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Fall 08 Book - Terre Haute

Mix FM's new PM driver will be Jay Micheals. Most recently worked for Metro Traffic.
 
PTBoardOp94 said:
Mix FM's new PM driver will be Jay Micheals. Most recently worked for Metro Traffic.

Jay Michaels has also been doing weekends at WIKY/Evansville. He worked for KLSY in Seattle and was there when they launched MOViN.
 
I thought that name sounded familiar. First thought was doing traffic for CC/Indy. But now that you mention WIKY, I realize the connection :D
 
fyemattluecking said:
Hannah is doing sales when I last heard. I just saw her the other day. Obviously with the book that happened for WBOW some changes have a good chance of being made. Whether they will or not only time will tell. If I was going all in at a hold em table, logic would tell you that it will happen before the next ratings book. I think lots of station PD's would love to have a live 24/7 staff, but the economy and ad sales seem to dictate a different end result.

Does WBOW even have a PD anymore?! I know that Adam was the PD, but he's a production guy--always has been. And you see how well he did after getting the bump... They're all satellite now, aren't they? Oh, except for Julie's show. So I guess Adam or whoever's doing it now is just programming Julie's show and then putting in commercials. That's at best a part-time job.

As far as a 24/7 staff, I understand that isn't exactly feasible right now. No one really does that anymore--much less a station (or cluster) that's losing money. But go all or nothing. Either have it all live or all programmed somewhere else.
 
I believe Adam's main focus is production, and I also believe something is brewing over there. The logical thing to me seems to be to go rock like old WZZQ. It has a history of getting the numbers in this market, and the River continues to drop book after book. If anybody's vulnerable you would have to think that station might be. It would make sense to me to put all your local talent on the big stick, and try and see what results you can get out of it. Whether that is a possibilty who knows? WAXI seems to be doing fine doing what it's doing. Some people say put oldies on the big stick. That might be a decent back up plan if the rock thing didn't work. If I was a betting man, I would say they will pick a format that is neither of the above suggested. You have to remember in this market, that everybody is in love with the country format, and the idea of capturing some of Hi 99's numbers. The problem is that it's a heritage station, with jocks that are entrenched in the community who have been doing what they do for awhile. They do the community stuff, and you know what you're going to get day in and day out. Diane has always been of my favorite air talents, and everybody else is good at what they do. The old sweeper that we ran at WMGI, often imitated never duplicated, is something that many have tried, but haven't been able to succeed as far as taking away from Hi-99. It's kind of like Mike Tyson's punchout back in the day. You had to bring all your guns to knock out Mike Tyson. With all this being said, my money's on country, and I am not sure that's the best decision. I don't know what they are going to do, but there is no question in my mind that something will be done. Don't ratings start first week of April. You'll have your answer by then.
 
Matt knows his stuff. And he made me think about my earlier suggestions for their formats at Crossroads.....
Here is what I think would be potential moves for them now that I've put a little more thought into it.

WAXI - keep it Oldies and keep it on the bird if it's working. (Get Marty and good local news service on the station)

WSDM - ESPN, since they are Mike and Mike's home anyway. (Maybe do a weekend sports wrap locally) If not sports... get Mike and Mike off and do a Jack/Bob/Mike/Hank/ or whoever format

WSDX/WBOW AM - News Talk or keep it all sports

WBOW FM - Active Rock. Back when Midwest entered the market a lot of people were surprised they didn't do this format to chip away at Emmis' overall market share. I remember driving through Terre Haute a few months ago and saw several vehicles that still had ZZQ bumper stickers and even saw a guy still wearing his old as you know what t-shirt. So maybe a call letter change to something similar to ZZQ like WZQZ or something and play off it.

Can't you see the billboards along 41 now "The Q is back"

Done well you may split the River in half first book and force them to straight classic rock or a head to head format fight. Open up the wallet and fight them on the street. There is a definite hole for rock competition and formatted right can skew the younger demos and the 25-54 very well.

Crossroads just needs to hire the right people and let them run it.
 
I agree, a mainstream Active Rocker would most likely do very well in Terre Haute. One problem....

Why throw a non-money producer on a 50K stick?

102.7 should be the clusters bread and butter. Obviously WSDM isn't doing much justice either, so you have to think how to work this out for the entire scheme.

WAXI - Keep it oldies, hell...its working, dont mess with it.

WSDM - Active/Alternative. Im thinking The Sound in Cincinnati meets WEBN! Make this "THE ROCK OF TERRE HAUTE, 92ROCK"

WBOW - Once again, this should be the signal paying the bills for everyone. What about a format that truly is a Hot AC without so much CHR Hype. WMGI owns the CHR image in the market and no one can touch that. Plus you have a flanker owned by Cromwell on the edge of the market.

Q102 - 90'S and NOW is what WBOW should become. Not an in your face CHR and not a sleepy AC. The Valley has a broad range of AC and Classic Hits on one station, and it serves its purpose. There is a major hole in the market (because WBOW is trying to be a CHR) to serve the 25-44 demo.
 
They tried the 90's Now thing when Adam Michaels took over as PD didn't they? Back in '05 they did an AC/Hot AC blend that rolled into a Hot AC that became a gold leaning Hot AC that became the 90's leaning Hot AC-HR, that became the Dial Global Hot AC.

Is there really a hole there for it? A Hot AC that is?
 
I think they have tried just about every form of AC, and Hot AC, and I would be surprised if they stuck with it. There is a way to do it right, but I am not sure how well that will do in this particular market. Results are what are needed in this situation. I believe it would have to be a slow build with consistency over several books, and I don't know that it will happen. I am sure we will all find out soon. I wish Crossroads the best in whatever they decide to do.
 
RadioFan89 said:
I found this website http://www.radioworksforme.com/gpage3.html that lists a few more people then previously mentioned that work at Crossroads. I recently heard WMGI is replacing their afternoon person. Seems like they keep changing there line up a lot. What a messed up market. Does anyone know if the new MIX morning show was on durring the Fall book? If so how did they do?

The Mix Morning show was there for the entire fall book and scored big in 18-34 and all overall as well. They brought in the hightest ratings the station has seen since Fall 2003 & more than doubled anything recently. Looking at it across the board, where there were changes made, there were also significant increases in ratings this book.
 
The mix morning show did well, especially considering I think they started about the time the book did, plus people always like whats new. You also have to think that WBOW switching to synd gave WMGI a boost.
 
Simple answer for Crossroads. I know that you don't have a lot of money to spend on things like...jocks...equipment...facilities...music...prizes...sales staff...and other needless things. But what you should invest in is a consultant. And, if you don't want to search the world for a consultant and you don't want to have to spend a fortune to find one, get a hold of BT. The man knows his stuff and he could at least point you in the right direction. Aside from that, just try doing something original. The Crock was a great idea. People still talk about the billboards. But ever since then, all we get is the same stuff that other stations have done but...for lack of a better way of saying it...screwed up. You have two good talents. You have great imaging. You have one station that advertisers are still interested in (WAXI) and you have potential. Now sh*t or get off the pot.
 
I know this costs money, however maybe its something Crossroads should look at investing into. They have one of the only three in-city 50K signals.

NEWS/TALK FM. If done right, it could quite possibly outpace most others and slide into a solid third. In doing so, they have to shift 92.7 into a Alternative Rocker or else it wont work.
 
Would local news be included? Don't think Crossroads has the money for that, and besides WPRS has the heavy hitters on N/T. I hope someone over there is reading this and can put some ideas together.
 
If Crossroads went after the syndicated programs, I bet they could take them away from WPRS, which is a low power AM rimshot to Terre Haute. Or, if they're like some syndicators, they might allow both stations to keep the programs.
 
I think if Crossroads would stay with something, I'm mean really stay with something, they could find success. They tinker too much with everything. Even when they don't flip a station, theyre in constant manuveur mode. Make a plan and stick to it. Just my two cents.

I look for even more things to change in TH, when sometime they probably should stay the same.
 
A little bird just told me that there will be a News/Talk somewhere in Terre Haute very soon.
 
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