920 AM to switch back to Standards

[redsfan1966]

920 AM (WMNI) will switch from News Radio back to Music (Standards) on July 18th according to the station's facebook page-- https://www.facebook.com/am920wmni

 

[gabigley1]

So, WMNI-FM 103.9 will still be all news after July 18th?

From the WMNI 920 Facebook page:

"Hey Columbus! Guess What? WMNI AM920 Returns to the airwaves on July 18th! Once again playing Americas Best Music! We are excited to be back and hope you are too! Please tell all your friends and colleagues! Tune in July 18th as WMNI AM920 returns to Americas Best Music!"

 

[gabigley1]

WMNI-FM, 103.9 will still be all news after July 18th according to station management.

Is there a chance NABCO will want to change call-letters on 103.9? To avoid confusion with Standards on WMNI 920.

 

[wjf82]

They must've noticed the 0.0 or 0.1 their AM was getting, which might explain why they didn't bother paying for their rating to show up in June ratings (and probably July).

 

[xmusicmatt]

WMNI-FM, 103.9 will still be all news after July 18th according to station management.

Is there a chance NABCO will want to change call-letters on 103.9? To avoid confusion with Standards on WMNI 920.

It's about time they flip the AM back to something that actually had listeners (even if a little)..

Next they need to build out that CP (Which I still don't know why they are sitting on when they could HAVE actually a decent signal in the metro) .. and flip 103.9 to a format that will help them (JACK FM would be a great choice).

 

[Nu_Roo_2]

WMNI-FM, 103.9 will still be all news after July 18th according to station management.

Is there a chance NABCO will want to change call-letters on 103.9? To avoid confusion with Standards on WMNI 920.

It's about time they flip the AM back to something that actually had listeners (even if a little)..

Next they need to build out that CP (Which I still don't know why they are sitting on when they could HAVE actually a decent signal in the metro) .. and flip 103.9 to a format that will help them (JACK FM would be a great choice).

Agreed. 103.9 has a nearly non-existent share too. Maybe they are trying to sell it.

 

[markbohach]

WMNI-FM, 103.9 will still be all news after July 18th according to station management.

Is there a chance NABCO will want to change call-letters on 103.9? To avoid confusion with Standards on WMNI 920.

It's about time they flip the AM back to something that actually had listeners (even if a little)..

Next they need to build out that CP (Which I still don't know why they are sitting on when they could HAVE actually a decent signal in the metro) .. and flip 103.9 to a format that will help them (JACK FM would be a great choice).

Agreed. 103.9 has a nearly non-existent share too. Maybe they are trying to sell it.

The hole in the market for a '50 and over' music station is huge. If I were NABCO (and I am not) I would look at an
Easy/Lite format on both 920 and 103.9. Maybe go easy/timeless on 920 and a little more contemporary on 103.9.

While this may not be a 'prime' demo for agencies, it will get some numbers and there is still a good amount of direct
business that can be won.

 

[lovejamminoldies]

1039 should be flipping as well. I love how when it's storming, I tune to 103.9 and they're still rambling off the bird but 610 has already broke in with weather. I'd love to see JACK back in C-Bus but with them already trying the format even though Ted sucked, I doubt they'll try it again. Anything would produce better than talk I would assume. Why don't they put on a format that DOESN'T exist in town?

 

[Thomas Blixa]

WTVN is your severe weather station!

 

[del_griffith]

WTVN is your severe weather station!

Crackle, buzz, snap. And then at nightfall directional. And I'm within outerbelt.

 

[Nu_Roo_2]

1039 should be flipping as well. I love how when it's storming, I tune to 103.9 and they're still rambling off the bird but 610 has already broke in with weather. I'd love to see JACK back in C-Bus but with them already trying the format even though Ted sucked, I doubt they'll try it again.

Jack was just starting to get traction just as R1 sold them.  In fact, if you extrapolate they look like they were probably at more than a 4 share in their final six weeks.  I would hope any local operators looking at the format would take that into account before jumping to the shortsighted conclusion "Jack doesn't work in Columbus," but I don't know...  And even before that, when the trends were very slow or flat, they looked like a ratings powerhouse compared to what 103.9 is doing now.  For that matter, the same goes for Ted-FM.  I recall hearing that the salespeople didn't know how to sell Ted, but in a PPM/Ipod/Pandora world the concept of a broad mix is much more mainstream today.  Speaking of...I notice that lately Rewind sounds somewhat broader but still big-hit focused.  Good move.  They're still tight but without sounding "pathologically repetitive" as I had complained about awhile back.

 

[knowbetter]

WMNI-FM, 103.9 will still be all news after July 18th according to station management.

Is there a chance NABCO will want to change call-letters on 103.9? To avoid confusion with Standards on WMNI 920.

It's about time they flip the AM back to something that actually had listeners (even if a little)..

Next they need to build out that CP (Which I still don't know why they are sitting on when they could HAVE actually a decent signal in the metro) .. and flip 103.9 to a format that will help them (JACK FM would be a great choice).

Agreed. 103.9 has a nearly non-existent share too. Maybe they are trying to sell it.

The hole in the market for a '50 and over' music station is huge. If I were NABCO (and I am not) I would look at an
Easy/Lite format on both 920 and 103.9. Maybe go easy/timeless on 920 and a little more contemporary on 103.9.

While this may not be a 'prime' demo for agencies, it will get some numbers and there is still a good amount of direct
business that can be won.

Agreed, Mark, never figured why they changed in the first place.

 

[knowbetter]

1039 should be flipping as well. I love how when it's storming, I tune to 103.9 and they're still rambling off the bird but 610 has already broke in with weather. I'd love to see JACK back in C-Bus but with them already trying the format even though Ted sucked, I doubt they'll try it again.

Jack was just starting to get traction just as R1 sold them. In fact, if you extrapolate they look like they were probably at more than a 4 share in their final six weeks. I would hope any local operators looking at the format would take that into account before jumping to the shortsighted conclusion "Jack doesn't work in Columbus," but I don't know... And even before that, when the trends were very slow or flat, they looked like a ratings powerhouse compared to what 103.9 is doing now. For that matter, the same goes for Ted-FM. I recall hearing that the salespeople didn't know how to sell Ted, but in a PPM/Ipod/Pandora world the concept of a broad mix is much more mainstream today. Speaking of...I notice that lately Rewind sounds somewhat broader but still big-hit focused. Good move. They're still tight but without sounding "pathologically repetitive" as I had complained about awhile back.

I guess I must be in a real agreeable mood this morning, although I didn't listen to Jack a lot, I do know of a whole bunch of people who did, and were not happy when it left. It would give NABCO a larger audience spread with the standards format returning.

I don't know who generally makes the decisions over there, it does appear maybe there has been a recent change??

 

[the marv]

I think the news format would have been better staying on 920AM while the adult standards appear on 103.9. I think now that Sunny 95 is getting more uptempo lately with some of the soft tunes from adult standards plays they would get some of the audience that left Sunny.

 

[mxyzptlk]

920 to AS
103.9 to Active rock/Blitz
99.7 to country

920 to AS
103.9 to TOP 40
99.7 to country

Rock isn't making them money.

 

[jakej]

Catching up on my newspaper reading, I just came across this little tidbit from last Friday's Dispatch. Here's the online version -- http://www.dispatch.com/content/sto...inment/2013/07/19/station-back-to-oldies.html.
Seems like all that Hal Fish has done for the past few years is make mistakes and then apologize for them. Nice work if you can get it (and keep it)! This latest move makes a lot of sense to me, as NABCO might as well go back to exactly what it wasn't happy with before. Typical commercial radio logic for ya.
Hope everyone's been enjoying "Secrets" since I last posted a few weeks ago. I sure have! ;D

 

[gabigley1]

Catching up on my newspaper reading, I just came across this little tidbit from last Friday's Dispatch. Here's the online version -- http://www.dispatch.com/content/sto...inment/2013/07/19/station-back-to-oldies.html.
Seems like all that Hal Fish has done for the past few years is make mistakes and then apologize for them. Nice work if you can get it (and keep it)! This latest move makes a lot of sense to me, as NABCO might as well go back to exactly what it wasn't happy with before. Typical commercial radio logic for ya.
Hope everyone's been enjoying "Secrets" since I last posted a few weeks ago. I sure have! ;D

What are the chance he will let you program 920 AM radio?

Still have a problem getting good audio for your "Secrets" show
Also, talked to the WCRS-LP Chief Engineer about the poor audio on WCRS-LP and the 98.3 translator. He is working on it and doing the best he can at the moment. Lets hope he can make
it sound as good as it was a couple of years ago. Picked up some WCRS bumper stickers and a WCRS T-Shirt at the Festival where WCRS had a booth. Noticed a WCRS-LP bumper sticker on a car in downtown Columbus a couple of months ago. That was a surprise!

 

[gabigley1]

Seems like all that Hal Fish has done for the past few years is make mistakes and then apologize for them. Nice work if you can get it (and keep it)! This latest move makes a lot of sense to me, as NABCO might as well go back to exactly what it wasn't happy with before. Typical commercial radio logic for ya.
Hope everyone's been enjoying "Secrets" since I last posted a few weeks ago. I sure have! ;D

It also looks like a TED-FM type format is also back on 103.9 as Jack-FM.

 

[jakej]

We gotta get you on the WCRS Internet stream, Mr. Bigley! Everything sounds PERFECT there!! Yeah, we have a booth at ComFest every year, so thanks for visiting it and getting some stuff.
I'm willing to talk to anyone anytime who's in the radio business here, but he or she is going to have to contact me. I'm through with initiating the contact myself, as I did that for eight years and it got me nowhere.

 

[gabigley1]

WMNI-FM, 103.9 will still be all news after July 18th according to station management.

Is there a chance NABCO will want to change call-letters on 103.9? To avoid confusion with Standards on WMNI 920.

NABCO apparently didn't want to let the cat out of the bag about their planned 103.9 format change
two weeks ago. Maybe we should have known better because they killed off their WMNI.com News Radio website on July 18. I sure wish NABCO would have stuck it out with their 103.9 news format until the new tower site they have a CP was built and operating. It would have been interesting to see the ratings for new radio on their new tower site.
That new and improved tower site has been put on hold for now.