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WWJN-FM Is Now 104.9 The Surf - Hilton Head's Greatest Hits

FilmCritic3K

FilmCritic3K

http://www.1049thesurf.com/

WWJN is now owned by Lowcountry Radio, LLC, and they've flipped the format to 104.9 The Surf - Hilton Head's Greatest Hits. I haven't listened to it at length but for all intents and purposes (and going by the commercial embedded on their site), it looks it's like an Oldies station. The question now is, can an Oldies station on that signal do well in this market?

Thoughts?
 
Oh yeah...It'll do alright. Hell, beach music pulled a 3 share 12+ on there!

Also realize that although 98.3 is a flamethrower, it is south of Savannah and has some real difficulties penetrating places like Sun City Hilton Head (thousands of 55+'s)...which happens to be right behind 98.7's 100kW tower! I work in Okatie and can only pick up 98.3 in the car if I manually scan for it. 104.9 is rock-solid pretty much all the way around Beaufort and Jasper counties. 98.3's signal starts to get very hairy in Beaufort as well.

Put it this way: The Surf is going after the Oldies audience in Hilton Head/Beaufort only. That is smart. Don't even worry about Savannah with that signal...and 98.3 has that part covered anyhow.

I also noticed the Drive started using "...playing nothing but the greatest hits" in their DJ liner cards from time to time. I've also been hearing a lot more 60's pop on there as well. Could it be they feel a bit concerned about 104.9 taking them for a spin? Could we see ESPN Radio on 103.1 soon to try and target Savannah? Hmm...I guess we will find out in the next few months!

This Surf thing was a great idea. Honestly, it was either that or another form of rock (Still praying for AAA on HD or an analog signal down here). And as I said, this is really a Beaufort County station. Unless someone wants to buy and simulcast 104.7, they will have to focus on the suburban transplants, the old people and tourists, and the Marines.

The Surf does sound less "canned" IMO, and the processing is pretty good. I think there's a pretty new Optimod processor and Harris TX at their site and with the jingles it sounds like a decent oldies station. Right up 98.3's alley and probably a thorn in the side of 103.1

Radio-X
 
Triad has always bothered me the way they cannibalize with 107.9/98.3/103.1. If I were them, I'd simulcast 98.3 on 103.1 since their signal apparently doesn't get in to parts of HHI well (it always does for me...) and it would help 98.3 also possibly. Playing more oldies on 103.1? What? That makes them sound just like 98.3. Wouldn't it make more sense just to do a simulcast?
 
carolinaradio said:
Triad has always bothered me the way they cannibalize with 107.9/98.3/103.1. If I were them, I'd simulcast 98.3 on 103.1 since their signal apparently doesn't get in to parts of HHI well (it always does for me...) and it would help 98.3 also possibly. Playing more oldies on 103.1? What? That makes them sound just like 98.3. Wouldn't it make more sense just to do a simulcast?
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Triad's big on cannibalization, no doubt. But then again, Savannah radio's been staid for eons now - witness the lack of activity on the Georgia board when it comes to Savannah radio news. Zip.
 
Not that I ever go there, and I haven't heard this station since it was on 99.7 in the early 90s, but someone should bring back the old WLOW.

How does WLOW sound now?
 
vchimpanzee said:
Not that I ever go there, and I haven't heard this station since it was on 99.7 in the early 90s, but someone should bring back the old WLOW.

How does WLOW sound now?
Click to expand...

It's light A.C. No standards music at all. Basically take 98.7 the River (or any standard A.C. station), add a few 60-80's hits per hour, and you have WLO....er...107.9 the Coast!

98.3 comes in fine over on the island. Actually, it comes in pretty stellar after you pass all the FM towers in Bluffton and go over the bridge. The problem I see is Bluffton and Beaufort. You cannot get 98.3 outside of a decent radio or your car. Now when you get to our oldies-loving 55+ friends at Sun City Hilton Head (I love that, BTW, 15 miles from the Island and it's still "Hilton Head"), you will get a very icky signal indeed due to having line-of-sight with WYKZ. Someone see the problem with this picture? And since oldies hasn't been tried here truly anew for at least 10 years, it was pretty smart for 104.9 to make the flip.

And didn't 98.3 simulcast on what was 92.1/103.1? I wasn't down here at the time but I know that station played oldies for years under the ownership of OC Welch, I seem to recall. Shoot, even the call letters match: WGCO and WGZO! How cute!

All I know is something's gonna pop at Triad. It doesn't make any sense and their ratings show it...don't be suprised if 103.1 "drives" off into the sunset soon. I think with 104.9 in town, PLUS the bone-headed move to ADD older pop to the mix might just backfire. Still sounds more classic rock than oldies for sure...

Radio-X
 
Per All Access, WWJN is changing their callsign to WLHH (We Love Hilton Head). Uh, wouldn't the former callsign on this frequency, WWVV, fit perfectly with a station named 104.9 The Surf?
 
Yeah, 103.1 and 98.3 did simulcast at one point (hence, as said, WGCO/WGZO). They should do this again, IMO. It would help strengthen the Big 98/Big 98.3 (are they still having identity issues?) brand across the area, plus, as I said, it would be cheaper and have less cannibalization.
 
That's a great choice to go to oldies. That will serve that market well, as 98.3 gets weak thru Hilton Head. Once you get past there, 98X peters in, and you can't hear Big 98 anymore.

The thing I wish Hilton Head had was a good sports station. 1130 gets old, and they don't have any local anything except for weather and news. If only Adventure moved 1130 to 103.1, you could have a good sports or news/talk station there. The area is underserved, as the Savannah stations worry mostly about Savannah, and Charleston doesn't cover the area well.

I know Adventure treats Hilton Head like a major city, but they don't do any local sports and don't have many local remotes.
 
charlestondxman said:
That's a great choice to go to oldies. That will serve that market well, as 98.3 gets weak thru Hilton Head. Once you get past there, 98X peters in, and you can't hear Big 98 anymore.

The thing I wish Hilton Head had was a good sports station. 1130 gets old, and they don't have any local anything except for weather and news. If only Adventure moved 1130 to 103.1, you could have a good sports or news/talk station there. The area is underserved, as the Savannah stations worry mostly about Savannah, and Charleston doesn't cover the area well.

I know Adventure treats Hilton Head like a major city, but they don't do any local sports and don't have many local remotes.
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Probably the dumbest move in Lowcountry radio in the decade was moving the ENTIRE Triad cluster to Savannah. I can see moving the heavy hitters in the market or even all the studios, but to just basically close up shop on HHI was not a smart move. People are moving down here pretty quickly and turning your back on this market is not too smart. Most of their buys are for businesses in the Lowcountry, most of the people who listen are in the Lowcountry, so why not have a sales office and maybe a little production studio somewhere up here? (I doubt they're still in that office park on St. Augustine Place...If they are, why did they move everything away?)

I think as spoken word moves from AM to FM to target the younger folks, Savannah really could use a FM sports station. 103.1 would be the perfect station to use. With a mono signal 103.1 would basically cover both markets, they already have the rights to ESPN Radio on 1130, and (above all) it costs a good deal less to simulcast with an AM station doing automated sports talk than playing music heard on at least 3 other stations.

It works in Columbia, Florence, Myrtle Beach, and Clemson...why not here? I know 104.7 did sports talk about 10 years ago but that signal is about as rimshot as you get and is now treated as a Hinesville station really. Plus it most certainly did not cover Hilton Head or Beaufort (which are arguably more more of a sports talk demographic than Savannah, IMO).

I'm sure we could get into an argument about how viable AM is over FM, with AM defenders saying the band is alive and well. Sorry, but besides myself, I have never seen anyone under the age of 40 even use their AM radios! I'm not kidding, either! It's FM, SiriusXM, or your iThingy.

So yeah, why not sports talk or even just regular righty talk on FM here? Shoot, throw a couple of local HS football games on the air Friday nights and you're suddenly "serving the public interest"! I can assure you one of the two will occur somewhat soon and may not clean house with the ratings, but will certainly do better than it's AM counterparts.

BTW, 900 the Ticket must not get any local buys. I only hear network spots and PSA's along with jingles. That's really about it. At least 1130 has some sales on the Island and in Bluffton.

Radio-X
 
Great quote. They have lost it all now. HH was the beginning and the end for Triad. The ex managers and personnel had all the relationships and knew the market. Bring in a new manager and place him in Savannah and an OM without a clue. What do they do? Leave HH wide open. "They use to love her, but its all over now!"
 
radiodxrichmond said:
98.3 comes in fine over on the island. Actually, it comes in pretty stellar after you pass all the FM towers in Bluffton and go over the bridge. The problem I see is Bluffton and Beaufort. You cannot get 98.3 outside of a decent radio or your car. Now when you get to our oldies-loving 55+ friends at Sun City Hilton Head (I love that, BTW, 15 miles from the Island and it's still "Hilton Head"), you will get a very icky signal indeed due to having line-of-sight with WYKZ.
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Can the Sun City people pick up 1400 AM?

By the way, I sometimes pick up 98.3 FM here. More so in the summer. Although I read that WLJI got a signal boost so if I pick up anything from S.C. it's usually that. I'm on the southern end of the range of Country legends 98.3, and how far south I can go and still hear it depends on atmospheric conditions.
 
radiodxrichmond said:
It's light A.C. No standards music at all. Basically take 98.7 the River (or any standard A.C. station), add a few 60-80's hits per hour, and you have WLO....er...107.9 the Coast!Radio-X
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Wikipedia still says they play Sinatra, but that was added back in 2005. Is it stll relevant now?
 
1400 has a good signal throughout the Savannah/Hilton Head area during the daytime, but at night it mostly dies out except in the immediate Savannah area. It's not even a full 1kw, as it is just 650w from just NE of downtown Savannah.

It's just like most other AMs in the area, as I've heard it at Folly Beach during the daytime (but heavily interfered with the local 1390).
 
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