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What WMMO should do to improve

Part of making a song from the '60s work for someone 25, or a new song work for someone who's 55+, is a presenter putting the musical outliers in context. Many of the features on the original WMMO involved themed sets that helped provide a reason for the oddball songs to be there. Every daypart had something like "The 98.9 Theme Park" or "My Three Songs."

Early WMMO also leaned heavily on the vibe of the early FM progressive stations, when music, free thought and spontaneity mattered more than the spots. Imagine trying to recreate that vibe in today's clusterthink.

Craziest two-song consecutive pairing I remember: Sausalito Summernight by Diesel (1980) out of Beep-Beep by the Playmates (1958, probably the only time WMMO ever played it). The conection? It was "Car World" that day on the 98.9 Theme Park, and both those songs are about Ramblers. To a consultant looking at a printed log, that had to look just bizarre. But it's amazing what you can play for spice when it's set up.

Another reason it could happen: When listeners called to request them, Cary had both those songs in a cabinet in his office, and even knew right where they were. Amazing.
 
Paul_Warren said:
Part of making a song from the '60s work for someone 25, or a new song work for someone who's 55+, is a presenter putting the musical outliers in context. Many of the features on the original WMMO involved themed sets that helped provide a reason for the oddball songs to be there. Every daypart had something like "The 98.9 Theme Park" or "My Three Songs."

Early WMMO also leaned heavily on the vibe of the early FM progressive stations, when music, free thought and spontaneity mattered more than the spots. Imagine trying to recreate that vibe in today's clusterthink.

Craziest two-song consecutive pairing I remember: Sausalito Summernight by Diesel (1980) out of Beep-Beep by the Playmates (1958, probably the only time WMMO ever played it). The conection? It was "Car World" that day on the 98.9 Theme Park, and both those songs are about Ramblers. To a consultant looking at a printed log, that had to look just bizarre. But it's amazing what you can play for spice when it's set up.

Another reason it could happen: When listeners called to request them, Cary had both those songs in a cabinet in his office, and even knew right where they were. Amazing.
Click to expand...

That is just totally awesome! I'll say no more.
 
awesome indeed ! before WMFQ in Ocala changed formats they once played "What's My Name"..by Don and Juan ...and by Lynyrd Skynyrd back to back !
 
Paul's comments are spot on, especially regarding the 'vibe' of the station. BTW Paul, I remember that segue you mention. I think Cary and I were in his office chuckling about that one! BTW, once, I got away with Orrinoco Flow by Enya into It's Your Thing by The Isley's on a dead seg (lol)....just part of that early 'MMO magic!
 
johnsummers said:
Paul's comments are spot on, especially regarding the 'vibe' of the station. BTW Paul, I remember that segue you mention. I think Cary and I were in his office chuckling about that one! BTW, once, I got away with Orrinoco Flow by Enya into It's Your Thing by The Isley's on a dead seg (lol)....just part of that early 'MMO magic!
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I lived in Orlando then... one of my two or three favorite stations of all time....
 
A tad bit off subject, but does relate to WMMO. They provide the audio track for Channel 9 HD-2 (weather). The sound isn't in stereo and sounds as if it's playing thru a coffee can [unless I can blame Bright House for this]. It's not the station's live (ouch) feed, but more like a separate track with some liners ... what's worse is it'll just drop a song mid-point and pick up another (or go silent for a few minutes and re-start) You'd think Cox could make it work/sound better as a means of making someone want to listen to the real FM feed ... programming an audio track with music and 3 speaking parts shouldn't be that difficult.
 
Again I wonder have any stations anywhere tried to do anything like WMMO does/has done?

If not why not? How many males want to hear
"I Will Survive" or something comparably lame on an AC station?

I've been trying to listen to AC since about 1980 but the music is too lame.

Is 'lame" too dated a word?
 
radiobum said:
Again I wonder have any stations anywhere tried to do anything like WMMO does/has done?

If not why not? How many males want to hear
"I Will Survive" or something comparably lame on an AC station?

I've been trying to listen to AC since about 1980 but the music is too lame.

Is 'lame" too dated a word?
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I must agree with you. AC stations do play some pretty sappy songs. That's why a station like WMMO is perfect. Its for people like me that don't want to hear all the really "sappy" songs on an AC like WMGF. Or what WHTQ will continue playing until the WDBO feed kicks in Friday.

WMMO plays a good selection of Soft Rock. It plays the softer side of Classic Rock, AAA and Hot AC. I can hear Crosby, Stills and Nash mixed with John Mayer. Now that's Nice. MMO plays some good classic rock music that MGF wouldn't touch as well.

MMO plays more a less what a listener like me would like on the radio. A broad selection of Soft Rock music from the 60's until now. Pretty much Oldies mixed in with newer Currents and Re-currents. But without all the soft stuff AC stations play and without the harder stuff Active Rock and Traditional Classic Rockers play.
 
With HTQ going away, I would not be the least bit surprised if this became Eagle 98.9 shortly, playing the classic rock/AC mix that they play in Tampa and Jacksonville.
 
Parttimer said:
With HTQ going away, I would not be the least bit surprised if this became Eagle 98.9 shortly, playing the classic rock/AC mix that they play in Tampa and Jacksonville.
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For starters. 107.3 and 96.9 The Eagle are not hybrid Classic Rock/ AC Stations. Both stations are Classoc Rockers only playing 70's and 80's Rock.

MMO plays anything from the 60's to today. WMMO also has a lot larger playlist than Cox's "Eagle" stations. In Fact WMMO is Cox's only station doing that hybrid format.

I'm under the impression that would suck. WMMO in my humble opinion is way better than those 'Eagle" stations. "The Eagle" is a largely automated format. What about the airstaff at WMMO. What about "Sunday Morning Acoustic Brunch". What about all the good music that they play that a traditional Classic Rocker wouldn't.

Speaking about 107.3 The Eagle that was oringinally a WMMO-Clone as 107-3 The Bay. Cox did an excellent job with the station. Had personalities full-time and played good music. However by 2004 Cox axed the entire airstaff. Cut the playlist to 300 songs of 70's and 80's rock and rebranded as "The NEW 107-3 The Eagle".

However I wouldn't put it behind Cox to axe a format that does well to save $$$.
 
OK, to be accurate, the Eagle is "Classic hits". You won't hear AC/DC or Led Zeppelin on the Eagle (except maybe "Stairway to Heaven"). Lots of Billy Joel, Elton John, Doobie Brothers.

You have to figure that MMO and HTQ were splitting some of the same pie, now they need to push the HTQ listeners to MMO. Thus even if they don't re-brand MMO, they will change the music in all likelihood....
 
Parttimer said:
OK, to be accurate, the Eagle is "Classic hits". You won't hear AC/DC or Led Zeppelin on the Eagle (except maybe "Stairway to Heaven"). Lots of Billy Joel, Elton John, Doobie Brothers.

You have to figure that MMO and HTQ were splitting some of the same pie, now they need to push the HTQ listeners to MMO. Thus even if they don't re-brand MMO, they will change the music in all likelihood....
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I always thought of stations like Sunny 105.9 and Q105 in Tampa to be true "Classic Hits". You have a point with "The Eagle". However "The Eagle" still doesn't play a good deal of pop fare. You won't hear K.C and the Sunshine Band and other non-rock fare on "The Eagle".

Oh and "The Eagle" does play Led Zeppelin. "Fool in the Rain", "Stairway to Heaven" and "All of my love" are the 3 songs they play. The softer stuff but Zepplin none of the less. However you will not hear AC/DC.

I would brand "The Eagle" more a less a Rock-Based Classic Hits or a Softer version of Classic Rock.
 
Parttimer said:
OK, to be accurate, the Eagle is "Classic hits". You won't hear AC/DC or Led Zeppelin on the Eagle (except maybe "Stairway to Heaven"). Lots of Billy Joel, Elton John, Doobie Brothers.

You have to figure that MMO and HTQ were splitting some of the same pie, now they need to push the HTQ listeners to MMO. Thus even if they don't re-brand MMO, they will change the music in all likelihood....
Click to expand...

WMMO already plays a lot of the Classic Rock from WHTQ. When HTQ re-branded itself as "96 Rock" Cox moved a good portion of its playlist to WMMO. However I wouldn't picture Cox playing "Rooster" by Alice and Chains on MMO. I at least hope,
 
johnsummers said:
Paul's comments are spot on, especially regarding the 'vibe' of the station...
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You know, the vibe thing is an odd thought. At WMMO in 1990, it was recalling a relaxed presentation for the '60s and '70s. If it was launched today, it would be like the original "progressive" stations, a contrast to the over-commercialized pop stations. But this time, those cluttered, over-hyped stations are other FMs!

I'll bet everyone there in that era remembers some funny set of songs that happened on his shift. There were so many people airchecking WMMO or transcribing playlists for programmers and consultants in other markets, and I remember laughing when I'd play one of those sets, just thinking what it would look like when they saw them listed on a sheet of paper in Cleveland or LA the next Monday morning.
 
Who says you gotta try and keep the HTQ listeners within your radio cluster? I see no reason to change up WMMO by adding hard stuff from HTQ. With the loss of WLOQ, Magic more upbeat these days, and Sunny leaning more on classic pop hits, WMMO should be in pretty good shape. If I were Cox, I say so long to the HTQ listener because I've got well balanced group of stations to sell without any additional changes at this time.
 
billalm said:
Who says you gotta try and keep the HTQ listeners within your radio cluster? I see no reason to change up WMMO by adding hard stuff from HTQ. With the loss of WLOQ, Magic more upbeat these days, and Sunny leaning more on classic pop hits, WMMO should be in pretty good shape. If I were Cox, I say so long to the HTQ listener because I've got well balanced group of stations to sell without any additional changes at this time.
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Your right. WMMO is doing fine without adding the hard HTQ stuff.
 
I don't think they would chase the HTQ audience in its entirety... stream the Eagle from Tampa and you'll see what I'm talking about. It's just about leaning it more male.
 
Was listening to Sunny on the way home from the college today. (Now to WMFQ 92.9 flipped formats.) Domino was on at the time. Well I noticed that Sunny is running sweepers against WMMO. Saying that WMMO plays only slow songs and none of the Dance and Rhythmic titles Sunny does.

Problem with that is the format on WMMO was never intended to play the more Rhythmic and Dance titles that Sunny plays. So making fun of WMMO for that doesn't make any sense. People listen to WMMO to hear a softer selection of AAA and Oldies. The station playing lots of Softer Acoustic Rock. People listen to Sunny for a Free-For-All of Classic Top-40 Radio.

Now going after WMMO over dull Liners and Presentation I can see.
 
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