It was just a few weeks ago we learned of the sign-on of 'Birmingham's neo-soul station', WENN 101.9. I consider Birmingham a second hometown of sorts, so being a lover of radio (and of R&B music), this news excited me. I've listened online every now and then, and last Saturday I had Magic City business that allowed me to listen to the station in person. The on-air presentation is great, and the 99-watt FM seemed to cover the city just fine in a car stereo. And although 101.9's music doesn't get as deep as what you'd find here or here, their mix is still good for the most part. Alright, I've got the positives out of the way.
I wonder about the true motives for this station: Why does it exist? I'm as not sure it will serve as Cox Radio's 'flanker' against Citadel's WUHT-FM ("Hot 107.7"), which has done quite well against the duo of 98.7 Kiss FM and WBHJ '95-7 Jamz'. There are probably no urban competitors coming by way of Clear Channel or Crawford. So why is Cox doing this?
I should have realized sooner what 'the plan' was when I noticed two things, and one relates to the other:
1) WENN 101.9/1320 announced it would be the home for The Rickey Smiley Morning Show. As many may know, comedian Rickey Smiley and at least one other member of his crew are originally from Birmingham, and former Cox employees at that...on WBHJ, 95-7 Jamz. This coincidence matters more than it should, because...
2) WBHJ's 'Buckwild Morning Show' is one of two locally based morning shows that has more than one salary. The other belongs to the 'Rick & Bubba Show' based out of Cox-Birmingham, and regionally syndicated. The other Cox-Birmingham stations either have syndication (Tom Joyner on Kiss FM), one solo host (WBPT 106.9 "The Eagle", WAGG "Heaven 610" gospel), or no morning show at all (WNCB 97.3 "The Buck").
My overall thesis: WENN @ 101.9 only exists to house Rickey Smiley until its contractually prudent to move him to 95.7 FM. But hold on, it may turn out that Cox does want to put the screws to 107.7 after all. I'll predict 101.9 will simulcast urban gospel Heaven 610 as soon as WENN's neo-soul format leaves--WAGG is the original listed station that W270BW was slated to retransmit. This is a no-brainer move because of WAGG's own ratings on AM, and because Clear Channel once had a well-rated (but apparently poor selling) "Hallelujah FM" on what is now WERC 105.5.
Cox Radio defeated the original WENN-FM @ 107.7 with its Kiss/Jamz duo attacking the younger and older demos. And now, almost 15 years later, they might try to muscle ownership of the urban audience again with three FMs: Kiss @ 98.7, Jamz @ 95.7, and now Heaven @ 101.9. I could easily be wrong, dumb, or crazy--but I smell a neo-soulful rat about the long term usefulness of the new WENN.
I wonder about the true motives for this station: Why does it exist? I'm as not sure it will serve as Cox Radio's 'flanker' against Citadel's WUHT-FM ("Hot 107.7"), which has done quite well against the duo of 98.7 Kiss FM and WBHJ '95-7 Jamz'. There are probably no urban competitors coming by way of Clear Channel or Crawford. So why is Cox doing this?
I should have realized sooner what 'the plan' was when I noticed two things, and one relates to the other:
1) WENN 101.9/1320 announced it would be the home for The Rickey Smiley Morning Show. As many may know, comedian Rickey Smiley and at least one other member of his crew are originally from Birmingham, and former Cox employees at that...on WBHJ, 95-7 Jamz. This coincidence matters more than it should, because...
2) WBHJ's 'Buckwild Morning Show' is one of two locally based morning shows that has more than one salary. The other belongs to the 'Rick & Bubba Show' based out of Cox-Birmingham, and regionally syndicated. The other Cox-Birmingham stations either have syndication (Tom Joyner on Kiss FM), one solo host (WBPT 106.9 "The Eagle", WAGG "Heaven 610" gospel), or no morning show at all (WNCB 97.3 "The Buck").
My overall thesis: WENN @ 101.9 only exists to house Rickey Smiley until its contractually prudent to move him to 95.7 FM. But hold on, it may turn out that Cox does want to put the screws to 107.7 after all. I'll predict 101.9 will simulcast urban gospel Heaven 610 as soon as WENN's neo-soul format leaves--WAGG is the original listed station that W270BW was slated to retransmit. This is a no-brainer move because of WAGG's own ratings on AM, and because Clear Channel once had a well-rated (but apparently poor selling) "Hallelujah FM" on what is now WERC 105.5.
Cox Radio defeated the original WENN-FM @ 107.7 with its Kiss/Jamz duo attacking the younger and older demos. And now, almost 15 years later, they might try to muscle ownership of the urban audience again with three FMs: Kiss @ 98.7, Jamz @ 95.7, and now Heaven @ 101.9. I could easily be wrong, dumb, or crazy--but I smell a neo-soulful rat about the long term usefulness of the new WENN.
