Has anyone else noticed how much better WSPA (Magic 98.9)'s Christmas mix is than WMYI (My 102.5)? WMYI is so tight and repetitive it is pathetic! I'm guessing Clear Channel has a national Christmas playlist that is mandatory or something, because it sounds the same as WLYT from Charlotte and WBBQ from Augusta. WSPA seems to open it up and play a little more variety from way back when and newer stuff as well. I'm actually liking their all-Christmas compared to 102.5's....it (102.5) has gotten very predictable very fast. IMO, WSPA has really become the best-sounding (musically and on-air) AC in the market this past year.
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WSPA Christmas music
- Thread starter carolinaradio
- Start date
I was able to listen to Magic WSPA from Columbia to Atlanta via Augusta last weekend. Their programming was better than WBBQ or WSB-FM's Christmas sound selections. Less commercials too...
Yeah, I remember that about 'MYI and Lite 102.9. WBBQ in Augusta essentially sounds the same as WMYI, musically. Maybe not in the same order, but same songs this time of year. The playlists are so tight it's unbearable. Great to see Magic opening things up and giving more of a variety.
I agree with MarkSC's statement about WMYI faltering. There is very little focus to the music and those canned afternoons are irritating. I would VT mid-days way before afternoons.
If they (102.5) don't improve after Christmas, I say WSPA will continue to erode a fairly decent size of My's audience share.
I agree with MarkSC's statement about WMYI faltering. There is very little focus to the music and those canned afternoons are irritating. I would VT mid-days way before afternoons.
If they (102.5) don't improve after Christmas, I say WSPA will continue to erode a fairly decent size of My's audience share.
carolinaradio said:
i agree that wmyi needs to update their music but i disagree that wspa will take that audience. wspa has no stability in morning shows for several years now which is an anchor of any station. imo wmyi leads in that area and will continue to compete with wspa. one station or the other will always have an edge in the quarterly ratings but the average will always show them close until one station makes a bold move that works in mornings.
You are right. I was thinking from a musical standpoint (as well as programming), but WSPA's mornings have been rocky for a long time. Rick & Kimberly were great. Then we had the ill-fated "Oprah-style" Bo Griffin Show (anybody remember that? :freqdev said:
) then TK and Monnie, which wasn't bad, but IMO should have been a tad longer. What are they doing now? I believe Monnie is on the site, but I hear some guy on with her.Have to say, though...the mid-day and afternoon jocks on Magic are better than the ones in those times on My (Monnie is good, too)...just don't care for the voicetracked afternoons on MY, nothing against the guy doing it, I'm sure he's just doing his job. Magic just seems so much more upbeat and energetic.
i think there is no better or worse here. both stations are trying to gain ratings in the 25-54 demo by using two different approaches. wspa sounds like they are going younger by being more progressive with newer music. wmyi seems to be trying to secure the older end of that audience with the standards that everyone knows. imo the ac audience is not an active and growing audience. i know that lee alexander has been at wspa for many years and is very good. the jock in the afternoon sounds very young for that format. i know that liz rials on wmyi has been in the market many years too. afternoons is a guy in wichita. musically and formatically i like wmyi better but i believe that neither station superior because their approaches are totally different.
The problem as I see it with WMYI is that the mornings are live and everything else is tracked and unfortunately that is a big trend for CC stations, especially the AC ones and anything live will beat them and of course we all know that CC has a generic play list that comes off of a central server that all of their AC stations play.
that it true. unfortunately cc is ahead of other radio companies in downsizing and sharing jocks with voice tracking. i have noticed that other companies are firing people by the dozen in the past few weeks eliminating people from all shifts. it's happening at all companies and will continue to do so.
I don't think Liz Ryals is voicetracked.
The girl on WSPA (Stacie Bartro) was at Star 103, then The Walk, then Magic after The Walk left 106.3. She has been moved around a lot at Entercom...but has been with them a long time. WMYI is just the typical CC AC; nothing more, nothing less than. They are all usually pretty boring, especially in a market where there's competition (examples are Charlotte, Atlanta when they had Lite 94.9, and Columbia when they had Lite 96.7). I haven't heard all of their ACs, but that is the usual "vibe" I have gotten.
The girl on WSPA (Stacie Bartro) was at Star 103, then The Walk, then Magic after The Walk left 106.3. She has been moved around a lot at Entercom...but has been with them a long time. WMYI is just the typical CC AC; nothing more, nothing less than. They are all usually pretty boring, especially in a market where there's competition (examples are Charlotte, Atlanta when they had Lite 94.9, and Columbia when they had Lite 96.7). I haven't heard all of their ACs, but that is the usual "vibe" I have gotten.
I think that the reason that they are so boring is the fact that they are cheap and are trying to make as much money as they can without spending anymore than they have to and it shows badly. The reason that Lite 96.7 failed here in Columbia was simply because they refused to put the money into a station that needed to be live and local l;ike B 106 and that is who they were trying to comptete with and let's face it, you had better have your stuff together to compete with them because I like their format and like their announcers that are live and local.
While I really like WSPA, I absolutely detest their song tags. It makes the station sound "canned" all the time. Since most everybody already knows the title and artist of every Christmas song they play, you would think they would just drop the tags during that time at least.
True. The jocks sound very disconnected.
The two times I checked today WBBQ/Augusta and WMYI were both playing the same songs at the same time but at different parts of the songs. Wasn't able to get WLYT. What a joke! I notice this mostly on the weekends.
The two times I checked today WBBQ/Augusta and WMYI were both playing the same songs at the same time but at different parts of the songs. Wasn't able to get WLYT. What a joke! I notice this mostly on the weekends.
WLYT (102.9) is in Charlotte, I didn't mean WLTY (96.7).
I think Lite 96.7/WLTY was meant to be a "clone" of WLYT.
I think Lite 96.7/WLTY was meant to be a "clone" of WLYT.
carolinaradio said:
i wonder what percentage of the average listening audience would notice this. i think it is the one hundred thousandth of a percent that posts here would care. it's two different markets. people either like the song or they don't. so what if cc is using a national playlist for chrismas music. is johnny mathis singing rudolph better than gene autry? it is background anyway. christmas music is the ac format's way of taking two months off because their format is done. it will be fun to see how ac stations around the area evolve.
Listeners probably wouldn't care one Iota. Tom Taylor has been hinting that CC may do "national" and "regional" formats to eliminate costs of "redundant" local programming staff, which could happen sometime in January. So it could be a proof of concept in execution as the first run of a "national" playlist. And listeners won't "care" if it happens. They will quietly continue to go away...
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