80's on Tampa's Point - how do they stay so steady?

[szorn]

It seems most 80's stations are either gone or floundering. What keeps this particular 80's station in Tampa steady in the upper 2 range for that market? What do they do to keep their ratings from going south? What can other 80's stations learn from them? I still think a well-programmed 80's station would fair better than all these JACK formats that seem to be tanking in the big cities. Thoughts?<P ID="edit"><FONT class="small">Edited by Z on 03/04/06 10:21 PM.</FONT></P>

 

[avgfanofradio]

> It seems most 80's stations are either gone or floundering.
> What keeps this particular 80's station in Tampa steady in
> the upper 2 range for that market? What do they do to keep
> their ratings from going south? What can other 80's
> stations learn from them? I still think a well-programmed
> 80's station would fair better than all these JACK formats
> that seem to be tanking in the big cities. Thoughts?
>


It also boils down to your people behind the mic .... look at the case of Mix in Tampa .... with they way they are sinking right now to the bottom in morning show ratings you can only blame the person who does the most talking and thats Nancy Alexander

 

[Audiodarlin]

> > It seems most 80's stations are either gone or
> floundering.
> > What keeps this particular 80's station in Tampa steady in
>
> > the upper 2 range for that market? What do they do to
> keep
> > their ratings from going south? What can other 80's
> > stations learn from them? I still think a well-programmed
>
> > 80's station would fair better than all these JACK formats
>
> > that seem to be tanking in the big cities. Thoughts?
> >
>
>
> It also boils down to your people behind the mic .... look
> at the case of Mix in Tampa .... with they way they are
> sinking right now to the bottom in morning show ratings you
> can only blame the person who does the most talking and
> thats Nancy Alexander

1) What is so great about the Point? Another COX jukebox with 2 jocks and limited -playlist list. The only music they play from the 80's are really classic hits. And very white.
2) If CC were smart about MIX, they would look to WTVR LITE 98 in Richmond and WLTW in NYC. CC can win with AC-----just appearantly not here.

 

[FloridaBear1776]

Fad formats just survive longer on 101.5

Jammin' Oldies lasted here after it was fading in other markets.

One thing in its favor is that 101.5 doesn't have a history of being a market powerhouse in any format. It was a low-rated religious station (WKES) until the late 1990's. It was acquired for less than the market rate by Paxson because he promised not to put any racy formats on there for a time. Subsequent swaps to Clear Channel and Cox didn't run up the price too much. So there are low expectations and no reason to try to make a ho-hum format any better than what it is. Throw in Cox's wallpaper approach and there you have it.

BTW -- Tampa had a 70's station (107.3) for six years, from 1993 to 1999.

 

[jmilliner]

Re: Fad formats just survive longer on 101.5

Was 101.5 a AC station at one time?


> Jammin' Oldies lasted here after it was fading in other
> markets.
>
> One thing in its favor is that 101.5 doesn't have a history
> of being a market powerhouse in any format. It was a
> low-rated religious station (WKES) until the late 1990's. It
> was acquired for less than the market rate by Paxson because
> he promised not to put any racy formats on there for a time.
> Subsequent swaps to Clear Channel and Cox didn't run up the
> price too much. So there are low expectations and no reason
> to try to make a ho-hum format any better than what it is.
> Throw in Cox's wallpaper approach and there you have it.
>
> BTW -- Tampa had a 70's station (107.3) for six years, from
> 1993 to 1999.
>

 

[radiofan13]

Re: Fad formats just survive longer on 101.5

> Was 101.5 a AC station at one time?
>
Yes... first format by new owner Paxson was Love 101.5, WILV. What a waste that was. With then soft Warm 94.9 and mainstream AC 100.7/W101 WUSA well established in the market and just about no one having WKES 101.5 on their presets, it was never gonna make an impact. What's even more strange was that Paxson was moving in 94.1 WEZY at the time and creating what's still known as WSJT. Maybe "Love" was just a temporary thing as an earlier poster stated about non-offensive programming. Whatever the case, I personally feel as most do that The Point is programmed horribly and why Calahan/Sanders still has a job there is questionable. I think your right though, the Cox 3 pronged approach of Point/Magic and even WDUV is killing Mix. Kind of reminds me of the Eagle(Bay)/Bone combo trying to tear down Thunder. If it was up to me, I think I'd change 101.5 to an urban AC like Cox's Star 94.5 Orlando. Seems to me Magic can probably take on crappy Mix by themselves and 101.5 would be better served as a competitor to 95.7 The Beat's older demo. And as far as Mix 100 goes.... sure sounds and looks to me like they've painted themselves into the same corner Star 95.7 by sharing listeners with to many other stations. Mix is not many listeners first choice. It's button #2 when Magic, Point, FLZ, and a handful of other stations go to commercials.

 

[jefflaurence]

Re: Fad formats just survive longer on 101.5

Jack McCoy (KCBQ) once said that if a station in a market is EVERYBODY'S second favorite station..it would automatically be #1

 

[Irishfl]

How is it the point never fliped to a jack like station (Pete-FM?). It would've been (and still is) perfect for cox's 101. Lets review.

-The jack format is heavy on 80's music, so 101, could keep its current music playing, while adding hits from the 70's 90's and today. However, unlike the point format, the jack format plays all kinds of 80's music, and not just mostly 80's rock, which is what I think was the biggest problem with the whole point format in the first place, and why it died off so fast in many cities (for example I now live in philly, which had a point station for about 2 years. It was a complete failure, yet during the 80's the hot hits format, made WCAU "one of the most listened too stations in America", and was considered one of the best stations. It also last longer then other hot hit stations.

-The Jack format, is generally a no jock format. Perfect for Cox, who doesn't seem to like jocks on many of there stations. If they want, they can keep the 2 they have for traffic.

-Someone else could flip to a jack, which would kill almost all the ratings the point does get, thus forcing Cox to find a new format for 101.5 anyway.

Only problem I see for 101 switching to a jack is, the true format requires constant voiceover updates. The sound you here between songs isn't suppose to just say "your listening to JACK-FM", but should make other comment often relevant to something happening in the area. Cox hasn't updated the point sweepers since they first came on.