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It's Official: 106.9 FM Is Now "Big Buck Country"

Personally, they should've went after WKKV instead. WNQW is going to face a uphill battle against WMIL in the coming months.
 
Yeah right, go after WKKV. Milwaukee radio has NEVER gotten a rhythmic AC (except the old ones in the 80s/90s which doesn't count now) or a 90s format like the others out there. Milwaukee radio SUCKS to high heaven or should I say, STINK? I mean, who is really going to listen to that crap? I'm not.
 
Icycool,

You are exactly right. They should have made the station Rhythmic AC to play a mix of popular upbeat songs today with the great dance, freestyle, R&B, and Hip-Hop flashbacks Hot 102 used to play. It would have destroyed the upper end of the "default" audience boring V 100 has while telling CC to "take that" as an answer for them stealing their idea in the first place. That idea would have created instant buzz in the city. A hipper Jammin 98-3.

Now this is just a blah story after almost 2 weeks of stunting which people got seriously bored with.

But cause they are radio companies and NEVER ever think outside the box anymore, they come up with this lame format.

No wonder why I chose a different career than media!

They don't have a clue over there and it showed. One of the biggest failed stunting format change attempts in Milwaukee history!
 
I really like the classic country music WNQW has chosen. I was raised here in Southeastern Wisconsin on the WMAQ of the 70s & 80s.

That said, I still think this format is WRONG for this station. Classic country is more suitable for AM stations. WOKY, as "The Wolf", has been around for a few years, now, & is well established to those listeners who like this type of music. That, combined with WMIL's popularity, makes for some hard times fro this format on this station.

I think they should've gone with an R&B-leaning format with lots of "Dusties" & early hip-hop, almost like the old Magic 103.7. I think that would appeal to more listeners.

A nice up-beat favorites type format, like Chicago's WILV would also be a good draw.

Personally, I love the format, but I don't think it will fly in the long run.
 
Why on earth would they switch to a format where their average listener age is going UP?! Isn't the first rule of every format switch to choose something that's going to push down those demographics? This was a terrible format choice and they might as well be getting ready to compete with K-LOVE 105.3 for ratings instead of WMIL, because that is truly their low-rated competition now.

WMIL has a much more powerful signal. For two weeks I was unable to tune in this station even on a car radio from Sheboygan. This will probably be taught for years as how you don't switch a format. And now with the trop effect bringing in WMUS across the lake which also features a country format there will be confusion where "Big Buck" has their signal absolutely gobbled up by WMUS. It was incredibly stupid in the first place for the FCC to assign frequencies already in use by stations in West Michigan (105.3 and 106.9), and if this doesn't work, a sale to an ethnic broadcaster that could do anything else with the signal is likely.
 
I've got a great idea for an on-air campaign for one of "Big Buck's" competitors.

It involves Whammies. ;D
 
Yes, this would seem to be a rather strange move. The only markets where classic country on FM seems to have any staying power are places like Houston, Wichita, Oklahoma City, Tulsa, Springfield, MO. I agree that Rhythmic AC would have made more sense.
 
Being on a weaker signal, a niche format like classic country was a better choice than going straight after WMIL. I don't think Milwaukee could support two mainstream country stations, The format isn't especially hot right now. Several secondary country stations are doing poorly in PPM.

At least classic country is something different. I bet it will do better than many on this board think it will..at least the first few months. When it burns they may want to filter in some select, traditional sounding currents/recurrents to keep things fresh.
 
WEXT (104.7) in Sturtevant did reasonably well when they boosted their power and flipped to a similar format (though they mixed in more new stuff). Ratings didn't go through the roof, but they carved out their own niche and got respectable ratings for a rimshot. NextMedia wound up selling the station to Spanish-language broadcasters, though, when they were looking to unload extra properties a few years later. Otherwise, I think they would have continued to do okay.

Saga didn't have a whole lot of choices with that frequency, as most of the other stations in the market are so wide in their formats. Rhythmic AC or any urban-leaning format (i.e. hip hop) would have been stupid, since it would take listeners away from their own WJMR (urban AC). I thought AAA would have been a decent fit, and they could have done it differently than the noncoms in town (WYMS aims younger and plays some hip-hop and WUWM prefers the sappy singer-songwriter stuff). Perhaps they were afraid of taking away too much from WKLH. A 'true oldies'-type station wouldn't have been bad either, since WRIT is too 70s-oriented.

But as far as available formats go, classic country wasn't all that bad a choice. Guess Clear Channel will have to figure out a new format for WOKY.
 
Scholarm1111 said:
Yes, this would seem to be a rather strange move. The only markets where classic country on FM seems to have any staying power are places like Houston, Wichita, Oklahoma City, Tulsa, Springfield, MO. I agree that Rhythmic AC would have made more sense.
Click to expand...

Keep in mind that one of the Wichita classic country stations changed formats and another is reported to be up for sale, and the Tulsa one is rumored to be looking at new formats. Having not listened to Big Buck Country yet, I don't know what era of classic country the station is playing. It could, however, target 35+ or 50+, or pretty much anywhere in between. Classic country can produce two or three stations that have little to no overlap in their playlists.

While classic country wouldn't have been my first, or second, choice for 106.9, Saga is a company that usually knows what it's doing and very rarely makes dumb mistakes (though blowing the original format change definitely fits that bill).
 
jjschim said:
Now...after destroying their "Mighty 92" format, WOKY can sink into total obscurity.
Click to expand...


No doubt about that. Maybe they should go back to '50s/early '60s Oldies. NOBODY has that format.
 
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