Wired officially a Pop Station

CBS Radio Wired 96.5 Is Officially a Pop Station going after Q, is this a first step towards a relaunch?

If CBS is seriously trying to go after Q102 (which I kinda doubt because there's very little chance they'll win), this is NOT the way to do it. They should call this thing "Hot Hits 96.5." They're way too repetitive. Look at their playlist. There's a ton of things that'll jump right out at ya. (Examples: "Thinking Out Loud" 5 times since 7am this morning. "Uptown Funk" 5 times since around 6:30am.) The playlist also looks very cookie cutter, like it's based on a national chart. Doesn't appear to be taking any local flavor into account.

Oh. And they played Humpty Dance this morning. Watch out, iHM!

This looks like an easy-way out attempt to possibly boost revenue but it's not going to "win" anything. I'm still banking on KYW-FM on 96.5 before the end of the year.

This looks like an easy-way out attempt to possibly boost revenue but it's not going to "win" anything. I'm still banking on KYW-FM on 96.5 before the end of the year.[/QUOTE]

Or maybe a harder edged Alternative....hmmm

Their top song spin totals average around 123-127 spins per week. A little towards the high end, but not unusual for pop stations at all.

Q102's top 3 songs are around 105-109 spins each week.

I remember a time during the Wired/Q battles, Q was spinning their top songs over 140 times

I remember a time during the Wired/Q battles, Q was spinning their top songs over 140 times

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I remember it too. But times are different now. The top end of the demo isn't gonna put up with that mess for too long now that the dial has options like 106.1. And especially since 101.1 is basically an Adult CHR at this point. In this day & age and in this market, no good can come to any station being that repetitive.

Unregistered said:

This looks like an easy-way out attempt to possibly boost revenue but it's not going to "win" anything. I'm still banking on KYW-FM on 96.5 before the end of the year.

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Or maybe a harder edged Alternative....hmmm[/QUOTE]
Yeah, because $5 million is billing is definitely enough to split between two stations. Right.

Nearly every large market has two Top 40 stations these days. iHeart blew up Rhythmic Top 40 KYLD San Francisco to go Mainstream Top 40 and challenge the Top 40 leader. And CBS blew up Rhythmic Top 40 WBBM-FM Chicago to go Mainstream Top 40 and challenge the Top 40 leader. In NYC CBS gave up Rock to become a second Top 40. And in Boston, it gave up Classic Hits to become a second Top 40.

So it makes sense for Philadelphia to have two Top 40 stations. And usually the challenger has more repetition than the leader. That's the case in NYC, where Amp 92.3 plays almost nothing that's more than a year old. If someone hits your button when the leader goes into a commercial break, you want to be playing one of the hottest songs of the week.

At this point, I doubt CBS is thinking much about an immediate FM simulcast for KYW, especially since the latest ratings have 1060 at #2, thanks to winter weather.

With all due respect, it "makes sense" to do something in Philadelphia because it was done in other markets? Disregarding for a second how that is actually NOT a good reason to do something in Philadelphia: Have those moves in San Francisco, Chicago, and Boston worked? (And by worked, I mean did it affect the cluster's revenue in a positive way?)

Back to it making sense to do something here because it worked elsewhere: Every market is different. This idea of homogenizing everything has been one of the biggest nails in terrestrial's coffin. Philadelphia's media consumers are some of the stubbornest I've ever seen/heard of. There are several other news programs but these folks love themselves some Action News. 101.1 is the AC leader and no matter who comes along to challenge them fails (even a company who was successful with that plan in another market). I highly doubt anyone can pose a serious threat to WXTU. And let's ask Radio One what it's like to challenge established leaders like WDAS and Power 99. Beasley knew going head-to-head with powerhouse Q102 wasn't going to work so they went with the Rhythmic slant to squeeze between Q and Power.

Also, respectfully, if CBS is considering a KYW simulcast on 96.5, one up book (especially during the winter) would not have an effect on those plans. Unless, of course, the masterminds behind the Philly cluster are morons.

If every major market has two Top 40 stations, of course that's a good reason to do it in Philadelphia. Yes, it did work in Chicago (WBBM-FM is a top 5 station now, 18-34, very close to WKSC) and San Francisco (KYLD now beats KMVQ 18-34). WBMP and WODS are doing much better 18-34 than in the past, even though they're not really close to the Top 40 leaders in those cities.

Wired is at #18, WIOQ at #11 in the last ratings. No brainer to go mainstream Top 40.

And 1060 hitting #2 in Philadelphia last month does mean CBS can postpone thoughts about putting KYW on FM. Apparently Philadelphians DO remember how to switch their radios to AM if they want All-News when it's snowing. CBS owns two AM All-News stations in NYC, one each in LA, Dallas, Boston and Detroit. All are big money-makers. Someday CBS will have to figure out what to do with them, as well as KYW, if AM listening keeps dropping. But not today.

I can see that was pretty pointless.

CBS bought WXTU, a station that has enjoyed success over the long haul in a city where old habits die hard. Forget 6+.

In the case of WRDW, they bought at least a fixer upper, and one could question the value of the "wired" brand. Its IHM competition WIOQ, as has been pointed out, has been a winner in the long term, again in a city where old habits die hard. Again forget 6+ If it remains a CHR, it's AMP, and it's there just to say "we do AMP in all the big markets". KYW-FM seems like it should be a real possibility. Although we lacked snow in the same quantity as last year, we had repeated ice/very low temperature/wind events on a regular basis.

Those 6+ numbers are to be forgotten. KYW is a high biller. It's hard to understand why you'd wait until the audience ages out of advertiser relevance before making the transition. School numbers and traffic are too easily available elsewhere already. Just because it's not happening in NY, doesn't mean it shouldn't here.

Good points and good reasoning to back them up. When people just say the same things over and over on here without valid backing statements, I always read that as "Here's what I want to happen." Thank you for making your post have some actual heft.

Facts remain facts and radio remains a business. Follow the math and the dollar signs, folks.

For the last 4 years they have been known as Tired 965, they will need to shed this damaged brand and start over, it was actually a very well ran station for its first 5 or so years, but now they sound lost. Those first 5 years they had a sound that was unique and their own, as of now 965 and 1021 don't have a unique sound that is their own, and that is a winner against just playing the charts.

It all comes down to how much they can bill as a CHR vs. how much revenue can be increased or saved by putting KYW on FM. Last time I saw billing numbers, Wired was billing a paltry $7 million. So assuming expenses are about $4 million, they would have an EBITDA of about $3 million (expense figures are merely a guess on my part). If CBS thinks they would be billing $3 million more by putting KYW on FM, then we know what will happen, though CBS clearly hasn't reached that conclusion yet. I do wonder how much an Amped-up CHR can do, since Q isn't (comparably) strong in ratings or revenue. My questions are is this because Q isn't tapping the potential of CHR in the Philly market or if Philly just isn't that strong of a CHR market?

Exactly, exactly, exactly! And to me, the longer they wait, the more listeners they lose from the younger end of KYW's demo. They will never get those listeners back if there's no FM alternative to move them to.

Personally one has to wonder if Mediabase and Billboard are on the same page as far as reporting panels are concerned. Billboard still has WRDW (as well as KYLD, WNVZ, XHTZ, and KZON) on the Rhythmic panel.

Its about time that 96.5 FM goes CHR/pop to fully compete with Q102. Hopefully CBS radio will make 96.5 a better station and be Philly's number 1 hit music station. Anything's possible.

Questionable said:

Exactly, exactly, exactly! And to me, the longer they wait, the more listeners they lose from the younger end of KYW's demo. They will never get those listeners back if there's no FM alternative to move them to.

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But who sys they're going to keep, or regain, more of those listeners with KYW--more or less as it exists on AM--on FM? What if the format, regardless of delivery method, just doesn't have the long-term value?

Fair question about newsradio's potential lifespan. Could be posed about CHR as well, though the factors might be different.

Bob Eubanks said:

But who sys they're going to keep, or regain, more of those listeners with KYW--more or less as it exists on AM--on FM? What if the format, regardless of delivery method, just doesn't have the long-term value?

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We're talking about the value CBS sees in a flailing Top 40 vs. one of their long-time crown jewels in the market, KYW Newsradio. I don't believe there's any question that they'd prefer to throw money at keeping KYW around. Why would they choose to instead throw that money at a wish for 96.5 to miraculously start competing with the fully-entrenched Q102? They're not gonna let KYW just wither and die.

Plus, with KYW on 96.5 FM, they could eventually sell off 1060 AM. Personally, I would not be happy being at the market cap with the inclusion of two stations on the hurdling-toward-extinction AM band. I'd prefer to be free to buy 101.1 FM!