• 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

Mix to go Spanish??

My two cents (for what it's worth)... Mix goes Spanish which results in one of two things. First, it would be the perfect opportunity to change formats at Q105 (why not, with the exception of Jack Miller, everybody's ratings are near the bottom) and put Rico in charge of a more "upbeat" station. I really think they brought Rico in for just a situation considering his background. As for Mason, this could be the end. Second, switch frequencies...put Spanish on 104.7 (greater reach) and start with a new station (just like I said before) with Rico in charge on 92.5. I really feel that the guys at CBS are planning in the event Mix switches and are looking at a post Mason Q105, hence bringing in George Mier and moving Rico to Q105 full time. I really think there is more on the horizon but I think everyone's waiting for Mix to pull the trigger.

By the way, speaking of Jack Miller, why is he the only one on that station with any numbers? I guess that means people tune in just to hear the Dance Party. Now the question is from where are they tuning in from? The Point? Mix? And could you really build a station around that?

Once again...my two cents (won't get you much these days :) )
 
This just goes to show something. Why should Q105 have a full airstaff playing Classic Hits with bottom numbers? Against nobody at The Eagle? Against an airstaff that sounds like college radio at 101.5? Although I have always felt that Mason was too politically conservative for my tastes, I still think that Q105 has the best sound overall in Tampa Bay. They come as close to WCBS-FM I guess you can get in this place. If they go down by being whipped by robojocks, then I give up. Now of course CBS could do AC better than CC or Cox because it seems except for overnights-------they are not robojocked and the people they have like Marv and Mike Reeves actually have a personality. So does Jack Miller AND YOU CAN TELL THEM APART. I would hope that CBS keeps whatever they do live and local. But then if Q105 is tanking, I guess Tampa Bay likes robojocks, VT'ing, and in the case of WDUV------nobody home at all 20 hours a day.
 
Spanish is the most successful format in the history of 92.5. When you have limited signals like that one you have to program them with formats that have highly loyal audiences (as opposed to the 6th AC in the market).

I guess my other question is what happened to Q105's numbers. They were cruising right along about a year ago, with good adult numbers. The only real change in the market since then is that Spongebubba Radiopants returned from exile.. I'd have a hard time believing that Q is where his numbers came from.
 
I think the problem has been Q tinkering with the music too much. They'll be fine. I think it would take a complete collapse on that station for Mason and friends to lose jobs. The "Q105" brand probably still sells and despite what the ratings say, makes money. Same goes for 92.5... they're not flipping. Totally agree with Parttimer here. Mix flipping to some version of Spanish or non-English programming would simply serve another audience. I doubt it would compete directly with 92.5. In fact, if Mix flips, it'll probably help the Q's numbers IF they go back to a 70's and 80's POP format and leave the male targeted burned out classic hits to The Eagle.
 
If I came to Tampa today and searched the band cold, I would assume Q105 was the premier adult music station because of the whole package including audience interaction and jingle package. I just don't see who is doing this better right now. Only Magic sounds vaguely professional and thats barely. I DON't WORK FOR CBS.
 
billalm said:
In fact, if Mix flips, it'll probably help the Q's numbers IF they go back to a 70's and 80's POP format and leave the male targeted burned out classic hits to The Eagle.
Click to expand...

Why not? It seems to be working for the Dance Party as they do play 70s, 80s, and some 90s Pop (ok, dance but you get the point). I'm not saying Dance Party ALL the time but the addition of more Pop (80s and 90s) wouldn't hurt.
 
Spanish is the most successful format in the history of 92.5. When you have limited signals like that one you have to program them with formats that have highly loyal audiences (as opposed to the 6th AC in the market).

Parttimer:

Firstly, why do you say this? Oldies 92.5 I thought was doing pretty good... good enough to have Q-105 trade formats several years ago.

Secondly, can any radio insider explain how a spanish language station would be anything other than a desperation move programming wise. For those of us who are not comfortably fluent in Spanish, the frequency essentially goes off the air. Is the ability to bill well (maybe very well) to a tiny portion of the potential audience really a moneymaker?

I understand that there are a lot of Spanish speakers in Tampa Bay, but most I would bet are bilingual to some degree. Would playing Spanish tunes with English speaking DJ's allow a 'Spanish formatted' station to garner a larger audience?
 
If memory serves me correctly, the Oldies 92.5 numbers were not quite what they're doing with Spanish now. Plus Mason doesn't work cheap, so from a profit standpoint I'd have to think this is doing a lot better because the overhead is substantially lower.

Plus Country Q105 was just being run to protect WQYK... they could do that on the lesser 92.5 signal and let Mason generate more revenue on the larger 104.7 signal. Then CC went ahead and killed Thunder in favor of US103.5 and the second country station had no reason to live in CBS' cluster.

Yes, flipping Mix to Spanish is roughly equivalent to turning it off as far as the english-speaking population is concerned, but to an extent it's a format that can bill without ratings. That's why there's so much of it already on the AM dial. when you add ratings it does pretty well. Look at Orlando, 98.1 is a rimshot from Titusville and does well ratings-wise, and CC then flipped what had been WDIZ back in the day.

As far as speaking English within this format, some stations do "Spanglish" where they slip in and out of English a little, because a lot of their bilingual audience speaks that way. Speaking English and playing Spanish music? I don't think anyone listens if you do that (cultural thing, the hispanic audience would be offended).
 
Because CC took a losing FM frequency in Pittsburgh that had multiple formats, switched it to FM talk and made it a solid top 10 contender. I think that they even stole the Rushmeister from the CBS O and O AM'er that fuctions in the same role as WFLA. They could make WFLA and 100.7 a simulcast and flip 97.9 to Spanish or some combination. If CBS is planning a reaction to something like that, remaking Q-105 into mainstream AC with an added "Fresh" moniker like "The Fresh Q-105" could be a viable option. I don't see Magic as immune to head on competition. I would hope Jack Miller could easily beat Delilah.

Another scenario is Cox moves the Eagle airstaff to the Point.(keeping the Point announcers and being live 24/7) That would give the POINT a full day of professional sounding announcers. Then the Point becomes 80,90's, and Today and the Eagle flips to Spanish to cut of CC's move or becomes Urban AC which is a huge hole in this market. Cox resurrected WHPT from the dead, so maybe they got a clue now.
 
An after thought --------CBS has often taken in people who left CC. That includes Bobby Rich, Nikki Cruz, and Carrie Kirkland. If Mix flips , Q105 should hire Nancy and put her on with Mike either in AM or PM drive-------Great show! It could be "Tampa's freshest mix" and it would go something like this

6-----Nancy and Mike
9------Marvin Boone
12-------Rico Blanco
3--------Mason and friends
7--------Jack Miller
12-------voice track the guy on WCBS-FM overnights or Jhani Kaye from LA

Now back to reality and doing the wash
 
First off... there's no reason to move WDAE to FM. It's very successful where it is and is by far the strongest and one of the most easily receivable AM stations in the Bay area. However, I would entertain the idea of moving "WFLA" to FM. What's ironic is WFLA-FM actually exists on 100.7 in Tallahassee. But 970 WFLA does seem to hold it's on on the AM dial and market research has probably shown that moving the programming to the FM wouldn't result in much of an audience increase. BUT, if it were to happen, I'd probably do it at 97.9 simply due to the fact of re-imaging "970" to "97-9" would be more of a natural move. Then the question remains of what do you do with 970? Keep it a simulcast for how long? Either way, they've gotta do something with these 2 FMs as they're stumbling badly.

Secondly concerning CBS and Cox... Q's not as bad off as some are saying here and I highly doubt they'll be tinkering with the airstaff any time soon. The problem is in the music direction. Although Cox has looked pretty smart as of late, they really haven't done that much. Hiring Bubba and Cowhead and with little competition from 98 Rock, they now own the rock market almost by default. It took em a few years and 3 signals to do it but they're the place you go for rock whether it be X, Bone, or Eagle. And on the AC side they really haven't done much with Dove, Point, or Magic. Those liner card stations have probably increased their audiences simply because the others in the market have stumbled with music direction with Mix and Q being the prime examples.
 
The Point with live announcers, are you on crack??? Will never happen, for that matter start saying bye bye to what little live announcers we have now. Wake up people, CC, COX, CBS are all about the bottom line. Announcers are overhead and really just a nuisance. Ah, sorry, I need to get back to iTunes to download more goodies for my iPod. Yeah, radio, what's that again?
???
 
Q105 should hire Nancy and put her on with Mike either in AM or PM drive-------Great show!
Click to expand...

What makes you think - even if it was the last available radio gig on Earth - that Mike Reeves would ever want to work with her again?
 
Sorry-----Nancy and Mike reunited is a joke. Just like Jhani Kaye overnights. But what about putting Nancy in other venues?

Nancy and Bubba
Nancy and MJ---(might help his image against Bubba)
Nancy and Dick Ring
Nancy on WMNF doing a feminist radio show
Nancy on Spirit FM

That's enough.
 
billalm said:
Although Cox has looked pretty smart as of late, they really haven't done that much. Hiring Bubba and Cowhead and with little competition from 98 Rock, they now own the rock market almost by default. It took em a few years and 3 signals to do it but they're the place you go for rock whether it be X, Bone, or Eagle. And on the AC side they really haven't done much with Dove, Point, or Magic...
Click to expand...

Hold on a second... Isn't the maximum number of FM stations one can own in a market five? I counted six. Did I miss something?
 
Not in this case thanks to a loophole. The strongest signal contours for WSUN and WHPT don't overlap which means they get away with it. WSUN (97X) broadcasts at very low power from north of Tampa Bay and WHPT (102.5 The Bone) broadcasts at full power but from a tower farther south near Bradenton. Yeah, it's kinda BS but they got away with it.
 
And if I recall correctly, WHPT's city of license is Sarasota, which is kind of another DMA... So that explains it... ::)
 
DToTheJ said:
And if I recall correctly, WHPT's city of license is Sarasota, which is kind of another DMA... So that explains it... ::)
Click to expand...

Actually, Sarasota / Bradenton are in a separate MSA but the same DMA.
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom