For One Day Hot 102 WLUM Returned!

[BrianThaB]

For those who did not know. 102.1 WLUM is doing a homecoming days where they are paying homage to their entire history of existence with their call letters. First up was the format that made the dial famous, Hot 102.

It brought back so many memories and as you can tell on social media, many people from Milwaukee not only liked this tribute, but they also want it to be a permanent station again. The audience is there!

I doubt any other Milwaukee radio companies were noticing. Perhaps they should have. Hot 102 was always a Crossover station since the 80s that mixed Top 40 and Urban and was programmed BY and FOR what was popular in Milwaukee at the time. Not some cookie cutter format which followed the National charts format. It is why it is so loved by many. At least we have the Internet version playing homage.

Definitely feel there is a format and audience to be made with this! Radio nowadays won't have the guts to take the chance. Hope I am wrong, and someone is thinking.
Below is a good recap of the day. You can also listen to the Internet station that still pays homage to the format below as well.

Final Listen: WLUM Milwaukee as “Hot 102”

It’s the “Now Playing” feature on the Alternative WLUM (FM102.1) Milwaukee website that gives it away. As I write this,

radioinsight.com

listen on your smart speaker: "Alexa, play HOT102 from Live365"!

Stream the songs that make you feel JAM good!

hot102radio.com

 

[Delete My Account]

I loved how people were checking in from their workplaces listening to it and reliving the good memories. Well done and a reminder of how fun this business can be.

 

[Fighting Irish]

For those who did not know. 102.1 WLUM is doing a homecoming days where they are paying homage to their entire history of existence with their call letters. First up was the format that made the dial famous, Hot 102.

It brought back so many memories and as you can tell on social media, many people from Milwaukee not only liked this tribute, but they also want it to be a permanent station again. The audience is there!

I doubt any other Milwaukee radio companies were noticing. Perhaps they should have. Hot 102 was always a Crossover station since the 80s that mixed Top 40 and Urban and was programmed BY and FOR what was popular in Milwaukee at the time. Not some cookie cutter format which followed the National charts format. It is why it is so loved by many. At least we have the Internet version playing homage.

Definitely feel there is a format and audience to be made with this! Radio nowadays won't have the guts to take the chance. Hope I am wrong, and someone is thinking.
Below is a good recap of the day. You can also listen to the Internet station that still pays homage to the format below as well.

Final Listen: WLUM Milwaukee as “Hot 102”

It’s the “Now Playing” feature on the Alternative WLUM (FM102.1) Milwaukee website that gives it away. As I write this,

radioinsight.com

listen on your smart speaker: "Alexa, play HOT102 from Live365"!

Stream the songs that make you feel JAM good!

hot102radio.com

The resurrection of Hot102 was fun for a day.

For a permanent format? Probably not.

For those listening, there was a lot of repetition. I get it - they threw together some songs and had fun for the day. But a narrow concentration like this will get old really fast. That said, I have always felt a classic rhythmic hits format could work well, so long as it covers a wider range and is a bit more burnout resistant.

But what was really cool were the old Hot102 jocks, who were obviously having fun. Live in the studio, taking calls, talking about the weather, Brewers, etc. - it actually sounded like the old Hot102, which was famous for having high-energy jocks that sounded like normal, everyday people. By comparison, one could turn to the local IHeart classic hits station (95.7 Big FM) right now and hear some of the same stuff, with obvious voicetracked jocks from many miles away throwing out pointless gossip soundbytes from nowhere, and it all sounds so phony and insincere. It's a terrible station, but gets great ratings because they have little competition (besides the soon to be gone B93.3).

In contrast, the gang on Good Hope Road today sounded like they were having an absolute blast. And they actually connected with the listeners, instead of being sonic wallpaper. I miss that kind of real, genuine spontaneous radio.

 

[Fighting Irish]

For those who did not know. 102.1 WLUM is doing a homecoming days where they are paying homage to their entire history of existence with their call letters. First up was the format that made the dial famous, Hot 102.

It brought back so many memories and as you can tell on social media, many people from Milwaukee not only liked this tribute, but they also want it to be a permanent station again. The audience is there!

I doubt any other Milwaukee radio companies were noticing. Perhaps they should have. Hot 102 was always a Crossover station since the 80s that mixed Top 40 and Urban and was programmed BY and FOR what was popular in Milwaukee at the time. Not some cookie cutter format which followed the National charts format. It is why it is so loved by many. At least we have the Internet version playing homage.

Definitely feel there is a format and audience to be made with this! Radio nowadays won't have the guts to take the chance. Hope I am wrong, and someone is thinking.
Below is a good recap of the day. You can also listen to the Internet station that still pays homage to the format below as well.

Final Listen: WLUM Milwaukee as “Hot 102”

It’s the “Now Playing” feature on the Alternative WLUM (FM102.1) Milwaukee website that gives it away. As I write this,

radioinsight.com

listen on your smart speaker: "Alexa, play HOT102 from Live365"!

Stream the songs that make you feel JAM good!

hot102radio.com

The resurrection of Hot102 was fun for a day.

For a permanent format? Probably not.

For those listening, there was a lot of repetition. I get it - they threw together some songs and had fun for the day. But a narrow concentration like this will get old really fast. That said, I have always felt a classic rhythmic hits format could work well, so long as it covers a wider range and is a bit more burnout resistant.

But what was really cool were the old Hot102 jocks, who were obviously having fun. Live in the studio, taking calls, talking about the weather, Brewers, etc. - it actually sounded like the old Hot102, which was famous for having high-energy jocks that sounded like normal, everyday people. By comparison, one could turn to the local IHeart classic hits station (95.7 Big FM) and hear some of the same stuff, with obvious voicetracked jocks from many miles away throwing out pointless gossip soundbytes from nowhere, and it all sounds so phony and insincere. The gang on Good Hope Road today sounded like they were having an absolute blast. I miss that kind of spontaneous radio.

 

[Fighting Irish]

Dupe. This site is slow.

 

[JJSPC]

Sure made a difference when there used to be actual people in the studio of the station you listened to compared to voice tracking everything. I even remember back to when 102.1 was WAWA-FM. However, revenue realities and listenership changes have brought us to where we are today.

 

[Too Old]

I spent a lot of time listening to WLUM in the late 70's. The best in Soul, Jazz and Disco!

 

[luperm]

However, revenue realities and listenership changes have brought us to where we are today.

Not according to posters on this board. They think that if radio goes “live 24/7 with jocks talking about the weather” and aren’t “cookie cutter corporate radio” that plays obscure music, radio would be miraculously healed.

 

[Delete My Account]

And you talk about those posters which gives air to it. There's a middle ground between what iHeart does and what a few obscurists want. What most of us want is radio, to the fullest extent it can, being compelling. Sometimes that's music, other times it's local jocks, sometimes it's just using the tools like voice tracking better. What none of us want is for radio to do less than it's capable of doing. And that's the passion that drives us and why specials like this can be inspiring.

 

[JRob1125]

I can't describe how much I miss Hot 102. I'm only old enough to remember back to about 1990, but I remember liking it much more than V100 in the early 90s. Even when they switched to more of a Rhythmic/Pop format in '94 it was still really good.

 

[pattywells]

Hot 102 streams online. They mentioned it on FM1021 at the end of the broadcast.

The jocks were a lot of fun. I do miss when radio waa fun.

 

[MarkW]

A big snippet of the Hot 102 homecoming can be found on YouTube.

I gotta say - what I heard sounded incredible. It's as if I stepped into a time machine. I'm amazed at how well produced it was!

What passes for FM radio today is mostly trash compared to how the dial sounded 30+ years ago.

 

[K.M. Richards]

What passes for FM radio today is mostly trash compared to how the dial sounded 30+ years ago.

30 years ago we had more ad revenue and could afford to program the way you remember.

 

[MarkW]

That's certainly true. The LBO frenzy where numerous stations were being sold at multiples of 12x or 15x ebitda to consolidators wasn't yet underway, either, if I remember correctly. The Telecommunications Act of 1996 wasn't signed into law until February 1996.

 

[luperm]

That's certainly true. The LBO frenzy where numerous stations were being sold at multiples of 12x or 15x ebitda to consolidators wasn't yet underway, either, if I remember correctly. The Telecommunications Act of 1996 wasn't signed into law until February 1996.

The "LBO frenzy" did not cause the demise of your ideal of radio, as you seem to imply. The emergence of more and better advertising (and entertainment) options did.

 

[MarkW]

I partially disagree. All of the above are contributing factors. High debt burden contributed to radio's uncompetitiveness because it led to diminished investment in programming. The consolidation frenzy also led to a big reduction in on-air positions, which in turn led to reduced opportunities to nurture young on-air talent.

 

[K.M. Richards]

The "LBO frenzy" did not cause the demise of your ideal of radio, as you seem to imply. The emergence of more and better advertising (and entertainment) options did.

I have to agree with that assessment, seeing the logic behind it. Much of the consolidation that has taken place was because the old business model of one AM/FM per market didn't work once listeners began defecting to other platforms (streaming, satellite, even just building personal MP3 libraries). As @TheBigA has said, you abandoned us because you didn't want to "put up with" the commercials that were paying for your free access to our programming.

Others of you decided that the necessity of consensus programming for a mass appeal audience meant we didn't match with your personal tastes, so you also left for what I presume was seen as "greener pastures".

But this is the reality of all that. As you abandoned us, we became even less able to program even mass appeal formats ... and you didn't leave behind enough of an audience to try more niche formats. And you also left us with lower ratings, which meant less revenue, and consolidation became something of a last best effort to stay in business. And that's also why, even with group ownership, we've had to implement efficiencies which are now perceived as "mostly trash". It's an unfair comparison, because the underlying cause was not apparent to those outside the business ... and I get the feeling that even if it was, there still would have been a perception that we should have kept everything the way it was, even though unsustainable.

So, here we are, programming for what's left, on considerably less revenue to pay for it, and still getting the "you ruined radio" attitudes from a lot of people. To those people, I can only say "No. You ruined radio by your abandoning us."

I know that's harsh, but I hope you see my honesty.

While the points @MarkW made while I was writing this are valid, they still (in my opinion) do not forgive the actions that caused the audience reductions which made consolidation and tightening of formats to be as mass appeal as possible. Those who criticize us have (again, in my opinion) forfeited their right to do so after that abandonment.

 

[TheBigA]

High debt burden contributed to radio's uncompetitiveness because it led to diminished investment in programming.

That's not what happened. Radio companies ARE investing in programming. But it's for podcasts, streaming, and other online programming. Why? Because that's where the audience is. That's where there's investment money. Even at radio companies that went bankrupt. They're reinventing themselves as media companies, not radio companies. Because the audience for broadcasting has moved on. Not just in radio, but also TV.

Look at Cumulus & iHeart. They've each created huge online businesses that will soon eclipse their broadcasting business. Same with NPR.

The consolidation frenzy also led to a big reduction in on-air positions, which in turn led to reduced opportunities to nurture young on-air talent.

How many on-air positions are there at Spotify or Apple Music? The place where young talent is nurtured is in podcasting. That's where talent has to create something unique in order to attract an audience. Working the overnight shift in market 140 isn't going to help improve your act. You're looking at old solutions to current problems. They have no application to the real world.

If you look around, there are a lot of former radio people who are marketing themselves as talent coaches. They write articles for Radio Ink and other trade mags. That's where developing on-air people go for help.

 

[MarkW]

That's not what happened. Radio companies ARE investing in programming. But it's for podcasts, streaming, and other online programming.

Most podcasters are the modern day equivalent of public access TV broadcasters. Big media is not paying them to "be there" with only a small number of exceptions.

The online only music formats I've heard on iHR and elsewhere (Tune In, Amazon Music, etc) are mostly underwhelming. SXM executes that stuff so much better, in my opinion.

Why? Because that's where the audience is. That's where there's investment money.

Only 35 percent of the population listens to at least 1 podcast weekly. True, that number is growing.

Even at radio companies that went bankrupt. They're reinventing themselves as media companies, not radio companies. Because the audience for broadcasting has moved on. Not just in radio, but also TV.

I think the next five years will prove more challenging for over-the-air TV broadcasters than for AM/FM broadcasters.

TV helped dig its own grave by shaking down cable companies for more & more money. The cable subscribers are bailing which means retrans revenue is dwindling.

 

[K.M. Richards]

How many on-air positions are there at Spotify or Apple Music? The place where young talent is nurtured is in podcasting. That's where talent has to create something unique in order to attract an audience. Working the overnight shift in market 140 isn't going to help improve your act. You're looking at old solutions to current problems. They have no application to the real world.

How many times have you and I, and David, and Mike Hagerty made similar points, only to keep being told by people outside the business, that we should still be doing things the old way?

The question is rhetorical, because the answer is "too often".

You want the old ways back, listeners? Cancel your streaming subscriptions. Turn off your SiriusXM. Distance yourselves from podcasts and "free" streams.

Turn your radios back on. Accept the fact that we are mass appeal media. And patronize our advertisers.