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97.1 in Florence now Cat Country?

I figured they would pimp this station (Cat Country) out. This is their format of the year. (Again) They killed off Bad Dog in Orangeburg and Z in Winnsboro for this. I seriously doubt they will make any inroads in Florence with Eagle and Wheelz already here.
 
Seems like they go from dogs to cats, a lot of cats. No matter what he does we are the orginal country station for our area and were staying that way. Back when no body wanted to play country music or mix it with a bunch of other music formats as it was falling from the graces of the number 1 slot, we said to heck with that and started playing real country music. Almost no body else would touch anything but the new country except us. Soon 105.7 The Bull came on the air out of Augusta, 94.3 came on as classic country in Columbia, WHLZ moved from 92.5 to 100.5 and left most of it's listening area behind, Miller killed WIGL 102.9 as country in Orangeburg later changed Bad Dog 95.7 to Outlaw country in Orangeburg and then 6 or 8 months later back to Bad Dog again then the orginal Kat country 107.5 tried to pull the listeners of this area before going to Columbia. Now Miller as put a bunch of cat countries scattered around the state often taking stations like bad dog 105.3 off and replacing them with cats even if their listenership was good and all this time we started playing traditional to modern country mix (real country) when no body else wanted it and we still do, a true country mix and thru all of this were haven't changed and were not going to change now no matter how many cats there are around the state. At WLRE we don't just play country music, country music is a part of our life and always has been and always will be.
 
Gatekeeper, according to what radio-locator says, you're station pretty much serves Elloree and Santee, and 97.1 is centered in Florence/Darlington, and neither station overlaps the other. I don't think Harold is really trying to compete with you - but probably hoping to take a share or two from WHLZ and a share from Eagle. Also, went to your website today to listen and find out what you're all about, since you're quite vocal here...were you aware you have an ad on your front page promoting an event for July, 2009? And the music you play on your station........well, I think it's probably fair to say you have a 65 watt personal jukebox. Lila McCann? Really? And when I listened you segued four five SIX straight songs (and counting) without any sort of station identifier?

Lila McCann - Already Somebody's Lover
Mark Chesnutt - Old Flames Have New Names
Hunter Hayes - Storm Warning
Lady Antebellum - Hello World
Chris Young - The Man I Want To Be
Conway Twitty - I See The Want To In Your Eyes
----- straight into commercial ------
and back into music with no identifiers for at least another 3 songs - 30 minutes without once identifying your station!

:60 second commercials that are the same :30 piggybacked twice...and sound like they are recorded over the phone...I understand the charm of a throwback station like this - radio like it was done in the 60's 70's and 80's in small towns all over the country..but let's not kid ourselves that you are competing with Harold or COS or the other regional stations - OR that they are gunning for you.
 
Wabbit, I like your way of reviewing stations, will you give mine I run up here in Easley a review? wolfcountryonline.com

Thanks,
Josh
 
jself1982 said:
Wabbit, I like your way of reviewing stations, will you give mine I run up here in Easley a review? wolfcountryonline.com

Thanks,
Josh
Click to expand...

Actually, I feel like an apology is in order as I basically called out Gatekeeper for no reason (chalk it up to being in a very bad mood these last few days). He certainly has the right to program his station any way he sees fit, and I feel extremely apologetic for doing so. So, Gatekeeper - I am sorry.

That said, Josh, private message me if you are still interested and I will be happy to give an objective opinion. I promise not to be as much of a jackass as I was here in this thread.

PS - Gatekeeper, I had never heard that Neal McCoy song your station played this afternoon, but I kinda dug it.
 
A comment on your original post, Wabbit.

There are so few cradle-to-grave mass appeal formats out there, country is one of the few that still fits. Hence, why you will see lots of one-country-station markets where the country station is consistently in the top 5.

My opinion is that Miller is targeting the unrated markets and is programming what he hopes will be mass appeal enough to satisfy the needs of those folks in the unrated markets and drive sales from the local businesses.
 
Dude you hit it right on as that is what we have been doing for many years. Wabbit you say our announcements sound bad which is your opinion of course but they are the way we want them to sound ie: small town, funny though just yesterday a producer from Nashville who called me about some recording business, I had never met except through a friend of a friend said he had been listening to the station over the internet and thought it was very well produced and sounds great, funny how opinions vary. As for the sound quality I will put my station up against anybodies. It may not be the best but it's not bad. I have no problem with 97.1 at all just 105.3 in Orangeburg since they switched formats and overlaped what we have been doing for ten years with a very good following, and yes we are still holding our own. I may be vocal at times but there is usally a good reason and yes Harold will do what he wants and I will do what I want. As for the songs we play it is the blend we want and we have done very well with it. I am not an expert in country music but I have had a great aunt on one side of the family and a great uncle on the other who as played and or sang on The Grand Ol Opery many times as well as a cousin who is still very big in country music. This doesn't make me an expert in country music by any means nor does going to 16th ave and recording a few times but it was a lot of fun. Also I have only been broadcasting, DJ'ing, and producing on my little station for ten and a half years and no it wasn't my first time but I have been an electronics communications and broadcast engineer for thirty four years which doesn't make me an expert either but does give me a little background both ways.
 
Gatekeeper007 said:
Also I have only been broadcasting, DJ'ing, and producing on my little station for ten and a half years and no it wasn't my first time but I have been an electronics communications and broadcast engineer for thirty four years which doesn't make me an expert either but does give me a little background both ways.
Click to expand...

As I said, bad day on my part and let my typing fingers run away with me - apologies are offered.

That said, it is refreshing for someone to admit they don't know everything..if more of us did that, we'd all be better off. So, allow me to offer a suggestion that may help you a little: identify your station. Don't assume everyone knows you are WLRE just because your top of the hour ID states this; don't let three songs go by without some sort of identification. A segue every now and then is fine; but don't go that third song without reminding people what station they are listening to. Your liners can be fun (SHOULD be fun), and should drive the point home - if you are a small town station serving that small town, take pride in that and hammer the point home. "WLRE - it's what all of Elloree is listening to." (just an example). Go get some audio from listeners: "I'm Joan Johnson from Elloree, and I only listen to 92.9 WLRE'" - rotate about 15 of those (and refresh them as often as possible); stick them between songs once an hour and it becomes less noticeable that you don't have jocks. Just a few small tweaks can really improve the station not only for you but for your listeners as well.

Again, just a couple thoughts you are free to ignore :)

WS
 
Wabbit Season said:
Gatekeeper007 said:
Also I have only been broadcasting, DJ'ing, and producing on my little station for ten and a half years and no it wasn't my first time but I have been an electronics communications and broadcast engineer for thirty four years which doesn't make me an expert either but does give me a little background both ways.
Click to expand...

As I said, bad day on my part and let my typing fingers run away with me - apologies are offered.

That said, it is refreshing for someone to admit they don't know everything..if more of us did that, we'd all be better off. So, allow me to offer a suggestion that may help you a little: identify your station. Don't assume everyone knows you are WLRE just because your top of the hour ID states this; don't let three songs go by without some sort of identification. A segue every now and then is fine; but don't go that third song without reminding people what station they are listening to. Your liners can be fun (SHOULD be fun), and should drive the point home - if you are a small town station serving that small town, take pride in that and hammer the point home. "WLRE - it's what all of Elloree is listening to." (just an example). Go get some audio from listeners: "I'm Joan Johnson from Elloree, and I only listen to 92.9 WLRE'" - rotate about 15 of those (and refresh them as often as possible); stick them between songs once an hour and it becomes less noticeable that you don't have jocks. Just a few small tweaks can really improve the station not only for you but for your listeners as well.

Again, just a couple thoughts you are free to ignore :)

WS
Click to expand...
I listened on line some this morning and I don't see where any changes are needed. If you have the fan base that I think you have, then they know what they are listening to. I get weary of the big stations that say either Carolian 92.1 or Steve FM after every couple of songs, that is annoying and frankly when I listen to the radio I want music not chit-chat. Gatekeeper keep it coming and keep doing what you are doing because the sound of your station takes me back to when i was a kid growing up in Columbia and everything was locally owned and run and you are giving your listeners something that the corporate giants cannot, and that is hometown feel.
 
Thanks Lhsh that is what our goal is is to keep the sound of our local hometown radio station alive like it use to be. We love being a part of the community, local events, ballgames, church services and smalltown life. Even if we could grow to 100,000 watts our station would never change, it was the reason it put on the air in the first place along with bringing back some of the real country music you couldn't hear anymore which at the time even Nashville and most of the big country stations wouldn't touch even when a lot of the newer country songs were and still are being produced with a true country sound but rarely make it to the big radio stations. We wanted to let everyone know it was ok to listen to what they liked and not just what the big corps push as the in thing or the approved station format, we have done it good job of that on a small scale. Wabbit I don't have any problem with your post even if I don't always agree with it.
 
BTW, for those who are confused, 97.1 is not technically its own station...it is a HD-2 of WSIM I think.

This was designed to stimulate growth of HD radio. Miller was an early adopter of it...there is at least two of them in Florence and I think two in Darlington as well

...To the untrained eye, these are full-fledged radio stations that are usually a bit less powerful than a class A FM. Since there are little restrictions on antenna height for HD translators, they can have a respectable coverage

Radio-X
 
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