Will Inner Banks Media change formats on 96.3 in Morehead City eventually?

[tothedj]

Now that WTIB will make the move to 103.7, which should have been done sooner, what will Inner Banks Media Eventually
do with WRHT 96.3, currently known as "Thunder Country"?, they can't compete with WRNS, and never will, and since Don
Curtis wants to re-create WKIX in Raleigh, maybe he could do the same here, and get the WMBL call letters, even though
another station in Indiana has them right now, and i would be curious to see if anyone still has any of the "Famous 740"
jingle packages, this would be interesting.

 

[allenv]

It really is unusual to see a station at or near the top for the last 25 years....WRNS has seen many bullets bounce off its armor...Even now when its parent company is having financial problems WRNS just chugs along...There have been 5 or 6 GM's at next in the last 10 years as well....This would hurt most stations.
The only way WRNS will ever be challenged is if another big stick declares all out war and spends the bucks for promotions....talent etc.......You can buy listeners at least for a while...All of the WRNS challengers have made one big mistake...they didn't dare to be different..They copied WRNS and didn't have the heritage,billing, foresight or whatever to realize listeners had no real reason to change the dial...Since 1990 I screamed that Classic country would work in this market...From 1997-1999 the original Country Bear proved it with no resources to speak of...The Stanley's just worked 20 hours a day and created a great station which people still talk to me about to this day....The format worked but lacked real ownership support...Today's Bear has come along and filled that hole nicely....If you think about it just about every company who has gone against WRNS is no longer around.....Wayne is a sharp guy and a very underratted promotions person...He knows how to put the right people in the right places.......Thunder I think will hang around a while longer...What else could they do format wise??????..I listen some because i think Hackett is a great talent.... but not having a live night person is a huge mistake...WRNS is not live at night so Thunder should be....I really think this market will support one Hot Country and one Classic..Its been that way for a long time... and right now country is slumping some because there is not alot of depth in the music and even the hardcore fan is tuning out because they are tired of being Taylor Swifted and Rascal Flatted to death...

Allen

Allen

 

[w00t]

How do you beat WRNS? Hire Wayne away from NextMedia. But we all know nobody will spend the $$ to do that.

Didn't the original Thunder Country (99.5) actually make some headway into beating WRNS back in the 90s?

 

[tothedj]

I agree that Wayne Carisle keeps WRNS where it's been for so long, but that will come to the end someday, and yes, it would take a lucrative deal for him to switch country stations, but i think Wayne will stay put for the rest of his radio career.
I had forgotten about 99.5 being the original home of "Thunder Country" back in the 1990's, although then their signal was about half of what it became, if they could have put in for a power increase before changing formats, who knows what might
have taken place, but one thing 95.1 has is a great spot on a tall tower, which is why WRNS will be around for quite sometime.