WPHT SHOULD GO 50'S AND 60'S OLDIES AND BECOME WOGL AM

[amfmsw]

Have the original "Golden 98 WCAU-FM" jingles resung with new calls/numbers.

Have the audio chain GUTTED. Top 10 worst in the nation for a major. Get Frank Foti or Bob Orban in personally to fix it.

Invest in the tower and ground system. The watts may be in, but the signal isn't out.

With the NEW Ibiquity sideband IBOC, HD with Full analog bandwidth on AM are compatable. Consider C-Quam as well. Why not the full boat on the carrier?

Turn the keys over to Sam Lit and Sandy Mirzeoff. Dove tail the demo to 98.1 so they don't canibalize each other. LOCAL roots.

 

[EZway2go]

The aforementioned MOR format does sound like a nice idea. Maybe they could run one of the syndicated services such as Music Of Your Life or Dial-Global's Adult Standards format. I've heard they aren't expensive and that Adult Standards designation is really a misnomer. If you've heard them lately, they truly do run the gamut of lighter pop hits from the '50s right up to today. It wouldn't be at all unusual to hear Patti Page or Frank Sinatra, then something from Rod Stewart's Great American Songbook or Susan Boyle, with an '80s soft rock hit like "Foolish Heart" by Steve Perry sprinkled in. And, of course, the playlist is chock-full of soft AC stalwarts such as Anne Murray and Dan Fogelberg. Years ago I used to have the old WJBR (Wilmington's AM 1290) on in my office all the time for something unobtrusive, and it was amazing how many people would ask me what that station was. It's a shame none of this music can be heard now in the 8th largest radio market.

Sunny 104.5 has been mentioned a lot. From what I remember, it was more of a '70s and '80s pop station with an emphasis on the disco era... and rather limited at that. It seemed every time I turned it on, I would hear "Boogie Oogie Oogie" within a half hour. The one thing I did like about it was Laura Tortella's true standards program on Sunday mornings.

Music-wise, the only other possibilities for 1210 which I don't think have been mentioned yet are classic country—maybe with the heritage call letters WRCP or WEEZ (WEEZ was that station on 1590 from Chester, wasn't it?)—or what 560 did in the early '90s with its brief foray into beautiful music. I don't think either of these would work because their appeal is extremely narrow, but I really do think the Dial-Global format I mentioned in the first paragraph could be a winner.

They're tired of the non-melodic, uncreative dreck that they feel pop rock has become.

That's very true. As someone on these boards put it several years ago, the women sound like cats in a meat grinder and the men sound like they're being examined from behind with a cold instrument.

 

[John1]

I like the idea of Sunny 1210 if 50's and 60's are too old.

I doubt 1210 would go this direction - but Magic 590 in Albany is a good example of a gold-based soft AC on AM. Similar to the music of Magic 103 circa 1975 (before it got disco-heavy) with a few 'standards' that were top 40 crossovers. With hourly news, weather, traffic it could be 'full service' just using KYW people. http://www.albanymagic.com/

At the time of Oldies 1210, the playlist on WOGL-FM was really not that much different - a little less 50's, a little more '70's. The best reason to listen was the AM had the heritage & knowledgeable djs' - Hyski, Holiday, Charger, Tommy McCarthy. It would be 2 different sounds if done now, as the FM is 'classic hits' and play few 'oldies' from the 50's-60's. I guess it could run as an automated 'jukebox' because I'm not sure who you'd put on the AM - HH, Bob Charger & Tommy McCarthy wouldn't give up their FM slots/pay for being on AM. I used to like Tommy McCarthy & his "Treasurechest of Oldies" (now just a "Treasurechest" as you can't say 'oldies' on OGL) as a jock on WPGR/WSSJ/WOGL but I'm sure his role as MD is more lucrative than taking an air shift.

 

[klutch00]

With regard to Natalie Cole and Peggy Lee mixed in with Streisand and Manilow, my opinion is that one is a standards format and the other is MOR. That said, the old WRDR Egg Harbor was pretty successful with that mix well into the late 90's. Also WHAT 1340's format was similar a few years ago, however I believe their problem was their playlist was too broad and many of their songs plainly sucked. Throw in the fact that they overpaid for the station and it was a recipe for disaster from the beginning.

IMNSHO WHAT's biggest problem was that they had a compromised signal trying to serve an audience in which many if not most of it lies outside of the primary service area. WHAT needed a format which served specific urban interests. As we see that's what eventually happened. Oh, and I agree with you about them being grossly overvalued. There's NO reason why so many of these smaller AMs need to be commanding the prices that they are! Moreover, I think it would behoove many of these smaller operations to consider alternative forms of income either in place of or in addition to advertisement.

But back to 1210, remember we're not talking about "selling" a format. We're talking about putting together a playlist of a few hundred songs for the computer to rotate and the bills would be paid with whatever little advertising they could get plus the profits of their more successful FM properties. In the future, I believe we're going to see more situations in which owners will have to rely on their FM's to offset the costs of their AM's should they decide to keep the electricity on at these AM stations. This may actually allow for more specialty and unusual programming to be heard. This would be a good thing for listeners! With this scenario in play, your daytime MOR format and nighttime jazz programming would probably be a great idea. Stranger things have happened!

If you think my idea of a MOR blend is unusual, have you ever listened to CFZM from Toronto? They not only play standards, but they'll play old rock 'n' roll (usually at night) and they're not afraid of playing some of the heavier rock form the late '60s either! Whether this could be a model for 'The New 1210' should that happen is another matter.

Now you talk of keeping AMs solvent. I've said it before and I'll say it again, It may be time for AM stations to start to look to alternative sources for income. Besides donations, this can include for-profit events; such as concerts, dances, car shows, craft shows and so forth. For smaller stations, this may be a necessary alternative. For a big station like 1210, that's a major feat. The fact remains that in today's day and age, if you're an AM broadcaster, you MUST innovate and have an incentive to bring listeners over to your station. Now something I feel clear channel stations should do is rely on national advertisement at night.

Which brings me to my next topic: programming. Having the same 500 or so tunes played day in and day out will not get you to where you need to be. I feel playlists should have at least 1,000 titles and that's a bare minimum!

 

[klutch00]

With the NEW Ibiquity sideband IBOC, HD with Full analog bandwidth on AM are compatible. Consider C-Quam as well. Why not the full boat on the carrier?

I'll go with C-Quam, Harris or Magnavox stereo standard; but otherwise, NO! Unless IBOC has been improved to the point where there is no adjacent hash, it is technology which should've been discarded a long time ago! I think the best thing to happen is for AM stations to have a high quality ANALOG transmission standard!

 

[DG02816]

CFZM is indeed the template I'd use for an updated MOR format. The air staff knows the music and cares deeply about what they play. News and traffic during drive times rounds it out. Not sure how it would work on a 50 kW signal, but something like WPAZ, WISP, or WCOJ could work. And yes, I do remember listening to WJBR 1290 when I first came down here.

 

[Radio Wreck]

I think what some people are forgetting here is that it is becoming increasingly difficult to turn a profit and maintain decent ratings with AM radio. It can be done in some markets but I'm not sure that Philadelphia is one of them. We are seeing this play out right now with the failure of "live and local." If 1210 were to switch to any sort of music format, it would probably have to be run on the cheap. I don't think that live and knowledgeable personalities and a full news staff could be part of the equation if CBS wanted to keep costs as minimal as possible.

 

[benale]

With Michael's show moving to Satellite, what does 1210 have to lose by going to an updated MOR format? As other posters have mentioned, use "Zoomer" Radio as a template. They already run the Sinatra show on Sundays. What a treat it would be to be able to listen to music on a 50,000 watt station again!

 

[HGN2001]

They'll surely expand their existing shows. Mornings will run til 10, Dom will go 10-2, and the afternoon show will go 2-6. Who needs Smerconish?

 

[pab]

Been there, done that. Demographics make even less sense for them doing that now than for when they did it the first time.

The advertising dollars are in the 25-54 demo. The 50's and 60's demo is 61-75. Too few advertisers chasing that demo to make it profitable for corporate terrestrial radio.

 

[Don Niles]

50s and 60s much like a "station of the stars WPEN" format is not a viable option for radio today..AM & FM. The demos are far too old to sell. No station can make a living selling to funeral homes, geritol type products, living wills, and male enhancement products. Not g

There are plenty of internet options available to those who want niche programming. Of course, that may also mean having to join the computer age for those upper demo folks who have fought doing so.

The one station that hits me right on demographically is Hy Lit Radio.com....There is no better,anywhere....That is for me personally....As a person who has spent years in small market radio,I know this format is not really a viable option...AM or FM

 

[JH_Radio]

Hy Lit radio is missing the jocks, though.
i think the DJ in and of itself is going away.

 

[John1]

Hy Lit radio is missing the jocks, though.
i think the DJ in and of itself is going away.

Even Hy Lit Radio added a voicetracked morning show recently with west coast jock Charlie Tuna with local news & traffic in morning drive. There are actually several other local internet-only oldies stations that run some of the same oldies jocks who buy time on WNJC & WVLT, Philly Gold Radio (even with cut-up WPGR jingles & live afternoons with Jimmy "The Cannonball" Parsons who was on the last years of WPGR!) & "Sounds of Philly Radio". Some shows are live, sometimes it's jockless music or taped shows.
http://phillygoldradio.com/
http://www.soundsofphillyradio.com/

 

[tce]

I am a big fan of HyLitRadio, although I am sort of neutral on the addition of Charlie Tuna. It is not what I would consider typical voice-tracking. There are sort of pop culture/humor drop-ins which would work with a wide variety of formats, and are non-specific to any market (although there are customized IDs). [They did play a funny feature in which people said that the president was too harshly criticized for pardoning the sequester and sending it to Portugal.] As much as I enjoyed the great jocks of the past, this does not even attempt to replicate what they did.

I split my work-day listening between Classical XLNC1 (the biggest hits since 1700) and HyLitRadio. I would welcome an OTA station that has the broad playlist of HyLitRadio, with good personalities. But, as a business model, I can't see it having a snowball's chance on a 50 KW AM in a major market. Am I missing something?

 

[John1]

I'm neutral on the Charlie Tuna thing too. I guess adding morning features may increase the audience of people who really need news/weather but I think that could be better if done live by Sam himself or a live local voice. The Charlie Tuna segments remind me of those drop-ins that AC stations do with John Tesh that I find more interrupting & anoying than interesting, but then again I'm not a typical AC listener. The Hy Lit formula that works is the variety of music played that cover his career from '50's oldies to progressive rock hits by the Stones, Animals, etc. For the radio geek in me all the old jingles & hearing Hy are great. I don't think the format would work on regular radio, but other than in the car I already have it available at home anyway via an internet radio. Last summer I was in Ocean City, NJ & someone near 14th & Ocean near the boardwalk had Hy Lit Radio blasting from their beach home - you could hear it for a good block & it fit perfectly at the shore!

 

[klutch00]

FWIW I just discovered two radio stations out of western Michigan owned and operated by the Grand Valley State University which have an oldies format. They are WGVU (1480) out of Kentwood (suburb of Grand Rapids) and WGVS (850) out of Muskegon. The format signed on in late August of 2009 and have a playlist of over 5,000 titles. Now, should CBS decide to 'unload' 1210 to a public broadcaster (I know, fat chance), could this be an option?
http://www.wgvu.org/realoldies/

 

[SUPERCASTER]

Would it sound something like this?
www.wifi92fm.com

 

[HGN2001]

They'll surely expand their existing shows. Mornings will run til 10, Dom will go 10-2, and the afternoon show will go 2-6. Who needs Smerconish?

Right again...

 

[richllewis]

CBS has two 50's and 60's oldies station. They are KLUV-HD2 and K-Earth-HD2. They are both jockless and automated except for commercials. And that is taken care of by local personalities. That might work in Philly with WPHT now most of the 50's and 60's jocks in Philly have died off or are dieing off. One of the stations is KLUV-HD2 is in Dallas and the other K-Earth-HD2 is in LA.

 

[John1]

CBS has two 50's and 60's oldies station. They are KLUV-HD2 and K-Earth-HD2. They are both jockless and automated except for commercials. And that is taken care of by local personalities.

Jockless & automated may be ok for an HD2 all music station, but would seem boring & a waste on a 50,000 watt AM station. 1210 will not go oldies again, but if they did, WOGL's music director Tommy McCarthy could come up with a great sounding '50's-60' s station for Philadelphia. Oldies 1210 was a good sounding station in 1990, the trouble was the FM was playing basically the same music back then & still pretty much was when Oldies 950 tried to compete. Now WOGL is mostly '70's-80's so an 'oldies' station vs. 'classic hits' might do better. The original Philadelphia WIBG jocks may be gone or retired, but there are a lot of good personalities from the '70's & '80s from Magic 103, Kiss 100, US1, 98.1 Hot Hits, WSNI 104.5, Star 104.5, etc. who grew up on the oldies - like Leigh Richards who did oldies on WFIL in the '80's, Pat Winters, Mike St. John (where is he?), Mike Bowe & Tommy McCarthy himself, to name just a few.