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WHTK-FM

Still no threat to legends 102.7 however as legends is live & local and the other station is pre-fab! And while legends remains committed to serving this community the greatest hits on planet earth and will probably til the end of time the other station will be gone in less than 2 years.
 
Yeah, but they've been on less than 24 hours. If they're serious, they'll at least have one or two live shifts or local personalities. Otherwise, whats the point?
 
The point is to shave a share or two away from a competitor's station, which may move a CC station up a notch or two in a particular demographic. That can mean the difference between getting a buy, and not getting a buy. Remember, 12+ numbers are just the beauty contest. The numbers that count are in the demos.
 
If C. C. was serious about launching an oldies station in the market then they need to put a translator on in the western part of Monroe County. Also, put some local jocks on the air. I haven't listened to it very much, mostly because I can't get it. When they were sports I didn't bother with it. I just listened to the AM. The little bit I have listened to it, seems like they are playing the songs that the Fox dropped to become The Brew.
 
I understand the rationale of creating a competitor in that demo to gain a couple of spots for it's other stations in the cluster that fit their demo but a 600 watt A rimshot? I would take them more seriously had they flipped the drive to oldies.
 
Briefly last year...WLGZ had a sister station in the Albany market, 96.7-WPTR using the WLGZ personalities via voice tracking. The station sounded good and had a superior signal to CC's Oldies station WTRY. But it changed formats back to nutjob preachers after only nine months...and they were also forced to take the once legendary 50kw former 1540-WPTR-AM dark....That company must do better in the Rochester market because they seem to be kind of a train wreck here...
 
Had the Red Wings game on 1280 AM, switched to 107.3 during a commercial break, heard the end of "Old Time Rock & Roll" and the start of something familiar that I can't even remember now.

I was back onto 1280 before the word "HUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGE" was uttered.

Coming back from Fairport (Fairport!!!) the 1280 signal was getting stepped on.

Seems like a lose-lose to me, but then, they don't pay me the big bucks to make these decisions.
 
And while we're at it: If Clear Channel were serious about this, then can someone please explain why the stream on the "Oldies 107.3" website still has the stream of WHTK-AM?

Don't believe me? Listen for yourself at: http://oldiesrochester.com.

Yyyyyyiiiiiikes! Cheap Channel at it's best, I tell ya!

--The Radio Kid
(Oswego, NY.)
[email protected].
 
Another sample taken this noon hour (Saturday 12 May). Fleetwood Mac's "Dreams" followed by the Hollies if I recall correctly.

(You'll excuse me if I bristle whenever any song personally purchased for my record collection when it was first issued, e.g. "Dreams," is now called an "oldie.")

Fifteen minutes later, Legends also played "Dreams".

Any question in my mind about who CC is going after? Not really... although to be fair, I think there would be at least four other stations in town that would play it (Fickle, Warm, CMF, Sunny...) and maybe two others (Buzz, Brew).
 
This isn't meant to be snarky, but Legends really doesn't impress this Buffalo listener. Compared to Oldies 104 Buffalo of years past, now Classic Hits and CBS-FM New York, Legends seems bland and small. WODX, with its limp signal running automated on life support, isn't likely to shoot up to #3 in the Rochester market, but as some here have noted, there's now a choice for those who can hear the rimshot 107.3 signal. CC's tactic is to muddy the water with another Oldies/Classic Hits station that will play songs like Dreams from Fleetwood Mac, Bus Stop by the Hollies, Rupert Homes' Piña Colada Song and other well-toasted hits primarily from the 70s that can be heard on at least two other Rochester FMs, plus a smattering of songs from the 60s. If Legends doesn't step it up and differentiate its content, presentation and commitment, Rochester will likely have two also ran Oldies stations this time next year.
 
"there's now a choice for those who can hear the rimshot 107.3 signal."

I doubt Legends is worried, or should be.

First, even though it comes in decently on a premium car radio east of the Genesee, 107.3 can't be heard on a home or office desktop radio anywhere in Monroe County, meaning it might as well be in Timbuktu. WCBS-FM is probably bigger competition for Legends in the workplace, at least in offices with a decent Web connection. But Legends is heard well everywhere in Monroe County (they're on the Warm 101 tower on Colfax St. in the city).

Second, 107.3 sounds llike nothing more than an iPod, or a clone of Jack, and that doesn't seem to be cutting it most anywhere, especially without any live personalities or live information content like weather, news briefs or traffic, all of which Legends has from 6 AM to midnight 7 days a week. Even if you can hear 107.3, there's no reason to prefer it over Legends (which is tweaking its music mix to include more familiar 70s and 80s songs that were hits in Western NY in their time).

Third. Legends has made one good move music-wise from the get-go; basing its record library on songs that were hits on WBBF and WAXC back in the 60s and 70s, and 98PXY in the 80s, songs that were hits IN ROCHESTER when they were new. That's crucial for any oldies station. 107.3 is probably programmed from out of town and based on national research, which may not synch with Rochester's taste in oldies.

Best not to compare any of these stations with WHTT, which is very much driven by what was a hit on KB, WYSL/1400, WGR or Kiss 98.5 back in the day and skews toward Buffalo favorites in both its music and its personalities.
 
Most stations when they start these days begin automated and add jocks later.

I wish Legends would play The Rustix, if that is the case (Playing local hits) They were huge from 68-70. Their singles ARE available on ITunes on the Motown Box Sets.
 
"I wish Legends would play The Rustix, if that is the case (Playing local hits) They were huge from 68-70. Their singles ARE available on ITunes on the Motown Box Sets."

That's a good example of an act which was far more popular in the clubs than on the radio even in its prime, so it may not have shown up on an old BBF playlist. I HAVE heard Wilmer Alexander and the Dukes' "Gimme One More Chance" on Legends although it's in light rotation.
 
No, many people tell me they heard it on WBBF, I saw old playlists with The Rustix in Heavy Rotation and a former DJ once told me that they played them alot.

I think people would flip to hear Can't You Hear The Music Play on WLGZ!
 
Hello all. As a former PD of WBBF and on-air personality at both WBBF and WAXC, having started my radio career in the region at the same time The Rustix launched in '67, let me assure everyone that while this band, The Invictas, The Heard et al were huge on the party scene, none of them were played in anything like "heavy rotation" on Rochester radio (save possibly for WSAY where the criteria for airplay included "being made of black plastic" and "having grooves.")

These bands were regulars at the hot spots of the time such as The Varsity Inn on Scottsville Road. But bear in mind that WBBF in the era 1966 until the advent of WAXC on 1/10/72 ran a frankly unbelievable commercial load (one which would never be tolerated today.) It was everything they could do to play a reasonable rotation of standard hits. Local bands like The Rustix may have been featured occasionally but, as was true of "local phenoms" in almost any market back in that era, didn't get heavy regular airplay.

I remember lobbying the PDs at smaller stations where I worked in '68 to please add Wilmer Alexander & The Dukes and being emphatically turned down. "They're just a local band," I was told. "We stick with the big hits."

Sherlock can weigh in on this one; he was the decisionmaker at the time. I don't even think we played this material as oldies at WAXC, save maybe for Wilmer.
 
Im just saying what I was told. You'd think at least Rochester, thir home base, would play them, especially being the first all white act signed to a Motown label!
 
Well you were misinformed my brother. i've lived in this market all my life having done time on the air here and listening to rochester radio since I was weened off the baby bottle. I remember greats like Fogel, deane, nickson, smith and later Palvino, white, savage & mason. The only time I've EVER heard the rustix on radio, aside from all the spots promoting their appearances locally, are a couple of plays on a show called "hopes and dreams" which aired on legends about 5 years ago.
 
Well, again, thats the sad state of radio when a Nationally signed act from Rochester didn't get airplay with their singles, then or now. We should be proud of the Rustix and their accomplishments.
 
qman said:
Well you were misinformed my brother. i've lived in this market all my life having done time on the air here and listening to rochester radio since I was weened off the baby bottle. I remember greats like Fogel, deane, nickson, smith and later Palvino, white, savage & mason. The only time I've EVER heard the rustix on radio, aside from all the spots promoting their appearances locally, are a couple of plays on a show called "hopes and dreams" which aired on legends about 5 years ago.

Qman, a correction on The Rustix play on WBBF.  While my memory is a little foggy, I do remember playing "Free Again" and a few other cuts off a Rustix LP upon release.  Remember, my co-worker, Ferdinand Jay was co-manager of the group during that time, so we might have been a little cautious about giving the group heavy airplay and showing favoritism over other local groups of that era.  I also recall playing records by the Showstoppers, The Brass Buttons, Wilmer and The Dukes, The Invictas, The Heard and a few others during the mid to late 60s.

White
 
Back in the day, professionally programed top 40 stations usually didn't jump on local group singles. The only major markets I can think of that the stations supported local groups would be Chicago and maybe L. A. At a small station I worked at, I was the M. D.
I would add a group if they made the Billboard top 100 or maybe even if they were bubbling under the top 100 but even then only as what we called "extras" or what we now know as the light rotation. Some of the artists I remember adding were: Weekend, The Free Design, Don Potter, and Chuck Mangione.
 
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