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wjsz's mistake

A

austingrace

So, i know this topic is kinda late, but, i have to say, when wsjz (pirate 95.9) made the genius move to playing classic rock instead of new rock they lost a listener in me. i wonder what the motive behind that was? for a few years, pirate was number one on my radio. I loved. it made me think of the old jrr. now pirate is just like whtq in orlando witch comes in down there anyway. so, i heard a format change over there? last time i was in palm bay 2 weks ago, pirate was still classic rock. i don't live in palm bay anymore witch i'm glad. but when i did, i listened to pirate. so you can say what you think or whatever. i just want to know people's take on this. i remember dxing from orlando hoping to hear pirate everytime
i visited.
 
Re: wsjz's mistake

I too listened to WSJZ whenever I visited Palm Bay. I liked the mix of old and new rock. There are not too many of those stations left anymore. But their owned by one of the monolopys and when a counsultant speaks, they listen. WSJZ's ratings were not all that great from the start in the Melbourne & Fort Pierce books, but since the change to all fossil rock they're now even worse. All the more reason I have Sirius.
 
"Fossil rock" seems to do okay on WHTQ... hell, WHTQ does better in the Melbourne ratings than WSJZ does. So playing "fossil rock" in and of itself is not the problem.

The way I see it, Pirate 95.9 has 3 problems.

1.) Playlist. Everyone loves to complain that WHTQ plays the same songs over and over and over and over and over, and quite frankly, yes, they do. And yet a lot of people still listen to WHTQ, because they play the hits, and those songs were hits for a reason: because they're good. In contrast, WSJZ seems like they're trying to avoid that accusation by playing a much broader playlist, but that just means they're playing fewer of the songs that were #1 with a bullet and more of the songs that were #39 with an anchor. When I'm punching through all of my pre-sets in the car, very rarely do I hit the button for 95.9 and think "Oooooh, THAT song! I'm cranking this up!" I do that a LOT with WHTQ. Hey, is liking Led Zeppelin a crime? Go ahead, play "Misty Mountain Hop" once an hour. 8)

2.) Mancow. Don't get me wrong, he does a good show, but he breaks format big-time. It's a talk show on a music station. Rush Limbaugh does a good show too, but I wouldn't put him on mid-days on a classic rocker either. Whatever you do for the morning show, at least play some music. Stay in-format. Morning drive is the most important daypart, and breaking format there is insane.

3.) DJs. I actually kinda liked DeNiro on 107, but when they paired him up with Callahan, DeNiro always sounded miserable. Callahan just sounded amateur... if it weren't for him also being the PD, he never would've been in either drive-time slot. Black Beard is okay but nothing special. Larry McKay is... well... better than dead air I guess, but nothing special. But that station has never had even a single DJ that really stood out or sounded special. They may as well go jockless if this is really the best they can come up with.
 
sorry. reversed the calls in the title of the topic. andway, i've met denero and he seems like a nice guy. there is another important point that has been left out that i should have mentioned in the first place. pirate's signal. now, they had a good format back when they started out but i think one reason behind the bad ratings was the signal. hell, you have trouble hearing pirate in coca beach. but whatever, that station is down the tubes now and i don't listen to them anymore. i used to listen to them on line but now you can forget it. i wil give them one thing though. they have a broader playlist than htq but that's it.
 
They are moving the tower north a bit and going higher so expect a much improved signal and freshened format later this year.
 
Paperbill's got it right. The signal is fine. The problem is the location of the tower, which is way down in Indian River County. It's too far south to cover the entire Brevard market, but it's too far north to cover the entire St. Lucie/Indian River market, so they're stuck in-between. And that hurts their numbers in both markets. Just to be silly for a moment... they could be the most popular station in Melbourne for all we know, but the market is all of Brevard County, not just Melbourne. So if nobody can hear them north of the Pineda Causeway, their ratings will look like crap.

Makes it difficult to get an objective feel for just how popular the station truly is, and also makes it difficult to sell the station to advertisers.

Come to think of it, 99.7 Jack-FM has kinda the same problem there.

But anyway... even if Pirate moves the tower north, they'll still have the same 3 problems I mentioned before, with the only difference being that people in Titusville will start posting on here about how bad Pirate is instead of just people in Melbourne. Moving the tower's not enough.
 
if they were wise they would capitalize on the lack of a station playing newer rock music...JRR has had success in brevard over the past few years, so the audience is there! all it would take is a newer format, and for goodness sakes, some DJ's who don't sound like they are on the brink of depression!...
 
ok. your going to have to forgive me. i am visually impaired and bad with directions. had no idea that pirate's stick was in indian river county. that would explain why there signal is lost just north of cocoa. that makes sence. plus they are 25 kw. now that makes perfect sence to me. had no idea. anyway, i hope they modify the format and move the signal like someone mentioned. that would help and hire better djs. the audience is there just make the right adjustments and there will be good ratings.
 
If they want to play fossil rock of the 70s then they will always have bad ratings. They should play Hard on Sat nights list of bands mixed up with some of todays Disturbed,Godsmack, etc etc.
 
Heh... that's the second person now who has stated that "fossil rock" = "low ratings."

That's news to WHTQ, I'm sure. They pulled a 4-share in the last Brevard book... not exactly utter domination, but better than a kick in the pants any day.

WHTQ plays a narrow "fossil rock" playlist that's heavy on the hits. 4-share.

WSJZ plays a broader "fossil rock" playlist with fewer hits and more obscure filler. 0.8-share.

"Fossil rock" is not the problem. It's all about the playlist. Play the hits. WHTQ gets it. WSJZ doesn't.
 
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