M
Magnum
Guest
103.3 is now airing Christmas music with the Warm 103 imaging.
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Interesting move. Not sure why one would bring back this brand. It was pretty damaged by the time it became WINK 103....the Rose had done an outstanding job grabbing the AC position in York. In the short term, I'm guessing Cumulus didn't want to hand all the Christmas shares this year to the Rose. Could this be a smoke screen for something totally new on the frequency come the new year? CHR? News/Talk on FM. Sports Talk on FM? Putting what would be an "older brand" back on the frequency really makes no sense considering they also own SOX. Time will tell. If someone put a gun to my head on this, I'd say a new CHR is coming to town.
It wouldn't surprise me a bit. CHR is red-hot right now. Tons of GREAT mass-appeal music with broad demographic appeal. When YCR dumped CHR 10 years ago, it made sense, because the format was very weak in much of the 90s and early 2000s. Not now. Not since the early 80s has there been so much quality listenable pop music. The only trouble with being CHR is that you are entirely dependent on the quality of the current music at any given time. But if done now, I see a CHR on 103.3 grabbing at least a 6 or 7 share right out of the box...
Warm 103 does have an updated website at http://www.warm1033.com/. It does reflect the current Christmas music format, but otherwise it's very generic.
It is somewhat possible that they keep the Warm brand after Christmas, but not very likely. They probably wanted to put another Christmas station on so as to blunt the impact of The Rose. Last Christmas, The Rose was the sole all-Christmas station in the Harrisburg-York-Lancaster region and had the numbers to show for it. Pulling the Warm brand out of mothballs was the most effective way to instantly brand the format, rather than call it something like "Christmas 103.3". Plus, they already had the sweepers and jingles. Last Christmas, I had heard rumor that they were going to flip one of the Winks to all-Christmas, but they ended up not doing it. Perhaps they didn't do so because Wink 103 was too new at the time. So, I guess there is also a sliver of a chance that they could put 103.3 back to Wink after Christmas. Stay tuned.......
M
Magnum
Guest
If they are planning on bringing back Wink 103 after the holidays, I would think that they would be promoting that (i.e., "after the holidays, it's back to York/Lancaster's Best Music... Wink 103). So far, I haven't heard any mention of Wink 103 since the change to Christmas music. How would a CHR on 103.3 affect Hot 93.5? I thought that Hot was targeting both Harrisburg and York. But, I guess the idea would be that 93.5 would target Harrisburg and 103.3 would target York. My guess is that 103.3 stays Warm after the holidays, but we shall see!
What do you all think about a "We'll play whatever we feel like" format? There is a station from Cape May that I enjoy, Sunny 105.5. You may hear Jay Z followed by The Doors followed by Laura Branigan followed by Nirvana. Heck one day I heard Beyonce followed by John Denver! I know that the way Cumulus and Clear operate, that will probably never happen in this market.
Perhaps there is no real market for that, but I tend to like it.
Perhaps there is no real market for that, but I tend to like it.
While I agree that it seems weird Cumulus would bring back Warm 103.3, it seems equally weird that they'd bring back the brand just for an all-Christmas stunt. Given that they have a morning show on Warm 98 in Cincinnati that they apparently want to syndicate to more of their stations and have started using the Warm branding in several other markets, the return of Warm 103.3 seems more plausible than simply assuming the name for a Christmas stunt.
Kent said:
Didn't consider that Kent. And while it is a pretty well known fact Cumulus is bleeding red ink and no company to buy with a clean balance sheet (Citadel) to hide their insurmountable debt this time (although I'm sure Lew is looking for one), a WARM return with a fairly heavy syndicated lineup is not out of the question. York is market 107..small potatoes to the Dickey's compared to the documented problems they've been having in their major market stations. Make no mistake, Cumulus will be following the Clear Channel model of "repeater radio" in these smaller markets. If this were a purely "York market" competitive consideration, CHR would be the likely choice. But given the bigger picture of saving $$$$$ company wide, Kent may get the prize for having the correct answer to what will happen. The folks in York were advertising for a midday person to replace the recently departed Ms. Taylor. Would not surprise me at all if that hire never happens. Good post Kent.
M
Magnum
Guest
They never changed the call letters on 103.3 from WARM when the change to Wink was done. It always made me think that there was a slight possibility that they were hanging onto them in case they wanted to return to Warm 103.
I've heard they are going all Norweigan Death Metal / Smooth Jazz after the holidays..
Pastywhitethighs said:
That would be on par with most of the other decisions Cumulus makes! It just seems way out of left field to bring back a dead brand after such a short time.
J
John-Summers
Guest
loeper said:
That sign still has WSBA's logo from 20 years ago on it and there has never been a WSOX logo added, nor one for WGLD 1440 for that matter.
Think that would have happened during the Susquehanna days?
I can see the billboards now...."Kelly's back..."
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