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Winter Book

Saw the breakouts yesterday. Stroudsburg's WSBG tanked. Seems their 'new' format has become just as stale as the old one. Plus, the station is without legendary morning man Gary Smith, who propped up the station in spite of a decade of bad music.

Looks like the chickens are coming home to roost!
 
Even when the day Nassau dumps WSBG after they ruined it..not withstanding Gary coming back afterward...what format do the majority of people in the Poconos like that would shoot their ratings back up?
 
heard the top five are:

Magic
Froggy
Rock 107
KRZ
BSX and WILK tied at 5th
 
DXMeister...

Definitely a classic rock type of market. The other way to go would bring back the Power 93.5 moniker and spin top 40. KRF really never took off in this market, and the demo would support it for sure. The Lite 935 is really unlistenable, when I drive thru the area, I put it on for traffic, which is a waste because they really don't do it enough and when they do, its not all too helpful like in the old days, when Gary and crew would give you the status of 80 into NY City. (Which is usually the way I'm going). The Bone is too abrasive, so Nassau has the problem here of too hard or too soft, with no happy medium. IMHO I think they should have let things go with Lite 107 and WSBG and the classic rock format, I think management made a poor knee jerk reaction to the Gary situation and really screwed up the long term viability of those stations. And Imus on WVPO, totally wrong fit. I think they should bring back ESPN on that station, because sports is another big fave of all the NY and NJ transplants. Yankees, Mets, Jets, Giants are huge up there, and with WEEX still doing it, it would have made a nice network if they just put the time into it and let it grow.
I dunno, I have programmed for many years, and programmed markets similar to the Poconos, and the one things folks don't like is dramatic change. I think they ticked off too many people and they've lost them for good... Nassau needs to reach out to the locals and bringing Gary back would be a great start. (Although I don't think that will happen.)
Same situation down at LEV in Allentown a few years back, just too many drastic changes in formats and personnel, and it really drove the audience away, although they are starting to recover now. Here in the Scranton/WB market, the majors (EZX,KRZ,Froggy,Hot,Magic) have all stayed steady with format and personnel for the most part and the ratings, although you see some fluctuations, stay steady for the most part. Theres enough pie for everyone, and it seems the players (Citadel, Entercom, Shamrock) have the common sense to realize this and not screw around w/ the flagships stations too much and this is why they all enjoy long term success....
Anyway, thats my take... how about yours..
 
Well there being a classic hits/rock format prior to Lite 93.5 Jeff claims above that it got old/stale. Given if that's accurate, I'm not sure if going back to that will work. THe playlist got too tight when that format was around. They could try again programming it with a wider playlist and getting the personalities back that made WSBG well liked back then. They could also go the Power 93.5 route but I'm not sure the demographics in the Poconos can support it. You pointed out that 98.5 KRZ/107.9 WKRF never took off in the Poconos..plus there's also Max 106.3 for that as well. I doubt an oldies station with the 50s through 70s would fly. You already got Cat Country 96, 95.1 WZZO, 103.7 WNNJ, 99.9 The Hawk and 107 The Bone as classic/current rock..which btw the audio quality/processing sounds bad..like the volume is turned down or something. From that the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, Allentown and certain Philly and NJ stations that come in..it's a tough one. The Scranton/Wilkes-Barre ones depending on where you are in the Poconos..they either come in clearly or don't. Not really sure here myself aside from reverting back to the classic hits format previously.
 
WSBG's ratings during the Gary in the Morning years held up fairly well, but most of the station's numbers concentrated in morning drive, with little carryover for the rest of the day. My theory is that folks would tolerate the stale music to hear Gary, but then bailed when his show ended.

Switching to Lite gave a much needed refresh to the music mix, but the standard Nassau formula applied for updating the playlist: Don't. EVER.

Hence, the ratings spike after the switch, then a drop as the music began to wear.

The move would have been a switch to the current music, keeping Gary in AM drive. Then, perhaps throw a new song in once and a while. The Nassau brain trust's patented answer to requests for different songs was that the current crop 'tests well' so no change was needed.

Tests well where? The only test that matters HERE (the ratings) prove otherwise.

Two glaring examples of burnt SBG music among listeners (prior to the switch to Lite) were White Wedding and any Journey song. LISTENERS would mention this. Good God.

Not to be outdone, Nassau now gives a spin a day to White Wedding on the Bone (107.1).

Never try to teach a pig to sing. It wastes your time and annoys the pig. ???
 
Re: Winter Book - WNAK off the charts...

...but not the good way.

SP07 1.2
SU07 1.3
FA07 0.5
WI08 *

Caliente? I don't think so. So, when are they going back to Adult Standards?
 
I Actually Think The Problem With "The Q" Is That It Needs To Come Into It's Own.

I Think Keith And Kerry Are Doing A Nice Job In The Morning (If You Haven't Heard Them, Give Them A Listen)

Some Tweaking And The Right Promotion Could Be What The Station Needs. From What I Hear a Lot Of

Workplaces Have Turned To Them For Something Fresher Than The Same Old Thing.
 
Keith and Kerry work well together. I only get to hear bits and pieces but it's a funny and entertaining show and well worth checking out!
 
So Nassau's stations tanked pretty much across the board? Hmm. Hey Lou, paying attention yet?

You can't drive a hatchback into a brick wall and then wonder why the headlights aren't working anymore.
 
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