Cape Country 104 (103.9), Now that is a great country station

[radiojay1]

Hard to believe what I was hearing while I was at the Cape last week.  A country station playing the legends.  Legends as far back as the 60's were being played between every few new songs, so you did not have to wait very long to hear them.  I did not listen always, but when I did, I heard some great classics.  Too bad this station does not reach further off the Cape.  They broadcast at 5500 watts from South Yarmouth so they can only be heard in southeastern MA close to the Cape. This is as close to the old 1110 WHIM I have heard.  Their slogan, "Playing today's best country and the legends".  I am sure Runrigger will respond to this, but I am saying 98.1 who?  WCTK is the 92 PRO FM of country music and great for those fans of the new music, but the Cape has a great thing going with Cape Country 104 (103.9).  Maybe if WKPE was on a different frequency, was more powerful, and could reach southeastern MA and RI with a good signal, then WCTK might tweak their music?  We may never know, but I wonder if WCTK cares at all about the Cape Cod area since they can be heard well there.  I doubt that would be enough to make them tweak their music even a little.  But anyway, Cape Country 104 is the best country station I have heard since 1110 WHIM.

 

[Runrigger]

Jay, my buckaroo I've never said programming classic country would be wrong. It just isn't what WCTK chooses to do & I'm sure they've done research. They, in fact, used to program more of it especially during lunchtime request hours. PRO-FM used to play 70s music during their request lunch block, but has stopped. I honestly don't know if I would mix it in if I were programming the station, but it's probably a good idea for Cape Country to do it to differentiate themselves since I believe WCTK is a strong contender on The Cape.

I checked songs played on WKPE's website, & over the last few hours I saw Louisiana Saturday Night by Mel McDaniel, Born Country by Alabama (a group WCTK does play), Help Me Make It Through The Night by Sammi Smith, On The Road Again by Willie Nelson (which WCTK used to play), All These Years by Sawyer Brown, Two Doors Down by Dolly, Tulsa Time by Don Williams, Ode To Billie Joe by Bobbie Gentry. All good songs & I'd sit through all of them & I get them on XM so I'm not disputing that the music is good. I just don't confuse what I'd want to hear with what stations should play. Over 56,000 at Gillette this weekend. Even those who weren't arrested were probably of an age where they wouldn't sit through some of the above songs.

And as I've mentioned before, I'm not looking just for the music but for the total package in a radio station. I can get the music anywhere.

 

[Runrigger]

Some added thoughts, as completely by accident I heard this station yesterday. I was hitting "seek" on 95 south & landed on 103.9, which never happened before & probably won't again. The music was good & it was nice to hear some classic country. Unfortunately it was right before 9AM so there was no jock on as they have no midday personality. I'd have to say if I were doing the music completely without any research, etc available to me I would toss in one classic country song an hour. With research tools, my answer might be different. I've heard The Wolf in Concord, NH with a similar format but most of "the legends" I hear on The Wolf are crossover hits.

Just a couple of minor things. On their website, when there's no live jock on the air, the "on air now" field shows a photo of a cow. Lose the cow. It screams old line country unless you call yourself Cow Country. Also, get the Red Sox edit of Eric Church's Love Your Love The Most. I did like the promo to the effect of the audience not having to get their country music fix from a far-away station though.

 

[radiojay1]

I am thinking, Rigger, that Cape Country is trying to also reach an older demo of Cape listeners. There are also many retirees there, and many tourists in summer, some who may like classic country.

 

[za-rex]

The tourists don't matter when it comes to numbers anyway. Running something that tells the audience they don't have to go to some faraway station for country is fine but the only ones who hear it are the ones who found Cape Country. Are they doing anything to tell the ones who haven't found them that they're there? Does anyone know if this station is staffed with people who were already there from the previous format? What was the previous format anyway? Top 40? Do they have a PD who knows the music or some sort of music service that provides it? Programming currents is easy if you just go by the charts. It's the classic stuff that isn't so easy.