The Big Switch

[jmtillery]

Hmmm... Just noticed that WHTQ has higher ratings (AQH) in 2 other markets: Daytona Beach (2.4) & Melbourne (5.0, 5th place).
Do these numbers really mean anything?

It may make some difference in terms of regional buys, but keep in mind that Daytona Beach is rated seperately from Orlando, rated as a Top 100 radio market (Market Rank # 87), and so is Top 100 rated Melbourne - Titusville - Cocoa (Market Ranked # 97). Orlando is a Top 50 market ranking in at Market rank # 34, so Orlando is where the main numbers are coming from regarding the Orlando Metro stations.

 

[shoothoops]

Question fo stormy and Mr Tillery, all the staions have been broken down, but
i have noticed a negative vibe against K92FM, amougst others. But country is the top
" bring in a competetor with better talent" not being an expert in how Country is
supposed to be sound , as opposed to knowing rock and top 40 well, whats wrong,
seriously with the K92 Air talent, that a better staff could wipe it out??? would
love honest opinion, considering, i think most have been around, pretty well known names,
how does talent bring a station down ?????

 

[jmtillery]

Question fo stormy and Mr Tillery, all the staions have been broken down, but
i have noticed a negative vibe against K92FM, amougst others. But country is the top
" bring in a competetor with better talent" not being an expert in how Country is
supposed to be sound , as opposed to knowing rock and top 40 well, whats wrong,
seriously with the K92 Air talent, that a better staff could wipe it out??? would
love honest opinion, considering, i think most have been around, pretty well known names,
how does talent bring a station down ?????

Read my earlier posts in this thread, and you will see I addressed that very issue regarding bringing a second country outlet to Orlando among other suggestions.

 

[Stormychuck]

Hey Shoothoops dude: Fair question, Orlando's on-air talent. If you listen around most of Orlando radio stations lack the on-air talent PUNCH, radio people that you look forward to listening to, not discounting K-92FM's morning crew, but the entire gambit of FM talent up and down the dial using music stations as the catalyst.

For the sake of insults and I'll attempt not to single out any one Orlando radio station, the talent pool for the most part sound as though their fresh out of broadcast school, and in some cases they are.

Ok, now with that said let's single one out, K-92FM, same thing day in and day out nothing more then a flip-card operation and has operated that way for years, I do listen to K-92FM periodically, but for the most part, K-92FM's on-air talent, even being a flip card operation lack any creativity all they do is just announce.

Announcer/personalities make radio stations, all I hear at K-92FM is just an announcer, nothing more, no real personality, nothing clever, nothing funny, nothing creative, and if the station wants to secure me as a listener their going to have to offer me all-of-thee-above, and only in my opinion, K-92FM as do all of the other Orlando FM radio stations that I'd be inclined to listen to fails to deliver on that experience. Any on-air announcer/personality that's funny, clever, and creative who's a real radio "hot shot" Orlando at one time was full of em who you enjoyed listening to, who got your attention, no longer exist in Orlando's radio market, this of course being the sole discretion of the stations owners.

 

[Parttimer]

Hey Shoothoops dude: Fair question, Orlando's on-air talent. If you listen around most of Orlando radio stations lack the on-air talent PUNCH, radio people that you look forward to listening to, not discounting K-92FM's morning crew, but the entire gambit of FM talent up and down the dial using music stations as the catalyst.

For the sake of insults and I'll attempt not to single out any one Orlando radio station, the talent pool for the most part sound as though their fresh out of broadcast school, and in some cases they are.

The talent is dictated by the pay scale for the most part....

 

[Stormychuck]

How true, it's all a money thing, as Parttimer has pointed out, pure and simple no secret. Not so long ago stations went out of their way to locate, hire and place great sounding on-air talents, but as you listen to a host of Orlando stations and anybody who has any back round in radio, as most of the posters in here do, Orlando has fallen wayyyy short of this expectation.

The irony of it is, there's a gaggle of talented off-air "Jocks" who'd love to go back on-air and play the hit's again, it's not necessarily a money thing with them as it is knowing they themselves could and would do a better job then what Orlando radio offers now and for, well, the same price which I'd render a guess is not much more then a buck-two-ninety-eight an hour, and if you listen it's what appears by all intents and purpose to be the case, money or lack of.

Most of the posting's I've read and view's expressed on this board come from smart, intelligent people with some sort of radio backround and most of y'all know good, out-of-work air talent, who'd love to participate in the "BIG SWITCH" of thing's by going back on-air and making any one of (your choice) Orlando radio stations sound like their suppose to and make radio, what it use to do for all of us, something fun to listen to......Isn't that what radio is suppose to do? I'm lost in that translation...

 

[jmtillery]

Budgets are a big thing these days with all radio, especially with the big corporations. There are many factors that go into consideration when the parent corporations put together the fiscal year budget for radio operations. One consideration is existing debt. Many companies overpaid for stations when the market was booming. Now these same companies have higher than average debt service in addition to normal operating costs.

Another consideration is stock value. Several companies are publically traded and must maintain a certain stock value in order to remain listed on the various exchanges (usually a $1.00 per share minimum) as well as keeping shareholders and stock analysts happy. There are only two ways a radio station (or any business) can increase shareholder value and reduce debt and they are 1) increase sales productivity; and, 2) reduce costs (salaries are a cost). And that's [IT] short of selling the station(s) for enough to cover the debt which happens from time-to-time in Chapter 7 liquidation and Chapter 11 re-organization bankruptcy.

 

[Earlyriser]

Please! All this talk about salaries dictate "broadcast school talent and how the "out of work air talent" are the ONLY ones with the ability to entertain signifies how out of touch you are!
This ain't the 80's. Or the 70's, would be boogie checkers

Play your cards right, work hard, and you can succeed in this (and any other) market. Been there, done that.

Sorry the business has treated some of you shabbily. I saw to it that it did not do it to me.

 

[jmtillery]

Please! All this talk about salaries dictate "broadcast school talent and how the "out of work air talent" are the ONLY ones with the ability to entertain signifies how out of touch you are!
This ain't the 80's. Or the 70's, would be boogie checkers

Play your cards right, work hard, and you can succeed in this (and any other) market. Been there, done that.

Sorry the business has treated some of you shabbily. I saw to it that it did not do it to me.

Is your above referenced comments directed at me? If so, you need to re-read my post immediately preceeding yours, and you will note that I have essentially addressed the same thing as you as I have outlined one of the key and essential factors explaining why radio is the way it is today. Contrary to your belief, I am very much "in touch" with the industry as I work in it every single day and I'm quite good at it.

With that said, thank you for your comments.

 

[BRH]

As once suggested, I would place WPYO on the 96.5 frequency, but I would drop the “Power” moniker for several reasons. First and foremost, I don't like Power. Like WHTQ's need for a makeover, the term Power is old and and has lost its luster. Another reason for not using Power is because of Power 96 Miami on the same frequency programming essentially the same format. Using Power 96 in Orlando will sound like a cheap “rip-off” of WPOW Miami. The moniker I would use is freash, now, and compliments the present WPYO format, and NO ONE is using it. For this reason I'm keeping it to myself, however, I will be happy to discuss a consulting arrangment for WPYO if anyone with Cox Radio who can actually make a decision would like to contact me. NOTE TO COX RADIO: My direct number is (352) 425-3664. E-mail: [email protected].

I agree, WPYO is on fire right now (on a marginal signal), and would own the 18-34 demo on a full signal. As far as the name goes, I have to admit I always loved "Power" back in the day. Yeah, it's dated, but it was my favorite moniker in the 80s. So namewise, I don't know if I'd change it or not, but what I would change is the positioning statement ("Orlando's new #1 for Hip Hop".) Hip Hop is in decline and the dancier rhythmic stuff is the big draw right now. Plus, the station already musically sounds this way and is much more CHR sounding than urban. I would go with something like "Orlando's Party Station". Musically, it would still be the same, but the positioning statement would open it up to more mainstream CHR listeners who might shy away from a station billing itself as all Hip Hop (which it isn't anyway).

 

[Stormychuck]

JMTILLERY, Your post regarding stations budgetary constraints as usual was right on target.

I believe Earlyriser's ill advised comments were, of course directed (LOL) at me. Once in awhile one can swat the hornet's nest and they come out of the wood work "toooting" their own horn's in defense of their positions, maybe my comment hit a nerve because his postings were from someone who acted very childish and showed his butt with rants that sounded like someone who I'm sure just happens to be as far as I can tell, "fresh out of broadcast school". So that should clarify why he's working. Enough said....

JM, as you've pointed out salaries do dictate stations staffing, stations have got themselves in way over their heads, and just because they happen to be BIG corporations doesn't mean they don't have financial misgiving's, unfortunately I've seen it all to often, but you know exactly what's going on, you have my respect with straight forward honest views and postings... What more could one ask for...

 

[Stormychuck]

With nothing more to add.........

 

[jmtillery]

JMTILLERY, Your post regarding stations budgetary constraints as usual was right on target.

I believe Earlyriser's ill advised comments were, of course directed (LOL) at me.

You may have a point, and I did consider your explaination. However, considering Earlyriser's comments were in open forum and not specified in reply directly to an existing "quote", it is understood earlyriser's comments were directed at all of us; me included. Hence, my response. Thank you for your opinion. It is much appreciated.

 

[jmtillery]

I agree, WPYO is on fire right now (on a marginal signal), and would own the 18-34 demo on a full signal. As far as the name goes, I have to admit I always loved "Power" back in the day. Yeah, it's dated, but it was my favorite moniker in the 80s. So namewise, I don't know if I'd change it or not, but what I would change is the positioning statement ("Orlando's new #1 for Hip Hop".) Hip Hop is in decline and the dancier rhythmic stuff is the big draw right now. Plus, the station already musically sounds this way and is much more CHR sounding than urban. I would go with something like "Orlando's Party Station". Musically, it would still be the same, but the positioning statement would open it up to more mainstream CHR listeners who might shy away from a station billing itself as all Hip Hop (which it isn't anyway).

I'm happy you like my suggestion. Likewise, I like your proposed positioning statements. I also agree that Power is more CHuRban/Dance than it is Urban or Hip Hop. However, some still think of WPYO as Hip Hop. WPYO has the persons 18-34 in its hip pocket right now so it just makes good business sense to give it a bigger signal. The question is which signal? I chose 96.5 because it has the lowest ratings out of the Cox Orlando cluster. Cox only has three 100kw Orlando signals. WCFB is doing fine and WWKA has the only country format in town, so it makes good business sense to leave these two stations alone although WWKA could use some format adjusting. However, I'd leave WWKA in its current country format. That leaves WHTQ as the most logical choice to move WPYO. This also opens 95.3 to bring WDBO's news-talk programming to FM which would make a vast improvement in WDBO's overall market position.