100000watts says it's classic hits but I think it's more 70s-80s oldies than anything else. How can it be classic hits when the playlist differs so much from the Drive station in Chicago? What is it really considered to be?
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What exactly is the new Sunny 105.9's format?
- Thread starter icycool7227
- Start date
Since everyone (nearly everyone) has made the comparison to WCBS FM, I checked Radio Locator and the classify WCBS FM as
"Classic Hits"; although on their (WCBS FM) website they use the term "Greatest Hits".
Where I am, I haven't been able to listen over the air, since on 105.9 I can only receive Clear Channel's, "the Buzz" out of Englewood (south of Sarasota).
DRT
St. Petersburg,FL
"Classic Hits"; although on their (WCBS FM) website they use the term "Greatest Hits".
Where I am, I haven't been able to listen over the air, since on 105.9 I can only receive Clear Channel's, "the Buzz" out of Englewood (south of Sarasota).
DRT
St. Petersburg,FL
I agree a pure Classic Hits leans twords AOR Hits from The Eagles,Doobie Brothers,Steve Miller, Fleetwood Mac, America, Tom Petty,The Who and Pink Floyd and sounds like a softer vershion of Classic Rock. "Greatest Hits" Mixes pop hits from the 60's 70's whitch we have known in the past as Oldies whith 80's pop with AOR Rock hits from the same time frame.
drt said:
On CBS Radio's own website, the format description for WCBS-FM is "classic hits". "(Insert city here)'s Greatest Hits" is merely a positioner. (FYI, the WOCL entry has yet to be updated.)
Yesterday on his blog, the Sentinel's Scott Maxwell dubbed the format "70s-centered hits".
For years, "Classic Hits" in the industry meant a softer/older Classic Rock format. While there was a poppier edge, most of the music was music that Rock radio had played at some point--even if it was America or Loggins & Messina. But there was still a dividing line between that and the truly soft '70s and there was no R&B--save for a possible War/"Low Rider."
In the last year or so, however, "Classic Hits" has come to mean the new, more '70s-driven format that most traditional Oldies stations have evolved to. Or even a gold-based AC like WOLL West Palm Beach, Fla. Recently R&R and Mediabase have started using it instead of Oldies. And while there's still a definite difference between WOLL and WDRV/Chicago (you're not going to hear KC & Sunshine Band on the latter), the lines have blurred. Even WROR Boston plays KC & the Sunshine Band now. (And so did WBCN in 1975.)
In the last year or so, however, "Classic Hits" has come to mean the new, more '70s-driven format that most traditional Oldies stations have evolved to. Or even a gold-based AC like WOLL West Palm Beach, Fla. Recently R&R and Mediabase have started using it instead of Oldies. And while there's still a definite difference between WOLL and WDRV/Chicago (you're not going to hear KC & Sunshine Band on the latter), the lines have blurred. Even WROR Boston plays KC & the Sunshine Band now. (And so did WBCN in 1975.)
V
vadar
Guest
Why not call it "Greatest Trainwrecks 105.9?" I'm all for an expanded library and finally some friggin air personality, but some of the segues have been God awful. Tweakin is definitely needed................
Where can I get a free t-shirt and a bumper sticker?
Where can I get a free t-shirt and a bumper sticker?
F
Froggy
Guest
I'd call it "The Greatest Hits of the 80's"...OK-they trow out some Crumbs from the 70's and Brilliantly Disguise Early 70's Tracks like "Dobie Gray-Drift Away"(1973) as being a 60's hit....from the "What they don't know won't hurt them department".
But then again,you have a 100,000 watt FM in Orlando,FL are you going to Target an audience 45-55?Probably Not.
But then again,you have a 100,000 watt FM in Orlando,FL are you going to Target an audience 45-55?Probably Not.
R
radioatlantis
Guest
Why does any station have to be niched into any format title? If the station is playing the music they have deemed to be the right stuff to reach their target, let everybody else sit around and think about their own positioning and how to play to it.
Are we generally indoctrinated so deeply by the limitations of industry programming standards that everything has to adapt rather than transcend to be accepted.
The notion of trainwrecks in classic hits programming or hybrids thereof, is only something we have been taught to hear through years of the same old programming rules. It is the same as programmers who eliminate songs from these formats because they don't compliment a certain purity of sound.
Listen. I did Top 40 in the 60s and it all was a "train wreck" by today's standard but it was the most exciting radio ever.
We have to step outside this radio BOX thinking and realize that people are not robots and generally, only audiophiles program music to keys, lyrics, moods, and genders.
There is nothing wrong with injecting art into the presentation of radio but the nature of music is to let it breathe. Maybe CBS has seen more than the error of it's notion that it knows MORE than it's listeners do about what they want with the CBS-FM mistake.
Maybe, now they are actually LISTENING TO THE LISTENER.
Are we generally indoctrinated so deeply by the limitations of industry programming standards that everything has to adapt rather than transcend to be accepted.
The notion of trainwrecks in classic hits programming or hybrids thereof, is only something we have been taught to hear through years of the same old programming rules. It is the same as programmers who eliminate songs from these formats because they don't compliment a certain purity of sound.
Listen. I did Top 40 in the 60s and it all was a "train wreck" by today's standard but it was the most exciting radio ever.
We have to step outside this radio BOX thinking and realize that people are not robots and generally, only audiophiles program music to keys, lyrics, moods, and genders.
There is nothing wrong with injecting art into the presentation of radio but the nature of music is to let it breathe. Maybe CBS has seen more than the error of it's notion that it knows MORE than it's listeners do about what they want with the CBS-FM mistake.
Maybe, now they are actually LISTENING TO THE LISTENER.
M
MN Maniac
Guest
> Listen. I did Top 40 in the 60s and it all was a "train wreck" by today's standard but it was the most exciting radio ever.
I was a child of the 70s. Grew up in Minneapolis which was one of the most competitive Top 40 markets in the country. Whereas most markets had 1 or 2 Top 40 AM outlets, we had FOUR (KDWB-630, WYOO-980, WDGY-1130, and KSTP-1500.) Plus a nightly dose of WLS which came in like a local after dark.
Some of the best radio to be found anywhere. Listening to these stations made me want to be in radio "when I grew up."
Nearly every transition on all 5 stations would be considered a "trainwreck" by today's standards. I distinctly remember hearing Paul McCartney's "Band on the Run" into Marvin Hamlisch's "The Entertainer" into Charlie Rich's "The Most Beautiful Girl" into Rufus' "Tell Me Something Good" into Grand Funk's "Locomotion" into Carl Douglas' "Kung Fu Fighting."
Why? Because these were all huge hits in 1974. Top 40 radio was by definition a mass-appeal format.
The REASON it worked was because you had GREAT LIVE JOCKS who made the TRANSITIONS between the records. Something that has become a lost art today.
Judging from their initial presentation, it sounds as if this is something WOCL is trying to resurrect ala CBS-FM. I believe they will do very well if they stick to this model. People are starved to hear fun, high-energy radio again.
I was a child of the 70s. Grew up in Minneapolis which was one of the most competitive Top 40 markets in the country. Whereas most markets had 1 or 2 Top 40 AM outlets, we had FOUR (KDWB-630, WYOO-980, WDGY-1130, and KSTP-1500.) Plus a nightly dose of WLS which came in like a local after dark.
Some of the best radio to be found anywhere. Listening to these stations made me want to be in radio "when I grew up."
Nearly every transition on all 5 stations would be considered a "trainwreck" by today's standards. I distinctly remember hearing Paul McCartney's "Band on the Run" into Marvin Hamlisch's "The Entertainer" into Charlie Rich's "The Most Beautiful Girl" into Rufus' "Tell Me Something Good" into Grand Funk's "Locomotion" into Carl Douglas' "Kung Fu Fighting."
Why? Because these were all huge hits in 1974. Top 40 radio was by definition a mass-appeal format.
The REASON it worked was because you had GREAT LIVE JOCKS who made the TRANSITIONS between the records. Something that has become a lost art today.
Judging from their initial presentation, it sounds as if this is something WOCL is trying to resurrect ala CBS-FM. I believe they will do very well if they stick to this model. People are starved to hear fun, high-energy radio again.
You are right on the money, MN Maniac. It's the jocks who'll make the difference. CBS would do well to look into finding and hiring those jocks who rocked Orlando with those songs you mentioned as they did on your local stations. A great place to begin would be with those former WBJW personalities. Barry Michaels comes to mind, as does Terry Young, and Terry Allen. I am sure there are many others.
It was always astounding to me that a city as large as Orlando didn't have a classic hits station. I personally believe WOCL sounds great! Bravo, CBS!
It was always astounding to me that a city as large as Orlando didn't have a classic hits station. I personally believe WOCL sounds great! Bravo, CBS!
F
Froggy
Guest
It's JACK-FM with JOCKS & JINGLES!!!1250WTAE said:
The music has already become very repetitive. (How many times are they going to play Father Figure?) It seems they do not have even close to the playlist CBS-FM does. CBS-FM plays a lot more variety. Sunny also needs to play some "oh wow" type of songs to keep people listening. A lot of the songs on the Rhino "Have a Nice Day" series are perfect for this. If they do this more often, people will keep listening just to see what they play next. They will turn people off by playing the same songs over and over again.
radioatlantis said:
Because radio is a business before it can be anything else.
In today's times, it's alot easier for (big?) business to sit down with a sales person from a particular radio station or cluster and be convinced that their product will sell...not just well...extremely well based on the success of a cookie cutter format in a specific market and/or markets.
pbf1 said:
I'm willing to agree that's bang on, but more willing to support it if there were just a little more detail to back it up.
When is the *best* time to open the library?
The other option is to open the library right from the begining by starting the new format with a big 500 countdown.
(That would have fit in nicely with all the history they were airing on the day they made the switch.)
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