I don't know what I was thinking last night, but I thought you were referring to 96.5 KISS FM.
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96.5 = dumpster fire
- Thread starter MarkW
- Start date
Kiss is a straight CHR. In many cities, the straight, all-current hits CHR stations are slipping in the ratings, as many in their young- targeted audience is no longer getting their current music from radio.
WENZ, with their all-currents rap/hip hop format, isn't doing that well, either. However in their case, I believe that it is because they are forced to play censored versions of the current format hits and the audience wants the full impact, so they go to streams and files.
WENZ also sounds like a nightclub at times and that can be a turnoff. Plus, the current syndicated morning show is not that good. Half of that station during the week is syndicated.
I remember 98.1 being religious going some decades back as WTOF,
If anything, they'd probably swap subchannels and move "106.1 The Beat" to the primary, largely what just happened in Atlanta. I'm not holding my breath, though; 106.1 exists to peel away listeners from 107.9 and clearing Premiere product like "The Breakfast Club".
For as bad as CHR is nationwide—and this is the key word, the format is at a nadir across the board to the point Sean Ross wrote about college CHR stations who have integrated 80s tracks—it's not time just yet to mercy kill WAKS. Even though it is on the same tower as WZAK and WTAM, it is still a move-in and not the same type of full-market signal WMMS, WHLK, WGAR or WMJI are, as those four are based in Parma and Seven Hills.
Why tell people to go to an Akron station that's largely a rumor in Cleveland proper?
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Why not? You'd rather have those listeners go to Audacy's Q104?
There is a good deal of overlap between the city grade service areas of 98.1 and 96.5.
You're grasping for straws here. The signal is good to great across most of the metro. The signal isn't the reason the ratings stink. WAKS used to draw shares in the 3's and 4's routinely.
Go back more than a decade, and WAKS was pulling 5 shares.
Perhaps iHM needs to replace Grampa from New York in mornings with a show or host to which 96.5's intended audience can actually relate if they wish to reinvigorate 96.5. Duran will turn 60 this summer.
Cleveland radio market dominated by four ownership groups
View full sizeKen Marshall, The Plain Dealer The Cleveland radio market remains dominated by four ownership groups that control roughly 80 percent of the market, according to the last six Arbitron Inc. rating periods. Critics say that limits variety for...
www.cleveland.com
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96.5 did not have to change the COL because the WTAM tower is only 20 miles north of downtown Akron. Akron still easily gets a city-grade signal from WAKS.
Now known as WCPN 104.9, a WKSU repeater.
They are on the same tower 96.5 once used off of Bellaire Road north of Cuyahoga Falls, which is also the same tower array used by WCUE 1150.
Q104 is a hot AC, not a straight up CHR. It has never been a CHR.
WKDD does not subscribe to the Cleveland book and never will, because it is an Akron station. Those listeners would just vanish or go elsewhere.
Being on the WTAM tower in Brecksville (which is quite short for a tower of that type), WAKS and WZAK are prone to multipath issues the full-market stations don't have (but less so than WKSU, which had to construct one booster to fix the fading in downtown Cleveland and are working on another in Shaker Heights). Parna and Seven Hills sites are far more desirable because of their higher elevation.
Those young listeners at the time are now in their late 20s/early 30s.Go back more than a decade, and WAKS was pulling 5 shares.
Cleveland radio market dominated by four ownership groups
View full sizeKen Marshall, The Plain Dealer The Cleveland radio market remains dominated by four ownership groups that control roughly 80 percent of the market, according to the last six Arbitron Inc. rating periods. Critics say that limits variety for...
Plus TikTok did not exist a decade ago. There are now more avenues for younger people to get music (and censored "radio edit" tracks are becoming a liability).
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When Star 102.5 went away in Buffalo, guess which station saw a nice ratings bump? The CHR! (Kiss 98.5)
I bet there is plenty of cross-cume between 96.5 and 104.1.
When WTDY in Philly retooled and went Hot AC, competing CHR, Q102, took a ratings hit.
96.5 WAKS has meaningful audience in Summit County. At times, they tie or almost tie WKDD in share there. Even having Cuyahoga County listeners go to 98.1 would be a much better outcome than having them go to an in-market competitor (i.e. Q104).
Indeed, it is partially responsible for declining interest in CHR among teens and young adults.
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Because Audacy cross-promoted and simulcast WKSE on WTSS after Star died. And isn't WKSE more conservatively programmed for a CHR?
Maybe, but they program quite differently.
But it doesn't really matter because 96.5 is a Cleveland station, first and foremost.
Telling people in Cleveland to go to an Akron station that will never be listed in the Cleveland books just smacks of a terrible tactical move.
You do it to (a) to try to suppress WQAL's share gain in CLE and (b) encourage 96.5's Summit County audience to go to 98.1.
96.5 is cannibalizing 98.1 to a degree in Summit County. So, to say it "doesn't matter" is baloney.
Of course, the above are secondary considerations. The main goal is improving cluster performance in CLE by finding better programming for 96.5.
In most markets, the CHR and Hot AC cross cume quite heavily.
96.5 is cannibalizing 98.1 to a degree in Summit County. So, to say it "doesn't matter" is baloney.
Of course, the above are secondary considerations. The main goal is improving cluster performance in CLE by finding better programming for 96.5.
In most markets, the CHR and Hot AC cross cume quite heavily.
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But again, WKDD is not a subscriber to the Cleveland book. You really want those listeners to just vanish from the larger market?
Almost all Cleveland stations are cannibalizing the Akron stations to some degree. The Akron stations still manage, especially the Klaus family/WNIR and RCRG.
The iHeart Cleveland cluster has nine stations — WAKS, WGAR, WMMS, WMJI, WHLK, 106.1 the Beat (WAKS-HD2), BIN 99.1 (WMMS-HD2), WTAM and WARF. The two translators and WARF serve a purpose of competing against larger full-market competition. By economy of scale standards they have little to worry about.
Maybe, by that logic, iHeart is keeping WAKS in place to peel off listeners from Q104?
That's a straw man argument - and you know it. Most FM listeners sample numerous stations over the course of a week. No one is going to stop cuming Cleveland radio completely on account of a simple station promo.
iHM has many successful brands in Cleveland; no argument here. Why not add one more?
RCRG's sole Cleveland market station gets a 0.7 share in Akron; WONE and WQMX get much bigger numbers in Akron than WKDD. Audacy and Urban One own no stations in Akron.
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Oh come on. WKDD is technically and programmatically incapable of becoming a Cleveland station. It was lucky to be able to move onto the old 96.5 tower when it did.
Man, are you in the weeds. I am not suggesting they (98.1 WKDD) try to become a Cleveland station. I give up.
The "add one more" was in reference to 96.5 (which should either try to fix its horrendously performing format or, in my view, flip to Urban AC), not 98.1.
Perhaps my reference to Summit County is confusing you? Summit County is home to Akron, not Cleveland.
The "add one more" was in reference to 96.5 (which should either try to fix its horrendously performing format or, in my view, flip to Urban AC), not 98.1.
Perhaps my reference to Summit County is confusing you? Summit County is home to Akron, not Cleveland.
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WNWV is a technically inferior signal, stuck 20 miles west of Cleveland on flat terrain. It's lucky to perform as well as it does in either Cleveland or Akron even with the multiple strikes against it.
But again, you're suggesting that 96.5, if it were to flip, air promos or liners suggesting that people who live in Cleveland tune in to an Akron station. No one would ever do that because it is self-defeating.
Does it matter when they are serving an audience with a format unique to the market? No one really is going to be racing to flip to CHR if WAKS were to flip, not even Q104.
The paths of least resistance for 96.5 are two-fold:
- Move Kiss to a Hot AC and incorporate more gold tracks from the 90s, 2000s and 2010s, like quite a few heritage CHRs have already done. Basically an older version of Q104.
- Move Kiss to WAKS-HD2 and "106.1 The Beat" to the primary channel, keeping the CHR format alive. But that feels like a dubious path considering iHeart hired away Jeremiah from Q104 not that long ago.
I frequent the area and will be in Munroe Falls this evening. So I am quite familiar with the area.
I will say that WKDD is a far cry from its years at 96.5. The move to 98.1 was the beginning of the end.
It was a dominant station in Akron until 2001. Once WKDD switched, a lot of listeners moved over to KISS FM and also started listening to 95.5 The Fish.
As for KISS, they were good when they signed on and was even better when they moved to 96.5. Heck, 12 years ago, KISS, Q104 and Z107.9 all did better.
New music is struggling and a big problem with Top 40 is that a lot of the songs and artists sound the same. It cherry picks too much when it comes to pop and Hip-hop. Country was big last when Luke Combs and Morgan Wallen crossed over, but the CHR programmers seem to be backing off.
Q104 is a Hot AC, but for a while, they were sounding more CHR and playing more currents! to compete with KISS, while also flanking WDOK (a.k.a. Star), which was also down in the recent books.
It will be interesting to see how KISS reacts to the latest numbers, if they will even react.
It was a dominant station in Akron until 2001. Once WKDD switched, a lot of listeners moved over to KISS FM and also started listening to 95.5 The Fish.
As for KISS, they were good when they signed on and was even better when they moved to 96.5. Heck, 12 years ago, KISS, Q104 and Z107.9 all did better.
New music is struggling and a big problem with Top 40 is that a lot of the songs and artists sound the same. It cherry picks too much when it comes to pop and Hip-hop. Country was big last when Luke Combs and Morgan Wallen crossed over, but the CHR programmers seem to be backing off.
Q104 is a Hot AC, but for a while, they were sounding more CHR and playing more currents! to compete with KISS, while also flanking WDOK (a.k.a. Star), which was also down in the recent books.
It will be interesting to see how KISS reacts to the latest numbers, if they will even react.
That's fine. Run liners for The Lake or WMJI instead (or none at all).
I don't think it's as big of a deal as you're making it out to be, but that's merely my own opinion.
Hip-hop faces many of the same inherent challenges as CHR these days with regard to performance as an FM music format.
A flip to Urban AC would not require a huge investment, in my opinion. Premiere syndicates Steve Harvey. Most if not all of the other day parts could be voice tracked, if desired.
Urban AC audiences still very much embrace FM radio.
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I disagree strongly with Nathan's assertion that 96.5 is anything less than a full-market signal.
It's a full class B with its tower in Cuyahoga County and 70 dBu over nearly the whole county.
You can argue that it's not QUITE as big a signal as 102.1 or 98.5 and I would agree, but that's not the difference between "full-market" and not - it's the difference between "best signals in the market" and "nearly as good."
107.3? Not quite full market. 104.9? Not even close. 89.7? Its 60 doesn't get all the way to the lakeshore.
But any reasonable market analysis would put the 96.5 signal in the same "full-market" B list as any of the other Cleveland class B's, and arguably a little better than 92.3 and 95.5.
It's a full class B with its tower in Cuyahoga County and 70 dBu over nearly the whole county.
You can argue that it's not QUITE as big a signal as 102.1 or 98.5 and I would agree, but that's not the difference between "full-market" and not - it's the difference between "best signals in the market" and "nearly as good."
107.3? Not quite full market. 104.9? Not even close. 89.7? Its 60 doesn't get all the way to the lakeshore.
But any reasonable market analysis would put the 96.5 signal in the same "full-market" B list as any of the other Cleveland class B's, and arguably a little better than 92.3 and 95.5.