94.7 is changing formats today

[MVB13]

Today's edition of InsideRadio has some comments concerning the decision to flip 94.7, from Jeff Sottolano, Exec. VP of Programming at Audacy.
He mentioned a factor that has not been stated on this thread. Prior to Nash FM signing on, there had been no country station in New York for so long, that many potential listeners in the area had no history of listening to the format as they were growing up.
WNSH Format Change Decision

I find that answer of the lack of history of country music in NYC to be ridiculous. Think about how long it took SF or Baltimore to have Mainstream CHR-Pop stations. Both stations are doing fine. It has to be programmed well. When 94.7 was Nash FM they were a mess. Anyone remember when they played Ed Sheeran on Nash? https://radioinsight.com/headlines/92433/interesting-playlist-tweaks-at-kscs-wnsh/ Also they barely played any artists of color especially women of color. A mostly white staff and mostly white artists which isn't helpful.

 

[Kent]

It has to be programmed well. When 94.7 was Nash FM they were a mess. Anyone remember when they played Ed Sheeran on Nash? https://radioinsight.com/headlines/92433/interesting-playlist-tweaks-at-kscs-wnsh/ Also they barely played any artists of color especially women of color. A mostly white staff and mostly white artists which isn't helpful.

You won't get any argument from me that Nash and KSCS were not programmed well under the Dickeys' regime, especially near the end of it.

White staff and white artists is what country music is in a nutshell. Aside from Darius Rucker and Kane Brown, you won't find any reasonably current artists of color. I can't think of a single woman of color who has had a country hit that wasn't part of a duet with an established country artist. Women are already underrepresented in current country.

 

[Theater of My Mind]

I take the comments to mean that there was a tough road to try to switch country listeners away from the Spotify/Pandora/etc. realm and add FM radio to a mix when they really had no habit formed in that regard. Sure there are other ways to experience the music—that feels like the point as I read into the

I'm sure he means most people in the market grew up listening to other types of music on the radio (before streaming came along), and that's what they're familiar from their youth with so that's what they like, not country music.

When 94.7 was Nash FM they were a mess...
Also they barely played any artists of color especially women of color. A mostly white staff and mostly white artists which isn't helpful.

Um, welcome to country radio, a format for white people.

 

[SCMcKinney]

WFAN needs the AM for several reasons: first is overlapping sports events and events that are contracted for the AM and not just the FM and, second, is the fact that the AM has better coverage in outlying areas, particularly Suffolk County on LI.

Overlapping sports coverage could have pre-empted the country music whenever necessary. In Market 43 the plus 6 number showed WNSH getting very decent numbers (5.0 to WFAN's 3.0) Are there that many 660 WFAN listeners in Suffolk to offset the loss of the nort Jersey audience?

Nobody said that a national radio show would not work in the 80's. There were thousands of stations taking satellite formats, and there were lots of regional networks. The issue was the cost of technology.

I was a listener of radio in the 1980's albeit a lot more music back then. However the only daytime national shows I recall back then were Paul Harvey, Morning Edition, and ATC. Everything else was at night, such as Talknet and Larry King.

Before reaching the largest markets, Rush was on literally hundreds of smaller stations. He went on the biggest stations because of success elsewhere. The issue was compensation, not clearance.

I seem to recall in his book he started with 60 stations, most of them the ABC Talk Network outlets, and he had to broadcast from NYC, or advertisers would not take it seriously.

There is nothing new on radio, and has not been since the 1930's. Sure, stations went from block programs to genre-specific formats over the decades, but as long as radio is in the business of reflecting aspects of mass-appeal taste preferences, we will not see any startling new concept.

For the health of the business, I think that there had better be some new ideas coming down the pike. Any way you slice it, radio in 1965 sounded a lot different that what was on the air in 1945. But what we have in 2021 doesn't sound a whole lot different from what was here in 2001. What is different is the growing amount of commecial free options for music. Unless creative people get their heads together to invent fresh product or reinvent some old spoken word ideas that worked, audience is going to continue to migrate away. It won't go completely away - music radio is easy to access. But the ads in one cluster are too easy to ignore and if the audience gets too small or fragmented advertisers won't pay big dollars to access them - in my opinion.

How is today's TV with hundreds of channels any different than early TV around 1950?

Network TV doesn't seem to be too different from what it was in the 1950's, and I think their audience number are way down. I don't anticipate any audience numbers for a "Who Shot JR?" episode to recur anywhere.

 

[AbrahamJSimpson]

Well sure, you can’t add effectively unlimited choices and expect similar results to decades ago. MASH…Dallas…heck, Friends…those days are gone. What constitutes a mass appeal event fluctuates with those realities.

 

[TheBigA]

He mentioned a factor that has not been stated on this thread. Prior to Nash FM signing on, there had been no country station in New York for so long, that many potential listeners in the area had no history of listening to the format as they were growing up.

He's making excuses. How long has it been since there's been a hiphop throwbacks station in NY? That didn't stop them from launching the format. People in NYC aren't ignorant. They know this music exists even if it's not on the radio.

The station had been successful before it was sold to Entercom. The day it was sold, Entercom was looking reason to change the format.

 

[101tm]

He's making excuses. How long has it been since there's been a hiphop throwbacks station in NY? That didn't stop them from launching the format. People in NYC aren't ignorant. They know this music exists even if it's not on the radio.

The station had been successful before it was sold to Entercom. The day it was sold, Entercom was looking reason to change the format.

Which is strange, because the pre-CBS Entercom had a pretty good track record with country and had made several good, competitive launches in recent history. They failed in SFO but they did try. Obviously things changed after the CBS deal.

I’m not sure what format Audacy is actually doing well right now except Hot AC, news, and classic hits.

 

[Barry]

He's making excuses. How long has it been since there's been a hiphop throwbacks station in NY? That didn't stop them from launching the format. People in NYC aren't ignorant. They know this music exists even if it's not on the radio.

I read (sorry, don't recall where) that Audacy is aiming The Block at people that grew up listening to Hot 97 in the 90's. Apparently having people familiar with a musical genre through prior radio listening is an important factor in deciding on a current format.

 

[TheBigA]

I read (sorry, don't recall where) that Audacy is aiming The Block at people that grew up listening to Hot 97 in the 90's

In the 90s? You mean when WYNY was playing country music? You've made my point.

 

[Barry]

WYNY ended its Country format in 1996. Y 107 replaced it later in the year, but did not have much of a signal within NYC. Meanwhile hip-hop fans were able to continue listening to Hot 97, and later, WWPR.

 

[Barry]

RadioInsight notes that in the final book for WNSH as a Country station, its overall ratings in the M/S/U market climbed to 5.0, for "the largest Country share recorded" there.
WMTR 1250 AM, which broadcasts an oldies format in that area, has decent ratings there for an AM station. But it may get younger demos if it flips to Country. Of course it would be better if a music format is on FM, but I believe the only FM station in that section of NJ is WDHA, which seems unlikely to give up their long-running rock format.

 

[TheBigA]

WYNY ended its Country format in 1996. Y 107 replaced it later in the year, but did not have much of a signal within NYC. Meanwhile hip-hop fans were able to continue listening to Hot 97, and later, WWPR.

The point is country listeners had history of listening to their format during the same period. The Block is not a currents-based format.

 

[TheBigA]

WMTR 1250 AM, which broadcasts an oldies format in that area, has decent ratings there for an AM station. But it may get younger demos if it flips to Country.

People can get better audio quality by paying for Sirius. That's what they did before WNSH, and that's what they'll do now.

Storme Warren says "Thank you Audacy."

 

[gr8oldies]

People can get better audio quality by paying for Sirius. That's what they did before WNSH, and that's what they'll do now.

Storme Warren says "Thank you Audacy."

They might already have country as part of their cable programming with Music Choice.

 

[TheBigA]

They might already have country as part of their cable programming with Music Choice.

But it's unhosted. Sirius The Highway is hosted.

 

[pjc1961]

Enjoy TuneGenie! On Air Playlist from Nov 01, 2021

The latest Playlists for Enjoy TuneGenie!

wnsh.tunegenie.com

WNSH-FM Newark - Playlist Adds - Monday 11/1/2021

None
_____________________________________________________________________________________________

Enjoy TuneGenie! On Air Playlist from Oct 31, 2021

The latest Playlists for Enjoy TuneGenie!

wnsh.tunegenie.com

WNSH-FM Newark - Playlist Adds - Sunday 10/31/2021

10:42 am Thriller - Michael Jackson (Halloween themed)
5:57 am Turn Me On - Kevin Lyttle (ft. Spragga Benz)
5:53 am Fallin' - Alicia Keys
4:27 am I'm Goin' Down - Mary J. Blige
3:56 am All Falls Down - Kanye West ft. Syleena Johnson
3:08 am Don't Let Go (Love) - En Vogue
2:56 am I Just Wanna Love U (Give It 2 Me) - Jay-Z (ft. Pharrell Williams, Shay Haley and Omillio Sparks)
1:42 am Let Me Love You - Mario
1:40 am Heartbreaker - Mariah Carey ft. Jay-Z
1:31 am Through the Wire - Kanye West
12:56 am One Minute Man - Missy Elliott ft. Ludacris and Trina
12:52 am So Fresh, So Clean - OutKast (ft. Sleepy Brown)
12:43 am Dear Mama - 2Pac
12:39 am Emotions - Mariah Carey
12:19 am Red Light Special - TLC
12:14 am I Need a Girl, Part 2 - P. Diddy and Ginuwine featuring Loon, Mario Winans, and Tammy Ruggieri
12:10 am Oochie Wally - QB Finest ft. Nas + Bravehearts

Note: no songs were played during the 6-7 AM hour on Sunday morning 10/31/2021.
(Not sure what programming ran during that time - whether it was talk-based and/or pre-recorded.)

 

[davideduardo]

Um, welcome to country radio, a format for white people.

There are other formats that are very ethnically or racially specific to the point of being "exclusive".

There is nothing wrong with that.

Nationally with a couple of exceptions, Urban AC has around 92% Black listening. There is nothing wrong with a format appealing to a specific group that has a music type or style that they like. Others are welcome to listen, as radio is free and no membership is required.

Within Spanish language radio, "Regional Mexican" has almost zero appeal among people who are not from Mexico of the "Triangle" nations of northern Central America. You would not find a Colombian or a Puerto Rican or Dominican listening.

Different ethnic groups have culturally specific foods, music, art. There is nothing racist about a Black person who listens just to the local Urban AC station, nor is there anything particularly wrong with certain white people who love country..

 

[KyleSmith1988]

A good station is one I can leave on 24/7 and this station I can definitely do that with...Still in the middle of 25,000 songs in a row (hopefully there won't be many commercials as too many commercials will drive the listeners away)...but lots of variety here and finally a good station with LOTS of 90s music...Reminds me of KTU in the late 90s which as a format has been largely neglected....the whole point is that the music never gets old !! Been missing a station like this for a long time.

Streaming from Upstate SC, it's a much better sounding station than the Block around here which is mostly new Hip Hop and unbearable....The Block 96.3/104.5/107.7 in Greenville SC should try this format...Same company so why not

 

[MVB13]

There are other formats that are very ethnically or racially specific to the point of being "exclusive".

There is nothing wrong with that.

Nationally with a couple of exceptions, Urban AC has around 92% Black listening. There is nothing wrong with a format appealing to a specific group that has a music type or style that they like. Others are welcome to listen, as radio is free and no membership is required.

Within Spanish language radio, "Regional Mexican" has almost zero appeal among people who are not from Mexico of the "Triangle" nations of northern Central America. You would not find a Colombian or a Puerto Rican or Dominican listening.

Different ethnic groups have culturally specific foods, music, art. There is nothing racist about a Black person who listens just to the local Urban AC station, nor is there anything particularly wrong with certain white people who love country..

No however that white person (I am white) could not bash and make racist comments about a station playing music catered to a minority group and listen to other minority group's music. For a long time radio catered to only them, now it caters to all and they get angry over it. The world and especially caters to whites and usually rich white men.

 

[MVB13]

I can imagine that KTU may be greatly affected by the Block. KTU needs to protect Power and Z without too much overlap.