Grand Rapids, Michigan VH battle

[burt]

A little birdy says WCXT 105.3 soon to be in Grand Rapids will debut on March 23rd running "JACK" from ABC against CC's MAX-FM which launched last Fall. This makes how many towns where JACK is involved in a VH battle?

 

[ticoSD]

> A little birdy says WCXT 105.3 soon to be in Grand Rapids
> will debut on March 23rd running "JACK" from ABC against
> CC's MAX-FM which launched last Fall. This makes how many
> towns where JACK is involved in a VH battle?

1. Grand Rapids (Jack, Max)
2. Meridian, MS (Jack, Sam)
3. Chicago (Jack, Nine FM)
4. Indianapolis (Jack, the Track)

Four that I can think of off the bat.
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[JeremyAndrews]

> A little birdy says WCXT 105.3 soon to be in Grand Rapids
> will debut on March 23rd running "JACK" from ABC against
> CC's MAX-FM which launched last Fall. This makes how many
> towns where JACK is involved in a VH battle?
>
I wouldn't put that past Citadel at all. Most of their Muskegon area FM stations (WCXT is a Muskegon area station) run the ABC formats have been even before they bought ABC Radio. Now that they own it all anyway why not.

WLCS Muskegon "Oldies 98" (ABC Oldies Radio)
WVIB Holton-Muskegon "V 100" (ABC The Touch)
WCXT Hart (Soon to be Coopersville) ABC Jack
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[OldiesCat]

VH battle

When does WCXT expect to have a Grand Rapids-friendly signal and where is the new tower site supposed to be?

I think this is something they've been working toward for years, so I'm curious if their tower move is a done deal and, just as importantly, how good the signal will be. That is one l-o-n-g move (gotta be 80 or so miles).

> A little birdy says WCXT 105.3 soon to be in Grand Rapids
> will debut on March 23rd running "JACK" from ABC against
> CC's MAX-FM which launched last Fall. This makes how many
> towns where JACK is involved in a VH battle?
>

 

[uncamark]

> > A little birdy says WCXT 105.3 soon to be in Grand Rapids
> > will debut on March 23rd running "JACK" from ABC against
> > CC's MAX-FM which launched last Fall. This makes how many
> > towns where JACK is involved in a VH battle?
>
> 1. Grand Rapids (Jack, Max)
> 2. Meridian, MS (Jack, Sam)
> 3. Chicago (Jack, Nine FM)
> 4. Indianapolis (Jack, the Track)
>
> Four that I can think of off the bat.

Although the argument can be made that Nine is too all over the map to be considered a true VH station.

 

[dave73]

> Although the argument can be made that Nine is too all over
> the map to be considered a true VH station.
>
They are all over, but not as much as they were under Sky Daniels. Sky tried to mix jazz and standards with oldies, classic rock, chr, & hot/modern ac. Jazz & Standards are pretty much out of the playlist. Songs classified as oldies is still played from time to time, but otherwise still all over. But at least for whatever ratings they have now, the credit should be given to Matt DuBiel, their director & midday dj. Nine FM won't get high ratings in the Chicago book due to being on 3 different signals, plus 2 of the signals (99.9 & 92.7) can barely be heard in the city, and gets splattered by the city sticks in the downtown area (99.9 getting splattered by 99.5 & 100.3 from the John Hancock, & 92.7 by 93.1, also on the John Hancock). So if either frequency is heard at all in the city of Chicago, 99.9 is heard best on the far south side, and 92.7 on the far north side.

 

[musicloverII]

Let's not create a paralell universe here, stick with WHY it's a loser, not your version of reality.

FACTS:

But at least for whatever ratings they have now, the
> credit should be given to Matt DuBiel, their director &
> midday dj.

Anything's better than what occured under Skye. His format was rejected as a whole. Nothing personal, it was a bad foramt idea. Matt's probably some poor kid who's just following orders. Hopefully that stupidity won't rub off on him.

Nine FM won't get high ratings in the Chicago
> book due to being on 3 different signals,

Here come the excuses....

plus 2 of the
> signals (99.9 & 92.7) can barely be heard in the city, and
> gets splattered by the city sticks in the downtown area
> (99.9 getting splattered by 99.5 & 100.3 from the John
> Hancock, & 92.7 by 93.1, also on the John Hancock).

Thats' a fantasy and apologetic for it's poor performance.

99.9 is a blowtorch with better coverage than 106.3 (showing a 1.3) along with other signals that are small powered and actually show up in Chicago's Arby (not that you can do much with that as a suburban station but you gotta admit when subs show up it's impressive). In fact, 99.9 may not reach deep into the downtown area (or east to the lake from say Kedzie) and has some issues there, it's got GREAT COVERAGE when it works so there's no excuse other than the one that a few people wish wasn't the real reason which is (drum roll) IT'S NOT A VIABLE FORMAT AS IS. Great audibility on 99.9 from Schaumburg to Oak Lawn, from Lansing to Elgin, from Irving Park and Racine to New Lennox, it covers a ton. There's just not enough people who care. In fact, it's a great signal for people to discover as they flip across and obvously very few people have bothered to take them seriously or else they'd be able to share in the accidental good fortune of showing up somewhere, even in 30th place. Other than the internal parts of Chicago the other frequencies fill in the blanks, 92.7 covers all the way up to wisconsin (the Kankakee signal is a dog but covers plenty of fields and up and coming populations) DEK's signal covers another 500,000 people. With the entire cluster (f-*Sk) they have coverage of at least 3/4 of the ENTIRE metro so enough with the excuses. It's time to admit a bad move and make with the new one.

So if
> either frequency is heard at all in the city of Chicago,
> 99.9 is heard best on the far south side, and 92.7 on the
> far north side.
>
And other suburban stations bill better, show better cume and that means NINE doesn't and it has nothing to do with the reason you claim.

 

[tibbs]

MLII - are you saying you are a big fan of NINE-FM?
What, besides on air staff, makes it so much better
than Jack? I've only listened to it online. Just would
like your take on it.

 

[dave73]

> MLII - are you saying you are a big fan of NINE-FM?
> What, besides on air staff, makes it so much better
> than Jack? I've only listened to it online. Just would
> like your take on it.
>
I try not to bash anyone on here, but he doesn't like the format. Plain & simple. oldiescat and I might not agree on everything with this format, but at least we agree on one thing pertaining to a person, who shall remain nameless, but you can figure out, that he doesn't like the format. <P ID="edit"><FONT class="small">Edited by dave73 on 03/04/06 11:56 PM.</FONT></P>

 

[dave73]

> Let's not create a paralell universe here, stick with WHY
> it's a loser, not your version of reality.
>
> FACTS:
>
> But at least for whatever ratings they have now, the
> > credit should be given to Matt DuBiel, their director &
> > midday dj.
>
> Anything's better than what occured under Skye. His format
> was rejected as a whole. Nothing personal, it was a bad
> foramt idea. Matt's probably some poor kid who's just
> following orders. Hopefully that stupidity won't rub off on
> him.
>
And you think you can do a better job than Matt. I believe he's doing a better job at programming the station than you want to admit.
>
> Nine FM won't get high ratings in the Chicago
> > book due to being on 3 different signals,
>
> Here come the excuses....
>
> plus 2 of the
> > signals (99.9 & 92.7) can barely be heard in the city, and
>
> > gets splattered by the city sticks in the downtown area
> > (99.9 getting splattered by 99.5 & 100.3 from the John
> > Hancock, & 92.7 by 93.1, also on the John Hancock).
>
> Thats' a fantasy and apologetic for it's poor performance.
>
> 99.9 is a blowtorch with better coverage than 106.3 (showing
> a 1.3) along with other signals that are small powered and
> actually show up in Chicago's Arby (not that you can do much
> with that as a suburban station but you gotta admit when
> subs show up it's impressive). In fact, 99.9 may not reach
> deep into the downtown area (or east to the lake from say
> Kedzie) and has some issues there, it's got GREAT COVERAGE
> when it works so there's no excuse other than the one that a
> few people wish wasn't the real reason which is (drum roll)
> IT'S NOT A VIABLE FORMAT AS IS. Great audibility on 99.9
> from Schaumburg to Oak Lawn, from Lansing to Elgin, from
> Irving Park and Racine to New Lennox, it covers a ton.
> There's just not enough people who care. In fact, it's a
> great signal for people to discover as they flip across and
> obvously very few people have bothered to take them
> seriously or else they'd be able to share in the accidental
> good fortune of showing up somewhere, even in 30th place.
> Other than the internal parts of Chicago the other
> frequencies fill in the blanks, 92.7 covers all the way up
> to wisconsin (the Kankakee signal is a dog but covers plenty
> of fields and up and coming populations) DEK's signal covers
> another 500,000 people. With the entire cluster (f-*Sk) they
> have coverage of at least 3/4 of the ENTIRE metro so enough
> with the excuses. It's time to admit a bad move and make
> with the new one.
>
It can be heard in Schaumburg if you have a good radio, but 99.9 is rather weak up there, even in Arlington Heights & Highland Park. I live in Gary and 99.9 can sometimes be difficult to listen to because of the 99.9 in Benton Harbor Michigan bleeding over during warmer weather. Also 99.9 is even weaker in Elgin, and I know because I was up there in January, and I was getting WJVL Janesville Wisconsin in and out. 92.7 also is difficult to hear in Elgin due to 92.5 having the stronger signal in Kane County. As for 106.3 showing a higher rating than the Nine-FM trimulcast has to do with Crawford trying to compete with V103, though I don't really see it as real competition, plus most of the listeners are near the signal. 99.9 isn't as well heard in Chicago as you want me to believe. The closer you get to downtown, the worse the signal gets. Second adjacent interference from 99.5 & 100.3 make it unbearable in downtown. Once out of the downtown area, it can be heard again to a degree. 92.7 doesn't get as much interference in downtown since 92.3 transmits out of Burnham IL instead of downtown Chicago.
> So if
> > either frequency is heard at all in the city of Chicago,
> > 99.9 is heard best on the far south side, and 92.7 on the
> > far north side.
> >
> And other suburban stations bill better, show better cume
> and that means NINE doesn't and it has nothing to do with
> the reason you claim.
>
Until you can prove the billing is poor, we won't believe you. Newsweb doesn't have to disclose their billing as long as their parent company, Newsweb, isn't a publically traded company. They're not playing chicken like BCR did when a station on a city grade stick tried their format. I believe if anything, Nine FM will outlast Jack FM, especially if Jack continues their downturn in ratings. Jack of course will have the better ratings, at least for now, because it covers the market better, including Chicago than Nine FM's 99.9 & 92.7 can in Chicago. Of course if Newsweb really wanted to, they could market WDEK toward Dekalb & Rockford markets, but haven't even attempted that yet.

 

[D1075]

> > MLII - are you saying you are a big fan of NINE-FM?
> > What, besides on air staff, makes it so much better
> > than Jack? I've only listened to it online. Just would
> > like your take on it.
> >
> I try not to bash anyone on here, but he doesn't like the
> format. Plain & simple. oldiescat and I might not agree on
> everything with this format, but at least we agree on one
> thing pertaining to a person, who shall remain nameless, but
> you can figure out, that he doesn't like the format.
>
Maybe he doesn't like the format, but those signals should be getting higher ratings. How come BCR's Energy and Kiss got higher ratings than Nine with only having 92.7 and 92.5. With the exception of parts of the city and parts of Porter and Laporte Counties in IN, you should be able to pick up at least one of the 3 Nine FM frequencies. 99.9 might be weak in Schaumburg, but you can pick up 92.7 there, and 92.7 might be weak or even unlistenable in Oak Lawn or Orland Park, but you pick up 99.9 in those places. 75% coverage of the metro sounds about right for Nine whereas BCR basically had no coverage in the south and east, so BCR probably didn't even cover half the metro, probably closer to a third of it.

 

[OldiesCat]

VH battle

I don't think you're bashing him at all- his posts are blatantly anti-Jack/VH and me makes no bones about it, so you're calling it as many of us very clearly see it. I believe he has such contept for the format because he or somebody he knows got replaced by a Jack station.

Stephen Covey said "see first to understand, then to be understood" and musicloverII CLEARLY doesn't understand the concept when it comes to Jack & Variety Hits.


> >
> I try not to bash anyone on here, but he doesn't like the
> format. Plain & simple. oldiescat and I might not agree on
> everything with this format, but at least we agree on one
> thing pertaining to a person, who shall remain nameless, but
> you can figure out, that he doesn't like the format.
>
> > MLII - are you saying you are a big fan of NINE-FM?
> > What, besides on air staff, makes it so much better
> > than Jack? I've only listened to it online. Just would
> > like your take on it.

 

[OldiesCat]

9 FM

Nah. Too many weak signals, I don't care if collectively they do cover 70% of Chicago. Too many freqs to remember for a really eclectic format, more broad and eclectic than Jack.

Nine FM is one of those "critics favorites"- people in the biz and music industry love it because it's so "anti-radio" (down to the no-name owners and 3 tiny signals). But really, it's just not that fabulously special to enough people to make them go to great lengths to try & pull in a different signal in different parts of town.

> >
> Maybe he doesn't like the format, but those signals should
> be getting higher ratings. How come BCR's Energy and Kiss
> got higher ratings than Nine with only having 92.7 and 92.5.
> With the exception of parts of the city and parts of Porter
> and Laporte Counties in IN, you should be able to pick up at
> least one of the 3 Nine FM frequencies. 99.9 might be weak
> in Schaumburg, but you can pick up 92.7 there, and 92.7
> might be weak or even unlistenable in Oak Lawn or Orland
> Park, but you pick up 99.9 in those places. 75% coverage of
> the metro sounds about right for Nine whereas BCR basically
> had no coverage in the south and east, so BCR probably
> didn't even cover half the metro, probably closer to a third
> of it.
>

 

[dave73]

Re: 9 FM

> Nah. Too many weak signals, I don't care if collectively
> they do cover 70% of Chicago. Too many freqs to remember
> for a really eclectic format, more broad and eclectic than
> Jack.
>
> Nine FM is one of those "critics favorites"- people in the
> biz and music industry love it because it's so "anti-radio"
> (down to the no-name owners and 3 tiny signals). But
> really, it's just not that fabulously special to enough
> people to make them go to great lengths to try & pull in a
> different signal in different parts of town.
>
That's definitely true. Unless someone likes a station that much, like me to remember to change the frequency when reaching an area where one frequency ends, and the other one begins, then it'll get confusing. At home, you usually will only need one frequency (for me, it's 99.9), except for people around Downers Grove, which 92.7, 92.5, & 99.9 come in ok, which then you need to tune to the right frequency to get it clear. 92.7 & 92.5 are crazy in Downers Grove. The western side gets 92.5 the best, while the east side gets 92.7 the best, while 99.9 doesn't get any interference in Downers Grove like 92.5 & 92.7 does, and is most noticeable when they go to local stopsets. Newsweb knew that using 3 different frequencies was a challenge for a trimulcast, but it's worked so far.

 

[JeremyAndrews]

> > > MLII - are you saying you are a big fan of NINE-FM?
> > > What, besides on air staff, makes it so much better
> > > than Jack? I've only listened to it online. Just would
> > > like your take on it.
> > >
> > I try not to bash anyone on here, but he doesn't like the
> > format. Plain & simple. oldiescat and I might not agree
> on
> > everything with this format, but at least we agree on one
> > thing pertaining to a person, who shall remain nameless,
> but
> > you can figure out, that he doesn't like the format.
> >
> Maybe he doesn't like the format, but those signals should
> be getting higher ratings. How come BCR's Energy and Kiss
> got higher ratings than Nine with only having 92.7 and 92.5.
> With the exception of parts of the city and parts of Porter
> and Laporte Counties in IN, you should be able to pick up at
> least one of the 3 Nine FM frequencies. 99.9 might be weak
> in Schaumburg, but you can pick up 92.7 there, and 92.7
> might be weak or even unlistenable in Oak Lawn or Orland
> Park, but you pick up 99.9 in those places. 75% coverage of
> the metro sounds about right for Nine whereas BCR basically
> had no coverage in the south and east, so BCR probably
> didn't even cover half the metro, probably closer to a third
> of it.
>
Energy was actually about the same as Nine FM. At least 12+

As a CHR, Kiss cracked the 2s but were mostly in the 1s. This was back when CHR had LOADS of life.

Signalwise, here are my observations.

Western Kenosha County, Western Lake County, Kane County, McHenry County is where WDEK is best.

Eastern Kenosha County, pretty much all of Lake County and northern Cook County is WKIE's coverage. On a car radio you can get WKIE in downtown Chicago. Same goes for WRZA (with a lot of static)

WRZA is the southland and Indiana.

I live in Kenosha. The end of the line for Nine to the north. During the right conditions I can sometimes get all 3 at the same time. But normally just 92.7. The signal isn't bad but with the fact that its on the low end of the dial, you're going to need a better antenna. Our local 92.1 WEZY which puts grade A coverage into this area has the same problem. When I had a signal strength meter back in the late 90s 92.7's signal used to max out at a 5 out of a possible 7 here.

On a car radio up here its clear. No problems at all until you get to Racine. On a walkman forget it. A good boombox should grab a signal. I've airchecked it with 2 different Boomboxes at my house. Home stereos as well.



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[JeremyAndrews]

> > Although the argument can be made that Nine is too all
> over
> > the map to be considered a true VH station.
> >
> They are all over, but not as much as they were under Sky
> Daniels. Sky tried to mix jazz and standards with oldies,
> classic rock, chr, & hot/modern ac. Jazz & Standards are
> pretty much out of the playlist. Songs classified as oldies
> is still played from time to time, but otherwise still all
> over. But at least for whatever ratings they have now, the
> credit should be given to Matt DuBiel, their director &
> midday dj. Nine FM won't get high ratings in the Chicago
> book due to being on 3 different signals, plus 2 of the
> signals (99.9 & 92.7) can barely be heard in the city, and
> gets splattered by the city sticks in the downtown area
> (99.9 getting splattered by 99.5 & 100.3 from the John
> Hancock, & 92.7 by 93.1, also on the John Hancock). So if
> either frequency is heard at all in the city of Chicago,
> 99.9 is heard best on the far south side, and 92.7 on the
> far north side.
>
Add Spanish to that list. They had a Spanish show. Currently they also have a blues show on Sunday nights.<P ID="signature">______________

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