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Is It Time YET?????

  • Thread starter Mid West Clubber
  • Start date

M

Mid West Clubber

Guest
For Indianapolis to get a Dance Station... Dance Stations and also Dance Leaned CHRs,, which is pretty much what Radio Now is now days,,, are popping up all over the country. With the rise in EDM in America I would like to see a station like 107.1 or 107.9 flip to Dance,, or Some form of Dance Hybrid... Radio Now plays as much Dance as they can get away with,, and I realize they have limits.
 
Also kudos to WBDG 90.9 for doing dance music every night.....
 
That's very unlikely. Dance is just not strong enough for a station to go all-in with it in Indy. WIKS 99.5 tried it briefly before dance faded and they drifted to mainstream top 40. WHHH had a bit of a dance lean when it signed on, but the early 90s dance sound faded and that station drifted more urban. If money could be made with it, it would happen. Radio Now can ride the EDM wave, now.
 
No way 107.9 is flipping any time soon. Big numbers for key demo in PPM world. They are dialed in...
 
At the end of the day it's all about $$$$. Is there enough advertisers in Indy that will spend on that small niche format? Would be hard IMO
 
Seems like ZPL would be a fit for that! They've got the 18-44 female demo locked in pretty well right now. Thoughts?
 
OnAir93 said:
Seems like ZPL would be a fit for that! They've got the 18-44 female demo locked in pretty well right now. Thoughts?
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I agree that this format is generally for major market stations. Why would WZPL or WNOU go dance?

WZPL-FM 4.9 374,700 5.6 380,200 5.5 421,800 Modern AC Entercom
WNOU-FM 4.5 372,400 5.3 382,600 5.0 374,000 CHR Radio One
 
As much as I like the pure dance format (let's face it...it's different and certainly stands out on the dial), I don't think Indianapolis is 'hip' enough to support such a format. If anything maybe a station like Radio Now or ZPL could run a nighttime specialty show that concentrates on dance to test the waters, but with ZPL with their long-established (and successful) adult CHR lean, I can't see them doing this. Radio Now could pull it off if someone in house knew how to program such a format, but considering where they're ranked, I don't know if breaking format for a nightly specialty show would be a good idea.

Hoosier Hot 96 was a great dance station and a great CHUrban station in the 90s, which pretty much drove ZPL adult, but even Hot needed to move away from the dance and pop remixes and lean more towards hip-hop by the end of the decade before Radio One took over.

If dance will work anywhere in the Midwest, it would work in Chicago. Energy 92.7 &5 was a phenomenal station with great music, great imaging, and great personalities. It was probably also the most successful format ever to be on that suburban trimulcast, but even there you'd have to have the right formula to make it work as a full-time format.
 
I could see WNOU leaning more towards dance but as stated earlier even just a night show just to see how many people want to hear it. I have always thought WZPL should drop the adult lean and go full CHR. They have a stronger signal, they have been around way longer and I think they have better imagining compared to RadioNow. If WZPL did that RadioNow would probably pick up a dance lean since Hot 96 is their sister station they could not do anymore of a rhythmic lean without affecting Hot 96. Out of randomness how is i94 doing in ratings? Anyone think they will flip soon?
 
I think ZPL could be more consistent with dance. Have you heard them lately? They have a good mix of pop, dance, hip-pop, and pop rock. I don't think that ZPL should go all dance (wouldn't work in this market....people are too into their corn and country). ZPL could have a good balance of it. I'd like to see them ramp it up at night time with some uptempo dance mixes. If I remember correctly, they play some 90's show or a syndicted show called Fox All Access on Fri and Saturday nights. They may have changed it by now.

ZPL has the core female locked in, but they now need to capture that core females gay male friend.
 
I think ZPL is s ounding great now compared to this time 6 months ago or even a year ago. I wish they would just be more edgier than they currently are. I was driving earlier and ZPL had a tag line somethign along the lines of "Indys historic hit machine, 99.5 WZPL." Maybe that is a sign of what to come in the coming weeks? They are the heritage "hit machine" so they should be banging hits out left and right, give WNOU a real run for the CHR game. I personally do not see why Kim Iverson is still on WZPL, yes cheap and syndicated but her show is oh so boring. Why should ZPL be playing GOOD music all day to stop for 2/3 hours at NIGHT to play talk radio. They should replace her with some kind of uptempo current music.
 
OnAir93 said:
I think ZPL could be more consistent with dance. Have you heard them lately? They have a good mix of pop, dance, hip-pop, and pop rock. I don't think that ZPL should go all dance (wouldn't work in this market....people are too into their corn and country). ZPL could have a good balance of it. I'd like to see them ramp it up at night time with some uptempo dance mixes. If I remember correctly, they play some 90's show or a syndicted show called Fox All Access on Fri and Saturday nights. They may have changed it by now.

ZPL has the core female locked in, but they now need to capture that core females gay male friend.
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You just nailed it on the head as to "why" there are no dance music stations in Indy. No station wants to be perceived as a "Gay" radio station. Look at the chat boards associated with the newspaper and tv stations when comments are made on stories of a "gay nature" and see how polarizing and/or nasty they are. Advertisers don't like to be part of controversy.
 
flip23 said:
If money was there to be made doing "gay" radio somebody would be doing it.
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Let me just point out that in markets much bigger than Indianapolis, CHR and CHR/Dance stations lean heavily toward being inclusive to the gay community. KRBE in Houston and CBS owned Hot 957 are very gay friendly.
 
My whole point is that Z has the core female audience locked in....dance appeals to gays. If a station was to try and pull something off, Z would be my choice. Indy will never be NY or Chicago, but there is med audience here in Indy for that. Taylor it to Fri and Sat nights.
 
OnAir93 said:
My whole point is that Z has the core female audience locked in....dance appeals to gays. If a station was to try and pull something off, Z would be my choice. Indy will never be NY or Chicago, but there is med audience here in Indy for that. Taylor it to Fri and Sat nights.
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Perhaps Open House Party with John G. I have never understood why an Indy station does not pick this up.
 
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