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WBOP changes format

R

Ray D. Oh

Guest
Magic 95.5 WBOP changed format from oldies to hot country today. They're calling it Rebel 95.5 and are going directly after Staunton-Waynesboro and apparently not interested in harrisonburg. makes sense...their signal isn't all that great up there anyway. the station is very tight. no jocks. good sweepers and jingles.
 
I'm kinda surprised WBOP and sister classic-country WSIG didn't end up simulcasting each other.

It would not be the first time WSIG would be in such a "radio-relationship" and with "WBOP" either. Back in 1991 WSIG ( then Hot County 97 or something like that ), began simulcasting on what was then 105.5 WSKO ( studios in Staunton...licensed to Buffalo Gap ). Soon the studios in Staunton were shut down though temporary ( we'll get to that in a bit LOL ) and all programming on WSKO came from WSIG in Mount Jackson.
And with the exception of mornings ( Craig "every other word is hmmmmm" Orndorff ), afternoons ( Randy Smith..last I heard on 99.7 Charlottesville ), Tanner Miller & Kim Leach's Sunday Open Mic talk show ( they would years later be behind Winchester's version of DCRTV.com, Btvonlinemedia.com ) and good ol Les Irby and his bluegrass music on the weekends, the rest of the format came from the old Unistar radio network.

"We Are....96.9 and 105.5 FM....Super Country !!!!!!!!".

Purpose: To take on Harrisonburg's Country KCY !!!!! However within no time "SUPER COUNTRY" became "STUPID Country". Example...WSIG & WSKO''s promotion of sending a valley country music fan down to Nashville to see the Judds "farewell" concert, while WSIG and WSKO paid for the airfare and the tickets, it was up to the winner to pay for their hotel expsenses, nevermind transportation around Nashville or spending money. Then there was that contest..giving away a VCR...and that sucker was already broken because someone at WSIG was watching a porn tape earlier and the machine ate it up. So many stories..about WSIG and WSKO..so little time LOL.

Super Country lasted a little less than a year. It was Staunton's WKDW going to FM 93.1 that killed it and within days the old Staunton studios of WSKO were re-opened and 105.5 became a HOT AC station "Magic 105", while WSIG stayed country ( 96.9 Super Country ).

Sometime in the 1990s, Buffalo Gap's 105.5 moved to 95.5 and around the same time as the move WSKO and WSIG fell into different hands. And today both stations are back together again...though seperate programming..for now anyway.

Even as far back as WBOP's 106.3 Oldies days, there was a rumor that BOP wanted to get their hands on WSIG and of course they did. Shame that WBOP dropped the oldies though and this was the second time they did it too. I have been told over the years that WBOP, the first or second book after their debut ( oldies ) they were #2 in the market but afterthat..WBOP's ratings fell like a rock and they have NEVER recoved despite the format changes, getting DC's famous Greaseman for mornings, change of dial location, new studios, etc...

What goes around..comes around.
 
And now, with the flip of 105.1, the area has it's sixth country station! Yippie! Does anyone think 105.1's sixth format in six years will any more successful than the last 5? What a crazy, and boring, market. Might as well face the fact that only WKCY, WQPO, and WSVA will ever be successful, and none of those are worth writing home about....
 
fortmill said:
And now, with the flip of 105.1, the area has it's sixth country station! Yippie! Does anyone think 105.1's sixth format in six years will any more successful than the last 5? What a crazy, and boring, market. Might as well face the fact that only WKCY, WQPO, and WSVA will ever be successful, and none of those are worth writing home about....
Click to expand...

Careful...Q has been beaten by kiss before...
 
With WBOP flipping to Country and WBHB flipping to "Country Legends " all that's left for Harrisonburg is for the Rocktown Grill to change to GILLEYS ... LOL
 
So stupid that Harrisonburg now has THREE classic country stations. WBHB and WSIG not too mention WKDW-AM 900, though licensed to Staunton they do have their studios in Harrisonburg and classic country isn't exactly a hot format either. One of them will be gone within six months.
 
WSVA, WQPO and WKCY only successful stations? QPO always has its hands full with KISS (in all but the 12+ numbers) and what about WACL? If you count shades of formats...KCY, ACL and KISS have had their formats longer than anyone except SVA. QPO went through that on again off again HOT AC phase during the last PD a couple of years back. Kiss flipped from standards in 2002 and WACL flipped from Oldies in 2001...KCY has been country since the late 80's (before that it was WJSY - ac rock mish mosh). Unless you are just ignoring them because they are Clear Channel. I guess you can count WSIG with a long time in their format - but before moving to Hburg in 2004 remember they did more blue grass and such with Les Irby - certainly nothing like it sounds like today.
 
murphy123 said:
I guess you can count WSIG with a long time in their format - but before moving to Hburg in 2004 remember they did more blue grass and such with Les Irby - certainly nothing like it sounds like today.
Click to expand...

When WSIG was in Mount Jackson one big difference between them and the other other stations up and down the valley was that many of the jocks had more power than the PD did. Not that the PD didn't try or anything. But some of those WSIG jocks of the past like Les Irby ( last I heard he is sitll with WSIG ) and Paul Wood before him and Dawn Wells before him, they all pretty much got what they want because they were very close to the late Earl Judy who owned WSIG and sister WSVG. And their PDs were an interesting bunch as well. JR Good for example ( PD in the early 90s ) HATED Winchester for some reason. Whenever someone from Frederick County would call up for a request, JR would give them Q102's number and slam down the phone on them.

Even Paul Wood's wife had a BIG say at WSIG and she didn't work there. For example she hated their daytime sister station WSVG-AM 790. At the time WSVG was satellite oldies but still she hated them and badmouthed the station to anyone who would listen. Whenever her and Paul came to the station at 6pm, the first thing they did was shut down WSVG. Even on summer nights when WSVG could have stayed on the air til almost 9 at night. Earl Judy could have cared less.

Try pulling that stunt at any other radio station.
 
My brother who lives in Elkton was telling me last night that about two perhaps three months ago he remembers seeing some really small ads, on the level of those happy ads/classifieds, that appeared in the Harrisonburg Daily News Record. Those tiny ads didn't mention who they were about though but they were saying such things like how it would be great to hear good clean country music on the radio again ( does this mean the WKCY plays country music of the "dirty" kind? ).

Another ad he remembers made some comment about how it would be nice to have a local radio station where the employees have high moral standards. I guess whoever paid for that ad didn't want people to worry that one of their own isn't into drugs and nude internet photos like that former Roanoke TV weatherman or have an announcer who was into gay hairy bears which caused some problems in the Winchester market a few years back.

Either way. I wish both 95.5 and 105.1 lots of luck with the new format. They may need it.
 


Wow again these blogs are something to behold. From what my friends in the area tell me (no I do not live in Va) it's another stupid effort from 105.1 to make money...how many format changes? Who is really gonna take that seriously!? 95.5 I heard when they flipped the format never did anything major to promote it. Even with a small stick they still missed the boat on somethiing that could have been pretty good considering. WSIG trying to kill KCY? Well anything I guess is possiable but KCY has been doing something right I guess for many years. That could be a tough fight but good luck with that. How many country formats in a small market is really enough? Well let's see..... WXXX is country making money and good numbers so hey... let's change our format to country too and jump on the gravey train.!
 
WSVA? Are they still on the air? Why? Does anyone really think Frank Wilt is funny?? Or that wacky Jim Britt. My sides ache just thinking about all that "stuff and nonsense."

At least they got rid of Steve "Pig Face" Knupp. All his personality was lacking was a personality.
 
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