Why won't one Philadelphia full market signal...

[8638]

...format a station that I can listen to for more than 15 minutes without being bored silly or losing my mind? It's not only Philly stations that are guilty. I sit roughly equidistant from Roxborough and midtown Manhattan, in Ocean County, and there is NOTHING from either major market that really reaches out and grabs me. Yet, once away from the major markets, it's relatively easy to find great radio stations. My musical taste is pretty diverse; I like almost everything, except rap, hip-hop, etc.

Last weekend, my best friend and I took a road trip to York, Pa., to attend a wedding. While dialing around, we happened onto 96.1 WSOX Red Lion. After about listening for 20 minutes or so, my buddy said to me: "this station is fantastic! Why don't we have one like this in NYC?" I added, "and Philadelphia?" I know we are both 'old' by radio standards (46 and 47), but we make a decent living, and have disposable income. Commerical radio seems to forgotten people like me. WHY??

 

[OldNumber7]

You've stumbled on one of the great paradoxes on modern competitive radio. The smaller the market, and the smaller the number of stations, the more likely you are to find a few stations with fat playlists that break the "best mix of Madonna, Phil Collins and Billy Joel" formula. I'm also 46 and I've lived in and around major markets for years and have given up finding terrestrial pop stations as good as WKRZ in Scranton, rock stations as good as WAAL in Binghamton and Triple-A stations as good as WRNR in Annapolis. That's why Sirius has been a breath of fresh air.

 

[RunWithScissors]

Don, I heard WSOX from my home in Wilmington many times, if you think that is a great stand alone oldies station, you have to try WMID out of AC. I know this station has been mentioned on this and other boards many times concerning their wide playlist, which is so true. It is a unique station, why the big cities don't try to imitate it, is really odd and senseless. Why is that market also blessed with a load of out of market Standards formats, flowing in, including local WCMC. I think GM should put WPEN's Standards format on 95.7, the audiance would be over a 4.0 guaranteed, but could it be sold, is it a product friendly demo??? I could also remark, why is there no Full Time, Active Rocker in Market Number Six. You would think in a market with over 6 million people, you should have better variety. I cannot fully comment on this until the lid is out officially on Wednesday, what we really need.

 

[OHara]

That is my thoughts exactly, Standards on 95.7 or a WMID type oldies format on AM could do rather well in this city. Look how screwed up the dial is now, one of those formats would not make it worst, in fact, it would improve the dial.

 

[8638]

thanks for all the replies! I love WRNR Grasonville/Annapolis....although I think it's been tweaked a bit over the past year. Prior to that, definitely one of the best AAA stations in America. As for WMID, I am a regular listener, despite being on the fringe of their class D signal. As much as I love WMID (and Hylitradio.com), they tend to skew 50's/early-mid 60's. I love that roots of rock music, but can't listen to it all day long. But 'MID does play the deep cuts that I like; i.e. "Reach out in the darkness" by Friend and Lover....a song WOGL NEVER plays.

There is this station on Cape Cod....WCIB "Cool 102", which I think has one of the best mixes around. Again, a small market station. Truly a paradox!

 

[MACK184]

You've stumbled on one of the great paradoxes on modern competitive radio. The smaller the market, and the smaller the number of stations, the more likely you are to find a few stations with fat playlists that break the "best mix of Madonna, Phil Collins and Billy Joel" formula. I'm also 46 and I've lived in and around major markets for years and have given up finding terrestrial pop stations as good as WKRZ in Scranton, rock stations as good as WAAL in Binghamton and Triple-A stations as good as WRNR in Annapolis. That's why Sirius has been a breath of fresh air.

I noticed that you mentioned The Whale in Binghamton as a really great station. I spent some time there, and their PD is probably one of the nicest, most decent guys in radio. But..and this is a real tribute to just how good a PD The Whale has..you wouldn't believe how tight the Citadel "experts" have that play list screwed down. They only rotate about 300 songs. It's not his choice, it's the Citadel consultants who've done that, but RandyDon has certainly done an excellent job with what they've given him.

 

[radiolover78]

It's a shame too. Most of these stations have huge libraries, but play the same songs over and over. At least mix it up once in a while.

 

[PhilGalasso]

That is my thoughts exactly, Standards on 95.7 or a WMID type oldies format on AM could do rather well in this city. Look how screwed up the dial is now, one of those formats would not make it worst, in fact, it would improve the dial.

Unfortunately, the ad agencies all want women 25-54. Nobody else counts. Since agency spot is the bread and butter of major market radio stations, you won't hear anything that the ad agency people don't want to buy. Hence the lack of standards, real alternative rock, smooth jazz, commercial classical, and instrumental "beautiful music" formats in Philly. That's also the reason why oldies is an endangered species on the airwaves these days. Moreover, a lot of broadcast group owners overpaid for their stations when they bought up station after station in the feeding frenzy that followed deregulation under the Telecommunications Act of 1996. They're looking for a quick buck to cover their high loan payments. Formats appealing to women 25-54 deliver that quick buck.

In the world of radio, those of us who were of military age during the Vietnam War don't count, period. The media buyers think that we don't buy advertised products, we all collect Social Security, eat cat food for dinner, use walkers for moving around the house, and, in the case of women in our age group, they put blue stuff in their hair.

 

[OldNumber7]

I noticed that you mentioned The Whale in Binghamton as a really great station. I spent some time there, and their PD is probably one of the nicest, most decent guys in radio. But..and this is a real tribute to just how good a PD The Whale has..you wouldn't believe how tight the Citadel "experts" have that play list screwed down. They only rotate about 300 songs. It's not his choice, it's the Citadel consultants who've done that, but RandyDon has certainly done an excellent job with what they've given him.

That's a shame about the playlist. I haven't been back through the area in a couple of years. I guess I should have expected that. So I stand corrected; The Whale WAS one of the great rock stations.

 

[8638]

That is my thoughts exactly, Standards on 95.7 or a WMID type oldies format on AM could do rather well in this city. Look how screwed up the dial is now, one of those formats would not make it worst, in fact, it would improve the dial.

Unfortunately, the ad agencies all want women 25-54. Nobody else counts. Since agency spot is the bread and butter of major market radio stations, you won't hear anything that the ad agency people don't want to buy. Hence the lack of standards, real alternative rock, smooth jazz, commercial classical, and instrumental "beautiful music" formats in Philly. That's also the reason why oldies is an endangered species on the airwaves these days. Moreover, a lot of broadcast group owners overpaid for their stations when they bought up station after station in the feeding frenzy that followed deregulation under the Telecommunications Act of 1996. They're looking for a quick buck to cover their high loan payments. Formats appealing to women 25-54 deliver that quick buck.

In the world of radio, those of us who were of military age during the Vietnam War don't count, period. The media buyers think that we don't buy advertised products, we all collect Social Security, eat cat food for dinner, use walkers for moving around the house, and, in the case of women in our age group, they put blue stuff in their hair.

Good points, Phil. I didn't think about the agency buys that seemingly rule radio now. Oh well, at least many interesting stations from small markets stream nowadays

 

[MACK184]

I noticed that you mentioned The Whale in Binghamton as a really great station. I spent some time there, and their PD is probably one of the nicest, most decent guys in radio. But..and this is a real tribute to just how good a PD The Whale has..you wouldn't believe how tight the Citadel "experts" have that play list screwed down. They only rotate about 300 songs. It's not his choice, it's the Citadel consultants who've done that, but RandyDon has certainly done an excellent job with what they've given him.

That's a shame about the playlist. I haven't been back through the area in a couple of years. I guess I should have expected that. So I stand corrected; The Whale WAS one of the great rock stations.

No Number-7, you're NOT wrong. The Whale is STILL a great sounding station. You see the Citadel consultants have been dong that for years, even while you were listening. That's why I said that RandyDon has done a GREAT job with that station, making it sound good, even when they don't give him much to work with.