Noticed on the drive in this morning that AM 920 WMNI has changed out their imaging voice overs and jingles. It appears to be the same music, but now they have a morning host and Mark Noose <sp?> is reporting from the WMNI News Room. The morning persons delivery is a little long, but it's good to hear someone casually talking to the listener.
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AM 920 WMNI - Americas Best...
- Thread starter V.Riley
- Start date
That is interesting... They just let Greg Gack go a few months ago according to this January 10, 2007 COLUMBUS DISPATCH story here:
BROADCAST BRIEFS
ONE STATION WIDENS RANGE; ANOTHER TURNS COUNTRY
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
FEATURES - LIFE 05B
By Tim Feran
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
Illustration: Photo
The format shifts continue in Columbus radio.
Meanwhile, WMNI is moving toward more musical standards for adults and less talk.
"We want to get the music refocused, offering more news and information, but focus more on the music."
The switch, however, includes the elimination of some jobs.
"We have reduced on-air staff," Fish said. "We've kept news in place, but our morning team (Greg Gack and Sue Hagar) has been released -- and Dave Sherman (in the afternoon) as well."
He cited "economics."
"It's difficult in this day and age to maintain fully live hosts around the clock."
BROADCAST BRIEFS
ONE STATION WIDENS RANGE; ANOTHER TURNS COUNTRY
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
FEATURES - LIFE 05B
By Tim Feran
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
Illustration: Photo
The format shifts continue in Columbus radio.
Meanwhile, WMNI is moving toward more musical standards for adults and less talk.
"We want to get the music refocused, offering more news and information, but focus more on the music."
The switch, however, includes the elimination of some jobs.
"We have reduced on-air staff," Fish said. "We've kept news in place, but our morning team (Greg Gack and Sue Hagar) has been released -- and Dave Sherman (in the afternoon) as well."
He cited "economics."
"It's difficult in this day and age to maintain fully live hosts around the clock."
D
del_griffith
Guest
I think they've gone to the bird. I heard Ed Brand this afternoon who is with I believe ABC's standards format.
On the afternoon drive home they had an afternoon host just like in the morning, along with Kelly Quinn doing the news. Sounds like they are ramping backup at WMNI. Also, might be my imagination, but it seems as if they had a few more faster beat songs in addition to their regular song line up.
Maybe they are making a comeback?
Maybe they are making a comeback?
It looks like they did hire another Local morning radio host. Jeff Rollins is their new morning host Here is their staff:
http://www.wmni.com/staff.asp
http://www.wmni.com/staff.asp
The satellite service sounds pretty decent. A lot of the music they were playing when they handled it locally was completely foreign to me, probably because most of it predated me by decades. Now I can listen again and hear familiar music.
It would be nice if they would spring for a new jingle package, or at least one new jingle. Instead, they took their old jingles and tacked them onto the network jingles, which sound much better. It's a bit of a train wreck.
Although they are transmitting a stereo pilot, it sounds like the audio is still mono. I think there was a posting a few months ago about an STL problem forcing them to drop back to a mono feed, but it would be nice to hear stereo from them again. Does anyone else here have AM stereo receivers?
Considering the last numbers I saw, they really should consider flipping the talk format on WTDA to AM and putting the satellite nostalgia format on FM. Anyone second that?
It would be nice if they would spring for a new jingle package, or at least one new jingle. Instead, they took their old jingles and tacked them onto the network jingles, which sound much better. It's a bit of a train wreck.
Although they are transmitting a stereo pilot, it sounds like the audio is still mono. I think there was a posting a few months ago about an STL problem forcing them to drop back to a mono feed, but it would be nice to hear stereo from them again. Does anyone else here have AM stereo receivers?
Considering the last numbers I saw, they really should consider flipping the talk format on WTDA to AM and putting the satellite nostalgia format on FM. Anyone second that?
CatFM said:
I'd prefer to hear music on FM (no static at all as that famous 70's song 'FM' claims) and since Talk doesn't need the benefits of FM, it would fit well on AM. However, that would call for NABCO to redo their imaging for both stations, and they may not want to take on that expense, even though for sound quality, it would (IMO) be the logical move.
CatFM said:
If you want WMNI's numbers to take a further dive you could make this move. Even on AM, WMNI has way better reach than WTDA could dream of having. Then there is the "heritage" factor. Has WMNI always been WMNI? All the way back to 1958? So do the Mnich's want to rename the calls to WTDA or keep it as WMNI Talk Radio? WTDA Adult Standards (though that fits a little better than Talk FM if someone is dyslexic)
I don't know that it would happen. Taken as a whole, the cluster is not floundering to the point where a change is necessitated. WMNI is slightly down and Talk FM is doing better than Ted. What they should be concerned about above all is The Blitz.
R
Radioboy989
Guest
See what the successful stations do and then do that...
I would put talk on WMNI in a heartbeat, using Beck as the anchor and bringing in local talent to surround him, just like WTVN. Face it, WTVN isn't DOING anything to stay in the top 5, they are just the only game in town. Take 103.9 to music. Based on my belief that 91.5 will NOT sontinue to do what they are doing now, I would suggest looking very hard at an 80's format. The 80's are today's oldies. Keep it dance/pop intensive and the 35-54 female will flock to it as much as possible with that signal. Where momma goes, family follows. Of course, I've been saying that for quite awhile and nobody has listened yet, so I guess that tells you the value of my opinions!
I would put talk on WMNI in a heartbeat, using Beck as the anchor and bringing in local talent to surround him, just like WTVN. Face it, WTVN isn't DOING anything to stay in the top 5, they are just the only game in town. Take 103.9 to music. Based on my belief that 91.5 will NOT sontinue to do what they are doing now, I would suggest looking very hard at an 80's format. The 80's are today's oldies. Keep it dance/pop intensive and the 35-54 female will flock to it as much as possible with that signal. Where momma goes, family follows. Of course, I've been saying that for quite awhile and nobody has listened yet, so I guess that tells you the value of my opinions!
Your suggestion for WMNI might work...but it would be hellaciously expensive. The question would be:
would NABCO spend the dough? Doubtful.
80's Dance Oldies? That's the basis of "Movin'" and that format is also dead.
The research I saw from Star 107.9 when we had it showed Dance 80's tested almost totally on the bottom.
would NABCO spend the dough? Doubtful.
80's Dance Oldies? That's the basis of "Movin'" and that format is also dead.
The research I saw from Star 107.9 when we had it showed Dance 80's tested almost totally on the bottom.
CBusDave said:
I wouldn't say that. Exactly 2 years ago, in the Spring '05 Arbitrons, Ted-FM had a slightly higher 12+ than Talk-FM does now. At that point Ted was just a couple months older than Talk is now. So the jury is out.
I don't see Talk going up much, if at all, on that signal -- and it could very well go down. Without a big signal improvement, 103.9 is stuck with bottom-of-the-barrel ratings on 103.9, whether it's Ted, Talk, Torme, Townsend or Thompson Twins. The question of what's best would fall to other economic considerations. Maybe Talk-FM is easier to sell than Ted was. But maybe Talk-FM is also more expensive to run. I don't know the answer. But without access to Nabco's financials, there sure isn't any evidence that TalkFM is on any more of a track-to-success than Ted was.
Talk FM is not expensive, if...
All you do is air syndicated talk programming that is largely B-grade (or lower) that doesn't require out of pocket payment for "rights fees".
And, you don't pay for a full-time 24 hour news operation.
Unfortunately, though...if you do this way, you'll likely fail, because it takes a combination of "Grade A" programming (in most major dayparts) and dependable local news that's there when you need it to make it work.
Don't get me wrong. I know Glenn Beck has a following in Columbus. But his is one show. Some other shows on the station are also near the A-level. But generally speaking, talk by itself is not enough.
Oh yeah..then with the marginal signal they've got, I would also suggest a good dose of marketing money, and an internet site that's streaming live to help compensate for the lack of penetration. I'd also hire a fulltime webmaster to manage the site and update it a few times a day.
Like I say...Newstalk is expensive...to do it right.
All you do is air syndicated talk programming that is largely B-grade (or lower) that doesn't require out of pocket payment for "rights fees".
And, you don't pay for a full-time 24 hour news operation.
Unfortunately, though...if you do this way, you'll likely fail, because it takes a combination of "Grade A" programming (in most major dayparts) and dependable local news that's there when you need it to make it work.
Don't get me wrong. I know Glenn Beck has a following in Columbus. But his is one show. Some other shows on the station are also near the A-level. But generally speaking, talk by itself is not enough.
Oh yeah..then with the marginal signal they've got, I would also suggest a good dose of marketing money, and an internet site that's streaming live to help compensate for the lack of penetration. I'd also hire a fulltime webmaster to manage the site and update it a few times a day.
Like I say...Newstalk is expensive...to do it right.
I think most second-tier talkers would do better by hiring a couple of hungry local hosts who want to make a name for themselves than wasting money on salaries trying to build an ersatz news department that will never be able to challenge the market leader anyway. I think there are more gains with more talk than trying to do more with news.
CBusDave said:
Yes, WMNI has always been there on AM, so that should be left alone. There wouldn't be any need to keep the WTDA call on FM with a different format. Considering that most people have never heard the nostalgia formats on AM because they were on AM, it would be like a new format for many FM listeners and should have a new call sign associated with it.
I haven't noticed that 103.9 has any more of a lousy signal than any of the other little remote Class A stations sprinkled up the band in the triple digit numbers. They ALL have lousy signals (and numbers to match) that can't be heard well (if at all) in most workplaces or on Walkmans. Before anyone yells 107.5, please note my notation of "remote" in reference to the 100+ mHz signals.
WMNI has updated their web page with their staff at http://www.wmni.com/staff.asp However, they left out Mark Noose and Kelly Quinn, which are are really the only LOCAL staff. Don't expect them to show who gives us the traffic, weather and stock reports as those can change and are not really local to the station. Leaving out your own News Room staff, how shameful.
Then again, maybe they just haven't got around to doing it yet.
Then again, maybe they just haven't got around to doing it yet.
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