So who picks up the rock format now?

[Ned Braden]

I guess the obvious question is which current Philly station is ripe for the pickin' to flip to the hard classic rock format that CBS is dropping from WYSP? I remember when Eagle 106 dissolved, Kiss 100 picked up the CHR flag and became Y-100 (Z-100 for about a day...). I wonder if this is the opportunity for Greater Media to turn WMGK in to a true, genuine classic rocker and not the glorified classic hits that it's been for 15 years.....other than that, I couldn't begin to guess who could take the format and do it justice

 

[pab]

There are already other rock stations in Philly. Maybe WMMR gets a little harder, or WRFF, but for the most part WYSP's music format was redundant.

 

[Slinky]

MMR is already covering this format pretty well. I don't see a flip happening.

 

[imhomerjay]

For most stations in the market, it would be a step backwards to go after the numbers WYSP was getting.

 

[Radio Wreck]

What boggles my mind is how/why is 102.9 so successful and 94.1 is at the bottom of the food chain. Both stations are rockers playing a lot of the same tunes. 102.9 in its current "chicken rock" state is probably the most repetitive station in the history of Philly radio and yet somehow it is always toward the top of the books.

Any thoughts?

 

[Bill_W]

WMGK still has to kind of protect its sister station WMMR.

 

[Radio Wreck]

I know that. But why is WMGK so successful at protecting WMMR and WYSP is so bad at boosting their own ratings when a lot of their content is the same?

 

[BobSmolarek]

WMGK's music mix is much better than WYSP to my ears. It is more like an oldies station that doesn't play urban oldies. WYSP is just a little too hard. You don't hear ELO on YSP but on MGK they are a core artist. You know what I would do? Tweak WOGL ever so slightly, remove just a little of the motown/urban stuff, and put in a little more rock. Just slightly. I think they could grab some of the YSP and MGK audience. WYSP really served no purpose, MMR, RFF, and MGK have rock pretty well covered.

 

[Fakeem]

You know what I would do? Tweak WOGL ever so slightly, remove just a little of the motown/urban stuff, and put in a little more rock.

Stop picking on WOGL. If you compare it's playlist of "motown/urban stuff" to that of WDAS/WRNB, you would see that WOGL plays much of the "motown/urban stuff" that those stations feel are too "POP". Ironically, I've switched to WOGL for the diversity in "motown/urban stuff". that doesn't get played as much as you guys think.

 

[Steele1080]

What boggles my mind is how/why is 102.9 so successful and 94.1 is at the bottom of the food chain. Both stations are rockers playing a lot of the same tunes. 102.9 in its current "chicken rock" state is probably the most repetitive station in the history of Philly radio and yet somehow it is always toward the top of the books.

Any thoughts?

In my 30+ years of research/radio programming experience, the mantra holds true: People DON'T know what they WANT, BUT they LIKE what they know!"

When they "say" they want (MORE variety LESS repetition) is NOT always reflective of their behavior: Repetition is comfort food..Repetition is expected, Repetition is rewarded with ratings! SAME with TV: Constant reruns of Seinfeld and Two-AND-A Half Men will never burn out* Urrgghh! (oh, still employed enjoying god ratings)*

 

[JH_Radio]

Go figgure. I like the rock station with the most horible rateings. WYSP. Maybe I should start listening to Rewind on Serius-XM. But Serius aren't typical radio formats, and there aren't local jocks (I understand, a national company...)
After all, I've had to turn to them for Smooze Jazz and Soft AC and B/EZ (when in the mood.)

 

[Steele1080]

What boggles my mind is how/why is 102.9 so successful and 94.1 is at the bottom of the food chain. Both stations are rockers playing a lot of the same tunes. 102.9 in its current "chicken rock" state is probably the most repetitive station in the history of Philly radio and yet somehow it is always toward the top of the books.

Any thoughts?

In my 30+ years of research/radio programming experience, the mantra holds true: People DON'T know what they WANT, BUT they LIKE what they know!"

When they "say" they want (MORE variety LESS repetition) is NOT always reflective of their behavior: Repetition is comfort food..Repetition is expected, Repetition is rewarded with ratings! SAME with TV: Constant reruns of Seinfeld and Two-AND-A Half Men will never burn out* Urrgghh! (oh, still employed enjoying god ratings)*

Like your favorite brand in the Liquor store, The BRANDS are set: Mainstream/contemporary ROCK brand=WMMR; Classic BRAND=WMGK

 

[MikefromDelaware]

WMGK's music mix is much better than WYSP to my ears. It is more like an oldies station that doesn't play urban oldies. WYSP is just a little too hard. You don't hear ELO on YSP but on MGK they are a core artist. You know what I would do? Tweak WOGL ever so slightly, remove just a little of the motown/urban stuff, and put in a little more rock.

I'd agree that that WMGK's music mix is better than WYSP's, for my ears too. I also agree that a slight tweak to WOGL by cutting back on some of the Motown/Urban music and adding a little more rock would be great, for my ears too. Of course WOGL being #4 isn't likely to want to do much tweaking to their format. WMMR at #5 has the hard rock venue covered pretty well. #8 WMGK is up there too and seems to appeal to those of us who get tired of the same ole same ole of WOGL. The one FM that's not keeping up with the pack is WYSP.

In my 30+ years of research/radio programming experience, the mantra holds true: People DON'T know what they WANT, BUT they LIKE what they know!"

When they "say" they want (MORE variety LESS repetition) is NOT always reflective of their behavior: Repetition is comfort food..Repetition is expected, Repetition is rewarded with ratings!

I think what you'll find is essentially two types of radio listener. One takes their music seriously, and actually listens closer to the radio, really hears what's being presented. Obviously, those of us who work or have worked in radio fall into that category, but musicians (professional and amateur) also would be listening closer and these two groups of folks get bored with the same ole same ole 150-300 song rotation, much less a Top 40 format. The second type of listener is the majority, they enjoy hearing music, don't know much about it, just like it in the background, don't challenge me with having to hear strange unfamiliar songs it is like comfort food. So that is why WOGL can get away with playing the same boring songs day after day and get #4 in Philly.

You'll find this exact thing in church. Most folks want to sing and hear the same hymns and chafe if you introduce a hymn not known to that congregation. Same with Praise type music churches. Those folks also have their favorite praise songs and want to hear them rather than learning new songs.

I led a wedding band for 20 years, a long time ago, and the audiences expected to hear certain songs at every wedding, which makes playing weddings a real drag for the band, but the customer is paying you to play so you play what they want to hear, which is what a radio station does to get what they hope to be the largest audience of the right demo possible. The audiences at weddings I played, didn't care if you had great arrangements, an 8 piece band that included brass, or just a 3 piece band with guitar,bass, and drums, and vocals as long as you played the songs they were comfortable with and you could dance to those songs. Only people who tended to be focused on music would notice the arrangements, how many instruments you had, vocalists, etc. The 99.99% of the audience didn't notice such things. It is the same with radio most want comfort food and that's why folks like us will never be truly satisfied with listening to only one radio station. We tend to be station hoppers.

 

[aindik]

Also, people say they want more variety, and some of them may mean it. But as you get deeper into the music, you get fewer and fewer people who will keep the station tuned for any particular song.