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Confirmed: Rock 104 Is Going Country!
- Thread starter DToTheJ
- Start date
Thanks for the update. Obviously I am behind in the times where The Buzz is concerned. The last time I actively listened was during the alternattive days. I imagine the challenge in the past had much to do with Rock 104 in the same format at the time, and also the 100.5 signal challenges in Gainesville. I'm sure now that Rock 104 is no longer an issue, we may see improved ratings with The Buzz.
V
vadar
Guest
Ratings should go up, only game in town now.....
M
MN Maniac
Guest
I smell a stunt here. I don't believe this is "for real."
Why would a station that bills well and is #4 in the ratings throw away a 28 year Rock heritage to become the third country station in the market? It makes no sense.
As others have noted, 103.7 cannot compete equally with 93.7 because 103.7 has an inferior signal. There are many "holes" in and around Ocala. The tower is located too far north to place a competitive signal over the Marion County half of the market. At one time, 103.7 could have been upgraded to a full Class C and/or moved further south. However, this is no longer an option since 103.3/Bradenton upgraded and became 103.5/Gulfport-Tampa. Bad, bad move for UF to have allowed this to happen. Too late now to do anything about it.
If I were calling the shots for Asterisk, I would immediately flip one of their Gainesville-based signals (preferably 99.5 or 100.9) to a simulcast with WTRS, as 104.9 has done previously. This would "blunt" 103.7's initial impact as a Country station because they would now have two local-strength signals to compete with in Gainesville, rather than just 93.7. If I were calling the shots for Dix, I would immediately "fine-tune" 92.5/95.5. GRAB as many of 103.7's former listeners as possible, thus making it difficult for them to go back to a Rock format if this indeed is a stunt or simply "doesn't work out" a few books down the road. I'm thinking the new format is going to be VERY difficult for UF to sell on the street.
In any case, this will be fun to watch...
Why would a station that bills well and is #4 in the ratings throw away a 28 year Rock heritage to become the third country station in the market? It makes no sense.
As others have noted, 103.7 cannot compete equally with 93.7 because 103.7 has an inferior signal. There are many "holes" in and around Ocala. The tower is located too far north to place a competitive signal over the Marion County half of the market. At one time, 103.7 could have been upgraded to a full Class C and/or moved further south. However, this is no longer an option since 103.3/Bradenton upgraded and became 103.5/Gulfport-Tampa. Bad, bad move for UF to have allowed this to happen. Too late now to do anything about it.
If I were calling the shots for Asterisk, I would immediately flip one of their Gainesville-based signals (preferably 99.5 or 100.9) to a simulcast with WTRS, as 104.9 has done previously. This would "blunt" 103.7's initial impact as a Country station because they would now have two local-strength signals to compete with in Gainesville, rather than just 93.7. If I were calling the shots for Dix, I would immediately "fine-tune" 92.5/95.5. GRAB as many of 103.7's former listeners as possible, thus making it difficult for them to go back to a Rock format if this indeed is a stunt or simply "doesn't work out" a few books down the road. I'm thinking the new format is going to be VERY difficult for UF to sell on the street.
In any case, this will be fun to watch...
V
vadar
Guest
changed their moniker??? so what, I still can't pick it up on my clock radio.....
Kyle, they didn't change their moniker-- just letting people know they are now the only game in town. They're going to stay "North Florida's Pure Rock"
MN Maniac said:
Well, go back into the archives and read up on WRUF and you may get an idea. Lot of bad pub for their Lex & Terry affiliation. Horrible local sales effort. A longtime PD who just retired in his sixties, who was well-liked & admired, but who appears to have lost interest years ago (See "Lex & Terry").
So they were living almost entirely off national sales, and were spending every cent that came in. So when the bottom fell out of national, they went in the hole about the same time the state started slashing UF tax funding. Then panic hit, then "consultants" were called in who had little-or-no radio background. Then bodies were shuffled and a (mostly) TV guy ended up calling the shots, no doubt with lots of input from the "consultants" and College of Journ administration.
The blind leading the blind.
The national business left over from Rock 104 ratings will disappear completely by January or February--if not sooner, depending on how quickly Dix, Entercom & Asterisk get on the phone. Could be gruesome.
V
vadar
Guest
How does the Buzz 100.5 benefit from the loss of Rock 104? Do they have jocks, sales force, excellent signal, etc....? What's the buzz on Buzz?
Buzz has some jocks, a small sales team and only decent signal. But, they benefit now by not having competition.
You can bet that "small sales team" will be making a lot of phone calls on Monday (if they haven't already). They have no competition for now, but the following scenario's could arise:
1. Another FM in the market flips (which would be best done sooner rather than later).
2. WNND adds 90's Rock (as many other Classic Rock stations have done, to capture the older end of WRUF's former audience), or even current titles. (This may be less likely, as WNND seems do be doing just fine).
redneckriviera said:
RNR – You are right on target with your assessment. The problem with “Rock 104” was sales and nothing else. WRUF-FM had the numbers and certainly had the following, ranking 4th overall. Billing, at last count on my end, was $1.3 million annually not including the $300,000 from WRUF-AM. I could have doubled that billing within a year's time and it would not have been very difficult to accomplish. “Rock 104” had heritage and the product. It just lacked any meaningful local and regional sales initiatives.
When it was decided to flip “Classic 89” from classical music to news-talk, I went along with it even though the heritage “Classic 89” moniker was dropped. Based on current market trends, I felt news-talk was the correct direction for WUFT-FM. I even applauded UF for going full-time sports with WRUF-AM. Sports was an easy transition since WRUF-AM was already programming sports during a large portion of its broadcast day with very little news and news-talk programming. Sports is a natural fit.
However, UF appears to have “thrown out the baby with the bath water” when it flipped “Rock 104” to country. All WRUF-FM needed was a completely revamped and highly trained sales force put in place, including setting up a sales force in Ocala where sales was virtually non existent. A fresh image while remaining “Rock 104 – The Rock Station” may have increased the ratings by a point or two which would have resulted in several hundred thousand additional annual ad dollars (bringing total estimated ad dollars to $3.2 million) by making it possible to identify and attract new business while also giving management a justifiable reason to raise the rate card.
jmtillery said:
Absolutely. Just a good, solid, normal, logical local sales effort in Alachua/Marion would have put Rock 104 in the $2.5 million-to-$3 million range--still well below WOGK & WKTK, but at a level to spin off a million-or-so in operating profit & make everyone at UF do cartwheels.
And that's what makes this whole thing so frustrating to those of us who care about WRUF. It wasn't all that complicated, but they just didn't get it. And, apparently, still don't.
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