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What Should Be Done With WTTS-FM?

98.3's stick is farther away from Indy than KLU's is.

98.3 has a strong signal. Consider that the TX is in Avon (US 36 and Dan Jones
RD), and the studio is on the far eastside of Indy. Disney has taken care of 98.3 (they are HD). This would complement Russ' 101.9.

Also, Russ has shown with 101.9 that he will wheel and deal with other stations to get a stronger signal.

I wouldn't count this out considering that ABC is selling to Citadel.
 
ChiefEngineer said:
radiowannab said:
WTTS has so much potential. Great signal and a great history. However, terribly run and still catering to college kids. New management and new rocker format
Click to expand...

They beat Stern and yes Stern was on 2 years and had time to make inroads if he was going to. Stern had lower ratings than the classic rock music format with no big paycheck before Stern went on air.
Click to expand...

Can someone produce some old numbers from when Howard was on the air in Indy?

Also, I'm disputing his was on for 2 full years. No way.

Little help? Clarification? Thanks.
 
I think Howard Stern would have been a great choice for the morning show
on WASK 98.7 in Lafayette.
As far as WTTS, leave them alone. They are only station left in Indiana
that dares to be different and follow their own course
 
Yes leave them alone... with their numbers they are pretty much alone anyway.
 
Stern started on WNAP in the early Fall of 1998 and was gone in March of 2000 when Radio Now debuted.
 
Hoosierky said:
98.3's stick is farther away from Indy than KLU's is.

98.3 has a strong signal. Consider that the TX is in Avon (US 36 and Dan Jones
RD), and the studio is on the far eastside of Indy. Disney has taken care of 98.3 (they are HD). This would complement Russ' 101.9.

Also, Russ has shown with 101.9 that he will wheel and deal with other stations to get a stronger signal.

I wouldn't count this out considering that ABC is selling to Citadel.
Click to expand...

I thought Radio Disney, ESPN Radio, and their respective O&O affiliates were the only assets ABC is keeping in the ABC-Citadel deal.

I wonder how profitable WRDZ-FM is to ABC. I always hear local commercials on the station and it constantly gets decent 12+ ratings for a station that's catered to 3-16 year-olds. Pretty good overall compared to some of the other O&O Radio Disney affiliates I've heard.
 
So is that two full years of books?


[/quote]

Before he went on...he claimed he would beat Bob and Tom in 6 months. 6 months. By your calculation, which may be better than my memory, fall 1998 to spring 2000. He could still be on and not beat Bob and Tom.

Stern just doesn't fly with the local audience. Bob and Tom will beat themselves. Expect retirement soon.

I am afraid to say I liked them much better before I began to be annoyed by their humor. As you grow up their humor becomes less interesting. Fart jokes are great for 12 year olds.

Bouncin Bill Baker.

Conner and Belo.

Ann and Scott.

Gary Todd

Jeff Pidgeon

All did well but how are their ratings now? All had a sweet sport in the Arbs and all sound or sounded okay on air but there was alwys and will always be someone ready to bring in bigger and better talent - or - spend more money to counter program.

Look at WIBC's ratings now..
 
WTTS has been around for years (as a Triple A for what, 12 or 14 years?). They have some good books, some not so good books. As a Triple A station with some longevity, I assume their qualitative is good. With their stick, it's pretty likely they had many offers to sell, especially during the feeding frenzy in the late 90s. But they've remained independently, locally owned (their owner's still in Indiana??).

I happen to enjoy the station. It's not full of cliche' radio hype, it offers a variety of music, and it's a station that plays lots of new artists months before they wind up on other stations. With that type of programming approach, they will always be challenged in a bland market like Indianapolis. Hell, if you're gonna play the Dire Straits, Jack Johnson, REM and BB King in the same quarter hour, you're gonna have a hard time being a cume monster like a station playing nothing but REO Speedwagon and Styx. Indy remains a blue-collar, classic rock-loving market (as evidenced by THREE classic rock stations at the moment; more than any other top 100 market in the nation).

As long as WTTS can pay the bills, leave them alone. They're providing a format that is most likely non-compatible with the market make-up.
 
If you are a radio LISTENER, WTTS is not going to be at the top of anyone's list in these parts.

If you are a radio FAN or just love music, it's probably one of your all-time fave stations.

When I can tolerate radio for more than 3 songs at a time before I start flipping or pop in my own tunes, it's usually WTTS (if I'm headin' south) and WXRT (if I'm headin' north).

My two all-time favorites by a longshot. 8)
 
Lafayette Unplugged said:
When I can tolerate radio for more than 3 songs at a time before I start flipping or pop in my own tunes, it's usually WTTS (if I'm headin' south) and WXRT (if I'm headin' north).

My two all-time favorites by a longshot. 8)
Click to expand...

I most definitely agree with you on this call. And when I am driving farther south, add Lightning 100 WRLT in Nashville to that short list. Radio for people that believe music still matters.
 
Anyone who knows me knows that my biggest musical interest is in Classic Country Music. However, that's not the only thing I listen to. In fact, when I started paying attention to WTTs around 1990 or so, that station really introduced me to a lot of different music, much of which I liked.

Just the other day, I turned off my satellite radio, and flipped on 92.3. Even with satellite radio, I personally feel that WTTS still can't be beat in many cases. Wow, what a wonderful thing....They don't sound like every other consultant/corporate driven cookie cutter radio station.

I do, however, wish they'd knock off the Indy stuff, and just be my good ole B-town station with the great signal once again.

Rick
 
WTTS has me so spoiled that when I hear something even remotely run-of-the-mill like Mellencamp or Allmans, etc., I say "Aw, come on, guys. You don't have to go there" out loud in my car! :D

In their efforts to be "relevant" to another audience already roosted elsewhere, they guarantee a quick tune out (for 3 or 4 minutes) for the faithful like me. Meanwhile, the Mellencamp/Allmans/Springsteen/crap fan who stumbled in to accidentally hear one of those is gone for the NEXT 4 or 5 tunes and back to Q or wherever.

Don't COUNTER program WTTS! Keep your product pure! Keep spoiling your listeners! In Indy you're not going to get anymore "converts". Everyone's where they are going to be forever.
Don't dilute what you're already doing so well !!!! Don't sacrifice a thing to gain .5 in the next book in some demo you're never going to win anyway! Do what you're doing best even better!!!!!!! ;)
 
I have to get my 2 cents worth in on this discussion. As somebody who has programmed a small AAA station, I think I can make some viable observations.

Why is it that most of the radio biz is obsessed with being Number 1? Can't you be #6 and still bill better than #3? I don't know if S-T is struggling with WTTS' billing, but I have a suspicion that they're OK. If a station is reaching 25-54 year olds, then sales ought to be able to pitch it.

Unplugged... I feel your pain, and I too think WTTS is a great station. I don't think voice-tracking is the death of radio, but it is certainly a growning cancer that needs some attention. With that said, I do believe for a AAA station, voice-tracking would be a death knell.

How can WXRT keep the same jocks, the same program director and the same news people for years??!!! Either they pay them a crapload of money, or the jocks love what they do and where they work. I have a sneaking suspicion Terri Hemmert isn't exactly rich. It is a great station (although I would love to hear more newer stuff) and will probably always be my favorite.

I was having a discussion about radio with an old college buddy earlier this week. My question for rock radio is, "When the hell are we planning on growing up?" I don't party every night. I have kids, a decent job and I actually go to church every once in awhile. I coach my son's football team, I volunteer to do video work for my daughter's basketball league. I don't give a crap how drunk the jock was the night before, and for God's sake, how many times and how many ways must we refer to male or female genitalia?

If you never read Steve Van Zandt's (Little Steve/Miami Steve/Silvio Dante) speech at the Jacobs Media Summit in 2005, I highly suggest it. It is, for the most part how I feel about radio... but I think it can be changed!

http://www.littlesteven.com/keynotespeech.html

"Grampa, where were you WHEN THE ******* ******* TOOK OVER?"
 
Swanie,

I'm with you on most of that.

Also keep in mind we're blathering about WTTS in BLOOMINGTON/INDY and WXRT in CHICAGO.

But try firing up a Triple AAA here in LAFAYETTE, Indiana. The pie is sliced up so thin between a handful of stations sharing almost identical formats with such a small listenership, most advertisers would be too busy throwing handfuls of money at KOA and The Rocket and not have some spare change to support a station targeting mid-upper income music snobs who don't like most radio for more than two songs in a row (WTTS/WXRT listeners like me).

You can say WIIZ tried and everybody can slobber over how great The Wiz was in their attempt to do Triple AAA, but that was strictly a management snafu (lack of competent ownership, salesmanship, and promotion) and not for lack of a faithful listener base. Come on, remember what their logo looked like? I think somebody's stoned high school buddy drew that (with his feet).

The book comes out Monday. Why not take a long hard look at what's lacking in the market and put a Triple AAA on a station with some wattage and sales gumption behind it? It's time to try again.
Even making the Wolf into something (Jack?) other than KOA's red-headed step child would be better than the same crappy numbers they get every time. Attention AMP folks, NOBODY'S LISTENING TO THE WOLF! Use all the energy you use for changing sales people and jocks every 3 days, and channel it into a new format for 95.3. YOU HAVE NOTHING TO LOOOOOOSE!

Nobody's got any new ideas about radio. So that's not a battle that can be won. However, if we just police ourselves better and decide what we DO have enough of in the way of formats for certain markets, it will at least make things sound better while still using the same safe set of tired music clock rules and jocks saying the same things off the same index cards.
WASK-AM didn't do anything groundbreaking, but they DID take their modest 1000 watts and say, "Hey! There's no sports station in town and we're wasting our AM signal. Hmmmm". More of that, please. At least it's a start.
 
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