Rock gone from "the rock" 106.9 WCCC

[Gregg]

It's a rough world for youthful Rock stations these days. While WMRQ is Alternative and WCCC-FM has been mostly Active Rock, it's rare to see TWO Rock stations in the same medium sized market aiming at the younger Rock listener. In most cities, you get either one or the other, not both.

So I guess WCCC-FM is going more Classic while not blowing off it's harder-edged image, compared to WAQY and WHCN which play more pop-leaning Classic Rock.

While WHCN lists itself as Adult Hits, it sounds like a Classic Rock station to me. Except for one or two songs per hour, everything else WHCN plays fits right on a Classic Rock playlist. Sometimes WHCN rocks harder than WAQY.

Hartford really is an unusal market in having WMRQ, WCCC-FM, WHCN, WAQY, WPLR, WAAF and WRKI, all variations of Rock, all audible on a car radio. Meanwhile WRCH has those giant AC numbers all to itself. Nobody challenges it.

 

[CTListener]

It's a rough world for youthful Rock stations these days. While WMRQ is Alternative and WCCC-FM has been mostly Active Rock, it's rare to see TWO Rock stations in the same medium sized market aiming at the younger Rock listener. In most cities, you get either one or the other, not both.

So I guess WCCC-FM is going more Classic while not blowing off it's harder-edged image, compared to WAQY and WHCN which play more pop-leaning Classic Rock.

While WHCN lists itself as Adult Hits, it sounds like a Classic Rock station to me. Except for one or two songs per hour, everything else WHCN plays fits right on a Classic Rock playlist. Sometimes WHCN rocks harder than WAQY.

Hartford really is an unusal market in having WMRQ, WCCC-FM, WHCN, WAQY, WPLR, WAAF and WRKI, all variations of Rock, all audible on a car radio. Meanwhile WRCH has those giant AC numbers all to itself. Nobody challenges it.

But only WHCN, WCCC and WMRQ are actually Hartford stations, and none are pure classic rockers under any definition. There's definitely a hole in the market for a classic rocker, whether its focus is Stones and Springsteen or Pearl Jam and Alice in Chains. I can't hear WAAF on my car radio, and WRKI is scratchy. I'm sure listeners in other parts of the market have similar problems with WPLR and WAQY.

 

[progressivetalk]

Their website says Friday @ 5PM 1,069 Rock Songs Non-Stop. 106.9 WCCC.

I smell a blow-up...

To what format???

Probably straight classic rock, a la WAQY or WPLR. Hartford hasn't had a classic rock outlet of its own since WHCN became The River.

I'm listening to WPLR and some wouldn't consider Foo Fighters, Alice in Chains or Audioslave as "classic rock" and I've heard them frequently on PLR (Right now,as I type this "Man in the Box" is playing). As for WAQY, killer signal, but the most rigid playlist I've heard on a classic rock station. No orginality whatsoever. I requested a Metallica tune a few years back, and the jock emailed back that "they do not have that product".

Man in the Box is 23 years old. Maybe it's not a classic rock tune in the traditional sense, but that's a long time.

WPLR has been adjusting its music mix to appeal to the younger end of the target demo and discourage listening by "unsellable" 55+ folks, just as WDRC-FM has.

Damn, I'm one of those "unsellable 55+ folks"(and I won't listen to anything but classic and alternative rock), and I would consider Alice in Chains/Pearl Jam/Nirvana as classic rock, as I would also include Elvis Presley, Bill Haley and the Comets, and the Beach Boys as classic rock artists. I consider most anything from the late 50's to the mid-90's as classic rock, but few stations would!!! I wonder how the ratings would be for a station that played Nirvana, Metallica, Elvis and the Beatles all in the same hour??

 

[MarcB]

Two co-workers - one 19 and one in his 40s are WCCC fans. Both think part of WCCC's problems are Patriots Football and (for the 2011-2012 season anyway) CT Whale Hockey.

 

[CTListener]

Two co-workers - one 19 and one in his 40s are WCCC fans. Both think part of WCCC's problems are Patriots Football and (for the 2011-2012 season anyway) CT Whale Hockey.

I'm sure Pats football brings listeners to 106.9 who normally never tune to that frequency, and they far outnumber the headbangers who are pissed that their favorite tunes disappear for a few hours every Sunday or Monday.

 

[reelyreal]

That's three hours on weekend evenings. That's far from the problem.

 

[GlennO]

To answer the question about an Elvis/Nirvana/Beach Boys station's ratings: pretty dismal.

With one of the three best signals in the Hartford metro, you would think WCCC could have remained a dominant player in rock since 1975, especially in New England where active rock has performed well in Massachusetts at WAAF and in New Hampshire at WGIR-FM. Sure, WCCC could have promoted more, cut back on jock talk and eliminated long form sports, but what's done is done and it may be time for this stand-alone FM to do what its former head-to-head competitor WHCN did years ago: something new. They have the potential to do bigger things, and hopefully with many of the same people; motivated people can adapt and radio bloodbaths suck. One thing that really won't cut it long term - no matter what mainstream format - is the most music in the morning. That's a sure sign a station's on the losing end. Going back to classic rock? It may still work great for Saga's well-established WAQY (who has their home market Laser 99.3 to cover younger demos up there), but reverting to classic rock now strikes me as too little too late.

This may not be unique to Hartford, but tweaking a station seldom saves its current format after it descends down a long ratings slide. WWYZ was an example of that as it repeatedly tried rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic from 1982 to 1988 until any attempts to rescue a struggling AC were abandoned in favor of a country format that is now poised to mark its 25th successful year. There were plenty of talented people who tried in the interim to restore WWYZ to its former glory as an AC, but that switch meant they'd never look back. Most of the air people survived the change.

Maybe WCCC won't try something totally different, but all options - including the nuclear one - should be on the table.

 

[veshman]

It's interesting how WACC-LP in Enfield, CT (waccfm.org) has been doing a combination of alternative rock and classic rock for 10 years. Now CCC is trying something similar. Hmmmm.....

 

[reelyreal]

It's not going to be a combo format. CCC is completely ditching active rock for classic rock tonight.

 

[progressivetalk]

That's three hours on weekend evenings. That's far from the problem.

Agreed. The Whale games on WCCC are only a problem if you try to listen to one not on a Saturday. When the Whale/XL Center changes management in the summer, perhaps the first thing on the new company's agenda is a new outlet to air all the games on a signal that can be heard by more than a few birds circling the WCCC AM transmitter.

 

[KML0224]

It's underway now. Sounds very stale. It seems like they're running it dry with barely any liners to be heard and maybe the TOH station ID. I just don't get it.

 

[CTListener]

It's underway now. Sounds very stale. It seems like they're running it dry with barely any liners to be heard and maybe the TOH station ID. I just don't get it.

Has the air staff been shown the door? All the jocks' profiles are still up on the website as of five minutes ago. And the Facebook posts are getting nasty, warning the jocks to avoid public appearances as this is now a "war zone."

 

[Ozman]

Is there any jock on tonight? CCC always made me happy with not knowing what they were going to play next with live jocks and it also kept me from depression and made me happy IE it was routine to listen to WCCC.

 

[MarcB]

And the Facebook posts are getting nasty, warning the jocks to avoid public appearances as this is now a "war zone."

It's been like that on Facebook for several days now. Urging people to go down to their studios and doing not nice people to the people who work there, vadelize the building etc, etc, etc. I feel sorry for the people who work at Connecticut Public Broadcasting which is right next door. Oh yeah there are also clowns on their Facebook page who believe Marlin Broadcasting is a subsidiary of COX Radio.

 

[progressivetalk]

The songs on WCCC FM are apparently management's way to show they may be a little more "Liberal" in defining "classic rock" as from 1970 to about 2005 or so.

 

[WPHA]

Facebook has policies about people posting threats of violence, and they will notify the Authorities. If you see that, REPORT it to Facebook! Anyone posting threats against personnel or property should be, at the very least, interrogated by the local Police. That would put a quick stop to it!

I don't listen to the station, as the format is not at all my cup of tea, but it still makes me sick that people would threaten the INNOCENT workers of the station, because of changes mandated by management! Sigh.

 

[reelyreal]

It highlights one of the problems... Angry white men don't exactly make a hugely appealing advertising demographic. DO WHAT I LIKE OR I'LL SMASH YOUR WINDOWS!!!!

 

[progressivetalk]

I guess that's why right-wing talk is a failing format. Angry white guys are being replaced. And again, classic rock IS ROCK!!!!!!

 

[Ozman]

It's amazing how many people have WCCC as a"routine" in their lives I can see why there are threats one their Facebook. When we need to keep our minds distracted from things WCCC was there to tune in find out what the hell was going on. Concerts, events or just a jock with a quick talkover that would comment on something going from a song to another song "segueing"

 

[reelyreal]

That was another problem... PPM has shown that most listeners to a station DON'T like the long drawn-out talk breaks like "What the hell is going on," which was way too long as a segment. The WCCC jocks weren't practicing word economy. You can still communicate with your audience, you just have to do it in a smarter fashion. The jocks will have another chance when they come back on the air after the music marathon's done.

This wider playlist doesn't have to be the travesty some listeners are making it out to be. If they play it more like WAAF's "Everything that Rocks" approach, I think things could go well. I look to WAAF as a great example of what a rock station can be today. Engaging personalities that listeners love, information on the lifestyle, mind-blowingly good production, and a great over-all flow.