How do you know a Charlotte radio station is struggling?

[Dirty Diana]

That's Simple, just look for the TV ads! I was watching Fox News Edge tonight, and saw
ads for KISS and WSOC back-to-back. I thought "Hmmm that's odd." (Do you know how hard it is to get TV $$$$ in this economy?) So I took a look at the Charlotte ratings. Sure enough....
Just look at the 12+ratings slide of those 2 stations. Moreover, notice the HUGE drop
In cume over the last 3 ratings periods for both!! Tens of thousands of listeners have tuned out.
My theory: I think the loss of Ace & TJ was more impactful than they expected.
Regarding WSOC, they have a much more complex problem. For some REALLY odd reason, i believe they've been in decline since the PPMs came into the market, while their direct competitor, The KAT has flourished.

 

[djjim6629]

And the whole "New 103.7" is ridiculous. Let's take a set of heritage calls like WSOC and flush them in the toilet! Stupid.

 

[RoddyFreeman]

And the whole "New 103.7" is ridiculous. Let's take a set of heritage calls like WSOC and flush them in the toilet! Stupid.

A lot of stations would love to have the ratings that WSOC still has. I agree. The situation does not call for ditching the heritage calls. If they want to show they're improving things, "the new WSOC" or "the new 103.7 WSOC" would seem to make a lot more sense.

 

[eacalhoun1]

And the whole "New 103.7" is ridiculous. Let's take a set of heritage calls like WSOC and flush them in the toilet! Stupid.

AMEN!!

 

[tylerSC]

Regarding WSOC-FM 103, perhaps with the new branding they are trying to differentiate themselves from WSOC-TV channel 9, which is no longer co-owned. However, WSOC is a nationally recognized country music station with legacy call letters that I would still promote and preserve. They could call it "The New 103.7 - WSOC." And on that subject, I don't exactly recall why Cox chose to sell their Charlotte stations to CBS anyway.

 

[vchimpanzee]

And the whole "New 103.7" is ridiculous. Let's take a set of heritage calls like WSOC and flush them in the toilet! Stupid.

At the parade, Paul Cameron got confused and said their call letters were WFNZ. True, WSOC and WFNZ did have an entry together, and two separate vans.

Maureen O'Boyle also messed up and referred to the Kiss 104.7 van. Actually, Kiss 95.1 and K-104.7 had an entry together, and two vans.

 

[Matt]

And on that subject, I don't exactly recall why Cox chose to sell their Charlotte stations to CBS anyway.

It didn't sell them to CBS directly. In the 80's Cox and EZ Communications both had stations in Charlotte and several other cities. They traded stations, some cities going to Cox and some to EZ Comm. Charlotte went to EZ Comm, Which later was bought by another company, which merged with Infinity Broadcasting, which changed its name to CBS.

Going further back, to the 70's, there was once a deal...signed and approved by the FCC...which would have sold WSOC-AM and FM separate from the TV station. Buyer, if I remember, was NC Mutual Life Insurance of Durham. At the time they were THE largest minority-owned insurance company in the nation. WSOC-TV would have stayed with a new, merged company of General Electric and Cox Broadcasting and given new calls of WCHT.

All of this had been signed and sealed...but then the GE/Cox deal came apart on a national level. With that, we got what we got for station histories in Charlotte. I could see under NC Mutual WSOC abandoning NewsRadio 93 for R&B, and WSOC-FM 103 becoming one of the first Hip-Hop stations in the country. With that change, it's likely that WPEG would have stayed with their early 70's issue Country format, and WIST and WGIV staying top-40 and locked in a death match with Big WAYS.

It's amazing how one small change in history could have changed radio in the Queen City for decades.

Later . . . .