And it sucks! Lol. In the car currently...listening to out of town WJBR.
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WISX to Flip Again?
- Thread starter atthestars
- Start date
And it sucks! Lol. In the car currently...listening to out of town WJBR.
I am SEVERELY disappointed in this change, and the way they treated their DJs like crap when they let them go. I thought it was all about the younger generation, yet Soft AC attracts an older crowd. iHeartMedia, you guys should change to iHeartNielson.
Just look at their Facebook page...nothing but complaints.
Just look at their Facebook page...nothing but complaints.
DJs lose gigs when stations change formats. Happens all the time. Just like many other people in many industries, jobs are transient things. That doesn't make it right or wrong, just the nature of the world.
"All about the younger generation" is a gross generalization. It's about revenue. Like many formats, soft AC can, when done successfully, be sold and carve out a niche within a still-desirable demographic to advertisers. Will it work here, this time around? Time will tell. But in their judgement, the throwback format wasn't generating enough return on investment. So be it.
Every business aims to stay in business. It's the nature of the beast. If it was your job on the line, you'd likely be making the same decision.
"All about the younger generation" is a gross generalization. It's about revenue. Like many formats, soft AC can, when done successfully, be sold and carve out a niche within a still-desirable demographic to advertisers. Will it work here, this time around? Time will tell. But in their judgement, the throwback format wasn't generating enough return on investment. So be it.
Every business aims to stay in business. It's the nature of the beast. If it was your job on the line, you'd likely be making the same decision.
It's very repetitive. My Mom and I have been listening on and off since 11AM and they've played Feliz Navidad by Jose Feliciano 3 times. Sometimes they'll play a song and it will be by Artist A and then they'll play the song again a little while later and it's by Artist B.
We have DIRECTV and iHeart Radio is available on Channel 799. (That's how we're listening). We also have a Smart TV and it includes iHeart Radio and Tune-in. We switched to another Christmas Station on Tune-In (a locally owned station) and they too played Feliz Navidad, so we heard it 4 times since 11AM.
We have DIRECTV and iHeart Radio is available on Channel 799. (That's how we're listening). We also have a Smart TV and it includes iHeart Radio and Tune-in. We switched to another Christmas Station on Tune-In (a locally owned station) and they too played Feliz Navidad, so we heard it 4 times since 11AM.
DJs and anyone in radio programming and promotion knows that their jobs depend on ratings and advertiser acceptance.
Every season, TV shows are cancelled. Some don't even make it through a full season... and each one employs hundreds of people, from actors and writers and directors to gaffers and best boys and cinematographers. They know the risks, but picked their career consciously.
The 18-34 targeted format based on throwbacks did not work. It has not worked nearly anywhere for more than a few moments. Yet when you look at the ratings... I'll use Miami as an example... the #1 18-34 station is the soft AC station!
It's about getting enough listeners for the station to make reasonable money. The old format did not do that.
Sunny 104.5 had a unique Christmas format with a big library. I'm sure it's on a hard drive somewhere in Bala Cynwyd collecting dust since 2005.
The only other station to come close was Now 97.5
The only other station to come close was Now 97.5
Many companies store music enterprise-wide on central servers. This allows for better quality control of what gets dubbed into the system, as well as uniformity of artist and title names and other metadata.
Individual stations may "pull" the songs they want from the music server, but will generally run their selection locally while needed.
A common scenario in such a case would be a format change; if there is pre-launch research, the station pulls the songs they need off the server and no others.
An advantage of this system is having access to songs normally not programmed, such as morning show features, tributes to artists who have passed, and, of course, Christmas music.
I wasn't 100% accurate about the technicalities, but I referred to the old hard drive collecting dust in the studio meaning that they could resurrect the Sunny 104.5 Christmas format if they wanted. The playlists have got to be saved somewhere that they could access. Even if the old PD is gone, Christmas music doesn't need to be updated
I can’t help but feel there’s a rather odd fetishization of Sunny 2.0) as a general theme on forums such as this.
I’m still baffled by how it was “great” relative to other stations. Then again, the whole John Tesh thing was almost as gag inducing to me as Delilah.
But leaving the subjective aside for a moment, it wasn’t a standout on the bottom line. I know the popular line about why it was killed off, but there’s a reason it was a candidate, alongside WJJZ, to be killed off in the first place.
But leaving the subjective aside for a moment, it wasn’t a standout on the bottom line. I know the popular line about why it was killed off, but there’s a reason it was a candidate, alongside WJJZ, to be killed off in the first place.
And I think they realized pretty quickly they'd made a big mistake. Thus, Rumba rather swiftly being relegated to the AM band (where it belonged) and WISX going through change after change after change. I do think if Sunny had just stayed on, it would have morphed into an older-skewing AC, sans the super-soft stuff, and would make more sense than Real 106.1 and/or Radio 104.5...which is why that format is likely coming at us on December 26. (Edit: Or today, I guess. LOL.)
Looking at their most recently played songs, I would prefer the way the San Francisco version sounds, thus far (and fully knowning we're talking a well established version to one that's 8 hours old). The differences can be subtle, but noticeable.
Had to chuckle driving around tonight. They got rid of the Real 106.1 logo on the HD signal... but looks like they grabbed the wrong one to replace it with. 
Folks, do you realize we were so hungry for something interesting to happen in Philadelphia radio that within about twelve-and-a-half days, we got 217 posts and 15,656 views in this thread? That's pretty astonishing considering our landscape is so boring that sometimes days can go by without a post! Of course, now I'm bored again. LOL. But I digress: Good sleuthing and for the most part, good conversation, folks! Let's all do it again in four years when 106.1 flips again.
I guess that kinda brings up a new trivia question: If iHeart changes the calls from WISX, it will be the eighth set of calls to have lived at 106.1 FM (following WQUAL, WWSH, WZGO, WTRK, WEGX, WJJZ, and WISX). Is that the most of any Philly FM?
I guess that kinda brings up a new trivia question: If iHeart changes the calls from WISX, it will be the eighth set of calls to have lived at 106.1 FM (following WQUAL, WWSH, WZGO, WTRK, WEGX, WJJZ, and WISX). Is that the most of any Philly FM?
The other side of that of course is that for change to happen, some people got fired. Not a lot of fun for them.
Not to mention that fans of Real and Chio are pretty upset.
No, definitely not fun for them. I expressed regret in the thread that anyone lost their job. And I hate to sound callous but instability in this career has been around longer than the "town to town, up and down the dial" lyric that describes it. Hopefully someone in Philly can find a place for Chio on their air. He's a commodity for sure.
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