WPST sounds better so does Hit106

[GSPGUY]

So many stations playing top 40 music in New Jersey. Most improved are WPST and Hit106. WPST does a good job mixing it up, they are playing more rythmic songs now than a few months ago. Hit106 has come into its own. What New Jersey station playing top 40 music do you think is the best? No one misses the old WHTG anymore I think. Hit 106 has good ratings now.

 

[oasisrulz]

Why does playing less Rock/Alternative hits and more Rhythmic cuts make them better....how much Rhythmic music does one need in the Garden State....if the Rock haters had their way, the dial would be full of Rap/Hip Hop/R&B and Soul which it almost is now...

 

[nd2023]

If you look at the Bring Back G-rock Facebook group you will see that WHTG is still being missed.

 

[SoulCrusher]

Trust me, plenty of people are still missing G Rock - especially those of us in Ocean County, where we're too far south to get RXP and we're stuck with either Neanderthal rock station WRAT or milquetoast Top 40 Alternative Radio 104.5 from Philly. If I'm listening to the radio at all these days, it's for talk and sports programming. I can't stomach any of the music options around here, they're all pathetic.

Hit 106 wants to be Little Z100 so bad, it hurts. From their aggressive targeting of Bennies with the dance music and DJ shows, to their station IDs (I heard "From the Jersey Shore to the world" the other day, which sounds an awful lot like a WHTZ slogan sans the "Jersey Shore" part ... and I don't think anyone outside of the area gives a hoot about the station, since it sounds exactly the same as hundreds of other stations around the country. And their morning show is about as pleasant as a hangover - Pork Roll & Eggs are not funny, and their voices are extremely irritating.

As far as who does the Top 40 format the best - well, it's safe to say that there's close to a dozen that reach our area, and even more outside of it. Depending on what you look for from a station, it could go to anyone. But since I find Britney Spears, Black Eyed Peas, Lady Gaga, etc. excruciating, I would say that the station with the on-air personalities that talk the most is the best, whatever that may be.

 

[nd2023]

Trust me, plenty of people are still missing G Rock - especially those of us in Ocean County, where we're too far south to get RXP and we're stuck with either Neanderthal rock station WRAT or milquetoast Top 40 Alternative Radio 104.5 from Philly. If I'm listening to the radio at all these days, it's for talk and sports programming. I can't stomach any of the music options around here, they're all pathetic.

Hit 106 wants to be Little Z100 so bad, it hurts. From their aggressive targeting of Bennies with the dance music and DJ shows, to their station IDs (I heard "From the Jersey Shore to the world" the other day, which sounds an awful lot like a WHTZ slogan sans the "Jersey Shore" part ... and I don't think anyone outside of the area gives a hoot about the station, since it sounds exactly the same as hundreds of other stations around the country. And their morning show is about as pleasant as a hangover - Pork Roll & Eggs are not funny, and their voices are extremely irritating.

As far as who does the Top 40 format the best - well, it's safe to say that there's close to a dozen that reach our area, and even more outside of it. Depending on what you look for from a station, it could go to anyone. But since I find Britney Spears, Black Eyed Peas, Lady Gaga, etc. excruciating, I would say that the station with the on-air personalities that talk the most is the best, whatever that may be.

Before you start hating dance music, remember that dance is more "endangered" on radio as alternative rock. Hit 106 does have a decent dance mixshow which I like, but I would rather have G-Rock back. And dance music is for everyone, not just the "bennies" and "guidos". It would be very tough for me to decide between G-Rock or a hypothetical Pulse 106.
Hit 106, apart from its dance mixshows, sucks. I hope they fail and Press flips it back to alternative rock. I completely understand why you find top 40 artists excruciating. When Pulse 87 went bankrupt and PartyFM took over the frequency, they played a lot of hip hop, and I find hip hop excruciating. Hit 106 is not one of the stations that you seek out and listen through the static or online from far away, it is a generic top 40 that plays the teenie-bopper hits most of the time.
From what I've heard, this is a good comparison between rock and dance
G-Rock = Pulse 87
Radio 104.5 = PartyFM 87
WRAT = KTU

 

[d21ofnj]

The Buzz in AC was dance so was Hot 106.3 and they had decent numbers all year round. I don't see how dance is just for bennies. So what do you call the locals who are dance fans like myself?

 

[SoulCrusher]

I'm not a dance hater (though personally, my tastes go more toward the electronic/jungle/techno end of things, rather than the house music or remixes that you find on the Benny Mix At 5 ... sorry, couldn't help it).

I personally wouldn't mind if 106.3/106.5 was a DANZ STAYSHUN because at least it would be different from everything else we have around here. In fact, I would rank it as the most obvious format hole in the area (after alternative rock, of course).

But it's still true enough that the Bennies love their dance music ... and particularly, they love the house music that you hear in clubs. It's a stereotype that's as well associated with that group as hair mousse and polishing your car. Honestly, it wouldn't surprise me in the least if the show Jersey Shore gives Hit 106 a few shouts. That said, of course it isn't true that only Bennies listen to dance music. If that was the case, it wouldn't be commercially viable. There might be a lot of Bennies out there, but not enough to singlehandedly support dance music.

 

[d21ofnj]

You got that right. There are some people who still live on with that "Disco Sucks" fad, and some who believe dance is for bennies only (personal experience.) At least there is a dance station in the area that goes worldwide again.

 

[mjb1124]

Add another name to the list of people who still miss G-Rock. And the Facebook group still has plenty of activity. WRXP and Radio 104.5 just don't quite cut the mustard as G-Rock substitutes (though the former would come close if only they could kick the arena rock to the curb).

But I'd also be happy to see any format that's unrepresented in the area, be it Dance, Country (in the 106.3 range), Smooth Jazz, or whatever else. I'll admit Hit 106 isn't a bad CHR (I'd take it over 92.3 Now any day), but it's just one of too many options. When a "mass appeal" CHR format is doing worse than what was admittedly much more of a niche format, you know there's a problem.

 

[TonySantiago]

I'm not a dance hater (though personally, my tastes go more toward the electronic/jungle/techno end of things, rather than the house music or remixes that you find on the Benny Mix At 5 ... sorry, couldn't help it).

I personally wouldn't mind if 106.3/106.5 was a DANCE STATION because at least it would be different from everything else we have around here. In fact, I would rank it as the most obvious format hole in the area (after alternative rock, of course).

But it's still true enough that the Bennies love their dance music ... and particularly, they love the house music that you hear in clubs. It's a stereotype that's as well associated with that group as hair mousse and polishing your car. Honestly, it wouldn't surprise me in the least if the show Jersey Shore gives Hit 106 a few shouts. That said, of course it isn't true that only Bennies listen to dance music. If that was the case, it wouldn't be commercially viable. There might be a lot of Bennies out there, but not enough to singlehandedly support dance music.

Yeah, you LOVE dance. It shows with that "Dans Stayshun" mentality (which I emphatically corrected on this reply, thank you )But it does show that education must be applied here.

Electronic (or electronica) may be an alternate form but it IS dance. Jungle? That term hasn't been used since 1999. It's "drum and bass" now. Techno? I'll leave that one alone because there are a bunch of people stuck in that population of things.

Yet here we go with that "bennies" stereotype. It's really taken a step forward thanks to "Jersey Shore", that abomination of a television show on MTV. I mean, if there was an African-American version of such a show presented like this, with women looking for "n's" and guys looking for "h's", the NAACP would be all over it. It would never dare make it past the programming "suits".

So lets correct some more (since I've corrected this much). Yes, Italians love dance music. So do Latinos. So do African-Americans. So do Asians. No matter if you are male, female, gay, straight, transgender, religious, athiest, dance music is FOR ALL to enjoy, no matter what "brand" of genre one would favor. Yet there still is a certain underlying fear amongst the rock community (that goes back to the Disco Demolition Derby of 1979) that dance music is the "root of all evil" that ruined things for rock; thus taking their "bravado" against everything that is dance.

Not a dance hater? You would not have gone with the direction of your post if there was some underlying "hatred" in there somehow.

Get on the actions of the "bennies" as you say because NO, I don't support people acting stupid when visiting somewhere on a vacation/getaway (I suppose in that sense, the majority of countries in the world think of us as "bennies"), and not on the music.

 

[d21ofnj]

Regarding jungle, there is still that line between the younger raver generation vs the older. Mainly the old school ravers still use the term "jungle" as well as "poi" and "glowsticking." I can't say for sure if there are still ravers around the Manahawkin area, but there was a god number of ravers who were from there that I met while I was in the rave scene around 02-05. At that time, drum n bass was used more often from the younger ravers but I thought there was a slight difference between jungle and drum n bass (per se in BPM, and bass.)

 

[Matt Knight]

Hit 106 wants to be Little Z100 so bad, it hurts. From their aggressive targeting of Bennies with the dance music and DJ shows, to their station IDs (I heard "From the Jersey Shore to the world" the other day, which sounds an awful lot like a WHTZ slogan sans the "Jersey Shore" part ...)

Glad to see you're up to the same old nonsense Crusher. "Little Z100?" When you are done actually LISTENING to us (since you seem to be able to quote our liners), feel free to run a little comparison of our playlists. Feel free to run the separation of our songs. Feel free to run the amount of spins per week we give in comparison to all the other top 40's. Feel free to gander into the GOLD library that I use.

You hated B98.5, now you hate Hit. We get it. You love alternative. You've made that clear ad nauseum. If you have no interest in Hit 106, stop listening and commenting on it. Contrary to what you may think, people ARE listening. Hit is being programmed very similar to how we programmed B98.5, and I think that had a nice little following during it's tenure, no?

And don't go quoting ratings. Nothing is public other than 12+ numbers. Anyone claiming to know target demographic numbers is lying unless they're in the business or have access to Arbitron. And for your information, we did quite well in our last target demographic. Just saying.

Targeting Bennies? I won't even get into that ridiculous statement. You may not realize it, but people in NEW JERSEY like Top 40. Big shocker there? I bet you weren't out at our $5,000 giveaway last week where over 300 people showed up in 2 hours? But please, continue to listen and cite SPECIFIC examples of what we're doing wrong. As far as your "Benny Mix @ 5" and "Pork Roll & Eggs" comment, well you know both of the names of the shows (aside from your smarmy renaming of the HIT Mix @ 5). Mission accomplished.

To GSPGUY, mjb and anyone else who's actually listened with an impartial (read as non-hating Top 40 listeners) ear, thanks for your kind words.

 

[SoulCrusher]

Hit 106 wants to be Little Z100 so bad, it hurts. From their aggressive targeting of Bennies with the dance music and DJ shows, to their station IDs (I heard "From the Jersey Shore to the world" the other day, which sounds an awful lot like a WHTZ slogan sans the "Jersey Shore" part ...)

Glad to see you're up to the same old nonsense Crusher. "Little Z100?" When you are done actually LISTENING to us (since you seem to be able to quote our liners), feel free to run a little comparison of our playlists. Feel free to run the separation of our songs. Feel free to run the amount of spins per week we give in comparison to all the other top 40's. Feel free to gander into the GOLD library that I use.

You hated B98.5, now you hate Hit. We get it. You love alternative. You've made that clear ad nauseum. If you have no interest in Hit 106, stop listening and commenting on it. Contrary to what you may think, people ARE listening. Hit is being programmed very similar to how we programmed B98.5, and I think that had a nice little following during it's tenure, no?

And don't go quoting ratings. Nothing is public other than 12+ numbers. Anyone claiming to know target demographic numbers is lying unless they're in the business or have access to Arbitron. And for your information, we did quite well in our last target demographic. Just saying.

Targeting Bennies? I won't even get into that ridiculous statement. You may not realize it, but people in NEW JERSEY like Top 40. Big shocker there? I bet you weren't out at our $5,000 giveaway last week where over 300 people showed up in 2 hours? But please, continue to listen and cite SPECIFIC examples of what we're doing wrong. As far as your "Benny Mix @ 5" and "Pork Roll & Eggs" comment, well you know both of the names of the shows (aside from your smarmy renaming of the HIT Mix @ 5). Mission accomplished.

To GSPGUY, mjb and anyone else who's actually listened with an impartial (read as non-hating Top 40 listeners) ear, thanks for your kind words.

Matt: I'm sure you're doing the best with what you have to work with. I'm sure there are some differences between you and the, oh, about a dozen other Top 40 stations that reach the market (and by my estimate, a good solid 8 reach us here in Southern Ocean Co.). I will say that every time I've attempted to listen, I hear you playing the same old same old that I can hear on any of those other stations. I'm sure you must give Hit 106 its own unique flavor, but it's buried very deep. I'm thinking it must take a good couple of hours worth of listening to be able to discern the differences, and I admit I'm not willing to dedicate that much of my time since Top 40 isn't my cup of tea and probably never will be.

And as far as whether or not you're doing anything wrong ... other than being Johnny-come-latelies to Top 40 when there were already a ton of other stations broadcasting it, I can't find any other fault. And that's a station management gripe, rather than programming. You'll never be able to convince me that this area can support 8 Top 40 stations, but not even one station that plays new/alternative rock. There's a lot of intelligent, well-educated people out here, who don't go for shallow drivel like Britney Spears or Black Eyed Peas. Asbury Park and New Brunswick (granted, the latter is on the fringe of the WHTG signal) are both home to vibrant live music scenes. New Jersey isn't just home to Springsteen and Bon Jovi, it also gave us Dramarama, Smithereens, The Gaslight Anthem, Shades Apart, The Parlor Mob, The Wrens, and countless punk bands. What local acts does Top 40 radio play? The Jonas Brothers? Technically, they aren't even local ... New Jersey by way of Arizona.

I will say this unless someone can convince me otherwise: The problem wasn't that G Rock didn't have listeners; rather, the problem was that Press Communications didn't have any passion for the alternative rock format. All the proof I need to back up my statement is that WHTG was not a true alternative station (more like Hot AC/Alternative) for the first half of the decade, the way management unceremoniously killed G Rock back in January without any warning or giving anyone a chance to say goodbye, and that they didn't even launch an online version of G Rock like so many other broadcasters did for other alternative stations that left the air (i.e. Indie 103.1 in LA, WBCN in Boston) ... at least Millennium Radio made an effort to appeal to displaced G Rockers with Shore Alternative.

No disrespect to you, Matt. Keep doing your thing. I don't have any issue with you. It's not the chef, it's the dish that's being served. Not even Emeril LaGasse or Giada De Laurentiis could make Top 40 appealing to me. If it sounds like I'm singling out Hit 106, there may be some truth to that .... but I think my reason for doing so is fair enough.

 

[nd2023]

I must admit, I do have 106.3 as one of my presets. And I added 106.3 to my presets after it flipped to CHR because I am just not into alternative rock, my favorite format is dance. But I would prefer to have one less CHR station in my presets if it means alternative rock has a home on the radio here in NJ. I do like hearing the gold hits that I haven't heard since high school on Hit 106, and I notice that Hit 106 plays more rock CHR hits than the others.

Matt, I know you did an excellent job with the alternative format, and it was not your decision to flip to CHR. People get angry at radio stations that change their format. When Pulse 87 went bankrupt at the end of October, and PartyFM replaced Pulse's dance format with a hip hop/dance hybrid format, people were outraged the first week. But later on, as PartyFM added more dance and played less hip hop, people started to accept the new station. However, Hit 106 is a top 40 station.

People were outraged enough to protest in the freezing cold against Hit 106, whereas there was no such protest for Party 87. Hit 106 could have become a hybrid top 40/alternative rock format, and then people might have accepted the new station (so what if there aren't any other hybrid CHR/alt rock stations out there, PartyFM is also unique). Press could have put up an online stream of G-Rock or put it on the HD2 (oh wait...they wouldn't want to waste money to jam reception of 106.3 and 106.5 with IBUZ in places where both stations come in strong)

 

[RadioNation]

Matt: Why didn't Press commit any online follow up for G-Rock, or an HD2 Channel or anything? Seriously - the company could have avoided some bad PR by at least trying to reach out to thousands of former GRock Listeners. 106.3 was a lifestyle station - and it could have at least continued online!

And I have to agree with Soul on this: There are 10 stations doing some form of CHR in Monmouth! Would Press be satisfied by taking a piece of that pie? Or maybe take a chance by doing a format not currently being served in Monmouth: Adult Hits, Modern AC, Country, Jazz, AAA, 80's hits... you get the jist.

I know this is a bad economy and what is safe sells... but I can't seem to understand how many markets across the country seem to fill the following formats above and not Monmouth..

 

[d21ofnj]

There are 10 stations doing some form of CHR in Monmouth! Would Press be satisfied by taking a piece of that pie? Or maybe take a chance by doing a format not currently being served in Monmouth: Adult Hits, Modern AC, Country, Jazz, AAA, 80's hits... you get the jist.

The thing is, Press already had that piece of the pie when they encountered B98.5, but didn't like that slice. I can assure you, if B was on till this day, the ratings will be above a 3.0, more revenue, advertisers, and more local and other listener support. B98.5 was a TRUE Jersey Shore Top 40 station, period! The problem was Press just wasted that 98.5 frequency until a format hole was paved and I don't know why Thunder when the K branding was better IMO. Back to topic here, Press was too late to have a CHR format, and came at the worse time to even start it, knowing within a month later, K-Rock was flipping to Now-FM, and then weeks later, The Buzz flips to Kiss-FM. Then out of nowhere, The Point brands themselves as "The Jersey Shore's Hit Music Station." Let's not forget the announcement that Press did and took a shot at the fans and not giving any of the former G-Rock jocks a chance to sign off one last time. This is where the heat for everyone hating Hit is coming from. Its not just that it flipped to CHR, it was the way how things were done during this flip.

 

[d21ofnj]

**my bad...The Buzz flipped last year**

 

[Slinky]

The thing is, Press already had that piece of the pie when they encountered B98.5, but didn't like that slice. I can assure you, if B was on till this day, the ratings will be above a 3.0, more revenue, advertisers, and more local and other listener support. B98.5 was a TRUE Jersey Shore Top 40 station, period!

How you could like B98.5 but not like Hit 106? Compare B98.5 before they started leaning Alternative to Hit 106. They're very similar stations- mainstream CHR with a little bit of dance/rhythmic lean for local flavor.

If the original version of B98.5 had stuck around, it would probably sound just like Hit 106 does today! Would you like it better if this exact same station were on 98.5?

The problem was Press just wasted that 98.5 frequency until a format hole was paved and I don't know why Thunder when the K branding was better IMO. Back to topic here, Press was too late to have a CHR format, and came at the worse time to even start it, knowing within a month later, K-Rock was flipping to Now-FM, and then weeks later, The Buzz flips to Kiss-FM.

AC's Kiss isn't a factor in the Monmouth/Ocean market. The NY flip was tough luck, but that's always a risk in suburban markets. You never know when a big city station is going to flip and steal your thunder.

Then out of nowhere, The Point brands themselves as "The Jersey Shore's Hit Music Station."

That was a direct reaction to Hit signing on.

Let's not forget the announcement that Press did and took a shot at the fans and not giving any of the former G-Rock jocks a chance to sign off one last time. This is where the heat for everyone hating Hit is coming from. Its not just that it flipped to CHR, it was the way how things were done during this flip.

But that's the way things are done in most flips! Why would Press want to give the competition a heads up?

Honestly, I don't get the Hit hate. Every criticism I've seen has been something about G-Rock or some mis-targeted "Bennies" reference. (Was B98.5 a "Bennie" station too? Is 94.3?) The only big mistake I think Hit has made was debuting with that generic-sounding satellite format. Once they started programming the music locally and signing local jocks, there was a huge improvement. The ratings might eventually show that the CHR field in Monmouth is too crowded, but Hit sounds like a solid CHR right now. I'd like to see them do well.

 

[d21ofnj]

Slinky,

It's not the matter of "hating" Hit or if this format would be better on 98.5, it's the matter of it wasn't necessary for Hit to come.  I am aware Hit is doing it's damnest for everyone to get adjusted to it, and adding a little more dance on rotation, but for me, it's just another frequency playing the same material you can hear on all the other dials.  And not for nothing, but there is something that's different between B & Hit, and it's feeling wise.  While sampling Hit, I just couldn't have this "Jersey Shore's Top 40" feel anymore like I did with B98.5.  I guess you can call me old school but when I would come down to Pt. Pleasant, I had 98.5 on blast.  That station made me forget about Z100, KTU, Hot 97, this was the TRUE sounding Jersey Shore station to keep on blast.  With Hit, it's not that same excitement I had with B.  Whatever they would spin, I've already heard on Z or Now and even KTU with some of their Gold Hits for that matter.  I heard the Hit Mix but I guess since I'm all dance, it wasn't that thrilling to me.  I mean, it's something to tune in if I wasn't able to pull in 87.7.  Top 40 in the shore was staked when Press killed B, and it took 5 years later after you can reach about 7 or 8 other CHR's in range to put it back?  AC's Kiss BTW, does cover about 50% of 106.5's coverage area, so it does have an effect for that signal.  Not to mention WAYV's bi-polar of being a Top 40 or a Hot AC.  K-Rock was already confirmed of flipping to Top 40 around the new year, so majority already knew off hand there was another CHR coming in.  The clutter is getting ugly, and now with the rumors of WJRZ flipping or simulcasting with WMGQ, more clutter on the dial.  There is no competition Press is fighting for, at least for Monmouth County that is. 

 

[SoulCrusher]

There are so many flaws inherent in the current ratings system. I personally have never received an Arbitron survey in my entire life, and everyone I know that was a G Rock fan said the same exact thing. I know you can't just write to Arbitron and request a survey - if that had been an option, I'm sure many of us would have taken the time to support the station we enjoyed very much. It's nearly impossible to obtain information on the process, but I'm thinking that somehow these surveys only reach younger people or retirees. Perhaps they distribute them in malls and bingo halls, tanning salons and senior social clubs. How else do you explain why the airwaves are clogged by Top 40 and Adult Contemporary/"lite rock" stations? The music of the '80s and '90s is either underrepresented or completely missing from the dial as well. I guess the 25-54 demos really don't matter at all now.

Alternative rock could have stayed alive in this area if the broadcaster had any passion for the format. Aside from the on-air staff, no one at Press Communications had their hearts in what they were doing - not promotions, not sales, and definitely not management/ownership. If that wasn't the case, things would have been handled differently ... we would have seen a lot more remotes like we're seeing now with Hit 106, we would have noticed a lot more outside-the-box sales strategies like the ones being used now (i.e. 10 second spots and very active advertiser solicitation), there wouldn't have been as many ill-advised decisions (i.e. dropping Brian Phillips & Jen Ursillo and replacing them with Kramer), and they would have at least tried to appease G Rock fans by making it an online station/social network.

PPM will go a long way in showing how strong support is for alternative rock, and anyone who broadcasts the format once it goes into effect will reap the rewards. But it doesn't stop there. The broadcaster would have to know what the heck they're doing. The first intelligent move Press Comm. made was over six years after they purchased WHTG, when they hired Terrie Carr. Unfortunately, they didn't hold up their end of the bargain by giving the station adequate promotion and treating it as a new station (which it basically was - new PD/MD, new taglines, more listener interaction, different musical direction, frequency switch in Ocean County, etc.). That, and NOT a lack of support from the listeners, is why G Rock did not perform up to their expectations. I would at least have some respect for the Press bigwigs if they at least admitted their own shortcomings.