channel 1043 vs Radio 1045

[oasisrulz]

Its old news that CC pulled the plug on 104.3 in Baltimore, this station at first was crafted after the success of 104.5. The debut of 104.5 was so significant that CC tried it in Baltimore. Why did it rate low in the 2.5's and why is 104.5 constantly in the 4.5 area with more competition. Easy, from what I heard when I listened to them when I was in the Charm City was they had a boring no music moring show, they also played Rock mixed in with Alternative, Metallica followed by Chevelle. Radio 104.5 sticks to one brand of music and is music intense, which proves many listeners dont care for talk and sports mixed in with their music. Now they are advertising prostate health ads, this has to be geared to men over 50, is WRFF attracting these listeners, I am 58 and tune them in about 30 percent of my listening time, and I have Satellite, HD, Blackberry internet and MC, and sometimes they sound even better than the other choices. I noticed their HD-2 is now a mix of Alternative and Rock and that sounds awesome also for a change of pace. Does anyone know if the HD-2 is in-house or piped in to all the CC Alterantive stations.. I heard the local female weekend voice on the HD-2 , and is Channel 1043 still carrying their rock on their HD-2...is it the same as WRFF's HD-2 never heard the name of the format...

 

[fmradio1]

There's a couple of reasons for the switch. First off, Baltimore is closer to Pittsburgh or Washington, in that those markets have one dominant rocker, WDVE and WWDC, respectively. The rock audience in B-more seems to be fairly satisfied with WIYY's music mix. Channel tried to play some of the active rock stuff mixed in with the alternative to steal away some of Y's audience and it obviously didn't work. I don't think a pure alt presentation would have worked there.

Philadelphia is a much different situation. When Radio 104.5 signed on the market had essentially two classic rockers (WMGK and WMMR) and WYSP was still talking. They jumped in with an edgier, music heavy approach and it worked. There were enough dissatisfied rock listeners in that market and they gravitated to 104.5. Baltimore was totally different. They tried to fill a hole that really wasn't there.

Keep in mind many of these recent format flips around the country have everything to do with the PPM. Heck, the Philly flip of 104.5 to alternative was in anticipation of the PPM. The trend recently has been that CHR stations have been doing well with the meter. Kiss 108 is tops in Boston, Z-100 is in the top three in New York and even Hot 99.5 is improving in DC. With no mainstream CHR station in Baltimore, it was the obvious hole to fill there.

 

[evolve991]

Alternative would have worked fine in B'more. 98Rock fans are 98Rock fans, WHFS fans were Alternative fans. It never made a bit of sense for a Alt Rock station to compete with WIYY because they are Classic/Active rock. Channel1043 tried to play both sides of the fence which IS something that doesn't work in B'more. An exclusively Modern/Alt/Indie station on analog FM would do just fine. Leave the Metallicker, AsseyDouchey and Van Hagar to 98Rock.

 

[ccuphl]

Alternative would have worked fine in B'more. 98Rock fans are 98Rock fans, WHFS fans were Alternative fans. It never made a bit of sense for a Alt Rock station to compete with WIYY because they are Classic/Active rock. Channel1043 tried to play both sides of the fence which IS something that doesn't work in B'more. An exclusively Modern/Alt/Indie station on analog FM would do just fine. Leave the Metallicker, AsseyDouchey and Van Hagar to 98Rock.

Baltimore radio is horrific... at least a CHR gives the dial there some life. lol

 

[aindik]

104.3 was essentially a repeater for Clear Channel's WWDC-101, with the same morning show piped in from D.C., and essentially the same format. DC-101 itself has a strong signal through much of Baltimore. If listeners still want to hear Elliot in the Morning or the particular brand of rock music that was on 104.3, most of them can hear it on 101.1 in addition to hearing an older mix on 98 Rock.

I suppose that's true of CHR, too (they can hear DC's 99.5 in Baltimore, too), but CHR had no direct competition in Baltimore while rock did. I suspect they'll either pipe in the local morning show from 99.5, or pipe in Elvis Duran from NYC like they're doing here in Philly.

If there weren't any CHR's in Philly, WYSP would have flipped a long time ago. I think they'd have flipped even if there were only 1. The reason they're not flipping to CHR is that there are already 2.

CHR is one of the few music formats left where young listeners still seem to reward personalities alongside music.

 

[wprt949]

and the ratings to 104.3 just went up too in the ppm

uh oh

 

[oasisrulz]

The few times I was in Balt, I gave 98 Rock a try, wow its bad, so much yakking and the music is like ZXL but worst if thats possible....around the 5PM hour the jock talked with the female traffice person for over 10 minutes everything from his kids to the weather, then 10 minutes of commercials and a Who tune which one has heard over a million times....This is no rocker, its called no competition... I remember 98 Rock in the 70's and 80's, that is when they were top notch. I think if 1043 went full blown alternative, music intense they would of made it....like everyone said Balt has no Alternative and 98 Rock is no true Rocker....

 

[fmradio1]

Unlike the 90's and early 2000's, most markets today can't support multiple rock signals playing various flavors of classic, alternative, active, etc. Boston just lost legendary alternative WBCN and no one has really stepped up to replace it. Longtime active rocker WAAF is also rumored to be history, as Entercom is deciding whether to put it's AM Sports powerhouse on FM. If they go away as well that will leave a classic alternative (WBOS), indie alternative WFNX and classic rocker WZLX as the only rock signals in Boston, one of the biggest rock towns in America. New York is getting by on two rock stations, a classic and a triple A. DC101 seems to be it in DC. While Philadelphia has four rockers right now, it's probably one or two too many. WRFF should be fine, but most likely WYSP's days are numbered (think WIP-FM) and one of the Greater Media rockers may also eventually go away.

There's not as many young male listeners tuning into rock stations like there used to be. Older males seem to be gravitating to classic rock, talk and sports. Rock radio is in serious trouble. Many stations that used to be considered Active or Alternative are moving back toward a broad, AOR style presentation, playing everything from 70s dinosaur rock to currents to try to capture the dwindling rock audience. The heritage stations like 98 Rock, WDVE/Pittsburgh and even WAAF/Boston have been able to thrive as their competition flips away to more profitable formats. Rock radio needs another "movement" like grunge to bring in younger listeners and revitalize the genre.

 

[oasisrulz]

So what format would you say is taking the US by storm, it sure cannot be Urban, all the Hip Hop/Rap/Soul formats are dying faster than Rock. Country is holding its own, but its not on fire, Oldies/Standards, everyone says demo's, demo's, demo's, Talk and Sports seems boring, can this format hold an audiance, I mean how much sports can one take. I still think Rock is far from dead, Rock events draw more people than any other brand of music, I just saw a documentery last night on FUSE about Punk Rock and how popular it is today, but on one wants to support or play it on the airwaves. The main problem is the suits do not want Rock to succeed, they constantly push any form of Urban down the peoples throats, and everyone is really fed up with the same violent lyrics and drum machine scratch beat. Just look at all the video cable music channels, not one is geared to Rock, there are more than four Urban channels and a few part time Rock channels, I know a full time Video Rock format would work on cable. Rock is not dead and never will be, its just not receiving the recognition it deserves and that goes for the hard core large Metal audiance...if Rock formats go by the wayside the only thing to replace them would be ethnic, mainly Hispanic and we all know how that did on 104.5...there is no other form of music around, and like someone said, Channel 1043 did go up .6 and cume up 47K, now what, but it seems when Urban formats sink, no one states, the format is dead, they just say "oh bad book or bad distribution"....if HD survives, the Rock listener will have to give in and go HD, that will be where all the Rock formats would be, Oy a Broch.

 

[aindik]

The formats CBS is hanging its hat on are sports and CHR, for what that's worth.

I hate to sound like an old guy, but I think the rock format is in trouble because rock music has sucked for more than a decade.

 

[Bill_W]

WRFF should be fine, but most likely WYSP's days are numbered (think WIP-FM) and one of the Greater Media rockers may also eventually go away.

??? Gadzooks! Both of GM's rockers are doing quite well.