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DC has the worst radio selection Ive ever heard

You have 3 FM's that are talk, 4 urban stations, One terrible adult contemporary at 107.3. Hell, a tiny market like Wilmington NC blows away DC, and thats just sad.
 
I agree, DC just can't get a station like Seattle's KMTT, Philly's WXPN, KRVM in Eugene, OR, KTAO in Taos, NM or "The Penguin" near Wilmington, NC...What used to be called "The Globe 94.7" was kind of boring.
 
viper452 said:
You have 3 FM's that are talk...

And technically, that was before WMAL started simulcasting on FM (WTOP - spoken word; WJFK - which was at one time a "hot talk" station and is currently sports talk; and WAMU - news and talk from NPR). Plus, as of yesterday (timely post there, viper) WTNT AM 730 is now simulcasting on 102.9 FM. Face it, spoken word is the new Top 40 - without all of the royalties...

And isn't there a spoken word FM or two in Wilmington, NC?
 
DC is a news/talk, urban, and crossover music market. I personally enjoy the wide variety of a rhythmic-urban hybrid and 3 urban stations, it is way better than Miami, Birmingham, Charlotte, Raleigh, or Richmond. Atlanta, in my opinion, is the only other shining star in the South aside from DC.

It's obvious this market isn't your personal taste, but I'll trade you most other Southern markets for this one's selection...
 
Raleigh is mediocre, but Charlotte? You have to be kidding me.

Charlotte's 95.7 the Ride destroys any generic station in DC
 
Richmond is better than DC, Norfolk and the Tidewater area is a million times better. Actually Norfolk is the best overall in the south that I have heard.
 
kilamanjero said:
DC is a news/talk, urban, and crossover music market. I personally enjoy the wide variety of a rhythmic-urban hybrid and 3 urban stations, it is way better than Miami, Birmingham, Charlotte, Raleigh, or Richmond. Atlanta, in my opinion, is the only other shining star in the South aside from DC.

It's obvious this market isn't your personal taste, but I'll trade you most other Southern markets for this one's selection...

Are you trolling? Its all cookie cutter stations with so many being the same format.
 
DC use to be a really good market, especially on the top 40 side. You had 2 giants going azt each other in WAVA and Q 107, plus another in northern virginia in the mid 80s.

Hell, even DC's lone top 40 now has zero personality.
 
viper452 said:
kilamanjero said:
DC is a news/talk, urban, and crossover music market. I personally enjoy the wide variety of a rhythmic-urban hybrid and 3 urban stations, it is way better than Miami, Birmingham, Charlotte, Raleigh, or Richmond. Atlanta, in my opinion, is the only other shining star in the South aside from DC.

It's obvious this market isn't your personal taste, but I'll trade you most other Southern markets for this one's selection...

Are you trolling? Its all cookie cutter stations with so many being the same format.

I can ask you the same thing. WHUR is a 'cookie cutter' station, it has been recognized as one of the most unique UACs in the nation. If you don't like those selections then that is personal problem, but in my opinion most Southern radio markets aside from this one and Atlanta have very limited and horrible selections for an urban or rhythmic music listener.
 
viper452 said:
...Hell, even DC's lone top 40 now has zero personality.

Last I checked, Kane on Hot 99.5 was in the Top 3 in mornings in the market, behind WTOP and perhaps WASH. Next...
 
viper452 said:
What was really the death knell was 99.1 WHFS going off the air.


I agree!!!! Now CBS has moved El Zol to ANOTHER stick that does NOT reach its target demographic just as 99.1 missed the larger portion of that population. 99.1 is now being made an All Newser and HFS is back to a sketchy signal,on low power 97.5FM, like the Grasonville stick was...or on HD2 at Mix106....CBS continues to suck....
 
evolve991 said:
viper452 said:
What was really the death knell was 99.1 WHFS going off the air.


I agree!!!! Now CBS has moved El Zol to ANOTHER stick that does NOT reach its target demographic just as 99.1 missed the larger portion of that population. 99.1 is now being made an All Newser and HFS is back to a sketchy signal,on low power 97.5FM, like the Grasonville stick was...or on HD2 at Mix106....CBS continues to suck....

El Zol @ 107.9 has a permit to move its COL from Annapolis to Bowie with city-grade coverage in both the DC and Baltimore core urbanized areas. The new tower location for 107.9 will be the same as the one for 99.1, their former signal, and have the same coverage area. CBS knew what they were doing with these moves and actually it serves the interests of having all-news and Tropical Latin/Spanish formats in the market.
 
I will give DC radio four things that are going for it

1) The sports stations are excellent. That is, if you like the Redskins and want to hear about them 15+ hours/day 365 days/year on two different radio stations.

2) For being a CC property and the only rock station in town, DC101 has become quite good. Up until about 2 years ago they were your stereotypical modern rock station...heavy on the nu metal and grunge. Now you hear a pretty good variety of stuff on there.

3) WTOP is probably one of the best news stations in the country. And above that, if nuclear holocaust destroyed the metro area, cockroaches and WTOP would be the only survivors. It has 3 aux sites that I'm aware of...one at their transmitter site, one at the studio in DC, and one (along with a backup studio) at the 1500 AM concrete transmitter bunker in Wheaton. Not to mention that 107.7 does surprisingly well everywhere in Northern VA.

4) No shortage of NPR programming. WAMU is excellent and regularly comes in the top 3 in the ratings. Their HD2 and HD3 are good for those geeks with them digified radios. WETA-FM is a very good classical station.

Radio-X
 
[quote ]
WETA-FM is a very good classical station.
[/quote]

WETA HD-2 plays opera as well. (Of course I'm not an opera fan)
 
Washington,DC is not a bad radio market the thing about the market is that it is a politics market i mean it is the US capitol after all. That alone makes it a different market. Poltical talk controls rev and the markets AD money that does not happen in any other market the music stations could be better but it is what it is.
 
This debate usually centers around personal taste. I like a certain type of music, and it's not on the radio, so therefore radio sucks.

When people tell me there's no variety on the radio, I ask if they've ever listened to a station that's outside their personal musical taste. They look at me like I'm crazy. "Why would I do that?" Answer: For variety. If you don't like the same old thing, try a format you normally don't sample. That will solve the variety problem. You still won't be happy, but it disproves the premise.

The reason certain formats went away is because their listenership began to disappear. The reason there are three urban stations is because DC is a majority black population. The reason there are multiple news stations is because a large part of the population works in government. There other reason why there are multiple stations in the same market is because of competition. If one company owned all of the stations in DC, there'd be no need for format duplication. But when you have lots of companies owning stations, they all want a piece of the biggest audience. No one wants 100% of a 1 share. They'd rather have 33% of a 7 share.
 
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