WBEA Clueless

[liradioprez]

I don't know if anyone else has noticed, but it sure seems to me that "The Beach" hasn't a clue on what they're plans are for the station. A year ago, they were pretty much Rap. Then they transformed into a top-40 sounding station, and now they sound more like a Dance station than Party 105! Apparantly, they aren't making any money and theyre scrambling through different formats to try and stay afloat..

 

[wgliradio]

Agree. It seems every time I tune in 101.7, it seems it has a different focus. Harp? What's up??????

 

[RadioFixerCLE]

With a name like "The Beach", I think they should either be "oldies" (meh) or light dance pop type stuff (a la WMJC 94.3)

 

[liradioprez]

stephanienyc, I agree! But I think they were TRYING to make it sound like the "cool, hip, fiesta" station.

 

[RadioFixerCLE]

Dear lord. "Fiesta" FM....

*hides head in shame* Poor ripoff of Mega 97,9 or La Kalle 105,9 FM....

 

[SPRINGFIELDRAD]

Per their Web site they only have one jock on the air Monday-Friday. Geezzz.

I tried to sample the station on-line but I heard nothing. I wish they would stream.

If you ask me Harp should be on the air on a NYC radio station. A very hard worker. His morning show on BLI was 100% better than the current BLI crew. Thats why I hate most of the radio biz. A good jock like Harp should be in the #1 market. The radio biz is a crazy biz.

 

[neo11]

Over at 101.7 they seem to be trying to out-do the TMO stations for the most format flips and tweaks. They can't seem to stick to a name or go without a format tweak for more than a few months, it seems.

Is their sound processing still as bad as it used to be as well? I haven't been out East in a while to hear them, but I recall that their processing was terrible, almost shockingly bad to hear from a commercial station. I recall the other stations in that cluster weren't much better, but 101.7 was by far the worst.

 

[liradioprez]

About 7 months ago BEA went Mono for a few months. Apparantly they were re-doing the studios, and revamping the processing. They wen't back to Stereo, and it sounds awesome. Personally, I think it's one of the best sounding stations on the market.

I know a LOT of radio people from LI, but Harp's one person I've never met. And about no jocks on M-F, they must WANT it that way. How hard could it be to find a jock? Hell, I'd do it a few times a week free just for kicks!

 

[letmethinkaboutit]

It is not Harper or the station that is clueless. It is the management. They don't understand the format, and only have a salesteam that cares about their beloved college radio station WEHM. And, they do want jocks, but nobody wants to drive all the way out there. Especially for the pay, the disgusting building, crappy equipment, and lack of understanding from management that the station could be something worthwhile.

 

[liradioprez]

It is not Harper or the station that is clueless. It is the management. They don't understand the format, and only have a salesteam that cares about their beloved college radio station WEHM. And, they do want jocks, but nobody wants to drive all the way out there. Especially for the pay, the disgusting building, crappy equipment, and lack of understanding from management that the station could be something worthwhile.

It sounds like you have a lot of "insider" info on BEA..What's your relationship to it?

 

[RadioFixerCLE]

I Especially for the pay, the disgusting building, crappy equipment, and lack of understanding from management that the station could be something worthwhile.

HEY! Sounds like WGBB!!! ;D ;D ;D

hello!

 

[herethere]

I was enjoying sampling the progress of WBEA on my frequent trips out east. I'm out here for the big weekend, and I just got off the phone with a former Beach employee, and I asked what happened. Last year at this time, my source says the daily jock lineup on "The Beat" was:

Mornings: Nikki, Ballistic Bob, Steve Harper
Middays: jockless
Afternoons: Chris X
Nights: Nikki again (courtesy of voicetracking).

Now it's just Steve? I was told that the departure of the staff was a combination of firing and people fleeing what they felt was a sinking ship, which is also what happened with the absent staffs at WEHM and WBAZ as well.

The music mix on WBEA is now more of a tweenie pop vibe mixed with hip-hop gold from the early to mid 90's, and a couple of late 90's pop hits that only an MD could possibly remember! But after looking at the Arbs,I see all three stations are competitive out here (with no impact on #18), so I suppose management feels those #260 stats are what's important.

But I'm positive the spot load is way down from last year, and I hear of no presence at any bars and clubs...for a young demo station during the Memorial Day weekend???

I'm well aware of radio's revenue problems, but when you look at WLNG's continued success as the only station with an active, jock-filled and intensively local attack, one would think other stations out here would put up more of a struggle. More so, I'm disappointed to hear what sounded so promising last year now so boring and unspirited.

 

[nd2023]

When Party 105.3 was channel-casting, 101.7 was like Party 105 now, 40% dance, 60% hip hop. Then it became The Beat and mostly hip hop. It stayed as The Beat for a year or two, and had a CHR/Rhythmic format. Then it changed to The Beach, but you would not notice the change of name because Beat and Beach sound the same. It still was mostly hip hop as The Beach, then it morphed towards CHR/Pop. It's competing with Party 105, BLI, KC101, Kiss 95.7, and Z100. 101.7 makes it pretty far inland in Connecticut, and is stronger than BLI or Party 105 north and east of I95/I91. In the meanwhile, people are DXing the 107.3 in Atlantic City, NJ for country because Long Island doesn't have a country station.

 

[neo11]

When Party 105.3 was channel-casting, 101.7 was like Party 105 now, 40% dance, 60% hip hop. Then it became The Beat and mostly hip hop. It stayed as The Beat for a year or two, and had a CHR/Rhythmic format. Then it changed to The Beach, but you would not notice the change of name because Beat and Beach sound the same. It still was mostly hip hop as The Beach, then it morphed towards CHR/Pop. It's competing with Party 105, BLI, KC101, Kiss 95.7, and Z100. 101.7 makes it pretty far inland in Connecticut, and is stronger than BLI or Party 105 north and east of I95/I91. In the meanwhile, people are DXing the 107.3 in Atlantic City, NJ for country because Long Island doesn't have a country station.

They don't need to DX 107.3, because 92.5 from Connecticut comes in quite well throughout most of Suffolk County and probably parts of Nassau too. In fact, in some places it comes in like a local, yet the ratings are still low, lower even than some of the other CT stations like Star 99.9, with a format also found on many LI stations.