PARTY-93.1

[The-Major]

OK I know I'm a little bit late on this fact (maybe a lot late), but just in case you may not be aware of this - 'South Florida's Pure Dance Channel - PARTY-93.1' is officially dead. YES I am aware that they died during the great St. Valentine's Day Massacre of 2005, but several months later they were resurrected online at their official web site with audio streaming of their (then) Internet only station. I was an occasional visitor / listener of it - particularly early on - but then I eventually discovered and got XM Satellite Radio for Christmas. Sometime during the past couple of months the PARTY really ended for good. The web site is no longer in existence aside from a brief message that appears announcing the demise of the station in its entirety. They also provide an E-MAIL address where you can comment to Cox Radio on this unfortunate development.THE MAJOR

 

[Bear the other white meat]

I look for a "Party" station to pop up on an HD channel.

 

[BJSteigner]

Party 93.1 needs to come back for the dance fans in Miami.

Cox killed it because the company doesnt know how to program that format of a station.

 

[marko83]

Actually, they killed is because it made no money and had low ratings.

 

[jcolletta275]

That's not quite the case, marko. For a niche station like Party was, they garnered strong ratings initially. If they couldn't sell it, that was a problem they themselves made (and from what I've heard, it really wasn't much of one).

No, the real reason Party died was because of corporate intervention. As BJ pointed out, Cox didn't know how to run it, but despite that fact, they stepped in and did things their way. As many have said here before, Party was a great, Miami dance station when it first premiered. They were doing everything (except the lack of jocks, but that's another train of thought) right when the swtich was flipped. Unfortunately, Cox had to come in and fix what wasn't broken. That's why 93.1 died. If corporate had left well enough alone, Party would probably still be on the air today.

As for a dance station popping up on an HD subchannel, Power 96-2 is all South Florida has. Unfortunately, it's not quite up to the standard Party initially had set. It's not even up to the standard Power 96 themselves had set before they dropped dance from their playlists.

 

[Pharaoh]

Party is dead please quit, anyways who gave a rats azz on a station that played castles in the sky 27,000 times.

their is sooooo much more internet stations out there that are not corprate controlled, that is what we should support. I even listen to internet radio in the car too

 

[jcolletta275]

That's the point I'm trying to make... the reason they played so many golds and recurrents was because the company stepped in. The market certainly wasn't demanding them, at least not in the amount they were played.

The reason people keep coming back to the station, though, is that the majority of people out there don't have Internet (or satellite, if anyone cares to brinng that up) radio capabilities in their vehicles or on their cell phones. Terrestrial radio, however, is still the dominant medium, and while it is, there will always be people in Miami wanting a dance station.

I've said for more than a decade that Internet radio was the wave of the future, but until the general population has more Internet radio-capable devices than FM receivers, that future hasn't arrived.

What people are calling for is the original Party 93-1, the one that didn't run two-year-old tracks into the ground. That type of station would thrive tremendously in South Florida if given a chance.

 

[The-Major]

For a niche station like Party was, they garnered strong ratings initially. No, the real reason Party died was because of corporate intervention. As BJ pointed out, Cox didn't know how to run it, but despite that fact, they stepped in and did things their way. As many have said here before, Party was a great, Miami dance station when it first premiered. They were doing everything (except the lack of jocks, but that's another train of thought) right when the swtich was flipped. Unfortunately, Cox had to come in and fix what wasn't broken. That's why 93.1 died. If corporate had left well enough alone, Party would probably still be on the air today.

WOW - It took 36 days for this thread to get going after my initial post. It's all good !

Just to piggy-back on Josh's comments (which I so totally agree with and couldn't put in better words myself) the fact of the matter is that PARTY-93.1 had excellent ratings at start-up in 2002. They peaked as a TOP 10 station overall (TOP 3 or TOP 5 in young Hispanics), and then they leveled off for awhile and then they finally dropped and bottomed-out. But you know that they never got as low as the ratings that its replacement has been getting over the past several books.

THE MAJOR

 

[954]

That's the point I'm trying to make... the reason they played so many golds and recurrents was because the company stepped in. The market certainly wasn't demanding them, at least not in the amount they were played.

That is more true than you could possibly imagine.

Before Cox's Mike Disney killed WPYM (to alienate listeners so he could switch formats?), he had made newly purchased classical WTMI (which had been around for 30 years) into a crappy Mickey Mouse station, to alienate listeners so he could switch formats. Pun intended.

Good luck. You're more likely to get that format from another company, not Cox. Puns left to your imagination.

73s

 

[jcolletta275]

I couldn't agree more. The way Cox has operated the station since they bought it has been... well... alienating. While I tremendously enjoyed Party, WTMI was a great, heritage station that was abandoned for no real reason.

Sure the ratings weren't the best, but even in New York, classical stations don't pull in more than a 3 in most books. Even in a market 1/3 the size of the Big Apple (roughly), a 2.1 (which is where New York's WQXR currently sits) is pretty respectable for a niche format. WTMI was Ratings obviously weren't the reason for WTMI being blown up. Neither were they the reason for WPYM being blown up. They might, however, be the reason for WHDR going the way of it's predecessors

(For the ignorant, 1.7 may be respectable for a niche format, but even in South Florida, I wouldn't exactly call Active Rock a niche format.)

All in all, Cox have seemed to do all they can to destroy 93.1 (British phrasing used to amplify the pun).

 

[954]

All in all, Cox have seemed to do all they can to destroy 93.1 (British phrasing used to amplify the pun).

You were so subtle I had to read it twice. LOL!

73s!