace and Brandon like a local, even on a small house radio. I think it is far superior to the Eagle. I think they only have two jocks, but the playlist is so much deeper and their liners are less annoying. I never listen to the Eagle because of the presentation. I think it is an insult to the listener, but I guess I am in the real minority

Ratings are only reflective of the present product being presented within a geographical area. We are seeing slight changes in that geographic area being affected by alternative delivery methods other than a terrestrial antenna.

With that said, (imho)The Eagle's ratings are proof of how the other stations are in a similar situation. Markets go in cycles. We are in a low cycle with the Tampa Market.

Question:
If, the alternative delivery methods were on par with terrestrial stations, what would be the number #1 station in Tampa?

It is only a matter of time when that will be the case. Maybe uncomfortably sooner than any of us think.

Jeff in Sa-ra-so-ta!

 

[gamefreak]

True Oldies 106.3 (WJQB) is the oldies station here in Citrus County. The Classic Rock station that bills itself as Classic Hits here is 96.3 The Fox.

If you think "The Eagle" is bad at branding themselves take a listen to this station. 96.3 would play Jimi Hendrix, Deep Purple, White-snake and Van Halen mixed and then say its a Classic Hits station. The Playlist on The Fox is even heavier Classic Rock than the Eagle. However at least The Fox plays more music.

 

[skippertthomas]

We may question, but the ratings are really good for the flying fowl...

 

[badjef]

We may question, but the ratings are really good for the flying fowl...

All birds have their day in the sun.

Jeff in Sa-ra-so-ta!

 

[DToTheJ]

Yesterday on his show, Cowhead mentioned that when 102.5 sheds its music and goes full-throttle into hot talk, sister station 107.3 The Eagle will add "some of the older stuff" to their playlist. So I guess this means we can hear the same four or five Ozzy Osbourne and Motley Crue songs alongside the same four or five Genesis and Eddie Money songs?

 

[gamefreak]

Yesterday on his show, Cowhead mentioned that when 102.5 sheds its music and goes full-throttle into hot talk, sister station 107.3 The Eagle will add "some of the older stuff" to their playlist. So I guess this means we can hear the same four or five Ozzy Osbourne and Motley Crue songs alongside the same four or five Genesis and Eddie Money songs?

Why didn't Cox do this with other stations, like when "The Point" flipped to "Hot". Oh well, like you said,the same ______ 7 songs in a loop. Just wish some people had a station for their Madonna, Janet Jackson, a-Ha and New Order fix. Some people still don't have a car with an Ipod port.

 

[billalm]

They may not have announced on 101.5 the shift in music but Magic 94.9 absolutely adjusted their imaging and playlist to pick up former Point listeners. As far as Eagle goes, I'll be very surprised if they get too "hard". No way are they gonna tick off the large audience they've worked for the last few years. So a few of the Bone listeners go to 98Rock, big deal.

 

[gamefreak]

They may not have announced on 101.5 the shift in music but Magic 94.9 absolutely adjusted their imaging and playlist to pick up former Point listeners. As far as Eagle goes, I'll be very surprised if they get too "hard". No way are they gonna tick off the large audience they've worked for the last few years. So a few of the Bone listeners go to 98Rock, big deal.

Cox did shift the music around on Magic after 101.5 flipped to CHR. What I was saying is that the softer "Mainstream" selections from The Point were the ones added. You wouldn't hear "Situation" by Yazoo, "Its the End of the World" by R.E.M or anything New Wave on WWRM. WPOI played classic artists such as Talk Talk, Information Society, Midnight Oil, Depeche Mode, Toad the Wet Sprocket, The Cure, New Order, a-Ha, Flock of Seagulls, The Fixx, Yazoo and even Erasue. Magic plays none of those artists. I'm taking a guess that a lot of these artists fell out of the Cox music testing in the past year. That or Cox had to keep a soft and comtempory appreoach music wise. The Point's playlist sucked big time, but was one of the few stations giving 80's New Wave a chance. Magic is still no "Point" and never will be, its just not the way a Mainstream AC is meant to sound. Pandora and the Classic Alternative channel on Last.FM is where I get my fix. Last.FM knows who the Psychdelic Furs are.

I hear more '80s New Wave on 105.9 Sunny FM in Orlando, and thats a CBS greatest hits station. Then again Sunny isn't an AC, so the whole keeping things "Soft and Comtemporory" isn't an issue.

 

[Parttimer]

They may not have announced on 101.5 the shift in music but Magic 94.9 absolutely adjusted their imaging and playlist to pick up former Point listeners. As far as Eagle goes, I'll be very surprised if they get too "hard". No way are they gonna tick off the large audience they've worked for the last few years. So a few of the Bone listeners go to 98Rock, big deal.

I think the greater opportunity for Cox is to grow 97X, rather than changing much on the Eagle.

In general, they have figured out that they don't need multiple stations in the same narrow demo (like pulling the Point out of the AC cluster already served by Magic, WDUV and to some extent, the Eagle).

 

[RMarino]

Yesterday on his show, Cowhead mentioned that when 102.5 sheds its music and goes full-throttle into hot talk, sister station 107.3 The Eagle will add "some of the older stuff" to their playlist. So I guess this means we can hear the same four or five Ozzy Osbourne and Motley Crue songs alongside the same four or five Genesis and Eddie Money songs?

It's already happening. The Eagle just played AC/DC "Highway To Hell."