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Max FM 103.1 Drops Morning and Afternoon Personalities

B

Barry

According to RadioInsight, the classic hits station on Long Island has let go morning man Jim Douglas, and afternoon host Tommy Conway. The article states that Max will now be fully automated.
Douglas said it was a "Monetary decision-the market conditions are still tough." He pointed out that he had just won a NY State Broadcasting award for best morning show in a large market.
I wonder whether this decision is related to the station's slide in overall ratings from a 4.2 in March, to a 2.7 in August.
 
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Barry said:
According to RadioInsight, the classic hits station on Long Island has let go morning man Jim Douglas, and afternoon host Tommy Conway. The article states that Max will now be fully automated.
Douglas said it was a "Monetary decision-the market conditions are still tough." He pointed out that he had just won a NY State Broadcasting award for best morning show in a large market.
I wonder whether this decision is related to the station's slide in overall ratings from a 4.2 in March, to a 2.7 in August.
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Link to story with additional info: https://radioinsight.com/headlines/241424/103-1-max-FM-goes-jockless-as-tommy-conway-jim-douglas-brett-levine-exit/
 
This is a suburban station with local talent that was being killed in the ratings by bigger NYC stations. They were down over a point in the last two books. That's not something to celebrate or reward the local talent. This is Connoisseur's lowest rated FM in the cluster. It also has a pretty limited signal. Certainly retaining the local talent wasn't going to help. Maybe it's time for a new format.
 
Perhaps David Gleason or someone else can explain why no Long Island station has shown up for years in the NY book, and why north NJ stations make the book every time? Both Midd;esex-Union and Nassu-Suffolk are PPM places. Each is top-heavy in NYC signals -- NJ more so -- as ratings leaders.
WBLI and WALK used to get regular 0.7. 0.9 and a 1.1 once.
Yet, NJ stations keep on showing in NY with truly unremarkable 0.3's. 0.2, 0.4.
WJLK, WDHA, WMGQ, WMTR et al can't be that thrilled about those.
 
Good - DJs are so annoying with their droning on about stupid things & talking over the beginning of the song.
Thats another great thing about streaming no djs.
 
TheBigA said:
Maybe it's time for a new format.
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Max 103.1 has switched from classic hits to classic rock. Listening for a while, I haven't heard any mention of the change on air. Their website still mentions only classic hits.
This is a puzzling decision, as WBAB 102.3 has been in the format for many years.
 
A lot of LI stations have signal issues with NJ stations such as WBAB and WSUS on 102.3. 106.1 BLI and Classical on 105.9.
 
Classic Rock 102.3 WBAB is such a superior station, #1 in the most recent ratings in the Nassau-Suffolk-Long Island survey. It's only 6,000 watts but it has a simulcast in the Hamptons, 5,000 watt WHFM. And in 2nd place is NYC Classic Rock station 104.3 WAXQ. But in reality, the Suffolk County signals and NYC signals only overlap in a small section of Long Island. By the time you are a few miles into Suffolk County, the NYC FM signals become harder to pick up. So even though WBAB is #1 and WAXQ is #2, they really aren't competing on much real estate.

WBAB's morning show has been on the station for decades. Much of the WBAB's success is built on "Roger & J.P." The playlist is researched, giving it a Long Island flair. (Billy Joel gets played several times a day.) Since WBZO switched to Classic Rock, WBAB calls itself "Long Island's Only Classic Rock" every time it gives its call letters. I'd say close to 10 times each hour, a dig at WBZO.

Meanwhile WBZO is #14 on Long Island. I'm not sure if anyone did much research for its playlist. It is limited in power, only 1,550 watts. And instead of having a morning show like WBAB's that does a fair amount of talking, WBZO is now automated. Let's see if it has much of an effect on the ratings.
 
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Barry said:
Max 103.1 has switched from classic hits to classic rock.
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Probably because of the demographics. A lot of classic hits stations are playing a larger percentage of classic rock because the music attracts a wider range of listeners than the older pop stuff. The River in Atlanta is an example.
 
TheBigA said:
Probably because of the demographics. A lot of classic hits stations are playing a larger percentage of classic rock because the music attracts a wider range of listeners than the older pop stuff. The River in Atlanta is an example.
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Guess the 80s pop stuff now belongs to WKJY. Listeners now have to go through Taylor Swift to hear their go-to 80s tune. That is, if they can't listen to WCBS-FM.

But many classic rock stations do sound less harder-edged. Sometimes, the likes of WAXQ, WBIG, and WDRC sound indistinguishable from WSRV. Of course, there are a handful of harder-edged classic rock stations like KLOS, where you will rarely hear Billy Joel or Phil Collins.
 
Classic Rock/Classic Hits, what's the difference anymore? I've listened to 3 "Classic Rock" stations and a couple of "Classic Hits" stations [In NE Ohio] and I dare to say that their playlists are 75-80% identical. I'm hearing stuff on Classic Rock stations that would NEVER have been played 25-30 years ago because it would have been considered too "pop-ish" at that time and stuff on Classic Hits stations that would have never been played because it would have been considered too "Heavy Metal" at the time.
 
TheBigA said:
This is a suburban station with local talent that was being killed in the ratings by bigger NYC stations. They were down over a point in the last two books. That's not something to celebrate or reward the local talent. This is Connoisseur's lowest rated FM in the cluster. It also has a pretty limited signal. Certainly retaining the local talent wasn't going to help. Maybe it's time for a new format.
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geoove_103•1
Put the Swedish Egil on the EAST COAST
 
There is no mention of classic rock on air, or on the Max 103.1 website. The station sounds so dull, I wonder whether they may be stunting. Or perhaps this is a placeholder, pending a sale?
 
Barry said:
There is no mention of classic rock on air, or on the Max 103.1 website. The station sounds so dull, I wonder whether they may be stunting. Or perhaps this is a placeholder, pending a sale?
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It's not unusual. If you look at The River in Atlanta, you won't see "classic rock" anywhere. But that's what they play.

The logo says 97.1 The River: Classic Hits.

Sale? I thought Connoisseur is in the buying mode, not selling.
 
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This raises a question? A bit off topic. But, maybe not. BigA, has EMF ever divested of any stations and pulled out of a market?
 
Tibbs4 said:
This raises a question? A bit off topic. But, maybe not. BigA, has EMF ever divested of any stations and pulled out of a market?
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They usually divest AM stations that come along with a station group they're purchasing, and they sometimes trade translators in markets where it makes sense of if they acquire full market stations making the translator redundant.

No. WPLJ is not coming back.
 
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