Is qfm 96 next?

[Radioma18]

With whok and wazu getting changed is wlvq next on the list?

 

[Nu_Roo_2]

Obviously, QFM is the reason Wilks is here. And everything I've seen says that that station really brings in the revenue. It usually does great in its target demos.

Formatically, the only change I could see them making is going to pure-play Classic Rock, which wouldn't be too drastic a move.

 

[boyerfm]

Q is the reason Wilks bought the cluster. A top biller, hits target demos and the morning show out performs the rest of the station. Wilks doesn't believe core Q listeners give a crap about active rock, thus less music from the past 10 years or so. Music is being fine-tuned with guidance from Jeff Sanders, VP of programming for Wilks. Nothing gets done at the station (s) without his say so. They did extensive audience profiles and discovered while formats like the Brew have the "wow" factor in the beginning, (40 something's remembering their college days, myself included) it tends to lose appeal. I'm hearing a difference in the music already. Deeper album cuts and long forgotten classics. Q morning show is off limits for now. Wilks picked up the CBS contracts for 3 show members, which have anywhere from 2 to 3 years remaining, and signed two other members to new contracts.

 

[phatdaddy]

I agree with boyerfm. For some reason the Q has always circled completely around a pure classic format without ever nailing it right on the head. They always seemed to like to mix in some of that newer crap along with the classics. There are now over 25 listenable signals in this market who are programming nearly every genre that could pass as rock/pop etc. Time for Wilks to take the Q back to it's roots and show C'bus what a classic rocker should be.

 

[Nu_Roo_2]

Q is the reason Wilks bought the cluster.  A top biller, hits target demos and the morning show out performs the rest of the station. Wilks doesn't believe core Q listeners give a crap about active rock, thus less music from the past 10 years or so.  Music is being fine-tuned with guidance from Jeff Sanders, VP of programming for Wilks.  Nothing gets done at the station (s) without his say so. They did extensive audience profiles and discovered while formats like the Brew have the "wow" factor in the beginning, (40 something's remembering their college days, myself included) it tends to lose appeal.  I'm hearing a difference in the music already.  Deeper album cuts and long forgotten classics. Q morning show is off limits for now.  Wilks picked up the CBS contracts for 3 show members, which have anywhere from 2 to 3 years remaining, and signed two other members to new contracts.

Interesting insights.  Thanks.  One question, though:  Since the deeper album cuts and long forgotten classics have been largely absent for so long, wouldn't they now have a "wow" factor as well?  And thus be subject to the same novelty burn-off?

 

[Nu_Roo_2]

I agree with boyerfm. For some reason the Q has always circled completely around a pure classic format without ever nailing it right on the head. They always seemed to like to mix in some of that newer crap along with the classics. There are now over 25 listenable signals in this market who are programming nearly every genre that could pass as rock/pop etc. Time for Wilks to take the Q back to it's roots and show C'bus what a classic rocker should be.

I don't think Q has ever considered itself a Classic Rocker, even though a few trades tagged them CR (and Q itself used the term Classic Rock heavily as a defensive positioner back when 99.7 was CR...even going so far as to unsuccessfully sue 99.7 for using it). They've always played currents. Back when they started in the late 70's they were maybe 20-25% current/recurrent. And of course there was that early 80's "modal" stage where they followed other AOR's into what would essentially be considered current-based Active Rock today...but fortunately that aberration didn't last too long. It sounds as if you're really saying they should be more consistent about following their demo as it gets older, unlike a CHR. I.e., "back to their roots" can include playing what they played as currents in their early days. Well, maybe a case could be made that there's a place for some of today's currents on Q since Columbus has no AAA. But my personal preference for that station would be to see them move more in the direction you're advocating, and it looks like that may be happening...

 

[boyerfm]

Wilks won't have ownership of the stations once the "wow" factor wears off. As long as they get their money out of the stations, they don't care what happens 2-3 years down the road. The stations will be someone elses experiement.

 

[CBusDave]

and Q itself used the term Classic Rock heavily as a defensive positioner back when 99.7 was CR...even going so far as to unsuccessfully sue 99.7 for using it

Man that brings back some memories for me. I loved Magic 99.7. THAT was a Classic Rocker imho. I wasn't following ratings back then so I have no idea how they performed (probably not well since they flipped to the Blitz) but I sure loved the music.

 

[Al Timiter]

Q-FM has rather successfully played a LOT of Classic Rock without quite being defined as a Classic Rock station since they have usually tried to play some currents. Whether this was by design or default, it has been successful. In my opinion, a pure Classic Rock station would skew too old to be attractive to media buyers, much the same way Oldies became. Maybe that's what they're trying to avoid all along. And, maybe I'm giving them too much credit because they've never been a really great rock station.

 

[phatdaddy]

The thing that strikes me as I tune through the various signals in this market is that regardless of the stations' monikers and "target demos", many of them are playing pretty much the same stuff. It would seem to me that with the size of this market and total number of signals available that there would be more niche programming than we are hearing. That's why I made my earlier posting about the Q going back to solid classic rock. Let 97.1 and some of the others handle the new stuff and the Q should do what it does best.

 

[Nu_Roo_2]

and Q itself used the term Classic Rock heavily as a defensive positioner back when 99.7 was CR...even going so far as to unsuccessfully sue 99.7 for using it

Man that brings back some memories for me. I loved Magic 99.7. THAT was a Classic Rocker imho. I wasn't following ratings back then so I have no idea how they performed (probably not well since they flipped to the Blitz) but I sure loved the music.

Magic 99.7's ratings were up and down. The lowest 12+ I recall seeing was about 3.5, and the highest was in the 6's. It was always my belief that they could have done even better without a handle like "Magic," which is more suited for an Urban or a wimpy AC than a Classic Rocker. But they started out as oldies with the Magic handle in Sept '86 (although oddly calling themselves "Clasic Hits"), and the Magic moniker stuck when they segued to Classic Rock only 6 months later.

In an R&R article a couple of years ago, PD Hal Fish admitted that one impetus for the change from Classic WMGG to Active Rock WBZX was his own preference for new rock. (That was safe to admit after the Blitz has become successful, I guess.) Another thing he mentioned as justification for the flip was his amazement at how decently WZRC 103.1 (now WVKO-FM) in Johnstown was doing with the old Z-Rock syndicated hard rock format. As you may recall, 103.1 was owned by Rob Case (of current WHKC and WXOL "fame") and his partner, and they had flipped 103.1 from oldies WXLE (named after an early nickname for then-budding New Albany: Wexley) to WZRC.

 

[Nu_Roo_2]

Wilks won't have ownership of the stations once the "wow" factor wears off. As long as they get their money out of the stations, they don't care what happens 2-3 years down the road. The stations will be someone elses experiement.

(Smacks forehead) Duh, of course! Why didn't I think of that.

BTW, Q made some similar changes back when CBS bought it from Nationwide and Charley Lake was brought in as PD. But they kept the currents.

 

[Nu_Roo_2]

Q-FM has rather successfully played a LOT of Classic Rock without quite being defined as a Classic Rock station since they have usually tried to play some currents. Whether this was by design or default, it has been successful. In my opinion, a pure Classic Rock station would skew too old to be attractive to media buyers, much the same way Oldies became. Maybe that's what they're trying to avoid all along. And, maybe I'm giving them too much credit because they've never been a really great rock station.

I don't know...from what I've seen, pure Classic Rock has an excellent power ratio (Share ofRevenue/Share of Audience).  Classic-based Traditional/Heritage Rock, i.e., LVQ, has about the same power ratio.  Also, the number of pure Classic Rockers dwarfs the number of LVQ-type stations, which I doubt would be the case if there were a major revenue disadvantage to pure Classic Rock.

 

[Nu_Roo_2]

That's why I made my earlier posting about the Q going back to solid classic rock.

They can't "go back" to something they never were.

 

[media-lifer]

Actually, at the time of the Magic-to-Blitz transformation, when airing the ABC Z-Rock satellite format, 103.1 was owned by Reagan Henry a black attorney/entrepenuer. I think he was out of Philly (or, perhaps Pittsburg).

 

[Nu_Roo_2]

Actually, at the time of the Magic-to-Blitz transformation, when airing the ABC Z-Rock satellite format, 103.1 was owned by Reagan Henry a black attorney/entrepenuer. I think he was out of Philly (or, perhaps Pittsburg).

Oops...thanks for the correction. Yes, now I recall that Robb Case & his partner Mark Litton had sold 103.1 to Henry (of Philly, I believe) awhile before it became Z-Rock. And the calls as Z-Rock were WRZR, not WZRC. (I think WZRC may have been Z-Rock's calls in Cleveland). Henry sold the station to Salem in the early 90's, and not surprisigly they dumped Z-Rock for religious programming.

 

[boyerfm]

Wilks won't have ownership of the stations once the "wow" factor wears off. As long as they get their money out of the stations, they don't care what happens 2-3 years down the road. The stations will be someone elses experiement.

(Smacks forehead) Duh, of course! Why didn't I think of that.

BTW, Q made some similar changes back when CBS bought it from Nationwide and Charley Lake was brought in as PD. But they kept the currents.

[EDIT]The information I post comes from Wilks management to employees. I've been with Q for 15 years, so I'm well aware of the format changes and who did what and when, and why. BTW, Charlie Lake cut the play list down to about 15 -20 core artists, with VERY FEW currents. If you remember, you could hear Tom Petty and AC/DC about every other hour for over a year. It worked, but it wasn't just the music. Lake knew what he was doing and is by far the best PD Q ever had, and the best I've ever worked for.
[EDIT--personal attack.]

 

[Nu_Roo_2]

[EDIT]The information I post comes from Wilks management to employees. I've been with Q for 15 years, so I'm well aware of the format changes and who did what and when, and why. BTW, Charlie Lake cut the play list down to about 15 -20 core artists, with VERY FEW currents. If you remember, you could hear Tom Petty and AC/DC about every other hour for over a year. It worked, but it wasn't just the music. Lake knew what he was doing and is by far the best PD Q ever had, and the best I've ever worked for.
[EDIT--personal attack.]

Thanks for sharing your insights here, boyerfm. It was already some of the most interesting stuff I've read here in awhile, but now even more so since you pointed out that they are very much "insider" viewpoints. No doubt you know this already, but I saw that Charley Lake is headed to WMMR as PD. Based on your comments, they made a great move hiring him.

 

[Nu_Roo_2]

For the record, Lake went to Philly's WMGK, not WMMR.

(I would've preferred to just correct my old post instead of re-activating the thread, but the system won't let me edit at this point.)