Anyone had a chance to hear this format yet? What do you think?
My impressions: I heard it in northern Michigan a couple of months ago where it is being used by WCBY-AM 1240 in Cheboygan. WCBY is a former Music of Your Life affiliate station which apparently made the switch to Waitt last summer. This is also the format now on KOMJ in Omaha (formerly Westwood One/DG). The tag line is "Great Songs and Stars," or at least that was the tag line used by WCBY.
Musically, I like this format. It sounded a lot like Dial Global but with more "real" standards and slightly less of the '70s/'80s soft rock, although one song played on WCBY during the time I was listening that sort of surprised me was "Don't Take Away My Heaven" by Aaron Neville. It is younger-sounding than MOYL or Jones Standards but not quite as young as Dial Global and not nearly as young-skewing as Timeless Favorites. Personality-wise, however, I found it lacking. It seemed I listened for nearly half an hour before I actually heard an announcer talking. Only then could I confirm that this was indeed a satellite format, because up until then it had simply sounded like the station was being run and programmed locally but fully automated.
My impressions: I heard it in northern Michigan a couple of months ago where it is being used by WCBY-AM 1240 in Cheboygan. WCBY is a former Music of Your Life affiliate station which apparently made the switch to Waitt last summer. This is also the format now on KOMJ in Omaha (formerly Westwood One/DG). The tag line is "Great Songs and Stars," or at least that was the tag line used by WCBY.
Musically, I like this format. It sounded a lot like Dial Global but with more "real" standards and slightly less of the '70s/'80s soft rock, although one song played on WCBY during the time I was listening that sort of surprised me was "Don't Take Away My Heaven" by Aaron Neville. It is younger-sounding than MOYL or Jones Standards but not quite as young as Dial Global and not nearly as young-skewing as Timeless Favorites. Personality-wise, however, I found it lacking. It seemed I listened for nearly half an hour before I actually heard an announcer talking. Only then could I confirm that this was indeed a satellite format, because up until then it had simply sounded like the station was being run and programmed locally but fully automated.