Speaking of Sunny 104.5...

[Soon Yi CIV.V]

Before I begin, a preface rant: I really don't think Philly will ever see another station quite like Sunny 104.5. The station was classic Clear Channel: Cheaper than cheap (almost completely voicetracked and the automation often reset at midnight with a minute or two of totally dead air)...yet it had more personality than a fistful of other Philly stations combined. They actually made a compelling format with a hard drive and $4.75. Now, let's move on...

At the turn of the century, Clear Channel's research showed that they could make money with a Soft AC format and they obviously ended up doing so. (It's not like ratings were horrendous, even outside of the fall books.) If CC thought they could have made more money by taking B101 on head-to-head doing Mainstream AC, I'm sure they would have done it. I think it's fairly obvious that Sunny didn't disappear due to lack of revenue. Clear Channel made what it thought were strategic moves to protect its cluster and Sunny had to be sacrificed. (BTW: No one has yet indicated that WISX has improved revenue compared to what Sunny was doing. But I digress since that's not really what CC was going for anyway.)

My point--and I do have one--is that Soft AC was working in Philly then so it could probably work now. If going head-to-head with B101 doesn't work, might Greater Media tweak into a Soft AC to compete more with WOGL? And wouldn't that make WOGL even better? And wouldn't that be awesome?! (Kinda makes me hope Now 97.5 doesn't work!)

 

[imhomerjay]

Interesting premise...let me play devil's advocate just because....well, because after three nights of 2 hours sleep each, it's just plain old fun.

If Clear Channel's research said soft AC would do better than mainstream AC, and that's why the Sun came out to shine, wouldn't it seem that Greater Media's research said they could do mainstream AC and make more than soft AC? Just thinking it doesn't seem likely GM just threw a dart at a board (blindfolded) instead of researching it.

As for the revenue picture, it would be interesting, but it seems like it owuld be logical that the WrFF and WISX combo is bringing in more money than the WSNI and WJJZ combo. And do you count WISX's revenue against WJJZ or WSNI for comparison? I'd say you need to take 106 vs 106 and 104.5 vs 104.5 (now that Rumba is gone).

I listened to Now some more while driving around this weekend, and still find it indistinguishable from B 101 musically (using the ear of a casual listener--not analyzing their playlist to figure out percentages of 80s, 90s and 00s).

 

[Soon Yi CIV.V]

Well there's something we'll never really know. Greater Media must have (hopefully) researched more than one possible format for 97.5, just as I'm sure Clear Channel did when they were creating Sunny 104.5. Anything's possible! CC may have been afraid to go head-to-head against powerhouse B101 then...and maybe GM currently thinks it wouldn't be a great idea to go head-to-head against WOGL? Ironically, I think head-on competition for B101 is a harder sell now than it was then. (Oh and BTW, if anyone in town is gonna pick a format by throwing a dart, let's face it: It's gonna be GM. LOL.)

OH! I forgot something else: If 97.5 morphed into a Soft AC, wouldn't it be competing less with sisters BEN-FM and WMGK? I could be wrong about that but I think Soft AC would make more sense, cluster-wise. (I did just invent a word, right?)

While CC's current revenue situation is reflected by having WRFF and WISX on the air, that's not what they were planning at when they killed WJJZ 106.1 and Sunny 104.5. In fact, I think they fell ass-backwards into a pile of gold when Rumba's (inevitable) failure happened to coincide with an opening for Rock in the market. To be sure, I think their business acumen would be better judged by comparing the revenue of WISX/WRFF with that of WJJZ 106.1 and Sunny 104.5. It can't happen obviously but it'd be interesting.

Oh and, I don't think 106 vs. 106 is the best way to compare. I think it's fairly obvious CC was hoping Sunny 104.5 listeners would head to WISX on 106.1 when it launched. (Aside from it just making sense, the shadowcast is indicative of that as well.) It's always seemed to me that Sunny 104.5 was switched to Philly's 106.1 while WJJZ 106.1 was flipped to Rumba 104.5. (The reasoning? Who knows? Maybe CC just didn't want it to look like yet another tweak to Sunny 104.5. After all, toward the end they were boucing the station and its listeners around nearly as much as NBC bounced around Scrubs for the past seven years!)

Regarding Now 97.5: I have pretty much stopped listening. Aside from the commercial-free stuff, there's just nothing compelling about the station at all. I don't enjoy B101 anymore so Now 97.5 is really just a non-stop version of a station I already don't like. For me, their sloga can be "Now, More of What You Don't Like!" haha. Demographically, I'm not being targeted by either station but ironically, my musical tastes are probably most in-line with that of the audience they are targeting. (I'm not even ashamed of that!)

Ironically, WISX seems to be playing much better music and I've been listening to them pretty religiously since I decided Now 97.5 was wasting my time. I don't know whether the new guy in town has forced CC to take a closer look at what's going on with WISX's playlist but I'm not going to ask too many questions. I'm just gonna listen to them finally playing a nice variety of songs I want to hear!

 

[imhomerjay]

I think it's fairly obvious CC was hoping Sunny 104.5 listeners would head to WISX on 106.1 when it launched. (Aside from it just making sense, the shadowcast is indicative of that as well.) It's always seemed to me that Sunny 104.5 was switched to Philly's 106.1 while WJJZ 106.1 was flipped to Rumba 104.5. (The reasoning? Who knows? Maybe CC just didn't want it to look like yet another tweak to Sunny 104.5. After all, toward the end they were boucing the station and its listeners around nearly as much as NBC bounced around Scrubs for the past seven years!)

I've read that logic, but.....I just don't see how there could have been much of an expected transition, shadowcast or now. WSNI and WISX seem mostly incompatible to me. I know they share some disco, but the rest of the playlists just don't look that much alike in tone. Maybe I'm just missing something, but I liked Sunny (except disco), and My 106.1 makes me want to poke a hole in my eardrums.

 

[Soon Yi CIV.V]

Remember right before Sunny flipped? For a number of weeks, they started ramming disco down our throats and playing a lot of Rhythmic AC titles that didn't belong. ("Opposites Attract" by Paula Abdul was a great Top 40 song but it will never belong on a Soft AC station!) To me, they were obviously testing the waters. Just before the flip, Sunny suddenly returned to Soft AC for a tiny little bit and then--BOOM! All hell broke loose.

Anyway, my assertion that Sunny 104.5 essentially flipped to Philly's 106.1 isn't based on shared titles, it's based on shared audience. In my mind, that's what the shadowcast was all about. The thinking was that an (undetermined) number of Sunny listeners would be willing to give Rhythmic AC a chance--especially after weeks of being groomed for it by "Disco 104.5"--since their Soft AC was being ripped away. CC was trying to do a warm hand-off from 104.5 to 106.1 before launching the hideously misguided Tropical format on 104.5.

 

[wprt949]

i still miss the christmas music weekends they uesd to do

remember the first x-mas music weekend it was 70 degrees outside and people where singing x-mas tunes

 

[John1]

This board was filled with debates about starting Christmas music too early in the Sunny era. Which reminds me, the 'holiday music' channel on Comcast's digital music package was playing 'Octoberfest' polka music this past weekend - in September!

 

[jlongstreet]

John,

They were playing Oktoberfest music in September because that's when it starts, in the month of September and wraps up in October.

Prossit!!

 

[Phillyradiogeek]

Yep, Oktoberfest officially started on September 20 and ends this Sunday October 5th. Strange but true.

As for Sunny 104.5, I don't miss the incarnation of the station that was on the air at the end. I miss the version of the station that signed on in 2001, with the corny yet whimsical liners and the true Soft AC format. In the end, the station was merely a copy of WOGL, and one of them is plenty.

 

[imhomerjay]

Remember right before Sunny flipped? For a number of weeks, they started ramming disco down our throats and playing a lot of Rhythmic AC titles that didn't belong. ("Opposites Attract" by Paula Abdul was a great Top 40 song but it will never belong on a Soft AC station!) To me, they were obviously testing the waters. Just before the flip, Sunny suddenly returned to Soft AC for a tiny little bit and then--BOOM! All hell broke loose.

Anyway, my assertion that Sunny 104.5 essentially flipped to Philly's 106.1 isn't based on shared titles, it's based on shared audience. In my mind, that's what the shadowcast was all about. The thinking was that an (undetermined) number of Sunny listeners would be willing to give Rhythmic AC a chance--especially after weeks of being groomed for it by "Disco 104.5"--since their Soft AC was being ripped away. CC was trying to do a warm hand-off from 104.5 to 106.1 before launching the hideously misguided Tropical format on 104.5.

Hmmm, I was kind of disengaged from a lot of goings on shortly before the switchover. Whatever their motivations, and we're all just speculating, I would be sho cked if anyone thought it would be a high percentage of the small listener base that would have tried out whatever they were doing on 106. (Granted, any percentage is better than none, so heck, why not try to get whoever you can.)

 

[Soon Yi CIV.V]

Hmmm, I was kind of disengaged from a lot of goings on shortly before the switchover. Whatever their motivations, and we're all just speculating, I would be sho cked if anyone thought it would be a high percentage of the small listener base that would have tried out whatever they were doing on 106. (Granted, any percentage is better than none, so heck, why not try to get whoever you can.)

True, all we can do is speculate. But I want to say that I don't think Sunny's audience was as "small" as people are always making it out to be. If I remember correctly, they were often around a 3 share 12+. For a station running on a prayer and 10¢ a day, that isn't really so bad. I don't think I ever got any of their 25-54 numbers but I would like to know what they were like. (Of course, they put the damn thing through so many mutations, I'd probably only be satisfied by seeing the numbers for every book during the station's short life!)

In my opinion (and you know what those are like!), it's just too coincidental that Sunny flirted with Rhythmic AC titles right before the flip and that Clear Channel shadowcasted 106.1 on 104.5 for so long. (If you're flipping two stations in your cluster, why not just flip them, ya know?)

But yeah, we'll never know for sure. I guess that's why we're on this side of the mic. (Sadly these days, it's more fun on this side.)

 

[nd2023]

Are there any other stations streaming online with the "Sunny" format?

 

[cecil255]

Are there any other stations streaming online with the "Sunny" format?

Yes!

Try SUNNY 95 in Columbus, Ohio. Their almost a total clone of Sunny 104.5, they even use the same fanfare! And YES, they DO have the Christmas Music and it's the SAME as Sunny 104.5 was!

http://www.sunny95.com/

 

[nd2023]

Are there any other stations streaming online with the "Sunny" format?

Yes!

Try SUNNY 95 in Columbus, Ohio. Their almost a total clone of Sunny 104.5, they even use the same fanfare! And YES, they DO have the Christmas Music and it's the SAME as Sunny 104.5 was!

http://www.sunny95.com/

I noticed that too! I was passing through Columbus last weekend on my way to Cincinnati and fell in love with Sunny 94.7! However, it has a few 90s and today's songs, but not too overkill like Now 97.5 and B101.

 

[cecil255]

Are there any other stations streaming online with the "Sunny" format?

Yes!

Try SUNNY 95 in Columbus, Ohio. Their almost a total clone of Sunny 104.5, they even use the same fanfare! And YES, they DO have the Christmas Music and it's the SAME as Sunny 104.5 was!

http://www.sunny95.com/

I noticed that too! I was passing through Columbus last weekend on my way to Cincinnati and fell in love with Sunny 94.7! However, it has a few 90s and today's songs, but not too overkill like Now 97.5 and B101.

Yeah, that's why I said ALMOST a total clone of 104.5. I don't listen to them as much as I listened to 104.5, except for around Christmastime, then they're on ALL the time! Funny, we found them by total accident too driving by Columbus one day. We put them on again everytime we pass through!

 

[JH_Radio]

Been listenin for almost 2 hours. they really aren't the same at all, but they do AC better then B101 and Now 97-5 also. Good on-air chain, too.
They don't have the jingles that WSNI had though. i recidnized the music portion for one i heard, but no singers. They also don't use the same voiceover guy that WSNI did when it first came on in august of 04 ,.
John