COAST 100.9 Classic Rock No More

[OhioMediaWatch]

But to the average person....I bet you get the sports response more often than you would expect.

Even though it's been drilled into the average listener's head every "10 minutes on the 10's" for years...
"NEWS RADIO WTAM EELEVEN-HUNDRED"
I still have to disagree.

Oh, I don't 100% disagree with you. But I guess my broader point is that the sports ingredients/lean in 'TAM's news/talk format basically make it the dominant station in the market as far as the competition with WKNR goes.

In other words, even though there are no other sports formatted stations in the Cleveland market, WKNR has to compete with WTAM in their own format.

'Nuff said on this on my part, I only grabbed your message original due to this great observation, on-topic:

But back to the topic...
Why would WMJK keep "The Coast" name after the Country flip?
BAS did the same thing with 92.1 when they flipped from canned AOR to canned Oldies- they're still "The Wolf" & imaging still sez "Classic Rock". Sounds real good when going into Dionne Warwick.

That is indeed odd. Maybe it saves them some money so they can recycle promo materials? I do like the ABC "92-1...The WOLF!" jingles, though the "Pure Gold"/"Classic Hits" format isn't as good as it was in the Jim Zippo days.

I visited 92.1 back in its days in Bellevue as WNRR...can anyone give me the location of their former home there? I seem to recall that it was in a house on the main drag through town, but I couldn't find the house last time I was in the area. We'd be talking, let's see here...mid-80's?

 

[nightfly61]

I visited 92.1 back in its days in Bellevue as WNRR...can anyone give me the location of their former home there? I seem to recall that it was in a house on the main drag through town, but I couldn't find the house last time I was in the area. We'd be talking, let's see here...mid-80's?

Somewhere on either E. or W. Main upstairs from (?some?) business. It was pretty trashed out & looked like it had been an office at one time converted into an apartment/radio station. He had an automated cart carousel & a couple rigged home c.d players patched into a very old & very rigged board. Bob could keep a station on the air with duct tape & paper clips. The only way you knew that was the door to the studio was one of their home made looking "W-92" bumper stickers slapped on the door at the bottom of the stairs.

 

[OhioMediaWatch]

I'm thinking maybe the house/porch I remembered was actually that of my friend's other friend who lived in Bellevue.

Searching online, I found an E. Main (?) address that was once attached to WNRR. I went there, and there was no sign of a radio station ever being there...I was hoping for at least a fading painted "billboard" on the wall!

 

[nightfly61]

The upstairs place on Main also had a loft & that's where the base of the tower was. I recall someone else on here saying they had to clean out all the equipment & it took like 2 weeks. Ladd's son ran it for a while in the '90's & was playing a lot of hip hop. This was after he went Century 21 Gold Disc & had to go change the discs every half day or so. Then the son caught the place on fire & I don't know what happened after that. I remember being up there with one of Bob's friends & the place looked like a landfill & a small bedroom with bunk beds was off the studio area with records, pizza boxes, pop cans, broken carts, etc strewn everywhere & pidgeons could be heard coo-ing in the "transmitter room" above. The only way I can remember was there was a restaurant downstairs & up the street a ways & another across the street directly.

 

[VODood]

But to the average person....I bet you get the sports response more often than you would expect.

Even though it's been drilled into the average listener's head every "10 minutes on the 10's" for years...
"NEWS RADIO WTAM EELEVEN-HUNDRED"
I still have to disagree.

Oh, I don't 100% disagree with you. But I guess my broader point is that the sports ingredients/lean in 'TAM's news/talk format basically make it the dominant station in the market as far as the competition with WKNR goes.

In other words, even though there are no other sports formatted stations in the Cleveland market, WKNR has to compete with WTAM in their own format.

'Nuff said on this on my part, I only grabbed your message original due to this great observation, on-topic:

But back to the topic...
Why would WMJK keep "The Coast" name after the Country flip?
BAS did the same thing with 92.1 when they flipped from canned AOR to canned Oldies- they're still "The Wolf" & imaging still sez "Classic Rock". Sounds real good when going into Dionne Warwick.

That is indeed odd. Maybe it saves them some money so they can recycle promo materials? I do like the ABC "92-1...The WOLF!" jingles, though the "Pure Gold"/"Classic Hits" format isn't as good as it was in the Jim Zippo days.

I visited 92.1 back in its days in Bellevue as WNRR...can anyone give me the location of their former home there? I seem to recall that it was in a house on the main drag through town, but I couldn't find the house last time I was in the area. We'd be talking, let's see here...mid-80's?

Jim Zippo... didn't he do AM drive at Kool/Las Vegas about 7 years back? Marty Thompson was PD of Kool, and CC Oldies Brand Manager. Marty once programmed WGRR/Cinci...and later Magic/Charlotte NC.

Marty of course is now syndicated, he took over Tom Kent's "Hall of Fame Coast to Coast" when TK "left" Thompson Creative.

 

[OhioMediaWatch]

Jim Zippo... didn't he do AM drive at Kool/Las Vegas about 7 years back? Marty Thompson was PD of Kool, and CC Oldies Brand Manager. Marty once programmed WGRR/Cinci...and later Magic/Charlotte NC.

Marty of course is now syndicated, he took over Tom Kent's "Hall of Fame Coast to Coast" when TK "left" Thompson Creative.

And TKO is where Zippo is now, doing morning drive on the "Classic Top 40" 24/7 format:

http://www.classictop40.com/ct40_zippo.html

I do believe the Zipdude's first stop after leaving ABC Radio's "Pure Gold"/"Oldies Radio" was Kool in Vegas. He was also in Idaho for a while...

 

[Shelloutfalter]

Sounds like Bob could have used a chat with the expert attorneys at J. Rizer & Associates. Serious lawyers, for serious problems!

 

[kentuckymedia]

seriously shellout, get a life!

 

[nightfly61]

Sounds like Bob could have used a chat with the expert attorneys at J. Rizer & Associates. Serious lawyers, for serious problems!

Thought that was Elk & Elk?

 

[Shelloutfalter]

A subsidiary of J. Rizer and Co. Real Estate!

 

[Buckeyes2001]

Does anyone have a list of the songs that WMJK 100.9 used while they were stunting before the format flip to country? It was a cool stunt and I've been trying to put together my own playlist of songs about change. I remember hearing a couple of old sounding country songs other than "Take This Job and Shove It"

 

[nightfly61]

Does anyone have a list of the songs that WMJK 100.9 used while they were stunting before the format flip to country? It was a cool stunt and I've been trying to put together my own playlist of songs about change. I remember hearing a couple of old sounding country songs other than "Take This Job and Shove It"

If BAS hasn't canned Randy Hugg yet call the station & ask him -I'm sure that stunting music was the last real only creative Programming decision he was allowed to make before BAS & their "combined 60 years of broadcast experience" took hold of Coast & wasted it.
96.1 is way too established for Erie/Huron country fans to switch to listening to an unfamiliar voice tracked 100% automated entity known as Coast.
Again, BAS could have simply freshened up the Coast's regular AOR format & turned it AOR/Active Rock & got rid of the kiddie sports (put it all on WLEC, WFRO, WTTF & "The Oldies Wolf" & even Mix if it's a huge sold out game ). The closest to the above idea is WIOT who is a divorced first CC cousin of 100.9...but I guess it's much easier for BAS to just have no live bodys there & just expect businesses to come running because it's country. :

 

[sunset77]

Hey nightfly, ever owned a business?, ever run one?, do you even work? Judgng by your blogs I would have to say no to all the questions. Seems like you have a ton of time on your hands and a lot of hatred for radio in general. You should just try another profession since radio obviously isn't your calling. Since you spend so much time on these blogs you had to hear of the Clear Channel changes, guess what more syndication, less local talent. Cumulus is doing the same thing in many of their markets. Many more will follow. Remember the lead dog always has the same view. You should try changing positions! This bashing of radio is getting old. If you really think the industry is heading in the wrong direction be a lead dog and buy a station of your own. So you can put your theories to practice. Good luck with that!!!

 

[Shelloutfalter]

I was having a hard time picking up WFRO last week and it sounded a little strange. I thought maybe they had ice on their tower until I started switching around on the dial and all the stations had this kind of off frequency sound. So I buzzed on down to J. Rizer & Son Electronics, got it fixed, AND they showed me the Arbitron numbers for the Toledo metro at the same time! Now that's service you can count on. ;D

 

[gr8oldies]

We had to get rid of the ee-vil Clear Channel, and sonme of you actually expect a smaller operator, with more limited finances, to come in and stuff all of these stations with live bodies 24/7? The hassle of having to cosntantly staff with a revolving door of broadcasting school graduates is a pain in itself, not to mention the actual cost of all that staffing. Yes, BAS still has to at least break even, dspite those who try to say that broadcasters should be required to lose money.

 

[chy chy rottenqueeve]

Hey nightfly, ever owned a business?, ever run one?, do you even work? Judgng by your blogs I would have to say no to all the questions. Seems like you have a ton of time on your hands and a lot of hatred for radio in general. You should just try another profession since radio obviously isn't your calling. Since you spend so much time on these blogs you had to hear of the Clear Channel changes, guess what more syndication, less local talent. Cumulus is doing the same thing in many of their markets. Many more will follow. Remember the lead dog always has the same view. You should try changing positions! This bashing of radio is getting old. If you really think the industry is heading in the wrong direction be a lead dog and buy a station of your own. So you can put your theories to practice. Good luck with that!!!

Looks like somebody hit a nerve! They really sound like they know what they're doing over there.
BAS switched Coast because it wasn't making money (since they turned it WYATT). So let's see, now "Country WYATT"'s gonna make it all better with a mess of well substantiated country stations all over the area? Here's a thought: Maybe it was the familiar local voices that were stripped from Coast that turned listeners off from 100.9 thanks to the Fremont Family. Same with "Eagle 93.7" and "Eagle 99". (btw, pretty horrid programming on WFRO also, running a SUNDAY MORNING COUNTDOWN SHOW AND BEFORE IT GETS TO THE #1 SONG THEY DUMP OUT OF IT MID SONG TO JOIN CHURCH SERVICES IN PEMBERVILLE!!!(ever fathom starting the countdown, um, EARLY so it ends correctly?
Maybe 100.9 should be re-branded "The Aardvark" or better yet paint the outside of the hut to resemble a giant shotgun shell with a giant foot in front of it.

 

[Shelloutfalter]

BAS switched Coast because it wasn't making money (since they turned it WYATT).

Uhm... I think you mean "WAITT."

 

[nightfly61]

Hey nightfly, ever owned a business?, ever run one?, do you even work?

1. no TK/JL, but even I wouldn't attempt buying a station cluster I couldn't afford just to transform ALL of them (eventually) into giant sub stations with no real substance other than local sports or an occasional Auction for Easter Seals the station had done a stellar job of doing years before BAS took over. Ya' can't voice track that!
2. yes
3. yes

Seems like you have a ton of time on your hands and a lot of hatred for radio in general.

4. no, and
5. very much no to the hater thing, except when I hear poor decisions & even worse programming ideas made after years of solid community radio & success.
Has BAS EVER owned a station they didn't go in & fire 90-100% of the staff & bring in stale unfamiliar "voices out of nowhere" that listeners no longer can call up, interact with, chit chat with, ask a song question to or be put on the air? At least with ClearChannel you know it's beamed in, instead of blatantly lying & calling it "live & local". It's no wonder sales are down. Sounds like the "lead dogs" at the BAS kennel are taking a big 'ole #2 on what's left of their listeners.

 

[gr8oldies]

OK, assuming an owner can "afford" it, they should staff up the station. Even at $20000 a year (not counting matching social security contributions etc), 5 DJs times, what, five stations, that's $100000 plus per station. Then news and sports directors, part time, etc. Who can afford that in this marketplace, especially in markets like Fremont and Sandusky. Even if they really wanted to, the bank more than likely would say no, because, yes, lending institutions know about hard drives and satellites. Can you really show me on a spreadsheet that if these stations were all staffed 24/7 there would be a corresponding increase in income to the stations to cover that, make the loan payments, and still show a profit? I don't think you can. It's easy to sit here and say "those SOBs should hire more DJs" when it's not your money. By the way, you can probably hire a kid to cut your lawn. You can probably hire four kids to cut your lawn. Since you can afford it, why don't you?

Maybe that's why I'm not a sports talk fan. Y'know, despite the beer gut and the fact I haven't excercised in 40 years, I sure as hell could have thrown that pass better than the guy who was on the field.

 

[sunset77]

Nick, I mean NightFly, this is not TK/JL or whomever you mentioned in your last response. All I'm saying is there are plenty of opportunities out there for broadcasters who want to work. Yea maybe not as a jock but one can perfect their skills at production, maybe get really good at NTR and lead the charge on that, or be a great local sports announcer like Don King from Toledo who did all the play-by-play for Whitmer and sold all of his games and made a fortune his whole career doing what he loved. or maybe, just maybe get into sales, really learn the business inside and out and be really good at that. BUT Sitting around and pointing fingers at what's wrong with the industry is typical of a low achiever.
My career of choice has been radio. I take a certain pride in knowing that I went for it and achieved everything I set out to do. I did not sit around complaining about what the industry was doing or what the station owners were doing, I, like so many other broadcasters went out and made a good life for ourselves. I'm still a firm believer that radio is still a wonderful career. I see young people today that are doing quite well, even in this economy. You otta try it! It starts with a good attitude!!!!!!!!!!!!!