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WCOS-FM Playlist

B

bugz

The following songs were played between one and three times on WCOS in the past seven days:

Allman Brothers "Ramblin Man"
Jimmy Buffett "Margaritaville" & "Cheeseburger In Paradise"
Don Henley "Heart Of The Matter" & "Last Worthless Evening"
Kid Rock "Picture"
John M'camp "Jack & Diane", "Pink Houses" & "Small Town"
Steve Miller Band "The Joker", "Take The Money & Run" & "Rock N Me"
Pure Prairie League "Let Me Love You Tonight" & "Amie"
Fleetwood Mac "Landslide"
Eric Clapton "Wonderful Tonight" & "Layla (unplugged)"
Marc Cohn "Walking In Memphis"
Eagles "Lyin' Eyes", "Desperado", "Already Gone", "Long Run", "Heartache Tonight",
"Best Of My Love", "Take It To The Limit", "Peaceful Easy Feeling", "One Of These Nights",
"Tequila Sunrise", & "Seven Bridges Road"
CCR "Down On The Corner", "Have You Ever Seen The Rain", "Proud Mary", "Bad Moon Rising", & "Looking Out My Back Door"
Lynryd Skynyrd "What's Your Name"
Bob Seger "We've Got Tonight", "Night Moves", "Still The Same", "Mainstreet", & "Against The Wind"
Bonnie Raitt "I Can't Make You Love Me"
Uncle Kracker "Drift Away"
James Taylor "Carolina In My Mind" & "Fire & Rain"
Doobies "Black Water"
Henley & Nicks "Leather & Lace"
Roy Orbison "Oh Pretty Woman" & "You Got It"
Tom Petty "Free Fallin"
Kansas "Dust In The Wind"
Seals & Crofts "Get Closer"

Plus lots of Marshall Tucker, Charlie Daniels, ALL of Alabama, Eddie Rabbitt, all that crossover Ronnie Milsap, etc.
 
From the way I see things this sounds like WCOS on life support!!! If the numbers go up and people like the mish mash of music COS can be commended, but if the number continue to slide the CC Columbia has nobody but them selves to blame... If I were Double O I would be capitalizing on COS blunder and get the point out that if you want to hear real country were the place for you... I would be going after the young country crowd... Hell half of my family once were big listeners of COS now they listen to SOC out of Charlotte or either 92.9 The Eagle over in Flo Town... CC1
 
Calling it a blunder is actually kind. I can't believe they've made such a bone-headed move. 92.9, get ready to take over. WCOS didn't just blink, they nodded off.
 
Have they lost their minds, or just want it to be destroyed? Seals and Croft??? Fleetwood Mac?? I thought this was a damn heritage country station??
 
Who in the world is programming 'COS? If they want to lose their core country audience, they're going about it the right way. I used to enjoy to listen to Andy Woods, because I listened to him when he was working at 99.9 Kiss Country in Asheville. With the direction they've taken the playlist, they're no fun to listen to anymore. I go through Columbia from time to time and if they keep going the way they're going, my radio will no longer be set on 97.5
 
WOW! Did all this start after Glen left? I've been intimately familiar with WCOS since I started college in 1979 when Ken Martin and Toby Young were doing mornings and I worked across the hall on WCOS AM. If what all of you are saying is true, I'd feel like I was in some sort of bizarro world if I woke up one morning in Cola and heard some of this stuff on WCOS. I mean, isn't there a WCOS logo beside the word "heritage" in Websters dictionary? Sacrilege!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
The brain behind programming WCOS is LJ Smith. The music started to change while Glen was with WCOS. I worked @ WCOS and I am sick by the numbers they are pulling. ???
 
This situation reminds me of a scene from The American President, when the President's girlfriend spends the night at the White House for the first time and the press catches on. The President's aide says "I think the important thing here is to not look like we are panicked". Then the President replies "No, the important thing here is that we shouldn't BE panicked". Or, something to that effect.

Anyway, the average listener has to know WCOS is struggling. From our standpoint as industry insiders who see the numbers, it's obvious. However, boneheaded programming moves like this tell the whole world they are panicked. They are responding to a gunshot wound to the arm by cutting off all four limbs.
 
It is sad to see COS the shape it is in... LJ has posted on here before so maybe he will comment... My take is that it all started right when Double O signed their stations on... COS reacted and reacted quick... BIG MISTAKE IMO... One thing that is also really hurting COS besides their strange country/AC/Classic Rock format is that there is no energy on the station anymore... That could be coming down from the big wigs or locally... Everybody including all of their cyber jocking sounds like they are burned out and are not even trying to make the station sound fun... We have a station up here that uses Waitt's satellite/Storg format and their jocks sound more alive than what I am hearing on COS... I hope they can get things fixed or come November 1st we may be hearing Christmas music on COS which we all know what follows afterwards... I grew up listening to COS and even before they moved to 97.5 you could pick them up in Spartanburg so it was like listening to your home town station which was kinda cool... CC1
 
I think what 's going on is false polling. Not just with WCOS, but a lot of corporate owned stations. None of the listener input is from the local area, but input from other major markets. We all know that just because something works in Atlanta or New york, it won't always work in Columbia or the other way around. People have diferent taste in different regions. In my opinion WCOS should focus on more classics (legends). Instead of worrying about New 92 or 94.3 wrapping around on both sides, blow 'em out by offering both the old and the new. Sure, COS plays some stuff from the 80's and 90's, but it's the same old worn out songs. Don't be scared...throw in some Conway, George Jones, Merle Haggard and Kenny Rogers (etc.) IT WILL BLEND,. Just listen to some of the new country today. It's just begging to be blended. And it WILL work. Would you play polka on a rock station? Be what you are and what the people expect you to be. You can not afford to experiment with a 100,000 watt station. That's just crazy. Never let them see you sweat!! I don't understand one thing..............If you want to know what the people want to hear.......ask them. (The people who live here and actually listen !!!) Duh! Now why didn't they think of that? Another thing. You want to be hot and stand out in the crowd? Don't just be a number(97.5), How about stepping back up to the plate with something like...THE GREAT 98 !!! Now that stands out. Now, why didn't I think of these ideas ? Wait! I did. Who's with me on this?
 
Reading all the post about COS made me wonder who really is calling the shots... I know the Bull in ATL is not setting the world on fire and Rooster up in RDU in just a "Clucking" along and yet you take and experiment with one of your stations that is making you money!!! That just does not make good "programing or business sense". If it is not working for them in other markets why try it here... The only one that seems to be getting traction with this mish mash of music is Eagle in ATL with their "Southern Fried Friday Nights... That is why I think CCU is trying it with some of their stations... Remember Columbia is not Dallas or Atlanta, and what might work for them in other cities will not work in Columbia... I am sure they have done music test, but to me it just does not add up... Now here is something else to ponder... If what Steve said is correct and Steve FM causing billing to go down for the other cluster mates and it continues would cc blow up Steve and bring in a format that would let COS once again pull the billing weight for CCU Columbia? Or would they start to tinker with the format and cause it to have a slow death and CCU can come out to its advertisers and say see this whole VH thing was a fad after all... OK where did the conspiracy theory in me come from... I guess it is all this wonderful medicine I am taking LOL... Have a good one... CC1
 
Good point Carroll! I was thinking the same thing for Steve. I wonder if they would flip it as a classic hits station sooner or later. That way, it doesn't affect NOK or COS. It would definately hurt TCB, FMX, and of course OMG.
 
I have to disagree with that last comment...with all due respect. Steve has already damaged WTCB, WMFX, & WOMG. I believe going Classic Hits would appeal to fewer people than Variety Hits and cause some of the listener's Steve stole to go back to those stations.
 
Yup I agree with Whopper on this one as well, but with CC anything is possible... If I ran six stations I would want the whole cluster to thrive and not have stations to protect one another... That is the main problem with mega clusters instead of helping radio it has hurt radio and for all of those boneheads in DC who voted for dereg I hope that they sleep good at night knowing what they did has killed IMO a once fun industry to work in... CC1
 
Thanks for the input guys, goes to show everyone can have a good and different opinion and still respect one another. What in your opinion do you think CC would do with Steve if they got the urge to flip it?

Neil
 
Since CC likes to protect their better preforming stations by putting flanker stations on the air you will not a CC version of movin' such as WKSL... You will not see an AC station by CC ie LTY... You will not see CC try a country combo such as SSL and ESC ie Kicks 96... You will not see CC try Gospel because 95.3 would clean there clock... You will not see Hot AC since NOK already straddles the HAC fence... You won't see them try UAC because ICCB and Citadel cover that very well... As dynamic of town as Columbia is I could however see them somewhere try a AAA format, but not screw it up like they did the river in RDU... Unless things really get crazy in Columbia and Citadel and Double O does something that would catch us "The Radio Geeks" off guard I really don't think you will see Steve go anywhere for the time being... Another format that is really not served in Columbia is a good active rocker kinda like Project 961 in Atlanta... When Steve and company launched Rock 935 they did rock the right way... Of course the rock landscape has changed since the launch in 92, but if programmed correct and just like with a lot of other stations does a lot of street promotions and can keep evolving that would be a winner as well and with a little better signal would really put a hurting on ARQ which right now by default is the closest thing Columbia has to an active rocker... CC1
 
Although I have feelings differently about the format (obviously), CC and many other broadcast companies usually will do a version of AAA as a last resort. Mainly because they are not patient enough to allow the thing to grow. WRVA was growing pretty well in Raliegh before the local folks starting shifting the focus of the station every couple weeks. AAA is a 2+year long process before you see growth in audience and revenue and you cannot simply automate the thing or voice track it. KTCZ in Minneapolis, one the format leaders, is slumping because CC has voice tracked almost every shift on that station.

Unless they really are off their rocker, LTY will stay where it is. Audience-wise, WLTY is one of the most successful stations in the past 5 years in Columbia. The problem is a sales management problem. Was the Variety Hits format a good move. Yes. The numbers show that. Strategically, was the execution great? No. But my gut feeling is that they did not expect that LTY would cannibalize WNOK as much as it did. Oops. Killing off the tap-root that is now the only station in the cluster positioned to increase the cash flow is sure fire way to surely get fired from CCU.

CCU now has much bigger problems to deal with. Their top station has an average spot rate that is half of what WCOS and WNOK do and much better numbers. WNOK is doing ok audience-wise. WCOS is in the crapper. And WXBT is not as much of a flanker as they would hope it would be.

With Citadel set to sign on WNKT/Eastover by the end of the summer/mid-Fall, CCU is in a terribly weak position that a competitor IS doing to take advantage of.

WVOC, excepting Rush Limbaugh, is limping along on its heritage and as an AM only is at a growth disadvantage for workplace listening due to interference/reception issues.
WCOS is getting buried faster than an Okie during the Dust Bowl.
WNOK is being chipped away in house and XBT is not helping protect the lower-end.

Citadel is going to want to put WNKT and get the audience numbers up fast and likely consolidate all of the Gamecock Sports in one place.

That means either a youth format, like Rock or CHR, where they can make a quick hit or an adult format that builds pretty quickly -- like country or sports/news/talk. Citadel will not be putting on a format that will draw from either Oldies, Kiss or B106. Double O will react and reposition just as quickly, as well. No matter how Citadel goes, there's trouble with a capital T for Clear Channel.
 
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