K-Big Clock Ticking?

[Yeziknoradio]

I remember back in the 80's Roy H. Park owned what was then the full of amount stations - 7 AM's, 7 FM's & 7 TV's, the FCC would allow. He was the only company that did. The closest stations to his headquarters in Ithica was WHEN/WRRB in Syracuse. He could get WRRB off air so he dictated they change their format from a very successful country format to beautiful music. By that time beautiful music was a dead format and it was a disaster. He didn't care. That was the kind of music he enjoyed. He was rich & old, and he didn't need the money.

And those are the good ol' days!!!

So...the competitor down the dial picked up the country format then?

 

[anoldguy]

So...the competitor down the dial picked up the country format then?

No, not right away. WSEN had been the traditional country leader in the market but had switched formats to oldies just before Uncle Roy pulled the plug on WRRB. WRRB had divided the country market so WSEN decided it wasn't worth the effort to stay country. By that time it was too late for WSEN to return to country. The old WNDR -AM1260 picked up an automated country format for a while. 100,000 watt WFRG out of Utica picked up some of slack and did show up in the Syracuse book. The Syracuse market went several years without a local FM country station. Now the Clear Channel country station on 104.7 is a huge # 1 in the market.

 

[ThePickleReport]

The Syracuse market went several years without a local FM country station. Now the Clear Channel country station on 104.7 is a huge # 1 in the market.

As an aside to that remember that in the mid 90's 107.9 was country AGAIN to challenge 104.7. My memory is a bit foggy but I believe---someone correct me---that 107.9 flipped to country just before 104.7 did. Now of course the two stations are both owned by Clear Channel.

 

[Kal]

'Standards' are a good option but ... this music programming thought process has ALWAYS been the problem ...

"Pick 500 bona fide hit songs from Sinatra and Bennett to Elvis and the Supremes."

There have been way too many out of town consultants, corporate VP's and programming 'wizards' in Buffalo's radio history, who claimed that "It works in (insert city name here), so it will work in Buffalo!", who had no clue that Buffalo really is a 'different' market.

'Oldies 104', as a case in point, could take some music programming lessons from AM 740 (CHWO) ... a large enough playlist that avoids the boredom factor and specialty shows at night. Familiar and yet NOT boring.

You can even hear it today ... Christmas Music on Star and Joy are current examples of poorly researched, extremely limited playlists that bore the hell out of regular listeners! The worst part of that is ... there's no good reason for it!

 

[Mike Sheridan]

maybe there is a good reason for the limited list of songs. Maybe we should chip in and buy these stations a bigger hard drive.

 

[Element9]

'Standards' are a good option but ... this music programming thought process has ALWAYS been the problem ...

"Pick 500 bona fide hit songs from Sinatra and Bennett to Elvis and the Supremes."

There have been way too many out of town consultants, corporate VP's and programming 'wizards' in Buffalo's radio history, who claimed that "It works in (insert city name here), so it will work in Buffalo!", who had no clue that Buffalo really is a 'different' market. 'Oldies 104', as a case in point, could take some music programming lessons from AM 740 (CHWO) ... a large enough playlist that avoids the boredom factor and specialty shows at night. Familiar and yet NOT boring.

You can even hear it today ... Christmas Music on Star and Joy are current examples of poorly researched, extremely limited playlists that bore the hell out of regular listeners! The worst part of that is ... there's no good reason for it!

I am neither a consultant, corporate wizard, suit, VP or maven, nor "out of towner," but I would appreciate my original statement quoted IN context, to wit:

"Start from scratch. Pick 500 bona fide hit songs from Sinatra and Bennett to Elvis and the Supremes. In morning drive, provide local and national news, traffic and weather, an amiable host and at least 10 hit songs from the 50's and 60's. Hire a good program director to cultivate the format minute by minute, day by day and in detail."

In other words, take it down to the bare metal and begin anew with 500 songs that can't go wrong. Build and enhance the music rotations upon that foundation. Provide daily guidance and nurturing. Grow the format, grow the brand, grow the audience, grow the ratings.

Five hundred songs is a starting point. Comparatively speaking, most stations today rotate about 250 to 300 songs.

Other than the issue of quotes, I don't wholely disagree with your overall assessment.

Thanks.

-9-