How long does 92.3 Now Have?

[XCountry285]

go back to Alternative Rock make it like KROQ in LA and nothing like the original KRock.Call it something else other than KRock no one will know the difference between it and Krock

 

[ansky212]

A second CHR in this market is a good idea to compete against Z100 but they need to tweak NOW and make it into a serious CHR and not something laughable.

Competition in radio is only good for the station's owners, not for a radio listener. Two stations with the same format just mean more overlap in the songs and more homogenization of the radio dial. I would much rather have 1 CHR and 1 Country station, for example, than having 2 CHR stations.

 

[XCountry285]

Now's gotta go. Z100 is heritage. KTU i admit my mistake is heritage but I really don't feel that it fits well with 105.1 or Z100. They can't really find a happy medium. Either way they encroach on Power, Lite, or on Z. Change Power to something else or Change KTU to something else. CC spreads itself too thin. Personally I think 103.5 should change. I really don't want Power to go away.

 

[Radaioman]

As KTU is having some of it's best #'s and has been #1 a few times in the past 6 months, it's no going anywhere.

Now's gotta go. Z100 is heritage. KTU i admit my mistake is heritage but I really don't feel that it fits well with 105.1 or Z100. They can't really find a happy medium. Either way they encroach on Power, Lite, or on Z. Change Power to something else or Change KTU to something else. CC spreads itself too thin. Personally I think 103.5 should change. I really don't want Power to go away.

 

[Barry]

The rumor on the website dcrtv.com that nightime personality Chunky may be leaving 92.3 Now for WPGC resulted in a brief article in Radio-Info.com raising the possibility that "This move could be a sign that the station is taking a more rhythmic lean."
Perhaps CBS Radio may be figuring that 92.3 Now has better prospects competing with WKTU than Z100.

Speculation on 92.3 Now: http://www.radio-info.com/news/making-moves-monday-february-27-2012

 

[JayD]

why would a rumor about Chunky leaving his night post mean the station would lean a different way? I dont see the connection

 

[101NY]

after reading all the threads and seeing all your points of view. I'd like to say this.. CBS is company that does NOT.. I repeat.. NOT know how to take on the CHR and CHR/Rhythmic brand well. The Hire up's are guys that did CHR almost 30 years ago or never did it at all in their career's. The only man that had that background who was a former SVP was Steve Rivers. He helped make then (WNEW-FM) Mix 102.7 lean more rhythmic then Hot AC. Then once he left, they were left with Rocker's, AC & News/Sports guy's. Though the few Rhythmic's they do have are stations that bill and are in medium size market's to cater to the demo.

As much as I love great Dance music, with a company like CBS their DANCE music stations are being programmed on some of their HD2 channels in like Chicago, Orlando & SF. For it's a cheap cost to run with either a bundle deal in Sales when selling AD's or running local PSA's.

Though to have a great Dance Music station in a major market where you have the 18-34demo who lives the club lifestyle or shop's at a place of business catered to them, is a wish upon a star. Having worked in Radio and in the CHR/Rhythm format, the days of being able to have a KTU circa Frankie Blue/Jeff Z or a 92.7 Energy in Chicago with Harry Legg/Chris Shebel and 95.3 the Party in Orlando are LONG GONE... In this economy media companies want to see revenue more then cume. Hence why you have a lot of simulcasting.

And CBS has this trying to reinvent the wheel motto stuck in their minds. If WXRK was left to be an Alternative station molded after its sister KROQ revenue would've came in. As per the cume and PPM's, that's a toss. With sister station KITS- SF dead in the water ratings wise they still bill. Kind of like how PLJ has survived all these years..

But remember this guys, we live now in a OVER SATURATED stated of radio, on FM. There is soo many stations going after the same slice of the pie. Being able to hear Bruno Marr's per say on 7 stations is over kill. But it's "SAFE Music" for parents can listen to what there kids are into and not feel old.

Overall 92.3 will stay its course with the interim help of the new SVP/OM from the SF cluster Michael Martin. Who has had great turn out's in his radio career. Though IF they do decided to pull the plug, chances are it will go Sport's with WFAN.

 

[davideduardo]

after reading all the threads and seeing all your points of view. I'd like to say this.. CBS is company that does NOT.. I repeat.. NOT know how to take on the CHR and CHR/Rhythmic brand well. The Hire(sic) up's(sic) are guys that did CHR almost 30 years ago or never did it at all in their career's(sic). The only man that had that background who was a former SVP was Steve Rivers. He helped make then (WNEW-FM) Mix 102.7 lean more rhythmic then Hot AC. Then once he left, they were left with Rocker's(sic), AC & News/Sports guy's(sic). Though the few Rhythmic's(sic) they do have are stations that bill and are in medium size market's(sic) to cater to the demo.

CBS has stations listed as CHR, Top 40 or Rhythmic CHR in 13 of their 27 markets.

That includes KAMP, which has been averaging 5th in LA in 12+.

All but 8 of the CBS markets are Top 26, and all but 3 are Top 50. The ones outside the top 50 are Hartford, at 52nd and two satellite markets to the LA and Riverside/San Berdoo operations that they probably can't sell off in this economy (and which are not CHR anyway).

So saying that CBS has most of its CHRs in medium markets is not exactly true, as some would contend that anything above market 50 is a large market... and definitely anything above 25th or 30th is a large market.

There are some nicely performing CHRs among the top 25 markets, particularly when sales demos are looked at. WBBM FM, WMVQ and WPGC are certainly big performers in top 10 markets.

 

[taylorengineer]

Dan Mason, CBS Radio head cheese, was a jock on WZGC in Atlanta for a few years back in the late 70s. In that day, WZGC was CHR and very successful.
I can't remember who was the PD....I don't think it was him.

 

[MarkW]

KTU i admit my mistake is heritage but I really don't feel that it fits well with 105.1 or Z100. They can't really find a happy medium.

What a ridiculous comment; do some research next time please.

CBS is company that does NOT.. I repeat.. NOT know how to take on the CHR and CHR/Rhythmic brand well.

I love how you are making a broad generalization based on 1 or 2 markets. Given how long it took 102.7 and 105.1 to find traction with their various format changes over the years, and how tight the pop music genre currently is, NOW's performance is not terrible. In terms of overall AQH share for the week, the station is almost doing as well as it did during Stern's last couple years on the air there. It's in the same ballpark as Hot 97 and Power 105 and frequently beats WPLJ.

Granted, I suspect NOW's demos are very young, and much of their overall AQH is likely fueled by 12 - 24's. The opportunity to earn mid-range demos, quite honestly, has been taken off the table via Fresh 102.7's solid performance in that area.

WPGC's numbers have recovered for their low-water mark, Mix in Baltimore and Q104 in Cleveland both are very solid performers (especially in F25-44), B96 in Chicago continues to do alright, AMP in L.A. is on fire, Hot in Houston and NOW in S.F. are both doing very well, and Jamz in Phoenix is doing fine. Wild in Tampa has seen its ratings decline over the past year, but that's to be expected when you have a 100,000 watt CHR/Pop competitor appear on the scene. FLZ's P1s have now made Hot 101-5 their P2 station instead of Wild. One could validly argue that CBS should've seen the opening before Cox did.

The only station of theirs I might called "troubled" is WDZH (Amp Radio) in Detroit, but it bears noting that the station has been on the air for less than 18 months and has shown signs of traction at times. Ratings there will pick up in a hurry if they can get a decent morning show.

 

[Wildstyle K]

I swear sometimes I feel 106.7 Lite-Fm tweaked to Top 40 when I listen.

I agree. There is way too much overlap in NY radio. How many listeners can you possibly squeeze out of all the top 40/CHR stations? That is one reason for 92.3's sinking ratings. You have 92.3, Z100, KTU, and even sometimes 106.7 playing the same songs.

Come to Phoenix and L.A. and see how many sound-a-like rhythmics leaning top 40 and top 40s leaning rhythmic we have going on here! Our Hot AC (Phoenix, not LA) stands out because they decide to be extremely conservative and alternative leaning, but our AC is somewhat chr friendly as well.

 

[Wildstyle K]

A second CHR in this market is a good idea to compete against Z100 but they need to tweak NOW and make it into a serious CHR and not something laughable.

Competition in radio is only good for the station's owners, not for a radio listener. Two stations with the same format just mean more overlap in the songs and more homogenization of the radio dial. I would much rather have 1 CHR and 1 Country station, for example, than having 2 CHR stations.

Depends. In a situation where I had to choose from either WWWQ-FM or WWVA-FM, I'd be THANKFUL to have BOTH. One CHR is only good if that one CHR is fun, live and upbeat. In LA, KIIS is good enough by itself. However, some places need two CHR's or else the only thing they'd have is one boring rather incomplete one.

 

[101NY]

David E.

My point I was making isnt based solely on performance. And yes 'BBM,'PGC,'JMH among few others are Heritage stations, that have stood the test of time in CHR. But I was stating to have a CHR/RHY come out and hold it's own Today is not CBS's strong point. When they launch both AMP97 & Hot95.7 they went into market's were they knew they could kill the competition. With AMP97, they knew that they could eat away at KIIS for they were too comfortable in the market. And with HOT in Houston, KRBE was just coasting by not being on top of their game like they had been when then 'KKBQ was a CHR over 20yrs ago. With a Hartford they squeezed out CC's CHR/Urban.

But remember some stations that are playing Hip Hop/ R&b get lumped into the "CHR/RHYM" category, when in fact there an "URBAN" sounding station. Though you will have a few crossover records that can be played on an Urban. It Doesnt mean the core of the playlist is a mix of both.

So overall knowing for a fact the interior mind set of CBS corp Programming. I can strongly say, with the exceptions of the Heritage CHR/M's and CHR/RHYM's they have.. To make a station like 'XRK be as powerful as 97AMP or Hot95-7 in the time period they thought it would, is a far fetch dream. And yes we all can agree, you gotta give it time to grow. But the question is??? Is CBS??? If they kept then WNEW the RHYM/AC it was, PPM's would've show a station like that would've worked. And if they launched JACK on 'XRK it wouldn't have been a far stretch from moving away from it's Rock Roots..

 

[nd2023]

David E.

My point I was making isnt based solely on performance. And yes 'BBM,'PGC,'JMH among few others are Heritage stations, that have stood the test of time in CHR. But I was stating to have a CHR/RHY come out and hold it's own Today is not CBS's strong point. When they launch both AMP97 & Hot95.7 they went into market's were they knew they could kill the competition. With AMP97, they knew that they could eat away at KIIS for they were too comfortable in the market. And with HOT in Houston, KRBE was just coasting by not being on top of their game like they had been when then 'KKBQ was a CHR over 20yrs ago. With a Hartford they squeezed out CC's CHR/Urban.

But remember some stations that are playing Hip Hop/ R&b get lumped into the "CHR/RHYM" category, when in fact there an "URBAN" sounding station. Though you will have a few crossover records that can be played on an Urban. It Doesnt mean the core of the playlist is a mix of both.

So overall knowing for a fact the interior mind set of CBS corp Programming. I can strongly say, with the exceptions of the Heritage CHR/M's and CHR/RHYM's they have.. To make a station like 'XRK be as powerful as 97AMP or Hot95-7 in the time period they thought it would, is a far fetch dream. And yes we all can agree, you gotta give it time to grow. But the question is??? Is CBS??? If they kept then WNEW the RHYM/AC it was, PPM's would've show a station like that would've worked. And if they launched JACK on 'XRK it wouldn't have been a far stretch from moving away from it's Rock Roots..

Jack FM went the way of Jammin' Oldies and Movin', it was a fad. I doubt 92.3 Jack FM would have lasted till today.

 

[Barry]

The trades are reporting today that 92.3 Now's new Program Director is Rick Gillette. He will replace Dom Theodore, who left 92.3 Now last month. Gillette has been the PD of CBS Radio's 101.5 Jamz (KZON) in Phoenix AZ. I believe that station has a similar format to 92.3 Now.
Perhaps that is an indication that there are no imminent significant changes in format for WXRK.

Article in Inside Radio: http://www.insideradio.com/Article.asp?id=2424278&spid=32061

 

[pjc1961]

From RadioInk.com, which has a little more info on his past DMX Music job: http://www.radioink.com/Article.asp?id=2424267&spid=24698

KZON is indeed similar to 92.3 Now...really more of a Rhythmic CHR - Clear Channel's KZZP is the Mainstream CHR in Phoenix.

Yes.com's Top Songs Of The Week for KZON-FM: http://www.yes.com/#KZON?chart

KZON has done well in the Phoenix Arbitron ratings, trending from October 2011-February 2012: 5.5 - 5.5 - 4.9 - 4.4 - 4.2 - 4.3 =>
ranging from 3rd to 6th place in the overall age 6+ figures for the market.

 

[2Son]

From RadioInk.com, which has a little more info on his past DMX Music job: http://www.radioink.com/Article.asp?id=2424267&spid=24698

KZON is indeed similar to 92.3 Now...really more of a Rhythmic CHR - Clear Channel's KZZP is the Mainstream CHR in Phoenix.

Yes.com's Top Songs Of The Week for KZON-FM: http://www.yes.com/#KZON?chart

KZON has done well in the Phoenix Arbitron ratings, trending from October 2011-February 2012: 5.5 - 5.5 - 4.9 - 4.4 - 4.2 - 4.3 =>
ranging from 3rd to 6th place in the overall age 6+ figures for the market.

All of the CHR's in Phoenix tend to lean more Rhythmic including KMVA:

http://www.hot975phoenix.com/broadcast_history.aspx