WAEV Kiss 97.3/WIXV I-95

[acheron1982]

See, I-95 has been stagnant over the past 8 years or so. There playlist has not budged which is pretty boring if you take into consideration that their playlist is already very small. The station has a limited amount of artist that they play the hell out of. They continue to do well because they are the only 100k watt station in Savannah that is classic rock/AOR. When I lived in Vidalia, even the younger folks that loved the harder rock listened the 95 because that is all they had. Rock 106.1 does not do all that well to the west thanks to 106.1 in Soperton so if you live in Statesboro, Hinesville or Vidalia and you like rock music (generally speaking), you have no choice but to listen to 95 or internet radio.

I95 is not over but they need a face lift. If they want to stick to the classic rock format, they need to dig deeper instead of the predictable stuff they have been playing for the past 8 years.

Personally, I 95 should get serious with the classic rock and leave the new stuff alone. When I say get serious with the classic rock, I mean get deeper with some of the progressive rock bands of the 70s and digging deeper with Floyd, etc. Perfect example of a good classic rock station is KZ 106 out of Chattanooga. They have their playlist online so check it out.

Rock 106.1 is SO venerable. All Cumulus would have to do is flip the switch on 102 or CC flip the switch on 94.1 (don't see that happening), and launch an active/alternative rock hybrid. That would kill 106 for two reason:

1- Wider playlist with the alternative rock being included to the established active rock format.
2- Coverage. HELLO! Statesboro and Hinesville don't even receive the 106 signal and these two cities are saturated with folks that would be attracted to modern rock (rather that be alternative or active). If Cumulus does this, I give 106 less than a year.

Yes, z102 tried this back in the mid 90s. Back in the mid 90s, 99x in Atlanta was one of the biggest alternative stations in the nation. Today, they are a small transmitter with out a full share in ratings. Point is, times change. Plus, Z was rock before cumulus took it over. Maybe the cloud could to a better job at managing such a format.

Regarding 97.3, I've been checking them out over the past few weeks. They have a very impressive product.

 

[cscott]

97.3 might play Lady GaGa "teen" songs BUT they are consistently ranked among the top 3 stations in women 25-54...yes even at times number 1 and that is NOT a typo on my part. A well programmed Mainstream CHR with a morning show like Kraddick---whether theres a Rhythmic or not---does extremely well.....well enough that Cumulus gave up the CHR war a long time ago. CC owns the female side of the battlefield and Cumulus has decided to use Country, Rock and Sports to counter that on the Male side. The only obstacles to their strategy is whether or not they can win those male format battles over Triad/Adventure.

 

[elastic17]

All of this theorizing is plenty interesting, but none of it will happen. 95 would be a ratings monster once again if it focused in and stopped playing Nickelback, Seether, and My Darkest Days. And, advertisers might actually want to buy it. But regardless of the fact that it would bring the cloud more money, that's not how format management works today. A 7 station cluster with two big money hogs means everything else is just gravy on top. 2 stations thrive, the rest just try to survive.

97.3 is as plastic is they come but that's what it should be, and the target demo buys into it. They play what people want to hear, and that's why it works. 95 plays what people want to hear only 30% of the time. Another 40% is comprised of good stuff that's been ruined from overplaying and terrible day-to-day separation, and the remaining 30% is new drivel that tries to compete with 106.1 and that no one wanted to hear in the first place. But they have no choice; they play what they are told to play from upstairs.