New Year's Predictions & Suggestions

[The-Major]

Here now is a brief summary of some of my recent New Year's Predictions & Suggestions for various Miami-Ft. Lauderdale FM radio stations that I've mentioned previously on this board (or have I ?):

91.7-CALL-FM - The imaging is outstanding and the music is excellent, but you guys need some deejays. I'm interested for some weekend work. I can add a lot to your station.

93-ROCK - It will survive the year. Stop trying to kill it off.

MEGA-94.9 - Flip it. Simulcast either WIOD-AM or WINZ-AM and rename it accordingly. 'I-95' would work in both cases. FM News-Talk is sweeping the nation. South Florida is news-hungry. Give it an FM outlet.

COAST-97.3 - Segue it into 'MOVIN'-97.3'. Let's Dance !

Y-100 - 4 Words - Less Repetition. More Variety.

LITE-101.5 - Segue it into 'MIX-101.5' - The Best Of The '80s, '90s, & Today !

MAJIC-102.7 - Drop the '60s and go with strictly the '70s and the '80s.

Radio is full of surprises. If none of the aforementioned events occur then I would not be surprised !

THE MAJOR

 

[John FL]

Major, this is a very interesting topic! Let me comment on a few things here.

Mega 94.9 - I don't know(or may have forgotten) what Mega is but it sounds urban. But regardless, I think News/Talk on FM is a very viable alternative. It's relatively inexpensive to make the switch and with all the music stations jockeying for position - I think it's a great move to stand out and be different. And with drawing an audience from AM and FM, there is strong potential for ratings success.

Coast 97.3 - why would they want to flip? And for a format that is still considered format du jour? They've given long-established WLYF serious competition. Tweaking what they are already doing - yes - flipping to Movin - I don't think so.

Lite 101.5/Majic 102.7 - I've never been too keen for any station to box themselves in a corner by any kind of decade moniker designation. As I've mentioned before, Majic could easily become "Classic Top 40." I think "Lite" as used in so many AC stations is now baggage. It has a connotation of sounding like your parent's station. And in this 25-54 world, Lite should be dropped for something else. Somehow "Mix" always leaves a bad taste in my mouth as so many formats called Mix have flopped. 95% of the playlist should be from the 80s to today. Periodically, (5%) the right 70s tune can work.

Y- 100 - Major, I know you are a CHR expert but I have to throw in my views about overall Top 40 radio. I don't think the nature of that type format has really changed over the decades. I've always regarded Top 40 as being cume driven and not strong in the time spent listening category. Everyone talks about variety but if it means playing a lot of obscure stuff or borderline hits, then cume potentially can take a big hit. For these stations that are trying to keep their head above water as it is - they have to keep the playlist tight and repetition is the nature of the format.

I have never deviated from my belief that the shortest playlists generate the biggest ratings. I'm just referring to contemporary hit radio - not oldies. That's another subject for another day.

Pardon my rambling here but this just reminded me of the Top 16 countdown thing that 96X did a long time ago in a galaxy far far away. When I would tune them in and they were in the Top 5 songs, I was glued to the radio. When they were at the bottom of the list, unless there was a song I knew was coming up - I was gone. And I wasn't alone - many of my friends talked about the same thing and their behavior mirrored mine.

Competition is way too tough and nowadays it's WAY too easy to change stations - especially in the car. Top 40 stations just can't afford to play songs that are not the biggest hits and liked by the most number/multiple demos of people.

I guess you can see, I have very strong feelings about tight formatting. Hopefully, you'll still respect me in the morning....LOL...

Again, great topic, Major - you got me pumped!!! 8)

 

[The-Major]

Mega 94.9 - I don't know(or may have forgotten) what Mega is but it sounds urban. But regardless, I think News/Talk on FM is a very viable alternative. It's relatively inexpensive to make the switch and with all the music stations jockeying for position - I think it's a great move to stand out and be different. And with drawing an audience from AM and FM, there is strong potential for ratings success.

MEGA is Clear Channel's low-rated Hispanic Urban (HURBAN) station. It replaced ZETA in February 2005. One would think that a HURBAN station would be a top-rated station in Young Hispanic Urban Miami, but that is obviously not the case here. It's the lowest-rated FM station in the market. 4 AM News-Talk stations (3 en Español) get higher ratings than 94.9 FM.

My suggestion (not really a prediction because I think that Clear Channel really wants to keep its foot into the door of the growing Hispanic radio market) is to restore the WINZ-FM call letters to 94.9 (which is what it was from 1975 to 1987), and immediately garner much higher ratings by simulcasting WINZ-AM. An alternative idea would be to simulcast WIOD-AM. Either way it could be called 'I-95' thus restoring that legendary nickname as well.

It seems to me that simulcasting WINZ-AM would be the more logical choice due to its rather weak and static-filled signal in the fringe portions of the listening area between sunset and sunrise - especially during the summer thunderstorm season. But then again if we're looking for News on FM and not Talk then WIOD-FM would make more sense - especially during the hurricane season when we need to stay informed as to approaching tropical systems. Of course South Florida is a 'breaking news' market (it happens daily), and we're always looking for more information as to what's goin' on with whatever. 'I-95' could keep us informed and updated.

THE MAJOR

 

[Groove1670]

You will see little if no change in the Miami market this year . You might see one station change, My guess would be Mega. You will see a retool of Y-100. Changing Lite is not a option. Magic I think will move a decade up. FM talk will not happen because of the ethnic makeup of the market. I think a "Movin format" would work but it would need to programmed by a market veteran who understands the "Miami sound" IE Cynthia, Afro-Rican, Planet Patrol Etc. If you asked a programmer from San Antonio who Gino Latino or Cynthia is..... they would go HUH?....Cox might change 93.1 if the number don't improve...prediction for the record...book um Danno

 

[bat manny]

I think something might happen at Power 96, as of last couple of months to few years ago everything has been changed at that station, but the music. ( in my opinion their programming stinks and so do the people that run the station )
Their ratings are getting lower and lower by every book, as of last release its the first time they have ever been out of the Top 10 stations in Miami, Power used to be in the Top 4 a few years ago.

 

[CapeFish]

Y-100 needs to stop trying to be so urban-like in the Top 40 format and add more vareity. Top 40 should mean Top 40....give us variety!

As for 94.9, if it became a newsradio (anyone notice 610 WIOD and 940 WINz are neither really using newsradio in their imaging even though both have local morning news shows and offer plenty of local news, traffic and weather?) and followed a format of all news with little talk (think WTOP or the old WINZ) it could be very interesting to see what happens. After all, the station is already so low on the ratings...why not? Hurban is so boring!

 

[The-Major]

Y-100 needs to stop trying to be so urban-like in the Top 40 format and add more vareity. Top 40 should mean Top 40....give us variety!

I so totally agree with you. I'm all for playing hip hop and rap all day long, but there's a point where you're overdoing it. Y-100 frequently sounds like the 5TH (and lowest-rated) urban contemporary station in this market behind 'HOT', 'JAMZ', 'POWER', and sister station 'BEAT'. I know that this is Urban Miami, but Y-100 should be a true TOP 40 station and play a better variety of what's on the hit music charts today. 'WILD', 'FLZ', 'XL', and 'APE' in West Palm Beach, Tampa, Orlando, and Jacksonville seem to be doing things right as far as balancing all of the various genres of pop music on their respective airwaves with less repetition.

On the plus side for Y-100 they have made noticeable improvements as far as the repetition factour is concerned. Last Summer they were playing their greatest hits up to 130 times per week (over 18 times per day). That number is now down to about 100 times per week (over 14 times per day). They have also added a bit more pop, rock, and even dance to their playlist, but they have a lot more work to do in both of these key areas. The slump in the ratings continues.

THE MAJOR

 

[John FL]

Y-100 needs to stop trying to be so urban-like in the Top 40 format and add more vareity. Top 40 should mean Top 40....give us variety!

I may have misunderstood the word "Variety" in the context of Y-100 in my earlier post as I took it mean playing more obscure stuff - my boo-boo. I think what you and The-Major were trying to say is if Y-100 leans too much in one direction, then a lot of good hit music is excluded and the overall sound can get boring.

Great thing about this board, there's always something new you can learn!

 

[The-Major]

I think something might happen at Power 96, as of last couple of months to few years ago everything has been changed at that station, but the music. ( in my opinion their programming stinks and so do the people that run the station )
Their ratings are getting lower and lower by every book, as of last release its the first time they have ever been out of the Top 10 stations in Miami, Power used to be in the Top 4 a few years ago.

'POWER' was certainly a 'power'-house during virtually all of the 1990s and into the current decade. They were pretty much a dominant force on Miami radio for about 15 years. Their audience numbers have dwindled a bit recently, and they are pretty much at record lows now. But even so they are still in the middle of the pack.

I just don't know what can be done with 'POWER' to stop the bleeding. I think that flipping the music format would probably be a grave mistake. I don't know how much more tweaking they could possibly do to make themselves stand out from the 'HOT', 'JAMZ', 'BEAT', 'Y' cluster of similar-sounding stations. Some of you may be thinking of adding current dance music to freshen it up and make it sound more like a Miami party station, but as much as I love dance music (past and present) I'm not so sure that it would do much of anything except to alienate even more of their longtime core hip hop listeners and merely drive the ratings even further south. Maybe their ratings will begin to make a turn-around now that WMIB has 'grown-up' a bit and become more A.C. and retro-sounding ?

THE MAJOR

 

[The-Major]

FM talk will not happen because of the ethnic makeup of the market.

I don't think that a 'FREE-FM' or a 'MAN-TALK' style a la Opie & Anthony and Don & Mike would work in this market, but I do think that a news-heavy FM station would be the cure-all for 94.9 FM. Even if Clear Channel wanted to keep it en Español they could flip it to a News-Talk station in the vein of Univision's wildly-successful WAQI Radio Mambi. Does anyone know if Clear Channel has any Spanish News-Talk stations elsewhere ?

EL MAJOR

 

[The-Major]

Lite 101.5/Majic 102.7 - I've never been too keen for any station to box themselves in a corner by any kind of decade moniker designation. As I've mentioned before, Majic could easily become "Classic Top 40." I think "Lite" as used in so many AC stations is now baggage. It has a connotation of sounding like your parent's station. And in this 25-54 world, Lite should be dropped for something else. Somehow "Mix" always leaves a bad taste in my mouth as so many formats called Mix have flopped. 95% of the playlist should be from the 80s to today. Periodically, (5%) the right 70s tune can work.

I agree with you about the 'LITE' moniker being too old-fashioned, and to a certain extent I also agree with you about the whole 'MIX' name. Some other names I've been thinking about for a new, improved, and modernized WLYF include:

'OCEAN-101.5' / 'DOLPHIN-101.5' / 'SUNNY-101.5' / '101.5-THE-PARADISE' / '101.5-THE-HEAT'

I know - Some of them sound corny. ???

I think I probably disagree with you more on what type of music they should play. I'm thinking of a 'HOT-A.C.' format for it, so I would go with something more along the lines of 75% current and recurrent material and 25% classics from the past 10 to 15 years. I wouldn't go any further back in the gold collection than perhaps 1991.

THE MAJOR

 

[radiolover78]

Despite Lite FM's trend toward more upbeat music, I think they should still keep the name. It's a house hold name!

Not to mention that their playlist is still pretty 'lite' compared to a lot of other AC stations in the country.

But if they were to change the name, how about simply "101.5 WLYF"?

 

[bat manny]

Hmmm im surprised alot of people here on the board are into FM news/ talk stations.. but im not too sure about that.
IMHO, i think its sorta a waste of a pefectly clear FM stereo signal to use it as talk. alot more could be done with an FM signal, theres alot of formats that if executed properly could make a killing in Miami.
I say leave the talk/news to AM. Just my rant
well am has to be good for something

 

[bat manny]

woops double post again, ::edit::

 

[CapeFish]

Why should 101.5 abandon the format they basically created? If it ain't broke, don't fix it!

101.5 LITE FM! Everyone in SoFla, no matter the age, can sing that jingle. PRICELESS

 

[top4odj]

Hmmm im surprised alot of people here on the board are into FM news/ talk stations.. but im not too sure about that.
IMHO, i think its sorta a waste of a pefectly clear FM stereo signal to use it as talk. alot more could be done with an FM signal, theres alot of formats that if executed properly could make a killing in Miami.
I say leave the talk/news to AM. Just my rant
well am has to be good for something

I understand your point.....BUT....there are people who like to listen to the news when they're at work and an AM signal doesn't come thru in alot of offices. Also, once it becomes dusk and the AM pattern is changed, alot of the AMs fade out bigtime. Having an FM all news station would solve those 2 major problems right off the bat. It's not wasting a good FM signal. If you look at some of the FMs around the country, and even here, the ratings are so-so at best, so it's a no brainer.

 

[CapeFish]

If Clear Channel were to do an FM news/talk station.....what would it look like? Would they just move WIOD to FM and then what would be on 610?

Clear Channel just launched an FM news/talk (more talk than news right now ebcause they have no newsroom yet) but it is mostly local except for Hannity and Levin (both on WIOD) and they seem to be going after WWL to the point WWL began an FM simulcast.

WRNO-FM: http://www.thenew995fm.com/

If they left 610 WIOD and 940 WINZ as is, what would be used on the FM news/talker?

My proposal:
News Network? ABC Radio News (WIOD and WINZ retain it but don't use it. WIOD is with Fox News Radio and WINZ with CNN Radio News)
Paul Harvey? Move it to FM and air it live like WIOD used to do!
Newscasts? Yes please! WIOD already has the morning newscast, the midday newscast (mini-one at 11:30am), but no more afternoon/evening newscast. How about letting the new station have an hour noon newscast and a long-form afternoon drive newscast?
Syndication? Some, you could put Dr. Laura on in her classic Miami timeslot in the mornings (9-Noon) like WIOD used to carry her. 850 WFTL is doing this now, but their signal isn't that great. I don't seem to remember her having that bad of a reception in Miami on WIOD. Maybe move Schnitt live to FM and let Hannity air live on WIOD?
Local Talk? Clear Channel seems to be pretty good at finding moderators for their local shows on WIOD (LaMont currently) and WINZ (DeFede) that are not controversial, come across as professional, and deliver a good product. Find one to do a Midday show from 1-4 and you will get ears.

Miami is the home of WSVN, you cannot seriously believe the area is not newshungry.

 

[HurricaneIII]

Lite 101.5/Majic 102.7 - I've never been too keen for any station to box themselves in a corner by any kind of decade moniker designation. As I've mentioned before, Majic could easily become "Classic Top 40." I think "Lite" as used in so many AC stations is now baggage. It has a connotation of sounding like your parent's station. And in this 25-54 world, Lite should be dropped for something else. Somehow "Mix" always leaves a bad taste in my mouth as so many formats called Mix have flopped. 95% of the playlist should be from the 80s to today. Periodically, (5%) the right 70s tune can work.

I agree with you about the 'LITE' moniker being too old-fashioned, and to a certain extent I also agree with you about the whole 'MIX' name. Some other names I've been thinking about for a new, improved, and modernized WLYF include:

'OCEAN-101.5' / 'DOLPHIN-101.5' / 'SUNNY-101.5' / '101.5-THE-PARADISE' / '101.5-THE-HEAT'

I know - Some of them sound corny. ???

I think I probably disagree with you more on what type of music they should play. I'm thinking of a 'HOT-A.C.' format for it, so I would go with something more along the lines of 75% current and recurrent material and 25% classics from the past 10 to 15 years. I wouldn't go any further back in the gold collection than perhaps 1991.

THE MAJOR

I love Dophin-101.5, but I'll bet the NFL wouldn't allow it! I agree Lite sounds like the 80s when it was every industries biggest buzz word.

I can't believe the Gators are in the National Championship. Go Buckeyes!

'Cane

 

[The-Major]

I understand your point.....BUT....there are people who like to listen to the news when they're at work and an AM signal doesn't come thru in alot of offices. Also, once it becomes dusk and the AM pattern is changed, alot of the AMs fade out bigtime. Having an FM all news station would solve those 2 major problems right off the bat. It's not wasting a good FM signal. If you look at some of the FMs around the country, and even here, the ratings are so-so at best, so it's a no brainer.

That's an excellent point DJ Stuart ! I know that in my office building a futile scan of the AM dial will produce no radio stations - just static and assorted variations of electrical and interference tones of all different sounds and pitches. In fact many FM signals can't even penetrate our building, and if you wish to use your cell phone then you have to go outside.

During the aftermath of 9-11, Hurricane Katrina, and all of the various hurricanes that threatened South Florida during the Summers of 2004 and 2005 a lot of people got their news from NBC-6 at 87.7 FM because it was the only station that they could pick-up that was keeping them informed during an actual emergency.

Capefish brought up the WSVN-7 factour in his fantastic post. They are so successful because of what they do - shock and awe with scary music. They have a reputation that most South Floridians know about. Love them or hate them you know that you can count on them at anytime to tell you what is going on with the breaking news stories of the day. An FM station here in our radio market should have been long created some time ago to take advantage of this 18-year juggernaut that WSVN-7 has had in the news department on the tube side of the South Florida media.

One more point here before I'm completely satisfied that I've adequately spoken my peace. About 35 years ago when TOP 40 music totally dominated AM radio and the AM stations wanted to test out the waters of the fledgling experiment that was FM stereo there were fans of AM radio stating that it would be a total waste of time because FM wouldn't survive. The FM radio fans were crying bloody murder because they couldn't figure out why someone would even suggest putting on 'loud garbage rock' on their precious FM dial and waste a perfect crystal clear signal that should only be devoted to beautiful, easy listening, classical, and religious music. It's 35 years later now, and some question why we would waste a perfect crystal clear signal on people talking all day long. The bottom line is that voices (whether it's music or talk) sounds better in FM stereo.

THE MAJOR HAS SPOKEN

 

[The-Major]

I love Dophin-101.5, but I'll bet the NFL wouldn't allow it! I agree Lite sounds like the 80s when it was every industries biggest buzz word.

I can't believe that the NCAA allowed you to use 'Hurricane' as your screen name on here !

HA-HA ... Just kidding. Someone had to say it ! ;D

I also like 'DOLPHIN-101.5', but apparently we have some die-hard WLYF 'LITE-101.5' fans on here who have spoken and have politely expressed their outrage to me regarding my audacious suggestion to flip them and rename them. Well it was only a suggestion. Their ratings have plummetted nearly 25% since last year at this time, but I digress.

MAJOR LITE