First Thoughts On 1033 Amp Radio

[NHRadio]

I also work at a New England CHR. Young people do listen, but 12-18? Much closer to 12 than 18.

 

[reelyreal]

I also work at a New England CHR. Young people do listen, but 12-18? Much closer to 12 than 18.

Well, that's always been the way with request calls. When it comes to contest winners though, we still do really well 18-34 and our crowds at 21+ bar events are still phenomenal.

 

[MassMusicMan]

Every time I hear the "young people don't listen to the radio" statement, I want to invite all of you into the studio of my CHR here in New England, and work my phones for a shift.

Trust me, young people still listen to CHR. I'm talking 12-18 and beyond.

You claim to work for CBS, and you claim to work for a CHR in New England. Since Amp doesn't have jocks, that leaves Hot 93.7 in Hartford. Am I right?

 

[faderraider]

I gave it two hours yesterday, listened while driving. I won't be doing that again.

 

[inorm99]

At first listen, AMP 103.3 plays the same bad songs every two hours

I gave it two hours yesterday, listened while driving. I won't be doing that again.

 

[DJbobo]

I gave it two hours yesterday, listened while driving. I won't be doing that again.

There's a reason why - you're not in their target demo.

 

[trock]

I love reading old farts rant about how bad today's music is. As an avid chr listener myself Amp sounds pretty good. It's too early too tell as they are still in their new launch tight playlist phase. I think if they really want to separate themselves from Kiss&Jam'n they should add some edgier dance tracks in rotation to go along with pop hits.

 

[CTListener]

At first listen, AMP 103.3 plays the same bad songs every two hours

Just as WRKO-FM was doing in 1966, or WVBF was doing in 1976, or WHTT was doing in 1984, only playing music people in our demographic don't like.

Look, I don't get hip-hop and most of today's Auto-tuned, formulaic pop leaves me cold. But the hatred I see here for the current brand of popular music and the radio stations that play it seems wrong to me. It's as though the thinking here is that, "If these kids just listened to the stuff I listened to when I was their age, they'd forget about Gaga and Lil Wayne and Bieber tomorrow." Sorry, that's not how it works. What's out there today is what resonates with the current generation. "Bad songs" is purely subjective -- remember, we all had parents who thought our music was garbage and our favorite radio stations were playing bad songs every two hours.

 

[WNTIRadio]

Sometimes the rotations were tighter than every two hours on the 60's Top 40 stations. Look at an old WABC rotation as an example.

I like a lot of the "old CHR" from the 60's... but for every great Beatles, Stones or Simon and Garfunkel song there were 5 tunes that sucked... Bobby Goldsboro, 1910 Fruitgum Company, 50 different girl groups that all sounded the same...

You can't tell me that "I Like Bread and Butter" is any more or less mindless than "I'm Sexy and I Know It". There are a lot of top 40 songs from the 60's-70's era that have been thankfully forgotten. Does anyone ever need to hear Season's in the Sun, Muskrat Love, Henry the VIII, MacArthur Park or Feelings ever again??? All were huge hits. All were bad songs. So this whole "crappy music is all young kids listen to" argument is as old as top 40 radio itself.

There will be a lot of songs from today that will fall through the cracks of time too.

I will admit that I'm not a huge top 40 fan, but once in awhile there's a catchy song out there... Carly Rae Jepsen, Lady GaGa's first couple of hits, LMFAO just to name a few.

 

[Eli Polonsky]

Does anyone ever need to hear Season's in the Sun, Muskrat Love, Henry the VIII, MacArthur Park or Feelings ever again???

I believe "Seasons In The Sun" (Terry Jacks' hit version) is one of the most requested songs on Barry Scott's "Lost 45's" show.

"Muskrat Love", "MacArthur Park", and "Feelings" are all in rotation on WJIB.

"Henry the VIII" is in rotation on the "Beatles and Before" automated oldies format late nights and weekends on WCAP Lowell (whenever they don't have talk or local sports on).

Also, "Seasons In The Sun", "Muskrat Love" and "Feelings" are in rotation on the WROR HD2 "Nothing But The '70s" channel.

 

[CTListener]

Does anyone ever need to hear Season's in the Sun, Muskrat Love, Henry the VIII, MacArthur Park or Feelings ever again???

I believe "Seasons In The Sun" (Terry Jacks' hit version) is one of the most requested songs on Barry Scott's "Lost 45's" show.

"Muskrat Love", "MacArthur Park", and "Feelings" are all in rotation on WJIB.

"Henry the VIII" is in rotation on the "Beatles and Before" automated oldies format late nights and weekends on WCAP Lowell (whenever they don't have talk or local sports on).

Also, "Seasons In The Sun", "Muskrat Love" and "Feelings" are in rotation on the WROR HD2 "Nothing But The '70s" channel.

Let's see, that's a syndicated show devoted to playing songs that either stiffed or don't test well, a one-man radio station, an off-hours filler format, and an HD2 stream. Yup, that's proof those songs remain popular. Surrrre.

 

[promixcuous]

Sometimes the rotations were tighter than every two hours on the 60's Top 40 stations. Look at an old WABC rotation as an example.

I like a lot of the "old CHR" from the 60's... but for every great Beatles, Stones or Simon and Garfunkel song there were 5 tunes that sucked... Bobby Goldsboro, 1910 Fruitgum Company, 50 different girl groups that all sounded the same...

You can't tell me that "I Like Bread and Butter" is any more or less mindless than "I'm Sexy and I Know It". There are a lot of top 40 songs from the 60's-70's era that have been thankfully forgotten. Does anyone ever need to hear Season's in the Sun, Muskrat Love, Henry the VIII, MacArthur Park or Feelings ever again??? All were huge hits. All were bad songs. So this whole "crappy music is all young kids listen to" argument is as old as top 40 radio itself.

There will be a lot of songs from today that will fall through the cracks of time too.

I will admit that I'm not a huge top 40 fan, but once in awhile there's a catchy song out there... Carly Rae Jepsen, Lady GaGa's first couple of hits, LMFAO just to name a few.

The above is a terrific post. All you have to do is listen to old airchecks to discover how much disposable junk was on CHR/Top 40 stations since the 50s respective to each era. As a teenager of the 80s, for instance, I remember unbearable crap on CHRs... yacht rock, cheesy ballads, ditzy Freestyle, hair bands...ugh. Thank God for the alternative stations of that era ({heart} CFNY-FM).

In the late 60s and 70s, FM AOR evolved because people were put off by the AM top 40s of that era.

I'd argue that CHR got considerably better in the 90s (with aberrations like "People Are Still Having Sex" and "Short Dick Man"). Since I came to Boston, Kiss 108 has been extremely listenable, even as I've become older. Their airchecks from the 80s...not so much, unless you like songs like "Two of Hearts".

Listening to AMP, their playlist is very good...consistently quality energetic pop material without much of anything horribly cheesy (save LMFAO). What is missing from AMP are tomorrow's particularly strong songs; the hair-tinglingly memorable songs that make you turn around in this era are somewhat few, other than tracks like "Bad Romance" and "Pokerface" and "We Are Young". I'm thinking of how many truly wonderful CHR hits of the previous eras that really were spectacular (songs like "Celebration", "Band On the Run", "Stayin' Alive", "Grease", "Here Comes the Sun", "Daydream Believer", "Hungry Like The Wolf", "Unchained Melody", "Nothing Compares 2 U", (and countless more) that seem to be far and few on recent CHR, albeit the overall quality of material of today's CHR is better than I've heard (which helps to explain why CHR ratings are good). Can anyone point to a memorable song on AMP?

 

[CatCall]

Listening to AMP, their playlist is very good...consistently quality energetic pop material without much of anything horribly cheesy (save LMFAO). What is missing from AMP are tomorrow's particularly strong songs; the hair-tinglingly memorable songs that make you turn around in this era are somewhat few, other than tracks like "Bad Romance" and "Pokerface" and "We Are Young". <snip> Can anyone point to a memorable song on AMP?

I'm not sure if that's a commentary on AMP's playlist or the state of today's CHR hits. I'm liking "Where Have You Been" and "Somebody That I Used To Know". Both currents are in AMP's power rotation.

Their playlist is rhythmic leaning but as no surprise as to not step on the CBS Hot-AC WBMX. I'm thinking these would also be the listeners that CBS would like to grab from both Kiss and Jamn.

My impression is good so far. I like they are heavy on newer currents, and I heard "Pound The Alarm" by Nicki Minaj for the first time on AMP. If you like CHR I don't see how you wouldn't like AMP.

 

[Jacko]

If 103.3 Amp also employed a multi-modal "live and local" slant, including texting requests, prizes, promotions, and other ways to show listeners that their jocks are actually there--as opposed to "talent" fed in from out of town--I think Amp has a good shot against Kiss and maybe Jam'n. But that's only if they promote the hell out of it.

Another thing not mentioned, could a reason why CBS picked 103.3 WODS to flip be because the Amp format would directly be targeted toward the kids of the WODS listeners? For example, mom and 17-year-old kid get into the minivan, and when mom turns on the car, instead of KC & the Sunshine Band, 103.3 is playing Nicki Minaj, grabbing the 17-year-olds attention.

Yeah, it's a stretch...

Jacko

 

[ThatGuyOnTheRadio]

If 103.3 Amp also employed a multi-modal "live and local" slant, including texting requests, prizes, promotions, and other ways to show listeners that their jocks are actually there--as opposed to "talent" fed in from out of town--I think Amp has a good shot against Kiss and maybe Jam'n. But that's only if they promote the hell out of it.

Another thing not mentioned, could a reason why CBS picked 103.3 WODS to flip be because the Amp format would directly be targeted toward the kids of the WODS listeners? For example, mom and 17-year-old kid get into the minivan, and when mom turns on the car, instead of KC & the Sunshine Band, 103.3 is playing Nicki Minaj, grabbing the 17-year-olds attention.

Yeah, it's a stretch...

Jacko

The average 17 year old's mother is probably 38-45 years old, a stretch is right.... it's more likely said mother would be listening to MAGIC or MIX. But I see what you're saying.

 

[Eli Polonsky]

Another thing not mentioned, could a reason why CBS picked 103.3 WODS to flip be because the Amp format would directly be targeted toward the kids of the WODS listeners?

I doubt that, my guess is that CBS could have blown up either WBMX or WODS, they were at fairly similar levels in numbers, but they chose to blow up the one with the older core audience. The WODS audience was still largely 50+, and adding some '80s music to its mix a couple of years ago didn't seem to help to lower its age significantly.

 

[Kenny Atkinson]

I live in Providence and was shocked to hear WODS flipping. Not exactly a fan of that type of music.I am tuning into 1033 AMP RADIO quite a bit.It's different,Upbeat and gets me allergenic. I have to say I really do like it.A feeling that a few twitter followers are expressing. No annoying rap

 

[Kenny Atkinson]

I wouldn't be surprised if 103.3 (where I expect new call letters soon) will remain automated for the long term.

It is possible, with the right jingles and imaging, to do a hi9gh-energy Top-40 format without DJ's.

Besides, with young people (the target audience for the new format) using I-Pod's and MP-3's a lot, having personality DJ's for a young-skewing Top-40 format may actually be a detriment.

I don't know about new calls.The calls are all over on the HD-2 in jingles etc.

 

[CTListener]

I wouldn't be surprised if 103.3 (where I expect new call letters soon) will remain automated for the long term.

It is possible, with the right jingles and imaging, to do a hi9gh-energy Top-40 format without DJ's.

Besides, with young people (the target audience for the new format) using I-Pod's and MP-3's a lot, having personality DJ's for a young-skewing Top-40 format may actually be a detriment.

I don't know about new calls.The calls are all over on the HD-2 in jingles etc.

Call letters don't matter in the PPM era. No need to change them. The oldies station in Gloucester, after all, is still WBOQ (W-Bach, remember?), two format changes after it last played classical music. The call is mentioned at the top of the hour only, otherwise the station is North Shore 104.9.

 

[WNTIRadio]

CBS chose to flip the station with the lowest billing. Don't look at the ratings, the "vanity numbers", look to the sales.

A wise owner once told me in a meeting early in my career... "Radio stations have two sets of numbers. These Arbitron numbers and the ones that really count, the sales numbers."