95X Deathwatch Is On As O&A Are Off

[ChiaHead]

The "Shut Up And Rock" morning show is now on.

 

[RomeToupee]

It's sad enough that the end is in sight but to go out with Pauly Scilbilia as morning show host....???

 

[theradiokid]

Okay guys. I love format flips. I really do. I find them to be fasinating, interesting, and cool. Therefore, I also like speculating about them. However, you've all been crying "death" for 95X since the demise of Howard Stern. Every time something changes at X, you come on here and say that there will deffinitly be a format flip. It's getting anoying now. It's getting redundant. I don't think the end is soooo near. I am by no means a fan of the station. I just can't see Citadel giving up on 95X so easily. You all go on and have your little "deathwatch," but I think you'll be watching for a lot longer than you think, because I think Citadel will keep trying and trying with 95X, and will flip it as a very, very, very, very last resort, if at all. Enjoy the deathwatch! Just count me out on this one.

--The Radio Kid
(AKA Oswego Jeremy, as nicknamed by George of the Radio Racket.)
My email: [email protected].

 

[SirRoxalot]

O&A gone from 95X? After all that they've done for them? [/sarcasm off]

What's next? Imus?

 

[theradiokid]

Yeah. If the current show fails, I can see that: "Imus in the morning, rock all day. If it rocks, it's on 95X." Actually, that makes since.

--The Radio Kid
(AKA Oswego Jeremy, as nicknamed by George of the Radio Racket.)
My email: [email protected]

 

[ThePickleReport]

I had an idea awhile back for 95X to more-or-less become like "JACK-FM". Pretty much keep the format (or "a" rock format of some sort) but just use the station voice to heavily position it. I definitely don't think mornings would suffer especially because I don't think O&A were doing anything anyway. Might as well just play music---there's not much heritage there in air-talent.

 

[Element9]

Citadel, trading at around 85 cents a share, might just as well take 95X jockless. How very sad.

 

[BobRoss]

What's next? Imus?

All kidding aside, I'm surprised Imus hasn't already surfaced in Syracuse. Citadel now owns ABC Radio Networks, which owns the current incarnation of Imus in the Morning. You would expect it would be a given that Citadel would require all of its clusters to carry Imus if at all possible. After all, the more affiliates you have, the better it looks to national sponsors.

In Syracuse, obviously you can't put Imus on 93Q or Lite 105.9. But he'd be perfect for WNSS (ESPN Radio), especially since Imus used to be carried by WHEN, the Clear Channel sports station. As far as putting him on 95X, I'm not so sure. It's kind of a stretch, since he is much older than Stern and the target audience. It probably can't be any worse than Beaner and Ken, but it probably wouldn't be as good as the numbers they were getting with O&A. Either way, at least it would be free, since Citadel owns the show. That's a better deal than any rate they were paying for Stern or O&A... or for whatever their deal is with ESPN Radio. (Or did the Citadel purchase of ABC Radio also include ESPN Radio, by virtue of ABC owning ESPN?)

No matter what, it's a toughie. Obviously 95X's reputation has been hurting since Stern left... lots of complaints about the music, and the revolving door of morning shows. Many people say it's time to start over from scratch with a brand new format, but what format would work? There aren't many formats that aren't already being done in this market, and it doesn't seem like Citadel has the cash to put up the massive battle it would require to take down someone like B104.7. They would either need to hire Ron & Becky away from CC or wait until they retire (and hope their morning show beats out whoever B gets to replace Ron & Becky). Yes, R&B are mediocre, but listeners in this market love listening to the same old crap every day just because "it's what they've always listened to."

Agreeing somewhat with Jeremy, if 95X has been through all this crap and they're still making the effort... maybe they don't want to throw away their heritage just yet. Perhaps they're still hoping to ride out the storm and rebuild. It's a tough battle when half your former audience follows Stern to satellite and the other half simply jumps to competing stations that already had established morning shows in place, and yes, X certainly mishandled Stern's departure... who knows, maybe going in the direction of more music and less talk will bring people back. Of course, assuming the music rotation is more than just the same overplayed titles. I don't know, just something in me has always favored local shows over syndicated ones.

I could be wrong, and maybe this IS the start of the deathwatch. We'll just have to wait and see.

 

[Element9]

Good post, BR. The ESPN and Radio Disney networks an AM stations were not part of the Citadel-ABC package. It may be time for an air-strike at 95X. What's the alternative? Blow the joint up and start from scratch. The station HAD some heritage in the market, so it may be that Classic Rock is the only option. The 18-24 Men don't care, so go after the 35-54 Men and Women who grew up with Zep, Beatles, Stones, Skynyrd and The Doors. It's summer. Radio listening levels are down. If ever there was a time to trash the current format and get ready for the Fall book, this is it. Gitterdun.

 

[DToTheJ]

O&A were still on in Syracuse?

I thought they were only broadcasting to New York, Boston and Cleveland?

 

[95xv1.0]

see, i have always been an x fan, and i really dont see the problem with the music dept. its not as rotated as it was before they went back to their current active format, but its still better than the competition in that you dont have to switch between 105.5 and 100.9 to go from floyd to papa roach.

 

[BobRoss]

O&A were still on in Syracuse?
I thought they were only broadcasting to New York, Boston and Cleveland?

According to Wikipedia, they are on the radio in 11 markets.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opie_and_Anthony#Station_listings
The page also notes the Rochester affiliate is in the process of being sold to EMF, which means the list will soon be down to 10.

Interestingly enough, 4 of those current affiliates are Citadel stations and they all carry O&A live (even the one in New Mexico, where being live means a 4am start). Makes you wonder how/if/when their comments about Citadel during Monday morning's show will affect the affiliation of those other stations. When one company equals a third of your affiliates, it's probably not a good idea to badmouth them.

Then again, when it only takes 4 to be a third... and your parent company is also the owner of your top-4 ranking affiliates, it's probably not as much of a concern.

It would be pretty interesting to see exactly how many new subscribers Sirius picked up in the Syracuse area when Stern was dropped, and to see how many people are signing up for XM with O&A now being dropped. They would never release those numbers, but it's a valid question; many people claim to be hardcore fans, but how many actually put up the cash to stay with the show on satellite?

 

[DToTheJ]

In Syracuse, obviously you can't put Imus on 93Q or Lite 105.9. But he'd be perfect for WNSS (ESPN Radio), especially since Imus used to be carried by WHEN, the Clear Channel sports station.

But I don't think ESPN would opt for Imus to replace Mike & Mike, who are practically the faces of ESPN Radio, and is likely obligated to be carried by virtually all ESPN Radio affiliates.

 

[bartstar]

Someone smart should go Country and take some share from WBBS. You could take some of their revenue, you would get listeners and you could sell 60 second commercials! Come on! Too much oldies and classics....hot country is the way to go. Don't be afraid of the B...the are weak. and once they sting you ....they die.....

 

[BobRoss]

Someone smart should go Country and take some share from WBBS. You could take some of their revenue, you would get listeners and you could sell 60 second commercials!

If the rumors about Ron Bee's "early retirement" on the syracuse.com TV/Radio board were true, this very well could be the right time for someone else to launch a country competitor. But Ron's name is still prominently listed on the B104 website, and as bad as CC can be, I highly doubt they'd be stupid enough to fire a longtime personality while he's out on medical leave, recovering from a surgery.

 

[ThePickleReport]

There are too many AC stations in Syracuse; WYYY, Sunny 102, WLTI, and I guess Nova could be considered Modern AC. If someone were to go country against WBBS I think it would be between Sunny and Lite. Ed already tried to compete with WSCP and failed so is WLTI worth blowing-up?

 

[hmmm]

He with the best signal wins, all else being equal. So, with that thought in mind who has the best signal in town that covers ALL THE COUNTRY ZIPS that is willing to flip formats and take on the B?

 

[BobRoss]

Ed already tried to compete with WSCP and failed so is WLTI worth blowing-up?

WLTI probably can't do much worse than it already is. (Of course, this assumption is based on the latest P12+ ratings, which, no thanks to Ed, haven't been made public in quite some time.)

Either way, would you really consider Ed's ownership of WSCP a real "attempt?" I sure don't. That signal is too far north, and I don't recall any real effort to market the station. The station probably had a decent following right in its own immediate area, but even a strong concentration of P1's in one semi-rural community isn't enough to compete with the entire Syracuse metro. I don't think anyone ever considered WSCP to be any kind of a legitimate threat to WBBS. Except for that one time they tangled with B over some concert featuring some country has-been, but again, that was so minute, I don't even remember any of the details behind it.

 

[SeenItAll]

Several ad agencies in town have begun telling people that they are hearing from "credible sources" that 95X indeed will flip to country immediately after their concert at the State Fair.
That would put D-day around Labor Day,which historically is a popular time to switch a format.

 

[bartstar]

Do It Do It Do It! We haven't seen any radio wars in a long time. And why should CC sit there fat and happy when there are ratings and audience to slice up. They are not preapred to take on anybody, they are weak. Take em down. It would be so easy.