Apropos of the earlier comments on WCMF, whatever the relative rankings of the station in its prime demos may have been, its actual AQH share 12+ was off a full share point in the latest book, showing me Wease's absence has indeed begun to hurt.
You also have to wonder if Warm 101's strong winter book numbers will hold now that the new owner has screwed up the chemistry of one of the area's most successfui morning shows.
The Drive sounds as automated as it is. No human pulse. And in terms of music, what is it? AAA? Active rock? Hot AC? Can't get a handle on it in the limited listening I've done before getting bored with it. If ever a station needed a transplant of live personality, the Drive is it.
Music format stations all over the market seem to be in serious flux. One thing that jumps out at you is the degree to which WDKX just owns the 12-34 demos, urban and suburban, despite its relatively weak signal. They are strong in the way WBBF and WAXC were strong with young listeners in the 70s, and their demographic profile looks markedly similar to what pre-1975 WAXC was doing...and formatically they are almost like the WAXC of the 21st Century, personality and service-driven, fast paced and playing the music young people from all parts of the metro are listening to. They're clearly pulling boatloads of listeners away from the traditional contenders in young demos, 98 PXY and Kiss 106.7. If they had a full-market-coverage Class B signal they might well be #1 12+, and even as it is, they're safely in the top 3. They're just doing a better job of mixing personality, service and the kind of music most under-30s are listening to today. (If I were the Langstons I'd be watching for the next Class B signal to come up on the block--my guess is it'll be from the Clear Channel cluster, maybe the sagging Drive 100.5--and move WDKX's callsign and intellectual property to it, while making the existing 103.9 signal the market's first Latino format station. What a powerhouse that would be, dominating the young market AND the fastest-growing demo in the market all at once.)
Buzz seems to be softening even though it's not falling in relative ranking in the market--wonder if this is at least partly the effect of losing Brian Robinson from the afternoon there? CMF isn't the place for him, the format doesn't let him do enough. He belongs in either a CHR, hot AC or maybe even a hot talk format...or maybe he should be moved to mornings to be the ringmaster of the CMF morning show.
WHAM remains formidable overall on the strength of Chet and Beth in the morning, with Lonsberry, Matthews and the 5 O'Clock News also helping out some. The syndicated stuff they run? Not worth what they're paying for it. No, not even Limbaugh, he's past his peak. Next door in Buffalo WBEN tops the market (and scoots past WYRK) because it is predominantly local from early in the morning to late in the evening. As long as WHAM doesn't do that, it won't be #1. Interesting that no other commercial station is challenging it given its vulnerability--how many markets has a noncomm as its clear #2 news-talker, other than Rochester, and maybe Washington and Boston? In the interest of full personal disclosure, I hope that never changes, of course....
