Chattanooga Format Switch

[tnmm99]

Citadel's WOGT (107.9 the Duke) flipped from country to classic hits as "Chattanooga's Greatest Hits 107.9 Big FM" at noon today.

 

[Elkhosen]

Congrats Chatt! Now, let's get this format in Knoxville. Perhaps 106.1 or 106.7 (leave 95.7 as Jack??) could flip and make several very happy listeners. Oooo... take a risk and flip 93.1, 94.3 or 96.7! Wow, try that!

Knowing the trends we have on radio here, we'd end up with more country or talk :. I'm still thinking that if done right, a "classic top 40" (read as 70s top 40 with some late 60s/early 80s hits thrown in -- NOT classic rock, NOT AC/DC, Zep, Bad Co, hair bands, etc.), could really work. Ok, 105.7 the Hog is a great station, but it's simply not classic top 40.

I know the haters and "experts" will now chime in and give reasons why this won't work, but come on... who's even tried it in Knoxville? Musicradio 105.7 didn't even give it 6 months.

 

[RMarino]

Since this is a Citadel station, I'm surprised they didn't plug in their "True Oldies Channel" like they did in their other markets a few years ago, including Knoxville. Could it be that Citadel no longer sees potential in it?

As for a station with a format like "107.9 Big FM" in Knoxville, it's a no brainer. Where to put it?

I doubt Journal would put it on 93.1 since they seem to be heavily invested in it. I see Q93 billboards all over the market and they do seem to be stealing a few shares from WIVK.

94.3? It doesn't make sense to kill a successful 94-3 The X unless Pirkle is taking it back and South Central keeps the X format. Then it would probably be a decent combo sell with WNOX.

South Central would never replace Jack with classic hits since it would probably damage B97.5.

As for 106.1, it makes perfect sense there. What are they waiting for?

 

[Elkhosen]

You're right, RMarino. 106.1 is the logical choice. I have often wondered why they picked the format they did. Can't imagine they make even a gnat-sized speck of a dent in any other station with their current offerings. Ratings sure don't show it.

 

[GTC]

Classic hits would be a hard sell in the Knoxville market, as it would potentially take audience from WJXB and WIMZ, both 100K stations that have done a decent job covering the Classic Hits bases. And then the True Oldies Channel, it got great ratings on a poor signal, but they couldn't sell it, even in a cluster environment. A stand alone station would be even tougher. Classic hits also has a bigger appeal to older men than women, and the male audience isn't as lucrative or as easy a sell unless you're a bar, a beer company, or Line-X. And Classic Hits formats are used as 'at work' listening stations, and a fringe signal with building penetration issues isn't going to be successful. And that audience seems quite satisfied with the B.

This all being said, formatically, Classic Hits is the biggest format hole in Knoxville now, next to oldies...and programmed correctly, Classic Hits could cover both bases. But it couldn't be done cheaply, or just as a mere jukebox. You need more than just music to take on B, and that Classic Hits audience demands more than just music. Makes sense to music fans, just not to sellers on the street.

Just my .02

 

[RMarino]

This all being said, formatically, Classic Hits is the biggest format hole in Knoxville now, next to oldies...and programmed correctly, Classic Hits could cover both bases. But it couldn't be done cheaply, or just as a mere jukebox. You need more than just music to take on B, and that Classic Hits audience demands more than just music.

It can be done cheaply. Look at what WVEK 102.7 has done in the Tri-Cities. Now, I'm not in range to be able to hear them, but from what I understand, they achieved great ratings on a small signal with virtually no budget. Imagine what a station like that could be if they put a bit more effort into it.

 

[RadioGaGa75]

And then the True Oldies Channel, it got great ratings on a poor signal, but they couldn't sell it, even in a cluster environment. Just my .02

As I said in a post a few months ago, word out of the rumor mill is that 98.7 was billing about $700K a year as True Oldies. To be billing nearly 3/4 of a mil on a satellite fed peanut whistle with virtually no overhead and you say they "couldn't sell it."?? Sounds like selling it was the least of their problems.

 

[Elkhosen]

I'm no sales guru, but surely 106.1 would be a better sell if they had the classic hits/top 40 format. No idea what they do now.

97.5 and it's 25 songs are geared toward women. 103.5's music is just plain tired and worn out (plus, John Boy & Billy just aren't entertaining any more -- but that's a whole 'nother thread). Guess they both make money alone or in their clusters or they'd have changed by now.

It sure seems 106.1 could grab a few sales bucks and several listeners by trying the format. Why not try it? Really try it. What do they have to lose by flipping? The 50 people that listen to them now??

Also, WJRV 106.1 is not technically a stand-alone. Momentum Broadcasting owns them and country WTNQ 104.9 out of LaFollette.

 

[jetfli]

Anyone want to talk about the format change in Chattanooga, instead of talking about how Knoxville needs the format and where it should go?

 

[Elkhosen]

Yes, how does 107.9 Big FM sound? Tried their stream (http://1079bigfm.com), but it doesn't work. Still shows a Trace Adkins song and doesn't ever play.

 

[TnJanitor]

Right on jetfli!....the k-town goobs are so into whatever. I thinks its about time the chattanooga boys redeemed themselves for pulling GT 108 in favor of the "duke/puke".

 

[RadioGaGa75]

Yeah, I hated to see GT 108 go, just like I hated it in KNOXVILLE when South Central blew up Oldies for Jack. ;D

 

[Tennessee Cowboy]

Anyone want to talk about the format change in Chattanooga, instead of talking about how Knoxville needs the format and where it should go?

Venturing back off the porch?

 

[Kent T]

Good move, this station never competed well as the Puke. WUSY owns Country radio there. Glad to have oldies back in that market as I do a lot of roadtrips that way.

 

[ARDONAVINDA]

I was the afternoon air personality on MusicRadio 105.7 WLSQ. I had a hand in programming that format. I was MD and had one of the best 5 months in my 22 yrs in radio! Yes it was short lived, shorter than I thought it would be. Our playlist mainly consisted of heavy rotation of 70's, medium rotation of 60's ( mid to late with some pre Beatle music like Beach Boys, Kingsmen, and 4 Seasons) and light rotation of 80's ( early to mid ) and this was in 2007. Now it would be done slightly different.

I grew up listening to 77 WABC in NYC and Famous 56 WFIL in Philly in the 70's, plus 66 WNBC's TIME MACHINE in the late 80's so I know how to present that style of delivery. We chose to copy the sound of Chicago's 89 WLS circa 1975. Our idea was to make you feel like you were a kid again with your transistor radio in hand and disc jockey's who made you smile by telling corny jokes, one liners, stories and ect all while giving you the classic top 40 songs from the 70's, 60's, and a few early 80's for flavor. We had FUN and so did the listeners (maybe a few of you on here remember it). We had huge calls from Knoxville, they embraced us mainly because there were no oldies there in 2007 since SC dropped oldies in 2005 (where I was working) to go to their now longtime Jack FM format. There are a few reasons why this format didn't last which I won't discuss on open board but I will say that Crossville was just to little of a town for this type of format to be it's homebase. It would have worked in Knoxville or Chattanooga, we knew it was working for Knoxville because about 2 weeks after it switched to it's current format we showed up in the August 2007 Knox ratings with a 1.5 share! Not bad for a little radio station who made a big noise for 5 months in Crossville. It was also shortly after that ratings book that Scott Shannon's True Oldies came on.

As I mentioned above we captured the feel of AM top 40 radio in it's hey day. We had a wonderful spring sounding reverb unit (on our whole audio chain, not just the mic)which we weren't afraid to turn up, we had a thick compression chamber which beefed up our audio sound as well and we had a JAM jingle package that WLS used in the 1970's with the "MusicRadio" logo and I brought in some of my generic PAMS jingles to enhance the nostalgic sound. We ran the top of the hr legal ID into either CNN or AP Network, I can't recall that but it had the reverb ringing out on that too! Then we went into a local Newscast (bah bah bah bah bah baaahhh ) with the late Chad Dunnaway (Don Wilson) again reverb belting out. It sounded like big city radio. Then we'd go into weather and then play "Another HR of Music Pow, Pow, Power" jingle and be off and running again. Who wouldn't want to do that kind of radio, it was truly fun times, but short lived.

To any programmers or station OM's who may read this, I can program this for you if you are scratching your heads thinking of a format that hasn't been done like above mentioned, I will re create the glory days of top 40 radio and make some of those Sirius/XM subscribers who mainly listen to the 60's & 70's channels wish they saved their money. Maybe all or some of the planets need to be aligned to make this work again, but why not try. You can contact me by e-mailing me on here or at [email protected] I'm ready to make radio fun again are you?

 

[knoxbob]

The reason you have to do this in a smaller town with local owners is that the corporate side of radio would not let you try it. What you accomplished in the Crossville market is thinking way out side the box for a group owner to do. As I listen to the Hogg the format isn't too far off from where is was with the music radio imaging. They do tend to stick in some 90's music every now and then but I personally would enjoy hearing the music radio jingles over the Hogg drop in's.

 

[secondchoice]

You are getting “rickontheradio” from Atlanta on 107.9. He is a very professional guy who has survived the Citadel Atlanta Soap Opera. Here is the Thread:

http://boards.radio-info.com/smf/index.php?topic=179815.msg1571121#new

 

[BRH]

The reason you have to do this in a smaller town with local owners is that the corporate side of radio would not let you try it. What you accomplished in the Crossville market is thinking way out side the box for a group owner to do. As I listen to the Hogg the format isn't too far off from where is was with the music radio imaging. They do tend to stick in some 90's music every now and then but I personally would enjoy hearing the music radio jingles over the Hogg drop in's.

Yeah, The Hog's imaging has always baffled me a bit. Musically, they moved back towards classic hits (very much like WLSQ was), but they kept the in your face, "macho" sounding classic rock sweepers and imaging. It just sounds odd, hearing a ballsy classic rock sweeper into something like America or Bread. Lol. Seems like the old WLSQ imaging would fit better with their music. I don't know why they don't just bring those back.

 

[RMarino]

To any programmers or station OM's who may read this, I can program this for you if you are scratching your heads thinking of a format that hasn't been done like above mentioned, I will re create the glory days of top 40 radio and make some of those Sirius/XM subscribers who mainly listen to the 60's & 70's channels wish they saved their money. Maybe all or some of the planets need to be aligned to make this work again, but why not try. You can contact me by e-mailing me on here or at [email protected] I'm ready to make radio fun again are you?

Dave, aren't you still at The Hog? Can't you convince them to bring back WLSQ? Or at least fix The Hog and make it listenable? Please? ;D

 

[secondchoice]

As I said in a post a few months ago, word out of the rumor mill is that 98.7 was billing about $700K a year as True Oldies. To be billing nearly 3/4 of a mil on a satellite fed peanut whistle with virtually no overhead and you say they "couldn't sell it."?? Sounds like selling it was the least of their problems.

If this is true (I am assuming you are correct) why did Citadel let 100.3 go? 98.7 was “paying over half of the 100.3 LMA fee.