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COUNTRY IN THE BURGH

P

Parttimer

As I enjoyed the Labor Day weekend on the North Shore it struck me just how strong Country music is in this market.

30,000 turned out for Skyblast 3 at the Pirate game, which featured CMA newcomer Luke Bryan as the musical act (he was great, by the way). And that was up against Bret Michaels playing for free at Ribfest across the parking lot.

Then last night we saw Little Big Town at Ribfest, nice crowd, great show with Froggy as the presenting station.

I guess it should come as no surprise given the fact that this was one of the biggest Southern Rock towns anywhere in the 80's, but Y108 just cruises along with big numbers, and the Frogs manage a pretty impressive showing on their odd little collection of signals.

Couldn't help but think that if the second country outlet in the market was on a better signal, we might really see some amazing numbers for the format (Steel City... are you really happy with 92.9? Renda, could you make more money with younger demos on 99.7?)

I guess that's also why CC sort of treats the Frogs more like a friend than a competitor, if a client wants to buy country at least they can go to Froggy and keep CBS from getting the buy...
 
I think that what you've observed is the result of country music artists recording better and more compelling music, combined with non-country artists releasing songs that just aren't very good. I'd give the credit to the country music industry for producing better product, I wouldn't give the radio industry credit for doing anything different.
 
I actually agree with you, I was saying that I think there's still a missed opportunity for someone in that format here.
 
Q Country... 92.9!
They would definitely need to change the call letters though.

Is WQGH available?
 
Country used to be on 100.7 and 104.7. Didn't last. Remember a frog was on 98.3 and it got sold. Why would Renda give up the demos they have now on 99.7 for a shot against WDSY/
 
A Frog still would be on 98.3 if Keymarket didn't have to refinance not so long ago and LMA'd it out to Educational Media Foundation. Instead it's now a K-Love outlet.

Incidentally, is the local country picture affected by out-of-town country stations? I seem to recall outlets from Johnstown, Wheeling and Salem (Ohio) available to some area listeners, and I think Grove City's station must have some impact north of Pittsburgh. Just wondering.
 
KeyTimes950 said:
A Frog still would be on 98.3 if Keymarket didn't have to refinance not so long ago and LMA'd it out to Educational Media Foundation. Instead it's now a K-Love outlet.

Incidentally, is the local country picture affected by out-of-town country stations? I seem to recall outlets from Johnstown, Wheeling and Salem (Ohio) available to some area listeners, and I think Grove City's station must have some impact north of Pittsburgh. Just wondering.
Click to expand...

The Johnstown Frog (95.5) comes in loud and clear in more of the Pittsburgh area than my country-hating self can really stomach. I don't know what the power on that station is but they have to be pushing the limit - you can hear it really far East as well. That's not thanks to the Frog takeover, it's been that way for years.
 
corporateradiosucks said:
KeyTimes950 said:
A Frog still would be on 98.3 if Keymarket didn't have to refinance not so long ago and LMA'd it out to Educational Media Foundation. Instead it's now a K-Love outlet.

Incidentally, is the local country picture affected by out-of-town country stations? I seem to recall outlets from Johnstown, Wheeling and Salem (Ohio) available to some area listeners, and I think Grove City's station must have some impact north of Pittsburgh. Just wondering.
Click to expand...

The Johnstown Frog (95.5) comes in loud and clear in more of the Pittsburgh area than my country-hating self can really stomach. I don't know what the power on that station is but they have to be pushing the limit - you can hear it really far East as well. That's not thanks to the Frog takeover, it's been that way for years.
Click to expand...

It's 50.000 watts on top of a 2,300 foot mountain... (like the old Channel 6 ID, "Serving millions from atop the Alleghenies..").
 
It used to be AC and I would listen to it from east of Pittsburgh to Hagerstown.
 
Parttimer said:
It's 50.000 watts on top of a 2,300 foot mountain... (like the old Channel 6 ID, "Serving millions from atop the Alleghenies..").
Click to expand...

And, indeed, it used to be WJAC-FM.

95.5 is the second-best FM signal in Westmoreland County, behind only 107.1 Greensburg.

C.
 
I'll go back to when WJAC-FM was some sort of beautiful music format, in the days when I did a little radio atop some of those Alleghenies. More recently, it was a hot AC station my nieces enjoyed in Armstrong County, before the present owners flipped its format with the old Mountain at 96.5. I something can scan for this in eastern Allegheny County, too.
 
Pittsburgh with five country stations?

Why, that's almost as many as Zanesville!
 
Now on AM we have 1210 WANB Loud and clear Through most of Allegheny county,Durning Daylight Hours "COOL COUNTRY"
 
I believe that they went by the Key 95 moniker at that time, and they used to promote (whether accurate or not) that they could be heard in 4 states, which I would guess would be PA, MD, WV and maybe NY.
 
The overall county music genre is easily big enough to be divided into Classic Country, Current Country Hits, and Easy Country. It should be possible for three stations to each take a different niche, and build a profitable listener base.
 
I've pulled Froggy 95.5 in out at Robinson Town Centre! I wish some of the Pittsburgh stations had as strong signals. Sometimes you run across areas even close to he city that just aren't having much radio reception, but somehow 95.5 will still tune in... ha ha.
 
fromtheinsideout said:
Check that, just looked at their coverage map and the fringe of their signal hits the PA/Ohio border, not NY.
Click to expand...

The fourth state may have been VA - the northern tip (i.e. Winchester) isn't very far at all from the PA line.
 
Froggy 95.5FM has an amazing signal....That would be one of the very few stations that would come blasting in on my brothers (him being a big country music fan) Dewalt work radio, around Knox & Clarion, in Clarion county PA. I've also had it in great on a car radio in Breezwood & points past that, on the turnpike.
 
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