Woody Windham

[DudeFan]

Gordon:

All due respect, your reasoning is flawed.

WVOC-FM is 6kw Class A. WNKT is a Class C (not full Class C, though). I don't know what advantage that would give WVOC. Second, the Gamecocks rights holder has expected to be on a Class C FM in each market. That has been known for at least a decade now.

As for what advertiser would spend $$ on a Class C Country B106? All of them. Certainly more than would spend money on a 2 share AC that is below the Top 5 25-54. Which is exactly where they could be in two more ratings periods. The money B106 is bring is in mostly all national/regional agency dollars, who use a 4 book average to place their buys. B106 has a bit of an anemic Christmas kick, but I predict that will be gone in Tuesday's trends, like it did in every other market.

As I have said before, the shares to be had in this market are primarily for WCOS and WNOK to lose as the top 2 non-Urban stations in the market.

[carolinaradio]

Here's a question - if 106.7 went after 'COS or 'NOK....which one would it be?

I've gotta admit, I think 97.5 WCOS is a much better for a country station than 104.7 WNOK is for a CHR.  104.7 is extremely canned, even for CC.  Which one would be more vulnerable?  I'd think the country audience would be more loyal than the CHR audience.

This is far-fetched, but Cumulus could take B-106.7 Hot AC with a little 90s but mostly new/new'ish music.  It could eat away at 'NOK's older end and they'd really have nothing to lose with B-106's older end - they would likely just go down to Magic.  Hot AC doesn't really do well in most of the SE, though.

Any listener defections from 106.7 if it were to flip, though, are most definitely just going to help 98.5, IMO.

[GordonSims]

Gordon:

All due respect, your reasoning is flawed.

WVOC-FM is 6kw Class A. WNKT is a Class C (not full Class C, though). I don't know what advantage that would give WVOC. Second, the Gamecocks rights holder has expected to be on a Class C FM in each market. That has been known for at least a decade now.


As I have said before, the shares to be had in this market are primarily for WCOS and WNOK to lose as the top 2 non-Urban stations in the market.

All due respect accepted   
All I know is that the University has wanted more coverage for their 'non-revenue' sports (womens basketball, softball, soccer, etc) and any events that conflict (like baseball and basketball this month) which can all now go on 560 (MUCH better signal than 1320).  But with the SEC's huge tv deal from ESPN, and with the CBS deal for digital - how important will the difference between and a Class A and a Class C be ?
I also know the University doesnt make the decision, IMG does (with some prodding by USC)
IMG wants inventory.  Who will give up more of their air time?
All that said - Cumulus likes their sports stations.  So this could get intersting

[Al Timiter]

This is sort of like guessing which buzzard will pick which bones of a carcass.

For my .02 worth and with all due respect to the theory that Cumulus will need the 100kw stick of WTCB to take more money from CC, I just don't see them sacrificing B-106. While WTCB may be underperforming, the format (while not my cup of tea) is highly reliable for both revenue and ratings.

My .02 says the squeeze play will cost WOMG it's format.

PS. Does anyone know if Bill Benton had any say so in this decision?

[GordonSims]

Meanwhile, did anyone hear Woody this morning? (on 1320)
Did he play any music ? 

[snailboy]

I did listen and I did not hear any music. Woody mentioned he did not know he was going to WISW until after air shift on Friday.

[Ssummers]

I did listen and I did not hear any music. Woody mentioned he did not know he was going to WISW until after air shift on Friday.

Lol. You gotta love Woody.  I don't care who you are, you just gotta. You can always count on Woody to tell it like it is.

[DudeFan]

Woody is either going to just kinda go with the flow or let his inhibitions go and do some brilliant, sharp talk radio. Here's to Woody saying whatever's on his mind...

[charlestondxman]

WTCB has a huge signal. They could move B to 98.5 and put country on 106.7. This is exactly what happened to Sunny in Charleston. Was a heritage AC station (dating back to 1990), with good ratings, moved from 100.5 to 96.9, eventually regressed, and in '07 they flipped to the Wolf.

WTCB has gotten a little stale, sounding like every other Cumulus AC. They do sound better than good old 102.5 in Charleston. I would frequently listen to them over 102.5 when I could get them.

About the Gamecocks, probably what would happen if rights went to Clear Channel would be football would air on 97.5 while baseball and basketball would air on 100.1. They would need more network stations.

Citadel already has lost a few stations. They used to have the Gamecocks on FM in Charleston, then they took them off and now they're on a signal which is unusable for night games more than 25 miles from the transmitter.

[carolinaradio]

I still don't see 98.5 flipping.  The thing to watch with them is whether Cumulus hires a replacement for afternoons (assuming TJ stays in mornings).  If so, they don't plan to change anything, IMO.  Woody going to 1320 might have been to help lower the demographics for 98.5, as they've been doing that lately with musical adjustments.  I just don't think they're doing that badly.  Yeah, the fall book was rough, but until then, they had been getting some pretty good momentum going, above a 4 share even - in fall, 98.5 was way down, while 106.7 was way up - looks to me that 98 lost a lot of listeners to 106, perhaps, for Christmas music.  The trends and following book will have more insight in to that.
Cumulus has flipped very few oldies/classic hits stations in the past.  That is one format they do right and are committed to.

Stale sounding AC's are becoming more common it seems.  Just about all of them in SC are.  The format seems to be hurting in some markets as of late, or not doing as well as it was several years ago.