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WKQX to Begin Using the Q101 Branding Again

Q101 is a brand with a lot of nostalgia and history behind it. The question is what Cumulus does with it and what identity they seek out for Q101 going forward. They couldn’t keep going with what they had, which may have had a role in why Jon departed last week. Either Jon didn’t believe in the brand purchase and restoration or they thought he was part of the problem.

I have to think they’ll either do a 91X-style nostalgia play, lean the station Active like it did during its final years, just coast on the branding while doing their current approach, or try to restore the spirit of Q101 during its glory days but simply updating the mission statement for 2022. Q101 had a lot of down years with their good ones and once the nostalgia wears off, if they have the wrong personalities and music on the air, this could crater in a hurry once the older listeners remember their gripes about the old Q101, and young listeners go “what was so good about this?”.

The last option probably has the highest ceiling but lowest floor because it involves taking chances and having music people with golden ears onboard. It’s the one I want to see them try, though. The ratings suck and they don’t have a lot to lose.
 
macattack said:
Q101 is a brand with a lot of nostalgia and history behind it. The question is what Cumulus does with it and what identity they seek out for Q101 going forward. They couldn’t keep going with what they had, which may have had a role in why Jon departed last week. Either Jon didn’t believe in the brand purchase and restoration or they thought he was part of the problem.
Click to expand...
I think it had more to do with Matt Dubiel long refusing to sell back the Q101 trademark and domain name. At one point Dubiel claimed (or the long-defunct Chicagoland Radio and Media blog misinterpreted) that 101.1 couldn’t go back to alternative rock or couldn’t hold the WKQX calls because of him owning the IP. Neither of which was correct.

Cumulus is claiming it took them four years to wrest the IP away from Dubiel, which I totally believe.
 
macattack said:
Q101 is a brand with a lot of nostalgia and history behind it. The question is what Cumulus does with it and what identity they seek out for Q101 going forward.
Click to expand...
That is a good question. I listened to the Q101 live stream for about a half hour, and all of the songs that I heard are classic alternative songs.

3:34 pm - "Bittersweet Symphony" (Radio Edit) - The Verve
3:38 pm - "Gone Away" - The Offspring
3:42 pm - "Don't Speak" - No Doubt
3:46 pm - "One Step Closer" - Linkin Park
3:49 pm - (commercial break)
3:50 pm - "Intergalactic" - Beastie Boys
3:53 pm - "A Girl Like You" - The Smithereens
3:58 pm - "Hate Me" - Blue October
4:02 pm - "Hey Man, Nice Shot" - Filter
4:07 pm - "The One" - Foo Fighters
 
It was there for almost 20 years with the Alternative format alone. That audience is quite passionate about their music. I will say that. The outcry when they took it off the first time around was intense. I think Merlin Media knew that when they put together Q87.7. Ratings were not great when they took Q101 off the air (Around the same 6+ numbers they have now), but the audience was there, it needed to be retooled and I believe they succeeded with Q87.7. I forgot what the first ratings were when it shifted to 101.1 in 2014, but it was the highest that frequency saw in at least a decade.
 
Marcos_C said:
That is a good question. I listened to the Q101 live stream for about a half hour, and all of the songs that I heard are classic alternative songs.

3:34 pm - "Bittersweet Symphony" (Radio Edit) - The Verve
3:38 pm - "Gone Away" - The Offspring
3:42 pm - "Don't Speak" - No Doubt
3:46 pm - "One Step Closer" - Linkin Park
3:49 pm - (commercial break)
3:50 pm - "Intergalactic" - Beastie Boys
3:53 pm - "A Girl Like You" - The Smithereens
3:58 pm - "Hate Me" - Blue October
4:02 pm - "Hey Man, Nice Shot" - Filter
4:07 pm - "The One" - Foo Fighters
Click to expand...
I don’t think the Q101 music stream has changed a damn thing since it activated in 2011. It’s been the same library of songs on shuffle with no attempt to reach into the 2010’s much less the 2020’s.
 
macattack said:
I don’t think the Q101 music stream has changed a damn thing since it activated in 2011. It’s been the same library of songs on shuffle with no attempt to reach into the 2010’s much less the 2020’s.
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I believe Matt got the station's music library that they had at the time (CDs) Whatever they had at the time is most of what they're playing. To get newer music, that would require a service and some research which I don't believe would be worth the time. As far as I can tell it was just parking the brand there in recent years.
 
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JeremyAndrews said:
I believe Matt got the station's music library that they had at the time (CDs) Whatever they had at the time is most of what they're playing. To get newer music, that would require a service and some research which I don't believe would be worth the time. As far as I can tell it was just parking the brand there in recent years.
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What was the reason behind this guy rejecting offers by Cumulus? It sounds like he only sold it because he had to or finally needed the $. For something that’s just parked, weird he would decline any offers for it unless they were unreasonably low or had something against Cumulus and had the $ to continue to block them.
 
101tm said:
What was the reason behind this guy rejecting offers by Cumulus? It sounds like he only sold it because he had to or finally needed the $. For something that’s just parked, weird he would decline any offers for it unless they were unreasonably low or had something against Cumulus and had the $ to continue to block them.
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Dude is running for Senate. Guessing that has something to do with it. He’s pretty hyper political on the Q101 social, so I’m not sure how much value the brand has, hopefully Cumulus got it cheap.
 
mnradiofan said:
Dude is running for Senate. Guessing that has something to do with it. He’s pretty hyper political on the Q101 social, so I’m not sure how much value the brand has, hopefully Cumulus got it cheap.
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One of Matt’s relatives (his brother?) owns WCKG 1530, 99% of the value coming from the attached FM translator.
 
Marcos_C said:
That is a good question. I listened to the Q101 live stream for about a half hour, and all of the songs that I heard are classic alternative songs.

3:34 pm - "Bittersweet Symphony" (Radio Edit) - The Verve
3:38 pm - "Gone Away" - The Offspring
3:42 pm - "Don't Speak" - No Doubt
3:46 pm - "One Step Closer" - Linkin Park
3:49 pm - (commercial break)
3:50 pm - "Intergalactic" - Beastie Boys
3:53 pm - "A Girl Like You" - The Smithereens
3:58 pm - "Hate Me" - Blue October
4:02 pm - "Hey Man, Nice Shot" - Filter
4:07 pm - "The One" - Foo Fighters
Click to expand...
The playlist above is likely from the online-only version of Q101: https://q101.com/
and Q101 playlist + Listen Live link.

The Cumulus radio station at https://www.101wkqx.com/
and 101WKQX On Air Playlist had this playlist for the same time period
on Monday 4/18/2022 - 3:34 PM to 4:08 PM CT:

Somewhere I Belong - LINKIN PARK - 4:08 PM
Creep - Radiohead - 4:04 PM
Enemy - Imagine Dragons - 4:01 PM
Habits - Tove Lo - 3:57 PM
Seven Nation Army - The White Stripes - 3:53 PM
My Love - Florence + The Machine - 3:50 PM
She - Green Day - 3:48 PM
Heat Waves - Glass Animals - 3:37 PM
Skin and Bones - Cage the Elephant - 3:34 PM

*****

It is no wonder why Cumulus wanted to get back the intellectual property - eliminate the competition and the confusion over the "Q101" branding which sent some people over to the online-only site instead of its own station site.
 
I wonder how much longer the “Q101” website will stay up since Cumulus is buying or has already bought the IP. I’m guessing the site will go away and start forwarding to the 101WKQX one since I’m sure they got the q101 domain until the on air change is made.
 
pjc1961 said:
The playlist above is likely from the online-only version of Q101: https://q101.com/
and Q101 playlist + Listen Live link.

The Cumulus radio station at https://www.101wkqx.com/
and 101WKQX On Air Playlist had this playlist for the same time period
on Monday 4/18/2022 - 3:34 PM to 4:08 PM CT
Click to expand...
I am aware of the differences between the playlists of 101 WKQX and Q101 Online during the time period, though I appreciate your posting WKQX's playlist for us. My question is how the new Q101 FM will differ from either the current incarnation of WKQX or Q101 Online.

pjc1961 said:
It is no wonder why Cumulus wanted to get back the intellectual property - eliminate the competition and the confusion over the "Q101" branding which sent some people over to the online-only site instead of its own station site.
Click to expand...
As NickD wrote, old brands die hard. In December 1987, then-CHR station WPLJ in New York changed its call sign to WWPR to match its Power 95 branding. Nevertheless, listeners still called the station WPLJ, and one year later, the station changed its call sign back to WPLJ.
 
101tm said:
I wonder how much longer the “Q101” website will stay up since Cumulus is buying or has already bought the IP. I’m guessing the site will go away and start forwarding to the 101WKQX one since I’m sure they got the q101 domain until the on air change is made.
Click to expand...
It’s all simple domain name server remapping to the Cumulus servers, the old Q101.com site will completely disappear into the ether. It wouldn’t take but a few hours at most.
 
Looks like things are starting to happen. The Q101.com website is now not loading anything, and all of the social media accounts have been shut down except for Twitter and Instagram which still use the Q101 handle but now say WCKG. The app still works for the stream but the last played info has stopped updating. The whois info shows the URL was last updated on 4/20.
 
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