-
Get involved.
We want your input!
Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.
After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.
After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/
Thanks in advance and have fun!
RadioDiscussions Administrators
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an alternative browser.
You should upgrade or use an alternative browser.
Lite 99.9 and Channel 94.5 to swap Frequencies?
- Thread starter udfan07
- Start date
This is going to be a long reply, so you've been warned...
My guess is CC has been royally pissed at Main Line since Click signed on, and maybe even as far back as when Fly replaced Z-93. Now, they've hatched a plan to switch Lite and Channel's frequencies. Why? Lite's demos are aging. Channel will bring in the 18-34 youth-oriented crowd. However, if CC thinks that putting an automated CHR on a big stick is going to work, and 99.9 will instantly become Dayton's version of WNCI, they're dead wrong. They have to have live and local personalities on there at some point. WNCI has The Morning Zoo(Syndicated, yes, but broadcast from WNCI headquarters), Chris Davis in the afternoons(Who's been there since the 80s in the glory days when Nationwide owned WNCI, hence the call sign), and MD Sean Cage at nights. The only 6A-Midnight shift without a local jock is middays with Seacrest. PC should be saved ONLY for smaller signals, which is why it worked on 94.5. On 99.9, which has always had at least two local jocks(The last being Paul Ellis and the still-employed Kim Faris), they HAVE to have some presence in the community, or this will fail. Also, this move basically makes Channel THE big brand in the CC building, much like WNCI is in Columbus, while WLZT is the flanker(Even though it's on a 50,000 watt signal), and protects WNCI from WSNY.
IMO, CC may have shot themselves in the foot with this move. This move could take listeners away from Mix, especially on the younger end, and Lord knows Mix doesn't need to lose listeners at this point. I'm sure Mix has lost some listeners to Click at this point, how many is anyone's guess. Say the younger listeners decide to listen to Channel and abandon Mix altogether, then Mix's demos start showing age, since all that would be left is the older demos. Also, how many Lite listeners are upset that their favorite station is now on a weaker signal?
Also, Mix did that notorious 4.7 a couple of books back, and nothing was done to change the station. Why? However, Lite ends up paying the price for their one 4.8, and losing their home of 20+ years? Personally, I think this move was made b/c Main Line ticked them off by putting Fly and Click on the air to mess with their cash-cow, Mix, and take listeners away from their flankers. It must have worked to a degree. Click's ratings are TBD, but had Click not signed on and Kiss Country stayed when the move to 101.5 was made, Lite and Channel would've never changed frequencies, that and CC was probably fired up that ML had the #1 CHR in town(Even though it's Rhythmic CHR).
Now, in the aftermath of this change, where does that take us? Channel is now one of the big brands in that building along with Mix and WTUE. The flankers are now The X, Big, and Lite. Will this move be a big blow to Click and Fly? Will this have been a smart move on the behalf of CC? What will Main Line's next big move be to respond to this latest CC move? Hard to tell. The Main Line VS. Clear Channel battle is just warming up. They're both smart to NOT mess with Cox, and instead just mess with each other. Hopefully, in the end, this war between ML and CC will result in better radio since the competition for listeners will be fierce...well, I won't go THAT far, but I can wish, can't I?
My guess is CC has been royally pissed at Main Line since Click signed on, and maybe even as far back as when Fly replaced Z-93. Now, they've hatched a plan to switch Lite and Channel's frequencies. Why? Lite's demos are aging. Channel will bring in the 18-34 youth-oriented crowd. However, if CC thinks that putting an automated CHR on a big stick is going to work, and 99.9 will instantly become Dayton's version of WNCI, they're dead wrong. They have to have live and local personalities on there at some point. WNCI has The Morning Zoo(Syndicated, yes, but broadcast from WNCI headquarters), Chris Davis in the afternoons(Who's been there since the 80s in the glory days when Nationwide owned WNCI, hence the call sign), and MD Sean Cage at nights. The only 6A-Midnight shift without a local jock is middays with Seacrest. PC should be saved ONLY for smaller signals, which is why it worked on 94.5. On 99.9, which has always had at least two local jocks(The last being Paul Ellis and the still-employed Kim Faris), they HAVE to have some presence in the community, or this will fail. Also, this move basically makes Channel THE big brand in the CC building, much like WNCI is in Columbus, while WLZT is the flanker(Even though it's on a 50,000 watt signal), and protects WNCI from WSNY.
IMO, CC may have shot themselves in the foot with this move. This move could take listeners away from Mix, especially on the younger end, and Lord knows Mix doesn't need to lose listeners at this point. I'm sure Mix has lost some listeners to Click at this point, how many is anyone's guess. Say the younger listeners decide to listen to Channel and abandon Mix altogether, then Mix's demos start showing age, since all that would be left is the older demos. Also, how many Lite listeners are upset that their favorite station is now on a weaker signal?
Also, Mix did that notorious 4.7 a couple of books back, and nothing was done to change the station. Why? However, Lite ends up paying the price for their one 4.8, and losing their home of 20+ years? Personally, I think this move was made b/c Main Line ticked them off by putting Fly and Click on the air to mess with their cash-cow, Mix, and take listeners away from their flankers. It must have worked to a degree. Click's ratings are TBD, but had Click not signed on and Kiss Country stayed when the move to 101.5 was made, Lite and Channel would've never changed frequencies, that and CC was probably fired up that ML had the #1 CHR in town(Even though it's Rhythmic CHR).
Now, in the aftermath of this change, where does that take us? Channel is now one of the big brands in that building along with Mix and WTUE. The flankers are now The X, Big, and Lite. Will this move be a big blow to Click and Fly? Will this have been a smart move on the behalf of CC? What will Main Line's next big move be to respond to this latest CC move? Hard to tell. The Main Line VS. Clear Channel battle is just warming up. They're both smart to NOT mess with Cox, and instead just mess with each other. Hopefully, in the end, this war between ML and CC will result in better radio since the competition for listeners will be fierce...well, I won't go THAT far, but I can wish, can't I?
The ideology at CC is probably that Lite would get a 4.x rating anyway regardless of this move, but the one station that has a lot to loose with the current Mainline format alignment is also the station that bills the most.
The move is actually kind of clever, IMO. There's been a lot of discussion here as to why Mix hasn't modernized their playlist. Well, with Mix keeping a lot of 80s in their library combined with Lite modernizing their playlist to include less 70s and more upbeat songs, there's now a lot of crossover between the two stations. Also from what I understand, 94.5 doesn't do such a great job penetrating through those downtown buildings where a good portion of Lite's at-work listeners probably reside. This would force listeners who can't get the new Lite frequency to move a musically similar station for at-work listening, which would be Mix. Unfortunately, Dayton looses a dominate heritage AC, and gains an AC flanker on a weak signal, but at the same time, CC finds a way to keep the cash flow coming to Mix despite competition from Mainline.
However, this move could also take most of those former Lite listeners to Fly. That may be why CHR was placed on 99.9 as well. The hope could be that whatever listeners CC looses to Fly, they'll gain from Hot. I guess we'll have to see how this plays out. The next book in Dayton could get interesting.
The move is actually kind of clever, IMO. There's been a lot of discussion here as to why Mix hasn't modernized their playlist. Well, with Mix keeping a lot of 80s in their library combined with Lite modernizing their playlist to include less 70s and more upbeat songs, there's now a lot of crossover between the two stations. Also from what I understand, 94.5 doesn't do such a great job penetrating through those downtown buildings where a good portion of Lite's at-work listeners probably reside. This would force listeners who can't get the new Lite frequency to move a musically similar station for at-work listening, which would be Mix. Unfortunately, Dayton looses a dominate heritage AC, and gains an AC flanker on a weak signal, but at the same time, CC finds a way to keep the cash flow coming to Mix despite competition from Mainline.
However, this move could also take most of those former Lite listeners to Fly. That may be why CHR was placed on 99.9 as well. The hope could be that whatever listeners CC looses to Fly, they'll gain from Hot. I guess we'll have to see how this plays out. The next book in Dayton could get interesting.
Apollo...Your point is well-thought out. It sounds very logical...and could pan out. However IMO, CC is taking a big chance by hoping to "force" people to listen to Mix. Could Lite's numbers have been decent because AC listeners did not like Mix? I realize Mix is a "Hot AC", but by playing a large 80's library, didn't it seem that they were attempting to keep "climbing" the 25-54 ladder to stay competitive? To me...why didn't they make changes to Mix a few years ago to the lower 25-54 group and position Lite to consume the upper 25-54 demographic? It just seems that this is a last-ditch desperation move to save a "struggling" radio station. I could be wrong...but IMO CC is "rolling the dice" on this move. BTW...I still wonder what will happen with Kim Farris.
Now if Fly begans to lose listeners Mainline can now switch 92.9 to a mainstream ac format to get the listeners that 94.5 might not reach anymore. What I said in a previous post is in remote areas where Columbus's sunny 95 and Cincinnati's warm 98 can be recieved along with Dayton I would say listeners would try to pull one of those signals before trying pull in lite 94.5.
The "twin AC" Dayton CC lineup has always been fairly unique (okay, weird)--very few clusters anywhere, owned by anyone, have included two Class B adult contemp players with nearly identical signals and very similar audiences. Sure, there is some logic in splitting the W25-54 demo in half, with one (Mix) targeting women 25-39 and the other (Lite) targeting women 40-54--but it is a stategy that makes more sense in NYC or LA than in a shrinking mid-size market.
FWIW, my guess is that the duplication of both audience and advertisers became overwhelmingly apparent to CC brass and/or the ad agencies driving the train. As in "Why in the hell are we splitting these buys with the same damn company to reach the same damn (Women 25-54) demo? It's just double the paperwork!"
Just a wild guess, but I'd put $10 on the likelihood that Lite's time on 94.5 will be just long enough to transition the bulk of the listeners and ad bucks over to Mix... then Clear Channel will kill it and use the stick to pursue some other demo.
FWIW, my guess is that the duplication of both audience and advertisers became overwhelmingly apparent to CC brass and/or the ad agencies driving the train. As in "Why in the hell are we splitting these buys with the same damn company to reach the same damn (Women 25-54) demo? It's just double the paperwork!"
Just a wild guess, but I'd put $10 on the likelihood that Lite's time on 94.5 will be just long enough to transition the bulk of the listeners and ad bucks over to Mix... then Clear Channel will kill it and use the stick to pursue some other demo.
We'll know what Lights status is come November. I'm guessing this year Dayton'll have a very merry Christmix!
K
kirkiefan
Guest
Been listening to the transplanted Lite FM since Memorial Day...
I like the softer music mix...
DON'T like the mysterious disapperance of Kim Faris and other Lite DJs since the move....though they still list her and the others on the website last time I looked this morning.
I sense something rotten taking place at Clear Cluster...woe to them if they put Kim out to pasture.
I like the softer music mix...
DON'T like the mysterious disapperance of Kim Faris and other Lite DJs since the move....though they still list her and the others on the website last time I looked this morning.
I sense something rotten taking place at Clear Cluster...woe to them if they put Kim out to pasture.
J
Josh_Cols
Guest
Personally I think downgrading a heritage station like Lite is stupid. I liken it to if COX moved K99 from 99.1 to 95.3. But rest assured folks, Im sure someone with a MBA or fancy degree from a fancy college who couldn't find Dayton on a map if they had to thought this move would be best. I wish Kim and Paul the best in their future endeavors.
Hers is the only live show from 6 -9, and it's the kind of thing I've been waiting for.
She's the only live/local personality left. The rest is PC.callletters said:Hers is the only live show from 6 -9, and it's the kind of thing I've been waiting for.
My Bad. ;D
- Status
- This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.