Tom, I've never heard about an interim format that took weeks to reveal, only to be replaced a few more weeks from now.
Either a station will pull the plug on an underperforming format and stunt while it looks for a replacement (not the case here since Magic was doing OK and they warned us for weeks it was switching to AM 590)...
Or it will take a few weeks of speculation to unveil a new format with a new name: The Bridge.
They even did the whole thing with the heartbeat and the Christmas songs. You don't do that leading to an interim format that will be gone in a few more weeks. Would they bring back the heartbeat and the Christmas songs when the permanent format gets revealed? No, I think The Bridge is here to stay even if the website isn't ready yet.
Now the question... is Pamal competing with itself with a format on 100.9 fairly close to 95.5? If this is an adult hits format similar to Jack, then I suppose it might be compatible with 95.5, despite sharing some music. In Dallas, CBS put Jack on one frequency while it also had a Soft AC existing in that market. Same in Minneapolis. Adult Hits shares more with Classic Rock than with Soft AC.
Adult Hits is a cheap format to run. The CBS Jacks have no DJs... just an image voice making snide remarks and mentioning localities so it has some connection with the market. Here it appears The Bridge will have a morning show. But who knows if the hiring ends there.
And The Bridge will do little to diminish WGNA's ratings. So I guess using 100.9 to knock WGNA down a few pegs in the ratings is not Pamal's goal after all. I guess if it picks up a couple of ratings points, Pamal can sell it in combination with WYJB since the demos will likely be similar. Usually Adult Hits skews a few years younger than Soft AC... but close enough.
Gregg
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