While not a true scientific way to come to conclusions, I've found, nonetheless, over the years noting what business is listening to can be a good indicator of what is to come in ratings. And it seems a lot of the business (stores, restaurants, hair sylists etc) I go to have WEJZ on in the background. Some of these have involved switching from other stations. I like their sweepers and a lot of the music is not in the put you to sleep category. The morning show is moving at a good pace and I'm hearing a team as opposed to individual contributors which was the case when they first began. Craiger Williams, I believe, is a good choice for the PM drive. Great radio voice that can cut through all the noise in the drive home. WEJZ has finally positioned themselves well.
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Renda's other property, WSOS, has built what I consider a great playlist. It's a shame their coverage is limited. While I can understand how the station could not afford to support a midday host, I think they need to do something in midday. I'm not sure if this is done by anyone but I often think if they could do something like "Sunny's Cyber Cafe" where requests are played via the internet only. This can be voice-tracked by someone on staff. Even though this would not be live, it can be a good opportnity to ackowledge individuals and/or businesses listening to give a personal touch to what I think is a critical daypart. Anyway, just an idea.
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I've seen some ads for Gator Country. And of course, those ads for WQIK's morning show run as well. To me these two marketing campaigns are a world apart. While I first thought the 'QIK ads were cute, they really promote a wrong image. What we see is a morning team who act like a bunch of bafoons. Franky, I think they deserve better. I am beginning to see that Gator will be a formidable competitor. And while I was cringing with the music (I'm no Country fan at all) I did listen to a few of Gator's morning shows over the past week. If you have to compare the morning fare at QIK and Gator, the latter seems more sophisticated and youth-appealing. I'm not an expert in this area but I just have to go with what my feelings are saying. Renda has made a great move getting the former Morning Zoo on board Gator.
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I can still remember the words when Cox Radio killed oldies stating they "wanted to be ahead of the power curve." Well, today's oldies are making a comeback. The music is a good decade "newer" and in many markets, they are performing very well 25-54. As I look at Renda's decision to flip Kool to Movin', I can't help but suspect a lot more was at play than what was said in a press release.
From what we can observe about Renda Broadcasting, it appears they are conservative in making a lot of changes and they certainly give stations a good deal more time to establish an audience and hit targets than the big guns. And so when they went with Movin' -a relatively new format that really wasn't proven-I always thought something was up. This may be part of it. Is it possible Arrow was going to flip back to a Classic Hits format and become more mainstream? Perhaps this could explain the urgency at Cox Radio to do what they did right on Christmas Day. Maybe not - we'll never know for sure. More importantly, is it possible the GM at Renda was aware that Cox Radio wanted to flip one of it's properties such as The Point to some kind of Urban format? Think about it. This would have brought Cox Radio new listeners who would not detract from their other formats. Maybe the move to Movin' was to get even and/or beat Cox at their own game.
But good or bad decision, oldies are absent in Jacksonville. I try to not let personal prejudices interfere with sound judegement. But I'm convinced, there is opportunity missed. Ironic too that Renda's KOMA in Ok City is the #1 station in that market with today's oldies/classic hits. There is potential for the format here. If getting even was a basis for making a format decision - a shame the listener, once again, is not in the center.
Discuss. 8)
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Renda's other property, WSOS, has built what I consider a great playlist. It's a shame their coverage is limited. While I can understand how the station could not afford to support a midday host, I think they need to do something in midday. I'm not sure if this is done by anyone but I often think if they could do something like "Sunny's Cyber Cafe" where requests are played via the internet only. This can be voice-tracked by someone on staff. Even though this would not be live, it can be a good opportnity to ackowledge individuals and/or businesses listening to give a personal touch to what I think is a critical daypart. Anyway, just an idea.
********************************************************************************************
I've seen some ads for Gator Country. And of course, those ads for WQIK's morning show run as well. To me these two marketing campaigns are a world apart. While I first thought the 'QIK ads were cute, they really promote a wrong image. What we see is a morning team who act like a bunch of bafoons. Franky, I think they deserve better. I am beginning to see that Gator will be a formidable competitor. And while I was cringing with the music (I'm no Country fan at all) I did listen to a few of Gator's morning shows over the past week. If you have to compare the morning fare at QIK and Gator, the latter seems more sophisticated and youth-appealing. I'm not an expert in this area but I just have to go with what my feelings are saying. Renda has made a great move getting the former Morning Zoo on board Gator.
***********************************************************************************************
I can still remember the words when Cox Radio killed oldies stating they "wanted to be ahead of the power curve." Well, today's oldies are making a comeback. The music is a good decade "newer" and in many markets, they are performing very well 25-54. As I look at Renda's decision to flip Kool to Movin', I can't help but suspect a lot more was at play than what was said in a press release.
From what we can observe about Renda Broadcasting, it appears they are conservative in making a lot of changes and they certainly give stations a good deal more time to establish an audience and hit targets than the big guns. And so when they went with Movin' -a relatively new format that really wasn't proven-I always thought something was up. This may be part of it. Is it possible Arrow was going to flip back to a Classic Hits format and become more mainstream? Perhaps this could explain the urgency at Cox Radio to do what they did right on Christmas Day. Maybe not - we'll never know for sure. More importantly, is it possible the GM at Renda was aware that Cox Radio wanted to flip one of it's properties such as The Point to some kind of Urban format? Think about it. This would have brought Cox Radio new listeners who would not detract from their other formats. Maybe the move to Movin' was to get even and/or beat Cox at their own game.
But good or bad decision, oldies are absent in Jacksonville. I try to not let personal prejudices interfere with sound judegement. But I'm convinced, there is opportunity missed. Ironic too that Renda's KOMA in Ok City is the #1 station in that market with today's oldies/classic hits. There is potential for the format here. If getting even was a basis for making a format decision - a shame the listener, once again, is not in the center.
Discuss. 8)
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