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IT'S TIME FOR COUNTRY THUNDER 106.3/5
- Thread starter KEV830
- Start date
They already have one 98.5 Thunder Country.
unless they increase 98.5's signal a lot to what 106.3/106.5's is or more then it'll be good.
d21ofnj said:
You think Hit's ratings are anemic now ... just imagine what they would be if they were only on one frequency in Ocean County! Quite frankly, there's no justification for their continued existence - the format is unnecessary and can be heard all over the place, the morning show is absolutely dreadful, but most importantly ... NO ONE'S LISTENING!!!!!
Thunder doing as well as it has on the 98.5 frequency is reason enough to make it a two-station simulcast. It has the potential to be a big-time player in the market with the full coverage of Monmouth/Ocean that it would have on 106.3/106.5. I don't think I have to tell you what I personally would like to have on these stations, but it would make perfect sense to have "Thunder 106" based on its strong performance in Ocean County and the fringes of Monmouth alone (an area that also gets Cat Country 107.3 quite well, to boot).
Launch a new format on 98.5 just as they did with Thunder (then K 98.5) a few years back. Sure, G Rock 98.5 would be great, but I would be happy if they did anything that's different from what we already have in the market: Active Rock, Classic Hits, Smooth Jazz, Talk (with a conservative slant) ... anything but another predictable Top 40, soft rock or classic rock station! We have more than enough of all of those!
I bet that a dance station on 106.3/106.5 would perform way better than Hit 106 and its 1.4 ratings. Pulse 87 managed to get a million cume and 1.0 share with a limited signal that couldn't even be heard on all radios. The Jersey shore would be receptive to a dance format, and keep in mind that it also hits Staten Island, Manhattan, and Brooklyn all the way down to Atlantic City. Just expand the HitMix at 5 to the entire day!
Better yet, bring back G-Rock. There are no alternative rock stations in NJ, and I'm sure they would really love to have the ratings they used to have with the rock format.
They could also consider buying the always underperforming 106.7 in Cape May and adding it to the simulcast for additional revenue with little additional cost (they could even keep mentioning the "106" frequency in their imaging)
Better yet, bring back G-Rock. There are no alternative rock stations in NJ, and I'm sure they would really love to have the ratings they used to have with the rock format.
They could also consider buying the always underperforming 106.7 in Cape May and adding it to the simulcast for additional revenue with little additional cost (they could even keep mentioning the "106" frequency in their imaging)
No need for Country on 106.5, there's already Cat Country 107.3 from less than 15 miles away!
106.5 should go Alternative.
106.5 should go Alternative.
JerseyShor said:
Hmm....what about oldies/classic hits on 98.5/1410...Country on 106.3 & 99.7...and the Breeze on 107.1 & 106.5. It would minimize signal overlap with competing formats, keep the Breeze & Thunder with full Mon/Oc coverage, fill a void in Ocean County on 98.5 (and put live programming on 1410). Only people left out in the cold are Alternative fans, but given the demos of Ocean County, it would be a bigger hole to fill doing classic hits/oldies.
At least 94.3 HD2 is Shore Alternative, as is 90.5 HD2.
Turnpike Tuner said:
Which is great ... assuming you both: A) Have an HD Radio ... B) Live in the small section of Monmouth County that gets these stations
As for your Press recommendation, it would give them full coverage, but there's a couple of issues they would run into.
First of all, if Press were to do this, that would mean that every single one of their stations would be affected by some type of shuffling. I contend that one of the things that hurt G Rock was the poor promotion of the Ocean County frequency switch from 98.5 to 106.5 ... while they have spent a ton on billboards promoting Hit 106 and Thunder 98.5, I saw not a single one mentioning this switch. So I think they've learned their lesson on that, and are somewhat reluctant to do it again.
Next - while The Breeze reports as an AC, their sound is definitely unique (compared to, say, Millennium's WOBM & WFPG ... they're your prototypical AC stations). They rely less on Currents, have a very broad playlist (promoting "No Repeat Workdays/Workweeks"), and play far more titles from the '60s, '70s and '80s than you hear on most ACs nowadays. While these days the format is going so far as to embrace Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, and Black Eyed Peas, The Breeze takes a more mature approach that appeals more to the demos that live here. This makes The Breeze more of an AC/Classic Hits hybrid. However, as of late, they have been de-emphasizing some of the older material in favor of a lot of pop titles from the past 10 years or so (caught them playing 98 Degrees, Christina Aguilera, and Avril Lavigne!), and I think that's largely to blame for their recent ratings slide. But I guess they're doing this to lure in some of the younger demos ... this actually renders Hit 106 even more useless to the market, if that was even possible.
Press could launch Oldies/Classic Hits on FM, but the problem with that is it would cannibalize The Breeze quite a bit. Such a move would require them to have The Breeze skew even younger, and as the most recent ratings show, that would be a very risky move.
If it were up to me, G Rock (or even FM 106.3) would be back on 106.3/106.5. But it makes perfect sense to keep The Breeze where it is and tweak back to its previous mix (eschewing the aforementioned millennial bubblegum pop acts), put Thunder on 106.3 (and possibly switch the Ocean County broadcast to 106.5), retain Great Gold on 1410, and launch a new format on the stand-alone station ... Alternative/Modern Rock on 106.5 would be a good idea, as it would reach many displaced G Rock and WJSE listeners.
Without question, there's many format holes here, and there should be little doubt after this week that local broadcasters would be wise to fill them. There's nothing worse than being completely irrelevant, and that's exactly what Hit 106 and Magic 100.1 are with their weak ratings and completely unnecessary formats.
SoulCrusher said:
Ah...I see your point. I split up the 106.3/106.5 because 106.5 would be blasting country in a area well served by WPUR (but I believe Thunder is not the same flavor as Cat, so it might work there). As far as a oldies/classic hits on 98.5 cannibalizing The Breeze? Yes, if both stations are programmed poorly & compete against one another. 98.5 would be a upbeat "picks you & makes you feel good" station with PERSONALITY, ala CBS-FM. And its apparent that Press wants to young up The Breeze, staying "soft" (relatively speaking), buy trying to skew a bit younger. If you program the stations to compliment one another, like WJLK & WOBM do, then the cannibalization is kept to a minimum and both stations can win. Plus you can chip away at WOBM on both ends of the demos, rather than what WJRZ is trying to do with its "flying wedge" approach of programming in the middle of the two. But given attitudes at Press about older demos, I have a better chance of hitting the lotto, buying JRZ, and bringing back Oldies 100 than Oldies 98.5 appearing on the dial. One can hope!
It is sad that WJRZ has ended up where it is...and even moreso given WHTG/WBBO with their great signals only garnering marginal ratings. I hate driving around the shore and not hearing Beach Boys, early Beatles, and cookin Motown tunes pouring out of the radio. Doesn't feel quite like summer without 'em.
All this talk about a country station on 106.3----press will never do it.Anyway----RADIO TEL AVIV NY is now on 106.3 in Brooklyn !!!!!!
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