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MIX 106.5 Stunting

Jack is still a mixed bag, though there are successes (both branded and not).

I mentioned Los Angeles, which is still well-rated (though down a bit recently). One thing KCBS-FM 93.1 "Jack FM" does is something I mentioned...they actually make the station voice (Howard Cogan) a living personality.

He doesn't just throw down some liners and check back in a few months later. I was reading about this, and he's under contract with them to produce topical, on the fly liners...like my comment about The Lake and Mangini liners. (Those would basically be dead Tuesday, BTW.)
 
rubberchicken said:
One of the biggest winners in the format still today is WRRK in Pittsburgh. 96.9 BOB FM and they regularly finish in the top tier of stations
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Even more so: WNOB in the Norfolk, VA market
 
I seem to like the new 106.5 The Lake so far. The station has some potential as I think it will go through some tweaking. I like that they got rid of the "Mix" name, as it seems they want to start over with a new identity as opposed to continuing with the format or tweaking as "Mix." This leaves Q104 as the only Hot AC in Cleveland. Come to think of it, Q104 is a much truer Hot AC compared to 106.5, which always seemed to had adjust their playlist, yet keeping the 80's in some way.

"Mix" had an up-and-down roller coaster ride for the past 13 years. Was great - Randy James as PD with a different type of variety/AC station along with great imaging, was not great - WMMS PD Jim Trapp (?) running "Mix" as the station lost a lot of steam, was great again - Dave Popovich breathing life with an improved playlist and sound, was still great - Don Hallett takes over to keep the station going and it wasn't too bad, was not-so-great again - OM Kevin Metheny takes over and the station is there, was not great again - Chris Miller takes over and...replaced Brian and Joe with Valentine following mass cuts and...that's it as he never got much of a chance when got let go after not even a year (he also programmed WGAR), was great again - Tony Matteo seemed to have wanted the station to get some buzz in Cleveland with the all-Christmas format and now the new format. The Christmas music worked as it beat WDOK in overall cume, and tied with them in second place in overall numbers. That's just my assessment of "Mix."

The new station might pose as a threat to Radio 92.3, WNCX, WDOK, Q104, and to a lesser extent, V107.3. There would be those who are looking for music with little to no personality. Look at Radio 92.3. I bet a lot of people weren't sure it would succeed given the different incarnations of Alternative Rock that station went through (92.3 Xtreme Radio, 923X, 92.3 K-Rock), and not to mention trying to be another version of WMMS with the awkward Active Rock music before become a jockless, straight-up Alternative Rock station. As a result, the station is doing well.

Maybe the same thing could be for 106.5 The Lake. They could be Cleveland's version of Fly 92.9 in Dayton. In fact, here's the Yes.com playlist for Fly 92.9: http://www.yes.com/#WGTZ?log. A lot of the music is almost similar to WMVX.

Maybe also Gen-X might've worked, but I don't think Cleveland radio wants to go through another hot format after the Jammin' Oldies mess with the old WZJM back in 1999. That station was meant to steal listeners from stations including the now-former Mix. It didn't work as "The Beat" never fully caught on. The playlist was limited, mixing disco with Motown and little else was bad, having a poor jock line-up, and the name was just generic. The station also went through jocks who came and went. It was not a good station, and 92.3 was the wrong station to flip. It is one of the biggest mistakes of all time. That's also part of why Jack-FM, Free-FM, Fresh, and other newer formats never made it to Cleveland.

There still could be room for 90's-oriented music. I personally think it should be mixed in with the newer music on Q104, and make it like a Gen-X/Hot AC hybrid. Heck, if The Lake takes off, and if WMMS wants to adjust their rock playlist (which they really should), maybe WNCX could go Alternative and 92.3 going some type of Rhythmic CHR format (bring back the "Jammin'" name too), though that would mean Q104 would have to adjust...and so would V107.3. That's just wishful thinking.

In the meantime, I think the new 106.5 might take off given some time and a chance to polish. I love it waaaaaaaaaay better than the "No Rules" period for "Mix." That got old really quick and didn't last. Best of luck to 106.5 The Lake.
 
WNCX will never ever ever switch from classic rock as long as Bill Louis and Micheal Stanley are breathing.

Radio 92.3 has been unexpected gold to CBS, so that's gonna stay like it is as well.

The Buzzard seems to have found a winning formula as a teststerone feuled hot talk/rock/sports station, so forget 'MMS changing.

Q104 still plays a fair amount of 90's stuff, while trying to get some Kiss 96.5 ears with the newer stuff, and DOK plays softer 90's stuff.

I just don't see a 90's oriented Gen-X station working...sorry.
 
OK, so does The Lake ever reintroduce air personalities, even VTed?

The conventional wisdom would be an emphatic "no". Adult hits formats are not known for their airstaff. There are a couple of such stations (I think a couple of the "Bob" stations are staffed), but 106.5 seems to be following the "Jack FM" playbook - let the funny, snarky liner voice be your personality.

It's still early, tho.

I feel bad for the lost souls on 106.5's FB page, asking if the station will rehire Brian and Joe. (And a couple want ex-WNCX morning team Scott and Jeff.)

CC inherited a couple of Jack stations in the CBS swap, and hasn't changed them...someone mentioned Baltimore, and CC also got the Jack station in Sacramento. Both are still around, and still even carry the branding. I'd have to look, but I believe both are still as jockless as they were in the CBS era.
 
Eventually I believe Lake does add a talent or two. The Jack format, adopted from an internet station in Canada (I believe) originally had jocks, and still does. The U.S. version introduced no jocks.

My buddy programs WJJK/Indy. Originally a Jack station, til Cumulus no longer wanted to pay the licensing fee, WJJK was jockless from it's Jack debut until about 18 months in. Then jocks appeared AM and PM drive only, twice per hour for weather and/or traffic. Slowwwwwly the talent got more breaks, but not intrusive jock chatter. (WJJK top 3 P25-54 and poised to topple longtime rock incumbent WFBQ, Bob and Tom's flagship). WJJK too used Cogan when a Jack format. WJJK now closer to a classic hits, with Cumulus go-to-VO George Robinson.

So... to answer the jock/no jock Jack question...this armchair PD thinks it all depends on the programmer/mission. I think my buddy at WJJK did it right. Perhaps after the 5000 songs, there might be a voice, other than the liner VO, to do weather/traffic in AM and PM drive.. and that's it. If it goes beyond that perhaps a PM drive talent to put on the streets for promotions/appearances.
 
dannykewl said:
What's strange from the stunt stint, is that WMVX played commercials during the stunting. All the other stunting I remember, commercials were never played. It was often a song played over and over for a couple of days.

The first stunt I remember, was in 1972, a station playing Jerry Reed's "When You're Hot You're Hot" over and over for a couple of days. I believe it was 107.9 WELW-FM, when they changed from Top 40 to country. WENZ kept playing "The End Of The World As We Know It" by REM when they flipped from Alternative to Urban in 1999. Also when 107.3 stunted from The Wave to AAA playing about a day and a half of the ticking from Lake's "Time Bomb" - I do not recall commercials on any of those stunts.

Also anyone remember when WHK had Harvey the robot for a few days, in spring in 1967, IIRC. No regular DJ's. I guess that could be considered stunting? I read later the station (DJ's?) were on strike, and that was the reason for Harvey.
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CC had some interesting stunts here in 2006; first, when they blew up longtime country station 105.7 WFMX (originally based in Statesville, NC but moved to Clemmons to move it out of the Charlotte market and into the Greensboro market), they played a 12-minute loop of song and sound clips that centered around the word "kiss" leading to the launch of R&B-formatted WMKS "105.7 Kiss-FM" (this station, in turn, has since changed formats again, this time to Top 40); then, after Christmas that same year, when WRSN "Sunny 93.9" in Raleigh died, they incorporated that same "kiss" loop into a longer stunt loop that was about an hour and 20 minutes long; this station became Rhythmic AC-formatted WKSL "93.9 Kiss-FM" (this station is still on the air, although they've tweaked the format a bit in recent months).
 
I worked in the Raleigh cluster with WRSN. Three of the four stations in the cluster have flipped since I left; oldies WTRG flipped to AAA The River which has morphed to a classic hits since 04. Rolling Stone winner classic rock WRDU flipped to country in '06 (bad move) and in the last few months flipped to Rush Radio. WRSN of course you already mentioned. Only CHR WDCG/G105 has survived (it's the WMJI of the Raleigh metro, with an AM show like Lanigan was 20 years ago). When I was there (00-04) WRSN was #1 P25-54 and W25-54... at least up until mid 2003 when new mgmt came in and started to screw with it. The mgmt team that came to Raleigh mid 2003 ruined the entire cluster moving forward. Present OM Chris Shebel was not part of that team.

*WRSN OM/PD/AM host Bob Bronson left Fall 03 for AC WZID/Manchester NH. He's been the AM co-host on America's #1 station, Lite-FM New York City for over a year.
 
If they're 90's based mainstream how can they say, "We Play Anything"? It's still tested, mainstream, run of the mill CC Core artists & songs. I tried listening online & couldn't. Why not? Because "My Best Friend's Girl" by the Cars was on. That was a huge Mix 106.5 song that got airplay at least once every 24 hrs. Just like Modern English "I Melt With You"; another that reminds me too much of the old format & reminds me I'm still listening to nothing special. ::)
 
Thanks for the information and the link. I assume #1 is the first song played. I called the P.D. about a song I was looking for (which you can find out about in a lenthy previous post here). He graciously emailed back to me with the information. That is a very kind gesture, and I will be tuning in more out of respect for him taking the time to answer my question.
 
nightfly61 said:
A good format for the Port Clinton/Cedar Point area would be "The Beach", "Life's a Beach, on WXXX" playing Vacationland's Favorite Summer Hits! like:
Thunder Island
Island Girl
Sunset Grill
Tequila Sunrise
Jimmy Buffett
Pat Daly
Beach Boys
There's No Surf In Cleveland-Euclid Beach Band
Summer In The City
Summer Nights
...and the list could go on, along w/ fishing reports, lake forecast & rundowns of big tourist attractions & concerts.
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That would have been perfect for 100.9 WMJK after the classic rock format ended 2 years ago instead of flipping it to country -- or incorporate that theme into WLEC 1450's playlist.
 
or incorporate that theme into WLEC 1450's playlist.
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That could not be done with the satellite programming the current owners, BAS are running. The only thing live & local is the Morning Show & the high school sports coverage keeping 1450 afloat.

For years on Rt. 2 heading east toward Cedar Point there was a road sign that said, "Tune to WLEC 1450 AM for Cedar Point Traffic Info". Not sure if they do that any more or if the sign is still there.
 
The sign is still there. I commute from Sandusky to Akron daily.

I tell ya what, I dig Elyria-Lorain Broadcasting rock based AAA WLKR-FM. Yes, the music is done in Denver by Dial-Global, but I like it. Good mix of eclectic and tried and true. Format would do well in a larger market.
 
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