Sounds like they’re back to the old playlist this morning. Tell it to my heart from Taylor Dayne followed by Straight Up from Paula Abdul. I’m sure Madonna will be on the way before 8:30.
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WOGL Rebrands at Big 98.1
- Thread starter Route 222
- Start date
They seem to be dayparting it out. Morning drive had very little 90s and was like the WOGL of a week ago. Now it looks like they’re back to the rotation they had Friday and over the weekend.
So funny that you chose Genesis for your example. I always turn off a radio or stream whenever Phil Collins comes on. He just irks me! 🤣
That's a lotta female pop from 1989!
The ladies of the eighties 😉
Isn't it ironic? My brother just messaged me complaining that "98.1 sure is playing a lot of Prince." I explained to him what's going on (because otherwise, honestly, why would he notice if I didn't?); how when a station launches, they tend to play a small, repetitive library so people tuning in to "test the waters" will always hear a song that tests well. But then I thought: This isn't a station launch; they just gave the thing a name. And no one is tuning in to test the waters because probably the only people who even know that the station has a name are people who were already tuning in to 98.1 every day because they liked what they were hearing. And even they probably haven't noticed--or don't care--that it's calling itself Big 98.1 now.
So I suppose what's actually happening is that WOGL gave itself a name and temporarily stripped their library down for the benefit of no one except their existing listeners--some of whom really might be turned off by the sudden repetition and lack of variety.
I read previous posts about how some find this rebranding to be haphazard, lazy, and to-the-station's-own-detriment...and I chuckled. But after my brother complained about the playlist--one day after a rebrand that he didn't know anything about--I'm now thinking those folks might actually be right on the money.
So I suppose what's actually happening is that WOGL gave itself a name and temporarily stripped their library down for the benefit of no one except their existing listeners--some of whom really might be turned off by the sudden repetition and lack of variety.
I read previous posts about how some find this rebranding to be haphazard, lazy, and to-the-station's-own-detriment...and I chuckled. But after my brother complained about the playlist--one day after a rebrand that he didn't know anything about--I'm now thinking those folks might actually be right on the money.
Another bit of irony: I've seen very few concerts in the past 5 years because (a) I'm hard of hearing and (b) #pandemic. But three concerts I have seen during that time were Madonna, Paula Abdul, and Taylor Dayne. Ladies of the '80s indeed!
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I wonder if they’re trying to “cleanse” listeners that are out of the demo by stressing certain songs that define the sound they are going for in high rotation? Would that be of any benefit, though?
This is an interesting way to rebrand a radio station, especially one that wasn’t doing *that* poorly (Audacy has classic hits and other stations doing worse in other markets like Phoenix and Dallas)
This is an interesting way to rebrand a radio station, especially one that wasn’t doing *that* poorly (Audacy has classic hits and other stations doing worse in other markets like Phoenix and Dallas)
If they are on a cleanse, it seems unwise. Get rid of the older listeners while annoying the ones you want by repeating the same songs 2 or 3 times a day? Again, this isn't a format launch; they're just sprucing up the library and they decided to give themselves a name. If they want to lose the older listeners, I would suggest they stick with a larger library but eliminate the much-older titles because the audience who's tuning in for them will naturally fall away. Or be buried.
I do miss "Oldies 98."
Although the jocks that were on then, who knows how many of them are still even alive, or not retired.
Guess we're getting old if we've seen stations playing older music drop two decades and add two decades.
Dropped the '50s and '60s, add the '80s and '90s.
Its been a slow transition.
Yes I know the demos etc...
Still, I liked the "Do It Again" jingles, or was it "Sing it again?"
and Charly Van Dike (I think that was the voiceover guy.
He was a pastor but did jingles for WOGL and WPVI-TV.
John
Although the jocks that were on then, who knows how many of them are still even alive, or not retired.
Guess we're getting old if we've seen stations playing older music drop two decades and add two decades.
Dropped the '50s and '60s, add the '80s and '90s.
Its been a slow transition.
Yes I know the demos etc...
Still, I liked the "Do It Again" jingles, or was it "Sing it again?"
and Charly Van Dike (I think that was the voiceover guy.
He was a pastor but did jingles for WOGL and WPVI-TV.
John
“So if you really love Elvis, there's a place for you on the app to get Elvis. But Elvis doesn't deserve to be on a mass appeal radio station anymore. He's more of a niche, and on that app are a ton of exclusive radio stations.”
Not sure if I agree with this. I still think there is a place in “mass appeal” radio that plays Elvis once a day. Assumption that is being made is people want to listen to music that was big when they were young. This ignores the fact many of us grew up hearing music our parents listened to. There is a lot of music I like that was released before I was born or when I was too young to be consciously aware of specific songs.
Not sure if I agree with this. I still think there is a place in “mass appeal” radio that plays Elvis once a day. Assumption that is being made is people want to listen to music that was big when they were young. This ignores the fact many of us grew up hearing music our parents listened to. There is a lot of music I like that was released before I was born or when I was too young to be consciously aware of specific songs.
I'm actually not a huge fan of Elvis...
The thing is yes. I can find any of this on streaming easily.
But to me what's missing is the personality.
And by personality, I mean everything from the DJ's, to the jingles, to the stations over-all sound.
All of these formats dont' have a 25/54 sellable demo, I get that.
But if I stream from Apple Music or whatever, there's just so many things missing from that experience.
Especially with that format.
WVLT is alive and well...
Like you I know a lot of music before my time and heard this stuff growing up along with the CHR and classic rock etc.
John
The thing is yes. I can find any of this on streaming easily.
But to me what's missing is the personality.
And by personality, I mean everything from the DJ's, to the jingles, to the stations over-all sound.
All of these formats dont' have a 25/54 sellable demo, I get that.
But if I stream from Apple Music or whatever, there's just so many things missing from that experience.
Especially with that format.
WVLT is alive and well...
Like you I know a lot of music before my time and heard this stuff growing up along with the CHR and classic rock etc.
John
Depends on what you call "mass appeal." It's been a long time since they played Elvis regularly on WOGL. I doubt he gets daily airplay on other Oldies stations, such as ME-TV FM. The stations that play mostly 50s-60s oldies are on AM and don't get the kind of ratings they're looking for at WOGL.
I wonder if the issues that have been apparently plaguing WOGL are plaguing other classic hits stations across the country?
iHeart tends to rebrand their classic hits stations a lot - 95.7 in Milwaukee, 106.7 in Portland, 93.3 in Columbus, 103.7 in San Francisco, and 95.7 in Seattle have all had multiple rebrands in the last decade between them.
It’s funny, WOGL was the big PPM success story when that system was first launched and led to a lot of stations flipping to classic hits. Now it seems to be weaker than those it helped spawn.
iHeart tends to rebrand their classic hits stations a lot - 95.7 in Milwaukee, 106.7 in Portland, 93.3 in Columbus, 103.7 in San Francisco, and 95.7 in Seattle have all had multiple rebrands in the last decade between them.
It’s funny, WOGL was the big PPM success story when that system was first launched and led to a lot of stations flipping to classic hits. Now it seems to be weaker than those it helped spawn.
Time marches on. If it stood still and no one aged, classic hits would be easier to program. The problem now is that, in order to reach sellable demos, they need to drift from what made them different. Their heritage audience doesn't want the station to change, but it has to in order to attract advertising. This is where art battles with commerce.
There are plenty of days that I wish that was the case, but the logistics of that would be off the charts problematic for overpopulation. Still, it's a nice thought for me that I would never wear down.
Oh, I don’t doubt that. I’m just wondering if this is a situation unique to WOGL or if other large market classic hits stations are having the same issue. Apparently it was bad enough for WOGL to have to rebrand and revamp everything. Will other stations follow?
At some point many will have to, because as the music & presentation changes, it becomes a different radio station.
I'm not sure the "big" brand is the best solution. It's not much different from using "now" with CHR.
And classic hits (going back to oldies) stations are about to face one of their biggest tests as they move nearly completely out of the late 70s and early 80s, which at some stations is already underway. They won’t be able to focus on the 80s forever which has been successful.
The 90s will be a tough decade to incorporate heavily due to the fragmentation. The AC material is too slow, the pop material aged pretty poorly, the rhythmic/hip hop material has done well on some of the throwback stations but is polarizing. I’m not sure how it would do up against alternative. As more have to lean in to the 90s, I suspect they’ll go for the alt and pop/rock material from that era since it seems to have had the best longevity. Other than a few hip hop hits that were big, that seems to be the direction most are going with what they’ve added so far. AC has been able to avoid big issues with the 90s by playing more from 2000-on, sprinkling in the well testing 90s songs, and filling the rest out with 80s. Most AC’s still play more 80s than 90s.
The Big branding is interesting. I’m doubtful they’ll get many new listeners from not calling themselves “WOGL.” It’s not like they were still heavy on the 70s and hadn’t touched the 90s, so anyone that would listen should know it’s not “oldies” in the traditional sense and hasn’t been for a long, long while. I don’t think the majority of the younger end of 35-54 was going “WOGL…oldies….no!” if they stop on the station for 10 minutes. Using that logic, almost all classic hits stations should be rebranding if it works. IMO there were deeper issues and reasons behind the performance as of late with WOGL than people associating it with Oldies 98.1 and tuning it out.
"Sussudio" is probably the only Collins vocal I like. Like some of the other hits of the summer of '85, it gives me nostalgia for that watershed season of my life.
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