R.I.P 95X

[hmmm]

Being "smart" and affecting "change" are two very different things! I wouldn't expect to much if I were you.

[SirRoxalot]

The new GM may be smart, but how much room will he have to maneuver?

I'd bet that O&A on mornings was dictated by corporate. They've floundered in almost every market where there was credible competition for men 18-34.

I agree that the music is unlistenable. The repetition of AC/DC alone is brutal. The mixed genres are guaranteed to annoy someone virtually every 2nd or 3rd song.

95X was a heritage station at one time, but threw that away by abdicating mornings to Stern, and hanging on for the rest of the day with sub-standard programming and talent. Once Stern went, there were no numbers to hang onto, and the sub-standard talent and programming were unable to bring listeners back to the station.

I'm not sure that going head-to-head with a successful format is the answer. How about offering something that isn't already in the market, but might gain some traction just because it's different? If I were Citadel, I'd look hard at cloning the CBS-FM format.

Normally, we'd know how much control the new GM has by the number of bodies exiting Citadel. At this point, Farid's echoing Judy Ellis's pronouncement that "half of sales will come through the door anyway, so why should we pay commissions?" might send more that a few sales people elsewhere. His view that "we can't invest in programming if it doesn't pay" may also preclude hiring new talent. We also don't know how the current people would do with a coherent format. Maybe there's talent there, but we'll never know with the current "format".

I don't see any uplifting scenario coming out of the current mess. The body will just hang there, slowly twisting in the wind, and being picked over by the Galaxy Harpies.

[theradiokid]

Bob Ross,

Yes, I'm new here (registered as of April 19, in fact.)  Even though I've not posted before this time, I've often read this board, but I didn't register to post here because I wasn't sure that posting on this message board would be accessable with my talking Jaws sofftware equipped computer.  Normally, I can tell speculation from fact, but the lines were so blurred on this post, I wasn't sure.  I mean, people were posting as if a WAQX format flip were fact, and, being the excitable radio geek that I am, I went to my radio, turned it on, found nothing, searched the internet, and found nothing, hence my first post on this thread.  Anyway, Bob, thank you for your helpful reminder.  I sometimes lose perspective, and get carried away on here.

Sir Roxalot,

You mentioned that you would like to see WAQX do something different in the market.  Please give me some examples of some different formats you'd like to see in Syracuse.  I'm not trying to imbarrass you.  I'm really interested in hearing your ideas.  You also mentioned that you'd like to see Citadel clone the CBS-FM format.  However, you also said that going head to head with another station with a format won't work for 95.7 in Syracuse.  I just wanna point out to you, Rox, that WSEN-FM does a format very similar to that of CBS-FM in New York.  So, if Citadel were to clone such a format, do you feel that they should compete with SEN?

Lastly, to everyone:

For those of you who think WAQX will change format soon, you may want to look at the latest story (as of 11-30 EST Monday night) on www.cnyradio.com.  I don't think they'd hold such a thing if they were gonna change formats.  Do you?

--The Radio Kid
(AKA Oswego Jeremy, as nicknamed by George of the Radio Racket.)
My email:  JHANLON001@twcny.rr.com.

[BobRoss]

@RADIOKID - Just because they're having a 95X birthday concert doesn't mean they won't change format.  Obviously the concert branding deal was done before the new GM came to town.  If the ratings are low enough, he (and the listeners, or lack thereof) may not give a crap about the concert deal.  Even though it would look cheesy for 95X to go away when it's Birthday Bash is already being promoted, sometimes it's better to cut your losses sooner than later, and get on with something better.

@SirRoxalot - I agree, the station was really caught with its pants down when Stern exited.  So were many others, despite knowing months and months and months in advance, that Stern was moving to satradio.  For years, affiliates were making all their money in morning drive, and it didn't really matter if you were in the toilet for the rest of the day.  Now, the game is changed, and they need to be solid in every daypart.  Perhaps a brand new format isn't needed, but a major refreshment of the playlist is.

Any consultant worth their pay knows you have to update the playlist frequently, depending on the format of the station.  Heck, you don't even need to be a consultant to do this -- even if you're too cheap to have one, the MD and PD should know this.  If they don't, they need to be fired.  In addition to updating your currents and recurrents every week, you need to refresh the gold categories once every month... or at least every few months.  Every music-related complaint I've seen on this board and other boards has to do with the fact that 95X plays the same crap over and over. 

I admit, I only listen to rock stations occasionally, but it's like any other format.  Every so often, you have to put certain songs out to pasture for awhile, and let some other titles come into the game for awhile.  It's a lot like a hockey or basketball game... you can't play your starters for the entire game... they'll get too tired and worn out.  Bring the second and third stringers out, so the starters can take a break, catch their breath.  Sure, there are some songs that you just CAN'T take off the playlist, but you need to be really conservative about choosing those songs, and just as conservative about making sure they don't play too often.  For example, Billy Joel's Piano Man is a fixture in the AC format, but you don't see AC stations playing it twice every day.  Maybe more like once every 3 or 4 days... and properly rotated so it hits in different dayparts each time.

As for talent... every ex-affiliate of Stern that's now floundering in morning drive (and likely the rest of the day) only has itself to blame for failing to have a good, solid replacement lined up ahead of time.  Even if you don't hire an experienced morning host from some other market, your existing midday or afternoon person should be capable of stepping up to the plate, even if just temporary.  After all, they're already "known" to your listeners, and any midday or PM person should be eager to do mornings, just for the very prospect of the fact that mornings have bigger audiences and bigger salaries.  Yet, we've seen 95X follow Stern with one unknown duo which fizzled out, followed by a syndicated duo who are Stern-wannabes past their prime.

You can't replace Stern with a Stern-wannabe show.  The Stern fans who liked Stern enough already bought satellite radio so they could continue listening to Stern.  The rest of the Stern fans miss Stern, but don't want some Stern-wannabe trying to fill his shoes.  That's why B&K failed, and that's why O&A aren't getting a great reception either.  It's pretty rare that I actually give credit to Galaxy, but they've got the right idea in having K-Rock and TK99's morning shows hosted by local people who aren't necessarily Stern-wannabes. 

In summary... without Stern, 95X never had much else to keep it from collapsing.  Even if they do change up the playlist and start getting a good rotation going, I think they'd still be hard-pressed to come up with a good morning show.  It would need to be local -- and by local, I mean someone who's been here, not someone moved in from another market.  (Well, maybe close-by, like Utica, Watertown, even Ithaca.  Not Kentucky or Illinois.)

[Owner]

Beavis and Ken were not local people. They were from Kentucky?

[DaCritic]

95X was a heritage station at one time, but threw that away by abdicating mornings to Stern, and hanging on for the rest of the day with sub-standard programming and talent. Once Stern went, there were no numbers to hang onto, and the sub-standard talent and programming were unable to bring listeners back to the station.

I don't see any uplifting scenario coming out of the current mess. The body will just hang there, slowly twisting in the wind, and being picked over by the Galaxy Harpies.

Unfortunately, 95X lost a lot of goodwill from its listeners when Frisina left.  He WAS 95X for a lot of us who grew up with the station, and no matter who or what you put on there to try to bring it back, it's never going to be the same.

[ThePickleReport]

Seems Citadel has a decision to make: It's either Active or Classic Rock.  One or the other.  The sooner they make the decision, the better off they'll be. 

I think that has been the crux of the problem ever since Galaxy became successful with their rock stations. One mistake, IMHO, was for 95X to change their position to try to satisfy the middle between TK-99 and K-Rock. It obviously doesn't work the way they are implementing it and by looking at their schizo playlist I can see why.