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would the wezw format work in philly

O

oasisrulz

Guest
I have been listening on line, they sound really good if you like the softer oldies/ac, much different than all the repetitive stuff out there now....would this compete with the B and would YSP take a chance on it...
 
Depends on the definition of "work." Someone could let it run with virtually no money coming in, but if they were content with that, it might meet your definition of "working." But having an impact on the ratings and making any serious cash? No.
 
Sunny 104.5 played too many uptempo/disco-oriented songs to be a true soft AC in the style of Magic in Albany or WDUV Tampa for people who wanted 'background' music. But this format now is too old-demographics to return now. WHAT is a very good MOR/soft oldies/personality mix and the ratings are very poor, even compared to their past formats.
 
I believe a Philly FM station with this format would get high ratings . WDUV (Tampa) is the #1 rated station in the country offering this format.

Sunny 104.5 was soft but it wasn't quite like this nor like WDUV. Sunny and the old WMGK were definitely more contemporary AC stations.


WEZW needs to fine-tune their playlist- I contacted the station music director, Rob Garcia and recommended that he contact WDUV or just visit their website as you can pretty much grab their playlist from their web page. - WDUV plays just the right mix - if WEZW follows their lead, they'll do very well too as would a station in Philly.
 
WHAT is a very good MOR/soft oldies/personality mix and the ratings are very poor, even compared to their past formats.

I was under the impression that WHAT was holding their own and doing OK in the ratings, despite having the worst signal on the planet of any AM'er...granted, if they were on a full powered FM signal they would crack the top 5.....believe it....but I know, the demos, hard to sell to us old goats, yadda yadda yadda....

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GOOD POINT - Tampa demographics swing old... easy to sell to Funeral Homes difficult to sell to Amusement Parks.

My friend describes WDUV as the station that plays music for those at the end of their life.. kind of makes me feel old as I sort of like the station
 
Years ago there was a station in Orlando, Florida with that same format. It was a Leesburg move-in and was called Y 106 with the call letters WHLY. The format was all hit based, but played only the softer hits from the late 60s and 70s with an occassional "B" side airing usually once every two hours. Typical artist heard on Y 106 were the Carpenters, Bread, America, Billy Joel, Simon and Garfunkel, Cary Simon, Barbara Streisand, Neil Diamond, Helen Reddy, Barry Manilow and so on. WHLY, like WDUV, did very well in the ratings and in ad revenues cash flow. I'm not sure how well a format of that type would do today in Philadelphia, but I do know where I am in Florida it does quite well.
 
I'd think the "WEZW" format would do well, as both Philly and Wilmington have significant Boomer populations that would like to hear that music again. You don't only need to approach nursing homes and funeral parlors for spots either. Boomers are still buying all sorts of things including cars, smaller homes - as they downsize for their eventual retirement, clothes, shoes, CD's of music, computers, MP3 players, I-phones, DVD players and DVD's, time sharing places for vacations, RV's for travel, pizza, eating out at restaurants in our local area -many of us seem to enjoy eating out, food as many of us also like cooking and shop at local supermarkets, kitchen gadgets for those cooks, home heating oil/gas, and related products, and on and on.

Most boomers have discretionary money to spend. Radio and their advertisers don't seem to want to target our dollars for their businesses. I find it hard to believe in a market the size of Philly #8 and even Wilmington's much smaller market #76 couldn't make one profitable station doing that format.

Everyone is going for the low hanging fruit of the youth and ignoring the fruit higher up in the tree, the boomers, that is virtually untapped in the Philly/Wilmington markets.
 
Blaming the stations for not chasing an audience that advertisers aren't trying to reach in large enough numbers as to be profitable on a major signal is a bit like blaming the cart for the horse refusing to pull it. ;)
 
I think WEZW will do fine and it in Phily I think you could do well going with just the real old stuff 50-60s (Big Bands, SInatra, etc) and another station would do fine with soft classics from the late sixties to very early eightiee (great for offices- maybe consider giving away Internet Radios programmed for just this station)...... It worked for WMGK.

josh
 
I find it interesting that other radio markets all over America can have a station that plays the easy listening, MOR, type of formats yet Philly/Wilmington can't (read the Standards thread if you don't believe me). I see it as a lack of ability of the respective sales forces of the Tri-state areas radio stations to find a way to tap into a large group of listeners who do have money to spend. They'd all rather chase after the same smaller audience who's less interested in even listening to the radio for the most part. You show a sponsor solid info that their business could make money targeting a specific group of listeners (in this case boomers) and they'll buy ad time. Again, the low hanging fruit vs the higher harder to reach fruit. One may require more thought and effort, but the rewards could surpass anything that same station might have achieved, assuming they aren't one of the top stations in the market now getting the youth audience. WHAT-AM has a great format, but they've got a lousy signal. My guess is if they were 610 or an FM signal that reached the tri-state area, they'd have a solid ratings hit which any sales force that is a sales force could sell and make money with.

Sure, the biggest stations are going to be aimed at the youth, but in Philly's case, they've got a whole boat load of AM and FM stations (some are doing not so well), and for the most part are aiming for the lower fruit. There's only so much of that pie can be divided up where you'll make any real money, so why not be different and go for a group who does listen to radio and who still is young enough (not the WW2 generation, but boomers) to buy stuff and who has the money to buy and isn't shy about spending their money. Those other markets must have some how figured out how to make that work and make money. That's all I'm trying to say.

Interestingly, WRTI and WHYY-FM air programming that the youth generally are not interested in, yet both are doing quite well with reasonable ratings PPM wise and are doing fine fund raising wise as those same boomers the commercial boys ignore pony up the cash to keep those two stations on the air. It sure ain't the youth paying the bills for Philly's two NPR stations. Even PBS when they do a fundraiser air all sorts of 50-60's musical specials, because they know the boomers have money, do watch TV, and will pony up the money if they like what they are seeing or hearing. NPR and PBS can make it work for them, but Philly's and Wilmington's commerical radio stations can't figure out a way to tap into that audience and make money at it. Shame on them.
 
MikefromDelaware said:
My guess is if they were 610 or an FM signal that reached the tri-state area, they'd have a solid ratings hit which any sales force that is a sales force could sell and make money with.
Click to expand...

There was one. It was called WPEN. There's a reason it eventually faded away.
 
I remember 5 to 10 years back 1290 in Wilmington was doing fantastic in the ratings with the satellite format. In fact, where I live in the South Philadelphia area, they were played in many business outlets....I was shocked that a station in the Wilmington market with a so so signal, (they did have a great signal daytime in Philly), was on in most places....it just shows the format was and still is in demand, like I said, over and over its the "SIGNAL", not the format that is hampering WHAT....
 
WPEN was different than WEZW. WPEN skewed towards the older songs whereas WEZW & WDUV throws them in with a lot of newer sixties-seventies music.
 
I was in Tampa a couple weeks ago and I loved 105.5 The Dove. And I was amazed to find out that it was the #1 rated station there. It was like a breath of fresh air. I hate hearing songs I hear on the CHR stations on the AC stations (B101). And vice versa (PST). CHR is CHR, AC is AC. Radio stations are working so hard to keep people from tuning out, rather than making a reason to have people tune in.
 
Nick said:
I was in Tampa a couple weeks ago and I loved 105.5 The Dove. And I was amazed to find out that it was the #1 rated station there. It was like a breath of fresh air. I hate hearing songs I hear on the CHR stations on the AC stations (B101). And vice versa (PST). CHR is CHR, AC is AC. Radio stations are working so hard to keep people from tuning out, rather than making a reason to have people tune in.
Click to expand...

I love it too. Another good one is WEZV/Myrtle Beach and they also stream. That's a great thing about this era, because of streaming the radio dial is endless. There is something for every taste including formats that are not favorites of ad agencies.
 
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