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Changes to WBOW-FM

Hi99 is WTHI-FM, 99.9 FM. Format is Hit Country, perpetually rated #1 in the market.

The new format has not been announced publicly by Crossroads as far as I know.
 
theradiokid said:
So, guys, what’s the new format? Or, hasn’t it been revealed yet. Outsiders are dying to know, so spill, please? Please? Please?

Also, what’s “HI99?” That sounds like a good name for a station.

--The Radio Kid
(Oswego, NY.)
My email: [email protected].
Click to expand...

For a guy who calls himself "theradiokid," you should probably be more affluent to radio. For starters, you're on an Indiana chat board, so you should probably know the stations before you comment on them. Secondly, HI99 is more than just perpetually #1 in this market. They are often #1 in the country. Or maybe you were just trying to be cute.

As far as Crossroads is concerned, I always kinda rooted for the guys at 13th and Ohio. They are always the underdogs. But unless they change their mindset or do something mindblowing, I'm afraid that the sound you're hearing is a death knell. These are the facts.

1. Management doesn't like taking chances. They stuck their necks out on Crock and, so far, it has not yielded the desired results.
2. The programming department hasn't changed. They have Adam Michaels as their PD for whatever format their doing (unless they program out of market again). Therefore, unless they send the programming out of market, it has to be something with which Adam is knowledgeable. Hence, the format choices are narrowed to Hot AC, Lite Rock, or CHR. What they were doing before "Radio Roulette" was more or less CHR, they did Hot AC before that, and that only leaves one choice, unless they let Party Marty program it or they blow the rest of their budget on another PD.
3. The company doesn't like to part with their money. They are running a skeleton crew with no sales manager, no promotions director, no music director, and no production director. The point is that they will not be able to do anything memorable past their launch (unless by chance some other guy in American Idol happens to have a sick brother...)
4. 102.7 has painstakingly positioned themselves to be THE American Idol station. They don't want to give that up. That further narrows the options available for a format change. Obviously American Idol fans are not going to tune in to the Raggae Station for news on American Idol.
5. They're putting all their eggs in the 102.7 basket. They aren't doing any promotions on any of their other stations. They're changing the signs, the slogan, probably their station vehicle, and their overall image at the risk of alienating their other stations. So if this doesn't work, it will hurt in the morning.

So, even without the industry speculation, the only logical choice for them is lite rock. They may fail, but if they do anything else, failure is guaranteed.
 
Hello Lite Rock and welcome back Delilah.............

From Doug Edge:

WBOW will be changing on Friday March 13th at 6am. The WBOW radio call letters are now 80 years old. On March 13th we will bring back the nostalgia of WBOW with a new live local morning show, live talent throughout the day, more local news and information, a top rated syndicated evening show and familiar music that everyone will enjoy.

To celebrate the new "WBOW Breakfast Club" morning show business leaders are invited to a free breakfast.
 
okay lets face it I'm a little premature with christening Lite Rock... it just seems like what they'll do. Could still be oldies and Mike Harvey or AC oldies and Delilah. Who knows?

If it is Lite Rock can I ask why you dropped it before?


Oh well, the fun seems to have gone out of it now anyhow....

Good luck.
 
You said it. The fun is gone out of it. Who is the idiot that planned such a long transition? The unwritten rule for flipping a station is at the max a weekend. Flipping on a Friday is not a good idea either. You want to establish the at work listening right off the bat and right now they have no one listening except those that scan and stumble across it by accident and then hit scan when the format switches. Good idea for a stunt but bad execution. They have actually lost an entire week of listening that they could have been using to build towards the book. Very Poor Launch! But at least they're consistant. ;D
 
Lite Rock?? If this is so then why would Julie Hendrix weather forecast in the Tribune-Star state in the heading that something old will become something new. And something was stated in another article that the music that made WBOW famous will be returning. Why the misstatements? I know that WBOW was lite rock in the not so distant past, but has it been that long to consider it old? Those of us who where in Terre Haute during WBOW's hay day know what they were playing then,and I don't thinkthe term lite rock was coined then. And do you think they are going to hire someone from the outside to do mornings, not much left for the imagination.
 
They've already said that the morning show will be comprised of the entire current airstaff. Doug, Adam, and Julie will be doing mornings. Middays and afternoons will be (if we can believe the statements made by the GM) live local talent to be named later, and there will be a national syndicated night show.

I suspect, based on the acticle in the Tribune Star, that "something old is becoming something new" is a reference not to the music, but the call letters. Doug Edge, the GM, has made a point of saying several times that the call letters "WBOW" are now 80 years old.

Maybe I'm overanalyzing this, but it is fun to speculate.

In the Tribune Star article, Doug goes on record as saying that this format will be playing at a lot of businesses and offices. That eliminates anything too "tawdry," so no rock, no classic rock, no CHR. There aren't many nationally syndicated night shows with which the average listener is familiar, so logic dictates that they'll either do a big name (that they can't afford) or something that they've played before. That leaves either Delilah or Cooper Lawrence. Mike Harvey could be in there too, but as it was mentioned on here before, they will not be doing an oldies format.

Whatever they do, I agree that the stunt is a great idea, but poorly executed. They let it go far too long and they are starting on a terrible day. The worst part, I fear, is that the listeners who are going to tune in on March 13 to find out the format will be disappointed that after all this, they are just going back to lite rock.
 
Informant 1977 I didn't think the chemistry between Doug and Adam worked last time, so do you think with the addition of Julie it could work or be a struggle to determine who's top dog? Also with 3 hosts, could it be possible that too much talk and not enough music could be in store?
 
just browsing said:
okay lets face it I'm a little premature with christening Lite Rock... it just seems like what they'll do. Could still be oldies and Mike Harvey or AC oldies and Delilah. Who knows?

If it is Lite Rock can I ask why you dropped it before?


Oh well, the fun seems to have gone out of it now anyhow....

Good luck.
Click to expand...
99.9 in Dayton,OH is Lite Rock & has Dick Bartley's Oldies show on Saturday night...works for them.
 
Is there anything to say that the famous evening personality wouldn't be Lia?
 
radio lover said:
Informant 1977 I didn't think the chemistry between Doug and Adam worked last time, so do you think with the addition of Julie it could work or be a struggle to determine who's top dog? Also with 3 hosts, could it be possible that too much talk and not enough music could be in store?
Click to expand...

I would have to agree that Doug and Adam were constantly struggling for control of the morning show. Additionally, both Doug and Julie are famous for being very long-winded. To Adam's credit, he would usually "cut to the chase." But yes, there is a real possibility that the morning show--either by design or on accident--will be nearly music-free.

There is, however, a good chance that with the combination of the three personalities that a music-less morning show might be by design. I do look for Adam to eventually fade to the background while Julie and Doug battle it out for control.
 
If 102.7 is going to be AC, with the same group of staff (except the dial global jocks), then they have COMPLETELY wasted 7 days on a dumb stunt. They could have stunted over the weekend, or not even at all. It sounds as if the musical change won't be overly dramatic, just not as hot as they were. Stuff like Rhianna and Katy Perry are probably gone. They still are shooting for the same demo as before, but now they have given the very few listeners they had, a good reason to listen to someone else for a week, like Hi 99, Mix-fm, 95.9 The Valley, and maybe some of them will stay with those stations. It sounds like Adam Michaels and Doug Edge like to act big market to try and get attention, but the idea of doing it seven days on just a slight change, or even just an adjustment in music is really comical. If they were going to do Rock, or Country, or even oldies, I would understand it more. Doing this big hoopla over another shot at AC (what is this like their 5th shot at it?) is just dumb.

I hoped they would do an AC station or Oldies, but the more I think about it, the more I think they fail. I think they grossly overestimate the people who think Julie Henricks is great. I personally don't think people care that much about her because she used to do TV weather. I know my wife and a lot of her friends wouldn't watch Channel 2 in the morning because they didn't like her fake, over dramatic presentation of news and weather. Maybe a lot of people feel that same way, as Julie sure didn't do anything good for Crossroads in the last three ratings books. As noted above, she is extremely long winded, and gets off on several different subjects during a break, often confusing the listener. One would have to think they are paying her quite a bit, one of the reasons that Crossroads can't afford a full air staff on any of their stations. You are pairing her with a GM, and a Production Director who both do have some air experience, but have never had much success on air, and when partnered before didn't do well in the ratings. Also when Doug and Adam were together before, Julie Henricks was sitting in a lot of the time after 8, and it was train wreck radio. I just don't see a good combination with the three.

Bottom line, if the new WBOW wants to succeed, they have to do well in the morning against Bob & Tom, Hi 99's Wakeup Crew, and Mix's Morning show. I don't see it doing any better than any of those those. I much rather get my morning weather from Dave Wire on Hi 99 or the River, or Jesse Walker on WMGI or WIBQ.


We don't know wht the midday and PM drive will be, and at night, Delilah has never done well in Terre Haute, and nobody has been ever to compete at night with Mix FM, Hi 99 and the River. (Maybe WZZQ back in its day).
 
So, I tuned in this morning to find out what all the hoopla was about, and I have one question.

What is the format? Jack? Lite Rock? We'll Play Whatever You Want to Hear? I listened for a few minutes and between the three jocks, they never talked about the music, they never told us what the format was, and they never mentioned anything that anyone outside of that room would care about. They gave away tickets to New Kids on the Block. woopee. It sounds as though they are taking Julie's throwback Thursdays and making it into a format.

They also mentioned that they are going to have live jocks in the middays and afternoons. But again, no mention of them. Who are they? Are they people we know? Are they veterans of the business? Or are they salespeople that can't sell?

I was convinced of it before, and I'm completely certain now. This is the death knell of 102.7 and, quite possibly, Crossroads Communications.
 
Yes Informant, you are correct. This is a complete train wreck. They should have just called the station Julie-FM. I've heard her still say B102.7 at least 3 times. Who cares who the other jocks will be, if their morning show is going to be this bad, the rest of the day won't matter. Anyone else get the feeling they will be playing Radio Roulette AGAIN in about 6 months??
 
Informant,

What kind of music are you hearing. WBOW doesn’t stream, so the out of area format change freaks can’t join in the excitement. Please fill in the details?

--The Radio Kid
(Oswego, NY.)
My email: [email protected].
 
theradiokid said:
Informant,

What kind of music are you hearing. WBOW doesn’t stream, so the out of area format change freaks can’t join in the excitement. Please fill in the details?

--The Radio Kid
(Oswego, NY.)
My email: [email protected].
Click to expand...

Actually, they do stream. Not sure what their website is yet, but if you can find it, they do stream.

As far as music, I've heard Glass Tiger (which Julie identified as being from the artist "The Breakfast Club), Hootie and the Blowfish, and Elton John. I also heard some crappy 80's music in there too. However, the biggest problem so far is with the morning show. They claimed in the Tribstar interview that they were going to be the news and information station. But it seems like they're going right back to their old ways of making fun of each other, stepping on each other, and screwing up. I think all three of their listeners have called in so far today.

Oh yeah. They're going to crash and burn.

Plus, Doug is the GM, right? Doesn't that mean that most of the time he's going to be too busy to be in a studio? So that leaves Adam and Julie. Or, more succinctly, that leaves Julie with Adam as a board operator.

I do have to agree that the folks at Crossroads are grossly overestimating the appeal of Julie. And Doug and Adam didn't have any appeal to begin with. I'm willing to reserve judgement on the rest of the day until after I've heard who the jocks are and what they sound like. I still haven't officially heard who the "nationally syndicated" night person is going to be, but I have to assume that I was correct in predicting Deliliah. So far, I'd have to say that if you're in the market for a radio station, this one's just about the hit the classifieds.
 
Train wreck is being really nice about it. Sounds like a high school reunion we are listening in on with a horrible sound processing. No real station ID to say "Hey, here's the new format!". I did hear some female say, "I love this station, all the 70s, 80s, and 90s, it's great". That's how I figured out what they are doing. I don't even think she's part of the show, just a walk-in friend or co-worker down the hall. YOUR MUSIC, YOUR STATION says nothing about the new format. Could be the most disappointing format flip EVER! Worst DJs I have heard live. Childish! WOW! Big flop! Can I say it more clearly how terrible this one is? I won't because I don't have the time. W- BOW out of radio! Put it out of its misery!

Z
 
Yeah the mic processing is really, really bad. They already bleeped Julie's kid on the air. Great launch to an A/C station, way to go Crossraods (not)!!! To make it even worse they are making fun of the Delilah show which begins tonight, and their "live" day-time talent is going to be the same out-of market voicetrackers they had on B102.7. What a big change. Pretty much they added a mess of a show on the morning and Delilah at night. Other than that, no changes... I'm sure offices are just lining up to turn this crap on in their offices. Or not.
 
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