Is the rebrand confirmed to be happening
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Radio 104.5... Sticking with ALT
- Thread starter atthestars
- Start date
Is the rebrand confirmed to be happening
Nothing is confirmed until it actually happens.
i think that its a bad idea Like 107.7 the end in seattle radio 104.5 is an established alternative radio brand
They’ll be fine as Alt
Research may show that a re-branding won't hurt them in the long haul. 101.1 has re-branded from EZ-101 to B101 to 101.1 More FM and back to B101.1, and except for occasional dips, they've remained steady throughout all of the imaging changes.
Funny. You kinda neglected to tell everyone how well Alt 103.3 in Indy is performing these days!!
Their ratings took a hit after sticking Woody in morning drive, and they took an even bigger hit when Cumulus launched an Active Rock station on a Class A signal (versus Alt 103.'s 50 kW equivalent signal).
96.7 contributed only a fraction of the joint ratings of the 105.7 / 96.7 simulcast in Atlanta, and regardless of format, the current programming on 105.7 is generating the worst beauty pageant ratings of any format found on that stick over the past two decades. I also disagree with your characterization of that station being a "tiny" signal. Does it have drawbacks? Sure, but you are over-exaggerating the extent.
104.9 in St. Louis has a perfectly competitive signal. To blame the longevity of the competing station as the reason for 104.9 getting absolutely crushed in the ratings is lame. 104.9 KLLT loses (and loses very badly) each & every book because the New Rock audience in St. Louis doesn't want to sit through a bunch of sissy music. From top to bottom, 105.7 is simply a much better programmed station. There have been plenty of situations where a newcomer challenges a heritage station in the same format in St. Louis where the newcomer trails the heritage station by a much smaller margin than what we're seeing in the 104.9 vs. 105.7 battle.
104.5 WRFF listeners - hope you like Billie Ellish, Panic! at the Disco, and Twenty One Pilots. You'll be hearing a lot of it. Over and over and over.
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Considering all of these artists were already played on this station, and all of those artists have recently hit #1 on the Alt chart with their songs, then yes, until research and testing tells them the songs are burnt to their target audience, I'd expect any Alt station to play them over and over. Just because it seems like you personally don't think they belong at Alt doesn't mean they don't.
While WRFF has always played a ton of Twenty One Pilots, Panic, and Imagine Dragons, they never played much Billie Eilish until recently. Even when “Bad Guy” was ruling the charts, they generally left it in low-medium rotation. It seems like ever since iHeart canned Johnny and moved the playlist in a more typical iHeart direction, they’ve really upped the spins on her stuff.
If this stuff “tests well”, Maybe they should be testing on a different audience. Alternative seems to be on a nationwide downturn, especially WRFF.
If this stuff “tests well”, Maybe they should be testing on a different audience. Alternative seems to be on a nationwide downturn, especially WRFF.
I very much dislike the direction so-called Alternative music has taken over the past decade. You're right; I do not like those artists. The ratings data in market after market suggests today's version of "alternative" works nowhere nearly as well as the versions of the format that ruled the airwaves in the 90's and early 2000's. The format has become too effeminate and is hardly anything more than re-badged Modern AC.
For some reason, iHeart thinks standardized branding, and in some cases, standardized playlists is a good idea - even in markets of considerable size. I am skeptical of that strategy. Obviously, it didn't work well for Cumulus with "Nash."
I've probably wasted more time discussing WRFF than the situation warrants. Philly should feel very, very lucky that it has a great Rock station in 93.3 WMMR!
Does branding even matter to anyone except for the dunderheads at corporate? Especially in a PPM market. As long as the station is playing music their listeners like to hear, what does it matter what you call the station?
I still listen to terrestrial radio. (Although sometimes it's on my phone on the apps Tune-in or Radio dot com or iHeart). In my local market our hip-hop station is called "Hot 93.7". When they take caller 18 to win a prize and put them on the air, this is how the call usually ends.
DJ: Now tell everyone in Hartford what station just hooked you up with INSERT NAME OF PRIZE HERE!
Caller: 93.7 !.
The vast majority of the callers say 93.7, not HOT 93.7
Another station I listen to (obviously on Tune-in) is 103.9 FM WPHI, which recently changed its branding from BOOM 103.9 to Hip-Hop 103.9 - I didn't stop listening to the station just because they changed their name. They're still playing music I like listening to. (Okay I will admit, I hate both brands. Urban One really comes up with the stupidest station names).
I still listen to terrestrial radio. (Although sometimes it's on my phone on the apps Tune-in or Radio dot com or iHeart). In my local market our hip-hop station is called "Hot 93.7". When they take caller 18 to win a prize and put them on the air, this is how the call usually ends.
DJ: Now tell everyone in Hartford what station just hooked you up with INSERT NAME OF PRIZE HERE!
Caller: 93.7 !.
The vast majority of the callers say 93.7, not HOT 93.7
Another station I listen to (obviously on Tune-in) is 103.9 FM WPHI, which recently changed its branding from BOOM 103.9 to Hip-Hop 103.9 - I didn't stop listening to the station just because they changed their name. They're still playing music I like listening to. (Okay I will admit, I hate both brands. Urban One really comes up with the stupidest station names).
People ask why does Entercom play so much old music on their alt stations like KROQ and Alt 92.3 in NY. This is why. There are people who simply don't like current alt. That's not a radio problem. That's a music problem. There are a lot of music problems that have nothing to do with radio other than radio is the middleman.
Or perhaps coincidentally around that same time she became the darling of the music business. She is this year's Lady Gaga. She & her brother Finneas cleaned up at the Grammy awards. They are the next big thing. We have a thread about this on another board: Will all this pop success kill her as an alt artist.
When they launched almost 13 years ago with only Johnny at the helm and Wendy later due to their unexpected surge in the ratings from the dismal Rumba disaster. They played great stuff the market was missing, Pistols, Dolls, punk, plus forgotten 80s/90 cuts, Flys, Screaming trees and a host of others, which were all gradually eliminated over the years. Bring it all back.
Perhaps it's gone for a reason.
I remember back in the day hearing songs like “How Soon is Now” by the smiths on Radio 104.5 them days are gone
Branding is very important for PPM, but in different ways.
In the diary, the brand had to be remembered and written down.
In the PPM, where long listening spans are uncommon, and 15 to 20 minute incidents are the rule, you have to get people to remember to come back to you.
So, if anything, branding is now more important... but the younger (under 40) listeners don't like traditional branding so it has to be done is a less aggressive, screaming manner
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Radio 104.5 isn't much different than Alt104.5 in terms of "annoyance factor." However, under the new iHeart system, imaging is getting centralized. So that means one package of imaging for alt stations, using one brand. That's my guess about why this is happening, not as much about the music.
so i guess the suspicion of any iheart philadelphia station getting an format change is out of the window now. I remember people on this board saying that WRFF is getting a format change. I do think either WTDY or q102 should go into a HOT AC direction
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People on this board have been saying that for over a decade now. They'll be right one day, but for now the rebrand should atleast give 104.5 a 3 month reprieve from that. After 3 months when they still are billing about the same the format change predictions will return.
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