True Oldies Hitting the Road ?

[S DANMAN]

Did anyone hear Scott Shannon announce today that The True Oldies Channel would be leaving Providence? He announced that it was a decision from General Manager Barbara Haynes.

 

[Skynet74]

Was it ever really any good? As someone who never really listened all that much, I can't say. So now what happens? Another switch in formats? They've tried, "Sports" and failed. They've tried "Oldies" and failed. If I were them I would just bring a new talk station to the market. At least Imus wouldn't seem so out of place anymore. Plus I would welcome another talk station. It's the one format that seems like it would have the best chance of success around here. Citadel would OWN talk in this town. So if it were up to me that's what I would do.

 

[za-rex]

I don't see another talk station. Whatever they came up with wouldn't be local and would just pull upper demos they can't sell, local or not. It's also gotta be low cost so I can't imagine what they could go with.

 

[someplacesomewhere]

They have all the oldies music in system. I think they're just going to dump oldies off the bird and leave in running from East Providence. Less strict breaks, less time sold by the network means more money in Providence.

 

[Skynet74]

They have all the oldies music in system. I think they're just going to dump oldies off the bird and leave in running from East Providence. Less strict breaks, less time sold by the network means more money in Providence.

If they go that route, than I wonder why they ever went "TRUE OLDIES" to begin with.

 

[someplacesomewhere]

To see how it played?

 

[Runrigger]

We're dealing with a bunch of "ifs" here, but going along that route...I realize if they dump True Oldies but stay with Imus in the morning, Cruisin' Bruce in the afternoon, & the same music format programmed locally, there's probably not a lot of money that's going to be spent. That said, I'd go with voicetracked shifts by recognizable personalities: Jimmy Gray, Larry Kruger, Big John Bina, Gary DeGraide. I'm not saying I'm in favor of tracked shifts, but in this case where live probably isn't going to be an option, there's a few extra bucks in some guys' pockets with a fraction of the time it takes to do a live show & all involved can pursue whatever other endeavors they're into. Some of these guys are masters of the one-liner & just having their voices on the station would give it the local touch it needs. I know this is just a best-case scenario.

 

[McRadio]

Tracking by market vets could actually work. It might not do anything to bring in revenue but the audience for this music is the same audience that knows these people and is willing to listen to AM for the music and the personalities. I'm sure Ron StPierre knows the value of heritage but at this point I think the only way to have a conversation about Providence radio and enjoy that conversation is to pose what-ifs. Sometimes you have to fall back if you want to spring ahead.

 

[WarwickRadioFan]

I'd suggest 24-hour news (along the lines tried by 1110 when it was WZNN, carrying CNN Headline News), perhaps they could go with AP network news and do local drop ins at the top and bottom of every hour. Simply have the WPRO news people prepare a three minute news capsule...

 

[N1WVQ]

1110 was never WZNN, it was WWRX. All it was was the audio output of CNN Headline News which sounded horrible. All T.V. audio on radio that I've ever heard sounds watery & vacant. If it did go to all-news, it would be resuming the format it had 30 years ago as 79WEAN. Personally I like WPRV. It's nice to have an A.M. oldies station. Its music mix is better than 101.5's. Anyway, 1180 in Hope Valley started off with CNN Headline News and has since dropped a lot of it.

In summary: no radio station should ever air CNN Headline News and 790 should stay oldies. Those are my opinions.

 

[Moonstruck]

And if they do stay oldies but just handle the musically locally they'll just have someone in the building cut liners.

 

[Silkie]

"They would not listen, they're not listening still; perhaps they never will" - any of them.

 

[someplacesomewhere]

And if they do stay oldies but just handle the musically locally they'll just have someone in the building cut liners.

They already do that with everything else. Pretty sure anyway that voice over guy for most of the cluster is someone in house.

 

[Kenny Atkinson]

http://boards.radio-info.com/smf/index.php/topic,120293.0.html

I brought this up a month ago.Everyone thought I was nuts.While I am surprised at this discussion the station seem to have more listeners than WSKO.I actually enjoyed True Oldies from time to time.