Turned on 105.5FM today and they're playing oldies music.
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Oldies returns to St. Augustine, again!
- Thread starter pocket-radio
- Start date
O
ok walters
Guest
Not so sure about that one - they are playing the WRNR 103.1 Annapolis feed this morning. No change in that format, still progressive rock/alternative, and still playing the Annapolis ads.
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toddshannon
Guest
You may have heard drift from 105.5 The Dove/Tampa. I heard the Dove on Friday and Saturday morning in Jacksonville.
As of 8am Monday morning, WRNR was simulcasting on 105.5.
As of 8am Monday morning, WRNR was simulcasting on 105.5.
Yes, the atmosphere was quite "active" on Friday evening as well - Although I can usually pick up 105.5 in St. Augustine at my location a little north of Orange Park, I was picking up 105.5 The Dove from Tampa - St. Pete - in stereo, just using a folded dipole antenna! They seem to be mixing in more "hit" oldies in their unique music mix - and still, after all these years, very sucessfully.
That certainly explains the new call letters... WYRE-FM!
Did Steve Kingston work at WYRE?
Did Steve Kingston work at WYRE?
So which is it? R-I.com seems to be reporting on the confusion here. http://www.radio-info.com/news/its-oldies-just-outside-of-jacksonville-and-rush-radio-talk-for-vero-beach
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As it turns out they were equipment testing, but playing oldies loud and clear! As of Monday the simulcast has returned but not for long.
Just what we need. Another gold-based station in N. Fla 
I'm sure when it cranks up, it will be done right...Steve Kingston is a great programmer with the knowledge, tools and connections to assure it's success. Don will make sure the sales department is also a success. I for one, can not wait to hear how this station sounds and watch the JAX PPM numbers climb over the next couple of months.
I may sound like I have a piss poor attitude but really who gives a crap. For anyone living in the St. Augustine /Flagler County areas who like the oldies format, just consider how many times over the years they have been jerked around. One minute the format is in, then it’s out. Or it’s offered sunset to sunrise then just weekends, then not at all for years.
Listeners are supposedly sought by companies to build ratings so they can sell to that audience. Yet when listeners respond to a format apparently liking what they are hearing, none of that really matters. Between incompetence and unrealistic expectations, self-serving delusion takes over. Yeah, I’m really angry.
I’m an old marketing guy and observing people and their behavior is just in my blood. In my numerous visits to St. Augustine/the St. George street area over the years, the one thing that has always been consistent is many of those little shops and businesses gravitate to whatever station is offering a retro Top 40 sound. Do you think the nation's oldest city is trying to say an oldies soundtrack is a natural? I was there just a few weeks ago and heard WJGH all over the place.
After Cool 96.9 and Kool 100.7 bit the dust, the old WSOS really began to take off. I believe they served the St. Augustine market well with what was once like an oldies/soft AC type format. I can recall this like it was yesterday. By the time Briggs left, ‘SOS was earning just under a 2 share. When was the last time you saw that? The station was taken into a different direction and we saw how the ratings kept declining and this is all good business. Listeners were expressing their preferences but that doesn't matter, does it?
I have total respect for Steve Kingston. Given the poor signal where I live, I have no reason to listen plus I’m happy Jax finally offers Greatest Hits. For a business that is so hard up for money, I don’t think I’ll ever understand the wacky decisions that just create orchestrated chaos – especially for low signal stations where a more specialized format never seemed far-fetched to me. Sorry for the rants but as much as I love radio, things about it make me very angry.
Listeners are supposedly sought by companies to build ratings so they can sell to that audience. Yet when listeners respond to a format apparently liking what they are hearing, none of that really matters. Between incompetence and unrealistic expectations, self-serving delusion takes over. Yeah, I’m really angry.
I’m an old marketing guy and observing people and their behavior is just in my blood. In my numerous visits to St. Augustine/the St. George street area over the years, the one thing that has always been consistent is many of those little shops and businesses gravitate to whatever station is offering a retro Top 40 sound. Do you think the nation's oldest city is trying to say an oldies soundtrack is a natural? I was there just a few weeks ago and heard WJGH all over the place.
After Cool 96.9 and Kool 100.7 bit the dust, the old WSOS really began to take off. I believe they served the St. Augustine market well with what was once like an oldies/soft AC type format. I can recall this like it was yesterday. By the time Briggs left, ‘SOS was earning just under a 2 share. When was the last time you saw that? The station was taken into a different direction and we saw how the ratings kept declining and this is all good business. Listeners were expressing their preferences but that doesn't matter, does it?
I have total respect for Steve Kingston. Given the poor signal where I live, I have no reason to listen plus I’m happy Jax finally offers Greatest Hits. For a business that is so hard up for money, I don’t think I’ll ever understand the wacky decisions that just create orchestrated chaos – especially for low signal stations where a more specialized format never seemed far-fetched to me. Sorry for the rants but as much as I love radio, things about it make me very angry.
I can understand JohnJax's anger/frustration with WSOS - It always seemed to me that 'SOS could have been St. Augustines's Oldies Station - but, for whatever reason, the Renda management team in place at the time didn't steer 94.1 in that direction - seems like it could have been a natural - plus, when the Oldies format was absent here, the 94.1 signal had the potential to draw in more Jacksonville metro listeners than 105.5, which is directional AWAY from Jax because of the overcrowing of 105.3/105.5/105.7 in a relatively close geographic area. I still love St. Augustine, and wish the new owners well, and hope they stay the course, and are able to make an Oldies format work/profit in the St. Johns/Flagler area!
When Tama Broadcasting, Inc. acquired 105.5 Saint Augustine, the business plan and business model from the beginning was to operate 105.5 in simulcast with 105.3 Fernandina Beach with a smooth jazz format catering to Jacksonville. The Saint Augustine signal was targeting the Jacksonville South side while the Fernandina Beach signal was intended to target Jacksonville’s North side.
Tama’s WHJX-FM 105.7 Baldwin operated separately with an urban format, so Tama’s plan was to have two products over three signals targeting Jacksonville metro. Tama had no intent whatsoever to serve Saint Augustine with the 105.5 signal, and this was the reasoning behind scraping the former oldies format on 105.5 FM. The plan ultimately failed as we all know since Tama Broadcasting is currently in receivership following a bankruptcy filing a few years ago.
Renda initiated a similar plan when it acquired WSOS-FM 94.1. Renda had no intent of serving Saint Augustine. WSOS was intended to serve Jacksonville from the beginning with an eventual tower move and COL change to Fruit Cove. The same thing also happened with the former WFOY-FM 97.7 / WUVU-FM 97.7 which was eventually moved and re-licensed to Neptune Beach as WFKS and frequency move to 97.9 which made it possible to upgrade from a 6kw class A to a 50kw class C2 covering a much larger, top 50, metro.
I hope this better explains why the station format and marketing plan for 105.5 Saint Augustine was implemented the way it was under the former owner Tama Broadcasting, Inc.
Tama’s WHJX-FM 105.7 Baldwin operated separately with an urban format, so Tama’s plan was to have two products over three signals targeting Jacksonville metro. Tama had no intent whatsoever to serve Saint Augustine with the 105.5 signal, and this was the reasoning behind scraping the former oldies format on 105.5 FM. The plan ultimately failed as we all know since Tama Broadcasting is currently in receivership following a bankruptcy filing a few years ago.
Renda initiated a similar plan when it acquired WSOS-FM 94.1. Renda had no intent of serving Saint Augustine. WSOS was intended to serve Jacksonville from the beginning with an eventual tower move and COL change to Fruit Cove. The same thing also happened with the former WFOY-FM 97.7 / WUVU-FM 97.7 which was eventually moved and re-licensed to Neptune Beach as WFKS and frequency move to 97.9 which made it possible to upgrade from a 6kw class A to a 50kw class C2 covering a much larger, top 50, metro.
I hope this better explains why the station format and marketing plan for 105.5 Saint Augustine was implemented the way it was under the former owner Tama Broadcasting, Inc.
Mark, you continue to be the calm voice of reason on the North Florida Board. Your knowledge and lifetime experiences of all things radio and the perspectives you bring to this board and others, well it all fascinates me beyond belief. As I try to understand the business of radio, I must say you are a great teacher. If posters were given performance evaluations, perhaps I would need to put emotion more in check.
With that said, all I have are my perceptions. TAMA and bankruptcy seem to go hand in hand. Your in depth analysis certainly explains things well but still I get the impression TAMA could have been given the goose who lays the golden eggs and they would have made an omelet of them. There was a time formats were changing so fast you needed a scorecard to keep up. If they operated similarly elsewhere, no wonder they wound up where they wound up.
TAMA was not different than most. Radio seems to be very good at follow the leader. Whatever the format du jour is that gets results elsewhere suddenly becomes the rage, others follow like sheep. The quick fix doesn’t always correspond to market demand. So, we see flip after flip. The Jax area once had 4 urban formats going at it. I may be wet behind the ears but I knew that wouldn’t work and flips are costly.
As far as greatest hits/oldies go, I find that whole evolution almost laughable as it’s just another version of follow the leader. Market after market are going with the format now and some are not even afraid to use the O word anymore because it brings results. There is a giant by the name of Brian Thomas of CBS Radio who spoke often about the great results of retro Top 40 in the PPM world. Maybe I was ahead of the power curve but I often featured commentary by Brian and programming culture that brings excitement. A shame blood was shed to bring the format here but there isn't anything to change that. We move on.
I realize WSOS was destined to be a Jax station and that was actually another reason I pointed out the merits of fine tuning and staying the course that was bringing them early success. But it wasn’t meant to be. Jax once again has 4 rock oriented formats and I question the logic of that just as I did when we offered 4 urban formats.
I’ll always believe WSOS could have evolved into something unique instead of the retread of the same old same old. In O Town, Cox seems to have a lot of success with WMMO. They are under the marketing umbrella of Classic Hits but it’s mainly soft rock with a wide range of music and decades. Perhaps WJGH covers soft rock well enough to not make a WMMO possible but still I would have liked to have seen WSOS not meet the end it met.
Anyway Mark, I appreciate your perspectives and contributions to this board. I try to bring in a point of view as a listener. I may get caught up in emotion every now and then but I always say what I truly mean. Radio is such a very fascinating business, isn’t it?.
With that said, all I have are my perceptions. TAMA and bankruptcy seem to go hand in hand. Your in depth analysis certainly explains things well but still I get the impression TAMA could have been given the goose who lays the golden eggs and they would have made an omelet of them. There was a time formats were changing so fast you needed a scorecard to keep up. If they operated similarly elsewhere, no wonder they wound up where they wound up.
TAMA was not different than most. Radio seems to be very good at follow the leader. Whatever the format du jour is that gets results elsewhere suddenly becomes the rage, others follow like sheep. The quick fix doesn’t always correspond to market demand. So, we see flip after flip. The Jax area once had 4 urban formats going at it. I may be wet behind the ears but I knew that wouldn’t work and flips are costly.
As far as greatest hits/oldies go, I find that whole evolution almost laughable as it’s just another version of follow the leader. Market after market are going with the format now and some are not even afraid to use the O word anymore because it brings results. There is a giant by the name of Brian Thomas of CBS Radio who spoke often about the great results of retro Top 40 in the PPM world. Maybe I was ahead of the power curve but I often featured commentary by Brian and programming culture that brings excitement. A shame blood was shed to bring the format here but there isn't anything to change that. We move on.
I realize WSOS was destined to be a Jax station and that was actually another reason I pointed out the merits of fine tuning and staying the course that was bringing them early success. But it wasn’t meant to be. Jax once again has 4 rock oriented formats and I question the logic of that just as I did when we offered 4 urban formats.
I’ll always believe WSOS could have evolved into something unique instead of the retread of the same old same old. In O Town, Cox seems to have a lot of success with WMMO. They are under the marketing umbrella of Classic Hits but it’s mainly soft rock with a wide range of music and decades. Perhaps WJGH covers soft rock well enough to not make a WMMO possible but still I would have liked to have seen WSOS not meet the end it met.
Anyway Mark, I appreciate your perspectives and contributions to this board. I try to bring in a point of view as a listener. I may get caught up in emotion every now and then but I always say what I truly mean. Radio is such a very fascinating business, isn’t it?.
I realized what Tama and Renda had in mind when they both acquired their facilities. The recent direction of WSOS is truly puzzling - we needed another rock station in this market like a bad headache. The lack of unique programming options on both AM & FM in greater Jacksonville is shameful.
nfladxer said:
If you will go back and re-read my previous explanation, you will find that I did not directly say nor did I imply that you nor anyone else on this thread were not aware of the basic overall business plan utilized by Tama, Renda and Clear Channel. I believe most, if not all, of us are well aware of previous business objectives planned and implemented by the respective entities involved with local radio in addition to each of us understanding why said plans were implemented. I was, however, reminding those who are unhappy with the current state of local radio why the current state is in its current condition. Sometimes it is easy, self included, to forget to view a situation objectively when personal preferences are heavily and emotionally involved. When that happens it usually, almost always, results in a personal subjective overview rather than an objective one.
Mark, I agree with most everything you post, and didn't take any offense to what you were pointing out, you're obviously knowledgeable and objective, and I respect you for all of your contributions. I will admit my last post was VERY biased - I just felt kind of "punked" by the WSOS format change as a listener. I guess if Renda decides to promote their new "Classic Rock" format, maybe they'll get more traction than with their version of Soft Contemporary music, which was NEVER really promoted very effectively. If I remember correctly, after Briggs left, they promoted "Easy Favorites" a couple of times in the St. Johns County Money Pages, and then installed John Tesh at night - which didn't really musically match the rest of the station. Again in my opinion, WSOS-FM was, for Renda, an expensive, poorly concieved move-in - what Renda now has, is a signal that no longer effectively serves St. Augustine (Yes, I know, that was their intention), and DOES NOT put a fully protected signal over all of Jacksonville - maybe 60% to 70% of the Jax market. Mark, you can confirm this, before the WSOS change of COL, the plundering of St. Augustine's commercial FM signals actually began when 104.5 (a full class C at the time) was moved from St. Augustine to Atlantic Beach - and, as they say, the rest is Rock 105 history! Hey JohnJax - just think if someone had started an Oldies station (in the Nation's Oldest City) on 104.5 way back when - it could have been a monster signal! lol And would most likely still have been a Jacksonville full market signal! And several years later, the little 97.7 WUVU (mounted on top of the old WFOY AM tower on the bay - when the AM had a much better signal) was upgraded and moved to 97.9 as a full C2 on a 500 foot tower off of U.S. 1 halfway between Jax and St. Aug. Now, it's been moved to the Jax Southside tower farm and the COL is Neptune Beach. Come to think of it, except for 94.1, all the old St. Augustine commercial signals - 104.5, 105.5 and 97.7 ended up on the beach! Maybe they can relicense WSOS to Fruit Cove Beach! Well, I've had enough fun - Happy Listening!
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