98.9 Charleston flips to Oldies

[StinkyPete]

@Pete - How do you qualify a good broadcaster? Yes, you're right most stations do flip formats in this day are era of radio. Who did Chick give everything they want to?

Again my point: Charleston can't embrace anything they can't hear in their home or office.

Chick was given a massive billboard campaign, new transmitter, the full support of management and sales staff, and made every effort to be a viable player in the market. It is not a good time to be a hot AC, and yes the signal was an issue. But explain this; when 98.9 was Spanish it was a SOLID money maker and had not great but decent numbers. They did that with a transmitter probably older than you are and had half of the Charleston penetration that the signal has now. Based on that alone, your position falls flat.

If this was meant as a poke at Kirkman, you are way off base.

 

[SCRadioTune]

Actually Pete - you are off base. Kirkman didn't own 98.9 when it was Hispanic, as a matter of fact he still doesn't own the station. It's never been a "solid money maker" since he has operated the station, which was when they flipped it to ChickFM. And lastly IF it was such a "money maker" then why doesn't Kirkman or someone else buy it and flip it back to Hispanic? Maybe that's an idea for you to do.

 

[Silkie]

Methinks thou doth protest too much.

 

[w00t]

Giving blatant "gender" to a radio station never works... That has been proven time and time again. You can target women but the station must still remain fairly androgynous. There are men that will listen and prop the station up in the ratings a little but they aren't there if you blatantly assign a gender to the format.

When was the last time you heard the "Television For Women" slogan on Lifetime?

 

[vchimpanzee]

98.9 is a Charleston station. They have been ever since they signed on in the early 90s. They signed on as WWSS, and every other format has been targeted to the Charleston market. Hot actually drew decent shares as a urban station, and challenged Z-93.

Spanish served a good niche for several years before it moved, and Kirkman is trying to make it into a Charleston station. They don't have the best signal, but they're doing their best.

I could hear it in Myrtle Beach, and apparently lots of people in the market could. But when they did beach music, they were paired with 99.7, which I could also hear in Myrtle Beach before there was a station at 99.5. That station was in Hilton Head or one of those little towns down there but moved to Charleston later. By the way, in 1994, both these stations were doing standards, believe it or not. 99.7 was REAL standards, not the curious mix of standards, oldies and AC that seems to be the rule today, and was the format on 98.9.

 

[carolinaradio]

Giving blatant "gender" to a radio station never works... That has been proven time and time again. You can target women but the station must still remain fairly androgynous. There are men that will listen and prop the station up in the ratings a little but they aren't there if you blatantly assign a gender to the format.

When was the last time you heard the "Television For Women" slogan on Lifetime?

I have to agree. No offense to the Chick FM staff, but that whole name was a turn off to any potential male listener, likely - and "Moms In The Morning" just made things worse. If they wanted to do Hot AC, they could have done it without targeting women so directly.

 

[Silkie]

What does that say for a business that identifies itself as Chick Fil-A?

 

[Ssummers]

I could hear it in Myrtle Beach, and apparently lots of people in the market could. But when they did beach music, they were paired with 99.7, which I could also hear in Myrtle Beach before there was a station at 99.5. That station was in Hilton Head or one of those little towns down there but moved to Charleston later. By the way, in 1994, both these stations were doing standards, believe it or not. 99.7 was REAL standards, not the curious mix of standards, oldies and AC that seems to be the rule today, and was the format on 98.9.

Yeah, It's always amazed me(I guess maybe it shouldn't, given the state of radio) how many different formats that 99.7 has had since it first went on the air. I helped with the startup of that station in 1988. Time flies.

 

[charlestondxman]

99.7 went through so many formats there. Top 40, Standards, and I remember from the beach music days. For several years, they carried a lot of sports. They carried all the Clemson Tigers football and basketball games for Charleston, and College of Charleston basketball was aired too, even when they were a smooth jazz station.

Yes, a smooth jazz station was carrying college basketball. For a brief time they were all comedy, maybe two or three months, and then they went smooth jazz. Not only did they have basketball, they had Andy Thomas for several years, doing his statewide talk show. He frequently talked about how he had listeners in Fernandina Beach and near Jacksonville.