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What's happened to WEBN?
- Thread starter MarkW
- Start date
What ails WEBN? Current owners. Same cookie-cutter playlists that iheart uses for most of their "rock" stations.
The biggest challenge WEBN faces is they have a competitor that isn’t going away and that competitor looks to have a much better playlist. In the past, WEBN’s reputation alone made competing with them an impossible task.
WEBN always marketed themselves well and seemed in tune (on the sales and marketing side) with their audience.
Musically, they have sounded stale and tired for over 30 years. The talent from many years ago was quite good, but did not seem to keep up with anything after about 1975. A friend of mine commented they sounded very overrated and that was in 1988.
They may bill very well and the Labor Day Fireworks used to be (and may still be) iconic.
Tastes have changed and most (but not all as WMMR and WRIF are exceptions) of the remaining rock stations have suffered erosion in ratings from the peak days of the late 70’s through the 80’s.
WEBN always marketed themselves well and seemed in tune (on the sales and marketing side) with their audience.
Musically, they have sounded stale and tired for over 30 years. The talent from many years ago was quite good, but did not seem to keep up with anything after about 1975. A friend of mine commented they sounded very overrated and that was in 1988.
They may bill very well and the Labor Day Fireworks used to be (and may still be) iconic.
Tastes have changed and most (but not all as WMMR and WRIF are exceptions) of the remaining rock stations have suffered erosion in ratings from the peak days of the late 70’s through the 80’s.
Look at WMMR's programming. A huge portion is lifesyle and non-musical. It's a true hybrid format.
Cincinnati Rock Stations:
#9 ... 92.5 WOFX ... Classic Rock ... Cumulus
#11 ... 96.5 WFTK ... Active Rock ... Cumulus
#13 ... 102.7 WEBN ... Mainstream Rock and Cincinnati Bengals ... iHeartRadio
It seems Cumulus is squeezing WEBN from both sides. WOFX is all classic rock while WFTK has more contemporary, harder-edged rock. But even in the December ratings when the Bengals had made the playoffs, WEBN's ratings were where they are now.
Interesting that Cincinnati's Classical station, 90.9 WGUC, is #8. Doing better than each of the rock stations!
#9 ... 92.5 WOFX ... Classic Rock ... Cumulus
#11 ... 96.5 WFTK ... Active Rock ... Cumulus
#13 ... 102.7 WEBN ... Mainstream Rock and Cincinnati Bengals ... iHeartRadio
It seems Cumulus is squeezing WEBN from both sides. WOFX is all classic rock while WFTK has more contemporary, harder-edged rock. But even in the December ratings when the Bengals had made the playoffs, WEBN's ratings were where they are now.
Interesting that Cincinnati's Classical station, 90.9 WGUC, is #8. Doing better than each of the rock stations!
Not likely in the near future.
One poster in this thread states in another Cincinnati thread (see Reds Continue on 700WLW) that WEBN’s ratings are apparently showing a pretty good trend, citing some albeit unspecified numbers from past falls. I’m curious to know what the actual story is. Are EBN’s non-12+ numbers cause for concern or not? More importantly, how if at all are they impacting revenue? Questions I can’t answer but am curious to learn from those who know more than I. Because as discussed in the other thread, should iHeart decide it needs an FM signal for WLW, which do they blow up, EBN or KISS, or is there some other answer?
Chris Huff?
102.700 WLW
It’s a good question. From everything I remember (it’s been ages since I worked in that market) EBN was always perceived as a top 5 biller. Is that still the case?
I remember an interview with Frank Wood Sr. who, of course, put WEBN on the air in 1967.
Frank said there were weeks when things were so tight that they had to empty the coin box in the pop machine to cover payroll checks!
I had heard that way in the past [lmid/late 70s, early 80s] that WEBN was just as good and popular as WMMS in Cleveland
You heard right. I heard both in that time period
and WEBN did not take a back seat to WMMS one bit. Both owned their towns.
And with the Labor Day fireworks? WMMS had nothing like that.
For a while WMJI, owned the town with the fireworks display they sponsored around 4th of July. Not sure if it was Jacor or C.C. that decided they weren't worth the bother and figured employees running around with sparklers and smoke bombs would save them some money and folks wouldn't be too upset. And of course now WMMS & WMJI are under the same corporate umbrella so they're both run like crap compared to the past. [That's my two cent opinion and I'm probably overpaying by a penny.]
Yes, I've listened to WMMS on line and like WEBN
It is a shadow of its former self, but what isn't.
Us Radio buffs have to deal with the fact that the Golden days of radio are gone
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