WCCC ran jocks right up until the flip at 5 pm.
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WAAF - what a mess!!!
- Thread starter MarkW
- Start date
WCCC ran jocks right up until the flip at 5 pm.
Most of the listeners dropped out once WCCC flipped. I don't think it tainted future listeners. What the flip did was alienate who was listening not insult the new listeners.
And they weren't dropping F-bombs, just playing "Highway to Hell" and other similarly themed hard rock.
They were playing the stuff they played before they went soft. It was the WCCC I missed the last few years before the turned.
That’s my point. I’m sure the diehard CCC fans dropped out once the music stopped. However, I doubt any K-Love listeners tuned in 10 minutes early, got offended by heavy metal, and blamed EMF.
I can’t imagine how the wording would appear in the contract: “no devil music” “no Queen because Freddie was gay”
As far as I know, EMF doesn’t purchase the intellectual property or brand assets to these stations. This is why many of these legacy brands relaunch on HD2 or the Internet. EMF is buying the tower and broadcast facilities only. If the owner of this brand wants to degrade their product, it’s not a concern for EMF.
Someone mentioned on this thread that WCCC had a “Satan-fest” and trash talked EMF and Christianity right before the flip. I listened to the last 15 minutes on formatflip.com and didn’t hear anything controversial.
WLUP 97.9 in Chicago did something similar when EMF bought it, they spent the last several hours playing music with devil, death, hell, and sex-themed songs, concluding with "Highway To Hell" by AC/DC. I think one final act of rebellion is in rock's DNA, and in an increasingly conformist society that may be a sociological factor in rock's decline. We'll see if the new decade changes anything.
I would have flipped WAAF to a KPNT/WBUZ-esque hybrid of active/alternative as a last-ditch resort before selling the station. I think there is still some value in the signal, otherwise EMF wouldn't have paid $10 million for it.
I would have flipped WAAF to a KPNT/WBUZ-esque hybrid of active/alternative as a last-ditch resort before selling the station. I think there is still some value in the signal, otherwise EMF wouldn't have paid $10 million for it.
Hey, if they can get a couple of image protecting clauses in the contract, and still pay the same price, why not?
With a religious station, "any publicity is good publicity" does not work. This is about the Bible, not a drive down Hollywood Boulevard.
Without going into the religious side, I think we can say that EMF has a conservative position. As such, they would not want to be in any way connected with an on-air rant.
I know of one case where a station was being sold to go Spanish, and there was a $100 per second fine to be deducted from the purchase price at closing if anything negative was said about the new format, Hispanics, the Spanish language or Latin Artists. So no J-Lo jokes, not taco jokes, no fake Spanish words.
That is just a good business practice.
And if you were at EMF, after that childish reaction, wouldn't you put some protective clauses in future purchase contracts?
I'm not sure I would care. The rock fans wouldn't be listening to my station anyway, K-Love has zero crossover with Active or classic rock unless I feel like yanking out Kansas' "Play The Game Tonight" (which AFAIK K-Love doesn't). If I were flipping a classic rock to, say, country, Active, Alternative, or AAA (where there's some crossover between demographics) then I would care more.
Why? These were people who were losing their jobs. EMF had no control over the stations at that time. It's not like these employees of the departing owner vandalized the property or released a stream of F-bombs before signing off. I would have done the same thing, especially considering that the music they played was mainstream.
Companies routinely protect their brands. The best example is that end of the season football game that won't even let media use the name in program features.
Most of us who have been in the industry a while know multiple stories of language and acts that hurt the station they are leaving. At that point, we decide we had better protect our investment and license just in case.
If the flips of WCCC and WLUP tell us anything, it’s that EMF doesn’t care. Even if a clause is in the contract, it would difficult to enforce because the context behind the music is so subjective.
Hypothetically, if the station played Nine Inch Nails “Heresy” on a constant loop, I doubt EMF would have any recourse. Google the lyrics if you don’t know that song.
Expertise doesn't equate to automatically being 100% correct. Furthermore, Dave twisted my words. Our debate mainly opened with me stating it would have been crappy for EMF to have not allowed for the staff to send off the station. He got all upset. Also, he couldn't accept my joke of calling EMF to voice oppostion. Then when I continued he started lying/twisting what I was saying.
Try reading the entire thread. Your problem is you want a place where everyone kisses everyone else's ass. My lips aren't chapped. And I'm not agreeing with you just for the sake of agreeing. I've been on two stances. If that's disrespecting your expertise, you then are in the club of people with little ego strength. You can be an expert, yet still be wrong about some things.
Since this whole discussion began, only one of you got my point about not playing new in the format. They didn't agree with me, but they understood the premise and agrees tht radio can and does make mistakes. The rest of you have this weird sense of narcissism and inability ttoward accpeting the notion that someone might have a point. Instead, you experts do all the research (yet don't actually cite the research). One person gave a great response (paraphrase) "I see your point, and yes we obvious make mistakes at times. Our decisions have been based on these items, and if you want to see any of the research, I'll be glad to share it with you." That's the perfect response. That's the only insider who hasn't expected me to take your word as the gospel.
Take some criticism, it is out of respect. Take it for whatever value you want. But, understand that I'm here to ask questions and learn from the collective knowledge, but I'm not just taking the status quo if I still have observations. I'm not here to just agree with you, because your an insider who has expertise. Even a mechanic of 20 years still can make a mistake. Even a doctor with 30 years experience can make mistakes.
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Playing songs that are within the old format is rather subtle. I've never seen a format or ownership/format change where there was control put on the playlist. But I know many cases going back decades where the things said by the airstaff are controlled.
The most common thing the seller does is reduce severance pay in proportion to the negative remarks. In one case, for every negative remark (and they named a respected local authority as arbitrator) one week of severance would be deducted. That worked well, and the transition was seamless.
I never said that it wasn't in the buyer's right. I said it was a whimp move if the buyer. I agree (never disagreed) the they can do it. I just don't have any respect if they did so. The success of K-Love in the Boston market doesn't rest on whether or not the air staff at WAAF spoke kindly of them or not.
You find where I said they didn't have the right, and I'll concede to you. I didn't say they didn't have the right. I said that it would be a whimp move.
Once again, just because I disagree with doing so on a moral compass, and it's purely subjective stance, you decide to twist my point. Simply disagree morally. Stop changing my point to make yourself sound right to the rest in here who "do no wrong."
OK, I'm done. You do not want to learn about the legal and "best practices" side of radio as a business.
We are not in the "wimp" business. We are broadcasters. We do everything possible to protect our image, to serve advertisers and inform and entertain our listeners. When we see situations that could endanger any of those, we take steps to prevent them.
A Question
Why is WAAF billing itself "Boston's Rock Station" when they are out of Westborough, MA??? Arent they in the top 5 or top 10 in the Worcester market???
Why is WAAF billing itself "Boston's Rock Station" when they are out of Westborough, MA??? Arent they in the top 5 or top 10 in the Worcester market???
Because the money is in the Boston market, not Worcester. Sure, 107.3 is considered a rimshot signal for Boston, but it can be received in much of the metro Boston area, and has an added benefit of having a strong signal in Worcester County and out toward western Mass. The problem is that the signal gets eaten up in Boston itself with the buildings and interference from other major FM stations. Two other stations, WXRV/Andover (92.5 The River) and WXLO/Fitchburg (104.5 XLO), also "rimshot" stations, have recently installed a series of boosters to improve their signal in the immediate Boston area. I'm surprised that Entercom/WAAF never tried this option (although they were simulcast for years on 97.7).
Listening yesterday, and I'll likely listen more today, it's quite apparent even to longtime jocks Mistress Carrie and Mike Hsu, that the "glory days" of WAAF were the '90s into the early 2000s. That's when WAAF was ahead on the format, breaking new bands, engaging jocks, and constantly running promotions and events. Sometime in the mid to late 2000s, a combination of the music itself being not as good, a shift to downloading/streaming, and the change in direction of WAAF going "lighter" and adopting the 'Everything that Rocks' moniker, was the beginning of a slow decline. Sure, they stayed afloat with the demise of WBCN and WFNX, but WAAF was not the chance-taking station it once was. They were playing mostly gold and recurrents and were not staying ahead on new music, the jocks and the audience were getting older, and the transmitter move actually ended up hurting their signal. Although they were touting themselves as a Boston station, they were always more of a regional station, one that could be received on both sides of Massachusetts, well into Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, and Vermont. They tried to fix this with 97.7, but the station truly fit best with the folks in Worcester County and metro west.
In the past year, they have been making strides to bring more new music onto the station, but I feel the missing piece was they were not bringing in fresh jocks, the next "must listen to" morning or afternoon show. It sounds like they were on their way there--Carrie talked about a planned "relaunch" on March 2 where they wanted to bring things back to the way they were. Obviously they were too late. Perhaps the relaunch should have happened immediately after Greg Hill's departure.
But for today, we relive the glory days of WAAF--the WAAF Giraffe, the Rock and Roll Air Force, Bob and Zip, Mantown, the TNT "Top Nine Tonight," the Ozone Cafe, traffic with Major Dick, and everything else that made WAAF great, for a time. The only station that really rockED!
Jacko
But please, WAAF, no more breaking "news" about the mayor on your way out the door!
https://wbznewsradio.iheart.com/con...opie-anthony-as-waaf-becomes-christian-radio/
Not the same thing. I wouldn't go to you, who I suspect has no medical experience, to assess whether or not a doctor made a mistake. And a doctor's mistake might lead to loss of life. Not so with the owner of a radio station.
Are you familiar with the phrase: My bar, my rules? If I start a business , spend my money, and make operating decisions about how I want to run it, that's my right. As long as I play within the rules set by the government, I can run it my way. Your right, as the consumer, is to not listen. That's where it ends. You don't like what a radio station plays? Listen to something else.
You want the right to criticize? Spend your own money, apply your own sweat, and buy your own radio station. Lots of them for sale. You could have bought this one yourself. Don't have the money? Find a bunch of people who share your taste in music. Ask them to fund your vision. It happens every day. It's called crowdfunding. Then you get the right to run things your way.
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