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Mix 103.1 Fort Walton Beach

Well it looks like this Friday at 5 is when they are FINALLY going to flip. I see what your saying Tibbs. But I don't see anywhere else for Apex to go. They already have country,chr and adult hits sewn up. They have experience with the urban format with Star 99.7 out of Charleston. It's only logical thing for them to do. Which means they are probably going to flip it to all sports. lol ::)
 
The current loop is running construction sounds with things like this:

"Friday @ 5"

"Can you feel the heat?"

"It's getting hotter"

"Don't get burned"

"This Friday @ 5 we're gonna burn up your radio."

The Heat = Urban?
 
Don't miss this FRIDAY a new radio station everyone will be TALKING about.. if it is news talk, what shows will they air?

-Rob
 
If its happen this friday before that u mean want to check Radio Insight website to check to see if 103.1 is going to be Foxy 103.1 this week.
 
Are y'all expecting Urban as in Urban AC or Hip Hop? Or is there something in between like Urban AC days and Hip Hop nights?
 
I was thinking more urban ac. But the signs I'm getting from the promo loops is pointing to something different. They keep on using the word "heat" and "It's burning up" and "Can u feel the Heat". The Heat can refer to many things. There is the popular hip hop and r&b station on sirius called "The Heat". There are also a few rock stations that use that moniker. Would they try to eat into 99rocks dominance in that format. Interesting
 
It could all be a swerve. Wouldn't want Cumulus to know what they are up to. :p

FWB needs a classic rock station. WKSM is a Rock or AOR station and WWAV is maybe Adult Hits? I think WWAV could flip to Classic Rock without all the "hair bands" and keep most of their current audience... as long as they play at least one Jimmy Buffet song every hour. That could even be a slogan, "Jimmy Buffet at the top of the hour and the best classics all day long!" :D

If Radio Insight has any insight and 103.1 goes Adult CHR, Cumulus should be looking to see what happens in the next couple weeks in Mobile. If no new Top 40 station signs on they should segue Z96 to a Top40/Dance station for Destin and Pensacola before Spring Break starts. Extend some live remotes to Capt'n Fun on Pensacola Beach. Be live from a club every night the whole month of March.
 
Could be hot talk....gotta wonder if they will use Hot vs. Heat with PFM so close. Rob watch for that little lighty thing on the stereo to turn off over the next day if that talk is going to happen. I have no idea about the strength of Apex as a competitive company. Do they take risks or chances? Or are they mainstream and careful?
 
Radioinsight has just decanted the whole foxie1031 idea. Saying whoever purchased the domain has put it up for auction.
 
103.1 covers Mary Ester to Panama City and up to the Alabama state line. All the necessary talk shows are already taken by WFLA and WYOO in Panama City and WFTW in Fort Walton. Based on 103.1's strange tower location and unique coverage area I think Sports might be the best format hole to fill. Hale's little Class A Ticket can't compete with 50KW. It seems like the deciding factor would be whether or not they could pick up the rights to FSU or University of Florida Football. Saints football and Nascar would also help. Could pick up programming for the rest of the day from ESPN or some other sports network.

As for the timing of this format change.... Spring Break is just about here. If they are going to target young audiences now would be the time to flip. Football doesn't start until August.

Does Apex have any particular format that they excel at? A format that they carry in all or most markets that they serve? Are they known to use local DJs or just pipe everything in from a bird?
 
They would hopefully look long term but Spring Break is a couple of weeks and the rest of the year is a tough sell to 25 and under. I am not sure, but maybe RNR (aka AMFMXM), CCENG and/or Mark Carter can elaborate as to what format might fit in. What is Q92 sounding like? I guess if there's a hole for classic rock then 103.1 might work. The demo is right. When I talked about the old daze of 98.1 when it was WXCR as 98one Classic Rock, it was number two in the market, behind 99Rock and with lots of signal issues. I never saw any great numbers or billing from WTKE as Sports, but I wouldn't rule another attempt out. I haven't been in the market in a year or so, so I have no clue as to who is doing what. I'd need to see the 25-54 numbers to even try to make an assumption and since no one in FWB/Destin subscribes to Arbitron...well....

Mix was a great station when if flipped from Jazz years ago. It lasted longer than anyone expected. Still. It seems like a direct attack at Z will cost them in actual live talent, but Crums is so weak sounding...why not. Is there anyone live and local on the Apex stations or are the VTing?
 
103.1's coverage area is over 75% trees and water. Can't think of a format hole in that demographic. You could also look to all the small towns in the 103.1 coverage area that have no local service and deduce that oldies or classic country (to complement Highway 98.1) would be best. Also I would think many of the senior active or retired military would like an oldies or classic country station. Personally I'd like to hear a hybrid oldies station that includes country oldies, but no one is stupid enough to try that.

For this format to work someone would have to be traveling to Defuniak, Ebro, Chipley, Florala, Baker, etc... to find advertisers that would attract customers from other nearby towns. Furniture stores, jewelry stores, farmers co-ops, hardware stores, restaurants, liquor stores (isn't Washington county still dry?). Best comparison I can think of is (the about to be gone) WGWD over in Quincy.

All this is based on 103.1's unique coverage area compared to everyone else having a transmitter on Hollywood Blvd.
 
Uhhh - spring breakers usually head to PCB and not here.Lately, it's been families + 103.1 targets Destin and Ft Walton. We will see Friday at 5PM.
 
Q92 really does sound like they took bits of Fly921&mix103 and melded them into one frankenstation. They have two live DJ's. Afternoon(drive time) and evenings the rest is voice tracked.
 
Rob-42 said:
Uhhh - spring breakers usually head to PCB and not here.Lately, it's been families + 103.1 targets Destin and Ft Walton. We will see Friday at 5PM.
Click to expand...

Spring Breakers don't come to Navarre Beach because they don't have any hotels. All the beaches from Gulf Shores to Alligator Point get their fair share of college kids during Spring Break. Some old dudes on here may remember when Pensacola Beach was trying to compete with Panama City with big free live concerts back in the 80's. Wild times. Yeah, the drunk college kids fall off hotel balconies in PCBeach more often than the other beaches but traffic will be a nightmare in Pensacola, Ft Walton, Destin, Orange Beach, etc... for most of the month of March. Lots of the kids go where someone's dad has a condo they can party in for free.

Hummm.... Spring Break's coming up... time to stock up on Whippits, Kind Bud, shrooms and order a keg of Blue Moon from Cash's. Might as well pick up some of those new Bath Salts too! KnowhatIsayin' boss? ;)
 
At Tibbs' urging--and with the help of Poledo's shrooms... hmmmmmm...

Not sure that any format change can make up for 103.1's signal issues--though it covers what needs to be covered (FWB/Destin) along with 30A and lots of swamp land. From my vantage point a thousand miles away, the AC or Hot AC positioning they've been in for the past 15 years-or-so seems correct to me, considering the whole upscale/adult nature of Greater Seaside-Sandestin... the chunk of land they cover the best. And from that perspective, if 103.1 hasn't been generating appropriate revenue it looks like a sales problem, not a programming problem.

But sales problems are hard to solve. Easier just to blame it on programming and flip the SOB.

Just looking at Apex's cluster alignment and other-market history--and the "Heat" stunting--I'd place my bet on some form of urban/rhythmic/dance thing. I'm guessing that Wave is sold more as a rocker than a Classic Hits--otherwise rock might make some sense.

The real problem is that there are way too many FM sticks in the Fort Walton market for the number of available humans and/or advertisers. And 103.1 is kind of an extra stick.
 
Speaking of shrooms.....my friend....

We have a nice all-new non Crumulused 5kw on in The Nash playing 60s and 70s. Hippie 94.5. Worth checking out perhaps. It's a lighter, more focused version of what you might remember 98.1 being in the 90s as Classic Rock. The demo is proper. Decent amount of response for such a small signal here. Could be made to sound unique on the coast and flank/protect Wave. I always thought 103.1 had a good signal in the key areas of FWB down to near Front Beach Road in PCB. I know they changed their COL a few years ago from Defuniak Springs to whatever. Did that drastically alter their signal? Since I left the area years ago, I listen in, but don't exactly focus on the signal strenghths etc like I used too. I wonder aloud if a lite-AC would work to ride off the jazz success of Mark. It is just tough to try to sell a similar format as eight other stations. Gotta dare to be different.

You getting back to da beach this year? I am trying. Wanna go see Mark, Charlie and Jimmy W. Have lots of WSM AM Stuff I have collected for JW. He loves that tower.
 
The WMXZ stick is just west of Freeport/US 331, about 25 miles from downtown FWB, making it the weakest FM signal relative to Fort Walton, especially compared to those signals eminating from the Hollywood Boulevard Antenna Farm. Listenable on most FM radios in FWB--it just doesn't burn up the dial like the ones 10 blocks away. And when the Average Listener hits the scan button, it may not stop at 103.1. Gotta go looking for it.

Fine in Destin, Niceville, Valpo, Sandestin and the condo communities along 30A (making your Lite AC musings reasonable, I'd think). The 60 dBu just misses PCB, though it's certainly listenable. IIRC it generally doesn't show up in the Panama City Arbitron, even at the 1-share level--pretty good evidence that it doesn't cut the mustard on the World's Most Beautiful.

Anyway, if they do indeed flip to dance/hip-hop/techno or the like to pursue the few pennies of bar/club money that isn't already spoken for, Mark should say a prayer of thanks. AC should be his biggest competition, and I'm sure "Mix" snagged a few bucks over the years--and those clients aren't going to switch to hip-hop...
 
PS: Nah, we won't be heading to the Gulf Coast for Spring Break this year (though us faculty-types are tied to the university schedule, so I'll be hanging around somebody's bar... just not Juana's Pagodas). Couldn't talk the wife into it--something about saving some money for retirement--as if I won't be working until I'm dead (The Radio Retirement Plan). LOL

Sorry to miss the 650 Blaw-Knox nostalgia. We need more diamond-shaped towers! Maybe next year...
 
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