beatlenut said:
scottwmro said:
Mr. Dickey doesn't care what we say about him on these boards, but I have this gut feeling one day that 97.1 will go back to an Oldies Format. Every market that I've done research on has at least one Oldies station in the market on the FM dial & some of them two, but Nashville has nothing to cater to this displaced audience.
I believe it was either ScottWRMO or Tibbs had some good points in a previous thread about why it may not be a good idea to go with an Oldies format. I think the point was it could not be a money maker. And that may be true. Or maybe Oldies won't be the correct name for the format, i.e. is there such thing as 80's Oldies? No, that would be Classic Hits. But there are lots of people across the age spectrum, not just those who grew up with the music, who can appreciate Martha & The Vandellas (Dancing In The Street) or Lovin' Spoonful (Summer In The City), just to name a couple. But in accordance with scottwmro in this thread, I really believe if an Oldies station is done "right" (and there's the controversial kicker), an Oldies station would do well, if only relatively well, and make a "decent-we can make a profit and still pay our staff above average pay because we're not greedy corporate radio" income. You'd fill an obvious void, make money, and risk having other stations in the market look up to you because you know what it takes to make good radio.
Beatlenut,
Here are some of my thoughts, right or wrong, and I'm not the smartest person on earth, but here's my two cents worth:
The Oldies format that was removed from 97.1 was doing just fine. In reality, Classic Hits & Oldies, in my opinion are the same thing. Yes on FM, an Oldies format put back on in Nashville would make money. I've done my homework and saw where 96.3 had made some mistakes, and that's why South Central dropped out of the game, as their ratings fell towards the end of them being an Oldies station.
Someone posted what I thought was a ridiculous statement, "It's now up to the AM stations to fill the void of the Oldies Format not being on FM in the Nashville Market". Wrong Answer! AM is in deep trouble, and I know because I'm an AM Broadcaster. My station only has a listenable signal within in the 5 mv/m contour of my station of about 12 miles during the day. Being that WMRO is high up on the dial at 1560, a little tower of 150 feet, only 1,000 watts during the day, that's no good, and it doesn't get out that well. That's all the FCC would give me.
WHIN, also here in Gallatin on 1010, in the middle of the dial, has a much better signal at 5,000 watts during the day, but their "listenable" signal is just around Sumner County and is a much better than WMRO's signal. In addition, during the winter months, both WMRO & WHIN have to drop power at 4:30 PM in the middle of the afternoon during the month upcoming month of December. Right now, we drop power at 4:45 PM for the month of November. This hurts both stations holding any audience outside Gallatin, in addition, both stations are protecting Class A stations in NYC at night, and on 1560, there is a Class B station that comes in on top of WMRO.
AM itself has other problems, hash and noise from stations running IBOC, electrical noise from TVA's, 161 KV towers, PC and Computer interference, along with other man made interference. This is why the NAB has pushed the FCC to allow AM stations to use FM Translators. Heck, if they would give me 100 watts on my tower, in the FM Band, I would gladly turn off my AM and stay on FM, but chances are right now, slim. AM is not going to solve the problem, therefore, they need to forget about AM.
The Nashville Market consists of Davidson County, plus 7 other counties around it. FM is where the Oldies format should be, not on AM. These days, AM is just good enough to serve a smaller, local community like Gallatin, Lebanon, Springfield, etc. Like I said, I've looked into this and there is no reason what so ever that an Oldies format wouldn't make money in this market, on a good, strong FM signal, 24/7. The format has been off the FM Band in Nashville for over 3 years now. There is too much "Classic Rock" being played in this market, and that needs to stop. I'm sick of scaning the dial and hearing "Highway to Hell" by AC/DC! That song should have been banded off the airwaves when it was released!
Doing this format on a strong FM signal is NOT A RISK! It will make money and, I believe it would be welcomed back by not only the 50 + audience, but a younger audience that would give them a chance to hear music that they may not know about. I would like to even see WSM-FM drop that format they are doing and go to an Oldies format the plays more than the typical 400 titles that many Oldies stations stick with. Here's a song that I love to hear and doesn't get played by the Oldies stations much, "Rainy Night in Georgia", by Brook Benton! What a great song!
For the past 3 years, it's been a rainy day and night on the FM dial in Nashville! In my honest opinion, one corporate group has made this mess in this market on FM, and it's not Clear Channel. I think you know whom I talking about.
