WEMP is tanking!

[WPPCProductions]

Give them alittle more time.Like the Weather channel during Irene.the ratings went high.If WEMP catch a couple major breaking storys before WCBS or 1010 WINS .They might get better numbers.

 

[atlantaboy]

101.9 New York's Modern Music?

Alternative was the format it came from (before it flipped)

 

[WPPCProductions]

I wonder if the station WEMP just team up with the AM WCBS and WINS to simulcast their news coverage instead of WCBS's subchannel on WCBS FM.They will get better ratings and NYC is use to to the AM station formats anyway.They can carry the Yanks on FM too in crisp stereo sound.It probably work out.Probably forget a deal with Merlin cracking a deal with CBS to make this happen.

 

[mz41966]

flip it to country or alternative rock we need both those types of music formats here.
WYNY-FM 101.9?
101.9 New York's Modern Music?

How about EMF put Air 1 there? Now that would be fantastic!

 

[WPPCProductions]

I've notice this freq 101.9 has not been having good luck keeping a format.Ok How many changes 101.9 went through before this news format.As I know .Smooth Jazz and RXP alt rock.

 

[SilverTonicFree]

and 10 years ago in philly

mix 95.7 had a 0.5 share no im not kidding

Uh... I don't see a 0.5

http://web.archive.org/web/20011118152954/http://www.rronline.com/Subscribers/Ratings/Homepage.htm

Mix never lit the radio world on fire, but they never stooped THAT low. lol


Edit... Woop. Winter 2002, they slipped to a 0.9.

Wow.

 

[Steve Green NEPA]

@ WPPC : 101.9 used to be regarded industrywide as having The Format of The Month as far back as the early 70s.

In no apparent order, they were easy listening, Top 40, AoR (sounded good at that!), a form of new wave, disco (iIrc), A/C .....

Perhaps a search for them as 'WPIX' would help more. They had some good air talent go through that place, too.

 

[ansky212]

The news format on WEMP is not going away anytime soon. The station has not even begun any advertisements or promotions yet to attract new listeners. I'm not saying that will help, but I can't imagine they would immediately dump the format without any kind of promotions first.

 

[Jay F]

As critical as I am of this station and concept, the one positive is that they now have nowhere to go up. There will be no more tanking. The worst case scenario is they stay at or near this level.

 

[The Spy]

That Randy Michaels genius I tells ya genius.

 

[Rusty Muck]

As critical as I am of this station and concept, the one positive is that they now have nowhere to go up. There will be no more tanking. The worst case scenario is they stay at or near this level.

Well, they could generate a 0.1 share... or fail to register altogether...

 

[MarquisP4]

They should slowly start tweaking the station to News/Talk if this current incarnation fails.
Keep the news staff but add in some talk.

 

[reelyreal]

@ WPPC : 101.9 used to be regarded industrywide as having The Format of The Month as far back as the early 70s.

In no apparent order, they were easy listening, Top 40, AoR (sounded good at that!), a form of new wave, disco (iIrc), A/C .....

Perhaps a search for them as 'WPIX' would help more. They had some good air talent go through that place, too.

Rural Radio Network, Easy Listening, Adult Top 40, Disco, Top 40/Rock leaning, New Wave, back to rock based Top 40, AOR, CHR, AC, Hot AC, AC with standards, Hot AC days, Urban AC nights, then Hot AC days, Smooth Jazz nights, then all Smooth Jazz, Rock, and that brings us to today.

Ever notice one of those strip malls in your town that has a storefront that's been 17 different businesses in your lifetime? 101.9 New York is the radio version of that "cursed location."

 

[WPPCProductions]

@ WPPC : 101.9 used to be regarded industrywide as having The Format of The Month as far back as the early 70s.

In no apparent order, they were easy listening, Top 40, AoR (sounded good at that!), a form of new wave, disco (iIrc), A/C .....

Perhaps a search for them as 'WPIX' would help more. They had some good air talent go through that place, too.

Thanks for the info Steve. Give it a chance .They got to give it more time before before the next move.

 

[Jersey Maiden]

With any major format change, it takes a long time for the audience that might want the new format to discover it. A similar thing happened when 101.9 switched from smooth jazz to rock. Not much carry-over from one format to the next. So the old listeners go away. Like a big toilet flush. Then you need to find a way to bring new people into the store. They haven't begun that process yet. My gut says they aren't ready to really crow about this station yet. It's sort of an on-air audition for this crew. A lot of them haven't worked together, or done this kind of radio. So it's going to be a while. This isn't a month to month thing. In the old days, people tuned up and down the dial. Most folks don't do that. They have pre-sets. So the rock fans have removed 101.9 from their pre-sets. At some point, they need to come up with a strategy to get people to sample the new format. Let's face it: Radio stations in NYC don't change formats very often. This is why. You go into the crapper for a while. Even if they flip to some form of music, they'll be faced with the same problem. Because fans of the new format won't know they're there.

As much as I hate 101.9 News, you're right that it takes time for an audience to actually discover a new station. I didn't even know WRXP existed until KRock went off the air. This was about a year after the station began. And in my travels, I only remember seeing one RXP billboard. Now the weird thing is I read a Leslie Framm/Steve Craig interview where they claimed that because Emmis was in debt, they didn't have a lot of money to advertise, leaving Framm and the DJ's to do grassroots outreach. Tell me why Emmis would throw money at billboards for the more established Hot 97 instead.

That said, if WEMP keeps patronizing their target audience, the ratings are going to stay in the crapper. Even if that were the case, I'm sure Merlin will give it at least a year. They seem absolutely convinced that spoken word on FM is God's gift to radio.

 

[TheBigA]

They seem absolutely convinced that spoken word on FM is God's gift to radio.

Why? Because they own the spoken word. They can do anything with it, and merchandise it across multiple platforms. That assumes they have something of value to say. They're obviously not there yet.

The music industry is killing itself with royalties and rules, making it harder for broadcasters to market music. No wonder sales are in the dumpster. Lots of great music not being heard because the music industry would rather charge for the use of music in addition to its sale.

 

[hubcity]

The music industry is killing itself with royalties and rules, making it harder for broadcasters to market music. No wonder sales are in the dumpster. Lots of great music not being heard because the music industry would rather charge for the use of music in addition to its sale.

Amen to that. Funny thing is, the music industry likes to forget that this was settled in court in the fifties. The courts found that there *was* a monetary value in broadcasting the music in question, but that it was equal to the promotional value the record company gets when the song is played over the air - thus, no need to calculate performance royalties for airplay, because they are self-liquidating.

Hey, it's a free country. If the music industry wants broadcasters to pay them to advertise their product, then fine...but they can't then get all het up about broadcasters finding something else to broadcast due to their stupidity. (See MTV for reference, by the way.)

 

[radioguy39nj]

They should slowly start tweaking the station to News/Talk if this current incarnation fails.
Keep the news staff but add in some talk.

I think ad agencies thought they were getting a news-based talk station focused on NY.

 

[radioguy39nj]

I'm sure Merlin will give it at least a year. They seem absolutely convinced that spoken word on FM is God's gift to radio.

Look at other markets! Just up the road in Boston and Philly, the competing sports stations are on FM. In DC, all-news WTOP on 103.5 FM is #1 rated station in its market and is the #1 billing station in the country. WTOP has been joined on the DC FM dial by CBS' 106.7 The Fan (sports) and talk outlet WMAL on 105.9 FM.

Last and not least, CBS' heritage all-news outlets in San Francisco and Chicago are simulcast on AM and FM. In SF, KCBS became #1 in the Bay Area after adding FM. In Chicago, WBBM on AM only has been the highest rated and highest billing station there. The simulcast began on Aug 1, before Merlin's Chicago outlet (WWWN) launched.

Most importantly, spoken word formats that have migrated to FM have been able to lower their demos, which have lead to increased ad dollars. Spoken word is the future on FM. Of course, it comes down to the product and WEMP certainly isn't a good product!

 

[WRXPinsider]

Now the weird thing is I read a Leslie Framm/Steve Craig interview where they claimed that because Emmis was in debt, they didn't have a lot of money to advertise, leaving Framm and the DJ's to do grassroots outreach. Tell me why Emmis would throw money at billboards for the more established Hot 97 instead.

Drelio, the OM in NYC for the three stations (including RXP) was given a billboard budget as a last gasp attempt to generate ratings for RXP in 2010. He bought outdoor space at the entrance to NYC tunnels, including the Lincoln Tunnel. Needless to say, this uncreative lamebrained effort to build awareness about RXP failed miserably. After all, I've never tuned in a station because they advertised on a billboard. Have you?

Drelio also bought subway signs and billboards for Hot 97. Judging by the ratings, they didn't yield much ROI.

Framm and Craig were kinda lying, sort of. They blame the demise of the station on a lack of advertising, which in reality, wouldn't have boosted ratings due to the crappiness of the on-air product. Unfortunately, Drelio thinks like a marketing exec and not like a listener, and spent money on obvious, pointless, and non-productive ways to build buzz and listenership, as opposed to creative, lower cost methods that would have produced the same results (or lack thereof).

The delusion at Emmis was so thick, everyone breathed in the wretched air. And the incompetence was so massive, it's no wonder that the station went away. Brian D'aurelio was fired for his ineptitude, and he's still looking for work. I pity the idiots who hire him: the suits will love him, he's a brilliant kiss-ass and credit-hog, but when it comes down to delivering the goods, he just doesn't have the skills to do it, as proved over and over again by his failures at Emmis.