The Wolf wouldn't be in such dire condition if Entercom was to recommit to the station. The past year Entercom has become very cheap with this operation. When they launched in 2007 they were sounding great and on top of their game. The morning show was entertaining. Eddy King, their promotions guy was a big add to the show. Lola with her rhaspy country delivery was excellent for the format. Jojo "Cookin" Kincaid who I have enjoyed for many years before back at Kiss 108 in Boston made afternoons fly by with his high energy delivery. The intensive music in the evening made this the perfect formula. Country music listeners are way to often stereotyped as 'not too bright'. The reality is they are bright intelligent people who have a passion for the music and do not want 'canned' or 'out-of-town programming'. They have a BS meter and believe me they know when they are not getting their money's worth. The problem with the Wolf is Entercom's obsession to use sydnicated programming via their other stations. The morning show is a joke and nobody in the Bay Area gives a rip about Seattle. The second issue and a major one is Entercom's inability to shut the motor-mouth from Portland off in the evenings. This Alan Cable guy is not talented and sure as hell not a fit for country radio. When I can drive 4 miles from downtown Pleasanton back to my driveway a total of 8 minutes and 5 traffic lights later and this idiot is still rattling his jaws, it's gone on far too long. And people wonder why The Wolf's ratings are down???
I would have to believe The Wolf is on death watch, too. I don't see how an adequate profit can possibly be made with ratings as poor as theirs.
I listened to The Wolf a fair amount when it first came on the air. I thought it was clever
radio - a lot of thought was put into the format and imaging, and the jocks were entertaining. It didn't hurt that they had Jo Jo Kincaid, who I had liked on KFRC...though I did notice that he'd suddenly acquired a southern drawl.
People posting here had been saying country music no longer worked in the Bay Area (or big city markets in general), until The Wolf came along and initially garnered some encouraging ratings, then people decided maybe it would work.
I probably would have stuck with it except for that pesky country music problem. I'm not against country music, and I even like some of it, but my ears rebel after about 4 songs. Dance music has the same effect on me - the first couple of songs are enjoyable, then it wears thin. I haven't listened in awhile, so maybe their problem is that they went cheap. I make no claims to being a typical Bay Area radio listener - but I have to wonder if the music is their problem.
