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Terre Haute Arbs

D

DMB2000

Guest
Looking at the 12 Plus Numbers

Big Winners: Mix fm. almost a 5 share increase

WBOW still didn't so much, a small increase as it moved in to a tie with The Valley

The River showed a small increase (As Did the Crock, but they couldn't go any lower)

Hi 99 , Win 98, and WAXI all big losers, with WTHI dropping almost 5 shares.

I'd love to know some demos. Looks like the big money payed to Party Marty and Julie Hendricks didn't pan out too well for Crossroads.
 
I'm not sure I'd consider Hi-99 to be a big loser, considering they are still far and away #1 in the market.

I find it odd that there was such a shift in the market. People don't just stop listening to Hi-99 and start listening to Mix-FM (in this large of numbers). Country stations, on the whole, lost over 4 shares.

Seems like a winner in this market is Original Co. Two stations get decent ratings in this book, especially when considering the signal strength they have. Oldies Radio (and perhaps the Cardinals) seems to be doing very well on WQTY.

Strength of WQTY could be hurting WAXI.
 
I can't understand why Crossroads won't take the information that the book provides, and make the necessary changes that it drastically needs. Wake up!!! Put the oldies on the 50kw stick. Then drop the country on the crock and play classic rock only. Not sure what I'd do to WAXI.
 
Sketchb13 the answer to your question is yes I do. Are you content with a 5 for a 50kw signal. WWSY, a 6kw also had a 5 with the 12plus numbers. Last time I listened they had several songs from the 60's and 70's in their play list. I don't know if oldies is the answer for WBOW. But look at the book and the past books since Crossroads has owned the station. That's all one needs to say. It's been broke for a long time now and it's over due for a complete change.
 
I can't argue against that. The stations have needed some vitality for quite some time. I do think that we're going in the right direction, though. We have brought several new people on board and we have started making some much-needed changes to pretty much everything. Unfortunately, we at the station now inherited a bad image from past management, and we are still trying to overcome that stigma. I'm just not sure that an oldies format is going to do any better on a 50000 watt stick than it does on its current stick. Besides, as of tomorrow, we should have a much better sounding signal from WAXI. We are installing a new transmitter (that we've needed for more years than I care to count) and a new antenna as well. This, I think, will help WAXI significantly. As for the B, it sounds better now than it has in years, and I think its time has finally come. We'll just have to wait until the next book to find out.
 
These numbers are metro only, are they not? Often the winner in the metro is not the winner in the other counties covered ... a station with a low non-metro numbers format doesn't need to cover outside the metro (unless they are willing to make their format more appealing to the non-metro listeners).

You have to look at more than a simple number.
 
Yeah sketch, good luck because you are going to need it. No way you can improve as long as you have an incredibly weak morning show, a TV weather girl as your middays, and the most god awful syndicated nighttime talk show I have ever heard.

I'm not trying to say the staff is your fault, because you inherited it, and well you can't fire your GM from the morning show, but there is a reason he is a GM, and not a jock.

The playlist is still a little all over the road, but not as bad as it was about a year ago. I still think Crossroads would be best served dumping B-1027 in favor of a Rock Station. It is obvious that you are not taking any listeners from MIX. Their ratings have jumped each of the last 2 books. They have a much stronger staff and more money for promotions. They're going to get incredibly hard to beat. I'd go Rock on the B, keep oldies on WAXI, and move to Soft Rock AC on 92.7 . I think that would be the best path for crossroads to take.
 
Looking over the numbers, Crossroads didnt do too bad. Compared to where they were nearly a year ago today.

If anything I would shift WBOW into a true Modern AC or current leaning Hot AC. Give Mix a little run for their money.

Keep WAXI at the oldies and just really market the hell out of it.

Then shift WSDM into a Modern Rock format. I understand that rockers have a hard time selling, but it would only compliment the other 2 stations in the cluster, not hurt them.
 
kentuckymedia, Crossroads has been trying to give Mix a run for their money, but have failed. They changed their position statement to "Better Mix of Music", added Jingles, added some old Mix Jocks, etc. but still have not been able to make a dent. Now during all of the Mix has added better PD and airstaff, and has a new owner not afraid to spend some money, so they have stayed on their game.

Seems like at Crossroads with 102.7 they are too afraid to get off the fence. They want to be everything to everyone. They need to go one way or another.
 
Mix is heading in the right direction. I guess I am a little biased though, since I work there...
 
A lot of interesting comments about this. I do agree that WBOW needs to kind of get more focus on their music and take the station more in the direction of an acutal Hot AC format. At the moment - from a music standpoint - they are all over the place. A little direction musically, if done correctly, would fill a gap in the Terre Haute market since there really isn't a TRUE Hot AC station there. Buy doing that, you could potentially pull in an older female demo that isn't really a fan of country or rock, finds WWSY a little to soft for their tastes and only listens to WMGI because the kids want to and there really isn't anything for them on the dial. This could pull some numbers from WMGI and maybe even a little from WTHI. However, I'm not suggesting that these changes to WBOW would knock WTHI or WMGI out of their number one and two spots respectively in the ratings. At least not in the short term. I mean WTHI is a 25 year old 50,000 watt heritage country station and we all know how loyal country music listerns seem to be. But there are those who are on the fence that WBOW could pull over to them. On top of that, things like the Cooper Lawerence show would probalby be a bit of a better fit with a true Hot AC format. After the music, I think that it would be agreed that a change in the on air staff on WBOW would be necessary. Having the weather girl from the local TV station running your mid-days isn't really the best thing for them. And obvioulsy the mornings need a lot of work on that station. But how does a PD tell his GM, who is also the morning show host, that he is being replace? Thats a position I'm sure no PD wants to be in. But if those changes could be made and some promotions that fit them better, that station could be a contender

Now someone had mentioned that Crossroads should take WSDM into the Modern Rock format. There is one little problem with that and it's what the other radio groups in Terre Haute refer to as the "Evil Empire". I'm speaking of Emmis and WWVR. And before the flags get thrown, dispite what Arbitron has them listed as, Velvet Revolver, HellYeah, Staind, Linkin Park and Nirvana (among others) mixed in (almost equally) with Lynyrd Skynyrd, Aerosmith, AC/DC, and Rush IS NOT a classic rock format. So for the sake of this discussion, we'll call WWVR a Rock formated station. WWVR is a 3,300 watt station that has consistantly held the number three postion (and on occasion beat WMGI out of number 2) in the 12+ numbers and has been fairly dominate in the older male demos. Which from a sales stand point (as we all know) is what the GM's and GSM's like, and Emmis isn't going to want to give that up. So if WSDM were to go to a Modern Rock format or even drop the country music and try and be a classic rock station, Emmis has the ability to shift WWVR either more in a classic rock direction or active rock direction to hold the older male demo without it being to big of a jarring change with very little effort and fairly quickly. Add to that the financial resorces that WWVR has access to, that would seem to make any rock format for Crossroads an uphill battle (IMHO). The other issue with a format change on WSDM is their only DJ - Party Marty. IF Party Marty has a contract, depending on the format change, what do they do with him? And if the answer to that is to let him go, does Crossroads have the money do by out the remainder of his contract (that's assuming that Marty has a contract)? Because it's been rumored that Crossroads has been looking to sell it's Terre Haute properties for awhile now but have been unsuccessful due to the asking price they're wanting. So the question remains...what to do with WSDM? Do they put a CHR format on their as kind of a flanker to WBOW and maybe hurt WMGI a bit or do they go a totally different direction and suprise everyone? I don't think Terre Haute could sustain third country format and other than a news/talk format I can't really see any format gaps that need to be filled. I suppose they could TRY a FM news/talk, but that could pull some of the WAXI listners away. However, it could potentially be more sellable than the current country / classic rock hybrid currently on WSDM. So what do you do with a 6000 watt Class A that, other than their first book, has done no better than a 2 share?
 
Can't forget WISU when talking about a modern rock format. I don't know how WISU rates, but I'd imagine it beats the Crock. I'm really a bit surprised that Crock isn't doing better than it is. My favorite stations in TH are Hi 99 and Crock. (not neccessarily in that order - Marty ahs really made it more appealing to me.
 
I don't think Crossroads knows what to do. Example: When looking for a program director for their oldies outlet, WAXI, they hired a 25 something who knew nothing about oldies and even stated to someone that he knew zero about the format. With that said, they have two dj's, Bryan Thomas who's been in the Terre Haute market since 1969 and worked at both WBOW-AM 1230, and WTHI-AM 1480. Next is Ronn Mott, who's been in the business for over 50 years. Not one of them have been consulted or had imput on what was to be played on WAXI. When they tried to suggest something it fell on deaf ears. Thomas would be more suited for a program director, and also could add some valuable imput on B102.7. This man knows the market and the trinds of Terre Haute. Looking at the stations past performances, what would it hurt to give it a try? If not Thomas, then hire a consultant and do what he, or she says, if not, your out! Only time will tell if Crossroads will turn things around, but to do so, some may loose their jobs, or get their feelings hurt because it's not what they have visioned for the place, but that's what it's gonna take.
 
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