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The End of WFMX - One Year Later

E

eacalhoun1

July 19 (Thursday) marks the anniversary of the last day of WFMX. Any thoughts -- one year later? And how about the alumni. Where have they landed? And how has the "orphaned" WSIC fared over the past year?

My thoughts...I had hoped (and am still hoping) that the new "Kiss 105.7" would die a slow miserable death and be the worst financial burden to Clear Channel in every way imagineable...EVER.

But I'm not bitter ;D

Eric
 
I still don't think the Kiss name fits the format... maybe if they tweaked it more toward WKSL?...

As for the former WFMX jocks, the only one I know the current whereabouts on is former AM jock Keith Todd; he is now the PM-drive jock on 106.1 The Rooster.
 
I never really listened to WFMX, but I remember that someone on this board said that Opie Joe is now at the Wolf. I think CC made a HUGE mistake with KISS WMKS .... they opened a big can of worms.
 
Not exactly a bright move from a programming point of view, but consider this. CC knew long ago that Iredell was gonna be merged into the Charlotte market...they're already at the limit with 5 properties, not counting WFMX, so.... do they sell it and have to compete with it, or move it to the Triad? Tough call.
 
nextline is right! CC had no choice but to move the station. Oh, sure, they could have sold it to someone - but why have another competitor in either market?
 
Yep...another case of the company winning and the people losing. By downsizing and moving WFMX, they took on a multi-year reconstruction project that has the potential to bring them an audience as big as they had from Statesville. The difference is that the audience they potentially could gain with now-WMKS is nearly all in a rated market, so it "counts" for something.

Of course, from the corporate viewpoint the expenses of developing a new station are perceived as minimal compared with the potential losses to current operations of allowing a new competitor into a market. At least they know what they want to do with WMKS, and exactly how much it will cost them to do it. New competition could turn their profit-center operation in Charlotte into a money-bleeder...something they want to avoid at all costs.

Another angle to the WFMX saga confuses me. Why could they not simply leave well-enough alone, even if Iredell was going to be absorbed into the Charlotte market? They had a valid argument for their LMA of WFMX being grandfathered into the market, and when the new counties were measured it would have sent WFMX ratings up, making it more of an apple in the eye of the ad agencies. Perhaps they were scared of the apparent erosion of their audience share from WKKT in the new market composition.

I, for one, can't wait to see if WKKT gets anything out of Iredell or Catawba County. Back in the WLVV days, they moved their tower out of Statesville and had their antenna designed to put just enough signal back toward that city to keep it legal. That really made picking up WKKT difficult in parts of those counties. Killing WFMX sent a large block of listeners scurrying to other places where they could find both country music and racing. I would guess that would have been WSOC-FM, which has seen a up-tick of listeners since the demise of WFMX.

Anyway, that first book as Market #25 should be an interesting one.

Later....
Matt Smith
WGSR-TV
 
For me, what is so difficult to understand is why CC could not have left the Cool Springs tower site alone. Killing the heritage signal has been just as troublesome as the heritage format...is their current site (with a downgraded signal) REALLY providing a better coverage to the Triad versus the Cool Springs site? There also MUST have been money exchanged between the WAGI heirs and CC to allow 105.3 to move closer to Charlotte -- doncha think?

Eric
 
The problem with Cool Springs was that it didn't provide a competitive signal to either market. Remember that building penetration takes millivolts- microvolts won't get the job done.
 
nextline said:
The problem with Cool Springs was that it didn't provide a competitive signal to either market. Remember that building penetration takes millivolts- microvolts won't get the job done.
Click to expand...

Can 105.7's new site and lower ERP on Saur Mtn put a millivolt signal into buildings in eastern and southern Greensboro or Burlington? I have trouble thinking it now penetrates any better outside of 30 miles than their 100KW 1500' site did. Given, they were nearly 45 to 50 miles from GSO at their old site but still had a good line of site signal at that distance. They could have reduced ERP to the south and just stayed there and pulled out of the Charlotte market. I do know that their signal in Clemmons is actually weaker now than when it was in Cool Springs as that seems funny. I know we have argued this before, they needed to move out of Charlotte, CC wouls own too many stations in Charlotte. Just don't understand why they couldn't direct the signal away from Cht southward and remained. Just mentioning this in retrospect as I know the water has already flowed under the bridge and moved on down the river on this one.

I would like to ask though about the Cool Springs site. If the FCC would grant the move with the two sites being close to each other, why doesn't Majic attempt to lease/buy that existing CS site and try for approval? As the crow flies, the Cool Springs site is maybe 15 or 20 miles north from the Rowan Cty site where they have been blocked by the locals to moving there. They could acheive the better Charlotte signal and still be very strong and have nice altitude pointing east to GSO even at a reduced erp as they do now. What are the reasons that wouldn't work? This site sounds perfect for them and is already there and close to where they want to go anyway... Thoughts?
 
I have thought this many times since one year ago...though my hope is that one year ago that 94.1 could have been the new home for WFMX, similar to other situations across the country where stations swap frequencies for different reasons. I had envisoned a scenario like WNGC when it was on 95.5 in North Georgia several years ago. THAT was a heritage country station in North Georgia (Athens), and when 95.5 was bought by Cox and moved to Atlanta, WNGC simply moved to 106.1 ---even better, 95.5. and 106.1 simulcasted for 2-3 months to help listeners with the transition. Would have been nice for that to have happened with WFMX here...but back to original thought, yes I think the Cool Springs site would be a great place for Majic 94.1

Eric
 
I've been out of the market for a while. Did CC launch the "Kiss FM" format on July 19, 2006, or
was it later?

And when did Entercom flip 93.1 to Country? I hear they're putting a hurt on 'TQR.

Thanks.
 
I would like to ask though about the Cool Springs site. If the FCC would grant the move with the two sites being close to each other, why doesn't Majic attempt to lease/buy that existing CS site and try for approval? As the crow flies, the Cool Springs site is maybe 15 or 20 miles north from the Rowan Cty site where they have been blocked by the locals to moving there. They could acheive the better Charlotte signal and still be very strong and have nice altitude pointing east to GSO even at a reduced erp as they do now. What are the reasons that wouldn't work? This site sounds perfect for them and is already there and close to where they want to go anyway... Thoughts?

[/quote]


94.1 has to reduce to a C1 to move south. At 1500 feet like WFMX had there, 94 would only be allowed roughly 31 kw. That's not enough signal to compete in either market. Wouldn't be a good move.
 
94.1 has to reduce to a C1 to move south. At 1500 feet like WFMX had there, 94 would only be allowed roughly 31 kw. That's not enough signal to compete in either market. Wouldn't be a good move.
[/quote]I rode to the mountains with this man who mentioned how he used to listen to WFMX when he was in that area. He couldn't believe what they did. 98.1 FM sounded good sometimes. At the time, we were listen to Timeless Favorites on WAME, but when we got close to Morganton I suggested 1430 AM. I wasn't sure, but it turned out to be the good country music, even if it was satellete with lots of commercials and lots of news. We listened to that all the way to Statesville on the way home and Country Legends 98.3 after that.
 
stvok2 said:
I've been out of the market for a while. Did CC launch the "Kiss FM" format on July 19, 2006, or
was it later?

And when did Entercom flip 93.1 to Country? I hear they're putting a hurt on 'TQR.

Thanks.
Click to expand...
WFMX stunted with a "Kiss" loop from midnight or so on July 19, 2006, until approximately 8AM on July 24, 2006, at which point 105.7 Kiss FM was launched, with its first song being Prince's "Kiss."
Oldies 93 died at 9AM on October 3, 2006 and stunted with a robot counting down to 3PM on October 5. However, the country format launched 27 hours early, at noon on October 4, as "93.1 The Wolf." They kept the WMQX calls at first, then about a month later, in mid-November, they changed the calls to WPAW.
Meanwhile, two days after Entercom launched "The Wolf," CC-Raleigh murdered classic-rock icon 106.1 RDU. WRDU stunted for an hour with a loop of Alice in Chains' "Here Comes the Rooster," interspersed with rooster sounds and voiceovers redirecting classic-rock listeners to WRVA-FM 100.7 The River. Then, at 5PM, WRDU's country format launched as "106.1 The Rooster." That week was the first time I can remember that two stations in neighboring markets both flipped to the same format in the same week.
The change of 93.9 from Sunny to Kiss came 2 1/2 months later, the day after Christmas.
 
From the racing coverage standpoint I don't think anyone other than WHKY is covering the Bush and Truck races. The only other one I have found is in Sanford, NC. I don't think anyone in between these two are doing it. Someone is missing a great opportunity.
 
spacetrucker said:
From the racing coverage standpoint I don't think anyone other than WHKY is covering the Bush and Truck races. The only other one I have found is in Sanford, NC. I don't think anyone in between these two are doing it. Someone is missing a great opportunity.
Click to expand...
The News and Record says WBAG 1150 in Burlington airs most of them.

Of course, if they happen to be after dark, that means you're out of luck unless you're IN Burlington.
 
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