Need new rock station in Triad

[idontlookhowisound]

why does the End pull about half the numbers of the local rockers? Imagine if more than half the market could picke em up. Not that the End is a top notch station...but its SOMETHING.

that's always been what I thought. It just may work in the Triad.

and by the way, to the old farts, I wouldn't boast about bangin the young zeplin-lovin broads...they like your music because they think it's cool to be "retro", plus they're only letting you slobber all over them because they're after all that money you have. they've got a few things to put in your face that national advertisers dont! sooner or later they'll move out of that phase and go back to the guys who don't need a little blue pill and a back brace to satisfy them.

;D enjoy your radio stations

 

[johnqdoe]

This board trips me out. Most every time VBZ or KRR are mentioned, its followed by how stale and crappy the music is on both stations. Someone talks about a real rock station and we get 4 pages saying it cant be sold, market cant support it, etc.etc.etc.

 

[dittohead1]

This board trips me out. Most every time VBZ or KRR are mentioned, its followed by how stale and crappy the music is on both stations. Someone talks about a real rock station and we get 4 pages saying it cant be sold, market cant support it, etc.etc.etc.

AND THAT'S WHY WE'VE HAD 20 STRAIGHT YEARS OF "SWEET HOME ALABAMA" AND WE'RE PROBABLY IN STORE FOR ANOTHER 20.

 

[VODood]

This board trips me out. Most every time VBZ or KRR are mentioned, its followed by how stale and crappy the music is on both stations. Someone talks about a real rock station and we get 4 pages saying it cant be sold, market cant support it, etc.etc.etc.

The former 94.5/WXRA (?) in Greensboro was a kick ass station that Tim Satterfield helmed (now PD at 100.3 The Buzzard).

http://audio.****************/cgi-bin/$rol.exe/adir1_search?Greensboro

 

[BIG APE]

This board trips me out. Most every time VBZ or KRR are mentioned, its followed by how stale and crappy the music is on both stations. Someone talks about a real rock station and we get 4 pages saying it cant be sold, market cant support it, etc.etc.etc.

The former 94.5/WXRA (?) in Greensboro was a kick ass station that Tim Satterfield helmed (now PD at 100.3 The Buzzard).

http://audio.****************/cgi-bin/$rol.exe/adir1_search?Greensboro

And your point being? Who are you? Tim!

 

[XTalker]

Actually, Tim was not the first PD at WXRA. A guy named Randy .. can't remember his last name.

Had a decent morning show with Boomer and The Dave - Boomer got in trouble giving an R rated movie to an underage listener!

Howard Nemenz was the "founder" of the station when Fairfield purchased it from Voyager. Switched it from CAT Country to XRA The Rock Alternative.

Marsh Gann, and Angie Ward were part of the original air crew. Angie later moved down the hall to WTQR.

 

[slogan]

if you wait a little while, you'll hear a new sound at 100.3. big ape doesn't have a glue.watch who is right on this one. a guy i know, now in fla. who sold for xra said they cashed flowed almost 600k their first year. i think bob nemenz (any relation to the other guy?) won some kind of award for it.

 

[XTalker]

Bob Nemenz is Howard's brother and was the first Sales Manager for WXRA. I believe the award was "The President's Club" award. The station had a strong start - with a good sales staff!

Never reached it's sales potential. Primary problem was the signal - never was strong in the full metro area. Seems I recall CC spending some money on the antenna system but it didn't help much. That is why Voyager (or was it AM/FM) dumped it in favor of acquiring 100.3.

 

[idontlookhowisound]

if you wait a little while, you'll hear a new sound at 100.3.

i heard the same...can't wait!

 

[MaskMan]

Bob Nemenz is Howard's brother and was the first Sales Manager for WXRA. I believe the award was "The President's Club" award. The station had a strong start - with a good sales staff!

Never reached it's sales potential. Primary problem was the signal - never was strong in the full metro area. Seems I recall CC spending some money on the antenna system but it didn't help much. That is why Voyager (or was it AM/FM) dumped it in favor of acquiring 100.3.

You're right about the XRA signal, but Voyager and or AM/FM didn't "dump" the station. (Capstar, AM/FM, SeaStar or whatever the name was at the time) already owned 100.3 and it was WHSL "Country", as well as WMAG. After Clear Channel bought them, the stations were changed and WXRA 94.5 became the pathetic Classic Country station and 100.3 became The Buzzard. Clear Channel needed a flanking station for WTQR. Too bad they didn't stick with that plan!

 

[iamdrunk]

Actually, Tim was not the first PD at WXRA. A guy named Randy .. can't remember his last name.

Had a decent morning show with Boomer and The Dave - Boomer got in trouble giving an R rated movie to an underage listener!

Howard Nemenz was the "founder" of the station when Fairfield purchased it from Voyager. Switched it from CAT Country to XRA The Rock Alternative.

Marsh Gann, and Angie Ward were part of the original air crew. Angie later moved down the hall to WTQR.

Randy Scovil was his name. Awesome dude. And Boomer was in trouble for more than that movie incident.

 

[slogan]

don't know how many of you remember xra, but that station was very well received in this area. had cc not changed it to classic country it probably would have fended off the end and grown to be our rock station. i think there's been so many changes at cc, nobody there remebers except tim and angie and they are probably in cya mode and not looking to stir anything up

 

[XTalker]

Bob Nemenz is Howard's brother and was the first Sales Manager for WXRA. I believe the award was "The President's Club" award. The station had a strong start - with a good sales staff!

Never reached it's sales potential. Primary problem was the signal - never was strong in the full metro area. Seems I recall CC spending some money on the antenna system but it didn't help much. That is why Voyager (or was it AM/FM) dumped it in favor of acquiring 100.3.

You're right about the XRA signal, but Voyager and or AM/FM didn't "dump" the station. (Capstar, AM/FM, SeaStar or whatever the name was at the time) already owned 100.3 and it was WHSL "Country", as well as WMAG. After Clear Channel bought them, the stations were changed and WXRA 94.5 became the pathetic Classic Country station and 100.3 became The Buzzard. Clear Channel needed a flanking station for WTQR. Too bad they didn't stick with that plan!

I believe this is the more accurate time table (hard to believe how long ago it was when first 94.5 appeared as a rock station.)

February 1994 - WMAG (for lack of the name of the actual owner) had been operating Cat Country on 94.5 when they were able to acquire WWWB (B-100FM). It was still the era of LMAs and limits on the number of stations. WWWB was operated under LMA for a year with Ed Weiss as the representative of the licensee.

Shortly after the take over, WWWB was changed to "The Fox" (don't remember the calls) and ramaind so for at least a year before Whistle 100 came along. Even had Wake Forest sports for a season (95-96, I believe)

May 1994 - Fairfield Communications acquired WSJS and WTQR from New Market, and later that year acquired 94.5. Station was changed from Cat Country to The Rock Alternative. Randy Scovill was the PD.

Summer 1997 - Fairfield was sold to Clear Channel - WXRA remained a rock station - although it went through several variations. WSJS and WTQR remained the same. 94.5 was never intended to be a flanker for TQR in the Fairfield days - not even the early CC days. It was only when CC merged with AM/FM and was forced to divest of some stations in the market.

August 2000 - CC merger with AM/FM forced the sale of WSJS and WMFR to CBS, while CC acquired WMAG and Whistle 100FM. It was then they moved rock from 94.5 to 100.3 and gave birth to the Buzzard, killed Whistle 100, and put classic country on 94.5. If my memory serves, it was not until January of 2001 that The Buzzard came into being - having been operated from the Winston-Salem studios for several months after CBS took over the building.

 

[XTalker]

don't know how many of you remember XRA, but that station was very well received in this area. had cc not changed it to classic country it probably would have fended off the end and grown to be our rock station. i think there's been so many changes at cc, nobody there remembers except tim and angie and they are probably in cya mode and not looking to stir anything up

What's the old saying - you can never go home! Certainly in the radio business it is very hard to go back, but slogan is right, 94.5 WXRA was a good radio station with a bad signal. If they had just moved it to 100.3 and kept everything else the same, your prediction might have come true.

You can add Monica to the list of CCers who remember.

XRA had a fairly long life (1994 to 2000)

 

[slogan]

great timeline "X". I wonder where satterfield fits in this. he was/is the op's guy. had to have some say in things. now he's got the buzzard (much like the station he came from in WV if what i'm told is true) and it's a piece of crap from what anyone i speak do says. i must say, i agree. pitiful attempt and never an once of success. i wonder if he has photos or something...you'd think with what is about to come out tomorrow inthe ratings his head would be rolling instead of all the other people that are already gone. i guess the radio business isn't so much like sports. in sports they get rid of the coach and not the players.cc gets rid of the players and keeps the "good" soldiers

 

[johnqdoe]

great timeline "X". I wonder where satterfield fits in this. he was/is the op's guy. had to have some say in things. now he's got the buzzard (much like the station he came from in WV if what i'm told is true) and it's a piece of crap from what anyone i speak do says. i must say, i agree. pitiful attempt and never an once of success. i wonder if he has photos or something...you'd think with what is about to come out tomorrow inthe ratings his head would be rolling instead of all the other people that are already gone. i guess the radio business isn't so much like sports. in sports they get rid of the coach and not the players.cc gets rid of the players and keeps the "good" soldiers

Well that's a tad harsh...and a tad inaccurate. The Buzzard came out with a set of balls musically and aggressively marketed the station and overtook the 100 year heritage 'KRR within a matter of months after their launch. Then 'KRR recovered a bit and the 2 have been goin back and forth the past 5 or 6 years with neither gaining much more than a .5 lead. After the Janet Jackson Super Bowl flap, the Buzzard, and most all off CC rock stations it seems, was neutered. Musically and promotionally. Had the Buzzard maintained that attitude and stayed a ROCK station instead of morphing into the stale classic rock station it is today....I'd bet they'd have a decent lead on 'KRR. As for Satterfield....He IS the Ops guy there. I imagine they've been a tad more concerned about 'TQR here in the last year or so....but by what some folks are posting here, a tweak or 3 on the Buzzard is about to come down the pike. I've said it before and I'll say it again...Where CC is messing up isn't always at the local levels. You parade a new Regional SR VP CC Brand Manager blah blah every 12-18 months thru the NC properties and things will suffer. These dudes come thru, make their "changes", then get blown out and someone else rolls into town with a "new, fresh, out of the box" idea....Hire good people and let them run their own damn radio stations.

 

[slogan]

i guess if you only drink tea it might seem harsh, fact is people's employment is affected by these "leaders" and when someone loses their job, is there something more harsh than that. all you need to do is look at some real ratings (not the 12+ that is meanlingless). krr has been kicking the buzzard feathers for a long time now. when xra first came on krr got derailed until the buzzard allowed them back in the game. cc's other rock stations in others markets aren't as lame as the buzzard. where does satterfield come in? has he gone deaf years ago?

 

[XTalker]

Neither station has done very well in the last few books. In Summer 07, KRR ranked 11th while The Buzzard was 14th (12+). About a half-a-point between them.

You have to wonder about promotion. Neither station has done any marketing lately, and that has to have an impact on the cume.

 

[Raleigh Rocker]

While I can't pick up the Buzzard, if it has had happen to it what happened to the original Buzzard in Cleveland, one of the great rock stations of all time, it has indeed become ball-less, soulless, and darn near ratingless. Are those real words?

 

[dittohead1]

It is important to note that WKRR's advantage over the Buzzard come primarily from morning show ratings. John Boy and Billy have been sucking wind in the ratings for years, while the 2 Guys Named Chris Show is a perennial winner. Mornings set the tone for the day (I know that's "old school" radio thinking, but I think it works here). The Buzzard really lacks any identity and despite some decent marketing, they can't really gain any traction at all. Even males that like rock music avoid it like the plague.

As for the WXRA posts, I guess this crosses over the Howard Nemenz thread, as he is the reason for XRA's initial success and for their subsequent decline. The folks at WKRR were $hi++ing their pants when XRA came on, doing all the things a heritage station should NEVER do when a new competitor comes on the scene. Including (almost immediately) changing the NAME OF THE STATION. For eight years, they had been known as "Rock 92". Suddenly, they became "Classic Rock 92" and began programming changes to make the station more conservative (no currents, elimination of specialty programming, etc.). I'm telling you folks, XRA HAD THEM ON THE ROPES.

...and then they let them off the mat. Howard's intervention into programming (he's the smartest guy in the world; WAAYYY smarter than you) helped get rid of Boomer and the Dave, chase Randy to California (he was the magic behind that station, in reality) and basically squander the opportunity to turn WKRR into a nice AC competitor for 99.5. Remember that when you read about how "great" he is in other threads and how people would "jump at the opportunity to work for him" (opening for his station in Winchester, VA, Mike).