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Music and personality on 107.3 FM

One thing the change did was to get the "Hammer on Hammer" board at cleveland.com to discuss something else for awhile.

I find it a refreshing change and am anxious to see what direction it will take. I don't think it will become as much a Buzzard clone as people are writing it off as. I think eventually, it will serve as a reminder as to why Cleveland has been called the "Rock n Roll capitol of the world."
 
I don't think Rocco or John is trying to clone what 'MMS USED to be. WMMS succeeded in Cleveland. Arguably the same formula at that time may not have worked elsewhere. It worked then because of a lot of factors, including staying ahead of trends and knowing the market. I personally don't think there's another programmer in Cleveland who is as promotion/marketing savvy as John. There is a a hole in the market. They're attempting to fill it. As GM Gronek was quoted in the recent PD piece, if V107-3 can be the 3rd choice (tertiary) on the preset, that's a win. I agree. Hell, if it's one of the Top 5 (my car has five) I think that would be a success. Money will follow. Already hearing more agency spots.
 
A microcosm of one thing being accomplished was the playing of "Since I Lost My Baby" by The Temptations, a mid 1960s hit that wasn't the monster, and now over-played hit, that "My Girl" is. Whenever "My Girl" comes on, my dial gets switched... not because it's a bad song, but because I'm burned out on it. With "Since I Lost My Baby", my volume was turned up. A refreshing breath of fresh air. I get the same joy listening to the re-broadcasts of "American Top 40", particularly numbers 40 through 20.
 
Give 1590 WAKR a try... our core is 1964-68. Top end is '72/73. Low end '56.

We play the Temps "Since I Lost My Baby"....actually more than My Girl (rotation issue, lol!)
 
Thanks for the WAKR suggestion. My main sources for oldies are WDLW 1380 AM where, like WAKR, the 1950s are not no-man's land and WBWC 88.3 FM (also available at www.wbwc.com) on Sunday evenings from 6pm - midnight. 50's/early '60s 'til 9, then mid 60's/'70s 9pm-midnight.
 
And Tim Daugherty does a great, albeit voicetracked, afternoon drive program on WAKR. He's a credit to all of us radio geeks. 8)
 
I don't mean to make this 107-3 thread about WAKR... but... I will :0)

WAKR, being AM, has a large percentage of it's cume 50+...actually 60+ is even bigger. So, to extend the playlist into the mid/late 70s would just erode the upper core. We need them.... for now as the younger end wouldn't grow as fast as the top end leaves. So we're playing what WMJI has abandoned (losing it's bedrock of P1s) .... sticking with the meat n potatoes of the format which is '64-68, rolling back to the WMJI of 97-98 when it was poppin' on all cylinders (Marconi, R&R award, etc).

You'll hear Oh Wow's..dubbing in plenty of stuff you don't hear anymore. We'll even dip to '54 for some Roots of RNR titles. The station is known for it's news and sports. For the nine-ten hours per day we get for music we are maxmizing what we can to make it count. Imaging is, hopefully, hotter than the past. Licensed PAMS jingles and more to add to the fun. Make no mistake, powers are the way to go to be successful. P1's want to hear the hits.
 
Are there any formattable hits that WAKR has determined that the core audience is tired of hearing? If so, do you lower their use level or remove them (and for how long).
 
VODood, I've noticed the WAKR signal seems weaker than usual lately in the Kent area. Last fall I could clearly hear it day and night, now the daytime signal is mediocre and the night signal is poor.
 
John, we don't have the budget for a new AMT, but after 15 years in the format I have research (including WMJI AMTs from years past) that is very useable, especially for an AM station. Let me stress that I am not a research "tactician". Hate research on the whole. Garbage in garbage out. It can be manipulated easily. I don't just plug in POP scores. Don't believe in it.

You've got to know the demo and their lifestyle, the music, the market, etc.

Ex:The "At The Hop" 50s/60s show I hosted at WTRG/Raleigh, a market with a median age of 42, garnered a 21 share VTK'd P35-64 (the true oldies demo, not 25-54). I know the music and what the demos want to hear. In Raleigh, I also knew that the major influx of those migrating to the area were from NYC, Jersey, Boston, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Philly and even Cleveland. Doo wop, R&B etc all big in those markets. I was told the show would flop... it eventually became Top 5 P25-54 when it went to a live show, able to take requets and add features that required live calls.

Me personally? There's a lot of tunes I can't stand hearing. But you can't program what you like/don't like. And you can't use Whitburn's Top40 book to program either. Lots of songs were "hits"... but are really secondaries or even oh wows.... payola tunes really. Powers win. But we do work in tunes that WMJI hasn't (won't) played in a long time due to the demos they're now after. .... We're doing what we can with the available time given for music.

I can say this... WAKR has evolved exponentially since June. Lots of music on the air now that wasn't just eight months ago. It's a process.

With that said... there are songs that fatigue. Brown Eyed Girl, Unchained Melody, and others. But they're also "Super Powers" as far as POP score goes. So we play them, just not as often as you normally would.

We have an ever growing library.... my 25,000 song HD :D

As for the signal... I'm not an engineer.. and never really got into it enough to speak about patterns etc. I do know that we change pattern like a daytimer signs on/off, depending on the month. In the summer I take 'AKR on my drive home as far as Elyria... sometimes further.
 
I think it's just the location of my dorm. Last fall I was in Olson Hall, now I'm in Leebrick and my room has an east-facing window, which lets the Youngstown stations come in really well. I took my portable radio for a walk across campus and WAKR came in perfectly fine. So, false alarm I guess.
 
V107.3 is holding me longer, per listen. They keep coming up with interesting things to hear. On Saturday night 03/13/2010 they played CANDI STATON, "He Called Me Baby", a song that was pretty big on R&B radio back in 1971. I have the LP, but haven't listened to it in years. Very nice.

They also played a mid 1980s Psychedelic Furs track, and it wasn't "Love My Way", which would have been fine too.

If you're bored with the same-old - same-old, you'll find something musically unique on WNWV.
 
I've heard them play the Fur's "The Ghost In You" a few times, great tune!

Here it is at YouTube to confirm:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6aMHL1lEQBk

It was their "follow-up" to "Love My Way".

I find myself listening to Boom, er, V-1073 more and more. A few songs they kind of overplay, but seems like they are putting new ones in and keeping their mix interesting.
 
I believe "Ghost In You" is correct. One song they play that I wish they wouldn't is a song by the lead singer of the band The Cardigans that may be called "My Love's Better Then Jesus". It rubs me the wrong way for all the reasons you can probably guess which I won't enumerate here. Will drive secular friendly people of Faith away.
 
The Cardigans had some good tunes played on Radio Paradise. While the variety is improving, I STILL can't understand V107.3's love affair with "live" recordings. I have never heard such a high % played on any other AAA station, OTA or Internet-only. Some versions they play are just god-awful and dreadful.

BTW I would guess playing the Candi Staton song was only because of the sampling of it in One Eskimo's "Kandi".

NP: on my WinAmp player- "There Goes another love song"- The Outlaws (!!) on Rewound Radio operated by Alan Sniffen, the dentist with his own New York City board.
Here's a direct link:

http://www.musicradio77.com:9000/
 
Same with the old 107.3 WBEA,=B-107
& WCZR=Cleveland's Z-Rock
Didn't WGCL stand for "We're Greater CLeveland"?
 
I never heard that meaning for WGCL, but it makes sense. I do remember the WNCX was supposed to mean "North Coast Express". Someone ratted them out to WMMS who then called themselves "The North Coast Express" for awhile, thus screwing up the new handle for the soon-to-be new call letters WNCX.
 
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