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Station ID: Mix 106.1 The Breeze WJBR

And with Audacy controlling AC and hot AC, an in-market competitor is slightly less likely than my winning the People Magazine Sexiest Man Alive award.
I submitted your picture. Stay by the phone!

The days and people who reacted to such things are way in the rear-view mirror.
Sadly, this is probably pretty accurate. No one currently behind the scenes at B101 is doing anything nearly as surgical and strategic as what the old guard was doing.
 
The laugh was at the picture comment just to be clear. šŸ˜€

But yeah, it ain’t the Jerry Lee era, and so be it. On-the-fly holiday start times may be the least in a long list of things that aren’t even close to what they were.
 
The laugh was at the picture comment just to be clear. šŸ˜€

But yeah, it ain’t the Jerry Lee era, and so be it. On-the-fly holiday start times may be the least in a long list of things that aren’t even close to what they were.
It is funny to hear some people say that it's unnoticeable when a station gets "cookie-cuttered," and it's probably true that the general public doesn't notice. But there can be no real argument that B101 isn't at all what it once was. And does the general public notice over time? The ratings trajectory over the past ten or so years could certainly make a compelling case that they do.
 
I pretty much figure the music is mostly the music, and that’s not so much an issue in and of itself. But what else is there now? The morning male half puts in two extra hours and you have one other person before you put it on autopilot with Delilah. They have little to no personality presence. The social media is generic where once it was at least presented in the different hostsā€˜ style. There were always some perfunctory liner reads, but that’s become almost the entire presentation.

And things like their ā€œbest Christmas everā€ annual contest went from their big call-in promotion that included lots of weekend prizes to a bland text-in contest, weekdays only and with fewer giveaways. And while I get streaming audiences would never have a shot on a call-in contest…it’s just blah now.

I know I’ll get all kinds of hell for this, but…the move back to the B brand was a mistake, at least as executed. It was mostly a concession to ā€œyou still call us this, so sure, it’s back.ā€ Like or hate the More brand, it was fair to say the B was getting long in the tooth before, and now it just kind of stands out that it’s got nothing behind it.
 
On-the-fly holiday start times may be the least in a long list of things that aren’t even close to what they were.
This reminds me of a story that ran many, many years ago (in the Inquirer, I think) after B101 flipped earlier than expected. (I kinda doubt print news is still interested in covering the annual Christmas flip of their local radio station.) IIRC, they had interviewed the jock who was on the air at the time. And IIRC, it was a Saturday morning. WJBR had unexpectedly made the switch and one of the WBEB muckety-mucks apparently called the studio and said, "It's go-time" (paraphrasing, natch). So, after the song that was playing, the jock opened the mic, sheepishly said "Merry Christmas!" and started playing the Christmas music. Even with the lack of fanfare and the unremarkableness of it all, I still kinda wish I had heard it.
 
…the move back to the B brand was a mistake, at least as executed.
The move away from B101 wasn't so great either. Weren't they initially trying to call it "More-FM at 101.1"? And actually making the jocks use that positioning on air? Sure, take a quick, snappy four-syllable name and turn it into a klunky AF nine-syllable name. Barely leaves time to mention title & artist. lol.

I'm wondering if the big guy at then-Entercom (Field, I guess?) just always wanted to be able to say "I own B101 in Philly" and understood that it would carry considerably less weight to ask, "Have you ever heard of a thing called More-FM?"
 
This reminds me of a story that ran many, many years ago (in the Inquirer, I think) after B101 flipped earlier than expected. (I kinda doubt print news is still interested in covering the annual Christmas flip of their local radio station.) IIRC, they had interviewed the jock who was on the air at the time. And IIRC, it was a Saturday morning. WJBR had unexpectedly made the switch and one of the WBEB muckety-mucks apparently called the studio and said, "It's go-time" (paraphrasing, natch). So, after the song that was playing, the jock opened the mic, sheepishly said "Merry Christmas!" and started playing the Christmas music. Even with the lack of fanfare and the unremarkableness of it all, I still kinda wish I had heard it.
I recall hearing of that story. Quite the contrast to the highly produced changes in subsequent years.
 
The move away from B101 wasn't so great either. Weren't they initially trying to call it "More-FM at 101.1"? And actually making the jocks use that positioning on air? Sure, take a quick, snappy four-syllable name and turn it into a klunky AF nine-syllable name. Barely leaves time to mention title & artist. lol.

I'm wondering if the big guy at then-Entercom (Field, I guess?) just always wanted to be able to say "I own B101 in Philly" and understood that it would carry considerably less weight to ask, "Have you ever heard of a thing called More-FM?"
It wasn't as easy as the Easy/EZ to B, and the "at" thing was a bit much. 101.1 More FM? Ok, one less syllable but it feels smoother to say it that way, I get there's a more common convention with the frequency after the brand but by no means universal. I think they had the right idea based on the voluminous data they were known for. Maybe just a little tweaking to the way it was presented. They did a decent enough awareness campaign through their Christmas programming. It was never going to be instantly accepted any more than B 101 was when it first hit the scene.

And if it was Field who wanted to name his new plaything (I'm being facetious), it's his stack of cash. Jerry Lee stuck to his guns on things that took a while--maybe in a parallel universe where he kept the station, that name would have continued in some fashion and been fine with the proper time. But the time came to sell for good reasons, can't blame him, and Entercom thought there was more value to the old name. Maybe they were absolutely correct, but looking at things today, that value isn't translating to the kind of dominance it once had. Oh well.
 
I’ll put it out there: why do some on here *want* to see Rumba fail? Because they’re targeting a different audience than you? Because you want to laugh at iHeart? Because you’re simping for soft rock? Because you’re in denial of changing demos?

Just remember: 15th or so in target demo in its last PPM. Not a recipe for sustained success.
I’m not advocating for Rumba to fail. Do I wish another station may come back that is similar to the breeze, yes! Rumba is holding its own and I’m guessing IHeart is making $ off the advertisements, compared to the breeze.

However, I am liking the WJBR stream right now. They always had a good mix of music. I can honestly say I can listen to pretty much anything and enjoy it. I’m not like the average radio listener. I guess because I was a wedding DJ in college. Oldies to Taylor swift. I’m content! :) I hope I didn’t change this thread into a Taylor Swift thread. šŸ˜‚
 
Using history as a guide, if they want that bump for both the December and Holiday books, they will flip on Thursday, November 9. This seems earlier than they tend to like though. Their most frequent flip date is the Thursday prior to Thanksgiving, so that would be November 16.

Isn't the timing of the Christmas flip tied to the start of the holiday Nielsen book rather than what other stations may or may not be doing?
The PPM Schedule for Nov.-Dec.-Holiday 2023:

November 2023 - October 12 – November 8
December 2023 - November 9 – December 6
Holiday 2023 - December 7 – January 3
 
I think it will be around Nov 9 or 10 considering that the Breeze won't be around. Otherwise, the music should be pretty much the same just like any other all-Christmas station.
 
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