A NEW FORMAT FOR A TRAID FM?

[goatboy]

[/quote]WZTK seems to have a strong showing in both the Triad and the Triangle...
[/quote]

While WZTK has a lot of listeners, Arbitron hasn't sent them diaries yet.

 

[Mr Winston-Salem]

I thought the proposed WVBZ move was to block a Raleigh-Durham move-in and wasn't serious?

 

[RadioDze]

That was the talk at the time. Of course, the move-in that was supposedly being blocked, WFXQ, 99.9 FM in Chase City, did indeed move in and sign on in the market last year, signing on from Creedmoor as WCMC "99.9 Geniune Country", owned by Capitol Broadcasting Company.

 

[berlin201]

Who knows how this whole thing will play out, but if it is a CC station that flips, don't be surprised if they play that "Kiss" loop again that they played on WFMX while it was stunting; CC used that same "Kiss" loop in Charlotte on WWMG before its flip to 96.1 The Beat (see WFMX thread)...

 

[XTalker]

It's been two years? Why hasn't Arbitron found ZTK's listeners? How do you know they have "a lot of listeners"? Live by the ratings, die by them.

ZTK is a good station - but it does have signal issues in parts of both metros (Raleigh and Greensboro) and that will prevent them from ever being a strong force in either market.

Meanwhile, they need to forget ratings and find sellers who can build relationships with advertisers. It is all about the revenue and the station can't be making a lot of money at this time. It is also a rather expensive operation with three people on the morning show, news people all day, and Alan in the afternoon. I am sure they don't work for free!

 

[goatboy]

building relationships? please! most ridiculous word in the biz...relationship. the "relationship" is give me money and give me results. without that, no relationship.

they could definitely get rid of handelman and get ed schultz in afternoons and they really don't need both of those guys in the morning. it's brad's show anyway. that's two salaries i just got rid of right there.

 

[XTalker]

You obviouly don't know anything about radio sales. Relationships is what it is about. Sure, it's I want your money, but the real seller also wants to do the right thing for the business. People who call themselves sales people today are generally order takers.

Ed Schultz would not appeal to this market very much, although I do think he is a pretty good host (even for a liberal). Ed, like Rush, is a radio guy! Both understand the entertainment value that must be present.

Handleman is not bad - better than The Ride!

Brad, without someone to talk to would be about as interesting as a colonsocopy! I am not suggesting Britt is any real prize (altough I enjoy his Dan Rather). And Brockwell is no newsman - just a nice voice. But, Brad could not sustain it alone.

 

[johnqdoe]

Radio sales are alllll about the relationship the AE has with the client. If that weren't true....than you'd see the college grads knockin down as much as a 25 year vet. How can a 25 year vet just go around and collect checks???? Cause of the work they've ALREADY put in building the relationship and getting results for the client.

 

[vchimpanzee]

It is a $50 million market.

How is WMQX doing? Last I heard they were doing well, but oldies outlets around the country are flipping for younger demos. If they do flip, it would be interesting to see who tries oldies? 98.3 WIST was in a good position to flip to oldies before the Classic Country flip. It would be interesting to see WTOB and WWBG flip to oldies and bring back WTOB's old PAMS jingles to the airwaves. I've got a copy of some of them. Not an aircheck, but the jingles on their own. I don't know what the collector's market is for "Triad" radio. ;D

Is AC the next format to go? There are rumblings about CC flipping ACs across the country.

I don't want anyone to touch WIST unless it's to go back to standards (not Timeless Classics, which is now worthless). That's the only good country station I know.

They need a signal! WBRF makes them sound like Charlie Brown's teacher in Winston-Salem.

 

[vchimpanzee]

My first guess would be 98.7. I don't think it would surprise anyone. They haven't been able to hold on to a single format for years.

Jack needs to go.

But I would miss that annoying guy who comes on between songs. I'll sit there and listen to complete garbage just to hear what he has to say next.

 

[vchimpanzee]

Entercom recently brought Pat Garrett on-board Oldies 93 for programming duties. And so I doubt (but with radio one never really knows) that 93.1 would become movin' or anything else radically different from what they are doing now.

Pat successfully programmed oldies here in Jacksonville, Fl and all I will say is Jax' loss is certainly the Triad's gain. I've been listening to WMQX streaming over the last several weeks and I must say as they say - it's not your father's oldies station. I have no idea how they sounded before Pat arrived but a number of times now I've heard Led Zepplin in the mix. Virtually no tradional oldies station would have the Zep and music like that in rotation.

My guess is they will be around for sometime being either Classic Top 40 or Classic Hits etc. It's possible they could drop the oldies name in their identification but if they are able to successfully attract younger demos with the kind of programming they are doing. If the ratings prove they are on the right track and advertisers are happy, it's possible oldies could remain in their ID. Whatever change lies ahead for WMQX should just be building on what they are doing now - just a hunch.

I wish they would go classic hits. I don't know if anyone could bring back standards, but even with Zeppelin they have entirely too much of that. Not that I expect anyone who wants standards to sit there and take the loud stuff. But no wonder WIST couldn't make it.

 

[jcolletta275]

My first guess would be 98.7. I don't think it would surprise anyone. They haven't been able to hold on to a single format for years.

Jack needs to go.

But I would miss that annoying guy who comes on between songs. I'll sit there and listen to complete garbage just to hear what he has to say next.

Just to touch back on the success of Oldies 93... I think the whole reason they're so successful is because they're the single most energetic station in the Triad. They're always upbeat, they're always out there promoting themselves, and I've never heard a dull moment on that station. Even KZL and 102 slow down every once in a while, but not Oldies 93. I don't think it would matter how much "newer" (relatively speaking) material they add to the playlist... as long as they keep that energy going, they're still going to be a hugely popular and successful station.

 

[Mr Winston-Salem]

The Triad is also an older, slow growth market. In a younger high growth market, where everything changes and new stores and employers move-in daily (Charlotte and Raleigh as an example) the younger formats are favored.

 

[XTalker]

I seldom see Oldies 93 out an about. I see them on shared TV promos, but don't ever see them in Winston-Salem at an event. Maybe I'm just looking in the wrong places.

Too many of the Triad stations lean more heavily to Greensboro. There is gold in Winston-Salem and few are mining it.

 

[n_guy]

When WMQX moved to the airport area from Winston-Salem several years ago it did'n't take them long to become a Greensboro Station. All promotions are aimed at Greensboro and no staff lives in Winston-Salem.
I strongly agree with x-talker, there are many opportunies in Winston-Salem and in the past few years only WSJS had taken advantage of them.

By the way x-talker, if you are who I think you are, we worked together many moons ago.

 

[XTalker]

n_guy - Chances are good we did work together. Where might that have been?

 

[n_guy]

XTalker, was it you and me and Mr. Silver?

 

[XTalker]

Oh, I remember those days well. How bout e-mail me [email protected]

 

[n_guy]

Just got off the phone with my source and it looks like it will happen next week. I still can't find out just which station will flip or to what format but I was told it is not WMAG or any other CC station. Guess we will know soon.

 

[carlosswicegood]

NEXT WEEK ?? so this upcoming week? or the week after ? and so....
with all the CC's ruled out that leaves us with my new list and to be honest, the only ones that would be at risk:

92.3 WKRR (which won't matter to me, since WXLK's singal topples over Rock 92's out my way.)
98.3 WIST
98.7 WSMW

(but could there be a change in the Entercom group ?)
ahhh this is crazy.