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So What Does WTQR Do Now?

C

CCX1

Guest
I'm thinking they need to do something about their Morning Drive, and soon! Sorry, but Aunt Eloise ain't what she used to be. How else does WTQR counteract the challenger? Granted, WTQR is the heritage station, but you can't ignore a direct attack. What kind of music tightening should they do? How do they protect their cume from the inevitable sampling that will happen, especially when Entercom starts their marketing campaign? This will be quite a radio WAR with the BIG guys. Other stations have tried to go up against WTQR, but most either didn't have the signal or the money. WTQR is more vulnerable right now than they have ever been. It will be interesting to see how they react.
 
First, you don't panic and beat yourself with stupid mistakes. If the "Wolf" is for real, they will try to exploit what they percieve to be TQR's weaknesses. Monitor them closely, evaluate their selling points, then counter them if you actually see a weakness. WTQR has decades of head start in the country business, and brand loyalty is VERY hard to overcome if the product's really right. You can be sure CC isn't gonna sit idly by and let an upstart steal their cash cow.
 
Oh, the metaphor is just too sweet! Can the Wolf bring down the cash Cow? - he-he! I don't believe it's really going to be the wolf, but it would be fun to watch.
 
Ya know..."Wolves" were hunted to extinction in the old West....and the "cows" roamed free...
 
What WTQR does now is just what they have been doing for years. I can't see any reason for any major changes. The WOLF will make a run at them but but other stations have tried that and had very little success. Entercom does have deep pockets but I doubt the company will spend too much. I can see them dropping a lot of cash at first but the spending will not continue. I can't think of anyone in that building on National Service Road that knows anythig about Country Music and that will hold them back. I look for a big splash then very little after that. I am still having a hard time picturing Brent Milar and Randy Bilss in a cowboy hat!
 
One thing to consider - this is the first time, in a long time, WTQR has had competition that had a GREAT signal that covered the full metro! Previous challengers (since the Big 102 days).

Aside from a variety of other issues, the one thing in common with I-95, Cat Country, WPCM, WMFX, etc., was signal. None of those stations had reliable signals in the entire metro!
 
You left out WHSL "Whistle 100" which was 100.3. They had a GREAT signal. Actually, they were making inroads on WTQR. A lot of the top WTQR Salespeople defected to WHSL and they were making it happen! That's why the station was brutally murdered when the Clear Channel merger ocurred. Don't mess with the Cash Cow!
 
CCX1 said:
You left out WHSL "Whistle 100" which was 100.3. They had a GREAT signal. Actually, they were making inroads on WTQR. A lot of the top WTQR Salespeople defected to WHSL and they were making it happen! That's why the station was brutally murdered when the Clear Channel merger ocurred. Don't mess with the Cash Cow!
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there does seem to be a rather...protective shield maybe around WMAG and WTQR for the CC Folks...the other stations are just kinda there.
 
You are right, I did leave out Whistle 100, but I dispute the fact that they were making inroads of any significance. Of course, we didn't even count 94.5 Classic Country that lasted, what, a couple of weeks.

As for al lot of top sales people defecting, I dispute your claim on a couple of counts. First, what is a lot? One or two? Truth in a lot of the sales people at WTQR in those days had made their names when ratings were in the 20s and high teens. They had little clue about how to sell advertising - they just knew how to quote numbers and take the orders. As the station's numbers dropped into the 12s, they had problems!

Listen, some of them were really nice people. There even a few I counted among my friends. But truth is many couldn't sell their way out of a wet paper bag! True radio sales is a lost art! Too bad!

Meanwhile, if Entercom dumps enough money into it, they have the signal. If they get the music right, and have a decent morning show - and keep up the promotion for five or six years, they might make a dent! Clear Channel has the money - and WILL defend the cow!
 
My count of the salespeople who defected from WTQR to WHSL was 3, and 2 of them are still very active and successful in radio. Both of them are EXCELLENT salespeople with a great deal of passion for their stations. Your dismissal of them as order takers is totally inacurrate. Neither of them wanted to leave WTQR, but the Sales Management there at the time was so incredibly awful that they felt they had to get out. Perhaps your memory fails you on who left. Their passion in selling was why they were making some inroads against WTQR. Granted, the 104.1 monster could loose a sizeable amount and never feel the pinch, but Miller Kaplans were showing a story. The station was making money. After CC killed WHSL, they created the sickly, anemic 94.5 Country station that's sole existence was to protect WTQR from anyone else going Country. The station literally was not allowed to succeed. What a waste of signal. I'm actually happy that it is now Hispanic because I think it finally has found a niche to succeed after all these years and all those different formats.
 
I agree with the n-guy. Anyone with more than 10 seconds in radio knows you can't "knee jerk" and change things. It gives your competitior credibility. 'TQR has all the cards right now. They have the heritage morning show, which is doing very well, thank you. At this point, the elephant does not hunt moquitoes.
 
CCX said:
My count of the salespeople who defected from WTQR to WHSL was 3, and 2 of them are still very active and successful in radio. Both of them are EXCELLENT salespeople with a great deal of passion for their stations. Your dismissal of them as order takers is totally inacurrate. Neither of them wanted to leave WTQR, but the Sales Management there at the time was so incredibly awful that they felt they had to get out. Perhaps your memory fails you on who left. Their passion in selling was why they were making some inroads against WTQR. Granted, the 104.1 monster could loose a sizeable amount and never feel the pinch, but Miller Kaplans were showing a story. The station was making money. After CC killed WHSL, they created the sickly, anemic 94.5 Country station that's sole existence was to protect WTQR from anyone else going Country. The station literally was not allowed to succeed. What a waste of signal. I'm actually happy that it is now Hispanic because I think it finally has found a niche to succeed after all these years and all those different formats.
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It could have been a good station if they avoided Shania Twain and Faith Hill or the likes of Montgomery Gentry and Brooks and Dunn. WIST is doing classic country right and I just wish they had the signal.

I don't know if this means anything, but one of the DJs wrote me after the classic ountry format on 94.5 flopped and she sounded like she really wanted it to work and that she cried over the switch. That doesn't mean much when you consider how corporations treat their DJs.
 
I don't know if this means anything, but one time I turned on the station and a recorded announcer said something about "another all-time favorite". Oh, good, this is what WFMX used to do.

But they played old songs on WFMX when they did that. Isn't "Billy's Got His Beer Goggles On" less than a year old? I like the song, though.
 
I agree with you about WIST. Great station, great music. Too bad it doesn't have a bigger signal. But, that doesn't mean it can't be a powerhouse in the counties that it does cover. WFMX never had huge ratings because of being in between Metros, but that didn't stop a lot of people from loving that station. I think they're beginning to have the same passion for Country Legends. It seems the station also has a strong following of younger (25-34) listeners who prefer the old music to the new. While WTQR ane The Wolf duke it out, WIST can just slip under the radar and enjoy some quiet success.
 
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