There is really no need for any station in celeveland to undergo a format change. WHLK and WMJI use to sound very much a like but not so much anymore
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Rob Anthony tapped as PD WMMS and 106.5 The Lake.
- Thread starter Y2kTheNewOldies
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WMMS found their groove a decade ago by becoming a rock/talk/sports "mancave" station.
Rover and Alan Cox are rocks in AM and PM drive, you have the Guards and Cavs in the evenings, and rock the rest of the day and mostly on weekends.
From 1994-2008 they were rudderless and stumbling along to find themselves (especially in morning drive).
Once they settled in to mixing talk and sports with the music, they've been almost born again.
97.3 in San Diego was supposed to be a mancave-type station a few years ago, but a promotion gone wrong had ruined things before it ended flipping to sports.
107.3 is definitely now filling the void left behind when 99x switched to news....and when WMMS is talk/sports PBP. I hear quite a bit of harder Alice In Chains/Foo Fighters/Stone Temple Pilots type stuff mixed in with their more modern alternative artists. This is what 107.3 should have launched as from the beginning instead of the weird JENY format, the station sounds really good right now.
Noted is that WNCX continues to mix in 90s grunge tracks every now and then....and I heard an REM song on WMJI the other day, which is just bizarre to me.
Can you share specifics about the 'promotion gone wrong' if you are able?
In 2018, Entercom aquired the rights to San Diego Padres games and announced a format change of their 97.3 station to hot talk and sports and hired shock jock Kevin Klein from San Francisco.
Before he started, he issued a tweet with a picture of San Diego's Coronado bridge and the caption, "jump to a new morning show".
This was very offensive because this bridge is the site of many suicides, and the Padres said they would cancel their contract if they hired Klein.
So they fired him before he even started and switched to a conventional sports talk format, which they are today. Klein ended up in L.A. at KROQ.
Before he started, he issued a tweet with a picture of San Diego's Coronado bridge and the caption, "jump to a new morning show".
This was very offensive because this bridge is the site of many suicides, and the Padres said they would cancel their contract if they hired Klein.
So they fired him before he even started and switched to a conventional sports talk format, which they are today. Klein ended up in L.A. at KROQ.
Thank you for the information. I seem to remember that, now.
Klein never even got to host one show on 97.3.
I do agree that 107.3 sounds a lot better now as an Alternative station than when it was JENY, even with the "Modern Alternative" slogan and approach.
VintageMac
Banned
When Howard Stern appeared on Cleveland radio in 1992, that changed WMMS ratings dominance. From Wikipedia:
Among the most notorious broadcasts of The Howard Stern Show occurred on June 10, 1994.[88] Stern had arrived on the Cleveland airwaves less than two years earlier, and in that time took his syndicated program on rival WNCX from an Arbitron ranking of thirteen to number one.[89] As promised, Stern held a party for his fans on the streets of Cleveland – a "Funeral" for his local rivals, much like similar events held in New York, Los Angeles and Philadelphia – and broadcast it nationwide.[88][90]
The wire cutting came after WMMS had switched to an Alternative format after changing ownership.
The chinks in the armor were showing in 91-93, but the wheels truly came off when Jeff and Flash left and they went alternative ("Buzzard Next Generation") in 94.
They were were in the abyss from 1994-2008.
But once Rover finally stabilized things in the mornings, everything else fell into place, and they found new life with the "mancave" format.
In many ways, WNCX went through the same thing (though in a shorter time span) - Howard Stern left for satellite radio in 06, from '06-'11 NCX went through a cavalcade of AMD hosts until Slats ended the merry-go-round, and the station's fortunes went up from there.
That just shows you how important even to this day how important the morning drive slot is...if you're stable at the top, the rest just falls into place.
When you say "the music industry" of course you are talking about the three remaining labels that dictate nearly everything played on commercial radio. It's not a "music" problem, it's a consolidated big business problem where all creativity has been purged from its ranks so they can push the most homogenous, unimaginative product. I used that word on purpose because the music industry no longer offers music as art, just "product". To them it's simply a commodity.
There is a lot of great rock music out there, it's just that the big three labels have no place for it. Here's some, though:
NACC 200 Radio Chart
The North American College & Community Radio Chart tabulates weekly airplay from College and Non-Commercial radio stations in the United States and Canada.
naccchart.com
Theoretically, commercial radio COULD play some of those songs, but the big music and big radio industries are so heavily consolidated with top-down decision makers fraternizing with each other that there's no one left advocating for anything outside of that symbiotic relationship. So the big three keep trotting out their garbage, rock radio takes what they are fed and all the industry analysts mutter buzz words about lack of consensus over that steaming pile.
That may be how it looks to you. But I'm currently in a situation where a bunch of outside indie labels HAVE been able to get their music on the radio. One of those non-majors has had a two-week national #1, and has had the #1 selling album for two years. Let me repeat: We're talking about major radio stations playing music from indie labels. It's happening right now. What it takes is good music and good record promo people. It could happen in other genres if airplay was a priority. I think THAT'S where the problem is.
Yeah it does happen but not very much. There's nowhere near the sort of diversity and competition between numerous labels that all had a seat at the table that there was before they all ate each other.
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Actually it's happening a lot. I mentioned the two-week #1, but right now half of the country Top 30 is made up of artists on indie labels, The other side is that the three majors have the other half. But to say it doesn't happen very much is not true. Two indie labels are tied with one major for Label of the Year. It can be done. But as I said, it takes a desire for radio airplay. The big three are more focused on streaming because they get a royalty from streaming, not from broadcast.
Yes, the first Funeral was done for the competing morning guy in Philly by Andy Blum, the PD. Then when he put Howard on in LA, they did another funeral with coffin and all right down Vine across Hollywood down to Sunset.
I have noticed a few tweaks like that, as well as some more modern sounding imaging since Bill Louis retired. Not saying either side was right or wrong, but the influence of a younger PD is there if you listen.
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