• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

Changes in Columbia?

If 98.5 is going to go by 'Magic', I'm guessing the WOMG calls will be moved over there? Can't help but wonder if they'll put True Oldies on 98.5 like Chicago, DC, Atlanta, etc.
 
I certainly hope that they do put the True Oldies format there because it would definitely be a vast improvement to what they are doing right now. Like I said before, I had the chance to listen to Atlanta this past week, and it really does sound good. I really liked the mix of music that they play and can definitely get into the politically incorrect Don Imus as well.
 
Switching places on the dial for 103.1 and 98.5 may be the best thing for the Urban A/C format but it will just be another nail in the coffin for Oldies. Granted a lot of their numbers probably come from Lexington County but for decades now, the fastest growing area in Columbia has been northeast where the well-heeled, affluent professionals have landed in great numbers. Oldies will lose a lot of well-heeled, affluent professionals in this scenario UNLESS they can legally move the 98.5 tower, which if they could or would do, would make the whole switch unneccesary.
It will definitely be interesting if they put True Oldies on. I give credit to Brent Johnson and Bill McElveen for persuading corporate to keep it "live and local" as long as they have.
As far as their music mix, they tried to create a "Jack" type Oldies format. In my opinion, it has been met with mixed results. I'm not sure their older listeners really want to hear "thunder island" by Jay Ferguson. But you've got to bring in younger demos somehow, right? The Oldies format at first was doing a great job of "selling" older music to the following generations (subtley selling the idea that it was cool music in marketing campaigns, etc)but fell down on that job during the past 15 years. Too bad.
 
Things will probably stay the same with WOMG as long as Woody is there. If they dumped him, they would get better ratings. But with him they have much better revenue. If he ever steps down, I would not be surprised to see a format change.
 
I have listened to Woody at just about every radio station he has been at here in the Columbia area, and that is more than likely showing my age, but frankly it is time for him to go. He is well past his prime and even thought the revenue might go down without him there, who is to say that it would not because of the better numbers.
 
WLXC and WOMG are changing frequencies. WLXC will be 103.1 KISS-FM
WOMG will change to Magic 98.5 Carolina's Classic Hits. A change that has been much needed. I think the term Oldies is starting to become a negative moniker. All the personalities stay the same. My guess is by changing frequencies, each station reaches it's core audience better from a signal stand point.
 
I personally hope that their play list will tighten up since they are going to be calling themselves classic hits. I just wonder if that has been a big part of their problem getting the nubers that they think that they need to be a viable station in this market.
 
The change happened overnight and Woody was on 98.5 and Tom Joyner was on 103.1 this morning.
The oldies station does seem to sound cleaner and stronger over here in the South Congaree/West Columbia area as well.
 
Got to hand it to Brent and TJ for pulling off the launch of one new station and the refreshing and frequency flipping of two others in less than six months. No matter how you slice it, that is a lot of work.

Both stations sound freshened and good. I cannot put my finger on it, but both sound somewhat "plastic" and "artificial." It's almost as if there's no soul in either station. Well executed, but no soul. Kinda like Steve-FM is.

With B106, it looks like they now have the 60's-90's in pop and R & B covered. All they need is a CHR for the "Today." Nice strategic move.
 
DudeFan said:
Well executed, but no soul. Kinda like Steve-FM is.

I meant to post this a week or so ago and forgot. Steve's imaging has got to be some of the worst I've ever heard. The phone-in liners are terrible, and some were so old I remembered them from my last visit to Columbia in August.

That said, I kinda liked the music mix. B has gotten a whole lot softer lately than it used to be.
 
I liked the fact that Magic 98.5 sounds really good over here in the South Congaree/West Columbia side of town. There were many mornings when I could never touch 103.1, even though I still would love to see Woody retire. I have followed him all over the Columbia market over the years and he doesn't sound fresh anymore. I still like B 106 and am happy that it is a little softer, but that is just my taste showing through as well.
 
I'm a AC/Hot AC fan in general but B has gotten a little softer than what I generally listen to. It is one of the best AC's I've ever heard though. Some bad weather was coming through the night I arrived and they spent a good 4-5 minutes straight at the top of the hour talking to the weatherman -- you just don't get that anymore anywhere else! It was after 7pm too... every other AC in America was broadcasting Delilah.
 
Off topic, but mentioning Delilah brought it to mind. I remember seeing somewhere where some radio folks drew devil's horns on her publicity 8x10. You are right, we are pretty fortunate that nights haven't gone completely syndicated.
 
Not only are they not syndicated at night, but it si the only radio station in Columbia that you can get a weather forecast on Sunday morning as well. I think that speaks very well for what the management at B 106 has done over the years.
 
Lhsh said:
I liked the fact that Magic 98.5 sounds really good over here in the South Congaree/West Columbia side of town. There were many mornings when I could never touch 103.1, even though I still would love to see Woody retire. I have followed him all over the Columbia market over the years and he doesn't sound fresh anymore. I still like B 106 and am happy that it is a little softer, but that is just my taste showing through as well.

I can imagine WQKI 102.9 out of Orangeburg comes in pretty well in that area too. Does 98.5 have good signal coverage to the south in Orangeburg? I can imagine if so, they will be missing out on Tom Joyner show since it moved to 103.1.

Neil
 
I always thought that the 98.5 freqency sounded very flat. No punchy bass. No crisp highs. I thought they would punch it up for Oldies but it still sounds flat. Sounds like they didn't touch the processing. I can tell a big difference when they crack the mic. Hunter sounds like he's pushing his voice to make up the difference. Anybody else notice this?
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom