I Absolutely Cannot Believe What I'm Reading On This Thread
My mind continues to spin at the completely nonsensical bunkum I keep finding on various message boards related to the very uneventful end of a very mediocre small-market radio station.
Those RRRR's asked if he was nuts. In the eyes of this longtime radio analyst, the answer is "yes"...
Those RRRR's completely shoots down his own argument within his own post-- by saying a large chunk of 97.5's footprint cannot pick up WMGK, but then suggesting the station simulcast WPEN (which is even LESS likely heard by 97.5's coverage area)...
I've said this over and over again, but it astounds me how you guys can claim WMGK's playlist is "chicken rock" and repetitive (which it is, and for good reason) when The Hawk did the exact same thing (and to a much worse extreme). The Hawk was a trillion times more "safe" than 'MGK on its worst day. Maybe you guys think hearing "Sweet Home Alabama" and "Another Brick In The Wall" is riveting radio. Well, rest assured, WMGK plays that overheard junk too.
GREATER MEDIA DID NOT KILL THE HAWK. NASSAU DID.
GREATER MEDIA DID NOT KILL THE HAWK. NASSAU DID.
GREATER MEDIA DID NOT KILL THE HAWK. NASSAU DID.
The intellectual property of "The Hawk" (whatever that was worth, and I would argue it's value was minimal) was NOT INCLUDED IN THE SALE. I don't know how many other ways I can reiterate this.
GREATER MEDIA DID NOT HAVE THE OPTION TO KEEP THE HAWK. (Even if it did, it would have been a terribly dumb move.)
A good chunk of 97.5's coverage area can receive a quality signal from WMGK. It makes absolute perfect sense for Greater Media to use a couple of days to let THOSE folks know they can hear THE EXACT SAME "HAWK" MUSIC on 102.9.
It does no good to promote WMGK within an area in which 97.5 is received and 102.9 is not. After Friday at 6:00, those listeners out of WMGK's range will not be able to hear the station at all after 97.5 switches to Jazz.
It's not Greater Media's fault some of the current 97.5 listeners can't get WMGK. The simulcast is aimed at recovering the ones who CAN hear the station. Something is much better than nothing.
And those of us who are within the range of both 97.5 and 102.9 are already aware of WMGK and their repetitive Chicken Rock Playlist.
Not necessarily. Normal people aren't radio geeks like us. They have lives, and terrestrial radio is an increasingly smaller part of those lives. You'd be amazed how little the average person knows (or cares) about terrestrial radio.
In my opinion, Greater Media should have seized the opportunity to simulcast (the doomed) 950 WPEN on 97.5 for two days. Joe Sixpack and Suzy SUV don't know anything about 950 AM.
By your own admission, WPEN is "doomed" anyway. And as I mentioned already, even fewer people in 97.5's signal area can hear WPEN (than can hear WMGK). This is the chance for Greater Media to let former Hawk listeners know THE EXACT SAME MUSIC is available on its other frequency. Besides, "Suzy SUV" is not going to listen to WPEN anyway. She's not part of WPEN's target. I don't mean to be rude, but that has got to be the dumbest thing I've heard all week-- no offense intended personally.
'MGK and The Hawk were two COMPLETELY DIFFERENT animals and any comparison otherwise is strictly BS.
Other than the fact that one is a major-market station and the other was a small-market one, please enlighten me on what was so different about these stations. While dozens have been going on and on about how great The Hawk is/was, nobody has been able to produce a damn bit of evidence. Both stations beat the heck out of the same overplayed songs we've been hearing for 30 years. They are/were terrestrial radio stations. That's what they are/were supposed to do. Only WMGK actually has/had a better variety (and that's not even counting Alice Cooper's syndicated program or Little Steven's Underground Garage, both of which play tons of music The Hawk wouldn't have touched in a million years).
Look at it this way, while I don't advocate Live and Local Jocks losing their jobs, I DO however feel that if it IS indeed all about the mighty dollar in this business, why didn't GM say hmmmm if we put "The Hawk" on 102.9 we could perhaps voicetrack and save a HUGE amount of money.
First of all, it's my understanding a large portion (possibly almost all) of The Hawk was voicetracked to begin with, and the morning show was a syndicated one out of Grand Rapids, Michigan. So much for your "live and local jocks losing their jobs" theory. At least one (and possibly more) have been re-assigned to other properties within the Nassau Broadcasting organization. Besides, people in radio (and every other walk of life) lose their jobs every day. I have, and you probably have as well. It happens. Just ask any of hundreds of former Clear Channel guys this week.
Again, "The Hawk" remains the intellectual property of Nassau. This was made very clear in the trades at the time of the sale. Greater Media didn't really have the choice to keep "The Hawk", outside of perhaps a licensing agreement which would have made no sense anyway. Gee, let's flush a MAJOR MARKET brand (that's been around for 10+ years, and 30+ if you count the calls themselves) down the toilet to replace it with a SMALL MARKET brand (around for only a few years, and less than two on that frequency) that few of our listeners have even heard of in the first place! You guys do realize radio is a BUSINESS, right? This would be akin to a small herd of hockey fans trying to tell Ed Snider he should re-name the Flyers the Phantoms. (Okay, maybe this month isn't the time to use that analogy, but you get the point I hope...)
'MGK may be Classic Rock, it will NEVER be what "The Hawk" was.
Oh my God, I'm going crazy trying to understand what the infatuation is with this Hawk. On last week's Radio Racket, Kyle and I BEGGED for over an hour for ANYONE to call-in or E-mail us with an explanation as to what was so special about this radio station. And while our hit counter confirmed tons were listening, NO ONE stepped up to the plate. I DARED ANYONE to name one song (outside of Bon Jovi's "Living On A Prayer") The Hawk played that 'MGK wouldn't. I'm still waiting.
PLEASE, PLEASE, WILL SOMEONE TELL ME WHAT WAS SO GREAT ABOUT THE HAWK?! This was the most mundane, "safe", run-of-the-mill Classic Rock station I have ever heard perhaps in my life (and I've heard many, many of them over the years). There was nothing "wrong" with the station; it was well-programmed. (A tight playlist of overplayed crap is how you win in this business; I am well aware of that. But what extraordinary thing did this very typical, voice-tracked small market station ever do to warrant such blind cheering?)
I was thinking the same thing. I heard WMGK play a liner (on 97.5) about being stuck in traffic on the Schuylkill Expy. Must make those former Hawk listeners in Princeton feel all warm and fuzzy. Not only are you pissing off the diehards, you're alienating them, too!
Why not just leave the transmitter off for a couple days? Are they that desperate for whatever Hawk listeners they can pick-up in Bucks County?!
Was the Schuylkill reference a 97.5-only liner or was it part of the simulcast? If it was a 97.5-only one, then it probably wasn't the brightest thing to run. But I seriously doubt it was "pissing off the diehards". 97.5 is playing the EXACT SAME MUSIC tonight as it was last week. There is no alienation going on, except perhaps for some of those "Free Beer And Hot Wings" listeners. And you know what? Hundreds of morning shows disappear every year in American radio. And many have much bigger audiences. Guess what? The sun still comes up the next day; live does go on for everybody involved.
Leave the transmitter off? Are you serious? Maybe I'm just wasting my time...
Desperate? No, it's just business. Bucks County is a big money part of the Philadelphia market, and pretty much the only part of it where The Hawk came in well-enough to be considered a player. (No, The Hawk was NOT a Philadelphia station, and its signal kept it from ever being one despite what the station's TOH ID proclaimed-- going back to the WPST days.) Why not try to get at least Bucks County into WMGK? It's better than nothing.
Look, I'm just convinced that there are many folks on these boards who for whatever reason have just decided they hate WMGK and no amount of logic will convice them otherwise. I know we live in a society where we love to push for the underdog. But in this case, it's not like the underdog was anything worthy of major praise. It's gone now, and that is the doing purely of NASSAU BROADCASTING. Not Greater Media. Once again, Nassau created then killed your Hawk. Focus your hostility there, as Lou Mercatanti counts the millions his organization got for ending your precious Hawk.
Maybe Kyle and I will once again have to run the "Hawk Sympathizer Phone Line" Friday night, as I'm still in the dark as to why this station is getting so much blind loyalty-- and what made it so different from WMGK...
