Winter 09 Trends

[InsertNameHere]

I realize it's only a trend, but...

WRQQ-FM 0.7
0.7 !?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

Turn the light off, shut down the tranny, clearly...NOBODY cares!
Crommy, buy that stick for cheap off of Clue-less and throw "The Party" on there, give River a run for their money!

 

[jetfli]

I realize it's only a trend, but...

WRQQ-FM 0.7
0.7 !?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

Turn the light off, shut down the tranny, clearly...NOBODY cares!
Crommy, buy that stick for cheap off of Clue-less and throw "The Party" on there, give River a run for their money!

Only a trend, yes, but something as telling as this is HUGE! Seriously, Cumulus would be better off simulcasting 92Q there.

Top 40 (or was that CHR?) has already been tried on 97.1, and nothing happened.

Don't hold your breath for a sale anytime soon. However, there's two smaller clusters (in terms of their presence here) in town where I was told they'd like to have another frequency or two. But with radio economies the way they are today, I'm not sure their parent companies can buy right now.

 

[CHRles]

Crommy, buy that stick for cheap off of Clue-less and throw "The Party" on there, give River a run for their money!

Agreed. Either move The Party to 97.1, or move The Buzz there. That way The Party can just call itself 102 The Party and will be on 102.5 and on 102.9 - from Hopkinsville down to Tullahoma and Lynchburg. The 102.5 signal can continue to sell ads for both Nashville and Clarksville while 102.9 can carry ads for Nashville-Murfreesboro and the Tullahoma area. Dont forget The Party can also be heard clearly on 102.1 in Nashville's city limits, and on 101.9 in Clarksville.
On 97.1 The Buzz will be heard from Franklin, KY to Murfreesboro. A better metrowide signal.

 

[oldies5161]

I realize it's only a trend, but...

WRQQ-FM 0.7
0.7 !?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

Turn the light off, shut down the tranny, clearly...NOBODY cares!
Crommy, buy that stick for cheap off of Clue-less and throw "The Party" on there, give River a run for their money!

Bring Oldies back to 97.1 and play ALL the hits not just 300 or so.

Only a trend, yes, but something as telling as this is HUGE! Seriously, Cumulus would be better off simulcasting 92Q there.

Top 40 (or was that CHR?) has already been tried on 97.1, and nothing happened.

Don't hold your breath for a sale anytime soon. However, there's two smaller clusters (in terms of their presence here) in town where I was told they'd like to have another frequency or two. But with radio economies the way they are today, I'm not sure their parent companies can buy right now.

 

[roadrunner]

I realize it's only a trend, but...

WRQQ-FM 0.7
0.7 !?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

Turn the light off, shut down the tranny, clearly...NOBODY cares!
Crommy, buy that stick for cheap off of Clue-less and throw "The Party" on there, give River a run for their money!

It needs to go away. .7 ..it's embarrassing. Pull the plug.
Change the format. FCOFL who is programming this station
and why aren't they doing anything about it?

 

[jetfli]

who is programming this station and why aren't they doing anything about it?

Doesn't have anything to do with who is programming it, Nashville just plainly can't use another a classic rock station. And Bob & Tom are just old and tired. Tired in the same way Claire Huxtable uses the word.

Looks like the local cluster has a bad case of cluster bloat -- two too many frequencies for the market. They're trying too hard to emulate what others have in the market, as in hey advertisers, to go along with our good buys on talk, urban, and country, we also have a classic rock station like they do and we have a sports station like they do.

An analysis of the market might show we could use another FM urban, with a differently targeted approach to the music. But wait, that will cut into 92Q's big numbers. How about a younger skewing News Talker -- think Dennis Miller, not Rush -- but wait, that would cut into WTN's big numbers.

The only thing that's left that would bring uniqueness to the market is Oldies. But you might hear we've tried that, we can't go back without losing face. Forget face, this cluster really needs unique. And now all they have to do is lock into a satellite and leave the switch on. True Oldies would be good, but TKO's Classic Top 40 would be amazing.

If they want to ever improve those two frequencies, they're going to have to stop trying to tag along and do something unique in the market that the market can appreciate. Otherwise, they ought to consider leasing or selling.

 

[Tibbs4]

Let's face it, Crumulus is cursed. They birthed both frequencies, 97.1 & 106.7.

For me, the positive side is they have only one station I listen to (cutting the stress)
because 106.7's big power increase torched their signal in Brentwood. The one "good"
station (being selfish here) is WTN. They are doing a brilliant job of ruining that by
axing the one of the best talent's in America (even if you don't like his politics, he's
pretty funny) and allowing us a siesta at noon with Senator Dull. Great way to splice
up your ratings, Crumy. Kill off the audience for Dave. Let's see this one crank
down to a 3.0.

2009 is looking like the pinnacle of continued monumental disasters.

 

[ARDONAVINDA]

who is programming this station and why aren't they doing anything about it?

Doesn't have anything to do with who is programming it, Nashville just plainly can't use another a classic rock station. And Bob & Tom are just old and tired. Tired in the same way Claire Huxtable uses the word.

Looks like the local cluster has a bad case of cluster bloat -- two too many frequencies for the market. They're trying too hard to emulate what others have in the market, as in hey advertisers, to go along with our good buys on talk, urban, and country, we also have a classic rock station like they do and we have a sports station like they do.

An analysis of the market might show we could use another FM urban, with a differently targeted approach to the music. But wait, that will cut into 92Q's big numbers. How about a younger skewing News Talker -- think Dennis Miller, not Rush -- but wait, that would cut into WTN's big numbers.

The only thing that's left that would bring uniqueness to the market is Oldies. But you might hear we've tried that, we can't go back without losing face. Forget face, this cluster really needs unique. And now all they have to do is lock into a satellite and leave the switch on. True Oldies would be good, but TKO's Classic Top 40 would be amazing.

If they want to ever improve those two frequencies, they're going to have to stop trying to tag along and do something unique in the market that the market can appreciate. Otherwise, they ought to consider leasing or selling.

Ok an Oldies format was tried and died. Perhaps it wasn't given enough time, perhaps the jocks on there didn't grab enough attention, perhaps the same 300 songs played everyday. How about maybe it just wasn't programmed well. Consultants can also be a curse to your format if they don't let the programmer think outside the box. Everybody has read many times what works in Dallas or Philly may not work in Nashville.

I programmed a station that made noise in Knoxville two years ago. The owner told me what he wanted to do, I loved the concept. He wanted to recreate The Big 89 Music Radio WLS of Chicago. He purchased one of the jingle packages from JAM it was a package that WLS used around 1977 with the Music Radio identifiers included. We didn't have much of a budget but we managed to pull it off. We didn't really copy WLS to a tee we modified to todays clock logs and breaksets and focused on 3 years as our hot playlist 1975, 1976, 1977 with some 60's during the hr and an early 80's cut every now and then. What made it catch attention was the nastolgic approach that we gave it not to mention songs from those 3 yrs, songs that havn't been heard in years! They were mixed right in with the high burn records. You would hear Frampton "Show Me The Way" along side of Ben E King's "Supernatural Thing" along side of say Archies "Sugar Sugar" all blended together with those jingles.

Some reverb was added on the whole chain to fatten up the sound a spacial enhancer was also added to the chain and of course the proccessing. There were 3 longtime talented jocks including myself to execute this recreation of what just turned out to be Top 40 radio from 34 years ago. We weren't screamers. We had an exciting delivery, we were tight and slick we fired off jingles manually on the computer and started the next songs manually because the system wasn't as tight as a jock could be. Yes we talked we told jokes, took phoners(many from Knoxville) we even read our own weather, but we did most of it over the intros and posted them! We used jock shouts and jock sings over intros and in doughnut jingles. I did afternoons, the owner was looking to run a syndicated show at night. I suggested Tom Kent his TKO show was the perfect fit for our deal. We had run him when I worked for South Central's Oldies in Knoxville a couple years earlier. I always liked his delivery and style.

For half a year we steamed along, sure a few speed bumps and other things popped up but we carried on until our owner felt that since we weren't a Knoxville station and weren't getting Knoxville's advertising money that we may as well focus on our area's money. Our home base was Crossville, TN and some advertisers didn't feel comfortable hearing Barry Manilow's "It's A Miracle" along side of Edgar Winter "Free Ride" along side of Hollies "On A Carousel". They were telling him if he would change format to an all Classic Rock station they would hop on board and advertise. So fear of losing money he changed the format to a Classic Hits station with a classic rock lean & classic rock attitude. Which is what it's still today. Obviously it was a good move for him because it's lasted 2 years where his Music Radio WLSQ was short lived.

Now that being said, the Music Radio format was best suited for a bigger market. Which is why Knoxville embrased it. Nashville would too I believe. What would it hurt? 97.1 even when it was oldies it wasn't presented in the way I just spoke of. It would be fun to hear, it would actually be a new sound to most people. Even todays Top 40/CHR isn't that exciting anymore. I would think Cumulus would have at least a better budget than we had to work with for crying out loud! Think about it Why does the Big 89 Rewind every Memorial day get so much web listening as well as 77 WABC's Memorial day weekend playback? Because it's fun and exciting, they mostly play old airchecks and the boss jocks that are still alive come back on both of these AM Talkers and blow out format and do jock shows like they did 30 & 40 years ago. It's Fun, what's wrong with Nashville having Fun?

 

[jy]

Before you roll your eyes and say "we're sick of oldies" take a good look at what Scott Shannon's True Oldies Channel is doing in the major cities. Radio has become so narrow it's hard for many to wrap their arms around a format with a wide playlist. The production, the information, the tightness of the presentation has been showing solid results in very competitive markets. And with plans to syndicate the WPLJ morning show coming up let's just say the potential to shake things up from the predictable sameness is very real.
These discussions always bring up emotional reaction. But the past failures of poor execution or the plug being pulled early or a bias of "it's all old people listening" shows up in the major markets of "these guys got it right."
When you see these facts and hear the explaining away of this format from current management who don't seem to have a better idea, it sure makes you wonder where this is all going. And I do agree. Nashville doesn't need anyother classic rock station.

 

[NashRadio]

I would like to see Oldies*, but did we ever decide

why nobody will go after 92.9?

*that plays 1,000 songs instead of 300

 

[Tibbs4]

The best numbers on 97.1 were with 80's and their attempt at Hot AC, which lasted about two weeks\before they wimped out and ruined it. Again...see a pattern? Predictable and limited causes fatigue. This is Music
City. Everybody's a music expert here. Tried and true is a 'deadly combination' (using a line from Fire Marshall Bill) for failure. Star 97 was around on and off about what? A decade? Can't remember. It's wasn't a 96 Kiss, Y-107 or KX 104. Why? Played to safe. Boring. Confined. You name it. That, sadly, won't change under Crumulus' current cost saving plan that steals all it's potential to win. Sad!