80's music heavily added to 3WS

[Pratte4Life]

I hate to say this, but their playlist seems more contemporary than WDVE's.

 

[Mr. Geen]

Ms. Van Dyke was relieved of her programming duties. She is still music director. Alex Tear is Program Director.

 

[Raymond]

3ws is playing the wrong music. They need more 70's in there. Rock music of the 80's is what DVE should be playing.

Ratings will say the rest.

 

[toddjammin]

3ws is playing the wrong music. They need more 70's in there. Rock music of the 80's is what DVE should be playing.

Ratings will say the rest.

I agree with you, but the thing is they are playing more than just rock 80's music. I heard Janet Jackson, Madonna, and Whitney Houston on 3WS.

 

[Radio_Realist]

they are playing more than just rock 80's music.

The thing is, that's the only real difference between "classic rock" and "oldies". Both formats play music from the same eras. The former only plays rock music, the latter includes all "pop" (as in "popular" music), including the stuff that wasn't rock.

WDVE does need to loosen up the date range of their playlist. Audiences are getting old, so they need to add more rock music that somewhat younger listeners are familiar with if they don't want to turn into KDKA.

 

[kenhawk1160]

Oh, another one. Tempted by Squeeze.

Maybe they're doing a "60s, 70s and 80s songs that got turned into commercials thereby ticking everyone off" theme.

Long live WJPA, WLSW & WJAS!

If that's the case, I look for WJPA to pick up some momentum in the next Arbitron. They've always had a deeper library than "double-double", but their only limitation was the signal, which was spotty in parts of Pittsburgh. But they've played a great variety of oldies...ones that stood the test of time, and others that made you say "WOW! They're playing THAT?"

As for the other two, I'd say don't count on it.

 

[radiogeek07]

As someone who's on the very young end of this.
I associate Whitney Houston, Bond Jovey, Jannet, and others as part of a playlist on Wish, 92.9, or Star 100.7. Not 3ws! I still have the "All oldies all the time" slogan in my head. Not this 60's, 70's, and 80's stuff.

 

[Boss Radio]

That's why CBS blew up the well-established oldies station WCBS-FM in NYC. They determined that no matter how they tweaked the music, people would always perceive it as the oldies station.

 

[corporateradiosucks]

And they got a hideous new logo. Just saw a tv ad for it.

That logo is megafug. It's the Universal Corporate Logo - look around and see how many places use that oval/swish thing.

I do, however, like up in the picture area, where Elton John looks like he's reacting to Stevie Wonder goosing him.

 

[SteveMartinJr]

That's why CBS blew up the well-established oldies station WCBS-FM in NYC. They determined that no matter how they tweaked the music, people would always perceive it as the oldies station.

Pity that a Pittsburgh legendary station got the makeover. They should've learned from their mistake with New York. Haven't seen the ratings for WCBS, but didn't they fall, as I recall?

CC likes to cookie clutter, because who knows when they'll just simulcast cities! However, they need to realize that Pittsburgh is a different market. Perhaps some research into a market's diversity and makeup is needed.

They will realize their mistake when there are dropped ratings. They should've just added more "oldies" to the mix. That's what their probelm was. They were getting stale playing the same songs over and over.

All Oldies All the Time is a great branding. That's what successful stations strive for: Listener and advertizing recall.

 

[Radio_Realist]

They will realize their mistake when there are dropped ratings.

It might not be a mistake. If CC were to start national simulcasting of some program formats, they should be able to save a very large amount of production costs, and yet employ nationally known, celebrity DJ's. So they slip a few tenths of a ratings point here and there. What they might lose in revenue from minor ratings slippage would probably be less than they'd save in production costs. Revenue - expenses = profits, right? If revenue goes down a little bit, and expenses go down a lot, the end result is that profits go up.

 

[kenhawk1160]

They're imaging themselves as the "Best music from the 60s, 70s, and 80s". Heard RD Summers use the slogan last weekend during the Diner and nearly ran off of 79.

I wouldn't be surprised if 3WS drops the 60's pretty soon.

I'm not so sure about that. What 3WS is doing now isn't new. In my native Detroit, they have an AC station, 100.3 WNIC. This station is your typical middle-of-the-road AC, but instead of the fluff on Lite AC stations like Celine Dion, Elton John, and Michael Bolton, they play 60's Motown tracks or other rock tunes of that era, which meshes nicely with the AC. I see 3WS moving in this direction, and it's a good one.

I caught 3WS for the first time in about five years yesterday while I was pressure-washing my house. I have to admit, they sound good. It's evolved well.

 

[Parttimer]

There's sort of a trend nationally for gold-based AC's to once again become the first choice of oldies listeners as the pure oldies formats are forced off the dial by the sales department... and once you combine the audience from the oldies station with the AC audience, it sometimes results in good numbers...

 

[kenhawk1160]

There's sort of a trend nationally for gold-based AC's to once again become the first choice of oldies listeners as the pure oldies formats are forced off the dial by the sales department... and once you combine the audience from the oldies station with the AC audience, it sometimes results in good numbers...

Very true. 3WS was strong as both an AC-Oldies station (Long Live Trapper Jack!) before they dropped the AC in 1988.

 

[Raymond]

There's sort of a trend nationally for gold-based AC's to once again become the first choice of oldies listeners as the pure oldies formats are forced off the dial by the sales department... and once you combine the audience from the oldies station with the AC audience, it sometimes results in good numbers...

Very true. 3WS was strong as both an AC-Oldies station (Long Live Trapper Jack!) before they dropped the AC in 1988.

The difference is that back then, they were a stand-alone station and had a budget. Management acted like they were runnning a radio station. Nlow, it's how many dollars can they cut to get ahead? Add in the fact that they are not given the money as DVE is given each day. Granted, there have been a lot of tv commercials, but it's a generic cookie cutter commercial that could be in Anywhere, USA.

 

[kenhawk1160]

There's sort of a trend nationally for gold-based AC's to once again become the first choice of oldies listeners as the pure oldies formats are forced off the dial by the sales department... and once you combine the audience from the oldies station with the AC audience, it sometimes results in good numbers...

Very true. 3WS was strong as both an AC-Oldies station (Long Live Trapper Jack!) before they dropped the AC in 1988.

The difference is that back then, they were a stand-alone station and had a budget. Management acted like they were runnning a radio station. Nlow, it's how many dollars can they cut to get ahead? Add in the fact that they are not given the money as DVE is given each day. Granted, there have been a lot of tv commercials, but it's a generic cookie cutter commercial that could be in Anywhere, USA.

I don't think ANY of CC's stations in Pittsburgh get as much support money as DVE does. But I'm sure CC doesn't really skimp on 3WS, either. This is radio in the 21st century. The money radio once had is no more. We've had to do more with less in ALL markets. As for the cookie-cutter TV commercials, those have been produced by companies like Filmhouse and others of their ilk for many, many years.

I don't think 3WS is in any immediate danger of being "destroyed" by its corporate owners. It's a very strong, solid station that's maintained a consistent lineup of personalities throughout the years. All that's really changed is the music, and when you give time to really think about that, it hasn't changed all that much.