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Is Classic Rock 101.1 going away?

AMRocks said:
I'd love to hear more speculation. Let's pretend The Block gets the upgrade to 101.1. What would you do with the translators?
Let's say you upgrade the fan to 96.3. it's a better signal. Then what do you do with 97.1/.7?
So many moving parts.

(My guess is Magic comes back. They kept it around for a reason and with John Boy and Billy leaving, now was the perfect time for a flip. --although pre Christmas for that Christmas format bump would have been better)
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My guess in this scenario would be perhaps they put Upstate Red on FM, because I don’t see what else they could do with 97.1/97.7/101.5 and 96.3/104.5/107.7. With the signal in mono, 96.3 is not better than 97.7 enough to warrant moving listeners around IMO.

Also doomed in the AC scenario would be poor Star 99.5 - it has underperformed (even for that signal) for the last year, and wouldn’t stand a chance at all. If The Block went to 101.1, it would steamroll Hot 98.1. Things don’t look good for Summit in either scenario.

The more I think about this, the more AC makes sense. Audacy only ditched AC because they had to for the bankruptcy, and perhaps blowing up another station in the cluster wasn’t as appetizing at the time.

Also of note from Stoneman’s liners, The Planet will be incorporating WROQ’s classic rock as well, which they already play a decent amount of from the 80s, but I expect them to add more and perhaps some 70s staples while dialing back on more recent music. Sort of the “next generation of classic rock” approach.
 
Yea 96.3 has issues past Greer reaching into Spartanburg County (because of 96.1 Charlotte), but I can hear 97.7 even up here in here (albeit weak) here in Gaffney.

101.1 reception in Gaffney has had some issues at times from the Gastonia NC signal on the same frequency (which is supposed to be very directional according to the coverage map but apparently not), and it gets worse than that a few miles from there into Blacksburg SC.
 
freqdev said:
smooth jazz on 101.1 for all you dream dial professors. 😄
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I’m not dream dialing (personally, I find those posts useless and annoying where users pick random formats and place them on frequencies with no basis).

If the rock stations are more or less being merged on the stronger 93.3 signal, something has to go to 101.1. Logic would most likely indicate that would either be an AC format or the recently successful Urban format moving to a stronger signal. Personally, I believe AC is more likely as an AC on 101 + classic leaning mainstream rocker on 93.3 would dent iHeart’s huge success at 102.5. 102.5 was meandering along, albeit decently, until Audacy dropped the AC format. Then it soared and hasn’t come back down.
 
101tm said:
I’m not dream dialing (personally, I find those posts useless and annoying where users pick random formats and place them on frequencies with no basis).

If the rock stations are more or less being merged on the stronger 93.3 signal, something has to go to 101.1. Logic would most likely indicate that would either be an AC format or the recently successful Urban format moving to a stronger signal. Personally, I believe AC is more likely as an AC on 101 + classic leaning mainstream rocker on 93.3 would dent iHeart’s huge success at 102.5. 102.5 was meandering along, albeit decently, until Audacy dropped the AC format. Then it soared and hasn’t come back down.
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I believe you are absolutely correct in your logic. AC or urban. Honestly? What they SHOULD have done way back was merge the rock stations and put WORD on 101.1. Magic could have continued on 98.9.

One other thing of note. Isn't Lake jockless? If they start up Magic on 101, they really should a) promote the shit out of it TV ads, on line ads, billboards) and put on some real people. Not some voice track from another market that does nothing but promote the app. Could you imagine? A real local station? (At least from 6 am to 7 pm) I know. I'm dreaming. But they could own the market if they actually plugged into it.
 
101tm said:
The weird thing to me is that WROQ has ALWAYS outranked The Planet. Why not “combine” the stations on 101.1?
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WRQO was propped up by John Boy & Billy. That's going away everywhere. This move is to ensure the Rise Guys and Planet get the boost by moving all of Rock 101's audience over to 93.3.

Audacy's Greenville/Spartanburg cluster tilts very male heave at the moment with Planet, Rock, Block, Fan, Word and Red all predominantly male skewing. They have only B93.7 focusing more on female audiences. This move will likely help them balance a little more from a sales perspective.
 
lanceventa said:
WRQO was propped up by John Boy & Billy. That's going away everywhere. This move is to ensure the Rise Guys and Planet get the boost by moving all of Rock 101's audience over to 93.3.

Audacy's Greenville/Spartanburg cluster tilts very male heave at the moment with Planet, Rock, Block, Fan, Word and Red all predominantly male skewing. They have only B93.7 focusing more on female audiences. This move will likely help them balance a little more from a sales perspective.
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Very good point. Also, I believe WROQ was or was close to “charter affiliate” for JB&B. I didn’t know they had that big of an impact on the station’s overall ratings, though.

Just to add, none of the other Audacy stations in the cluster are promoting a move to another frequency or any sort of announcement other than the two rockers.

@AMRocks - Lake has no personalities, which is typical for an adult hits station.
 
101tm said:
I’ve been listening to 101.1 and this sounds pretty much like a real thing. They’re saying a lot about the move to 93.3 at 3pm Friday and it’s being promoted on 93.3 as well. No mention of 101.1’s future other than it’s going away. Sounds like something more than a stunt is going on.

Agreed that a Magic return stunt would be terrible.
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I'm wondering if this is going to result in Magic 101.1 and Classic Rock 93.3 (or The Planet expanding their playlist).

UPDATE: I think my speculation might be close from reading the other comments!
 
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Evan Stripes Carr said:
I'm wondering if this is going to result in Magic 101.1 and Classic Rock 93.3 (or The Planet expanding their playlist).

UPDATE: I think my speculation might be close from reading the other comments!
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I’m pretty sure Planet will keep its name and add more traditional classic rock to the playlist based on what they’ve said on air. “Classic Rock” as a brand is going away.
 
Consider the signals. If the new 101.1 ends up as The Block, it would make sense. 93.3 covers the market but North and more rural. 101.1 hits more South and dare I say "urban" areas. I could be wrong. But that might be the thinking.
 
AMRocks said:
Consider the signals. If the new 101.1 ends up as The Block, it would make sense. 93.3 covers the market but North and more rural. 101.1 hits more South and dare I say "urban" areas. I could be wrong. But that might be the thinking.
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Look at it from a billing perspective. What does 101.1 add to the Block in terms of reaching more listeners?

As I said earlier in the thread, Audacy's cluster skews way too male. They need another female friendly format to balance out the cluster more. I'd expect AC, Classic Hits or even another Country outlet first. Maybe even Adult R&B to take down Jamz...

But if I was iHeart, I'd be looking into flipping 104.9 back to Classic Rock as well.
 
104.9 has some local shows that are produced in the Greenville iHeart studios, so they’re aware of it. They just don’t have nearly the local content of The Fan. They could shift 102.5 in to a more pop direction like The Lake in Charlotte if 104.9 went classic rock, or 104.9 could do a mainstream rock format like WQNS in Asheville or WVBZ in Winston Salem.

Also, 101.1 has the Panthers. I assume they’ll move them to 93.3 if 101.1 goes to a format like AC.

Another wildcard for 101.1 could be a format Audacy seems to like that must bill well regardless of ratings - rhythmic AC. Considering the numbers 92.5 and 100.5 are pulling these days, I can’t see a third country station. My $ is still on AC, but I’ve been wrong before and could be again.
 
I don't see Rhythmic AC as it would hurt WFBC, and to an extent The Block. I'm sure it's a longshot, but how bout a throwback formact thats not to Rhythmic AL'S, but could br a compliment to FBC. As stated earlier the Audicy cluster is male dominated so this would be a good balance.
 


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