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What is Townsquare doing with NJ 101.5's branding?

dkocolin

dkocolin

John Driscoll is gone from most voiceovers, but he's still doing some. Ones that are also voiced by the new guy.

Have you heard the new news sounder? It sounds like a cheesy 80s sitcom theme, or a Canary production track.

It reeks of changing things in order to make them different because they're a new owner, rather than actually having some sort of strategy to modernize the jingles
 
Meanwhile, if Townsquare really wants to change something, they could fix the eyesore of the NJ 101.5 (and other nee-Millennium) websites.
 
All of NJ 101.5's imaging has gone downhill since the passing of the late great Erik Van Ness. But the past year or so has been particularly awful.

The station used to be full of promos that featured the best bits of each program. Now those have been replaced by clips of callers saying "Michelle I love listening to you every night!" which gives me nothing about why I would want to listen to the program.

There are also the incredibly random "Follow @nj1015 on Twitter!" promos that sound like they were read by fans at remote events. They just sound awkward and awful.

Now they've completely taken all the punch out of the top of the hour sounders, and axed the 21 year voice of the station.

It reeks of "we need to change this because we're new and this is old".
 
I don't listen much to their talk shows, but I'm definitely noticing the new imaging during their weekend music. Most of the promos and whatnot seem to have the new voice guy - even the quick legal ID in the middle of commercial breaks has been changed. And I've been hearing a new jingle coming out of traffic reports this weekend, with male vocals and a guitar-driven sound. It's markedly different from the old WABC jingles they've been using for years, and more like something you'd expect to hear on WFAN. For now, there are still old jingles being used for "chime time" and between songs - hopefully they can at least keep those during the weekend.
 
I can't even stomach listening to their traffic and weather reports with those new music beds. it's really, really, terrible...

sounds like it'd be a better fit for a ******/tampon/pill to alleviate bloating and cramps with lots of butterflies, sunshine, grassy meadows and a woman wearing all white posing in several yoga positions type of tv commercial.

townsquare, this is NJ... not your small market Casper, Wyoming or Owensboro, Kentucky crap. Change it back!!
 
Honestly, I've thought that their traffic and weather beds needed updating for quite some time. The old music was dated, and for an audience like myself (mid- to late-30s), it made me feel old. It was the same thing my school bus driver used to listen to when I was a kid. So I don't object. The top-of-the-hour music, though, is a bit to abrupt and jarring for my taste. It's like a loud alarm clock at 6am.
 
Little by little the unique about NJ1015 is going away. Is it my ears but I think they have even changed the processing this weekend less echo even Big Joe sounded a bit wimpy.

They needed to update the beds but what they changed to is awful.
 
I think the big problem with the new beds is that there's no hits. It's all brass.

The old news sounder sounded like the (still current) "not New York" sounder. It had a hit and some punch. Same with the traffic music, which had the 3 chords at the beginning.

The new music is just mellow horns that swell a bit but have no umph.
 
The branding is the least of their problems.
It was the luck of a hurricane hitting New Jersey that appears to have augmented the numbers out of the languishing 4's for WKXW NJ101.5 FM radio in the latest M/S/U PPM numbers. Let's observe if they can hold and boost those numbers further in the next release. Based on what I'm currently hearing I doubt it.
It is important for management to constantly monitor the on air product to make certain that the on air hosts are doing what is required.
Let's break it down; here's what I heard at random times on random shows.

Jim Gearhart and Eric Scott are the poster children for a job well done.

Dennis and Judi, sloppy with a feeling of we are just coming in to cash a paycheck. This is an enduring problem that management just cannot seem to get a handle on. At times it sounds like Dennis and Judi aren't even paying attention to what each other is saying. It's sounds disjointed to say the least.

Deminski and Doyle are seasoned radio pros who understand how to do very good talk radio. They are a vast improvement over the previous program which was the worst show in the over 20 year history of NJ101.5 Casey and Rossi.

Up late catching up on paper work last night I caught Ray Rossi. Based on what I heard especially in the one o'clock AM hour Rossi is rudderless. It took him twenty minutes to introduce the topic and 51 minutes into the hour to get his first phone call, unacceptable. He interviews his callers keeping them on way too long. He left at 2:51 AM letting a full song play out, not sure if they now have a music agreement to play FULL songs during the week.

Let's recap how to keep the listener attention span in this PPM world; quickly introduce the topic, give out the phone number and take many calls very quickly. Once the caller gives their opinion move on to the next call, why month after month on some shows these problems still linger is a mystery.
Look for the numbers to drop and lanquish in the 4's until these problems are addressed and rectified.

http://www.radio-info.com/markets/middlesex-somerset-union

Radio is a business, not a hobby.
 
Here's an idea - bring back the 3rd shift! Play music from Midnight to 5A...hell, have Ray Rossi as the jock. No need for a producer. Might cost some $$$ for the music fees, but would be more PPM friendly and would sound better than a talk show with no calls.
 
Turnpike Tuner said:
Here's an idea - bring back the 3rd shift! Play music from Midnight to 5A...hell, have Ray Rossi as the jock. No need for a producer. Might cost some $$$ for the music fees, but would be more PPM friendly and would sound better than a talk show with no calls.
Click to expand...

It might be very costly considering the lack of advertisers overnight during the week to justify paying huge music fees.

I suggest replacing Rossi's lackluster talk show with a popular and exciting syndicated show. It's been three months and there has been no improvement to Rossi's show. He must be starting to realize that he's not a talk show host and is better suited as a music jock or sidekick. A syndicated show overnight is certainly more cost effective considering the lack of paid commercials during that time. They can save the generous $35,000 they probably pay Rossi and actually get funds to clear a much better syndicated show. At this point a re-run of the previous day's Deminski and Doyle show overnight would be an alternate option. Eric Scott's excellent news department can pre-produce a community affairs program in the 4 AM hour just before first news.

Radio is a business, not a hobby.
 
MedianJ said:
Blah blah blah... same ol' same ol'
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Thanks bro for rehashing the same thing you've said over and over. Now could you focus on the information that has been presented to you, specifically how you keep quoting ratings from years past that don't exist? Such as this:

Yes. WKXW's 7.4 is SUCH A HUGE DROP from say, Fall '05 when they pulled an amazing 7.5 (not to mention the 6.3 and 7.1 in previous books) http://web.archive.org/web/20060508...UP=1/10/2006&SU=S&BPER=&HPER=&OPER=&NSD=&CE=0



Or wow. That 7.4 means they have lost a TON of listeners from the Spring '08 when they pulled a 7.2! (again, make no mention of the 5.9 and 7.3 in the books before THAT!)

http://web.archive.org/web/20080930...2/2008&SU=S&BPER=5.8&HPER=6.8&OPER=&NSD=&CE=0

Oh yeah, and those ratings are when they were on BOTH 101.5 AND 97.3

You know what? Just for craps and giggles, since you said the last FEW years, how about Fall '09? When...wow... they were WAY higher than the 7.4 they have now... with a 6.7.

http://web.archive.org/web/20100228085451/http://www.radio-info.com/site/markets/grid/monmouth-ocean

Let's not mention that in every single book, they were #1. In what you call "the money" market of Monmouth/Ocean.

And I haven't even dug into Middlesex.

So, keep pining about how their current ratings are LANGUISHING right now... WELL BELOW what ratings they pulled in their good years "just a few years ago" as you said. Everyone else on the board will keep rolling their eyes


Radio is a business. Posting on this messageboard is a hobby.
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