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WJBR - Cancelling Holiday Music

G

Gotgizmo

After emailing both Chuck Danico (PM), and Diana Beasley, Diana informed me that Christmas will no longer returning to WJBR.com. She gave me an option to listen to their sister station Sunny 106.3 out of Fort Myers.

What do you think?
 
I'm sure whoever is overseeing WJBR.com is overworked and has more important things to do with profitable radio stations than an HD2 and internet station. I wouldn't be surprised if WJBR.com comes to an end next year. B 101 will have Christmas Music soon and depending where you are, you may also be able to pull in Christmas Music from WLEV 100.7 out of the Lehigh Valley.
 
Sirius/Xm has several Christmas music stations on already plus many more on their app. if you go to Radio-Locator.com so far they have a list of 51 stations all over the country already playing Christmas music that can be streamed. I saw WJJR in Rutland, Vermont…you could pretend they are saying WJBR!
 
I know I can find Christmas music anywhere online. Iheartchristmas plays all year around. It’s the evolution that radio is dying. I consider it an HD2 station all they have to do is plug the songs in and hit play. It’s a piece of nostalgic history and the fact that they kept it alive. I bet half the people on here don’t know what the call letter is actually mean. Clearly, they were both named after the owners, but the JBR stands for just beautiful radio. And yes, I’m a little peeved because I enjoy the music mix on WJBR during the holiday season because it not only played the traditional songs that we have all grown and loved, but it also played the songs that we haven’t heard in years, the same songs that you won’t hear on B101 or 100.7 WLEV.

So forgive me if I’m a little salty about this, because I’m watching radio die right in front of me. And I personally feel bad for the younger generations that are not gonna be able to listen to those Christmas shows with DJs talking about XY&Z. At this point, I already deleted off all of wjbr.com presets that I had in my car, their app, and on my iHeartRadio app. I’m just tired of supporting stations that this don’t give a bleep about there listeners.

Hell, I still miss the song bumpers at the end of every song on B101. You know what I’m talking about after the song played it will come up, saying payphone by Maroon 5.

Radio is dying and I guess I’m just not ready to say goodbye, but I think it’s time.
 
Gotgizmo said:
Radio is dying and I guess I’m just not ready to say goodbye, but I think it’s time.
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Keep in mind that radio is not a living thing. It's based on an audience. The audience doesn't stay the same. It ages and changes and adapts to circumstances around it. So the audience for what you consider radio is aging. In some cases, that audience has died. An entire new audience has grown up with different experiences and memories. They see radio completely differently. Radio stations are adapting to those new expectations.

The station you're talking about was sold two years ago. Since then, the programming and call letters have changed. They retained the use of the letters for an online station, but it's totally automated. It's not what it was before the sale, even though it has that name. In that way, that station has "died," although it isn't a living thing, except in the memories of people.

What you're talking about isn't new. The radio your parents grew up with changed as they got older. At some point, it no longer spoke to them, and they stopped listening. Consider the generation that grew up on network radio before TV. The kind of radio they heard was completely gone by the 1970s. To them, radio was dead. This idea of a DJ playing recorded music was not as exciting as hearing live bands or radio drama. They couldn't understand why young people were willing to listen to pre-recorded music. But that's what happened. It became the experience of people who grew up with that kind of radio. Now there are other experiences and ways to hear music. What was done before is seen as obsolete.

So to your point, the music is still there. It exists in whatever way you want it to exist. As others have said, it's up to you to find new places where you can experience radio the way you remembered it.
 
Consider the generation that grew up on network radio before TV. The kind of radio they heard was completely gone by the 1970s.
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Actually, there was a very interesting if short-lived revival of radio drama in the 1970s: CBS Radio Mystery Theater, Zero Hour, Sears-Mutual, etc.
An old-school easy listening format on a subchannel, translator, or AM station might actually make sense in a whaddaya-got-to-lose way these days.
 
Chad-Stevens said:
Actually, there was a very interesting if short-lived revival of radio drama in the 1970s: CBS Radio Mystery Theater, Zero Hour, Sears-Mutual, etc.
An old-school easy listening format on a subchannel, translator, or AM station might actually make sense in a whaddaya-got-to-lose way these days.
Click to expand...

Yes it also led to NPR's amazing radio production of Star Wars in the 80s.

 
Thank you for all your responses. As someone who never worked in radio, I’m very passionate about local radio. I grew up to Q102 Hit 8 at 8. Can’t tell you how many times I won that Hot 8 at 8 contest. I believe the last time I won off the Hot 8 at 8, the #1 song was No Diggity by Blackstreet. I won a digital camera from B101 during one of the best Christmas ever prizes. Madonna tickets from Sunny 104.5. Back stage passes for the B182 back yard BBQ at the Tweeter Center, and got my first tattoo from Preston, Marilyn, & Steve on Y100.

Saddest day was when Y100 went off the air, hearing that dead silence. Followed by End of the Road by Boyz II Men on 99.5 WJBR.

Music changes, listening habits change, listeners change, and we are all here for this crazy ride.

One little side note, I noticed since Kathy has taken over B101, has anyone else noticed that it’s more upbeat music and less soft listening? I could be far from correct with this, but if they were going to reformat B101 to more of a Today’s Variety Station (like how they ran 101.1 MoreFM). To maybe swing a couple listeners away from WMMR, it would be a good time to do it after the holiday book. Dump the “Relax & Unwind” slogan to Today’s Variety on Philly’s B101. This could open them up to tweaking Big 98.1 to a more relaxing music, which would be more brand for WOGL, which people still call it 98.1 WOGL or Oldies 98.

Anyway, enough of my rambling. If you would like to chime in on tweaking the sounds on the stations . I personally think having a more today’s variety mix on B101 would match Kathy much better in the long run for the health of the show, and if they want to nationally syndicate her show. By doing this, they slowdown the tempo at Big 98.1 and utilizing the brand in a better fashion. As for me, the music sounds the same on Big 98 as it does on B101. I’m not a rocket scientist, but having two stations with similar styles and music in the same market, is not adding listeners, but splitting your listeners to two different stations. I don’t see how that gets them more advertisers. Again, I’m not on radio, so feel free to correct me, or give me a behind the scenes sneak peak on how a PM and management program a station.

JP
 
Chad-Stevens said:
Actually, there was a very interesting if short-lived revival of radio drama in the 1970s: CBS Radio Mystery Theater, Zero Hour, Sears-Mutual, etc.
An old-school easy listening format on a subchannel, translator, or AM station might actually make sense in a whaddaya-got-to-lose way these days.
Click to expand...
CBS Mystery Theater was the best. 10:05 Eastern on your local CBS affiliate. So well done and hosted by the amazing EG Marshall.
 
Gotgizmo said:
Thank you for all your responses. As someone who never worked in radio, I’m very passionate about local radio. I grew up to Q102 Hit 8 at 8. Can’t tell you how many times I won that Hot 8 at 8 contest. I believe the last time I won off the Hot 8 at 8, the #1 song was No Diggity by Blackstreet. I won a digital camera from B101 during one of the best Christmas ever prizes. Madonna tickets from Sunny 104.5. Back stage passes for the B182 back yard BBQ at the Tweeter Center, and got my first tattoo from Preston, Marilyn, & Steve on Y100.

Saddest day was when Y100 went off the air, hearing that dead silence. Followed by End of the Road by Boyz II Men on 99.5 WJBR.

Music changes, listening habits change, listeners change, and we are all here for this crazy ride.

One little side note, I noticed since Kathy has taken over B101, has anyone else noticed that it’s more upbeat music and less soft listening? I could be far from correct with this, but if they were going to reformat B101 to more of a Today’s Variety Station (like how they ran 101.1 MoreFM). To maybe swing a couple listeners away from WMMR, it would be a good time to do it after the holiday book. Dump the “Relax & Unwind” slogan to Today’s Variety on Philly’s B101. This could open them up to tweaking Big 98.1 to a more relaxing music, which would be more brand for WOGL, which people still call it 98.1 WOGL or Oldies 98.

Anyway, enough of my rambling. If you would like to chime in on tweaking the sounds on the stations . I personally think having a more today’s variety mix on B101 would match Kathy much better in the long run for the health of the show, and if they want to nationally syndicate her show. By doing this, they slowdown the tempo at Big 98.1 and utilizing the brand in a better fashion. As for me, the music sounds the same on Big 98 as it does on B101. I’m not a rocket scientist, but having two stations with similar styles and music in the same market, is not adding listeners, but splitting your listeners to two different stations. I don’t see how that gets them more advertisers. Again, I’m not on radio, so feel free to correct me, or give me a behind the scenes sneak peak on how a PM and management program a station.

JP
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One of the DUMBEST and I mean dumbest moves was abandoning the More FM branding and bringing back B 101. Jerry Lee did tons of research and made it More FM for a reason. It changed back because...allegedly David Field's wife didn't like the More FM name.
 
XCountry285 said:
They are #1 in the ratings in Wilmington their home market.
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12+ numbers? Doesn't tell us everything the new owners will take into account.

Maybe, with the decline of CHR in general nationwide, they intend to go after a different demographic.

I don't claim to know any more than you do, but I do see where the industry as a whole is going, I have seen ownership changes lead to format changes that the average armchair quarterback thinks make no sense, and nothing is set in stone anymore.

You've essentially opened the door to discussing what may be in play here with your original question. It is indeed unusual for a CHR to go all-Christmas, and I am basing my comments on that odd circumstance.
 
WSTW has always straddled the line of CHR/Hot AC for years, tilting back and forth as needed. WSTW (As far as I know) is the #1 billing station in Wilmington. With Philly stations blasting in, I don't see any other openings for a format change. What they're doing is working. They're just going after a piece of the Christmas $$ pie now with WJBR gone for a while
 
atthestars said:
WSTW has always straddled the line of CHR/Hot AC for years, tilting back and forth as needed. WSTW (As far as I know) is the #1 billing station in Wilmington. With Philly stations blasting in, I don't see any other openings for a format change. What they're doing is working. They're just going after a piece of the Christmas $$ pie now with WJBR gone for a while
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Aren't they and 103.7/96.9 WXCY the only commercial FMs with a primary focus on Wilmington? Being #1 isn't exactly impressive.
 
Heard three hours of WSTW's Christmas music Friday in a place where I volunteer. They have pre-recorded announcements at least once per hour that include something along the lines of "the best music variety will return Dec. 26." One of the variations included a montage of music which would fit Hot AC ... but could also fit a bright AC.
Another observation: earlier in the week, during a different three-hour shift, I heard B-101's Christmas music. I liked WSTW's better ... but I'm not their demographic ... I'm too old and the wrong gender. WSTW's seemed less repetitive and better balanced (B-101's seemed to suffer from the same songs within that three-hour period by different artists) and WSTW's was more "traditional" ... fewer contemporary artists and more from 50+ years ago.
Draper's Hot AC in Salisbury, WBOC-FM, did not flip to all Christmas. Maybe Draper just sees an opportunity in Wilmington for Christmas music? Add to that, that there's only one Philly all-Christmas station, and WSTW puts a very good signal into most of Chester and Delaware Counties and into south Jersey ... WSTW does make a point of mentioning Chester, Delco and Salem County communities on air.
 


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