I e-mailed Apex's GM (they are a local company) and this is what he said.
First I want to thank you for emailing me to offer your comments and feedback about our format change on WIOP. We understand and appreciate your loyalty to the former format. It is always difficult to make these changes because all radio stations, regardless of their ultimate level of success or failure, have a loyal listener base.
Over the years Apex has made a number of changes in our competitive battles with the national radio companies that operate in this market, namely Clear Channel Communications (based in San Antonio, TX) and Citadel Communication (based in New York city). As a small, privately owned, locally based company here in Charleston , we have had to carve our success out of this very competitive environment and that has dictated our approach to format decisions. We have grown from about 5% of the radio listeners in the market using our stations to close to 30%, which is on par with, or better than, our nationally based competitors. Although not popular with everyone, we believe that the change to WIOP will also prove to be as popular as our other format offerings.
Feedback and comments from listeners are important to us, so again, thank you for your input. It is appreciated.
