96 Rock Cincinatti's Pure rock

[Cary Pall]

Re: 96 Rock Cincinnati's Pure rock

BC indeed is all over album rock, and he was one of our guys at WIOT in 2000-2002. Great voice.

This will give Cumulus a shot at male-targeted money (read that BEER) that would never be available to them via Warm or GRR...even if it only gets a 2 share. And if they do it right (read that: figure out a way to build something that a young adult male will actually get into between the songs) they might get into EBN territory despite the signal.

 

[jawslacker]

Speaking of the voice over talent on webn; who is the female they use now.
I know at one point it was Kate West, but whoever is doing it now sounds very cool. In terms of the content between the songs, as a previous poster noted, WEBN still sounds pretty fresh. In fact, of all the heritage rockers that I've heard either in market, or online, WEBN continues to reinvent the way they sound while retaining the legendary Lunatic Fringe moniker. I think, within the corporate realm of Rock radio, and the reality of all those long stop sets, Cincinnati is still pretty lucky to have a station that in spite of itself, manages to come up with some pretty whack crap.

 

[almaniac27]

Well I hope you all remember the woman that runs Cumulus in Cincy used to work for Clear Channel That could be why 96Rock sounds just like WEBN minus the classic album rock. Have you noticed the guy that says 96Rock in the station id is the same one Clear Channel uses?

The voice over guy for 96Rock is not the same guy as WEBN. One, 99.99% of the time the voice over contract is market exclusive. Secondly, its not the same voice, just both have similar deliveries and tones.

The voice-over guy for the new 96Rock sounds an awful lot like the guy for The Fox. Just an observation.

You know what would be a cool format? Screw the "Pure Rock" that 96Rock is claiming. I'd like to see a real complete rock station. The VH1 Classic special made me think of this. Have a station that will play the roots of rock (Elvis, the Beatles, Chuck Berry), progressive rock (Pink Floyd, Yes, Moody Blues), punk rock (the Clash, Sex Pistols, Ramones), Heavy Metal (Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Metallica), stadium rock (Bruce Springsteen, U2), '90s alternative (REM, Nirvana, Violent Femmes) and newer stuff. I'd like to see how that would work out. In terms of variety, that certainly kicks "Jack" to the curb.

 

[flyingundertheradar]

Almaniac--you have never been in radio, have you? Or been around someone who is responsible for programming? You have to market to an SPECIFIC AUDIENCE. Elvis, the Sex Pistols and 80s Hair Bands have no common ground.

 

[microbob]

It's called a trainwreck, The Sex Pistols version of My Way into Elvis's version of the same song.

 

[almaniac27]

Almaniac--you have never been in radio, have you? Or been around someone who is responsible for programming? You have to market to an SPECIFIC AUDIENCE. Elvis, the Sex Pistols and 80s Hair Bands have no common ground.

That's exactly what's wrong with radio nowadays. You were right about me having no radio experience whatsoever, and I'm a tad idealistic I'll admit. But whatever happened to the days of radio where you could turn it on and be surprised by something? Or you can turn it on and hear someone you never heard of but like instead of the same 40 songs repeated over and over and over and over and over? Or where the DJs pick the music and can actually say stuff? Where the tight playlist isn't controlled by a huge megaconglomerate corporation using market research and test audiences to determine those 40 songs? Where unsigned bands have a chance of getting a fan base, where the huge song of the day was not picked apart and put together by "experts" who think they know what people want? Where radio can return to an art form instead of a boring moneymaking machine that sounds the same in every city across the country, hell, the world? It just frustrates the crap out of me.

 

[tonyincincy]

Almaniac--you have never been in radio, have you? Or been around someone who is responsible for programming? You have to market to an SPECIFIC AUDIENCE. Elvis, the Sex Pistols and 80s Hair Bands have no common ground.

Except jukeboxes, iPods, movie soundtracks, and other places where music is enjoyed without the interference of professional radio programmers. People who think they are as important as the artist, more important than the listener and essential to the art. People who have driven the medium into the ground with their BS maxims.

Nice idea Almaniac. If radio weren't soon to be dead, I'd want you at my station.

"You've never been in radio, have you?" I hope was meant as a compliment.

"You don't spend much time talking to people who aren't in radio, do you?" that's the first question I'd ask a lot of people who DO work in radio.

 

[RedGreen]

WEBN still sounds pretty fresh.

You forgot to add: "...despite the dinosaurs they currently have on the air."

 

[keys2]

Wonderful. They are chasing a demo who relies less and less on radio for music in a market that is over-saturated with stations in the format using a handle (96 Rock) that no one in their target audience remembers because they were still in diapers or not even born during its first life.

Triple-A would have been a much better choice.

Best post in this thread, ouuc.

A mature AAA audience is more likely to get their music from FM than the young punks that listen to heavy metal and have no known recollection of the "96 Rock" handle. This would seem to be an ideal time for The Sound to make a slight shift toward AAA.

I'm not sure how well the Angries will fit into this format. Angry guys and angry music maybe. But the Angry Guys are funny and cartoonish. The music is, well, angry. And dark. And depressing. A strange fit if you ask me.

 

[88.9 Miracle]

Almanac

It's already here on Cincinnati's west side. We care about the art of radio and the listeners. We have no intention of changing. We play the good side of rock and Cincinnati is taking notice. We are what THEY were.


88.9 ClassX
http://classxradio.com

 

[BJohn]

Terrible, dated, imaging on 96 Rock! Who threw that together in 5 minutes.

 

[board_manager]

Some posts have been moved to Take It Outside

http://www.radio-info.com/smf/index.php/topic,88042.msg663349.html#msg663349

 

[kirkiefan]

I remember the original 96 Rock in the earlly 1980s. It's been through a lot of name changes and formats over the years. Was WLWS "Stereo 96" in the 70s then WSKS "Kiss 96" in the early 80s then country WBVR "The Beaver 96 and a Half" in the mid 80s and I can go on all day. Was a Hamilton station back then.

 

[titoisradio]

I remember the original 96 Rock in the earlly 1980s. It's been through a lot of name changes and formats over the years. Was WLWS "Stereo 96" in the 70s then WSKS "Kiss 96" in the early 80s then country WBVR "The Beaver 96 and a Half" in the mid 80s and I can go on all day. Was a Hamilton station back then.

Wasn't this the station where the satellite format Z-Rock was on? Before it flipped to Y-96?

 

[microbob]

The Beaver 96 and a half, became WZRQ which changed to WZRZ because WKRQ complained to the FCC. Z-Rock only lasted from 1990-1992 until it flipped back to country The River, and stunted with Garth Brooks' The River for a couple of weeks. The River became WYGY, Y 96 a few years later when it was paired with WUBE.

 

[VODood]

Almaniac--you have never been in radio, have you? Or been around someone who is responsible for programming? You have to market to an SPECIFIC AUDIENCE. Elvis, the Sex Pistols and 80s Hair Bands have no common ground.

That's exactly what's wrong with radio nowadays. You were right about me having no radio experience whatsoever, and I'm a tad idealistic I'll admit. But whatever happened to the days of radio where you could turn it on and be surprised by something? Or you can turn it on and hear someone you never heard of but like instead of the same 40 songs repeated over and over and over and over and over? Or where the DJs pick the music and can actually say stuff? Where the tight playlist isn't controlled by a huge megaconglomerate corporation using market research and test audiences to determine those 40 songs? Where unsigned bands have a chance of getting a fan base, where the huge song of the day was not picked apart and put together by "experts" who think they know what people want? Where radio can return to an art form instead of a boring moneymaking machine that sounds the same in every city across the country, hell, the world? It just frustrates the crap out of me.

The same 40 songs over and over, on "top 40 radio", harks back to the 1950s where the format was invented by Todd Storz.

Later perfected by Gordon McClendon and of course Bill Drake.

 

[titoisradio]

The Beaver 96 and a half, became WZRQ which changed to WZRZ because WKRQ complained to the FCC. Z-Rock only lasted from 1990-1992 until it flipped back to country The River, and stunted with Garth Brooks' The River for a couple of weeks. The River became WYGY, Y 96 a few years later when it was paired with WUBE.

That's right. I was in high school at the time and remember listening to Dr. Judy & Jagger at night. Forgot about The River though in 93 I went away to college so that probably explains why.

 

[FRR]

Kirkiefan is right. WLWS went to rock in 1976 and was a very hot station. It was located on New London road in Hamilton and broadcast out of a little tiny building out there going up the hill. I remember riding up to Hamilton then to find out where this booming station was coming from. I was told the new owners only spent around $75,000 for the license when it went WLWS.....Why would anyone waste an FM signal on talk talk talk???? It should copy the new Fly format, and with it's location and range, would blow a couple of stations out of the water. ...Just my opinion folks.

 

[RRontheX]

I wonder if they will revive the top of the hour ID's from 25 years ago? Remember, "WSKS Hamilton/Cincinnati's:

.....Kick Ass Rock and Roll!"

.....Rock and Roll Bitch!"

.....Balls to the wall Rock and Roll!"

then, "96Rock"


But seriously the demo has found other sources for music. The last time it was 96 Rock Randy Michaels ran the show and he fought a hell of a fight and couldn't beat WEBN. 96.5 in any form has never been successful mostly because of it's antenna location.

Here's a question, I know the original 96Rock was sacrificed in the merger that became Jacor. I was told Randy changed it to Country to take listeners away from WUBE and help WLW. Did the buyer have to keep the format Country as part of the sales agreement?

As far as I know, YES it was. Not only did Randy want to get at UBE, they wouldn't want it to compete with their precious WEBN, which 96 Rock, with Marty Bender at the helm, was nippin' at. So, Reams (the buyer at the time) had a 5 year clause to keep it country. Almost 5 years to the day, they flipped it to Z-Rock, with an all Led Zeppelin gimmick playing for a week or two, before the Z-Rock format was officially launched.