• 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

Middlesex-Somerset-Union PPM ratings - May 2010

Thanks for the plug! ;D

A bad day overall for NJ 101.5 PD Eric Johnson who after he had SoJo taken away from him should be concentrating on getting the numbers up at NJ101.5 NOT down. The staff apparently doesn't listen to him which makes for ineffective management.

Read my full comments on today's continued ratings slide for NJ101.5 in the Walter Sabo thread.
 
Personally I think the BIGGEST JOKE in this latest trend is WMGQ. They got the cume up a tick but the share continues to decline which tells me people aren't liking what they are hearing. I mean NUMBER 11 IN YOUR OWN MARKET?? Perhaps someone at corporate will realize that you simply cannot compete with the BIG GUYS on pure mediocrity ranging from stale/dry imaging, weak contests, boring repetitive music selection and jocks that are a better fit at Spacely Sprockets alongside George Jetson since they are so robotic. The AC format generally is an *easier sell* than most other formats but I mean how many different ways can you spin these dismal numbers in your own market? While Fresh did move UP a tick perhaps thats where a portion of 'MGQ's audience went and a larger percentage to 'PLJ. In all fairness, the same can be said for Fresh's *personalities" or lack their of, but at least they have more to offer in terms of music that packs an edge with a brighter presentation. Nice to see that Jim Ryan did what he could with WMGQ but theres not much you can do when you are speaking and suggesting things that are falling on deaf ears... For Mr. Ryan his talents are better suited for a TOP MARKET anyway and I imagine Fresh will continue to find its angle/position in the NYC market just as he did with WLTW.

Good Job Greater Media... maybe you can purchase one of Atlantic's stations in AC-proper and run traffic reports during morning drive for 78/287 and Route 1 because those are main arteries in Atlantic-Ocean & Monmouth counties ::) ... It's laughable what the corporations in this industry have managed to inflict on themselves.

;D

Wow do I feel better now...
 
Magic can gain a lot by reverting to their successful mainstream AC format they had up to 2008 instead of copying the same format on Lite FM. Lighter than Lite would bring back the listeners who abandoned Magic. Every time Magic plays Lady Gaga - Telephone or anything that pushes the limit of the AC format, I'm sure they lose at least one former P1 listener who listened all day at work, and gain a button-pusher who wants to hear her favorite 5 songs on every single station.

I find that morning drive is when Magic doesn't push the limits of AC as much. That's about the only time I tune in, if I tune in at all, only because I like Chris McCoy's show.
 
WMGQ has started playing some more uptempo hits, but their presentation is still very bland and vanilla. Bert Baron on WCTC ironically does a better job than any of the jocks on 98.3. So, adding more Lady Gaga to a dull station is still a dull station.

WMGQ should look to WLEV in Allentown as a station that revitalized itself as a solid mainstream AC with a good music mix, engaging jocks, and very good imaging and presentation. In fact, even though I'm within the strong signal area of WMGQ, I listen to WLEV instead at work, because even though the music is roughly the same, it's simply less of a snooze-fest to listen to all day.
 
satech said:
WMGQ has started playing some more uptempo hits, but their presentation is still very bland and vanilla. Bert Baron on WCTC ironically does a better job than any of the jocks on 98.3. So, adding more Lady Gaga to a dull station is still a dull station.

WMGQ should look to WLEV in Allentown as a station that revitalized itself as a solid mainstream AC with a good music mix, engaging jocks, and very good imaging and presentation. In fact, even though I'm within the strong signal area of WMGQ, I listen to WLEV instead at work, because even though the music is roughly the same, it's simply less of a snooze-fest to listen to all day.
Click to expand...

I agree....but how the hell do you stand WLEV's ATROCIOUS audio processing? It sounds like everything maxed to 11, and squashed beyond comprehension. I love heavy audio (GO CBS-FM!!!), but WLEV's processing needs to be revamped.

As far as the "heritage" AC brands go....they are in sort of the same spot oldies stations were in 10 years ago. Young up the music and station overall, or watch the demos get older and older. Not an easy task to change the station from stem to stern (almost), yet have the same branding/logo. Maybe get rid of "soft rock" altogether...since to many young'ns...."soft rock" has a negative connotation to it.
 
Every time Magic plays Lady Gaga - Telephone or anything that pushes the limit of the AC format, I'm sure they lose at least one former P1 listener who listened all day at work, and gain a button-pusher who wants to hear her favorite 5 songs on every single station.
Click to expand...

Nick is exactly right. There's no other explanation why their cume would go up while their share is down. I think Magic needs to go back to its roots. Playing Lady Gaga, Black Eyed Peas, and other Hot AC-skewing music, and reducing the 70's songs they play to a few Billy Joel and Fleetwood Mac titles, is clearly not helping them. They're trying to position themselves between Lite and Fresh, the latter of which is itself a bridge between PLJ and Lite. And Magic is clearly not eating into either PLJ or Lite's numbers.

What's curious is that Lite's numbers have surged in this market while taking a significant hit in the full NYC market. I guess both that station and PLJ's numbers show that NYC is receptive towards a "hotter" AC sound. But clearly Magic's approach isn't cutting the mustard, or perhaps they're just a late and unneeded addition to the party. So I think Magic would be best off embracing the older audience that Lite has been gradually alienating. And I agree that they definitely need to update their imaging.

EDIT: Turnpike Tuner has a point with the "soft rock" slogan too. It always kinda rubbed me the wrong way. Even before they started playing artists like Lady Gaga, there was plenty of music on Magic that was neither soft nor rock. I thought their old positioner of "Today's Hits and Yesterday's Favorites" was much more accurate and effective, and would still work with the current format.
 
Turnpike Tuner said:
I agree....but how the hell do you stand WLEV's ATROCIOUS audio processing? It sounds like everything maxed to 11, and squashed beyond comprehension. I love heavy audio (GO CBS-FM!!!), but WLEV's processing needs to be revamped.
Click to expand...
WLEV sounds overcompressed on a home stereo system or in the car, but on an average table radio or boombox in the office or kitchen, they sound fine, which is probably their goal.
 
mjb1124 said:
What's curious is that Lite's numbers have surged in this market while taking a significant hit in the full NYC market. I guess both that station and PLJ's numbers show that NYC is receptive towards a "hotter" AC sound. But clearly Magic's approach isn't cutting the mustard, or perhaps they're just a late and unneeded addition to the party. So I think Magic would be best off embracing the older audience that Lite has been gradually alienating. And I agree that they definitely need to update their imaging.
Click to expand...

For whatever reason, the word du jour for AC stations these days is "variety". Lite is all about "variety," Magic is about "soft rock variety." Hot AC or Adult CHR? Then you play "Today's Best Variety." Maybe what 98.3 could do is instead brand their playlist as "Magic Music" - it would ditch the soft rock image, yet keep and update the brand thats been around for 30 or so years. Since many other stations use "variety," it would make Magic stand out against the other stations in the area using the "v" word. Tweak the music to be a bit softer than Lite, but 80's/90's/00's & now, with some evergreen 70's thrown in for the weekends when you can lean a little bit older. And get a new jingle package - the JAM Up2date package is nice, and even tho the WODS Groove Addict package was a custom job, I think it would fit nice on 98.3.

Now wheres my consultants fee check?!?
 
Turnpike Tuner said:
And get a new jingle package - the JAM Up2date package is nice, and even tho the WODS Groove Addict package was a custom job, I think it would fit nice on 98.3.
Click to expand...
JAM's "Digital Mix" was excellent and distinctive...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5OhpQOKSAyI

I haven't heard any AC station with jingles and music beds nearly as good as that since WMGQ dropped Digital Mix in 2002, and replaced it with whatever cheese-o-matic package they're using now.
 
satech said:
JAM's "Digital Mix" was excellent and distinctive...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5OhpQOKSAyI

I haven't heard any AC station with jingles and music beds nearly as good as that since WMGQ dropped Digital Mix in 2002, and replaced it with whatever cheese-o-matic package they're using now.
Click to expand...

WMGQ uses Reel World's WLIT 2005 package. Only other time any other jingles get airplay is during the holidays....but I have no clue where they got those jingles from. Reel World makes some really nice jingles, the WSNI packages especially, but the ones on MGQ are burnt to a crisp.
 
Their holiday package comes from Thompson Creative, who also did the regular package they aired from 2002-06 or thereabouts. I agree that the JAM Up2date package would be a nice addition to WMGQ. I'm generally not a fan of ReelWorld's jingles, especially for the AC format. But then again I'm not in the target audience, and I guess they must be doing something right to be getting on so many stations.
 
Magic must be grateful for WDDM's 100.7 translator in Edison blocking out a competitor that's better than they are.

When Magic was a true mainstream AC, they were at the top. Book after book, year after year, #1 or #2 below WKXW. They sounded great in the early 2000s, and I especially loved their Saturday Night Magic Memories show. Yes, Magic 98.3 used to play doo wop instead of Lady Gaga! In 2008 when Lite was straying from the AC format, Magic was resisting that trend. The first questionable song I remember on Magic was either Single Ladies or Irreplaceable. When the Saturday night "dance" party started, Magic played many songs that made me look twice to see what frequency my radio was tuned to because I couldn't believe it was Magic. Songs like Usher - Yeah, Katy Perry - I Kissed A Girl, Estelle - American Boy, etc. The rest of the week was still mainstream AC with none of the questionable songs. Then, the Saturday night show was canceled out of the blue. Around late 2008, I was hearing songs in regular rotation that shouldn't be played on AC. From then onwards the music on Magic went down the gutter. I went to Boston in the summer of 2009 and noticed that the music on Magic 106.7 was mainstream AC, kind of like Magic 98.3 the previous summer. I listened to Magic 98.3 to hear Christmas music, and it sounded pretty good, like Now 97.5 used to sound during the holidays. The day after Christmas 2009, Magic 100.1 launched, and it's even worse than Magic 98.3. Sometime in 2010 Magic came off my presets and was replaced by 107.1 The Breeze. I could care less if Greater Media blows up WMGQ and makes it a sports talk station.

Their slogan now is "Soft Rock Variety". Magic still has 5 year old advertisements on the backs of some buses (that I routinely see driving outside Magic's coverage area) proclaiming that they are "Jersey's Continuous Soft Rock". There are good mainstream ACs still out there, but none in northern NJ.

Magic's trading TSL for cume. Fewer people who listen all day at work and while driving and more people who just push buttons till they hear the latest Lady Gaga song and push another button when the DJ starts talking or the commercials come on. If I hear 5 songs in a row that I like, I won't tune out during the commercials.
 
There are good mainstream ACs still out there, but none in northern NJ.
Click to expand...

Although it is not a North Jersey station 100.7 WHUD is still the best AC that can be heard in North Jersey......You can get WHUD clearly until around Morristown before WLEV starts to kick in.
 
Well obviously it's time for SOMEONE to walk the plank!



Most recently I was approached to think about bringing back the "Deep Cuts/Hippee Radio" format. The answer is Yes! So fast it could make your head spin. There are still many baby boomers still with us.
 
 
98.3 doesn't need to play songs that can also be heard 6 megahertz below and 2 megahertz above its frequency.
 
Shortly we'll learn what the June M/S/U numbers are along with the Monmouth Ocean spring book. The Atlantic City spring book should also be interesting.
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom