Jack FM to Flip

[radioman148]

Yes, WSCR and WBBM are two of the most powerful AM signals in the country. However, KCBS San Francisco at 740 AM is a very powerful 50 kW blaster as well and simulcasts on class B 106.9 FM in the Bay Area. It can be said that the FM simulcast with a 50 kW AM blaster is a waste, but it has helped KCBS' ratings, ad revenue and demos. Before the simulcast, KCBS was a top 5 station. Now it's #1 in the Bay Area.

That is why I think such a scenario isn't out of the question in Chicago, NY or LA.

If they believe they can make more money with it, they'll try it.

 

[MarkW]

I'm not so sure about that. WCBS-FM and WOMC are 'classic hits' stations all right, but of the freshened-up "oldies" variety. In other words, not that different from WLS-FM. You could have added KRTH and WODS too, all are CBS owned and all are iterations of the same idea. But there's no need to do that here.

WOMC's playlist is quite different than the one found on WLS-FM. For starters, WOMC's playlist contains a much higher percentage of 80's titles.

 

[Wolf2]

What you may not realize about KCBS FM is that San Francisco is not one of the best markets for FM signals. Nothing like Chicago where the FM fly through the market without much problem...San Francisco's terrain can be very challenging. The simulcast of KCBS AM-FM probably made more economic and revenue sense for CBS there than some kind of simulcast would in Chicago. KCBS FM is still the weaker of the two in the ratings. Yes it has made the difference from being #5 to being #1 but my understanding is most of the listening is still on 740 AM. Besides...the FM had never been able to find a profitable music position to make a comfortable living on.

Don't look for Fresh FM going away anytime soon as they will give Jim Ryan more than enough time to try to turn the tides on 105.9 before throwing in the towel. Besides...A/C's have far better power ratios than most formats and it doesn't need to #1 in the format to win...it just needs to carve enough out of Lite (& others) to acheive consistent ranking in the key demo it targets to hit the revenue jackpot.

 

[mjb1124]

http://khitschicago.radio.com/

The site for K-Hits has already launched (though the stream is still for Jack). The slogan is "Chicago's Greatest Hits" with an emphasis on the 60's, 70's, and 80's. In addition to Eddie and Jobo, the lineup will also feature Gary Spears from 10 AM to 3 PM, and Bo Reynolds from 3-8 PM. Broadway Bill Lee of WCBS-FM will fill in during middays until Spears debuts on the 21st; not sure if he will be live or voicetracked.

Looks to be a pretty typical CBS-owned Classic Hits station with a good amount of personality. Not a bad thing at all. Considering the talent lineup, perhaps there might be a bit more emphasis on the 80's compared to other stations. That would be the best way to distinguish them from WLS-FM, which during locally-produced hours basically sounds like WCBS-FM without the 80's. We'll have to see if the 80's component will make a difference in the ratings.

 

[DToTheJ]

Wouldn't surprise me if they use "Chicago's Greatest Hits" as the positioner.

I've seen the new logo, and it carries that very phrase.

 

[DToTheJ]

Don't look for Fresh FM going away anytime soon as they will give Jim Ryan more than enough time to try to turn the tides on 105.9 before throwing in the towel...

Also, the PD went on record saying he was going to give it at least a year before deciding on its fate.

Mind you, that was in July, and we are now two-thirds into the year since then.

 

[Dr Wayne]

The flip takes place Monday at 1:04 (WJMK 104) How interesting. I like the on line stream which so far has a good balance of tunes. Very upbeat. I think K Hits will give LS a run for it's money. More local personalities will drive LS ratings down in my opinion. Of course LS could start playing Xmas music starting at labor day to bring up the ratings Oh wait ... than what would happen to the Lites ratings?????

 

[radiolives]

Is a great move by CBS Radio and sounds like it will be programed well as most of the CBS Classic Hit stations are. But why did they wait so long, because it didn't take WCBS-FM to come back on in New York City. I know part of it had to do with WLS getting the classic hits/oldies format.

 

[BRNout]

I'm not so sure about that. WCBS-FM and WOMC are 'classic hits' stations all right, but of the freshened-up "oldies" variety. In other words, not that different from WLS-FM. You could have added KRTH and WODS too, all are CBS owned and all are iterations of the same idea. But there's no need to do that here.

WOMC's playlist is quite different than the one found on WLS-FM. For starters, WOMC's playlist contains a much higher percentage of 80's titles.

I never said that. What I said was that I don't see CBS going with WOMC's playlist. There's talk about this being like KRTH; again, I am skeptical because KRTH has more of an AC/oldies presentation and such a presentation would not do what they want K-Hits to do here.

At this point, I don't see these guys taking direct aim at WLS-FM. What they'll try to do is to grab listeners from several stations including WLS-FM, WDRV, Rewind and WLUP - and to keep all 10 of the current listeners of Jack (ok, I exaggerate a little). Seriously, to do that, they will program a rock-hits based playlist that has a harder edge than WLS-FM which is basically classic top 40.

WLS-FM will still have more musical variety and a bigger playlist. This is not to say that the new K-Hits can't be successful. They can. But they won't necessarily have to steal all of 94.7's listeners to do so.

They'll only do a frontal assault on WLS-FM and do a clone of CBS-FM if they smell a change on the part of Cumulus. That could happen going forward because Cumulus likes their cookie-cutter country stations. Otherwise, it'll be classic hits and much heavier on the rock than even WOMC.

 

[mjb1124]

The station's intro page mentions Stevie Wonder, Earth Wind & Fire, and Motown among what seems like a pretty typical list of core artists for a "greatest hits" station. Plus, the station's positioning mirrors that of other CBS-owned classic hits stations, and the selection of jocks seems to indicate a "personality" approach. So I doubt the station will have too much of a rock lean. I'd expect an emphasis on 70's pop and rock hits with side orders of 60's and 80's. If anything, maybe there will be a bit more of an 80's lean to counter WLS-FM.

 

[radiolives]

How come CBS already has the website up and the new name of the station already up on the CBS Radio Streams? Right now the stream sounds like the Jack format but I have not heard them say Jack or 104.3 K-Hits at all.

 

[BRNout]

The station's intro page mentions Stevie Wonder, Earth Wind & Fire, and Motown among what seems like a pretty typical list of core artists for a "greatest hits" station. Plus, the station's positioning mirrors that of other CBS-owned classic hits stations, and the selection of jocks seems to indicate a "personality" approach. So I doubt the station will have too much of a rock lean. I'd expect an emphasis on 70's pop and rock hits with side orders of 60's and 80's. If anything, maybe there will be a bit more of an 80's lean to counter WLS-FM.

There's one possibility that I may have discounted: that CBS thinks Cumulus will soon take 94.7 country (probably with one of their dreadfully unimaginative monikers like "The Wolf"). If that happened, CBS could easily clean up with this format. They might even be able to snag Dick Biondi who has given WLS-FM great numbers during the evening.

Yes, I know, it's all wild conjecture. The sort of conjecture that I tend to ridicule here. That said, it is not all that unlikely of a scenario - given the timing of this move. Personally, I like WLS-FM and hate to see their format blown out. But I also have little faith in Cumulus and their small-market style management. It would not shock me if they took 94.7 to one of their cookie-cutter, dull, boring as hell formats. And country is their favorite.

 

[radioguy39nj]

There's one possibility that I may have discounted: that CBS thinks Cumulus will soon take 94.7 country (probably with one of their dreadfully unimaginative monikers like "The Wolf"). If that happened, CBS could easily clean up with this format. They might even be able to snag Dick Biondi who has given WLS-FM great numbers during the evening.

Yes, I know, it's all wild conjecture. The sort of conjecture that I tend to ridicule here. That said, it is not all that unlikely of a scenario - given the timing of this move. Personally, I like WLS-FM and hate to see their format blown out. But I also have little faith in Cumulus and their small-market style management. It would not shock me if they took 94.7 to one of their cookie-cutter, dull, boring as hell formats. And country is their favorite.

Country may be Cumulus' favorite format but can Chicago support two country stations? ???

 

[TheBigA]

There's one possibility that I may have discounted: that CBS thinks Cumulus will soon take 94.7 country

Didn't ABC do that 15 years ago? Using their unimaginative monikers like Kicks. And got killed?

 

[radioman148]

There's one possibility that I may have discounted: that CBS thinks Cumulus will soon take 94.7 country

Didn't ABC do that 15 years ago? Using their unimaginative monikers like Kicks. And got killed?

Indeed they did. Country is one of many formats that have been tried on 94.7.
It would be a shame to see the WLS-FM calls wasted like that.

 

[BRNout]

There's one possibility that I may have discounted: that CBS thinks Cumulus will soon take 94.7 country

Didn't ABC do that 15 years ago? Using their unimaginative monikers like Kicks. And got killed?

Indeed they did. Country is one of many formats that have been tried on 94.7.
It would be a shame to see the WLS-FM calls wasted like that.

Clearly, I hope that my conjecture is wrong as WLS-FM is one of my favorite stations. However, it would explain CBS' move toward "classic hits". I am sure that I will still find WLS-FM to be more to my taste than the new K-Hits, as I like to hear a variety of all music and not just rock-based hits with a few (fried to a crisp) Motown titles occasionally tossed in.

Sadly, I have little faith in Cumulus's management after seeing how they have behaved in the past. Their purchase of Citadel was a sad day for anyone who likes and enjoys this medium.

 

[radioman148]

There's one possibility that I may have discounted: that CBS thinks Cumulus will soon take 94.7 country

Didn't ABC do that 15 years ago? Using their unimaginative monikers like Kicks. And got killed?

Indeed they did. Country is one of many formats that have been tried on 94.7.
It would be a shame to see the WLS-FM calls wasted like that.

Clearly, I hope that my conjecture is wrong as WLS-FM is one of my favorite stations. However, it would explain CBS' move toward "classic hits". I am sure that I will still find WLS-FM to be more to my taste than the new K-Hits, as I like to hear a variety of all music and not just rock-based hits with a few (fried to a crisp) Motown titles occasionally tossed in.

Sadly, I have little faith in Cumulus's management after seeing how they have behaved in the past. Their purchase of Citadel was a sad day for anyone who likes and enjoys this medium.

Agreed. Cumulus' history is not friendly to those of us that enjoy WLS-FM.
I hope I'm wrong.

 

[Dr Wayne]

So what are your thoughts on the New K Hits so far? How do you think it will do in the ratings? What station will be hurt the most (100.3, 94.7) with K Hits?

 

[BRNout]

So what are your thoughts on the New K Hits so far? How do you think it will do in the ratings? What station will be hurt the most (100.3, 94.7) with K Hits?

The high-energy, slick presentation is bad for WLS-FM in that K-Hits sounds like a "newer" version of their format. However, musically I see Rewind being easily as affected as WLS-FM. Because K-Hits also hits that audience quite well and has a better and higher energy sound than Rewind too. If anything, K-Hits' playlist is even closer to Rewind's than it is to WLS-FM's. So, ultimately, I think that they keep almost all of Jack's paltry listenership and steal some from Rewind, WLS-FM and perhaps even a few from the likes of WDRV and WLUP.

From what I can tell at this point, both 94.7 and 100.3 would seem to take an equal hit from this move - which may well have been the idea.

 

[musicman3355]

Funny, Eddie and Jobo will be working at the same building they got fired in (B96).