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Carolina Gold flips to rock

vchimpanzee said:
It has been tried. Remember Movin' 94.5?

It became The Tide, then The Tide went Hot AC when Easy 105.9 changed from standards to soft AC.
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Here is Movin 94.5 back in 2012.
I'm surprised the format didn't work. I believe it was more of the owners not keeping the station around and Easy 105.9 tweaking there music at the time
 
vchimpanzee said:
As I recall they had to decrease their signal when WCMC at 99.9 in Raleigh made their signal stronger.

They used to do much better.

And I could pick up the station south of Monroe. It was B-100 back then and I think it was Top 40.
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Ironically, my other favorite station here also used to have a stronger signal before they changed frequencies. I know why they moved, but I still wish WKZQ would have stayed on 101.7 after looking at their previous coverage map.
 
vchimpanzee said:
Where do you get that? Neither Surf nor Easy appears in the 12-plus ratings on the site I go to.

By the way, despite the format being so conservative, Easy was number one when it actually was still "easy", but sometime before it stopped being "easy" it was no longer listed. The Sun News had a reporter writing about radio changes but he wouldn't write about Easy when it changed, since he said they were having trouble making up their mind what exactly they were going to do. I eventually found someone at the paper who did write about it, and his article said they had lost 70 percent of their audience before the change.
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From someone who actually had access to all the ratings of all the stations whether they bought Nielsen or not. Carolina Gold was #3 in Adult demos at the time it was transferred back to the previous owner who flipped it back to country.
 
Seltzer said:
From someone who actually had access to all the ratings of all the stations whether they bought Nielsen or not. Carolina Gold was #3 in Adult demos at the time it was transferred back to the previous owner who flipped it back to country.
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I’d be curious demo breakdowns…my guess is it was #1 55+.

Myrtle Beach (and an extent, Hilton Head) are two markets I can think of where 55+ actually means something. Retirees that tend to be in good financial shape…problem is, you need sales folks to go after the local accounts…not getting much from any national ad buys with an older-skewing format.
 
seattlesarchiebunker said:
I’d be curious demo breakdowns…my guess is it was #1 55+.

Myrtle Beach (and an extent, Hilton Head) are two markets I can think of where 55+ actually means something. Retirees that tend to be in good financial shape…problem is, you need sales folks to go after the local accounts…not getting much from any national ad buys with an older-skewing format.
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I don't think Hilton Head has a station targeting older listeners these days. There is a station like WEZV but it might be a "soft" AC rather than a soft AC.
 
vchimpanzee said:
I don't think Hilton Head has a station targeting older listeners these days. There is a station like WEZV but it might be a "soft" AC rather than a soft AC.
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Last time I checked, there’s a soft AC. Easy 93.7 (the former WALI Walterboro which was a recent move-in on the former 99.7 tower on St Helena) is the closest you’ll get. There’s also 104.9 the Surf which is older-skewing classic hits.
 
seattlesarchiebunker said:
Last time I checked, there’s a soft AC. Easy 93.7 (the former WALI Walterboro which was a recent move-in on the former 99.7 tower on St Helena) is the closest you’ll get. There’s also 104.9 the Surf which is older-skewing classic hits.
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Didn't know about The Surf but if it's called "classic hits" it's probably not as good as even Carolina Gold.

I already mentioned Easy 93.7 which I think is no better than "Easy" 105.9 in Myrtle.
 
vchimpanzee said:
But it did! Easy 105.9 kept playing beautiful music, taking over from Joy 92, until 2005 or 2006. Toward the end it was one-third instrumental.

Easy quit being "easy" in 2020 but it was moving away from that anyway. Then it came back to being sort of soft after a year and a half.
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Easy was reacting to the launch of Gold in 2020. As soon as Gold launched, they overreacted. They tried to go hipper, tossing away their older demo. Now that Gold is gone, they have spiked in more 70s...but will it make a difference since their older demo has tuned out.
 
seattlesarchiebunker said:
I’d be curious demo breakdowns…my guess is it was #1 55+.

Myrtle Beach (and an extent, Hilton Head) are two markets I can think of where 55+ actually means something. Retirees that tend to be in good financial shape…problem is, you need sales folks to go after the local accounts…not getting much from any national ad buys with an older-skewing format.
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Carolina Gold was #2 with adults 50+, behind The Wave. So, a Class A was able to compete with a 100kw station. But, in the end, sales weren't strong, which is why Gold went away. It's actually an over radioed market. Stations are selling spots for a dollar a hollar just to compete with iHeart.
 
Seltzer said:
The Surf has to be one of the worst radio stations I have ever heard. Yucky 70s sounding jocks and a music mix that is a mess. If the Surf were smart after seeing the success of Carolina Gold, they would evolve into a 60s 70s Oldies station. Why not?
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The Surf didn't do anything to Carolina, it was the opposite. At one point, Carolina Gold was #3 or 4 in the market (depending on the demo). The Surf could hardly crack the top 10. Advertisers on the Surf are forced to spend their money there as the owner of the station also owns most of NMB and puts his renters in a corner where if they don't advertiser on the Surf, their rent gets raised. Good old Southern Boys network there.
 
vchimpanzee said:
Didn't know about The Surf but if it's called "classic hits" it's probably not as good as even Carolina Gold.

I already mentioned Easy 93.7 which I think is no better than "Easy" 105.9 in Myrtle.
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They call themselves Classic Hits because the beach music format is so narrow...they have to make it commercial viable and this is their attempt to do so. They started the Classic Hits branding when Carolina Gold launched. Sunny also brands as Classic Hits.
 
radiosteve2178 said:
Carolina Gold was #2 with adults 50+, behind The Wave. So, a Class A was able to compete with a 100kw station. But, in the end, sales weren't strong, which is why Gold went away. It's actually an over radioed market. Stations are selling spots for a dollar a hollar just to compete with iHeart.
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There is a lot of, let's say, Duplication of Services on the Grand Strand FM dial. Hard to believe an oldies R&B or a jazz station doesn't exist, but four country stations? Two we play anythings?
 
radiosteve2178 said:
They call themselves Classic Hits because the beach music format is so narrow...they have to make it commercial viable and this is their attempt to do so. They started the Classic Hits branding when Carolina Gold launched. Sunny also brands as Classic Hits.
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Yeah, but Sunny is indistinguishable from Bob "We Play Anything."
 
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