I heard a rumor that 92.9 WLTJ will soon be flipping to country. My cousin told me and believes it but I couldn't see it happening because Keymarket's Froggys and Y108 take up the market and another country station wouldn't work. Then again I don't know anything. What are your opinions?
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WLTJ going Country?!?!
- Thread starter ChancellorDukat
- Start date
Does you cousin know anything about a radio or does he stand outside 7-Eleven spitting into a cup?
He works in the radio industry here in Pittsburgh.
J
Johnny Morgan
Guest
Interesting suicide should the rumor be true. Would probably affect Froggy, but would leave Y108 EVEN STRONGER. You have two relative newcomers, one with a marketing scheme that's getting old, battling each other for what may well be the scraps of country audience.
Meanwhile, the 45 year old females who listen to Lite Rock turn the dial up one or two twists to 3WS or Wish. Without batting an eye.
It's inestimatably hard to get the Y108 fans to change their channel. If it was, Froggy would have succeeded by now.
Meanwhile, the 45 year old females who listen to Lite Rock turn the dial up one or two twists to 3WS or Wish. Without batting an eye.
It's inestimatably hard to get the Y108 fans to change their channel. If it was, Froggy would have succeeded by now.
If they did, that would be awesome, meerly due to the death of the froggies. What would happen if the froggies flipped? What would they do with the 3 outlying signals?
I see on WLTJ's website that the PD is Chuck Stevens. I wonder if this is the same Chuck Stevens that was PD of K105 in Youngstown. If this is true, he'd be a great PD for a country flip.....he PDed K105 to some rock solid #1s in the Youngstown market, and they're still #1 despite moving the studios to Youngstown from Salem.
3 County stations in one market? Thats a stretch. But maybe a flip to "Punk Country" would work. Remember the old TM Tomorrow Radio disc from the 70's? 
"I wanna whip your cow, show me how! Vatt the h*ll is this punk country!..yadda yadda yadda...and Garner Ted always paid his bills on time!" ;D
"I wanna whip your cow, show me how! Vatt the h*ll is this punk country!..yadda yadda yadda...and Garner Ted always paid his bills on time!" ;D
J
Johnny Morgan
Guest
That's an idea, Jim...
Anyone think an "All Garner Ted, All the Time" format would work?
Anyone think an "All Garner Ted, All the Time" format would work?
I could see a flip of some sort for a couple of reasons... they cannibalized some of LTJ's core with Bob-FM, and LTJ's base is getting old.
If they were going to go country, yes, Chuck Stevens does have that background, and I bet they think they can do it better than the frogs. John Gallagher also worked at WEEP-AM when it was the big country signal in the market, and Gary Love was half of the morning team at WDSY with Keith James. Also, 92.9 is one of the better signals in the market, as opposed to a bunch of little signals
And if you didn't go mainstream country, the "Outlaw Country" format (with all apologies to Radio Realist, but this is the only way I know how to describe stuff like this), which would play current country along with southern rockers like Skynyrd and Charlie Daniels, as well as some rock artists such as John Mellencamp, might do better in the Burgh than anywhere else.
Crowded or not, the country audience has more passion and loyalty than any AC format can now muster. Might work.
If they were going to go country, yes, Chuck Stevens does have that background, and I bet they think they can do it better than the frogs. John Gallagher also worked at WEEP-AM when it was the big country signal in the market, and Gary Love was half of the morning team at WDSY with Keith James. Also, 92.9 is one of the better signals in the market, as opposed to a bunch of little signals
And if you didn't go mainstream country, the "Outlaw Country" format (with all apologies to Radio Realist, but this is the only way I know how to describe stuff like this), which would play current country along with southern rockers like Skynyrd and Charlie Daniels, as well as some rock artists such as John Mellencamp, might do better in the Burgh than anywhere else.
Crowded or not, the country audience has more passion and loyalty than any AC format can now muster. Might work.
R
Radio_Realist
Guest
"And if you didn't go mainstream country, the "Outlaw Country" format (with all apologies to Radio Realist, but this is the only way I know how to describe stuff like this), which would play current country along with southern rockers like Skynyrd and Charlie Daniels, as well as some rock artists such as John Mellencamp, might do better in the Burgh than anywhere else."
No need to apologize. I am, after all , a music fan, and I see a real difference between a station that plays "Outlaw Country" and a station that plays "Country Variety". The only thing I have a problem with is stations that say "Country Variety" when they mean "Country Variety #7, and ONLY variety #7". A station with the music format you describe would be as different from the current country stations as K-Rock is from WDVE. And though radio pros might think those two stations are playing the same thing, based on the playlists carried on Yes.com, those two stations offer us listerners two very obviously different choices.
I don't know if a country/rock hybrid like "Outlaw Country" would work or not, but it is something that I don't recall ever being tried here. It strikes me that such a station would not only take some country fans away from the country stations, but might also pull some fans of classic southern rock away from WDVE.
No need to apologize. I am, after all , a music fan, and I see a real difference between a station that plays "Outlaw Country" and a station that plays "Country Variety". The only thing I have a problem with is stations that say "Country Variety" when they mean "Country Variety #7, and ONLY variety #7". A station with the music format you describe would be as different from the current country stations as K-Rock is from WDVE. And though radio pros might think those two stations are playing the same thing, based on the playlists carried on Yes.com, those two stations offer us listerners two very obviously different choices.
I don't know if a country/rock hybrid like "Outlaw Country" would work or not, but it is something that I don't recall ever being tried here. It strikes me that such a station would not only take some country fans away from the country stations, but might also pull some fans of classic southern rock away from WDVE.
Snafu said:
I do remember in 1993 when the Burgh had Three Country Stations. K Bear on 100.7, The Rebel on 104.7 and DSY at 107.9. K Bear lasted until September of 1994, which was changed to the Point 100.7 at that time. The Rebel lasted until August of 1995, which was flipped to the short lived alternative station The Revolution.
With that in mind, I can't see 92.9 LTJ flipping to Jack FM. We already have BOB FM on 96.9 and Jack FM is nearly the same format as BOB. 92.9 and 96.9 are both owned by Steel City Media and I don't think the Burgh would have two variety hits stations owned by Steel City Media. I wouldn't be surprised if 92.9 does go to some outlaw country format, because it hasn't been tried before. I think if this were to happen, 92.9 could hurt the frogs.
Todd said:
Yeah, but that was during the very scary "Garth Brooks Owns the World" era. Which is no longer. Thank you, God.
How about an all-emo format? ;D
I do remember in 1993 when the Burgh had Three Country Stations. K Bear on 100.7, The Rebel on 104.7 and DSY at 107.9. K Bear lasted until September of 1994, which was changed to the Point 100.7 at that time. The Rebel lasted until August of 1995, which was flipped to the short lived alternative station The Revolution.
With that in mind, I can't see 92.9 LTJ flipping to Jack FM. We already have BOB FM on 96.9 and Jack FM is nearly the same format as BOB. 92.9 and 96.9 are both owned by Steel City Media and I don't think the Burgh would have two variety hits stations owned by Steel City Media. I wouldn't be surprised if 92.9 does go to some outlaw country format, because it hasn't been tried before. I think if this were to happen, 92.9 could hurt the frogs.
As someone who was part of the original Rebel 104.7 lineup, I can say that at that time, Pittsburgh was capable of supporting three country stations. Country had crested that wave the next year, and had started to fall off in listenership the year after that. Can it do so now? I think so. One reason is because of the aging demographic we have in the Pittsburgh market. You have a lot of 50 plus listeners who don't listen to CHR or even AC anymore because they can't relate to the music. The beauty of country is that you don't need MTV or VH1 to relate to the song. Almost every country music song you hear on the radio tells a story that a listener can relate to. Rebel had a hybrid of both contemporary and outlaw country music that was palatable.
I say if Legend (dba Steel City Media) is capable of taking their well-established rocker and changing it to a gimmick format, then they're also capable of taking their well-established AC they've had since 1984 and taking it country. They certainly have the signal to make it work. On the other side, when the Jack format is dead, they can kill off Bob and put an AC format on it and know it will work, since that's what they've done so well all this time.
With that in mind, I can't see 92.9 LTJ flipping to Jack FM. We already have BOB FM on 96.9 and Jack FM is nearly the same format as BOB. 92.9 and 96.9 are both owned by Steel City Media and I don't think the Burgh would have two variety hits stations owned by Steel City Media. I wouldn't be surprised if 92.9 does go to some outlaw country format, because it hasn't been tried before. I think if this were to happen, 92.9 could hurt the frogs.
As someone who was part of the original Rebel 104.7 lineup, I can say that at that time, Pittsburgh was capable of supporting three country stations. Country had crested that wave the next year, and had started to fall off in listenership the year after that. Can it do so now? I think so. One reason is because of the aging demographic we have in the Pittsburgh market. You have a lot of 50 plus listeners who don't listen to CHR or even AC anymore because they can't relate to the music. The beauty of country is that you don't need MTV or VH1 to relate to the song. Almost every country music song you hear on the radio tells a story that a listener can relate to. Rebel had a hybrid of both contemporary and outlaw country music that was palatable.
I say if Legend (dba Steel City Media) is capable of taking their well-established rocker and changing it to a gimmick format, then they're also capable of taking their well-established AC they've had since 1984 and taking it country. They certainly have the signal to make it work. On the other side, when the Jack format is dead, they can kill off Bob and put an AC format on it and know it will work, since that's what they've done so well all this time.
kenhawk1160 said:
This is really more a music related comment than a station related comment.
I absolutely fail to understand why someone who has listened to rock or pop music for the first 50 years of their life would suddenly switch to country instead of a classic rock station. Honestly, I think they'd go to WJAS before country as WJAS plays The Carpenters and things like that.
As for country not needing video - if anything, it seems like country is relying on videos MORE than rock or pop. Shania Twain springs to mind. And obviously you haven't watched MTV or VH1 for a while as actual videos are few and far between. They certainly aren't driving what's on the radio stations anymore.
I guess I'm not a neutral observer as I pretty much loathe all of today's country and pseudo-country. Now if you give me a station with Johnny Cash, Loretta Lynn, Charlie Rich, Lynn Anderson - aka the stuff I heard every week on Hee Haw as a young 'un - I'm there, dude.
R
Radio_Realist
Guest
"I absolutely fail to understand why someone who has listened to rock or pop music for the first 50 years of their life would suddenly switch to country instead of a classic rock station."
As a musician, I think I can explain that. All musical genres evolve and change. What used to be called "country" is now called "bluegrass", and relegated to stations like 1110 AM in Washington, PA. What is called "country" today is music that would have been called "rock" two decades ago. The dividing line between older rock, especially "Southern" rock, and modern country is so blurry that many people can't even see it. If you visit local bars with local live bands playing, you'll find that many of them play setlists that bounce between classic rock songs and modern country songs, and it's impossible to tell them apart.
Sure, the vocals in country songs do have that "twang", but the instrumental parts sound very similar to classic rock instrumentals. Not that many non-musicians can tell the difference between the sounds of a Stratocaster (traditionally a rock guitar) and a Telecaster (traditionally a country guitar).
If I had a dollar for every time I heard a fellow classic rock fan who heard a few hours of modern country music on the radio and then said "that stuff ain't near as bad as I thought it would be, in fact it's pretty good", I'd have several dollars.
As a musician, I think I can explain that. All musical genres evolve and change. What used to be called "country" is now called "bluegrass", and relegated to stations like 1110 AM in Washington, PA. What is called "country" today is music that would have been called "rock" two decades ago. The dividing line between older rock, especially "Southern" rock, and modern country is so blurry that many people can't even see it. If you visit local bars with local live bands playing, you'll find that many of them play setlists that bounce between classic rock songs and modern country songs, and it's impossible to tell them apart.
Sure, the vocals in country songs do have that "twang", but the instrumental parts sound very similar to classic rock instrumentals. Not that many non-musicians can tell the difference between the sounds of a Stratocaster (traditionally a rock guitar) and a Telecaster (traditionally a country guitar).
If I had a dollar for every time I heard a fellow classic rock fan who heard a few hours of modern country music on the radio and then said "that stuff ain't near as bad as I thought it would be, in fact it's pretty good", I'd have several dollars.
All musical genres evolve and change. What used to be called "country" is now called "bluegrass", and relegated to stations like 1110 AM in Washington, PA.
Thank you, Realist. Today's country music has its roots in early rock, rather than hillbilly, as it was called back in the days of Hank. My parents, who both grew up listening to the Beach Boys, Elvis, etc. don't find the simplicity that attracted them to rock n' roll in the first place. Though some artists are trying to get back to the basics (John Mayer and Michael Buble are good examples), country has pretty much maintained a constant.
As for you, corporateradiosucks, you're using crossover country music artists as an example, like Shania Twain, Faith Hill, etc. I'm talking modern country artists that have stayed true to their music, like George Strait, Travis Tritt, Terri Clark, and others that you won't hear on rock or AC stations.
More than that, no one SUDDENLY changes their tastes in music so dramatically. It evolves. A person may start listening to CHR, then Hot AC, then AC, then oldies, and then country. It's a protracted chain of changing tastes.
Thank you, Realist. Today's country music has its roots in early rock, rather than hillbilly, as it was called back in the days of Hank. My parents, who both grew up listening to the Beach Boys, Elvis, etc. don't find the simplicity that attracted them to rock n' roll in the first place. Though some artists are trying to get back to the basics (John Mayer and Michael Buble are good examples), country has pretty much maintained a constant.
As for you, corporateradiosucks, you're using crossover country music artists as an example, like Shania Twain, Faith Hill, etc. I'm talking modern country artists that have stayed true to their music, like George Strait, Travis Tritt, Terri Clark, and others that you won't hear on rock or AC stations.
More than that, no one SUDDENLY changes their tastes in music so dramatically. It evolves. A person may start listening to CHR, then Hot AC, then AC, then oldies, and then country. It's a protracted chain of changing tastes.
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