• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

WMMO

J

JH_Radio

So now I know they are classic rock, but I've got airchecks I've recorded over the years that would be classified as um what. Rock AC? "98-9 WMMO, where its all about the music." Was this way for years, when 96.5 WHTQ was classic rock, but I guess Cox didn't wanna step on the toes of 96.5. But then 96.5 went all news and the "Soft Rock and Role of Yesterday and Today" remained for a while.
Thoughts?
 
Music is what they were about pre-telcom act. I know it's an old argument, but IMHO, WMMO was better when they were AAA.
 
I've never heard them as AAA, but I sure wish I had! and I thought they were even softer as in beautiful Music at one point? I remember some talk of MMO on this board at some point a long time ago. I'm from the Philly area but was in The Villages a lot so heard WMMO a lot along with the other area stations.
 
On day one they positioned themselves as "Soft Rock and Roll." They played some one-offs like Brewer & Shipley "One Toke Over The Line" and Walter Egan "Magnet and Steel", lots of Billy Joel, Elton John, Hall & Oates. It was not sleepy like Soft AC at all, and more focused than Mix.. Rock based but not guitar driven basically.
 
While I do enjoy 98.9 from time to time now, I much preferred their format from the 90s and early/mid 2000s. I miss that old top of the hour ID they had. So cool!!!!
 
austingrace said:
While I do enjoy 98.9 from time to time now, I much preferred their format from the 90s and early/mid 2000s. I miss that old top of the hour ID they had. So cool
Click to expand...

Let us go back thru the aircheck archive to cassette of yesteryear. Let me guess Austen, you're talking about this Legal ID aren't you? As recorded 5/14/2011, 9:00 AM at airshift change time from Jim Grant to Shawn Berk...

WMMO 5-14-2011, 9 00 AM Legal ID.mp3
If this is indeed what you're talking about, I love that ID too! So glad I record unscoped airchecks wherever I go, as its radio history in the making folks! Though they're keepers only if there is a live jock.
 
When I was in Orlando some years ago, I really liked the station. As the OP asks, was it Soft Classic Rock? Rock AC? Soft Classic Hits? It certainly was a unique format.

Then when it began streaming, I listened again. It wasn't as soft as before but it wasn't hard either. Still an interesting mix of hits for adults.

According to Wikipedia, WMMO is a Classic Hits/Classic Rock hybrid. Apparently it plays Rock songs from the 70s, 80s and 90s. But no Michael Jackson or Madonna. No pop/dance.

Orlando has no Classic Rock station. It does have a standard Classic Hits station owned by Audacy, 105.9 WOCL.
 
JH_Radio said:
Let us go back thru the aircheck archive to cassette of yesteryear. Let me guess Austen, you're talking about this Legal ID aren't you? As recorded 5/14/2011, 9:00 AM at airshift change time from Jim Grant to Shawn Berk...

WMMO 5-14-2011, 9 00 AM Legal ID.mp3
If this is indeed what you're talking about, I love that ID too! So glad I record unscoped airchecks wherever I go, as its radio history in the making folks! Though they're keepers only if there is a live jock.
Click to expand...

989 WM-M-O... Orlando. Baaaaa!
 
Parttimer said:
On day one they positioned themselves as "Soft Rock and Roll." They played some one-offs like Brewer & Shipley "One Toke Over The Line" and Walter Egan "Magnet and Steel", lots of Billy Joel, Elton John, Hall & Oates. It was not sleepy like Soft AC at all, and more focused than Mix.. Rock based but not guitar driven basically.
Click to expand...

This is how I remember it as well. I never actually heard WMMO, but I remember when the same company bought KMEZ 107.5 in Dallas and flipped it to KCDU “Soft Rock and Roll, CD-107.5.” I was told the station was trying to clone its new sister station in Orlando, which was doing gang busters right out the starting gate, and trying to get rid of the too soft and too boring EZ-107.5, even though it hadn’t really been elevator music for a couple years. CD-107.5 had a pretty impressive billboard campaign with a flag on top that even enhanced the board on the other side, which was, on more than one occasion, another station's board. I’m guessing WMMO did that, too?

None of the other stations Granum owned seemed to duplicate WMMO's success with its approach. WBOS 92.9 was a dud, and CD-107.5 didn't even make it two years. After a massive shakeup in formats around September 1992, it picked up the smooth jazz format of KOAI 106.1 when it flipped to top-40/CHR.
 
To me, WMMO right now reminds me of what WODE used to be. (and I don't understand this...) but calling itself classic hits, while basicly being a classic rock station. WMMO was slow to transition to classic rock... which surprised me. WHTQ had flipped to all news, so for a while there WJRR was trying to be everything to everyone.
 
JH_Radio said:
To me, WMMO right now reminds me of what WODE used to be. (and I don't understand this...) but calling itself classic hits, while basicly being a classic rock station.
Click to expand...

This is something I've talked about for years. Not only in the case of WMMO, but there's CMG's "Eagle" both in Jacksonville and Tampa that like WMMO and other 'Classic Hits" stations across the country, don't play artists such as Michael Jackson and Madonna and the pop hits. How can you call yourself classic hits excluding the king and queen of the 80s decade? IMO, true classic hits formats are Retro Top 40 offering multiple genres of music, not just rock.

Apparently, there is leeway in the format that it can be a popular version of classic rock as well as a variety-based and pop-oriented one. I always believed there should be a designation applied. There's Soft AC, Rhythmic AC, Hot AC, and AC to show format specificity. There's Top 40M and Top 40R. There's country designations. You get the point.

The playlist difference between Orlando's WMMO and WOCL (105.9 Sunny FM) is enormous yet both are designated as classic hits. I've been making the case for a classic hits station to come to Jacksonville for many years. Usually, a poster will say they already have one. I then explain for the umpteenth time why that's just a specialized version and not the real thing.
 
Last edited:
Noticed the WMMO commercial on Orlando TV pushes it's Classic Rock (AC/DC, Queen, Petty, Bon Jovi) with "We Will Rock You" as the theme song - although the logo still shows Orlando's Classic Hits ., are they trending back to the 96.5 WHTQ legacy?
 
They've been Classic Rock using the tagline Classic Hits since 2015. And The Eagle in Tampa has been doing it for 20 years.
 
John FL said:
This is something I've talked about for years. Not only in the case of WMMO, but there's CMG's "Eagle" both in Jacksonville and Tampa that like WMMO and other 'Classic Hits" stations across the country, don't play artists such as Michael Jackson and Madonna and the pop hits. How can you call yourself classic hits excluding the king and queen of the 80s decade? IMO, true classic hits formats are Retro Top 40 offering multiple genres of music, not just rock.

Apparently, there is leeway in the format that it can be a popular version of classic rock as well as a variety-based and pop-oriented one. I always believed there should be a designation applied. There's Soft AC, Rhythmic AC, Hot AC, and AC to show format specificity. There's Top 40M and Top 40R. There's country designations. You get the point.

The playlist difference between Orlando's WMMO and WOCL (105.9 Sunny FM) is enormous yet both are designated as classic hits. I've been making the case for a classic hits station to come to Jacksonville for many years. Usually, a poster will say they already have one. I then explain for the umpteenth time why that's just a specialized version and not the real thing.
Click to expand...
You wouldn't consider 96.9 The Eagle/WJGL to be a Classic Hits station? Would you consider it to be Classic Rock?
 
Looking at their "Recently Played" right now I see Led Zeppelin, Allman Brothers, Cinderella, The Who, CCR, Pink Floyd, and Motley Crue. Nothing about that is Classic Hits. These Cox Eagle stations that all use the "Classic Hits" taglines are 100% formatted as Classic Rock - they don't even cross the line of being both.
 
I don’t know what it’s like these days, but when I was slaving away for The Mouse about 15 years ago, Rock AC WMMO was the official station of the Magic Kingdom Utilidor…piped it in on the speakers down there…definitely a “listen while you work” station without sounding soft at all. It made me a fan and listened to it up to its transition to a Classic Rocker around 2015-16

It was a sun-setting format back then…only station I remember that also did Rock AC at the time was WRHQ in Savannah, GA, which was quite a bit different in terms of its presentation and music. At the time it was considerably more classic hits-based. Now it’s very pop-based. Same core artists, though.
 
Is noticing some harder titles added to WMMO. I heard Even flow by Pearl jam and a few Nirvana songs recently on there. Even have heard Metallica. It was not just some special weekend thing either. I have heard it for the past 2 weeks or so. If anyone wants to bring the real WMMO back from the 90s and early 2000s, I'd love it. Even would pay for a subscription station like that. So now it's just a matter of time until they call themselves the eagle.
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.
Back
Top Bottom