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Charleston Ratings

Speaking of LM, I'm surprised The Bridge @ 105.5 stays on the air. It's been around for quite a while and the numbers aren't great. I often forget about it because it's very rarely mentioned. It's an interesting station but I'm surprised they've never tried anything more competitive.
 
DudeFan said:
The Bridge has the potential for numbers close to 96 Wave in it's heyday. But it is not programmed well.
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I've heard the same about sister station 98 Rock. Guess SC has a bad track record for decent rock stations lately (93.3 in Greenville is probably worse) I know I sound like a broken record, but classic hits would probably be a smart idea for 105.5 (they were oldies as Cool before). Surprised they have never tried it again.
 
If you have the research tools at your disposal like Cumulus and Clear Channel, you can create mass-appeal jukeboxes. Doesn't mean they are compelling or serve the community, but it sure can make you money if your competitors are not as well prepared.
 
ncscradiogeek said:
WSPO seems like maybe it should flip.
and it would appear that 92.5 is loosing the country war.
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I was gonna ask, how much longer can this 3-way country war go? Like I've always said, it's clear WEZL will be the winner, but the other 2 aren't really getting anywhere. WCKN is still doing better than WIOP, though.

95.9 could maybe have more potential as a mainstream AC, but Apex won't do that due to 101.7. I wonder if we could see flips at 92.5 and 95.9 this year?

What could be done with WSPO? Sports obviously didn't work...
 
Wabbit Season said:
I guess Cumulus' methodology of drastically slashing local on-air staff and homogenizing their stations is paying off! Who knew?
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Sad - but maybe true
They cut 4 and lost a few more in Columbia and had a good quarter
 
I was in Charleston this past weekend. Listening to the syndicated stuff on The Wolf on Sunday morning was painful!!! I don't think I heard a single local break executed properly. Loads of dead air, mistimed rejoins, and just plain sloppy programming. Actually disgraceful for a small market station, let alone a powerhouse in a respectably sized market. Whoever oversees that place now is guilty of gross neglect or incompetence. Then, on WCKN, it was either a case of someone not setting the automation output levels correctly on the board or a case of a bad audio card as every other audio segment was low and mainly output on the left channel only. This went on for hours without any correction. Again, either a case of gross neglect or incompetence. Either way, both of these are inexcusable examples of why radio is going in the direction that it is headed today and why it becomes less and less relevant. Sad, but that's the truth! I've been in radio for over 35 years and until recently I was always proud to say so. However, now I am embarrassed at what has become of what I used to love and take pride in.
 
Sounds like a case of not setting the level on the electronic decks on the computer screen right for WCKN. If they are using the two and three deck automation system which is pretty much standard then they must have had one of the decks volumn's cut down part way and didn't notice it, then you end up with up down up down volumn on every other song, which sucks. We had a gospel song come on our station Sunday morning during our gospel show that the volumn droped way down. It was rerecorded 15 min later at a higher volumn to stop the problem in the future. Things do happen the question is how long do you let them go before correcting them, it makes a difference.
 
In the case of 92.5 its hard to say what Apex should do as they seem to flip that station often B 92, 92.5 The Box, Kickin' 92.5. I could see them going back to urban maybe, which 92.5 should still be because Apex saw Cumulus was taking over z93 Jamz. Or could go classic hits. Other then those two formats I don't see what else 92.5 could possibly do. As for 95.9 how about ESPN Radio.
 
I'd look for 95.9 to flip before 92.5. The ratings are much worse, it's not very well programmed and doesn't have much potential, IMO....at least in the revenue department. Bring back classic hits.
 
ESPN is already covered with 910 AM. 95.9 doesn't really fill a need with that boring AC format. We'll have to see if there's any uptick with the winter book, since they were heavily advertised on Channel 5 during the Christmas season.

Talk would be a good format, like I said. You could take either 95.9 or 1390 that format. We basically have no local talk (nothing after 10am unless you count FanTalk), and that was missing during the primary.

You could counter-program WTMA and 94.3 by running local talk in the afternoon, and run network news too. 95.9 was actually supposed to be Apex's sports station when it signed on (they signed on as classic hits, and 1390 went sports).

Seth Harp wanted a big FM signal. That's what he got in Savannah.

Apex does change formats a lot. More than most programmers, even though they only have ten on-air employees for six stations (101.7 is automated, and 99.3 is too).
 
Seeing that Apex did sports on 99.3 for a while and dropped it, I doubt they're going to try it again on one of their signals. Talk would be interesting, but I wonder if they're willing to put the $$ in to it?

95.9 should have at least gone mainstream AC to try to at least compete with 102.5, but then it would cut in to 101.7 too much. I know markets like Tampa and Miami have successfully supported "soft AC" stations like it, but I don't know if there is enough audience for it in Charleston. Seems like a tough sell to me. Those stations in those markets aren't fantastic billers, even.
Flipping 95.9 from classic hits to country was one of the worst mistakes ever made in the market. They were off to a good start with classic hits and sounded very good with Bill and Kain. Should have gone ahead and put country on 92.5 and left 95.9 alone.

Who knows with 92.5 - I'd take it back to CHR if country doesn't work out.
 
Ken said:
In the case of 92.5 its hard to say what Apex should do as they seem to flip that station often B 92, 92.5 The Box, Kickin' 92.5. I could see them going back to urban maybe, which 92.5 should still be because Apex saw Cumulus was taking over z93 Jamz. Or could go classic hits. Other then those two formats I don't see what else 92.5 could possibly do. As for 95.9 how about ESPN Radio.
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A flip back to Urban or even Rhythmic wouldn't hurt. Z93's former morning show the "Breakfuss Club" is now a part of Apex. Nobody hasn't tried Rhythmic since Clear Channel's 94.3 THe BEAT.
 
About WIOP...

Clearly Apex is trying to do in Charleston what Cox has done in Miami and Tampa. This is a truly Soft AC station. It may take a little time to grow. But in Tampa, WDUV The Dove is #1 book after book for years. And in Miami, Easy 93 WFEZ is a top 10 station in a market where there are very few non-ethnic stations that score well. It's the top Miami station in the nearby West Palm Beach ratings. Both stations run automated all day, except for weekday mornings. It looks like WIOP is doing the same thing.

For guys in their 30s and 40s to proclaim WIOP boring makes no sense. It's not for you. it's primarily for women in their 40s and 50s. It takes older listeners longer to find a station but they're also more loyal once they tune in.


Gregg
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