Call me crazy but, watch this be a stunt for CMA Fest. Eryn is still there. Breezy is still in the building (i think). All social pages are still up. I'm seeing other people on social media going with this theory as well. Like previously stated, the name sounds like a gimmick.
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WNFN Goes Classic Country
- Thread starter TheBigA
- Start date
Classic Country is an extremely hard product to sell. While it may appear Classic Country would sell well in Nashville, look at your demographics. It is a perfect urban signal with a more rural/regional type format. While that may not pose a problem with listenership, it will most likely affect their sales efforts. I hope it works well for them. They are wonderful operators and I hope this station gets eventually to the same quality sound as Jack and Mix as it relates to Imaging, Music, etc. It is wonderful music and it would be awesome to hear more "Country Music" in Nashville. IF they "DO" 106.7 up like 96.3 and 92.9, I believe by Christmas they will have the #1, #2 and #3 Stations in the Market.
Real country is 80s and 90s. This looks like it's primarily 90s with 1 80s song an hour.
WSM-FM also plays 2000s, which is different from WNFN.
It can be, but this is primarily 90s country, which appeals to people in their 30s and 40s. That's the sales sweet spot.
Evidently NOT "permanent." The Planet didn't even last all the way through to the end of '98! I remember them actually changing formats WHILE I was listening to them! The only time that that ever happened when I DIDN'T expect it (no advance news of it, or anything like that).
Joe Breezy said his farewell message on social media about an hour ago. Hot is done. Could still be a CMA stunt. If it lasts past Monday, most likely it's permanent. If so, they need to get the imaging under control. It sounds so cheap as previously mentioned.
Yes, there is a good crowd of people that age that follow 90's Country, but for the most part if you were 30 in 1993 and line dancing, etc... you are now 63. If you were 45, you are now 75. Shewww. Time Flies! While I personally believe that is worth something and a great demographic to hit, Advertisers, generally speaking are not interested in. I believe they are missing out on the best demographic to exist, but I am not buying-only selling
However, if you were 10 driving in your mom's car listening to Chattahoochee, this is the music you grew up with. They're now in their 30s and 40s. It's more about reaching those people than the line dancers. There are a lot of those younger people, because country in the 90s became huge, selling hundreds of millions of records. Garth Brooks is able to sell out concerts for years in advance. He's as popular today as he was 30 years ago. Same with Shania. And their audience isn't in their 60s.
Better chance of Mix 92.9 flipping to Hip Hop.
What does a stunt for CMA fest do if it's going back to CHR? All you do is piss off current listeners AND advertisers and alienate the new listeners.
The format change is certainly a legitimate one (i.e. not a stunt), but I sure do hate the cheesy brand name that was selected for the new station. Midwest does country or classic country in nearly all of the markets where it owns stations. Nashville was one of a select few markets where no such station existed within its cluster.
This new format should pose little to zero threat to harming the strong ratings of its highly successful sister stations, so it's complementary in that regard. It will reach some listeners that those stations do not currently reach. That said, I am hard pressed to see this station doing better than, say, a 1.5 or 2.0 share. Nash Icon is programmed in astute fashion.
Personally, I would've liked to have seen Hot stick around, but with more of a focus on library titles similar to shifts made by some other CHR stations (such as B96 Chicago and Z93 in Traverse City, MI) in recent weeks.
This new format should pose little to zero threat to harming the strong ratings of its highly successful sister stations, so it's complementary in that regard. It will reach some listeners that those stations do not currently reach. That said, I am hard pressed to see this station doing better than, say, a 1.5 or 2.0 share. Nash Icon is programmed in astute fashion.
Personally, I would've liked to have seen Hot stick around, but with more of a focus on library titles similar to shifts made by some other CHR stations (such as B96 Chicago and Z93 in Traverse City, MI) in recent weeks.
MarkW - good post. It is for real. It needs some focus and my guess is you will see more 80's pull in the "mix (Can I say that?) as it evolves. Midwest has never "gotten" Nashville. Jack and Mix are pretty much locally produced/programmed but some of the small market mindsets have been implemented by default, so that probably is the only large negative. No one can mess (or should) with Barbara Bridges beautiful, cool magical masterpieces on Rosedale. Hot wasn't. Here's a couple of interesting things that may help
feed the logic.
First, Planet and all the other 300+ formats way back when don't matter, because its just been since Midwest took over that the 50kw signal is upgraded and pushing the suburbs, where it was previously lacking and really holding back complete success. So, now it can stand on it's own and needs to do just that.
Second, my guess is the branding is NOT an in-house decision or creative move, because Nashville does NOT generally like the y'all and hick/hillbilly gimmicks. No one from Davidson county walks around barefooot or in damn fake cowboy hats. That branding seems like it was impulsive to change the format.
Third, Hot was taking a few Mix listeners. WSM-FM was knocking on the door of 10 shares and so you have to do your best to protect yourself and The River and CHR are obviously no threat and the revenue wasn't there for Hot.
Fourth, it was time to flip two years ago. In fact, it was 100% guaranteed. Burt was tired, music was not hot and the demo was far removed from Jack and Mix, so it did mix well. It needed a fix and classic hits, classic rock, or rock was not an option. So, once Ya'll is perfected and exact from the inside, they will steal a point or two from WSM-FM, maybe SIX and we won't mention the other station that is country.
Firepoint...I am scared to hear the dial in Memphis this week. That threads gonna light up, my friend.
feed the logic.
First, Planet and all the other 300+ formats way back when don't matter, because its just been since Midwest took over that the 50kw signal is upgraded and pushing the suburbs, where it was previously lacking and really holding back complete success. So, now it can stand on it's own and needs to do just that.
Second, my guess is the branding is NOT an in-house decision or creative move, because Nashville does NOT generally like the y'all and hick/hillbilly gimmicks. No one from Davidson county walks around barefooot or in damn fake cowboy hats. That branding seems like it was impulsive to change the format.
Third, Hot was taking a few Mix listeners. WSM-FM was knocking on the door of 10 shares and so you have to do your best to protect yourself and The River and CHR are obviously no threat and the revenue wasn't there for Hot.
Fourth, it was time to flip two years ago. In fact, it was 100% guaranteed. Burt was tired, music was not hot and the demo was far removed from Jack and Mix, so it did mix well. It needed a fix and classic hits, classic rock, or rock was not an option. So, once Ya'll is perfected and exact from the inside, they will steal a point or two from WSM-FM, maybe SIX and we won't mention the other station that is country.
Firepoint...I am scared to hear the dial in Memphis this week. That threads gonna light up, my friend.
Hey Tibbs, I was just thinking about you. How do you think this will affect the folks at Cumulus? Are they more or less likely to now flip KDF to rock?
Wife is trying to set it up on my phone so that I can listen to what is left of FM 100 in Memphis tomorrow morning. If not, I can listen online. I tried to listen online just a few minutes ago, but I am so far out of their demographic anymore that listening to them is a chore for me now!
(fire/jh) That's why I love you sir! - you came east, but never left memphis. I respect that.
biga - my guess is they will sure be having some meetings on monday with the three people left working at the actual cumulus office in that little soon to be sold building so they can build a 60-story tower on the skid row side of music row. actually it's a dead end part complete with high fences and weeds, so that part is done.
my guess (guaranteed to be wrong) is they will laugh it off as a bad mistake and not remember that it's not a potential competitor and at this point it probably is not. so, no. they will pat themselves on the parts of their backs with no stab marks and call it the day.
meanwhile, another $15k in daily revenue on a premium stick will just magically float away down the murky waters of the Cumberland River along with all the straw hats, plastic cups, beer cans and condoms from another weekend of nashville nights on broadway.
i am totally sober. i need ct to correct all these mistakes.
biga - my guess is they will sure be having some meetings on monday with the three people left working at the actual cumulus office in that little soon to be sold building so they can build a 60-story tower on the skid row side of music row. actually it's a dead end part complete with high fences and weeds, so that part is done.
my guess (guaranteed to be wrong) is they will laugh it off as a bad mistake and not remember that it's not a potential competitor and at this point it probably is not. so, no. they will pat themselves on the parts of their backs with no stab marks and call it the day.
meanwhile, another $15k in daily revenue on a premium stick will just magically float away down the murky waters of the Cumberland River along with all the straw hats, plastic cups, beer cans and condoms from another weekend of nashville nights on broadway.
i am totally sober. i need ct to correct all these mistakes.
I never really left Memphis, but Memphis left me!
As for the station that we are discussing here, I can't help but notice that they are STILL using the call letters (WNFN) that they had from their days as a sports talk station. I wonder if anyone else here remembers that!
Wouldn't put it past them to PLAY the occasional hip-hop song, but change to it full-time? No way!
It’s almost like call letters don’t matter much nowadays. 🤔
I remember the morning they switched in December 2004. Well...it was noon. Actually at that time...the zone was a hodge podge of talk and sports. If anything....the Fan.made the Zone focus on being All Sports. Hard to believe it lasted almost 5 years.
I would have flipped it to 80’s new wave/Classic alt (like iheart’ s Alternative Rewind or SXM’s First Wave) …but I know…it would probably flop. 106-7 The Wave ….I can pretend…
This Y’all 106-7 ….don’t even get me started.
This Y’all 106-7 ….don’t even get me started.
That would have put them pretty close to being what they were back when they were the Planet. They were never better than that.
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