Now is that different from B?

[radiophiler]

Just checked out Now and B on yes.com.

The only difference I can see is that Now isn't playing 70s. Otherwise, the two stations seem to be very similar musically.

So, what makes this a "younger approach to soft rock?" Just the elimination of the 70s from the format???

And I wonder how long those 8:30-4:30 commercial free periods will last. Guess this will also mean 10 minutes or more of spots at 8:20 and 4:30 each day and the remainder of the morning and afternoon drive periods hitting 18 minutes of commercials per hour to make up for this.

They say what goes around comes around. Well, for Philly, it's back to the future. Remember in the 80s when Philly had four AC stations: 101.1 (EZ then B), 100.3 (Kiss), 106.1 (Wish) and 104.5 (Sunny and then Star)? Once again, there are three with one that has a lot of overlap: 101.1, 106.1 and 97.5 with 95.7 playing a lot of AC stuff.

 

[wmgcbs]

Just checked out Now and B on yes.com.

The only difference I can see is that Now isn't playing 70s. Otherwise, the two stations seem to be very similar musically.

So, what makes this a "younger approach to soft rock?" Just the elimination of the 70s from the format???

And I wonder how long those 8:30-4:30 commercial free periods will last. Guess this will also mean 10 minutes or more of spots at 8:20 and 4:30 each day and the remainder of the morning and afternoon drive periods hitting 18 minutes of commercials per hour to make up for this.

They say what goes around comes around. Well, for Philly, it's back to the future. Remember in the 80s when Philly had four AC stations: 101.1 (EZ then B), 100.3 (Kiss), 106.1 (Wish) and 104.5 (Sunny and then Star)? Once again, there are three with one that has a lot of overlap: 101.1, 106.1 and 97.5 with 95.7 playing a lot of AC stuff.

Actually, Now IS playing '70's. One, two, and even three '70's' songs in one of their hours earlier in the day. In the noon hour, "Don't Go Breaking My Heart" and "December 1963" played. It is very much a head-on competitor to B101 (while trying to make itself sound younger and more contemporary). It is much more mainstream than CBS Radio's "Fresh" stations in Chicago in NYC, which border on Hot AC rather than a mainstream sound.

This would have been interesting if it had been placed on 102.7 in NYC as the Fresh format (but CBS Radio tried the CBS-FM + Fresh 90's and now approach to attack Lite). Then, one could see how a TRUE head-to-head competition would go for Lite.

Here, although Now says it plays "Today's Soft Rock," it sounds quite similar to B101. From listening this morning for a bit, I preferred what Now was playing compared to what was playing on Central Jersey's Magic 98.3; Magic has been ridiculously heavy on the currents and recurrents since Jeff Rafter moved in as PD.

I also noticed Now has song tags following each song. Does B101 employ this same strategy?

Nevertheless, Now and B are certainly in the same ballpark.

 

[DToTheJ]

I also noticed Now has song tags following each song. Does B101 employ this same strategy?

They do. As did Blink 102.7 for the new songs it played.

 

[DStroyer]

Remember in the 80s when Philly had four AC stations: 101.1 (EZ then B), 100.3 (Kiss), 106.1 (Wish) and 104.5 (Sunny and then Star)?

Five stations. Add Magic 103 to that.

 

[wprt949]

its gonna be intresting too see what cc does with 106.1 if anything

this could have been the week they flipped 106 to ac and 97.5 simply beat them too it

 

[Soon Yi CIV.V]

You seem to be stating that WISX was planning to switch to AC as if this were a fact. I'm just curious: Why do you think that?

 

[wmgcbs]

I also noticed Now has song tags following each song. Does B101 employ this same strategy?

They do. As did Blink 102.7 for the new songs it played.

Thanks... Had I just done my research and logged on to B101's website, I would have seen the obvious ad for song tagging. Up top, their header now reads "#1 For Today's Soft Rock." Has that been up for a while, or did that just appear today?

I have to say that after taking a look at the songs "NOW" has been playing, I prefer this type of AC to anything I can receive in the NYC area. It is more balanced and doesn't sound jarring like WLTW and WWFS. Of course, I'm saying this after only under seven hours of the Now format, and my final opinion would be based more on the rotation of currents. Hopefully, they won't overspin them to the point of overkill. I have always thought that B did pretty well with not overspinning currents, which is yet another issue for me with NYC's AC stations.

Will Now have a huge impact? My guess is that B101 will remain dominant just because of its longevity in the market (and apparently much better signal in the Philly metro). If the stations are as similar as they appear to be over the first few hours, it makes me wonder -- what would make offices switch, besides maybe the eight hour commercial free workday (which surely won't last for too long...)?

 

[imhomerjay]

If the stations are as similar as they appear to be over the first few hours, it makes me wonder -- what would make offices switch, besides maybe the eight hour commercial free workday (which surely won't last for too long...)?

In a word....nothing.