Why Did WYAY Fail

[secondchoice]

It takes patience, expertise, good imaging, and a good airstaff  106.7 had none of those.

The "lack" of a "good' airstaff is purely a management failure.  It simply does not cost that much!

http://www.cnbc.com/id/46994692?slide=2

I made a lot more in the 80's.

[BarryATL]

It takes patience, expertise, good imaging, and a good airstaff  106.7 had none of those.

The "lack" of a "good' airstaff is purely a management failure.  It simply does not cost that much!

http://www.cnbc.com/id/46994692?slide=2

I made a lot more in the 80's.

As some of us have said earlier, I really do think the main reason for the failure of AGH is the purchase by Cumulus.  After the purchase the station seemed to wonder.  Maybe they got rid of the previous PD and gave the duties to an existing PD.  Basically, with AN106.7 coming, management probably did not care too much as long as the format did not lose money for the year until the switch.

But others have made good points about River and then Journey.  With AGH, that is a lot of competition for an older demographic.

[MRFLASHPORT]

Atlanta's Greatest Hits failed because Cumulus, like most corporate radio, is all about pinching pennies and sticking to their radio in a can drag and drop model.

No real talent, ditching Randy and Spiff, and a playlist that while decent, was devoid of deep cuts. The station had very dull imaging when compared to successful classic hits stations (e.g. CBS101 in NYC). Quite frankly, it sounded like a low budget satellite fed operation with no real direction.

It is clear the Cloud Company used it as a placeholder.

The statements about Classic Hits not being a viable format is indicative of what is wrong with the corporate attitude and radio industry in general. younger audiences (under 25) aren't listening to radio, they are online, on their Iphones, Facebook, etc. Their income is largely that of their PARENTS who are in the 35-55, and DO still listen to radio.

But rest assured, as I've said before, the corporate radio industry is on a suicide mission. Those 35-55 y.o.'s are asking their children, nieces and nephews how to get the music WE want to hear on our Iphones and Blackberries, since corporate radio isn't interested in what WE want to hear anymore.

[recto101]

It did not fail, they had over 600k listeners daily.  Problems I had was the sound, it was flat very little treble, too compressed.  The jocks were not good, no jingles/pams packages.  The station started to become boring and redundant, like all stations in this hip-hop market....

WYAY Oldies and KFRC-FM Classic Hits 106.9 in San Francisco Failed due to low demand for oldies in the market at the time. I do know that 106.9 FM failed in San Francisco before they became KCBS because the signal was bad.

[carolinaradio]

It did not fail, they had over 600k listeners daily.  Problems I had was the sound, it was flat very little treble, too compressed.  The jocks were not good, no jingles/pams packages.  The station started to become boring and redundant, like all stations in this hip-hop market....

WYAY Oldies and KFRC-FM Classic Hits 106.9 in San Francisco Failed due to low demand for oldies in the market at the time. I do know that 106.9 FM failed in San Francisco before they became KCBS because the signal was bad.

Funny that in SF, Clear Channel is pulling classic hits off quite well - KOSF/103.7 is seeing the best numbers it has in years since going classic hits.  They sound pretty good.  I thought classic hits was dead in San Francisco after 106.9 dropped it.

[the golden boy]

My bases for feeling that WYAY "failed" was simply by the fact that Cumulus pulled the plug. 

Simply pulling the plug on a format doesn't necessarily mean it failed. There are many reasons formats change: low ratings, low revenue, change of ownership, etc. Sure, WYAY's former format didn't set the radio world on fire ratings-wise (don't know what the revenue was like), but it wasn't low as Dave FM either. Maybe Cumulus saw an all-news format as a way to bring in more revenue and ratings than what the oldies format could do. Plus, they're doing a format they have all to themselves in a top-ten market that didn't have one, and one that has proven successful in many larger markets for a long time (WCBS-AM New York, WBBM-AM Chicago, KCBS-AM San Francisco, et al). I realize there are some signal challenges in some parts of the metro, but if done right, it can do very well.

[atlantaboy]

Sure, WYAY's former format didn't set the radio world on fire ratings-wise (don't know what the revenue was like), but it wasn't low as Dave FM either.

Yes it was - there were times over the course of the past six months that Dave was HIGHER than WYAY

[carolinaradio]

I'm not surprised WYAY had lower numbers after Cumulus took it over.  The presentation was never great (106.7 Atlanta's Greatest Hits wasn't a very good brand, either), but the music went so downhill after they bought it.  They obviously didn't really care to put much in to it (why they fooled with the playlist is beyond me) as it was more than likely a placeholder for all news.

Here's a question - if Cumulus had not bought Citadel, and they still owned WYAY, would AGH still be here?   I think yes.  They really had it on track later last summer with a good playlist that consisted of the "right" variety/selection of music, and the increased presence of 80s music with less 60s made for a solid playlist.  It would have sounded very good with proper imaging.  They hit their highest numbers around that time.

[recto101]

It did not fail, they had over 600k listeners daily.  Problems I had was the sound, it was flat very little treble, too compressed.  The jocks were not good, no jingles/pams packages.  The station started to become boring and redundant, like all stations in this hip-hop market....

WYAY Oldies and KFRC-FM Classic Hits 106.9 in San Francisco Failed due to low demand for oldies in the market at the time. I do know that 106.9 FM failed in San Francisco before they became KCBS because the signal was bad.

Funny that in SF, Clear Channel is pulling classic hits off quite well - KOSF/103.7 is seeing the best numbers it has in years since going classic hits.  They sound pretty good.  I thought classic hits was dead in San Francisco after 106.9 dropped it.

True San Francisco ended up with 2 oldies stations KISQ Old School and KOSF Classic hits  both owned by Clear Channel. and they are doing well in the market.

[recto101]

Look at WSRV in the Atlanta Books they are also a classic hits station in the market like the old WYAY but I saw a 3.7 for The River in the April Books and WYAY got a 2.4 in the April books. I say that that was a good move for Cumulus to convert 106.7 to go all-news. Remember in San Francisco 106.9 always got low ratings in the market before CBS decided to convert 106.9 and improve their signal to become KCBS-FM 106.9 (Officially its KFRC 106.9).