• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

WAPE Questions

M

mrslate

Guest
I'm an out-of-towner wondering if we could discuss the battle between between Kiss and The Ape. It's interesting to me that although Kiss has a weaker signal, they're beating a station with great heritage. Can someone compare the stations for me? ;D
 
My opinion on this subject is Cox's letting Lex & Terry slip out their door two years ago was the beginning of a company losing focus of who they are. Sometimes it's not necessarily what certain stations are doing right, but what the others are doing wrong that have to do with where the ratings fall. Radio is nothing but a perceptual game. Obviously Cox has fallen short in that department. TV spots for Rock 105 have gone the route of promoting the music instead of it's morning show. That tells you something right there. I realize the music is the main factor on a station like that but very weak morning show doesn't help. Eagle has always been fairly strong and has a TV budget at the moment. Does WAPE? I haven't seen any. Clear Channel obviously spends more money on research .. both musically and from a perceptual standpoint. That will win everytime. How does a company like Cox go from having the top 5 stations 12+ 3 years ago, to having most of the stations in that building toward the bottom of the heap today. That Bob Neil guy in Atlanta (or Tampa) needs to go the way of Saddam. His touch has turned to $&:"#@&%^*!!**$
 
I don't think Kiss' signal is too weak anymore. I know it was a move-in, but I also remember very shortly after Kiss launched, they did an upgrade of some sort, announcing on the air that their signal was improving soon, and to listen online because they will be off the air on a certain day. But anyway...

If I had to guess, and judging from what I have read here and heard elsewhere, Clear Channel has a good grip of the top 40 format. But so did WAPE for many years...or did they? I don't listen to either station, but maybe someone else could explain: do APE and Kiss play the same music in the same way, or are the personalities more engaging or edgy on one station versus the other? What about marketing? (I see MJ billboards now, but what else?) As little as I know about the situation, I have to say I was surprised that in each book, Kiss and APE inched closer and closer together.

I mean, this wasn't like opening the book one spring and saying, "OMG! WVOJ knocked off WOKV! Who saw THAT coming?!"

No, this was very gradual, like 6-7 years. Someone at APE/Cox had to have seen the trends from that long ago and come up with a plan to keep their station (scratch that, JACKSONVILLE'S station) as strong as it could be. Or again...did they not? ???
 
How sad has it been to watch the once mighty APE lose her swagger. Since Day 1 KISS has closed the gap to a neck and neck race throughout target demos, and I believe there are several reasons.
1. WAPE lost several long-time, market proven talents that pulled big numbers in their demos. They lost Trane and Tony Mann, the only midday and afternoon talent the station ever had, plus a heritage morning show that owned the women's demo for 11 years. The only really known name on KISS has been MJ's syndicated show from Tampa.
2. Super-safe music selection courtesy of Bob "The Radio Slayer" Neil in Atlanta has killed WAPE. The allegedly "new" music is so burnt it's not funny by the time APE adds it, and there's nothing edgy about the playlist. It may be, what, 90 songs tops?
3. KISS has always had a more Urban sound then APE, and the ratings success of stations like WJBT and 101.5 made KISS an automatic tune-in for Urban fans fleeing stop sets. How many times can you listen to the same Nickelback song before you jab hot pokers in your ears? And WAPE adding Carrie Underwood a year after she makes the scene ... and six months after "Before He Cheats" is a recurrent on the country stations?
Please.
KISS has follwed Ovid's observation ...
"The drop of water hollows the stone, not by force, but by continuously dripping."
 
My life is complete now that I have heard that song. And as awful as it is, it beats about 32 of the Top 40 right now!
 
Couple things...
1) Carrie Underwood... Please... every top 40 station in the country is playing that... even Z100.. top 10 phones if I recall correctly at Z.

2) You people must be bored to tears with life all the time...

3) Fine FKS got close to WAPE in the "ratings" which are wack to begin with...when the PPM comes out will see WHO really gets ratings and who doesnt check cume in every demo. APE is miles ahead of everyone... change happened at APE... heritage personalities left that lets be honest were WAY past there primes...younger and newer DJ's came in, 1 book in APE goes down and people are calling WAPE crap... HAHA... WAPE has been here for nearly 50 yrs... up's and down's and yet at the end of the day STILL HERE... What excuses will you have when the spring book comes out and when the PPM is out....idiots!
 
Rocky90210 said:
Couple things...
1) Carrie Underwood... Please... every top 40 station in the country is playing that... even Z100.. top 10 phones if I recall correctly at Z.

2) You people must be bored to tears with life all the time...

3) Fine FKS got close to WAPE in the "ratings" which are wack to begin with...when the PPM comes out will see WHO really gets ratings and who doesnt check cume in every demo. APE is miles ahead of everyone... change happened at APE... heritage personalities left that lets be honest were WAY past there primes...younger and newer DJ's came in, 1 book in APE goes down and people are calling WAPE crap... HAHA... WAPE has been here for nearly 50 yrs... up's and down's and yet at the end of the day STILL HERE... What excuses will you have when the spring book comes out and when the PPM is out....idiots!
Click to expand...
You must have written your first post, after you consumed your first beer. Don't talk 50 years of heritage when you have a clueless morning show that makes fun of the way people in Jacksonville talk! And they are the best "talent" on the station!

Your post has been whacked!

'Goodfellow!
 
I feel sorry for you, Rocky, because you obviously don't understand what the Big Ape really means, and meant to the people of Jacksonville. For years was WAPE WAS radio in Jacksonville, and all of the southeast, and that legacy was cherished and revered by everyone who worked for her ... from the GM's and PD's to the jocks, to the sales staff, to the lowliest schmuck on the totem pole. We all had, and still have to this day a commonality that few are privelidged to have ... We can all say we worked at WAPE, and were proud to be a part of it's history.
Sadly, Cox Radio had no such reverence for the icon, and chained her to a tree in it's backyard, and let her lapse into little more than a revenue machine and a bloody jukebox. Now, the once proud Big Ape (and the whole Cox cluster) hemmorhages money, and lacks the drive and vision of just a few short years ago. We DID celebrate a 40th anniversary not all that long ago ... and now, on the eve of what would be her 50th anniversary, there is nothing .... A couple of loudmouth semi-pros from out of town in the morning who do a circa 1982 show complete with rimshots and a brainless giggle chick, and an entire airstaff of kids screaming liners at us all day, telling us they're doing their shift naked, and begging on air for girlfriends.
Don't even get me going on the music. The Top 40 product these days leaves a lot to be desired, and micro management from the Little Pentagon in Atlanta does as well, but if you don't ACT likeable, you'll never BE likeable.
Rest in Peace, old friend, and know that only someone who ever wore the call letters on a shirt or satin jacket could ever love Nervous Norvis like we do.
 
Brother Bear is right.

If you're not from here, and damn near 60 you don't have a clue what the "Big Ape" and the "Mighty 690" was all about.

Bob
 
Don't really have to be from Jax to understand the real APE. Back in the day various markets had stations that were icons. Being from Ind we had all the AM powerhouses WLS/WCFL and WOWO plus many of the smaller market stations that we're great radio. Then FM started clobbering the AMs with all the great underground stations. So it's not just the APE it's alot of great american radio in the days. U just have to sit back with a smile and drift back when radio was radio and PDs actually programmed the place not some crazy consult somewhere in Cincy. Atleast us old timers can sit back with a smile for then and a frown for now.
 
Anyone else put 2+2 together in their search for a PD? A certain someone from the region who just left a gig elsewhere may well be in line for the gig. Anyone else catch on to this?
 
Oh yes I remember the great days of radio when William Conrad and I would sit around the station slobbering all over double cheeseburgers and fries and remember the good old days. Hey - pull it out - that was then this is now. As the GoodFellas would say - forget about it
 
alcapone said:
Oh yes I remember the great days of radio when William Conrad and I would sit around the station slobbering all over double cheeseburgers and fries and remember the good old days. Hey - pull it out - that was then this is now. As the GoodFellas would say - forget about it
Click to expand...

iI doubt if you have ever stepped into a radio station..I know you have never been to the APE! What's your biggest memories..."Mork and Mindy? or the 1910 Fruitgum Co. Yummy Yummy Yummy.

Us old timers will remember all we want, Start your own topic or better yet post on the New York Boards APE
 
Re: WAPE Questions - new PD

Have we forgotten the signal? People listened to Ape all up and down the southeast coast for years.... And even after the change to FM, Ape has been dominate for 20 years. Change is always painful. But, it's necessary to stay alive! Ape made a concious decision to make some major changes over the past year. There will always be a ratings dip after major changes. Then a new era will come. None of this should be a suprize to anyone who REALLY knows radio. Z100 has had highs and lows. KIIS LA has had highs and lows.

By the way, the new Ape PD is JR Ammons from KMXV FM (Mix 93.3) in Kansas City and Star 94, Atlanta. He's a good guy.
Bunny
 
In VA, I would listen to WAPE sign off back when they were a 25,000 watt daytimer. The ape call was the last audio before the plate switch was thrown. Was fortunate to work there from 1978-1980. Cool place.

Here's a great history:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WAPE-AM
 
On the Wikipedia site "The Powers" above have tagged the WAPE article as needing cleaning up! Does anybody know what they are talking about. Kaplan was always talking about "Cleaning up" but I don't know what they mean???
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom