Equity Communications Changes the Format Of WEZW 93.1 In Wildwood Crest

[antennatv]

When Equity Communications brought back the audio stream of WEZW FM 93.1 in Wildwood Crest, they changed the music format of this station. Equity Communications dropped all the 60's soft rock music and decided to make WEZW an all 80's station with maybe some 70's music thrown in. Although I did not hear that much 70's music. For the most part it was all 80's music. I'm not surprised this happened. I was very disappointed that this happened. This is an absolute discrace.

For all those listeners that want to hear the 60's soft rock that WEZW 93.1 dropped, I highly recommend that you tune to WEZV FM in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. They are a great station for everyone over 50. On this station you will hear mostly 60's soft rock with maybe some 70's thrown in. But you will not hear any 80's music or beyond on this station. To get to their website just go to: http://www.wezv.com/ To listen to their audio stream just go to: http://tunein.com/radio/Easy-1059-s28660/ You can listen to their mp3 audio stream through any media player, such as Windows Media Player, Winamp, or Real Player.

 

[luperm]

I was very disappointed that this happened. This is an absolute discrace.

Yes...such a disgrace that a radio station owner would tweak it's programming to better cater to the advertisers that pay the bills.

 

[Gregg.]

Well, maybe "disgrace" is a bit strong. But I can understand antennatv being disappointed in a station that has "EZ" in its call letters deciding to go with mostly 80s music. The Jersey Shore has tons of retirees living there. Surely among the dozen or more FM stations in the Atlantic City region, one station can aim at older listeners and carve a living out of serving them, while the others aim younger.

Miami, San Diego and Tampa all have full power FM stations playing the Soft Hits of the past, once or twice an hour going back to the 60s and playing plenty of 70s, 80s and a few recent soft songs. In the latest ratings, WFEZ Miami is #2, KIFM San Diego is #6 (but sometimes is #1) and WDUV Tampa is #1. I don't think WEZW buys the ratings, so it's not like they're expecting a lot of Budweiser and McDonald's ads to come their way if they lower their demographics. WFEZ, KIFM and WDUV show that the right music mix, including a few Beatles and Motown songs, can deliver good ratings.

 

[Kent]

Miami, San Diego and Tampa all have full power FM stations playing the Soft Hits of the past, once or twice an hour going back to the 60s and playing plenty of 70s, 80s and a few recent soft songs. In the latest ratings, WFEZ Miami is #2, KIFM San Diego is #6 (but sometimes is #1) and WDUV Tampa is #1. I don't think WEZW buys the ratings, so it's not like they're expecting a lot of Budweiser and McDonald's ads to come their way if they lower their demographics. WFEZ, KIFM and WDUV show that the right music mix, including a few Beatles and Motown songs, can deliver good ratings.

None of those stations are particularly strong billers. WDUV, for example, may be #1 12+ in Tampa, but it performs poorly in the 25-54 age group, and I seem to remember it being around 15th in billing. WFEZ and KIFM have similar struggles.

Even in a market with a high retiree population, making money with an older demo is tough. National buys don't happen, and you have to go after local accounts. Restaurants are a big target of local buys, and they're also among the most likely to be no-pays. It's not a sale, after all, until you have the money in the bank.

Probably the most successful older targeting station is KWXY 1340/107.3 in Palm Springs, CA. It's easy listening/standards format was a top-10 biller last year, though I understand the entire Palm Springs market doesn't even bill in a year what the top Los Angeles station does in a month.

 

[davideduardo]

None of those stations are particularly strong billers. WDUV, for example, may be #1 12+ in Tampa, but it performs poorly in the 25-54 age group, and I seem to remember it being around 15th in billing. WFEZ and KIFM have similar struggles.

That used to be the case, but WDUV has freshened over the last few years and is now averaging third in 25-54, and the revenues are catching up after years with a power ratio below a 0.4.

WFEZ tried to be WDUV in Miami, but the market did not respond; that was where Cox apparently realized they had to update WFEZ and, at the same time, WDUV. WFEZ now bounces in and out of the Top 10 in 25-54, but the AC battle there is very difficult with WLYF and WAMR taking such big shares.

Probably the most successful older targeting station is KWXY 1340/107.3 in Palm Springs, CA. It's easy listening/standards format was a top-10 biller last year, though I understand the entire Palm Springs market doesn't even bill in a year what the top Los Angeles station does in a month.

The owner of KWXY and its low power translator (I can not get it at my place in the East Valley) just sold their FMs and is giving one AM to a college. KWXY did very well as a full Class B FM. I am not sure it will be that well positioned by next year as an AM with a translator.

Palm Springs has aggregate billings of $12.5 million... the single top LA station bills 4 times that a year. What has a major impact is the fact that the three FM Spanish language stations take nearly a third of that billing between them.