Comparing the ends of WFNX and Oldies 103 (WODS)

[Fenway1912]

WFNX died a long 2 month death - WODS was like a heart attack and 18 hours it was gone.

WODS had many more listeners than WFNX but they seem to have shrugged off the end of the station - The WFNX fans were angry.

For whatever reason WFNX did not score well with PPM's - the station was background sound for many bars in Cambridge/Somerville and Allston. Mindich had trouble attracting national clients ( Budweiser a big exception )

WFNX was to 30 and 40 years olds what WBCN was to the boomers.

WODS's core audience grew up with WMEX, WBZ, WRKO and WVBF. However WROR also caters to that crowd and WODS ( with the exception of Dale Dorman ) never had a morning show that could compete with Loren and Wally.

WFNX in someways was like WMEX of 50 years ago - the small one owner station with a weak signal.

WFNX in the end was a victim of the Phoenix itself not understanding how find new revenue streams. Mindich claimed the station was losing millions - I do not see how as WFNX jocks were not highly paid.

I know many people in their 20's and 30's who said WFNX was the ONLY station they listened to.

Will I keep 101.7 as a preset.....I doubt it - and I have already erased 103.3.

 

[promixcuous]

WFNX had something PPMs don't measure: brand equity. WFNX had a passionate listener base. All you have to do is scour Twitter and Facebook to see two things:

1. WFNX listeners are distraught about the loss of their station. They are upset about both the loss of the music and the personalities. WFNX listeners are educated, articulate, and vocal.
2. The new station is connecting with almost no one. When WODS flipped, there were plenty of upset posts on the web. However, there were several positive posts relatively quickly from people who like pop EDM. Look around: how many posts can you find from people who like the new station? Five maybe? The music mix is God awful. The station is directed by someone with little experience in this market's music heritage or sensibility. It's an added injury for people connected to the 'FNX brand.

Brands of all sorts pour millions to achieve a passionate listener base. WFNX had that and far beyond. PPMs don't pick that up (save for cume, to some extent). The WFNX listener base of urban professionals was of value; there was an insufficient system of measuring that and an inability to sell a small station in a market with four clusters.

 

[Fenway1912]

What I am hearing from many is WFNX was the only station they would listen to ( especially in the car )

Mindich is not as bright as people think. Clif Garboden who passed away last year was perhaps the only person Mindich would listen to.

For whatever reason, Mindich never moved the studios from Lynn to Brookline Ave where the Phoenix was based. It was considered a stepchild.

Mindich made his fortune with adult ads and 900 numbers - the internet destroyed all that.

Truth is Mindich doesn't have a clue how to survive in 2012.

WFNX had something PPMs don't measure: brand equity. WFNX had a passionate listener base. All you have to do is scour Twitter and Facebook to see two things:

1. WFNX listeners are distraught about the loss of their station. They are upset about both the loss of the music and the personalities. WFNX listeners are educated, articulate, and vocal.
2. The new station is connecting with almost no one. When WODS flipped, there were plenty of upset posts on the web. However, there were several positive posts relatively quickly from people who like pop EDM. Look around: how many posts can you find from people who like the new station? Five maybe? The music mix is God awful. The station is directed by someone with little experience in this market's music heritage or sensibility. It's an added injury for people connected to the 'FNX brand.

Brands of all sorts pour millions to achieve a passionate listener base. WFNX had that and far beyond. PPMs don't pick that up (save for cume, to some extent). The WFNX listener base of urban professionals was of value; there was an insufficient system of measuring that and an inability to sell a small station in a market with four clusters.

 

[TRF]

Mindich is not as bright as people think.

It seems to me that Mindich missed a golden opportunity to establish the new stream. First, Jim Ryan and Renee were doing a morning show the past month or so. Siily me, I thought they would be carrying over to the stream, but apparently not. Then, instead of actually having something new on the stream post-close to promote while Mindich still had a signal, there is just the same automated playlist. Maybe he's decided to forgo live talent, but he could still get some Phoenix staffers to record a few features here and there (kind of like the early days). Or arrange to co-sponsor some concert/club dates with the Phoenix and run some spots for that. Maybe that sort of stuff is coming, and they didn't want to step on the goodbye to 101.7 with too many specifics. But by Saturday morning they could have started teasing, or run a blog on the website to keep listeners engaged. Instead it's beginning to look like the jukebox is all there is. I don't think the current stream will keep listeners from drifting off to other, more active online stations.

 

[trock]

I think the wods flip was easier just because all you were doing was going from classic hits to today's hits. FNX was an institution playing "alternative". Going from that to almost anything else was sure to (as we are reading right now) piss off that .8 of die hard listeners. I would assume that a lot of them will just migrate over to wbos.

 

[Fenway1912]

Mindich decided to layoff the staff when the sale was announced - with Paul Driscoll being the exception and even he bolted for boston.com

Julie Kramer was the heart and soul of WFNX for 25 years and she got thrown out like trash.

Meanwhile BDCRadio is in trouble before it even starts as Globe workers are screaming you are laying off reporters and hiring a some DJ's???

Mindich is not as bright as people think.

It seems to me that Mindich missed a golden opportunity to establish the new stream. First, Jim Ryan and Renee were doing a morning show the past month or so. Siily me, I thought they would be carrying over to the stream, but apparently not. Then, instead of actually having something new on the stream post-close to promote while Mindich still had a signal, there is just the same automated playlist. Maybe he's decided to forgo live talent, but he could still get some Phoenix staffers to record a few features here and there (kind of like the early days). Or arrange to co-sponsor some concert/club dates with the Phoenix and run some spots for that. Maybe that sort of stuff is coming, and they didn't want to step on the goodbye to 101.7 with too many specifics. But by Saturday morning they could have started teasing, or run a blog on the website to keep listeners engaged. Instead it's beginning to look like the jukebox is all there is. I don't think the current stream will keep listeners from drifting off to other, more active online stations.

 

[TRF]

Julie Kramer was the heart and soul of WFNX for 25 years...

Not for me, though I may be an outlier. The point is, Mindich wants to compete with this stream (he was talking it up a lot on Friday), so it better be more than an automated iPod.

 

[blackgold]

WFNX died a long 2 month death - WODS was like a heart attack and 18 hours it was gone.

WODS had many more listeners than WFNX but they seem to have shrugged off the end of the station - The WFNX fans were angry.

For whatever reason WFNX did not score well with PPM's - the station was background sound for many bars in Cambridge/Somerville and Allston. Mindich had trouble attracting national clients ( Budweiser a big exception )

WFNX was to 30 and 40 years olds what WBCN was to the boomers.

WODS's core audience grew up with WMEX, WBZ, WRKO and WVBF. However WROR also caters to that crowd and WODS ( with the exception of Dale Dorman ) never had a morning show that could compete with Loren and Wally.

WFNX in someways was like WMEX of 50 years ago - the small one owner station with a weak signal.

WFNX in the end was a victim of the Phoenix itself not understanding how find new revenue streams. Mindich claimed the station was losing millions - I do not see how as WFNX jocks were not highly paid.

I know many people in their 20's and 30's who said WFNX was the ONLY station they listened to.

Will I keep 101.7 as a preset.....I doubt it - and I have already erased 103.3.

What you mean to say in the 7th. paragraph is "WFNX was, in the end, a victim of the Phoenix itself, not understand how TO find new revenue streams." Sorry for my correcting your grammar, but I believe you DO make a point! WFNX was the kind of station that nobody wanted to advertise on. Except, of course, for Progressive Insurance and Newbury Comics.

 

[frankfurter]

Mindich decided to layoff the staff when the sale was announced - with Paul Driscoll being the exception and even he bolted for boston.com

Julie Kramer was the heart and soul of WFNX for 25 years and she got thrown out like trash.

Meanwhile BDCRadio is in trouble before it even starts as Globe workers are screaming you are laying off reporters and hiring a some DJ's???

Every bad decision that's ever plagued FNX has come directly from the Phoenix offices on Brookline Ave - bad hires, unpopular firings, ill-advised musical tweaks, you name it.

Selling was a mistake, selling to Clear Channel made it worse, and being too cheap to keep the loyal, dedicated staff around an extra month for a proper farewell was just the icing on the cake. The radio industry is better off without the Boston Phoenix as a station owner.

 

[inorm99]

Oh Really, The radio industry is better off without The Phoenix as an owner?!
It's better off?!
You're an idiot

 

[ex radio pimp]

Oh Really, The radio industry is better off without The Phoenix as an owner?!
It's better off?!
You're an idiot

Other than calling someone an idiot can you elaborate?

I worked there and I agree with Frankfuter. Mindich , especially for the past half decade, was a terrible owner. Every bad decision came from a newspaper person not a radio person. They treated FNX like a bastard child. Picture a program director telling a newspaper how to do business. That would never happen, yet a program director was constantly over ruled by some editor. Mindich was never seen or heard from, he was hands off and too busy dealing with his wife's tv show and other projects. WFNX was a neglected and abused child. The radio industry is better off without The Phoenix as an owner.

 

[Fenway1912]

Oh Really, The radio industry is better off without The Phoenix as an owner?!
It's better off?!
You're an idiot

Other than calling someone an idiot can you elaborate?

I worked there and I agree with Frankfuter. Mindich , especially for the past half decade, was a terrible owner. Every bad decision came from a newspaper person not a radio person. They treated FNX like a bastard child. Picture a program director telling a newspaper how to do business. That would never happen, yet a program director was constantly over ruled by some editor. Mindich was never seen or heard from, he was hands off and too busy dealing with his wife's tv show and other projects. WFNX was a neglected and abused child. The radio industry is better off without The Phoenix as an owner.

How did the late Clif Garboden factor in this? Mindich always seemed to listen to him.

I never understood why they didn't move the studios to Brookline Avenue and have everything under one roof.

 

[DJbobo]

Oh Really, The radio industry is better off without The Phoenix as an owner?!
It's better off?!
You're an idiot

Other than calling someone an idiot can you elaborate?

I worked there and I agree with Frankfuter. Mindich , especially for the past half decade, was a terrible owner. Every bad decision came from a newspaper person not a radio person. They treated FNX like a bastard child. Picture a program director telling a newspaper how to do business. That would never happen, yet a program director was constantly over ruled by some editor. Mindich was never seen or heard from, he was hands off and too busy dealing with his wife's tv show and other projects. WFNX was a neglected and abused child. The radio industry is better off without The Phoenix as an owner.

Barry Morris handled the day-to-day ops for a very long time. At least he kept coming up with new ideas to keep them above water. After he retired, it was beginning of the end for the paper and the station.

 

[Candid Observer]

The beginning of the end was actually long before Barry Morris's departure. It was when tobacco companies began cutting ad budgets in The Phoenix. That's when The Phoenix started to lose money.

Up to that point, FNX was operating at a small loss or profit each year. But the newspaper was somewhat profitable and Stephen had alot of money from the 900# business - Telepublishing, Inc. So he was able to tolerate losses from FNX.

But by 2008, The Phoenix and WFNX were both losing money. And Telepublishing was virtually out of business. One of his other companies - Mass Web Printing - was also in decline (who reads newspapers any more?)

Then came the recession.

Throughout all of this, Stephen had annointed his son Brad as the new company president. He tried to implement some changes, focus more on the web products, etc. But even the New York Times can't make money on the web.

He tried to cut some of the old guard Phoenix personnel. But his Dad wouldn't let him. So they furloughed staff, cut pay, cut salespeople, cut The Sandbox, etc. Turns out Stephen (the "publisher") was really still in charge. And he cared more about keeping The Phoenix intact than making any changes his son recommended.

The "end of WFNX" has been a long time coming. But it probably lasted as long as it did because it was owned by a "publisher." A broadcaster wouldn't have stuck with the alternative format that long on a station that was largely unprofitable for the last 4-5 years.