Could Majic go "old school"?

[purpledevil]

Radio One has been launching their own branded format of urban oldies, with the latest being in Cincy. Given that Majic would only need some tweaking to mirror this format, do you think it's possible or even probable that we might lose another long-standing brand in this market?

Link to latest flip to "old school" here: http://radioinsight.com/blog/headlines/netgnomes/84440/wcfn-cincinnati-goes-old-school/

 

[Mediafrog+]

Ever since Radio One bought the 92.1 signal it has been speculated that some sort of Urban Oldies could be a format option for the station. I don't think they'd flip 102.1, just tweak.

Of course RO would have to throw in the towel on News92FM, but I don't think that is happening in the short term.

 

[stan]

102.1 could return to its roots if it went old school.

 

[wdb2003]

Why??? Majic ratings are fine. WCFN in Cincinnati was the lowest rated station in the market. A change was needed. If 92.1 flips again it makes sense to return to Gospel.

 

[ChuckTiller]

Why??? Majic ratings are fine. WCFN in Cincinnati was the lowest rated station in the market. A change was needed. If 92.1 flips again it makes sense to return to Gospel.

I agree. Magic is doing very well. It's not going to happen as long as it continues to be in the Top 5....and it is! They are committed to News 92 and I don't see that changing anytime soon. However, out of the three Radio One properties, it would be the 1st to flip, IF a change was made. The other two, with their high ratings, speak for themselves.

 

[willdav713]

Why??? Majic ratings are fine. WCFN in Cincinnati was the lowest rated station in the market. A change was needed. If 92.1 flips again it makes sense to return to Gospel.

I agree. Magic is doing very well. It's not going to happen as long as it continues to be in the Top 5....and it is! They are committed to News 92 and I don't see that changing anytime soon. However, out of the three Radio One properties, it would be the 1st to flip, IF a change was made. The other two, with their high ratings, speak for themselves.

Aren't most FM News/Talk stations on translators these days?
The answer would be a question of revenue, I think we will know within a years time if 92.1 would flip formats.
In Cincy, does Radio One also have an Urban AC station in addition to Urban Oldies WCFN?

 

[wdb2003]

No Cincinnati only has Mainstream Urban WIZF and Urban Talk/Gospel WDBZ. WCFN (WMOJ) was Urban AC from 2006-2010 when Radio One took over. In 2010 Radio One changed it back to Rhythmic Oldies.

 

[purpledevil]

Maybe I'm missing something, but isn't Majic playing some of those "urban oldies" already? I mean they go back to the Motown stuff now and that is about as oldies as you can get. I'm merely suggesting a possible rebranding of Majic, which to me seems like it'd be a tweak of what already exists, not a total abandonment of the format. Maybe I don't understand the classification differences between urban AC and oldies, but I hear the same artists on Majic the new WCFN is advertising. Majic isn't the most current based AC station out there, wouldn't you agree?

 

[bringbackradio]

Majic 102 has a heritage presence in Houston, so I'm confident Radio One is NOT gonna blow up its image for an "old school" one. They will still continue to keep the new artists in rotation. I'm glad they improved their music selection and playing more new jack swing and 90s R&B months ago because it was becoming boring to listen to up to that time.

Radio One already converted its urban oldies outlets WMMJ in Washington, DC and WAMJ in Atlanta years ago to urban ac.

 

[purpledevil]

Not to be argumentative, but heritage means nothing in this City, and that's not just on the radio. FM 100 KILT was heritage branding in this market, over 30 years worth. CBS tweaked the country and now it's The Bull. I don't by the heritage argument.

In it's day, KILT was the country king here. Then, 93Q started attacking and over time won. Dare I say it, the only reason Majic is consistently in the top 5 is because there is no one competing with them in the format.

 

[JustinT]

Why??? Majic ratings are fine. WCFN in Cincinnati was the lowest rated station in the market. A change was needed. If 92.1 flips again it makes sense to return to Gospel.

If I remember correctly, the GM of Radio One Houston mentioned that part of the reason for the flip of 92.1 away from gospel was because the station was taking listeners away from Majic. A flip back to gospel would return that issue, a flip to urban oldies would probably make that problem worse.

 

[davideduardo]

Aren't most FM News/Talk stations on translators these days?

Not that I know of. Most that are on FM are as close to full signals as possible... ranging from KIRO to WOKV (recently moved from a smaller FM signal to a full signal) and KTAR and KSL and such.

A number of declining AM news / talk stations on AM that have no full FM alternative have settled for translators, but that is out of an inability to get a full signal at a viable price.

 

[davideduardo]

If I remember correctly, the GM of Radio One Houston mentioned that part of the reason for the flip of 92.1 away from gospel was because the station was taking listeners away from Majic.

That did not seem to be the reality, although it made a good excuse that did not offend anyone. The real issue was that the gospel format was mostly 55+ and not salable.