So where are people in Charleston getting their country music from now? I would say 96.9 The Wolf has had some time to grow in with people in the Charleston Market. I sometimes listen to 96.9 The Wolf in Myrtle Beach as I can get it on my car radio plus its a preset on my car radio. I just flip it on sometimes when the other stations aren't playing a good song. But I believe 96.9 The Wolf sounds great. Morning show and during the day till night time. It sounds like a great country station. Much more local in the morning then Cat Country 107.5 was.
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96.9 The Wolf or 103.5 WEZL
- Thread starter radiolives
- Start date
Hands down, the Wolf.
S
southcradioguy
Guest
I would have to agree that hands down, the Wolf has really come on strong out of the box. If they can keep up the pace and the energy that they have, I give WEZL until the Fall Book before they are the number 2 Country Station in the market. Switching back and forth between the two of them, it is an unfair fight. The Wolf is live and local, full of fun and energy. WEZL has gotten extremely tired sounding and not only is it boring to listen to, but even their staff sound bored. I even heard Reid from WEZL on The Wolf, I wonder how many other staff members over at WEZL wish that they had come over. Oh, wait their morning show is the only other staff members left.
Like I said earlier, WCOS is having the very same problem here in Columbia and they sound like a typically run station by CC that doesn't care about their listeners or good radio at all. All they care about is the money that they are supposedly raking in and their air staffs are mostly tracked from other CC stations that are no where near the markte that they are tracking.
Now I thought WEZL was like WSOC in Charlotte, NC. Well known in the market and everything. Sure one is owned by Clear Channel and the other CBS Radio. Anyways getting back to Charleston. Im surprised more people are liking The Wolf over WEZL just because WEZL has been country longer and well known. But with people wanting to put on The Wolf over WEZL it doesn't seem to me Clear Channel wants to keep listeners from leaving to the other station. Sure some of those listeners just came over from Cat Country.
8
80sjock
Guest
The Wolf has a programming issue---hands down.
First - please make your posts understandable. There are a few in this thread I need a translator for.
Ok, now, more on topic - WEZL vs. the Wolf.
WEZL is in trouble. Not BIG trouble, but trouble enough.
Clear Channel employees are so disheartened right now that kicking Citadel's collective asses isn't a priority - job salvation is. So few are asked to do so much that whatever fun the job used to be has leaked out of the building and WEZL is basically a shell of the station it used to be because of it.
Over in West Ashley, The Wolf COULD grind WEZL into dust in a year - if it were run by a company that knew anything about putting on a country station in Charleston, SC. Citadel has a long history of screwing that particular pooch - and Brian Driver isn't the guy to pull Cat Country/The Wolf out of the Citadel muck. However, the whole Citadel cluster is suffering across the board right now, so if there IS a chance to bounce back, it's the Wolf. Kick WEZL's butt, and that goes a long way to reestablishing the company in Charleston.
Let's take a look at the matchup:
Mornings on the Wolf: Three Guys and Girl....oops, sorry. Taking Steve Waters from 95SX and putting him at the helm of the Wolf Morning Show is a good idea to start with, but why stop there? Steve helped launch Cat Country with Steve, Sherry & Muddflap back in the day, and that show seemed to be fun and certainly competitive with what WEZL was putting on back then. But no, Sherry gets canned when Sunny dies, and Muddflap is off programming and doing mornings in Florence. Instead, Citadel drags the tired carcass of Janet Walsh back to the market, brings in Charlie Byrd Lindsey, and brings in Cat holdover Rowdy Nights. If Citadel's idea was to have something new and exciting, they certainly failed. No disrespect to Charlie Byrd, who is a market legend, but is this the lineup you take to war when you want to take down the #1? Instead of Waters putting on a fresh, young sounding morning show, the rest of the staff just makes him sound old.
Mornings on WEZL: TJ & Gary (and Ric). Not at the top of their game, but certainly well-respected and held dear by a large number of Charleston country fans. Ric has been Clear Channel's whipping boy in that cluster for ages now - and gets no respect for a solid job. But word on the street is these guys are NOT happy with life under CC and would just as soon go elsewhere if they could. Kinda hard to be competitive when you don't even want to play for your team. Since Clear Channel isn't going to get any better, one has to wonder if the best days of the WEZL Morning Crew are behind them.
I won't go in-depth about the other dayparts, but I will say, listening to both, that the Wolf sounds like a "more fun" station to listen to --- but that's always been the case; Citadel has always sounded more exciting and fresh, whether it was the jocks or the music or the imaging. Citadel seems to realize this (thus putting together a morning show of retreads, hoping for that familiarity with the listeners?), but is that enough to get the job done? It's always tougher to GET to the top than it is to stay there; WEZL is Charleston's #1 country station more or less by default, and it would be fun to see the Wolf make a battle of it....maybe with the new freq and increased coastal coverage they might have a shot.
So - how do you think they'll match up in a year? Does it really boil down to which cluster's management is more incompetent? Is the Wolf fielding the right morning show? Driver didn't show us much in two years at the helm of Cat Country - will the changes reinvigorate him?
Ok, now, more on topic - WEZL vs. the Wolf.
WEZL is in trouble. Not BIG trouble, but trouble enough.
Clear Channel employees are so disheartened right now that kicking Citadel's collective asses isn't a priority - job salvation is. So few are asked to do so much that whatever fun the job used to be has leaked out of the building and WEZL is basically a shell of the station it used to be because of it.
Over in West Ashley, The Wolf COULD grind WEZL into dust in a year - if it were run by a company that knew anything about putting on a country station in Charleston, SC. Citadel has a long history of screwing that particular pooch - and Brian Driver isn't the guy to pull Cat Country/The Wolf out of the Citadel muck. However, the whole Citadel cluster is suffering across the board right now, so if there IS a chance to bounce back, it's the Wolf. Kick WEZL's butt, and that goes a long way to reestablishing the company in Charleston.
Let's take a look at the matchup:
Mornings on the Wolf: Three Guys and Girl....oops, sorry. Taking Steve Waters from 95SX and putting him at the helm of the Wolf Morning Show is a good idea to start with, but why stop there? Steve helped launch Cat Country with Steve, Sherry & Muddflap back in the day, and that show seemed to be fun and certainly competitive with what WEZL was putting on back then. But no, Sherry gets canned when Sunny dies, and Muddflap is off programming and doing mornings in Florence. Instead, Citadel drags the tired carcass of Janet Walsh back to the market, brings in Charlie Byrd Lindsey, and brings in Cat holdover Rowdy Nights. If Citadel's idea was to have something new and exciting, they certainly failed. No disrespect to Charlie Byrd, who is a market legend, but is this the lineup you take to war when you want to take down the #1? Instead of Waters putting on a fresh, young sounding morning show, the rest of the staff just makes him sound old.
Mornings on WEZL: TJ & Gary (and Ric). Not at the top of their game, but certainly well-respected and held dear by a large number of Charleston country fans. Ric has been Clear Channel's whipping boy in that cluster for ages now - and gets no respect for a solid job. But word on the street is these guys are NOT happy with life under CC and would just as soon go elsewhere if they could. Kinda hard to be competitive when you don't even want to play for your team. Since Clear Channel isn't going to get any better, one has to wonder if the best days of the WEZL Morning Crew are behind them.
I won't go in-depth about the other dayparts, but I will say, listening to both, that the Wolf sounds like a "more fun" station to listen to --- but that's always been the case; Citadel has always sounded more exciting and fresh, whether it was the jocks or the music or the imaging. Citadel seems to realize this (thus putting together a morning show of retreads, hoping for that familiarity with the listeners?), but is that enough to get the job done? It's always tougher to GET to the top than it is to stay there; WEZL is Charleston's #1 country station more or less by default, and it would be fun to see the Wolf make a battle of it....maybe with the new freq and increased coastal coverage they might have a shot.
So - how do you think they'll match up in a year? Does it really boil down to which cluster's management is more incompetent? Is the Wolf fielding the right morning show? Driver didn't show us much in two years at the helm of Cat Country - will the changes reinvigorate him?
The Wolf's sound is very good if they can keep it up to par. When WBUB went to WNKT and brought in Steve, Sherry, and Muddflap they were not received very well at all in this area, probly one of the biggest problems the cat had to over come around here Santee, Elloree, Orangeburg, St. George, St. Mathews, Summerton, Manning, ect... (exception was toy for totts one Christmas). As for their current staff at wolf you have to judge between listeners being use to someone or wanting something new example dropping Pam Morgan as program director bad idea but recoverable, Rowdy Nights seems a little hot on himself but then I have only met and seen him three times.
Gatekeeper007 said:The Wolf's sound is very good if they can keep it up to par. When WBUB went to WNKT and brought in Steve, Sherry, and Muddflap they were not received very well at all in this area, probly one of the biggest problems the cat had to over come around here Santee, Elloree, Orangeburg, St. George, St. Mathews, Summerton, Manning, ect... (exception was toy for totts one Christmas). As for their current staff at wolf you have to judge between listeners being use to someone or wanting something new example dropping Pam Morgan as program director bad idea but recoverable, Rowdy Nights seems a little hot on himself but then I have only met and seen him three times.
A couple things: First, are you saying the "BUB to NKT" change wasn't well-received, or just the morning show?
Second: not sure I understand the comment that the station was not well received except for "Toys For Tots" - could you elaborate?
Third, Pam Morgan never ascended to any higher position than MD - the order being, if memory serves: Rob Kelly, Dusty Chandler, Muddflap (on an interim basis), Lloyd Ford, Bob O'Neill, then Brian Driver up to the change to the Wolf.
It was the morning show that wasn't well received, it was hard to tell where they were comming from sort of. Also you are right about MD not PD just before her marrage. WNKT was received ok althou some thought and this includes some long time radio people that still have a high wattage station on air that the change in call letters from WBUB as a country station didn't make sence, what better call letters could you ask for. As for WNKT it was the sudden shift in programing change of DJ's like John Quency and a morning show that didn't quit hit right that was the problem. Comparing WNKT to WIWF the wolf has had a much better start than the cat did if it can keep it up and keep going it will be interesting to see how well they build their listenership. The wolf's music mix is better than the cat was and is comparable with WEZL's.
8
80sjock
Guest
Your right--and bringing back Janet Walsh for the 5th or 6th time won't save their ass either, but who is gonna work for $30,000 a year. If management would give up some cash and bring someone in from out of market, that might work.
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