WNCI, WCKX, WBNS radio rant!

[Rainmaker]

WBNS 97.1
Is it just me or did is seem when WBNS 97.1 first came on in Columbus, they did much better when they played lots of 90's top40 music. They sound like a rapless version of WNCI, but with the pop music in the top 40 chart and 90's pop music in the mix. WBNS even had a 6. something in the rating.

I think WBNS should stay Hot AC, get cooler DJ's, dump the 80's music, and just be "Today and 90's Hits" they might do better.
Do people in Columbus really want to hear so much 80's music?


WNCI 97.9
They have always avoid all rap music in the 90's and early 2000. Up to today they have started to play a little more rap music, but still very little.
Some Top 10 chr/pop rap hits that have got VERY little or no airplay on WNCI have been:

Jay-Z: Bonnie & Clyde (6 on chr/pop)
Ja Rule: Always On Time (5 on chr/pop)
Juvenile: Slow Motion (10 on chr/pop)
Busta Rhymes & Mariah Carey: I Know What You Want (4 on chr/pop)
Missy Elliott: Gossip Folks (8 on chr/pop)
Lose Control (7 on chr/pop)
Chingy: Right Thurr: (5 on chr/pop)
Cam'ron: Hey Ma: (6 on chr/pop)
50 Cent: 21 Questions (6 on chr/pop)
Ludacris: Stand Up (9 on chr/pop)
Lil John and the Eastside Boys: Lovers And Friends (10 on chr/pop)
OutKast: Roses (5 on chr/pop)
Bow Wow feat Ciara: Like You (9 on chr/pop) He is from Columbus, Ohio yet, they can play rock group "Saving Jane" over and over.

I guess "E-40 feat T-Pain" U And Dat never hit top 20 on the chr/pop chart. LOL! Then they play "Getto Superstar" by Pras from 1998 (it did not even go top ten), more than top ten hits.

Then there are the Pop/Dance song that have done well on Chr/Pop, but were also play VERY little or no airplay on WNCI have been:

T.A.T.U: All The Things She Said (8 on chr/pop)
Cascada: EveryTime We Touch (7 on the chr/pop)
Daniel Bedingfield: Gotta Get Thru This (3 on chr/pop)
ATC: Around The World (10 on the chr/pop)
Kevin Little: Turn Me On (4 on chr/pop)

Why does WNCI do this? Even after 5:00 pm most of these song got very little or no airplay. Dayton, Cincinnati, Toledo,and Cleveland chr/pops can play these songs and rap music, but WNCI can't? Lots of rock-type and Hot AC music they play.


WCKX Power 107
Could label themself as a Chr/ Rhythmic. They play lots of hits that are not just on the Urban chart. WCKX are more like: WDHT Dayton, KBXX Houston, WMBX West Palm Fl, WPHI Philadelphia, WJHM Orlando and KTTB Minneapolis. Just about every song that have been on the Chr/ Rhythmic chart, but Paula Deanda and Frankie J have been played on WCKX. Half of the stations out there that are label as Rhythmic, do not even play them. They are a mix of both Urban and Chr/Rhythmic.

Just talking........

 

[pbf1]

Opinions are like (you know what), and there was more proof.

WBNS needs 80's for W30-44. Yes, there are people who like the 80's. Many. Wasn't long ago Friday Night 80's had monster shares on WNCI. Add Dantzer to that mix, and you have exactly what you need to be what WNCI was 7 or 8 years ago, which is something W35-44 will be MUCH more comfortable listening to than WNCI.

WNCI doesn't program to national charts, so your info is totally irrelevant. Now try doing callout to their core, and pay particular attention to those who spend some time cuming WBNS. "But nationally this works" is useless, if it doesn't work in C-town.

WCKX is owned by Radio One, which prides itself on its focus on the African-American community. And they own WDHT and KTTB, so OF COURSE you'll see some similarity.

 

[KevinFodor]

I'm not going to attempt to second-guess WNCI's programming. There's certainly no argument that they've been on a slide of late.

However, I do find it interesting that CHR/Pop chart statistics are being used to support this discussion.

Why? A song can be #3 on the Radio & Records chart and, depending upon how you do your callout research, can show signs that a demo your station is very interested in doesn't like that song. In fact, songs that routinely peak at #8,
#9, #10 are considered, by some stations standards, stiffs.

Yes, you can make the argument that WNCI (and other stations) don't pay enough attention to the 12-24 year olds (the audience that is most quickly abandoning terrestrial radio). On the other hand, most stations would argue that very few ad buys come from the 12-24 year old demo. Will this be a case of "penny wise, dollar foolish"? Only time will tell. And yes (sorry, teens and young adults), hip hop music can be very polarizing the older the audience gets. This is changing, but very slowly. If a station is concerned about "the money demo" (25-54) in any way, that station will limit their play of hip hop.

WNCI has always been a station that "straddled the middle" between Sunny 95 and
a true CHR. Whether this is a good strategy today given the polarization of today's music could be debated. Nonetheless, I would suspect their research is telling them to stay away from certain songs for reasons only they could comment.
Which they, understandably, wouldn't and shouldn't.

 

[alans613]

Amen, brother!

I'm not going to attempt to second-guess WNCI's programming. There's certainly no argument that they've been on a slide of late.

However, I do find it interesting that CHR/Pop chart statistics are being used to support this discussion.

Why? A song can be #3 on the Radio & Records chart and, depending upon how you do your callout research, can show signs that a demo your station is very interested in doesn't like that song. In fact, songs that routinely peak at #8,
#9, #10 are considered, by some stations standards, stiffs.

Yes, you can make the argument that WNCI (and other stations) don't pay enough attention to the 12-24 year olds (the audience that is most quickly abandoning terrestrial radio). On the other hand, most stations would argue that very few ad buys come from the 12-24 year old demo. Will this be a case of "penny wise, dollar foolish"? Only time will tell. And yes (sorry, teens and young adults), hip hop music can be very polarizing the older the audience gets. This is changing, but very slowly. If a station is concerned about "the money demo" (25-54) in any way, that station will limit their play of hip hop.

WNCI has always been a station that "straddled the middle" between Sunny 95 and
a true CHR. Whether this is a good strategy today given the polarization of today's music could be debated. Nonetheless, I would suspect their research is telling them to stay away from certain songs for reasons only they could comment.
Which they, understandably, wouldn't and shouldn't.

 

[Nu_Roo_2]

I could comment on the NCI-SNY thing, but I don't want to go there...

As for 97.1, I don't know what you're talking about, Rainmaker. Take away weekends, and 97.1 plays a significantly LOWER percentage of 80's music than they did a year or two ago. For that matter, they play less 90's, too. (We apparently agree on that one.) Excepting weekends, they're just more current/recurrent-based overall than at almost any time during their 6+ years as a Hot AC. And its not working.

 

[MichaelMcCoy]

I could comment, too... but I won't...

 

[network]

I'm not going to attempt to second-guess WNCI's programming. There's certainly no argument that they've been on a slide of late.

However, I do find it interesting that CHR/Pop chart statistics are being used to support this discussion.

Why? A song can be #3 on the Radio & Records chart and, depending upon how you do your callout research, can show signs that a demo your station is very interested in doesn't like that song. In fact, songs that routinely peak at #8,
#9, #10 are considered, by some stations standards, stiffs.

Yes, you can make the argument that WNCI (and other stations) don't pay enough attention to the 12-24 year olds (the audience that is most quickly abandoning terrestrial radio). On the other hand, most stations would argue that very few ad buys come from the 12-24 year old demo. Will this be a case of "penny wise, dollar foolish"? Only time will tell. And yes (sorry, teens and young adults), hip hop music can be very polarizing the older the audience gets. This is changing, but very slowly. If a station is concerned about "the money demo" (25-54) in any way, that station will limit their play of hip hop.

WNCI has always been a station that "straddled the middle" between Sunny 95 and
a true CHR. Whether this is a good strategy today given the polarization of today's music could be debated. Nonetheless, I would suspect their research is telling them to stay away from certain songs for reasons only they could comment.
Which they, understandably, wouldn't and shouldn't.

Very well said. It's nice to see someone commenting on WNCI actually gets it...because it's to the point of nauseating seeing people who haven't a clue spewing.