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MY 102.5

C

carolinaradio

This question hasn't been asked lately, so here goes....

How much longer is this thing going to stay on the air? It's so stale it's depressing. The ratings appear to have bottomed out, but it still doesn't look that good.
 
Good question. I actually listened to Zack and Marne for a bit yesterday and they sounded a little better as far as the chemistry between them goes, but still not a good enough morning show to build a station around. And the music, yeah, it's stale. Haven't really listened to other Hot ACs lately to see how they're mixing things, but the vast majority of their playlist sounds the same as it did a year ago - did someone not get the memo that Lady Gaga and Katy Perry are no longer the "hot" new artists right now?

A traditional AC has enough of a difficult time keeping their music lineup fresh, but a Hot AC should not be sounding "stale". The whole point of a Hot AC is keeping up with new music without the "kids" stuff on the Top 40 stations. But if you don't keep up with the times, you'll soon be sounding no different than the AC station.
 
I've heard them on and off, and they still don't do much for me. I think a big problem is that neither of them are from this area, or even this part of the country. In a market like this, I think it greatly helps when one of the hosts is from the market/area/even region (we're not Atlanta, Charlotte, Dallas, Raleigh, etc). They are totally outsiders, and I think that might not go over well with a lot of the audience. As we've both agreed in the past, I think it was better with just Marne not trying to make anything cute and just playing music.

The playlist is ridiculously stale. There is so much new, fresh stuff on the charts now to still be hammering the same "hits" from 5 or 6 months ago over and over again. They've still come a long way with new adds, but they're still way too slow to put new stuff in to heavy rotation. They wore Mumford and Sons out forever, and of course, they play the older stuff (Katy Perry, Gaga, etc) way too much when there's plenty of new stuff that could be played. There are so many good Hot AC's -- Star 94/Atlanta, Y98/St. Louis, Mix/Orlando, etc., then listen to this...just blah.

I will say that getting Dave Kent's voicetracks out of afternoon drive was a plus. He always sounded intoxicated to me.
 
Still sounds like Horse Manure, in stereo! It is a FLOP, but the there is a bucket of pride here that won't admit defeat. It is done, and What's next?
 
Just going by the comments made it sounds like maybe a little format shifting (not changing) with a few updates would help things. Maybe MY 102.5 is Your 102.5.
 
I'm starting to agree with Scooter. I'm wondering if they're keeping this turkey around due to ego purposes. It wouldn't be the first time before. CC pretty much slammed the old, successful MY 102.5 while promoting this which has not worked.

The old MY 102.5 just needed to be slightly modernized with better management. It didn't need to essentially be butchered.

I listened to Magic for a while today. I don't know what all they've done, but the imaging, jingles, music flow, and everything has greatly improved over last year at this time. They serve the Mainstream AC segment just fine. We didn't need 2 Mainstream AC's, really, anyway, and Magic sounded better when both did the format in recent years anyway. MY just seems like a wasted opportunity.
 
What's kind of sad was that for the first year after the "fresh" switch is that MY was the station I listened to the most. Even though they were incredibly slow with adds, and until last Spring, they still continued with mixing in slow '80s songs, they were still playing more pop-rock/alternative type stuff that wasn't (at the time) being played on B93.7 like Florence & the Machine and Gotye.

Now that we have an alternative station, I rarely listen to MY since X is more my musical taste overall (in addition to being quick with new adds and obviously playing a lot of alternative that wouldn't be played on Hot AC or CHR). I no longer have to "settle" for a half-assed Hot AC station. If X98.5 ever went away, I'd again be stuck with MY.

The flip itself was a mess and, even now as a Hot AC, they're way to stagnant with not enough new material and lots of rehashes of the songs that were hits over a year ago.

I still wouldn't mind having a Hot AC in the market, but MY needs to be more aggressive in its playlist if they really want to sound "fresh".
 
That's why I wish it would just go away. They've sounded like absolute crap for almost 2 years now, and it's obvious they aren't going to ever sound like a Y98, Q104, MIX 105.1, Star 94, FM100, etc. They DO play occasional interesting Hot AC tracks that B-93.7 doesn't play, like "Lego House" by Ed Sheeran, and maybe some '90s tracks (that are also heard on Chuck), but that's pretty much it. The personalities certainly don't compel me to listen. I've given up any hope on them. I don't know what CC's problem is.

I don't mind the Hot AC format at all right now, but if I can listen to Channel 96.1, with the mix they have, they actually do a better job of breaking new adult/Hot AC'ish music. I could gladly settle for them. An X-98.5 type station covers the new Alternative segment just fine. I just rarely find a justifiable reason to listen to MY anymore.

Comparing MY to McDonalds is a slam to the latter.
 
It'll never happen, but I'd love to see the station flip to Alternative. They've failed as a Hot AC and they won't go back to AC.

If MY and X98.5 were under the same management (which obviously they aren't), I'd see no reason why not to give X a shot on a bigger stick. I don't think it would do any worse than MY is currently doing.
 
Well the first problem that I noticed when the change occurred is that they switched formats but didn't change the damn name. That was a completely stupid move because it gives the impression that the station is really the same when it isn't. When the format change occurred they should have changed the name and dropped "My 102.5". They apparently don't understand brand image, marketing, or their target audience.
 
clemsonbloke said:
Well the first problem that I noticed when the change occurred is that they switched formats but didn't change the damn name. That was a completely stupid move because it gives the impression that the station is really the same when it isn't. When the format change occurred they should have changed the name and dropped "My 102.5". They apparently don't understand brand image, marketing, or their target audience.
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None in Greenville comes to mind but there have been stations that have successfully changed formats, and brands, without changing the name. With the lack of promotion money available today, I'd think long and hard about dropping a well-known handle such as My102.5.
 
But the MY 102.5 name was so tainted to begin with, I am totally with clemsonbloke that it should have been dropped. Many in the demographic they're trying to target now associate "MY 102.5" as their mother's station, not theirs. I know I still think of their soft AC days when I hear the name, not the stuff they're playing now.

"Fresh 102.5" would have been a much smarter move.
 
carolinaradio said:
But the MY 102.5 name was so tainted to begin with, I am totally with clemsonbloke that it should have been dropped. Many in the demographic they're trying to target now associate "MY 102.5" as their mother's station, not theirs. I know I still think of their soft AC days when I hear the name, not the stuff they're playing now.

"Fresh 102.5" would have been a much smarter move.
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That's a reasonable position but reflects a fundamentally different belief than I have. It's only tainted in the minds of media-conscious people like us, a tiny subset of the population. Most people don't consciously think of it at all. "My 102.5" is burned into their subconscious in a bland, innocuous way that can be manipulated. Give me a million dollars for a TV and billboard campaign and maybe I'd change it.

I'd go so far as to say that if they changed the name to Fresh 102.5, a year from now M 102.5 would have great name recognition and Fresh 102.5 would not. In fact, some people listening to 102.5 would tell you a year from now that they listen to My 102.5. I used to see research studies showing that an air personality was their favorite years after he retired.
 
See I still think though that it is in fact tainted in the public's mind too, they're not stupid. After a station has been so unfocused like that and all over the map for so long people know. I think it would help them to lock in on a solid format (whatever that is), and then rebrand and get a new image in order to rid itself of all of it's former trappings. Now of course all of that is ONLY possible with the right people, resources, and someone with a vision. All of that said though, there needs to be a complete name brand change up and change the website.
 
Weather you brand or rebrand a station there is always confusion no matter what you do. Twenty three years ago there was a set of AM, FM, stations here in the Elloree, Santee area called WSOL AM and WMNY FM and were owned by the late Clarence Jones. The FM station a year before it was sold changed it's call letters to WORG to regain the WORG call letters in this area. The stations went off the air 24 years ago and stayed off a year before the FM was sold to Marion Garris who reopened the studios in Orangeburg and became 100.3 WORG that we have today. The old location of the stations 24 years ago were on Hwy 6 between Elloree and Santee. The point being we have put announcements on the radio here at WLRE telling people our station has never been on Hwy 6 and where we are located but we still have people going to the old Hwy 6 location of WSOL/WMNY/WORG looking for our station and waiting out front for us to open. The other day a UPS driver (new) drove up and down the road three times looking for our building which has a red roof six inch call letters on the front of the building and a 200 foot tower over head as well as the address on the building and still he wasn't sure, I don't think I want to drive close to him. Just a couple of days ago two people disgreed on weather Clarence Jones worked or owned WLRE radio with one telling the other he had talked to Clarence not too long ago. Needless to say I explained that Clarence had never owned or worked at WLRE radio and that the station he was confussing it with had been moved out of the area for twenty three years and is now 100.3 WORG in Orangeburg and that Clarence had died over a year ago. Changing the branding of My 102.5 will be noticed by some people but others will never get the message even if they listen to 102.5 they will still think it's My 102.5.
 
clemsonbloke said:
See I still think though that it is in fact tainted in the public's mind too, they're not stupid.
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They're not stupid, but they are inattentive.

Most people turn on the radio with about as much enthusiasm and self-awareness as they turn on a light switch. It's a utility.

I never get a hair cut two times in a row at the same place. When I hear them with a radio station on, which is less often than it used to be, I ask them what station they are listening to. I have never, not even once, had someone tell me with authority "I am listen to (radio station)." They say, "I don't know, we listen to different kinds of music." Being a radio geek, I always know exactly what they are listening to but I want to know if they do. They just don't. I am sure that there are a few who do, but they are rare.

Taking it out of the radio realm for a moment, Yahoo got a new CEO not all that long ago. If there is a name that is "tainted" it would be Yahoo. I hate the old Yahoo so much, I hate the word Yahoo. Yet Marrisa Mayer has not changed the name. Why? I think it's for the same reason. Brand recognition, even though tainted, is expensive to acquire and easy to throw away. I think Yahoo just might get turned around because name associations can be changed. Getting from unknown to known is much harder.

None of this applies to youth-oriented radio stations. Kids and young adults are always looking for the next new thing and don't have old brands that they associate with. My102.5 is not a name for a kid's radio station so if they are targeting 12-34, I take it all back.
 
MY 102.5's program director, in that AllAccess interview last year, clearly said they were targeting hip females in their 30s (in that article attacking the "stale"/"old" MY [we won't mention the ratings back in the stale days]). Much of that bracket probably perceived/perceives the old MY to be old, stale, and remember their mothers listening to it (at least on the young end). It takes a lot to change an opinion, more than a new logo and some updated music.

I guess my point is....Clear Channel took a station that was always popular with females in their 40s and 50s, got a new positioner, logo, and fresher music, and tried to make it a generation younger. Keeping the old name isn't a great way to make that point, especially to a passive listener that doesn't pay much attention. They could just think "oh, that's My 102.5, I think that's what my mom listens to" and skip past it. A fair share of AC stations have struggled with branding issues in recent years as they have grown to be perceived too old.

When I think of MY 102.5, I still associate it with Elton John, Rod Stewart, Billy Joel, Michael Bolton, etc. I'm in my 20s and remember my mom listening to the station back in its heyday. Certainly not what they play now. With the erratic programming, they've really made a mess of the name now. I was a bit startled to hear Florida-Georgia Line's "Cruise" (the Nelly version) and Pitbull's "Give Me Everything" today.

The bottom line, really, is would a name change have helped them that greatly? I don't think it could have made up for any of the programming missteps they've made, and the fact that any Hot AC format is an uphill battle in this region. Maybe if the transition to Hot AC had been executed properly, it wouldn't have mattered. The whole "transition" was just such a botched mess. Hanging on to those slow 80s ballads while trying to be hip and modern for so long was catastrophic.
 
carolinaradio said:
When I think of MY 102.5, I still associate it with Elton John, Rod Stewart, Billy Joel, Michael Bolton, etc. I'm in my 20s and remember my mom listening to the station back in its heyday. Certainly not what they play now.

The whole "transition" was just such a botched mess. Hanging on to those slow 80s ballads while trying to be hip and modern for so long was catastrophic.
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These. These two facts killed any hope the station had. I also still think of the "MY" moniker associated with the slow 70s/80s ballads with some newer mid-tempo stuff thrown in as in any traditional AC station. But by not changing their name and having the incredibly bad transition, they lost any hope of gaining traction as a Hot AC.

We may never know whether if they had rebranded AND done a cut-and-dry transition to Hot AC whether they would have done any better. Personally, I think they would have. Despite Hot AC's struggles in the South, I still think there's an audience for it. But MY blew any chance to find out by screwing up however the could. First, the incredibly painful transition with '80s ballads played next to Fun., Lady Gaga and even more cutting edge stuff like Florence & the Machine was just plain pitiful. And I know it was at least a year before they completely threw away the '80s. Then having a less than desirable morning show. And throw in the old name on top and it was a recipe for disaster. And it was and continues to be even now as they seem to refuse to keep the playlist as "fresh" as it should be.

Oh well, the ship has sailed...and sunk. Next!
 
That's been my point all along, keeping it "MY" reminds people of what it was and people associate that name with the old station. It needed a complete ground up redo with new name, new image, new website, and some people that know what they're doing, esp in programming.
 
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