New Lineup on Thunder Country

[ECRadioGuy]

Starting today they had a new line-up on Thunder Country as Mad Dawg has left the building. The new lineup is as follows:

6-10-Syndicated Big D and Bubba
10-12-Katie Green
12-3-Dylan McKay
3-7-Jeff Hackett
7-12-Syndicated Whitney Allen

 

[vchimpanzee]

Starting today they had a new line-up on Thunder Country as Mad Dawg has left the building. The new lineup is as follows:

6-10-Syndicated Big D and Bubba
10-12-Katie Green
12-3-Dylan McKay
3-7-Jeff Hackett
7-12-Syndicated Whitney Allen

Which of these are new?

 

[ECRadioGuy]

The morning show is new and Dylan moved from mornings to middays and Katie Green is doing news and also the 10-12 shift. All of these are different.

 

[tothedj]

I wonder if Mad Dawg ever regrets leaving WQDR?, especially after they got ACM Major Market Station Of The Year, and another observation, there is no way a nationally sydnicated morning show will produce revenue for "Thunder Country",
especially now that 103.7 has switched to Talk and 94.3 picks up the simulcast of 96.3, 106,000 watts from 200,000
watts, i just can't see this move work at all, this might be Thunder Country's last hurrah before a format change comes
sooner or later.

 

[cd637299]

Hi from South Florida, near Miami. I am only replying here, because I saw Thunder Country & Eastern NC---just wanna say that I heard it from down here on 96.3 last night...AND, 96.3 is an IBOC hiss frequency here from WPOW 96.5....

Just givin' you an idea what the Tropo DX has been like....I figure the distance to be about 700 miles.

cd

 

[allenv]

TotheDJ makes a good point....I think he is on the money....Thunder fought the good fight but WRNS is just strong.Another format change WOW... If they do change....In the last 15 years this is like the 5 or 6th different format change or different positioning statement..You are gonna have a hard time building any loyalty with an audience....It takes a good while to brand a station to a listener anyway and you must have consistancy or you confuse your audience..That's one of the reasons WRNS has been so successful..They haven't made any major changes since Kevin O'Neal took them hot country in 85..When you flip to 95.1 you know what you're gonna get...Look at most of the top stations and that's the case they have 7 plus years of the same format or darn close...
If they are gonna change why didn't they do it when they swapped frequencies a month or so ago and why stick a syndicated country morning show on if a flip is on the way????....You've gotta wonder what the thinking is on that.....And the $64,000 question...Will Bob Lacey & Sheri Lynch return if they do flip to AC By my count there have been 12 either format changes, revisions or positioning statement changes since 3/74 when 94.3 came to be..That's one every 3 years or so and it was AC from 1980 to 1991..Take those years away and thats 11 in 25 years or 12 if a change is on the way...94.3 has an identity crisis for sure....It was my home for 10 years so I hope they can find something that works for them.

 

[w00t]

It amazes me that Thunder Country sounds the way it does when they have access to the braintrust that made WQDR what it is today. Thunder Country started out good, but it has become a glaring example of why 95.1 always wins. And 95.1 shouldn't win... it's terrible, and vulnerable... The Bear has proven that.

 

[tothedj]

I still believe that 94.3 should be sold, maybe the owners of Pirate Radio 1250/930 should consider buying this and moving sports to FM on one of their frequencies, as for 96.3, AC may have to be ruled out since WMGV(103.3) is well established,
i still think simuclasting WTIB(103.7) may be what happens next, which would create a "talk superstation", which would mean WNBU(94.1)goes in a different directon, maybe Fox Sports, and what Inner Banks Media could do is purchase WTKF(107.1) and WJNC(1240), keep them as they are, but pick up Neil Boortz, Fred Thompson, move Dave Ramsey from 2 till 5pm live, add Mark
Levin from 7 until 10, keep Jim Bohannon 10pm to 1am and 5 till 6am, and pick up Phil Hendrie 1 till 5am, all others would remain on weekends, except for "Sporting News Radio", that along with Laura Ingraham, Rush Limbaugh, and Sean Hannity
would switch to 96.3, i don't know if this will ever happen, but having talk on 1240, 96.3, 103.7, and 107.1 could be most
interesting.

 

[surfdude]

It amazes me that Thunder Country sounds the way it does when they have access to the braintrust that made WQDR what it is today

Money and time! For talent, research, and marketing (TV advertising). It's a simple formula that almost always works. Owners are in denial about the money part. They have the "magic formula" that doesn't require a good business plan.

Don't open a restaurant or a radio station if you don't have the money budgeted to advertise it.

Given more time and marketing money Thunder could have been a player.

 

[RFGuy]

CD637299, Thanks for the report, send me a PM and I wil see if I can get you some stuff and a DX report. All I have been getting here is that localy our signal is suffering. Aint ducting great? I am an avid DXer as well but because of IBOC I have almost quit trying. ED

 

[w00t]

It amazes me that Thunder Country sounds the way it does when they have access to the braintrust that made WQDR what it is today

Money and time! For talent, research, and marketing (TV advertising). It's a simple formula that almost always works. Owners are in denial about the money part. They have the "magic formula" that doesn't require a good business plan.

Don't open a restaurant or a radio station if you don't have the money budgeted to advertise it.

Given more time and marketing money Thunder could have been a player.

Well, half of the ownership of Thunder is the same as WQDR. Unfortunately it's not the managing half.

They need to just take it back to Hot AC. This market badly needs one.

 

[allenv]

Well said Bill and you can't be a clone of the station you're trying to beat....Lately Thunder has been paying more classics but its too late...They should have been more of a hot/classic hybrid from day one....They seemed to learn nothing from the eagle fiasco..The Bear filled a void and now there isn't room for another Country station...The market is oversaturated with stations....The hole in the market is oldies based AC play late 60's,70's and 80's and be very selective with your currents..... maybe 4 an hour and be live in all dayparts but again that comes back to money..An adult AC would work maybe almost a soft adult AC if you want office listening and position it as a station for adults and be proud that you are gunning for a 40 plus listener....I wish the WRQR calls were available and you could do a station you grew up with returns type of thing...Inner Banks has the money to do it right but stations want to sound like a million dollars but most aren't willing to spend money on what you talked about and then they don't understand why it isn't working.....

 

[w00t]

I believe that Thunder should have been a CHR version of country... exact opposite of the Bear and put the 'ol squeeze on 95.1. What they are doing now is clearly not working. Neither would a gold based AC. There's not enough room between 107.9 and 103.3 to make that work, but there's plenty of room for an innovative Hot AC to fit between 93.3 and 103.3.