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Flip at 103.3?

C

chitchatjf

someone told me Oldies 103 was going to go talk. I thought ODS was one of the biggest stations in town. I do agree they seem to play the same 500 songs over and over and something could be done about that.

I would add select Oldies compatable AC cuts form 80s to present.
 
> someone told me Oldies 103 was going to go talk. I thought
> ODS was one of the biggest stations in town. I do agree they
> seem to play the same 500 songs over and over and something
> could be done about that.
>
> I would add select Oldies compatable AC cuts form 80s to
> present.

Unlikely but who knows. Is this part of the "WBCN is going 'Free' talk"
rumor, only they got the CBS-owned station wrong?


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> > someone told me Oldies 103 was going to go talk. I thought
>
> > ODS was one of the biggest stations in town. I do agree
> they
> > seem to play the same 500 songs over and over and
> something
> > could be done about that.
> >
> > I would add select Oldies compatable AC cuts form 80s to
> > present.
>
> Unlikely but who knows. Is this part of the "WBCN is going
> 'Free' talk"
> rumor, only they got the CBS-owned station wrong?
>

Unless I hear it HERE I will not believe it.
 
a GM in the city told me last year (and granted, that makes the info dated) that oldies does well where it counts most, the sales department. would seem to make such a switch unlikely, unless times have changed.

> > someone told me Oldies 103 was going to go talk. I
> thought
> >
> > > ODS was one of the biggest stations in town. I do agree
> > they
> > > seem to play the same 500 songs over and over and
> > something
> > > could be done about that.
> > >
> > > I would add select Oldies compatable AC cuts form 80s to
>
> > > present.
> >
> > Unlikely but who knows. Is this part of the "WBCN is going
>
> > 'Free' talk"
> > rumor, only they got the CBS-owned station wrong?
> >
>
> Unless I hear it HERE I will not believe it.
>
 
> a GM in the city told me last year (and granted, that makes
> the info dated) that oldies does well where it counts most,
> the sales department. would seem to make such a switch
> unlikely, unless times have changed.
>
> > > someone told me Oldies 103 was going to go talk. I
> > thought
> > >
> > > > ODS was one of the biggest stations in town. I do
> agree
> > > they
> > > > seem to play the same 500 songs over and over and
> > > something
> > > > could be done about that.
> > > >
> > > > I would add select Oldies compatable AC cuts form 80s
> to
> >
> > > > present.
> > >
> > > Unlikely but who knows. Is this part of the "WBCN is
> going
> >
> > > 'Free' talk"
> > > rumor, only they got the CBS-owned station wrong?
> > >
> >
> > Unless I hear it HERE I will not believe it.
> >
Sales dept.Thanksgiving-Christmas time,in particular. Their library might have 500 tunes but the play list seems like ten percent of that. Doubt the rumor.
 
A year ago, if I had been asked if New York's WCBS-101.1 were about to change formats, I would have said "No Way! CBS-FM is quite successful!".

Despite it's success, WCBS-FM was flipped to "Jack". The likely reason was that CBS-FM's airstaff was probably one of the highest-paid airstaffs in the industry, and that by cutting out their salaries, CBS-FM might make more money even if their revenues dropped, because their overhead would be vastly reduced.

The point of my post is this: Although I think CBS should keep WODS' current oldies format, nothing would surprise me anymore.
 
KCBS is on 93.1

KeaRTH is 101.1 and they still do oldies.

KCBS-FM did classic rock (one of the last "ARROW" stations).



> A year ago, if I had been asked if New York's WCBS-101.1
> were about to change formats, I would have said "No Way!
> CBS-FM is quite successful!".
>
> Despite it's success, WCBS-FM was flipped to "Jack". The
> likely reason was that CBS-FM's airstaff was probably one of
> the highest-paid airstaffs in the industry, and that by
> cutting out their salaries, CBS-FM might make more money
> even if their revenues dropped, because their overhead would
> be vastly reduced.
>
> The point of my post is this: Although I think CBS should
> keep WODS' current oldies format, nothing would surprise me
> anymore.
>
 
> Unless I hear it HERE I will not believe it.

They're touting being Arbitron rated #1 so I would doubt any flip. They're still pushing that they play 60s & 70s but I've heard The Time Of My Life from Dirty Dancing although it may have been a movie theme weekend. Even if they do eventually get into the 80s I'd be willing to bet they'll keep it lighter with more pop stuff,if you will,than classic hits. Frankly I think they've always sounded great. Even with the music shift they've never lost anything when it comes to personality unlike B101 in Providence that felt the need to mess with the staff when they went classic hits & added 80s. B101 will probably be a success story but speaking purely from a critical standpoint they have gone downhill when it comes to personality.
 
> > Unless I hear it HERE I will not believe it.
>
> They're touting being Arbitron rated #1

Well, they _were_ saying that but they slipped slightly so now
they say something like "the #1 pushbutton on your car radio"
or something likt that

Frankly I think they've always sounded great.

It does well here. Yes the playlist can be restrictive but on some shows
like Lost 45s, The Thu. Night Countdown, and the 60s/70s hours they have
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I doubt you would see Oldies play too much from the 80s because it would wind up competing with mix.

It works perfectly. Oldies plays 60s and 70s, Mix plays 80s 90s and some CHR. That covers just about every format that I can think of.

Except classical and standards. But including country.

> > Unless I hear it HERE I will not believe it.
>
> They're touting being Arbitron rated #1 so I would doubt any
> flip. They're still pushing that they play 60s & 70s but
> I've heard The Time Of My Life from Dirty Dancing although
> it may have been a movie theme weekend. Even if they do
> eventually get into the 80s I'd be willing to bet they'll
> keep it lighter with more pop stuff,if you will,than classic
> hits. Frankly I think they've always sounded great. Even
> with the music shift they've never lost anything when it
> comes to personality unlike B101 in Providence that felt the
> need to mess with the staff when they went classic hits &
> added 80s. B101 will probably be a success story but
> speaking purely from a critical standpoint they have gone
> downhill when it comes to personality.
>
 
> someone told me Oldies 103 was going to go talk. I thought
> ODS was one of the biggest stations in town.

WODS is still the top adult music station in the 12+ Boston ratings. The only music station that beats it is WJMN, which is geared toward a young audience. I don't think they're going to flip WODS to anything.
 
WCBS-FM did fairly well, but it wasn't the top rated adult demographic music station in the market by a long shot, which WODS is here in Boston. I think it's a lot less likely that WODS will be flipped to anything.


> A year ago, if I had been asked if New York's WCBS-101.1
> were about to change formats, I would have said "No Way!
> CBS-FM is quite successful!".
>
> Despite it's success, WCBS-FM was flipped to "Jack". The
> likely reason was that CBS-FM's airstaff was probably one of
> the highest-paid airstaffs in the industry, and that by
> cutting out their salaries, CBS-FM might make more money
> even if their revenues dropped, because their overhead would
> be vastly reduced.
>
> The point of my post is this: Although I think CBS should
> keep WODS' current oldies format, nothing would surprise me
> anymore.
>
 
What, this again?

Old news....
WODS WILL NOT flip to talk nor will any other Boston FM, so long as WTKK is FM Talk. We've had this dicussion before; Boston is a ONE FORMAT town. The days of two or three stations in a format on FM are over. And, as I've pointed out before, there are already several station in Boston in the News Talk format, WRKO, WTKK, WXKS/'KOX, and 1150, just to name a few. There's no reason for WBCN to be flipped, and no reason for WODS to flip (and nothing for them to flip to).

So "someone told me" has a credibility problem.

> someone told me Oldies 103 was going to go talk. I thought
> ODS was one of the biggest stations in town. I do agree they
> seem to play the same 500 songs over and over and something
> could be done about that.
>
> I would add select Oldies compatable AC cuts form 80s to
> present.
>
 
Re: What, this again?

> Old news....
> WODS WILL NOT flip to talk nor will any other Boston FM, so
> long as WTKK is FM Talk. We've had this dicussion before;
> Boston is a ONE FORMAT town. The days of two or three
> stations in a format on FM are over. And, as I've pointed
> out before, there are already several station in Boston in
> the News Talk format, WRKO, WTKK, WXKS/'KOX, and 1150, just
> to name a few. There's no reason for WBCN to be flipped, and
> no reason for WODS to flip (and nothing for them to flip
> to).

WTKK is not "FM Talk". FM Talk is KLSX/Los Angeles, WCKG/Chicago, WLUP/Chicago in the early 90's, WJFK/Washington minus Bill O'Reilly, and a possible Infinity station in Boston. Most of these "FM Talk" stations are owned by CBS Radio, and they all consist of personalities who avoid politics, and typically discuss sports, relationships (a la Tom Leykis), and life in general.

WTKK is a regular talk station that just happens to be on the FM dial. That makes it not only similar to the stations above in Boston, but several talk stations on the FM dial across the country: Clear Channel's WPGB/Pittsburgh and their new KLTK/Minneapolis, Emmis' KFTK/St. Louis, the old WWDB-FM/Philadelphia. Sure, WTKK does have some sports programming (Calling All Sports, the bid for the Red Sox), but they concentrate too highly on political topics to label them as similar.

A new "FM Talk" station would take listeners mostly from stations like WBCN, WZLX, and WEEI; not WTKK, WRKO, WTTT (wait, do they have any listeners?), and WKOXKS.
 
Re: What, this again?

> A new "FM Talk" station would take listeners mostly from
> stations like WBCN, WZLX, and WEEI; not WTKK, WRKO, WTTT
> (wait, do they have any listeners?), and WKOXKS.
>
Given that your explanation is correct, you have inadvertedly made Garrett's argument for him. WBCN and WZLX are owned by CBS and would be two of the prime places from which a "Free FM" clone would take listeners. Why would CBS want to blow out a very successful WODS, only to cannabalize its other two FM properties in Boston? I know that they've made some dumb moves in the past year or two - but nothing as idiotic as this.

The old "someone told me" thing is pure BS. It ain't happening! What IS going to happen is that 102.5 and perhaps 99.5 will see ownership changes in the next few months. That's where change (if any comes in this stagnant market) will come.
 
Re: What, this again?

> WTKK is not "FM Talk". FM Talk is KLSX/Los Angeles,

Meaning "hot talk" or lifestyle talk--Leykis, etc. And yes there are
"FM talkers" in Boston (WTKK), WPBG Pittsburgh, and KFTK St Louis who have
the likes of Severin, Hannity (no longer on WTKK) or Ingraham.
Political talkers (usually conservative) who happen to be on FM.
WTKK has called itself "96.9 FM Talk" to perhaps highlight the
static-free signal, sound quality--and where the heck they are on the dial :)
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> > someone told me Oldies 103 was going to go talk. I thought
>
> > ODS was one of the biggest stations in town.
>
> WODS is still the top adult music station in the 12+ Boston
> ratings.

That is if they play Christmas music all year...
 
> > Unless I hear it HERE I will not believe it.
>
> They're touting being Arbitron rated #1 so I would doubt any
> flip.

They're not rated #1 anymore!

The dropoff in audience from December to January wasw quite significant!

The could say "Rated #1 for Christmas Music!"

But the rest of the year they are kinda lackluster...
 
> > > Unless I hear it HERE I will not believe it.
> >
> > They're touting being Arbitron rated #1 so I would doubt any
> > flip.
>
> They're not rated #1 anymore!
>
> The dropoff in audience from December to January wasw quite
> significant!

Where are you seeing this? Do you have access to Arbitron information more recent than what is published to the public? The most recent published Arbs for "Winter '06 P1" have WODS down only one-tenth of a point from "Fall '05", and still at the same rank among music stations.

> The could say "Rated #1 for Christmas Music!"
>
> But the rest of the year they are kinda lackluster...

The rest of the year before the Fall Christmas music period they were still consistently the #2 rated adult music station in Boston for the whole year in the published 12+. The only other music station aimed at their target age group beating them in the 12+ spring and summer books was AC mainstay WMJX.

The only other stations that topped them overall were WJMN and WXKS-FM (aimed at a younger audience), heritage AM News/Talk blowtorch WBZ, and sports station WEEI (during baseball season).

For at least the past year, they consistently beat the Classic Hits, Classic Rock, Hot AC, Adult Hits, Country, Classical, Alternative/Active Rock, and Triple A stations, which are all the other local major signal music stations (besides WMJX) which could compete within their age demo. That doesn't look too lackluster to me.

I'm not defending them out of personal preference, I find their music format far too repetitive and limited for me (though I think they have some great personalities on the air). However, it just doesn't look to me like they have anything to worry about as for ratings, and it looks very unlikely (outside of minor tweaking and updating) that they will be flipping any formats.
 
> > > > Unless I hear it HERE I will not believe it.
> > >
> > > They're touting being Arbitron rated #1 so I would doubt
> any
> > > flip.
> >
> > They're not rated #1 anymore!
> >
> > The dropoff in audience from December to January wasw
> quite
> > significant!
>
> Where are you seeing this? Do you have access to Arbitron
> information more recent than what is published to the
> public?

YEs, the 25-54 #'s.

> The most recent published Arbs for "Winter '06 P1"
> have WODS down only one-tenth of a point from "Fall '05"..

That is the 'trend'...which is a 3-month-rolling-average...

The individual (or isolated) month show a big drop in January.

> The rest of the year before the Fall Christmas music period
> they were still consistently the #2 rated adult music
> station in Boston for the whole year in the published 12+.

I'm not saying they suddenly turned into WFNX with a 1.0 share. They are still a formidable station. But the surge they saw in the fall was solely based on the Christmas music.

Second, While the station appears to do well, even if you look at the 25-54 #'s...most of their audeince is in the 45-54 range.

Like WCBS-FM in NYC...A station can look pretty good 12+...or even 25-54, but if it is top heavy in the demo, buyers will shy from it....and it could spell the final days of the format as the 45-54 year olds turn a year older each day.

> which are all the other local major signal music stations
> (besides WMJX) which could compete within their age demo.
> That doesn't look too lackluster to me.

Again, the story is in the demo's.

Quite often WBOS is beaten by WPLM. Does that mean WPLM is making more money than WBOS? CErtainly not...as BOS's demos are much more attractive than WPLM's, no matter what the 12+ numbers say.

> air). However, it just doesn't look to me like they have
> anything to worry about as for ratings, and it looks very
> unlikely (outside of minor tweaking and updating) that they
> will be flipping any formats.

You are probnably right, in that a change is not in the offing.

However, isn't this what they said about WCBS-FM?
 
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