The Wave

[unpwn]

I love how all these so-called "experts" think its so easy..Just hand airshifts on a major market station to young, untried jocks..The money will come rolling in..and throw people with any age on them under the bus as it were..The people hired at the Wave are known quantities..That the LISTENERS like..They are programming radio for listeners, not for a young jock's playground..Whatever happened to learning radio at the small station levels like Sandusky, Dover, Lima, etc..People dont want to work at those markets because they're "too small"

Maybe I'm coming on stronger than normal but I am tired of Radio and all entertainment catering to "young people" at the expense of what older people like..They have money too..

I should have clarified. I didn't mean jocks. For, 92.3 was jockless. I'm talking younger as in thinking outside the box to IMPROVE radio. Actually, I travel a lot, and most of the jocks I hear nowadays are horrible. Even in the higher markets.
And yes, bringing the "names" back does fit the format, but the format is about to not fit anything.

SIDE NOTE- I'm very crass. I'm NOT trying to offend anyone. Just trying to be "real".

 

[Capulet]

I am I guess the only person on this Cleveland message board that is tired of hearing the same names over and over and over ad nauseum.

No. There's two of us. ;D

 

[Capulet]

in order for radio to survive you have to give way to the next generation at some point

I'm afraid you're correct. V107.3 failed for many reasons. The main one being the recycling of the "has beens" and the lack of "in the now" knowledge. Hell, they launched under a name that they didn't bother to research for copyright reasons (Boom) while also ripping of the color scheme of Google.

V107.3 had ONE chance to live. Upon knowing that 92.3 was flipping, which was publicly announced about 2-3 weeks before it actually did, 107.3 should have grabbed the format. With a little research (listening to 92.3), they would have known what clients to sell to, and if they had "young blood" sales execs, persuading them to switch over would have been cake. Then, blow out the old folks and hire a new generation of stars.

Now, they are switching back to a format that literally targets the dying. another 5-10 years, and their demo will not exist. Such is the fate of WDOK.

unpwn

Good points. That AAA failed because the music was so far off ( unknown, fringe, not targeted to anyone I could figure ) it was comical. OCB should use that as a textbook case in how not to program a radio station.

People listen to music stations for the music, not the " that was-this is " announcers. The AAA had Gonzo radio guy Roco and an oldies jock who listeners identified with Trini Lopez. Wow! how hip was that? Not very! lol!

You are right about not grabbing that format CBS abandoned. Perhaps the sale to Rubber Radio was in the works?

Should be interesting to see how the new owners shape the playlist when the The Wave crashes on the shores of the radio beach.
They seemed to have thier sites trained on WDOK, looking to get some of the Old Wave listeners back and get some cume duplication from WDOK.

Do you think they will have traffic and weather together?

just kidding! ;D

 

[CleveRadioInsider]

I love how all these so-called "experts" think its so easy..Just hand airshifts on a major market station to young, untried jocks..The money will come rolling in..and throw people with any age on them under the bus as it were..The people hired at the Wave are known quantities..That the LISTENERS like..They are programming radio for listeners, not for a young jock's playground..Whatever happened to learning radio at the small station levels like Sandusky, Dover, Lima, etc..People dont want to work at those markets because they're "too small"

Maybe I'm coming on stronger than normal but I am tired of Radio and all entertainment catering to "young people" at the expense of what older people like..They have money too..

TimL, remind me again how WMMS rose to prominence in the mid 70s and early 80s? Was it not young untried jocks who made it work? I recall Sanders, Gorman, Kid Leo, Jeff/Flash, Matt the Cat being "young" and "untried" and they made it work. Obviously you must not be too young anymore and your grouchiness has gotten the best of you. When you were young it was ok to cater to you but now you want to be the old curmudgeon and prevent younger talent from getting their shot. You seem awfully bitter to me.

 

[Kent]

When describing WMMS in the mid-70's to early-80's, you're basically describing the farm system. FM was still a technology most people weren't listening to and didn't know much about. So, you had a bunch of young and inexperienced talent cutting their teeth on a station no one was listening to. By the time FM started to overtake AM, they had gotten better and sounded polished.

The usual response to young, unproven talent is, "God, they suck!" However, for those of us who've been in the business, we sucked at one time, too.

 

[Capulet]

Kent is right. Back then FM stood for " find me ". ;D

 

[Tim]

Middle-aged+ adult listeners in the highest income earning years of their lives -vs- primarily teen and 18-34 men who have limited financial assets and 12-24 year olds who have more than double the national average of unemployment.

If you were most businesses, which group would YOU want to reach?

There simply aren't ENOUGH advertisers seeking 12-24 men and 18-34 men. That's why young male rock formats are so rare these days.

Is this shortsighted as we look down the road in 15 to 20 years? Sure.

But, hey....most businesses worry about today, next month, and next quarter...not even a few years from now when the media landscape will be very, very different than it is even today.

 

[CleveRadioInsider]

If skewing radio formats for older listeners was the way to go then WRMR "The Music of Your Life" would still be on the air somewhere (WKHR Bainbridge does not count). I realize I am in the small minority on this board for wanting to hear new and fresh talent but thankfully someone else does, because this market has 3 good sports talk hosts now (Adam the Bull, Ken Carman and Bruce Hooley). Did they all cut their teeth in smaller markets except Bull? Yes they did. Cleveland is becoming that smaller market with each passing year.

 

[CleveFan]

I am all in favor of giving fresh, young talent in Cleveland along with hearing some really good veterans as well. Cleveland deserves more local talent instead of more and more canned voices.

If you look at Canton, there are little to no opportunities for newer voices to get a shot in radio. VT'ing and cuts has made it impossible for those to succeed and get their foot in the door. I'm hoping it will change.

BTW...@CleveRadioInsider - I do want newer voices to come in, but again, that depends on those in charge of the stations. Q104 is great with that since there are rumors of new voices coming.

 

[Tim]

Music of Your Life type formats in 2011 would appeal to folks age 70+.

Most people now age 55 into their 60's grew up with 1960's and 1970's top 40/the CHR of those years and some album rock.

Today, many listeners now in their 40's and early 50's listened to music of the 80's into the 90's and some 70's. An AC/urban-based format with music from those decades is what I was referring to as preferable to 12-34 male rock formats.

 

[Rusty Muck]

V107.3 had ONE chance to live. Upon knowing that 92.3 was flipping, which was publicly announced about 2-3 weeks before it actually did, 107.3 should have grabbed the format. With a little research (listening to 92.3), they would have known what clients to sell to, and if they had "young blood" sales execs, persuading them to switch over would have been cake. Then, blow out the old folks and hire a new generation of stars.

That, quite frankly, would have taken a massive leap of faith. ELBC had always been a rather staid, conservative company. Their only real case of ever thinking outside the box was the 11-month-long "Z Rock" experiment. In 1987.

Assuming the alt-rock format of 92.3 (which wasn't bad outside the obligatory RCHP song every hour) was a no-brainer for V. Move Ravenna to mornings, and have either a young slate of jocks or go jockless like 92.3 for the rest of the day. That was so gobsmackingly easy to do, and it should have happened weeks before the flip at 92.3 took place (heck, "The Fan" was a well-founded rumor weeks before it was officially announced).

But you were never going to get an alt-rock format with Brad and Rocco behind the controls. You just weren't.

 

[Rusty Muck]

Music of Your Life type formats in 2011 would appeal to folks age 70+.

Most people now age 55 into their 60's grew up with 1960's and 1970's top 40/the CHR of those years and some album rock.

Today, many listeners now in their 40's and early 50's listened to music of the 80's into the 90's and some 70's. An AC/urban-based format with music from those decades is what I was referring to as preferable to 12-34 male rock formats.

And that is why RCRG chose Smooth AC over alt-rock or an AAA reboot.

Even most adult standards stations (and satellite services) today largely eschew the 30s and 40s titles in favor of 60s, 70s and 80s soft AC. The "MYOL" brand is still in existence, but has largely faded from the public eye.

 

[CleveFan]

Now there are people going on The Wave's FB page complaining about the AAA station gone, and are pretty angry about it. The station is trying to explain the reason, but it doesn't seem like people are buying it. This becoming another one of the "I-want-my-station-back" postings like the ones on Radio 92.3's now-defunct FB page. Why like a page to complain or vent?

 

[CleveRadioInsider]

I am surprised that Rocco would not go with an all alternative format? Was he not the PD at the End for a period of time?

 

[Rusty Muck]

I am surprised that Rocco would not go with an all alternative format? Was he not the PD at the End for a period of time?

Mostly it was Sean "Bull" Roberston, Bob Newmann (shared position with WNCX) and Dan Binder (who stayed at 107.9 for a year after the switch to "Kiss/Z"). IIRC, Rocco only had the controls in the interregnum between Newmann and Binder.

Rocco also hosted the remnants of a local music show on WENZ after Jim Benson and Johann were fired by Newmann... and Benson owned the name rights to "Inner Sanctum."

And of course Brad Hanson was a part of the "old guard" at WMMS in the late 80s, on-air as "Scooter" and as the station's music director from 1988 until 1994. So yeah.

 

[Tim]

Every station/format has it's partisans...even if it's a smaller audience....and when their station goes away, you can't expect them to be happy.

But, there are smaller AM stations in the Cleveland DMA that had the same or more weekly cume audience that V1073 had in the past couple years. For those who loved V1073's music...it lasted 2 years+, and apparently never really caught on with enough listeners to be a financial success.