Failure To Launch - The WRDU Story

[greengene]

Signal is not an issue. Playlist has improved. Competition has heritage, but IMHO is beatable.

Problems include no marketing, no major contesting, no major morning show, ridiculous moniker and the John Boy and Billy disaster.

Let the opinions flow..............

 

[FIDELIPACK]

What else is there to say? They did EVERYTHING wrong for most of the last two years. WQDR can be beaten....anybody can be beaten. But it will take a focused, researched, sustained marketing campaign with a superior product. A jukebox with lame deejays won't cut it. If WPAW sounded as terrible as WRDU, Entercom would have never knocked off WTQR. All CC has to do is look at what happened to them in G'boro and steal the playbook. Although it is probably to late.

 

[Summit]

I don't think they did everything wrong. They did spend well over $1,000,000 marketing the station on television, it was just with a message which did not connect with listeners. There have been a lot of resources thrown at the station, but their tragic mistake was connecting JB&B with Country. In the latest book the only stations in the maket that performed worse were WRBZ and WCMC. That just should not happen with a 100,000 watt station.

With Trey bailing to a much, much smaller market - look for the station to spin the format wheel again soon.

 

[quadraphonic]

They should steal WCMC's HD2 format and go back to the future. But that also would take names and money to do it right.

 

[Big_Ben]

i say go after WBBB. They are so boring right now and by knocking them down a few pegs, it could only help DCG. either bring back the old RDU format, or go Active. Make 96 sound like a stale peace of bread.

 

[Marathon Don]

i say go after WBBB. They are so boring right now and by knocking them down a few pegs, it could only help DCG. either bring back the old RDU format, or go Active. Make 96 sound like a stale peace of bread.

That's the best suggestion I've heard yet. Even if they rewind to the same sucky level at which they exited, they'd probably still pull double the numbers they're getting now.

 

[VODood]

PD Trey Cooler has split WRDU for WGTR/Myrtle Beach as PD.

 

[yankees]

Chris Shebel PD for Kiss is going to be the interim PD for WRDU until they can find a permanent PD. I think i smell a format change coming real soon.

 

[berlin201]

Chris Shebel PD for Kiss is going to be the interim PD for WRDU until they can find a permanent PD. I think i smell a format change coming real soon.

But change to what? The rhythmic angle is pretty much covered between Kiss and G; 'RDU's old format is on 100.7--- if you can call The River's playlist "classic rock"--- I just don't see 'RDU going the way 'GBT did in G'boro--- and PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE don't do like they did to the old WFMX...

 

[yankees]

I say go active, and model the station after KRZR in Fresno, CA. They are both owned by clear channel.

 

[VODood]

I don't think they did everything wrong. They did spend well over $1,000,000 marketing the station on television, it was just with a message which did not connect with listeners. There have been a lot of resources thrown at the station, but their tragic mistake was connecting JB&B with Country. In the latest book the only stations in the maket that performed worse were WRBZ and WCMC. That just should not happen with a 100,000 watt station.

With Trey bailing to a much, much smaller market - look for the station to spin the format wheel again soon.

$1,000,000 ???? ONE MILLION DOLLARS??? I think you had three too many zeros in there.

 

[VODood]

I say go active, and model the station after KRZR in Fresno, CA. They are both owned by clear channel.

No numbers, or money, in active rock. If so it would've been done years ago.

The market wants a balls out classic rock. RDU should go back to that.

I was there when RDU went mainstream (June 2001)... just over a year later (Sept 02) RDU went back to classic rock (not classic hits) due to overwhelming research. Bob Edwards was PD. We flipped back to classic rock. Catapulted to #1 M25-54 before the end of the fall book.

 

[EncSpy]

flip it urban.not SUBurban or CHuRban (like the former WGBT)..which would cut into G-105's listeners....i feel like I waste my breath every time I say this...CC has two urban formatted market leaders in VA, WBTJ 106.5 The Beat in Richmond and WOWI 102.9 in Norfolk.....whats interesting about WBTJ is that it dethroned market leader 92.1 WCDX (a radio one station) in roughly 1 years time and they haven't recovered.(to the point where they fired all the airstaff, brought in new talent and re imaged itself)..WQOK is a market leader in raleigh, and in comparison to WZFX, WPEG, and WJMH they are ripe for the picking, they are urban AC leaning, predictable music clock, little to no local interaction, poor on air personalities and horrible mixshows. IMHO it will give CC raleigh all demographics.....

 

[fortmill]

flip it urban.not SUBurban or CHuRban (like the former WGBT)..which would cut into G-105's listeners....i feel like I waste my breath every time I say this...CC has two urban formatted market leaders in VA, WBTJ 106.5 The Beat in Richmond and WOWI 102.9 in Norfolk.....whats interesting about WBTJ is that it dethroned market leader 92.1 WCDX (a radio one station) in roughly 1 years time and they haven't recovered.(to the point where they fired all the airstaff, brought in new talent and re imaged itself)..WQOK is a market leader in raleigh, and in comparison to WZFX, WPEG, and WJMH they are ripe for the picking, they are urban AC leaning, predictable music clock, little to no local interaction, poor on air personalities and horrible mixshows. IMHO it will give CC raleigh all demographics.....

WBTJ has fallen well down behind WCDX in the latest Richmond ratings....