WOW!!!

[CrazeeCarroll1]

I am streaming Magic 98.5 WOMG and I am curious has Cumulus tighten things up. Listening to the Mid Day jock and it just seems lifeless with pretty much liners being read and maybe even VT'ed. Is the station as a whole that way? Music sounds really good just needs a pep in the jocks... CC1

 

[JOHN-GANTT]

Just tuned in for a couple breaks after reading your post. Definitely VT'd. Sounds cut and dried. I'm sure Michelle has great talent. This sounds like a rush job was done. Last station I worked at I did do a good bit of voicetracking, but I always listened to my finished product before airing it. If you listen to B106 and Magic 98.5 regular enough there are lot's of similarities. My guess is they are trying to get listeners to listen to both stations and realize they are the same(eventually) and then switch formats on one. This way they still corner the market with their ac format. My guess is Magic 98.5 taking on the AC/hits of yesterday format and B106 taking on a country format. Now yes, I know other stations have taken on WCOS and failed, but keep in mind WTCB does have 100,000 watts and are owned by a major corporation (Cumulus) as well as (Clear Channel) has WCOS. Both companies are Big dogs and can make up their losses elsewhere and can afford to experiment until they get it right. Just my opinion...WCOS isn't all that. They just have the market cornered for the moment.

 

[whopper]

It seems WTCB has moved brighter with more emphasis on 90s and 00s, giving WOMG the room to grow into the 80s. It would be very surprising if they were to flip WTCB because they are still the cash cow for the Columbia cluster. But stranger things have happened. Cumulus is blowing up tradition all across the country with legacy morning shows and formats falling along the way. On a much stranger note, someone recently floated the notion that Cumulus could be a bidder for Inner City in Columbia for a shot at WWDM. That would certainly change the landscape.

 

[carolinaradio]

Wouldn't that mean they would have to spin off an FM if they got *just* WWDM? 103.1?

I know I'm in the minority here, but I think Magic sounds so much better, musically, since Cumulus took them over. I like the heavier emphasis on the 70s along with more 80s. They still sounded too "oldies"-ish for my tastes under Citadel, and behind the times for their format.

B still has a typical mainstream AC playlist. 5 80s, 1 70s, and 4 00s/current/recurrent in the 11am hour. Not overly aggressive and actually quite old. Magic/B seem like they would co-exist better if B stopped playing 70s and let up a little on the 80s.

 

[CrazeeCarroll1]

Hey VAP thanks for confirming what I was curious about. I really liked the music that was played, but the jocks was just ho hum about everything. I listened lastnight when I got home from work would have been after midnight EST and whoever was VT'ing their shift it was bad as if it was just thrown together with some dead air between when the jock was done and when the song started and it was not even a cold start for a song... CC1

 

[JOHN-GANTT]

CrazeeCarroll1 My guess is that there may be a format change underway. Maybe they will only let the jocks voicetrack for some odd reason or maybe they know they are on their way out and just don't care any more. Anything is possible in todays market. I admit I worked for a station in Augusta back in 1987 and the station was being sold and we had trouble a couple times getting paid on time. My fellow jocks and I got discouraged and decided we were going to record some generic hours of programming and replayed them from time to time. It was an oldies station so we got away with it. Some of the jocks at Magic 98.5 may not even be in the building while their voicetracking is being aired. There are stations in the Columbia market that air talent everyday of jocks that may have only been in that station only a time or two. The voicetracks are sent to the station via internet etc. Is it live or is it memorex? LOL! ; )

 

[RadioOCD]

CrazeeCarroll1 My guess is that there may be a format change underway.

Funny you say that, Lance from the "other" radio site mentioned that when WOMG was added to IHeartRadio it was listed as CHR I98.5.

 

[DudeFan]

In other "things that make you go hmmmm" news, the Famously Hot Music (Yawn) Festival, which is produced by Dave Stewart from WARQ, lists the logos of WCOS and WUSC as Partners, but for the Rock line up, the WARQ logo is conspicuously absent.

 

[carolinaradio]

It might just be Cumulus bringing WOMG down to their standards. Some of their smaller markets can sound a bit sloppy. I'm surprised they even try to VT overnights, who does anymore?

Too bad we don't see any numbers for 98.5 and 106.7 anymore. Would be interesting to see how 98.5's morning changes did for them.

Interesting about iHeart and WOMG. I checked some i985 domains and couldn't find anything associated with Cumulus or their registerer. i985hits.com was registered, but by some company in IL back in January, not Cumulus's typical registerer.

 

[Al Timiter]

IIRC, at one time WOMG's secondary HD channel (which never happened) was listed as Hot A/C or Adult CHR. Maybe that's how CHR got listed on Iheart.

 

[carolinaradio]

When was that? If it was under Citadel, it wouldn't have had the "i" branding (that's what Cumulus calls their CHR's).

When I'm in the fringe areas of their signal, or in Columbia, I always try to listen to Magic 98.5. They've slipped in some areas since the Cumulus takeover, but I still enjoy the station greatly. I wish Greenville had something like it.

Just thought I'd add, with 94.3 apparently moving more towards a mainstream country format, I guess that would sort of throw a wrench in Cumulus trying their hand at it in Columbia. I know it's been mentioned as a possible format for 106.7 should a flip ever happen there.