GUESS WHO'S COMING TO WIBBAGE ?

[wibg1020]

WIBBAGE FM @ 94.3. Live and Local.
Mornings' never sounded better.
WIBBAGE FM and Jerry.. Perfect Together
Coming October 4 - 6 to 10
Genuine WIBBAGE.. Genuine JERRY.. Genuine Radio
Local News. Local Sports. Local Traffic.. Local Weather
The Jerry Morning Show.. Only on WIBBAGE FM @ 94.3
Tell a friend!

 

[bigtom101]

WIBBAGE FM @ 94.3. Live and Local.
Mornings' never sounded better.
WIBBAGE FM and Jerry.. Perfect Together
Coming October 4 - 6 to 10
Genuine WIBBAGE.. Genuine JERRY.. Genuine Radio
Local News. Local Sports. Local Traffic.. Local Weather
The Jerry Morning Show.. Only on WIBBAGE FM @ 94.3
Tell a friend!

Jerry who? Jerry Atric?

 

[ILOVERADIO2]

Who cares.

 

[Tubbs]

AS in Dave & Jerry, Jerry Bebee who did mornings on Kool 98.3?

 

[joshzz]

Jerry Blavat?

Whoever it is, I'm sure it will be a big, positive move!


WIBG is a phenomenal station and should have a dial setting on everyone's dial.

joshzz

WIBG, where my friends are!

 

[Zackster]

More likely Jerry Stevens, who must be 80 years old.

A bunch of canned clips recorded at the nursing home,
in between the bad quality MP3 songs, sent over a bad
sounding MP3 link to the transmitter, with badly
adjusted processing and a crappy signal.

There should be a law against dragging the legacy of
WIBG Philadelphia into the mud with the Brancadora crap.

 

[[email protected]]

Rick will take good care of him.....

 

[Zackster]

What does this mean for Bob Charger, is he out, or changing time slots??

The highly rated WIBG-FM morning show came in tied for 25th.
I hope they don't mess with sucksess.

 

[joshzz]

Zackster,

Why so down on WIBG?

To me and many others, it's provides peace of mind of better times .


Let's revel together in the greatness of the music they play. josh

 

[Porky Hooton]

Jerry Stevens worked at WIBG back in the day, and later went on to WMMR to program the station in the early days of FM "Underground" radio and did a fantatic job. His real expertice is in programming. He later worked at WPEN on the "Night Train" and did the morning show after Ken Garland passed. Last I heard he was retired and living in Chadds Ford, PA. I remember when the first WIBG hit the Jersey Shore back in 77-78 on the old WSLT 1520 frequency. They sounded much better and gave WMID and WOND a run for their money. Their positioning statement and image line was "Where winning is Easier Done Than Said". They were sunrise to sunset, and had a good line-up with Charlie Mills, Jackson "T" Chase, Steve Heldt, and Bob Tower. When they signed off in the winter at 4:30 in the afternoon, KB radio came in like gangbusters, and local listeners never knew that they had singed off. Very live and local, and much better than the current FM Wibbage. If I owned the WIBBAGE FM in Cape May County, I would deffinately make Jerry Stevens the PD. He is the only hope, but I am not sure they can afford him. The station bills maybe, $250,000 per year, in an oversaturated radio market. And they are going in to the worst time of the year in resort radio. It is darn near impossible to make any money at the shore and beack during the long cold winter. And duirng the radio mediums depression ? Just ask the investors at Northwood and Atlatnic Broadcasting. Do good, be well and happy.

 

[tom]

The last time I saw him, he was on the air at SoJO 104.9, oops,
I mean WRDR. That was probably the late 80's or early 90's.

"You're on the go with the Jerry Stevens show, on WIBG Radio 99"

 

[bigtom101]

Zackster,

Why so down on WIBG?

To me and many others, it's provides peace of mind of better times .


Let's revel together in the greatness of the music they play. josh

Because while the station has noble intentions, the jocks sound very amaturish, the music is all over the place with no rhyme or reason, and the hokey airchecks and old commercials from the REAL WIBG 99 sound like garbage. Instead of trying to recapture what is lost for eternity, they need to create their own image and brand that only shares the NAME "Wibbage." Don't look to the past, move forward - banking on nostalgia to make up for a lackluster product is a horrible way to run a business.

The ratings & revenue show that WIBBAGE-FM needs help. Its fine that you like it....but those of us who shake our heads have our reasons.

 

[charliemills]

Porky,

Thanks for the nice words about the "original" WIBG at the Jersey Shore - the former WSLT. I was the Program Director of WSLT-AM, and when WIBG in Philly gave up the call letters, it seemed like a natural to grab them. I never thought it would be possible, but somehow we got them. I knew we'd get a lot of free promotion from the Philly TV stations, newspaper etc...and that helped to provide market awareness of the station. I think it was PAMS in Dallas who had just produced a full new jingle package for WIBG in Philly...then they changed to WZZD. PAMS sold us the entire 65 cut jingle package for.....50 bucks!! Some could not be used because of the "99" frequency sings, but there were more than enough without the frequency - and grease pencil, razor blade and splicing tape worked wonders for the others.

The basic philosophy was "Lots of promotions and give-aways, have fun - keep the music behind you at ALL TIMES - and be light, bright and tight". I wanted tight on-air production, no talking over vocals (whoops), hitting posts "right on" and whatever was said on the air had to have some value and most importantly - "relate to the listerners" - make it feel to them like this is "THEIR radio station".

The music was Top 20, with oldies that were super familiar. I think we did 2 hits, one oldie, 2 hits, one recurrent, etc. NO DAMN CONSULTANTS ALLOWED! SCREW MUSIC TESTING. I knew what sounded good and "played well" on air.

I knew it was working because I would go to different beaches in the area (tough job!) and hear WIBG more often than any other station. We kicked up the processing, reverb and modulation to the legal extreme to make up for a poor signal . Engineering "God" Mike Ferriola did something with a transistor in a CBS Volumax and Audiomax that made a major difference!

And then, there was the "daytime only" handicap. I just made the best of the worst situation. ......

WKBW had a great signal at night after WIBG left the air. It was almost as good as WMID - and superior to the weak, whistling and noisy WOND signal. I figured I would capitalize on the positive of WKBW's great signal by duplicating some of their promotions - like "The Album Rush" - and incorporating a variety of slogans on WIBG similar to some being used on WKBW....like "The BIG 15".

Often I would listen to WKBW at night while I was at WIBG after we signed off.....and when KB would run a contest, all the WIBG game lines would light up.

My scheme worked! I wanted the listeners to have the perception that WIBG was 24/7, and it worked.

We also had the "Golden Cadillac" which made the rounds every day, doing broadcast reports from various places around the shore area........"Right now the WIBG Golden Caddy is at Lucy the Elephant in Margate - come on by, say "Hi" and get your official "Big 15 WIBG Tee Shirt!" Great days!!

I was close to having Joe Niagara sign a deal to do a special monthly show, but the management at WPEN would not allow him to do it, which was understandable but disappointing. Joe really wanted to do it - and all he wanted in return was a free weekend a month at the shore and dinners. Little did I know I would end up working with Joe at WPEN for 20 years!

I left WIBG in 1979 to join WPEN in Philly, but those WIBG days will always be special to me..... even when I was arrested and hauled away by the police during a live WIBG Memorial Day Broadcast from the Ocean City Music Pier!! That is a story for another day - maybe Tom McNally remembers and would be willing to share it!! LOL.

My frustration today is: We did all this CHEAP. DJ's were paid 165 a week. As PD and morning show guy, I made 250 a week. But we all worked together as a team to make WIBG happen - it was all about making the "big picture" sound BIG and PROFESSIONAL, with just a little dedication, passion, creativity, lots of hard work and CARING about the product - and a bit of "Kentucky Windage" (Bullshit) to make it work. I think we need to get back to this kind of dedication...just sayin'!

Sorry I went on about the original Jersey Shore "WIBG" history, but it was a great time!

-Charlie Mills

 

[Porky Hooton]

Hey Charlie,

Great information and thank you for taking the time to post all of this great history for the record. Atlantic City has sure changed since the 70's and sadly for the worse. They probably still pay what you guys were making back in the 70's. LOL The $$ guys say now might be the time to buy "down the shore," but I think it will bottom out even more , with lower, more favoarable multiples to purchase some of these dogs. The market is just way too saturated with signals, and not really indicative of other secondary markets around the county. Are you still in the content creation business. You could no doubt help Kabrich,Sabo,and Abrahms, and some of the other pd's who are still trying to figure it out. Do good, be well, and happy.

 

[MickeyD]

Zackster,

Why so down on WIBG?

To me and many others, it's provides peace of mind of better times .


Let's revel together in the greatness of the music they play. josh

I agree. Once you hit 55 in radio you are an outcast. Let's face it, younger people have no use for radio and radio stations alienate older listeners and it is older listeners that have the dough these days. Radio companies throw us them a bone every now and then with WHTG (which does an outstanding job) and WOBM (which sound like a juke box).

If you don't like a station, turn the friggen dial.

 

[HarveyBrowning]

The problem isn't the radio stations alienate the older demo, its the advertisers. If advertisers would spend money to advertise to the older demo, there would be stations that lean that way.

The perception from advertisers is that young people spend money, therefore thats where they spend their money. Not saying its right, but dont you think if there were advertisers spending money to an older demo there would be more stations that cater to them?

Why do you think there are 15 stations all playing top 40 music...

 

[Porky Hooton]

Harvey,

I am not familiar with the formats of all the stations in that market, but you are right, you would think that there would be more adult stations with more middle of the road formats with regards to the music they play and content they deliver. In the end, it comes down to qualified local sales people. And every person in the station, from station manager on down has to get involved in some form of the sales process. Many 55+ adults from Philly, other parts of Jersey and New York have retired and live in that market, so there is audience. And these people actually listen to radio, unlike most people under 35 who get all their music from new media platforms. I have heard that sales people and sales management types in the AC area are really C- in so much as their aptitude and skill level. And lets face it, hardly any national sales buys come to that area, so it is all local sales and local business. I say, go to Crest Haven and hire some retired sales pros, and promise them 25 % commission on all collections to supplement their pensions and social security, and sell the heck out of Sid Mark's Sounds of Sinatra. You might even be able to talk Ed Hurst and Dean Tyler in to leading the charge. I think the format (on high power FM) is 10 share, 12 +. Do good, be well, and happy.

 

[charliemills]

Hey Charlie,

Great information and thank you for taking the time to post all of this great history for the record. Atlantic City has sure changed since the 70's and sadly for the worse. They probably still pay what you guys were making back in the 70's. LOL The $$ guys say now might be the time to buy "down the shore," but I think it will bottom out even more , with lower, more favoarable multiples to purchase some of these dogs. The market is just way too saturated with signals, and not really indicative of other secondary markets around the county. Are you still in the content creation business. You could no doubt help Kabrich,Sabo,and Abrahms, and some of the other pd's who are still trying to figure it out. Do good, be well, and happy.

Porky,

I have a voice-over business and I am also working on various projects and concepts for radio and Internet stations.

I worked with Randy Kabrich in Tampa at Cox's WSUN-FM when I was programming oldies on the station. I respect Randy's analytical talents but we really had some difficulty trying to merge our ideas and concepts into one for the good of the station. Randy's approach to music and other programming basics was very "by the numbers" and my approach was simply being mindful of the research but at the same time using research as a tool, and "gut feeling" as the defining measure regarding the sound of a station. I believe a consultant should be a "tool" for the Program Director, not the final decision-maker since it is the Program Director's ass that is on the line. I doubt Randy would accept or consider any help from me or anyone else for that matter LOL! Old dogs like Randy and myself have our own methods and philosophies, and with that in mind I would say "nuff said!"

-Charlie Mills

 

[Porky Hooton]

Charlie,

Those that can't program, consult. Remember, all politics is local, and all programming is local. Local radio is damn near dead. Do good, be well, and happy.