I was listening to wmmo the other day and I noticed that they are calling themselves Orlando's classic hits. So how long before they start using the eagle name? I miss the old wmmo as well. Also, is it me or has wmmo added some aggressive processing to the music? I remember back in the days wmmo was one of the best sounding stations audio wise. I miss the old wmmo from the 90s with the album sides and all the special features. It made radio interesting......
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Orlando's classic hits
- Thread starter austingrace
- Start date
What I find curious is why COX did not try the Classic Hits Format on WHTQ 96.5 They could have retained a large portion of their Male Audience (from WHTQ)while attracting Females and also give 105.9 a real run for their money in the meantime but I guess they felt that WDBO had to go on the 100,000 watt station.
Originally I thought Cox would have placed WDBO-FM "News-Talk" on the 95.3 signal and move Power to the big stick on 96.5; however, news-talk is doing well on 96.5 much the same as WOKV News-Talk is performing in Jacksonville on the 100kw 104.5 signal. Regardless, Cox needed to do something with the former WHTQ. It's ratings were the lowest of the Cox Orlando radio cluster, and the former classic rock format had become stale. The same happened in Jacksonville with classic rock WFYV, and since News-Talk had been working well on the smaller class A signal at 106.5, it made good business sense to move WOKV-FM from the smaller signal to bigger, previously under-performing, WFYV signal.
Cox did do a Major Revision of the Classic Rock format just before the flip which I did find curious if in fact their intentions were not really to try & save the Classic Rock Format at all & replace it with WDBO. They tweaked WHTQ Feb 18,2011 and end up ditching the Classic Rock format 6 months later. That kind of stuff happens in our industry I get that-but give it 12-18 months to succeed or fail.
Oh, there was "some" tweaking with the music on WHTQ but it was still basically the same classic rock format with a new moniker going from "96-5, WHTQ, The Classic Rock Station" to simply "96 Rock". They were still playing the same burned out songs over and over with no noticeable music rotation. The music should always be in a three month rotation, meaning the current playlist is rotated off and a new playlist added every quarter with at least five three-month music rotations. And, yes you can have five quarters. This prevents the same music quarter from playing during the same three month period every year, and it gives the music a twelve month rest period before a retired quarter is rotated back on active status, hence the music doesn't become burned out and stale causing listener erosion. That is how you keep the classic rock or classic hits fresh since they ain't making anymore '60s, 70s & '80s classic music.
Yes,That is true with Cox they Test to Death and leave them in rotation forever.I seem to recall they did seem to update some & add some 90's titles that they would not touch prior to 2011 Probably too little too late. I had a similar situation with an OLDIES Station-they thought you could pick 800 songs & play them FOREVER-I tried explaining but unfortunately not as eloquently as you-and they still did not "get it". The owner could not understand why I was going into a Classic Hits Direction and Dropping earlier Pre-Beatles Titles and I think when I started adding more Animals,Rolling Stones (60's Rock) and Hall & Oates and some Early to Mid 80's it was more than they could take...they wanted to play "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance" and 200 Elvis Titles...I'm like NO NO NO! Not if you want Advertisers! Needless to say that association ended quickly.
I thought something seemed odd several months ago when looking at WMMO's playlist. Not one song in the 24 hour history of Last Songs Played was made after 1989. The "All about the Music" imaging included songs from Steve Miller and Simple Minds. I guess it was just a matter of time before the stations tagline became less vague on what they are. They also seem to play more of the heavier rock from the 80's, the type of music WHTQ used to play.
Whats interesting though was 107.3 in Tampa ran a AAA/ WMMO format in the late 90's/ early 2000's, by late 2002 they changed there tagline from "Soft Rock n Roll from Yesterday and Today" to "Classic Hits from the 60's, 70's and 80's". Then changed it to "Classic Hits from the 60's and 70's." Then in January of 2004 changed its imaging from "The Bay" to "The Eagle", becoming Cox's first "Eagle" branded Classic Hits station.
105.9 now has a newer playlist then WMMO, playing songs up to 1993 or so.
Whats interesting though was 107.3 in Tampa ran a AAA/ WMMO format in the late 90's/ early 2000's, by late 2002 they changed there tagline from "Soft Rock n Roll from Yesterday and Today" to "Classic Hits from the 60's, 70's and 80's". Then changed it to "Classic Hits from the 60's and 70's." Then in January of 2004 changed its imaging from "The Bay" to "The Eagle", becoming Cox's first "Eagle" branded Classic Hits station.
105.9 now has a newer playlist then WMMO, playing songs up to 1993 or so.
Someone mentioned how WHTQ underwent a music/ imaging overhaul 6 months prior to the end of the Classic Rock format. Why would Cox update the imaging and what not to a format that's on its deathbed. WHTQ isn't the only station Cox has done this to. Cox has even done Cash Promotions and station sponsored events with formats that be axed a mere few weeks later. Why would any company bother promoting a format on the way out.
The WHTQ call letters were changed to WDBO-FM when the format changed to News-Talk on 8-19- 2011.
Yes that awesome toh is gone. 
Has been finding myself listening to 98.9 more. Heard shock the monkey on there tonight. Had not heard that on the radio in ages. 98.9 actually plays songs that are not played that often. I have heard the kid is hot tonight by lover boy as well on this station. I for one like it.
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