Tuesday... and WLS-FM up to 6th 25-54 and a 3.8 in the demo. Moving away from the 60's a bit helped.
WJMK flat with a 3.1 in that demo, although they moved up several positions in rank.
Interesting though: if going "newer" with the titles is the answer, then WJMK should be eating WLS-FM's lunch. The reverse is the case. Why? WJMK has very good local jocks, excellent imaging and presentation, and an overall professional sound. Their music balance is as people like you say it should be. Furthermore, they're slicker sounding than WLS-FM. Yet it's not taking off.
Meanwhile, WLS-FM - while mixing in some (too many) 80s titles - still plays A LOT of music from the 1960s. The format center is, of course, the 70s. That's sadly typical and I say 'sadly' because the 1970s were not the greatest decade for pop music. The 1960s and (frankly) the 1980s were better as far as big hits go. The 70s, you may recall, were when Top 40 lost its way, Anyhow, that's reality and I digress......
My theory is two-fold:
1) CBS has focused too much on the late 70s and 80s music (i.e. too 'new') so that we start to get into the period of musical fragmentation where most songs from the era turn one group or another off. Furthermore, the scattershot sound of the playlist is a turn-off. First they play a Temptations title from the 1960s, then it's a Van Halen hit from the mid 1980s, then it's a late 70s disco title from Donna Summer. The playlist lacks order and is set up in such a way that many listeners get turned off within a couple of songs. If you like one song, you may well hate the next one. In other words, they're listening TOO MUCH to the consultants who *as usual* don't know what they're talking about. WLS-FM takes a much more balanced approach. Yes, they have some 80s titles in there but mixed in more craftfully (if anything, too many for my tastes - if I want that I can go elsewhere). They still focus on the 60s and early to mid 70s so you know that's what you're getting when you tune in.
2) Given the above, and the fact that WLS-FM is well established with popular personalities and a familiar brand, CBS simply hasn't given listeners a reason to leave 94.7 for 104.3.
3) *Bonus* WJMK's playlist is such that it actually draws much more from 100.3 than does from 94.7 (who hasn't demonstrably lost ANY listeners). Given the presentation style, it didn't seem that 100.3 was CBS' target, but that's who seems to have taken the hit. This makes sense as Hubbard continues to move more into the 90s and 00s with that station.
But I maintain that the "oldies" format goes beyond looking at the original release dates of the songs on the playlist and doing math to determine the demos. Much of this music has been played again and again since it first hit the charts. Therefore you can't simply say that a song that was released in 1965 wouldn't appeal to anyone younger than 60. That's nonsense. If that was true, you wouldn't see any Beatles or Rolling Stones fans younger than 50 - and there are millions of each. Younger generations have also grown up with this music. In this way, it's different than the adult standards that my grandparents listened to. You can be 40 and still like 1960s music - because you first heard it in 1985 and because it's still relevant. Quite unlike Ray Coniff to listeners in 1992.
This is where consultants go wrong and this is why WJMK isn't clobbering WLS-FM even if, on paper, they should be.
