Cumulus strikes again!

[Radio_Fan_PNS]

Cumulus recently purchased WXBM and WMEZ from Pamal and took over operations July 1. Today it was announced that two long time jocks at WXBM were shown the door - Dave Collins (nights) and Stacey Noles (overnights). Both had been with the station for over 10 years. Looks like it's not taking long for them to mess up a good thing. WXBM is one of the few stations in the market that still was live and local all the time. Best wishes to Dave and Stacey. I guess nights and overnights will be satellite/VT now. Great job, Cumulus...

 

[Rob]

How sad.. WXBM was it locally owned?

-Rob

 

[NWFLRadio10yrs]

That's too bad. I hate to hear that, but I'm not surprised. Cumulus is known for coming in and firing good talent. They have let go 3 wonderful and talented jocks in the last year and a half. Linda Lawrence, Dave Collins, and Stacey Noles.....they really do know how to mess things up over there. It wouldn't surprise me if Lynn West and Ryan Andrew will be next. It's a shame because that station was truly a hometown station and really produced some great talent with Paul Koffy, Robert Michael Greene, Danny Summers just to name a few. I have no doubt Stacey and Dave will get picked up somewhere, both are very talented individuals and Cumulus should be ashamed of themselves. Stacey actually owns a mobile DJ service and he did my cousin's wedding a few years ago.

That's the nature of the business, but still Cumulus inherited a good thing. I always say if it isn't broke, don't fix it. I think this will prove to be a bad move for them. I wish both Stacey and Dave the best of luck!

 

[Groove1670]

The CMT program has filled the evening spot.

 

[tomservo]

How sad.. WXBM was it locally owned?

-Rob

It and WMEZ were owned by Pamal, which was based somewhere up in New England, I believe. These were their only southern properties, or the only southern properties left after a sell off. I forget the details, but they were the desert outpost in Pamal's ownership stable, IMHO.

I sure hate to hear about good local talent being let go, but I expect nothing less than cuts, to the bone and beyond, from Cumulus.

 

[Poledo]

This was just two nighttime jocks. No one listens at night. Will this really be noticed?

And Rob.. Locally owned commercial FMs serving the Pensacola or Fort Walton markets: WYCT 98.7, WCSN 105.7, WPFL 105.1, WAAZ, 104.7, WSBZ 106.3, WTKE 100.3. Mobile has a couple, but none of them have signals that reach Florida.

 

[NWFLRadio10yrs]

Rob, WXBM was locally owned at one time by a guy name Burt Maples. Since he sold the station, it's been owned by several, smaller, companies in it's history. I worked at WMEZ back when they first bought it and Patterson Broadcasting owned it then. Zach is right, Pamal is a small business based in New York.

Poledo, yes I do think it matters. Both of those guys had been around for a long time and even moved around on shifts. Even though they are both nightime jocks, we need to keep in mind WXBM has always been considered a hometown station with DJ's live 24/7. Probably to people used to hearing syndicated programming on other stations it won't matter, but I think it will matter to WXBM listeners because they've always had someone there they could call, make requests, and listen to locally. Now that's gone and I think it will affect them because that was one thing that set them apart from the competition. I think having someone live 24/7 was a brilliant way for WXBM to seperate itself from other stations. I know the cost effective thing today is voice tracking and adding syndicated programs, but at the same time I think this is a bad move for WXBM because they are going to sound like "everyone else". Those two guys will find other jobs though, I have no doubt in my mind about that.

 

[Poledo]

If WXBM was getting anything out of being live/local at night, I'm sure Cat Country will take over where XBM dropped the ball. Cat would do most anything affordable to knock XBM down off their 20 year reign as king of Pensacola country music radio.

We'll all know if WXBM is falling apart when Marty and Linda show up on 98.7.

 

[jmtillery]

It and WMEZ were owned by Pamal, which was based somewhere up in New England, I believe. These were their only southern properties, or the only southern properties left after a sell off. I forget the details, but they were the desert outpost in Pamal's ownership stable, IMHO.

Pamal Broadcasting, Ltd is based in Latham, New York and once owned a nine station cluster (WDVH-AM, WRZN-AM, WYNY-AM, WTMN-AM, WDJY-FM, WRGO-FM, WTMG-FM, WHHZ-FM and WKZY-FM) in the Gainesville / Ocala MSA / TSA in addition to also owning Florida stations WMEZ and WXBM.

 

[Poledo]

Yeah, when Pamal sold off The Swamp, the writing was on the wall that the Pensacola duopoly was on the block. The shocker came when Cumulus bought XBM & MEZ. Those of us that are armatures thought that Cumulus had a full cluster with the Mobile, Pensacola and Ft. Walton stations. When I first read the news I thought they would at the least have to sell off 1370 AM and 106.1 FM in Pensacola and maybe even one or both of the Mobile AMs to make the FCC happy... but the deal appears to have gone through without any obstacles thrown in the way. I guess I don't even know much about the parts of broadcasting I thought I was on top of! Maybe I should just give up on the interesting radio/TV hobby and stick to spending my time on projects that put money in my pocket
... or maybe it's time to buy an XM radio to go with the 1000 shares I held onto when I sold off everything related to media/broadcasting. Ah, I'll stay around until something cool or fun happens before I worry about making money. Lucky you!

 

[Groove1670]

The cumulus deal was approved after the move of WYOK.to Saarland. That solved any FCC issues. The CMT show is shopped by Cumulus. No surprise on the addition. They did the same with Perez on WABD.

 

[Tibbs4]

This was just two nighttime jocks. No one listens at night. Will this really be noticed?

And Rob.. Locally owned commercial FMs serving the Pensacola or Fort Walton markets: WYCT 98.7, WCSN 105.7, WPFL 105.1, WAAZ, 104.7, WSBZ 106.3, WTKE 100.3. Mobile has a couple, but none of them have signals that reach Florida.

True and false on night listening. It's interesting to say the least. Look at some numbers and you can see that a decent night share can put ya in of out of the top spots in some Top 100 markets. It literally can make or break you, although it certainly is a fine line. Most radio is so boring that there is no reason to listen to double auto-pilot at night....given em a little something and you might be a LITTLE surprised.

 

[NWFLRadio10yrs]

If WXBM was getting anything out of being live/local at night, I'm sure Cat Country will take over where XBM dropped the ball. Cat would do most anything affordable to knock XBM down off their 20 year reign as king of Pensacola country music radio.

We'll all know if WXBM is falling apart when Marty and Linda show up on 98.7.

Poledo, I definitely agree with you there. I think this would be a great opportunity for Cat Country to pick up that local feel and do what WXBM used to do. Like you said, WXBM was #1 for over 20 years and they had all local jocks and a hometown feel that whole time. If I was PD of Cat Country I would be eating that up. Who knows, maybe these two guys will end up on Cat? That would be a smart move on Cat's part to try and get some of the former WXBM jocks to work for them because they might bring new listeners. I really don't see adding the CMT programs on WXBM as a good thing, and I think in the long run it will prove to be a big mistake. (But then again, when does Cumulus ever do anything that would make even remotely sense?) Cat Country has a great opportunity to grab the ball and run with it.

 

[Groove1670]

Poledo, I definitely agree with you there. I think this would be a great opportunity for Cat Country to pick up that local feel and do what WXBM used to do.

Cat was running Whitney, and dropped her (I Think highway picked it up) there is a local announcer on now (don't know if it is VT'ed or now) I think I also heard Candy from TK on last weekend after 8PM.

So now your VT or live options are.
BLX
ZEW (Moblie)
CAT
KSJ (might be Premium choice on weeknights)


I think the Rocket is using CC's Premium Choice.

For a mid market. That is pretty impressive.

 

[NWFLRadio10yrs]

I worked all along the gulf coast from Panama City, to Ft. Walton, and Pensacola. I don't make it down that way too often, but the last time I heard Cat Country was a few years ago and they were sounding great. I heard a guy on there name Chris Craft, and I found out later he is actually Chris Majors who used to work at WXBM back in the 90's. I really think this is a golden opportunity for them to fill a void. I think it's good news for Cat Country, but bad news for WXBM and their listeners because WXBM (and Cumulus) are basically stepping aside and handing the ball to Cat. I can see a new station opening up and having all VT / syndicated shows and it not being an issue, but when you take a station that has a hometown feel, hometown talent, and really has a loyal local following and turn that station into a pre-recorded, VT, or mostly syndicated station, I think it's going to hurt them. I guess WXBM can't say they are truly heritage station anymore.

This is a big win for Cat. They should be all over this.

 

[Poledo]

XBM disappeared from public VIEW years ago. The ONLY Pensacola FM that is out, visible to the public, is Cat Country... and they are everywhere. That darn Cat is out dancing at every festival or event in Pensacola - Escambia, Santa Rosa, and even Baldwin counties. (yeah, Magic 106 is out and about, but they have very limited public exposure by usually only targeting their existing audience when they take out the van)


Many of us remember that it wasn't that long ago when WOWW 107 was Pensacola's country giant, then XBM knocked them so far down that 107dot3 flipped to Alternative. It is really weird to hear "WXBM, Milton-Pensacola, a Cumulus station" on the air... but Cumulus isn't dealing with a new/low budget competitor like they are with Highway 98 in Fort Walton... Cat Country has been actively competing with XBM for over a decade (I think it's been that long or maybe longer) and they are chomping at the bit for XBM to show a weakness for Cat to exploit. Snagging Marty and Linda for mornings would be a major coup, but there are other ways to "get-r-done." I too wand some Pensacola radio station to be live/local 24/7 (they can take Christmas off, I don't mind). I didn't realize XBM was live overnights... was MEZ ever live/local?

 

[Radio_Fan_PNS]

They have let go 3 wonderful and talented jocks in the last year and a half. Linda Lawrence, Dave Collins, and Stacey Noles.....they really do know how to mess things up over there. It wouldn't surprise me if Lynn West and Ryan Andrew will be next.

To be fair to Cumulus, they had nothing to do with Linda Lawrence being let go. That happened well before Cumulus purchased the station. Lynn West has been at XBM for more than 15 years now. She has held down middays for a while. If they were to cut another jock I'd think it would be Ryan rather than Lynn, since Lynn is also PD. If they cut Ryan then they would move Lynn to afternoon drive and VT middays. The morning and afternoon drive are more likely to stay live. It will also be interesting to see how long they keep the weekend shifts live; they would seem to be likely candidates for voicetracking.

Cat Country can thank Cumulus, because all these things are going to give Cat a huge advantage with the local listeners who won't be able to talk to their favorite DJs at night on WXBM anymore.

 

[NWFLRadio10yrs]

XBM disappeared from public VIEW years ago. The ONLY Pensacola FM that is out, visible to the public, is Cat Country... and they are everywhere. That darn Cat is out dancing at every festival or event in Pensacola - Escambia, Santa Rosa, and even Baldwin counties. (yeah, Magic 106 is out and about, but they have very limited public exposure by usually only targeting their existing audience when they take out the van)


Many of us remember that it wasn't that long ago when WOWW 107 was Pensacola's country giant, then XBM knocked them so far down that 107dot3 flipped to Alternative. It is really weird to hear "WXBM, Milton-Pensacola, a Cumulus station" on the air... but Cumulus isn't dealing with a new/low budget competitor like they are with Highway 98 in Fort Walton... Cat Country has been actively competing with XBM for over a decade (I think it's been that long or maybe longer) and they are chomping at the bit for XBM to show a weakness for Cat to exploit. Snagging Marty and Linda for mornings would be a major coup, but there are other ways to "get-r-done." I too wand some Pensacola radio station to be live/local 24/7 (they can take Christmas off, I don't mind). I didn't realize XBM was live overnights... was MEZ ever live/local?

Yes WXBM has always been live overnights. In the last 20 years they have had 3 live, full time, overnight guys that I can remember. Phil Thomas Katt, Chris Majors, and Stacey Noles. When I worked at WMEZ back around 1997, they did have someone there 24/7 (although I can't remember if they were live or just board ops in the overnight). When they became Soft Rock, I know they picked up Delilah immediately, but I can't recall if anyone was actually live on the air after midnight. I do know we had live DJ's on the weekends up until about 1999 when I left, then I think they went to VT'ing the weekends. I also vaguely remember a girl name Melanie on late at night around 1997-98 but my mind is a little fuzzy.

Yeah Cat has definitely beat WXBM in marketing because you do see them everywhere. I think now that can take the reign of country leader with having live, local, DJ's on. You know they have to be partying over there.

 

[NWFLRadio10yrs]

They have let go 3 wonderful and talented jocks in the last year and a half. Linda Lawrence, Dave Collins, and Stacey Noles.....they really do know how to mess things up over there. It wouldn't surprise me if Lynn West and Ryan Andrew will be next.

To be fair to Cumulus, they had nothing to do with Linda Lawrence being let go. That happened well before Cumulus purchased the station.

<<<Yes that is true, but looking at it from the listener's point of view, all they know is WXBM has let go 3 wonderful talents. They really aren't looking at Pamal owning the station when Linda was let go and Cumulus owning it now.

Lynn West has been at XBM for more than 15 years now. She has held down middays for a while. If they were to cut another jock I'd think it would be Ryan rather than Lynn, since Lynn is also PD.

<<<I guess that would depend on the ratings. If WXBM tanks in the ratings and Cat overtakes them, I would think Lynn would be out much like a football coach who has a losing season. On the other hand I have heard Cumulus is notorious for getting rid of all talent and bringing in their own people.

If they cut Ryan then they would move Lynn to afternoon drive and VT middays. The morning and afternoon drive are more likely to stay live. It will also be interesting to see how long they keep the weekend shifts live; they would seem to be likely candidates for voicetracking.

<<<Yeah I would bet the weekend jocks' times are limited. I think it's just a matter of weeks before they are shown the door too.

Cat Country can thank Cumulus, because all these things are going to give Cat a huge advantage with the local listeners who won't be able to talk to their favorite DJs at night on WXBM anymore.

<<<True. I definitely think Cat will benefit from this and if some of WXBM's jocks wind up over there the listeners will follow. It's happened in other markets.

 

[Rob]

Any rumors about format changes they might do??

-Rob