• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

Z-102 Change

R

radiowindow

I just read this on Gena's myspace profile:

"ON THE JOB FRONT: As of Friday 3/23 I have moved from my full time radio gig to a full time sales position and part time on air stuff,including remotes and stuff like that!"

She was the midday gal over at WZAT. She just started this past fall. What happened? Is a bigger change coming to Z-102?
 
I don't know that a change in the mid-day time slot would necessarily be a pre-cursor to a format change.

Noticed something interesting the other day though. Was driving on Abercorn, actually not far from the Cumulus studios come to think of it, right in front of Dan Vaden Chevrolet or so. Anyway, I saw a Z102 billboard but the logo was different. Not the traditional big red Z. I only had a second or two to see it, so I'll try to check it out in more detail next time I drive by, but they've had the old logo for quite some time.
 
TheMusicMan said:
I don't know that a change in the mid-day time slot would necessarily be a pre-cursor to a format change.

Noticed something interesting the other day though. Was driving on Abercorn, actually not far from the Cumulus studios come to think of it, right in front of Dan Vaden Chevrolet or so. Anyway, I saw a Z102 billboard but the logo was different. Not the traditional big red Z. I only had a second or two to see it, so I'll try to check it out in more detail next time I drive by, but they've had the old logo for quite some time.
Click to expand...

Yes they have used that logo for quite some time. I'm curious what's going on. Hey, if you can somehow, try to snap a picture of the new Z102 logo.

Knowing the cloud people, though, it's probably just a logo and positioner change, unfortunately, and not a format flip.
 
radiowindow said:
Yeah, I've seen the billboard in another place also. Why would they use one logo on their website and one on billboards?
Click to expand...

Can you describe what the new logo looks like? Do you remember if there was a new positioner underneath it? They've been using "All The Hits!" for quite some time now.

I have no clue why they'd change logos but I'm going to say that this is YET ANOTHER attempt by those clueless cloud people to rebrand Z102. Said rebranding will keep the station languishing as a mutant Top 40/Hot AC hybrid, which will work to no avail for the 7,000th time, and the Arbs will reflect that. I'd like to be proven wrong but this *is* WZAT we're talking about so, as much as we'd all love to see a format flip on 102.1 (and alot of us want a new Alternative station), I suspect my guess will be proven accurate, unfortunately.
 
Some people like Z just the way it is. The western listening area listens to Z & Kix and I-95. Marguerite sounds better than Gena anyway. Kix & Z can be heard 70 + miles west of Savannah, Kix was doing a live remote in Baxley and Hazelhurst recently by Heidi whom used to be on the river, Heidi does remotes and weekends on Kix. If you don't like Z or any other broadcast station get sirius or xm and you can tune into anything you can imagine. I have sirius in my personal vehicle, when i'm in a work truck i'm listening to Z or Kix. When you purchase a new vehicle with sat radio you generally get a year of free sat radio service, My 06 Dodge Ram came with a year of sirius radio service with a built in tuner and i plan on keeping the service after the free year is up.
 
Um, I have xm via DIRECTV at home. My point and the point of many others here on the board is that Cumulus has been steadily losing money and ratings with Z102, what with that station's various rebrandings and hybrid Top 40, then Hot AC (I just checked Arbitron; according to the last ratings book WZAT is Hot AC; Mediabase states they're a Top 40 station) format over the past almost SEVEN years, and it's all to no avail as 97.3 KISS FM keeps beating it soundly in the ratings.

We've all been looking at WZAT from a business aspect. Case in point: I loved Triad's Adult Album Alternative station, Wave 104.9. But Triad had to sell one of their stations when they acquired WGZO from Zip Communications, in order to comply with FCC regulations. So they sold Wave 104.9, their signal with the lowest power. I miss that station and the format alot but I understand why they sold the signal. Business is business, unfortunately.

(And for the record, I'm not a Top 40 fan.)
 
With Directv you're only getting a fraction of what xm has to offer! Pony up the $ 12.95 for the full deal xm has to offer! (I just cancelled Directv and went with the triple play from the phone company)

The ratings system is NOT accurate by no means! If only people who make 20k - 50k + were allowed to vote you would see a whole new set of numbers. Thats a fact!

Outside the Savannah metro area the Z listenership increases.

I'm not a fan of Alt. Rock

I prefer Top 40, Hot AC, Country, Classic Country,Smooth Jazz, Classical.
 
I don't know what kind of numbers Gina Davis has produced over her career, but Marguerite Springfield's numbers have always been great in Savannah...could be a smart move.
 
TheMusicMan said:
I don't know that a change in the mid-day time slot would necessarily be a pre-cursor to a format change.

Noticed something interesting the other day though. Was driving on Abercorn, actually not far from the Cumulus studios come to think of it, right in front of Dan Vaden Chevrolet or so. Anyway, I saw a Z102 billboard but the logo was different. Not the traditional big red Z. I only had a second or two to see it, so I'll try to check it out in more detail next time I drive by, but they've had the old logo for quite some time.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I saw that billboard tonight. They're still using the same positioner - "All The Hits!" So...that's it? A new logo? Look out Savannah radio -- Z102 has a new logo with a green Z...AND IT'S ALL IN A NEW FONT! Seriously, that's going to turn that station around when it's been steadily losing both ratings and money for almost eight years? Buy a clue and a map, Magellan. Then again, we are talking about the cloud people here. ::)
 
Hey man, we get it.....you don't like Cumulus. Move on. I don't like Blockbuster, but you don't hear me bitching about it. I just go to another store. No one is going to put on the FC3K format for you, so if you want it, buy a station and put it on the air. I can hook you up with several people looking to sell their license.
 
rcombs said:
Hey man, we get it.....you don't like Cumulus. Move on. I don't like Blockbuster, but you don't hear me bitching about it. I just go to another store. No one is going to put on the FC3K format for you, so if you want it, buy a station and put it on the air. I can hook you up with several people looking to sell their license.
Click to expand...

By those standards, you'd better tell more people than myself to move on...oh wait, you'd be on the board all month.

I and many others are simply discussing why, after close to A DECADE of sticking with a format that has received mediocre returns and steadily declining ratings, nothing is done to steer the ship in a different direction.
 
But it doesn't matter why. It is a decision made by the corporate office, just like any other radio station these days. It's not your money they are doing it with, so just let it go. You have continually degraded and debased the stations and station owners in the Savannah area, yet you have not brought forth any real knowledge or experience of how a radio station works. You speak only opinions yet you declare it gospel. The "cloud people", as you call them, are multi-millionaires who continue to make millions more every year doing just what you say doesn't work. I wonder who we should listen to in this case?

I don't agree with 90% of the decision made by the corporate office, but so what. I don't care what music the stations play. If I don't like a song, I change the station. If I don't like the format, I don't stop on that frequency. If no stations are playing what I want to hear, then I put in a CD.
 
rcombs said:
But it doesn't matter why. It is a decision made by the corporate office, just like any other radio station these days. It's not your money they are doing it with, so just let it go. You have continually degraded and debased the stations and station owners in the Savannah area, yet you have not brought forth any real knowledge or experience of how a radio station works. You speak only opinions yet you declare it gospel. The "cloud people", as you call them, are multi-millionaires who continue to make millions more every year doing just what you say doesn't work. I wonder who we should listen to in this case?

I don't agree with 90% of the decision made by the corporate office, but so what. I don't care what music the stations play. If I don't like a song, I change the station. If I don't like the format, I don't stop on that frequency. If no stations are playing what I want to hear, then I put in a CD.
Click to expand...

I've been visiting this site for almost ten years now. After WAEV flipped from Hot AC as Mix 97.3 to Top 40 as 97.3 KISS FM in December 2001, it's been a behemoth, a juggernaut in the Arbs. This isn't about me wanting to replicate a station like Charleston's 96 Wave here or having a AAA station spring up overnight, it's about people like myself who, for years and years, have seen a station continue to commit (some might say cling) to a format they're no longer competitive in (and haven't been for a very long time) and wonder why it's allowed to continue in said condition. If Dickey and Co. in Atlanta want to continue to operate WZAT as a Top 40/Hot AC/Whatever It Is This Week, so be it. But if I or others wish to speak our minds, for good or bad, about the very thing these boards were designed for, when did that become sacrosanct?
 
It becomes inviolable after you continue to harp on it again and again. Why continue to rant time after time after time.
 
rcombs said:
It becomes inviolable after you continue to harp on it again and again. Why continue to rant time after time after time.
Click to expand...

I might cite the station if I'm making an example while speaking about another station or if, like this post, someone brings WZAT up. I'm not making pointless posts and screaming "Z102 SUX!!! OMG!!!" every five minutes like a ten-year old. When the situation warrants it, I reference WZAT, as I've done so for various other stations and companies.
 
I will say, not necessarily Z-102, but Savannah in general is ripe for a change. Maybe not AAA or Alt. Rock, but there are some formats that could do well there.

And just a question for Robert C., is WZAT, just based on tower height and power, the most powerful station in town? I notice it has a little more problems around some of the downtown buildings compared to the other W. Chatham sticks, but I can pick it up regularly on 95 in Woodbine.

Radio-X
 
As far as coverage, yes, WZAT is the most powerful due to antenna height. I can run at 50% power on my backup transmitter and still get better coverage than most. Power wise, there are seven 100,000 watt stations in Savannah.

Unfortunately the antenna we are using is more susceptible to signal refraction and we lost some building penetration in the downtown area.
 
"I might cite the station if I'm making an example while speaking about another station or if, like this post, someone brings WZAT up. I'm not making pointless posts and screaming "Z102 SUX!!! OMG!!!" every five minutes like a ten-year old. When the situation warrants it, I reference WZAT, as I've done so for various other stations and companies."

I am just saying, come to us with educated statements, not just rantings. If you have radio experience, then please, enlighten us.

The format of or the music played on any radio station should not effect anyone's life to this extreme. Alas I myself have fallen into this trap, but no more. Consider this personal rant concluded.
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom