• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

WLTJ

> What has caused WLTJ's ratings to drop so low? I think this
> is the lowest I have ever seen for WLTJ. thoughts?

For a few weeks we listened to WLTJ at my workplace. We all agreed that the "no repeat workday" only meant they didn't repeat any songs during a single day. However, Tuesday was almost a total repeat of Monday, and was repeated again on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. It was like listening to a good mix tape over and over and over. Even though we liked it the first few times, it eventually got old. So, we stopped listening to it, and have been trying other stations.

Therefore, I'd suggest that maybe we weren't the only people who find the music selection on WLTJ to be boring.
 
> > What has caused WLTJ's ratings to drop so low? I think
> this
> > is the lowest I have ever seen for WLTJ. thoughts?
>
> For a few weeks we listened to WLTJ at my workplace. We all
> agreed that the "no repeat workday" only meant they didn't
> repeat any songs during a single day. However, Tuesday was
> almost a total repeat of Monday, and was repeated again on
> Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. It was like listening to a
> good mix tape over and over and over. Even though we liked
> it the first few times, it eventually got old. So, we
> stopped listening to it, and have been trying other
> stations.
>
> Therefore, I'd suggest that maybe we weren't the only people
> who find the music selection on WLTJ to be boring.
>

Maybe they need some billboards.<P ID="signature">______________
"With God as my witness, I could have sworn turkeys could fly."</P>
 
> > > What has caused WLTJ's ratings to drop so low? I think
> > this
> > > is the lowest I have ever seen for WLTJ. thoughts?
> >
> > For a few weeks we listened to WLTJ at my workplace. We
> all
> > agreed that the "no repeat workday" only meant they didn't
>
> > repeat any songs during a single day. However, Tuesday was
>
> > almost a total repeat of Monday, and was repeated again on
>
> > Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. It was like listening to
> a
> > good mix tape over and over and over. Even though we liked
>
> > it the first few times, it eventually got old. So, we
> > stopped listening to it, and have been trying other
> > stations.
> >
> > Therefore, I'd suggest that maybe we weren't the only
> people
> > who find the music selection on WLTJ to be boring.
> >
>
> Maybe they need some billboards.
>
This is a prime example of why one of the Pittsburgh (FM) stations should go JACK-FM in January --- or something else. JACK-FM --- it's coming --- prepare yourselves!
 
> > > > What has caused WLTJ's ratings to drop so low? I
> think
> > > this
> > > > is the lowest I have ever seen for WLTJ. thoughts?
> > >
> > > For a few weeks we listened to WLTJ at my workplace. We
> > all
> > > agreed that the "no repeat workday" only meant they
> didn't
> >
> > > repeat any songs during a single day. However, Tuesday
> was
> >
> > > almost a total repeat of Monday, and was repeated again
> on
> >
> > > Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. It was like listening
> to
> > a
> > > good mix tape over and over and over. Even though we
> liked
> >
> > > it the first few times, it eventually got old. So, we
> > > stopped listening to it, and have been trying other
> > > stations.
> > >
> > > Therefore, I'd suggest that maybe we weren't the only
> > people
> > > who find the music selection on WLTJ to be boring.
> > >
> >
> > Maybe they need some billboards.
> >
> This is a prime example of why one of the Pittsburgh (FM)
> stations should go JACK-FM in January --- or something else.
> JACK-FM --- it's coming --- prepare yourselves!
>

I would think WLTJ would go the route of advertising first instead of JACK. It would indeed be a bit refreshing to see WLTJ on a billboard in Pittsburgh.

By the way, I am seeing in the trades that JACK stations are not only doing badly, but are switching formats fast.

Mr. Music
 
> > > > > What has caused WLTJ's ratings to drop so low? I
> > think
> > > > this
> > > > > is the lowest I have ever seen for WLTJ. thoughts?
> > > >
> > > > For a few weeks we listened to WLTJ at my workplace.
> We
> > > all
> > > > agreed that the "no repeat workday" only meant they
> > didn't
> > >
> > > > repeat any songs during a single day. However, Tuesday
>
> > was
> > >
> > > > almost a total repeat of Monday, and was repeated
> again
> > on
> > >
> > > > Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. It was like listening
>
> > to
> > > a
> > > > good mix tape over and over and over. Even though we
> > liked
> > >
> > > > it the first few times, it eventually got old. So, we
> > > > stopped listening to it, and have been trying other
> > > > stations.
> > > >
> > > > Therefore, I'd suggest that maybe we weren't the only
> > > people
> > > > who find the music selection on WLTJ to be boring.
> > > >
> > >
> > > Maybe they need some billboards.
> > >
> > This is a prime example of why one of the Pittsburgh (FM)
> > stations should go JACK-FM in January --- or something
> else.
> > JACK-FM --- it's coming --- prepare yourselves!
> >
>
> I would think WLTJ would go the route of advertising first
> instead of JACK. It would indeed be a bit refreshing to see
> WLTJ on a billboard in Pittsburgh.
>
> By the way, I am seeing in the trades that JACK stations are
> not only doing badly, but are switching formats fast.
>
> Mr. Music
>


I would think that the best reason for WLTJ not to go JACK is that it might hurt sister station WRRK to some degree.

Most JACK stations aren't doing badly. NYC is the exception.
 
> > > > > > What has caused WLTJ's ratings to drop so low? I
> > > think
> > > > > this
> > > > > > is the lowest I have ever seen for WLTJ.
> thoughts?
> > > > >
> > > > > For a few weeks we listened to WLTJ at my workplace.
>
> > We
> > > > all
> > > > > agreed that the "no repeat workday" only meant they
> > > didn't
> > > >
> > > > > repeat any songs during a single day. However,
> Tuesday
> >
> > > was
> > > >
> > > > > almost a total repeat of Monday, and was repeated
> > again
> > > on
> > > >
> > > > > Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. It was like
> listening
> >
> > > to
> > > > a
> > > > > good mix tape over and over and over. Even though we
>
> > > liked
> > > >
> > > > > it the first few times, it eventually got old. So,
> we
> > > > > stopped listening to it, and have been trying other
> > > > > stations.
> > > > >
> > > > > Therefore, I'd suggest that maybe we weren't the
> only
> > > > people
> > > > > who find the music selection on WLTJ to be boring.
> > > > >
> > > >
> > > > Maybe they need some billboards.
> > > >
> > > This is a prime example of why one of the Pittsburgh
> (FM)
> > > stations should go JACK-FM in January --- or something
> > else.
> > > JACK-FM --- it's coming --- prepare yourselves!
> > >
> >
> > I would think WLTJ would go the route of advertising first
>
> > instead of JACK. It would indeed be a bit refreshing to
> see
> > WLTJ on a billboard in Pittsburgh.
> >
> > By the way, I am seeing in the trades that JACK stations
> are
> > not only doing badly, but are switching formats fast.
> >
> > Mr. Music
> >
>
>
> I would think that the best reason for WLTJ not to go JACK
> is that it might hurt sister station WRRK to some degree.
>
> Most JACK stations aren't doing badly. NYC is the exception.

WCBS has tanked. JACK stations are trickling down and from my radio contacts at Clear Channel, they won't touch the format. Infinity jumped on that bandwagon and look at what JACK stations have been doing. They are flat at best. And, there are indeed a JACK station flipping every week or so. I see it in the trades.

Mr. Music
 
> > What has caused WLTJ's ratings to drop so low? I think
> this
> > is the lowest I have ever seen for WLTJ. thoughts?
>
> For a few weeks we listened to WLTJ at my workplace. We all
> agreed that the "no repeat workday" only meant they didn't
> repeat any songs during a single day. However, Tuesday was
> almost a total repeat of Monday, and was repeated again on
> Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. It was like listening to a
> good mix tape over and over and over. Even though we liked
> it the first few times, it eventually got old. So, we
> stopped listening to it, and have been trying other
> stations.
>
> Therefore, I'd suggest that maybe we weren't the only people
> who find the music selection on WLTJ to be boring.
>
I usually listen to WLTJ on the replay weekends. I enjoy a lot of the 70s' and 80s music. It would be nice if WLTJ changed their slogan to a no repeat work week?
 
> > > > > > > What has caused WLTJ's ratings to drop so low?
> I
> > > > think
> > > > > > this
> > > > > > > is the lowest I have ever seen for WLTJ.
> > thoughts?
> > > > > >
> > > > > > For a few weeks we listened to WLTJ at my
> workplace.
> >
> > > We
> > > > > all
> > > > > > agreed that the "no repeat workday" only meant
> they
> > > > didn't
> > > > >
> > > > > > repeat any songs during a single day. However,
> > Tuesday
> > >
> > > > was
> > > > >
> > > > > > almost a total repeat of Monday, and was repeated
> > > again
> > > > on
> > > > >
> > > > > > Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. It was like
> > listening
> > >
> > > > to
> > > > > a
> > > > > > good mix tape over and over and over. Even though
> we
> >
> > > > liked
> > > > >
> > > > > > it the first few times, it eventually got old. So,
>
> > we
> > > > > > stopped listening to it, and have been trying
> other
> > > > > > stations.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Therefore, I'd suggest that maybe we weren't the
> > only
> > > > > people
> > > > > > who find the music selection on WLTJ to be boring.
>
> > > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > > Maybe they need some billboards.
> > > > >
> > > > This is a prime example of why one of the Pittsburgh
> > (FM)
> > > > stations should go JACK-FM in January --- or something
>
> > > else.
> > > > JACK-FM --- it's coming --- prepare yourselves!
> > > >
> > >
> > > I would think WLTJ would go the route of advertising
> first
> >
> > > instead of JACK. It would indeed be a bit refreshing to
> > see
> > > WLTJ on a billboard in Pittsburgh.
> > >
> > > By the way, I am seeing in the trades that JACK stations
>
> > are
> > > not only doing badly, but are switching formats fast.
> > >
> > > Mr. Music
> > >
> >
> >
> > I would think that the best reason for WLTJ not to go JACK
>
> > is that it might hurt sister station WRRK to some degree.
> >
> > Most JACK stations aren't doing badly. NYC is the
> exception.
>
> WCBS has tanked. JACK stations are trickling down and from
> my radio contacts at Clear Channel, they won't touch the
> format. Infinity jumped on that bandwagon and look at what
> JACK stations have been doing. They are flat at best. And,
> there are indeed a JACK station flipping every week or so.
> I see it in the trades.
>
> Mr. Music
>

I can't think of any JACK stations that have flipped out of the format. Can you name any? I'm not saying it's never going to happen, but at this stage there are stations flipping to Variety Hits not away from it.

Some of the more established JACK stations such as in Dallas are trickling down. But most of the newer JACKS are doing good right out of the gate. I could list the specific stations if you would like. I'm not a cheerleader for the format, but it's early success in several markets can not be denied.
 
> Maybe they need some billboards.

No, when you have a new or improved product that customers don't know about, then you need to advertise it heavily. If your product has gotten old and stale, then you need to fix your product.

The Froggy Stations had a good product, but not enough customers knew about it, so they needed advertising.

WLTJ's product has gotten old and stale, so they need to work on the product, not the advertising.

I'm surprise that so few people understand such a simple marketing concept.
 
>


Mr. Music ---

Maybe you could get ONE of your facts straight. CC uses MAX, etc.,
Jack is screwed up because of bad music/marketing for the NYC demo, straight
and simple, they need more edge instead of late 70's - 80's white
classic rock, LA is #1 25-54, as is Nashville. Most of the stations
are climbing, but yes some are down slightly. There are NEW Jack stations
flipping TO Jack, none away. Whoever your low level friend at CC is
telling him to get some good info. While I am not convinced Jack is
the exact longterm solution to radio problems ahead, it at least
opens to door to more diverse music playlists instead of the same
old formats and 50-100 song playlist. What is amazing is that people
are posting absolute false info on this board and accepting it as
fact when the ratings and format changes are tracked nationally.
and published in black and white.

Will a Jack flip at some point? YES. You can be the first to tell
everybody. Should WCBS go back to Oldies? I think they should. Not
many agree with me on that for various reasons. But, I am not posting
it as if they have flipped back to Oldies.

Check out the Variety Hits board here on R-I.com. The stats (while
partial and pretty accurate) are there for the world to see about
Jack, etc.
 
Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the "Jack" format more of a description of how the songs are presented than a definition of the songs themselves? Can't a station play pretty much any collection of songs, regardless of what musical genre those songs come from, and as long as there are no DJ's then the format they're using is called "Jack"?

> Mr. Music ---
>
> Maybe you could get ONE of your facts straight. CC uses MAX,
> etc.,
> Jack is screwed up because of bad music/marketing for the
> NYC demo, straight
> and simple, they need more edge instead of late 70's - 80's
> white
> classic rock, LA is #1 25-54, as is Nashville. Most of the
> stations
> are climbing, but yes some are down slightly. There are NEW
> Jack stations
> flipping TO Jack, none away. Whoever your low level friend
> at CC is
> telling him to get some good info. While I am not convinced
> Jack is
> the exact longterm solution to radio problems ahead, it at
> least
> opens to door to more diverse music playlists instead of the
> same
> old formats and 50-100 song playlist. What is amazing is
> that people
> are posting absolute false info on this board and accepting
> it as
> fact when the ratings and format changes are tracked
> nationally.
> and published in black and white.
>
> Will a Jack flip at some point? YES. You can be the first to
> tell
> everybody. Should WCBS go back to Oldies? I think they
> should. Not
> many agree with me on that for various reasons. But, I am
> not posting
> it as if they have flipped back to Oldies.
>
> Check out the Variety Hits board here on R-I.com. The stats
> (while
> partial and pretty accurate) are there for the world to see
> about
> Jack, etc.
>
 
> >
>
>
> Mr. Music ---
>
> Maybe you could get ONE of your facts straight. CC uses MAX,
> etc.,
> Jack is screwed up because of bad music/marketing for the
> NYC demo, straight
> and simple, they need more edge instead of late 70's - 80's
> white
> classic rock, LA is #1 25-54, as is Nashville. Most of the
> stations
> are climbing, but yes some are down slightly. There are NEW
> Jack stations
> flipping TO Jack, none away. Whoever your low level friend
> at CC is
> telling him to get some good info. While I am not convinced
> Jack is
> the exact longterm solution to radio problems ahead, it at
> least
> opens to door to more diverse music playlists instead of the
> same
> old formats and 50-100 song playlist. What is amazing is
> that people
> are posting absolute false info on this board and accepting
> it as
> fact when the ratings and format changes are tracked
> nationally.
> and published in black and white.
>
> Will a Jack flip at some point? YES. You can be the first to
> tell
> everybody. Should WCBS go back to Oldies? I think they
> should. Not
> many agree with me on that for various reasons. But, I am
> not posting
> it as if they have flipped back to Oldies.
>
> Check out the Variety Hits board here on R-I.com. The stats
> (while
> partial and pretty accurate) are there for the world to see
> about
> Jack, etc.
>


Good post. I'm surprised that people who have enough interest in radio to post on message boards don't take the time to read the trades (at least the headlines), keep up with format changes, check the ratings, etc. If you don't do these things, you are just giving opinons based on raw emotion instead of any kind of emperical or logical perspective.
 
> >
>
>
> Mr. Music ---
>
> Maybe you could get ONE of your facts straight. CC uses MAX,
> etc.,
> Jack is screwed up because of bad music/marketing for the
> NYC demo, straight
> and simple, they need more edge instead of late 70's - 80's
> white
> classic rock, LA is #1 25-54, as is Nashville. Most of the
> stations
> are climbing, but yes some are down slightly. There are NEW
> Jack stations
> flipping TO Jack, none away. Whoever your low level friend
> at CC is
> telling him to get some good info. While I am not convinced
> Jack is
> the exact longterm solution to radio problems ahead, it at
> least
> opens to door to more diverse music playlists instead of the
> same
> old formats and 50-100 song playlist. What is amazing is
> that people
> are posting absolute false info on this board and accepting
> it as
> fact when the ratings and format changes are tracked
> nationally.
> and published in black and white.
>
> Will a Jack flip at some point? YES. You can be the first to
> tell
> everybody. Should WCBS go back to Oldies? I think they
> should. Not
> many agree with me on that for various reasons. But, I am
> not posting
> it as if they have flipped back to Oldies.
>
> Check out the Variety Hits board here on R-I.com. The stats
> (while
> partial and pretty accurate) are there for the world to see
> about
> Jack, etc.
>

Tibbs-

I'll have to dig it up for you about a few stations that I saw that did indeed flip from Jack to Newstalk. I'm kind of busy on Monday and Tuesday, but, I'll make an effort to find it for you.

Meanwhile, this is from the Washington Post regarding a Jack station that slid in ratings:

"The introduction of a broader playlist last spring on adult contemporary WRQX-FM ("Mix 107.3") did little to arrest its slide. The station fell from a tie for 13th among local stations to 15th, despite a much-promoted move to a format known in the industry as "Jack," offering a wider mix of oldies and new music. A similar switch to "Jack" by New York powerhouse station WCBS-FM earlier this year has produced similarly tepid results, suggesting the format may be failing in its mission to combat the movement of listeners away from radio to iPods and other program-it-yourself listening."

From my talks with my CC higher up, he says they won't put a JACK station on in Pittsburgh. I'll have to ask him about MAX and how CC uses that format.

Can you shed some light on that for me?

Thanks Tibbs.

Mr. Music
 
Yes and no. The playlist is usually about 1,200 songs overall.
Most are from the late 70's, heavy on the 80's and
the some 90's and even a few from 2000+. I honestly
have looked at so much info on the music that I'll
have to go back as see what a few of the fringe
format stations (like LA or San Diego) are doing
as opposed the overall "middle America" format.
In a sense, some stations skew for a younger
audience or more female and play more Madonna,
etc. if you understand. I know one of the CA
stations is doing that, but I haven't looked
at that since May or June and I can't remember (old.)
Overall, the stations should try to cater to the holes
in the market and shift accordingly if they
are in markets 1-40 & 44. Otherwise, they are
on the ABC sat. system and that takes away
the unique city-by-city sound, which I think
is not a positive move, but that's just an
educated opinion at this point, as it's just
weeks into that agreement.

Jack makes it flexible, which makes it fun and
makes it possible to really focus toward the
competition and away from in-house stations
formats, if done properly. Why WCBS is not
catching the demo/music shift mode and increasing
in ratings is beyond me. I've been researching
that very problem and it's SO obvious. I wonder
what they are waiting for....

I'll check out DC.
 
>
> I'll have to dig it up for you about a few stations that I
> saw that did indeed flip from Jack to Newstalk. I'm kind of
> busy on Monday and Tuesday, but, I'll make an effort to find
> it for you.
>

I haven't heard of any of this. Let me know. You may be hearing
that variously formatted stations (maybe called variety hits,
mix, etc.) flipped to NT. But, as for stations using the "Jack"
moniker, I know of none that have disappeared.Yet.



> Meanwhile, this is from the Washington Post regarding a Jack
> station that slid in ratings:
>
> "The introduction of a broader playlist last spring on adult
> contemporary WRQX-FM ("Mix 107.3") did little to arrest its
> slide. The station fell from a tie for 13th among local
> stations to 15th, despite a much-promoted move to a format
> known in the industry as "Jack," offering a wider mix of
> oldies and new music.

If you copied this form the Post, I see where you would get this
confusion. Jack is more of an attitude, a voice using Howard
Cogan from Canada. There are usually NO live jocks. The playlist
is extensive and covers music from the late 70's, lots of 80's
and a fair amount of the 90's and dips into the 00's. This wider
music offering on Mix is NOT at all Jack like. Their published
playlist is a little 80's, more 90's and today. They are a Hot
Adult Contempoary format (sounds like leaning a little more
AAA geared toward women, and hoping to pull a point or two
from men.) It seems like they are no where close to a Jack
station at all, so the paper was totally wrong. That should
help you. A drop from 13t to 15 isn't a major slide. Granted
it ain't good. I didn't check the power of the station or
whether ABC is even spending $$$ to market, but you have to
advertise (BB & TV) most AC based stations to keep the going.



A similar switch to "Jack" by New York
> powerhouse station WCBS-FM earlier this year has produced
> similarly tepid results, suggesting the format may be
> failing in its mission to combat the movement of listeners
> away from radio to iPods and other program-it-yourself
> listening."
>

Mix 107.3 and Jack (WCBS) are vastly opposite in almost every
way.


> From my talks with my CC higher up, he says they won't put a
> JACK station on in Pittsburgh. I'll have to ask him about
> MAX and how CC uses that format.

Truthfully, tell him to BEG that they don't do a MAX. So
far, all I have heard is bad, bad and worse. They are miserably
formatted and have NO staying or building power. Jack is the
only VH franchise I'd SERIOUSLY consider at this time for
multiple station use.
>
> Can you shed some light on that for me?

Hope that helps. Not trying to beat ya up (below) I just want
you to know the facts.


>
> Thanks Tibbs.
>
> Mr. Music
>
<P ID="edit"><FONT class="small">Edited by tibbs on 10/24/05 01:19 AM.</FONT></P>
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom