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Today's 96.5 vs. 101.1 More FM

Miguelito

Miguelito

Star Participant
Do you guys listen to them? I rarely listen to terrestrial radio but since we finally have competing stations in this town, I do occasionally test them out. Personally, I prefer 96.5's library. I don't feel like 101.1 plays much outside of the 100% safe "cookie-cutter" AC tracks. That having been said, I think 101.1 sounds better. They just come across bigger and brighter while 96.5 sounds flat. I still hate song tags. I really, really do. Of course, 101.1's about as vulnerable as Action News...but I do like having another option on the dial.
 
Terrestrial radio is where all the fun is though! But yes, 96.5 is definitely the better in my opinion. I wonder if they will do Christmas music (since we're not too far away from that time of the year). They have a better playlist, and no song tags. 101.1 is just so disgustingly cookie-cutter, it makes me feel like I'm in a dentist's office because that's all they play in those types of places.
 
Alright, we'll talk about Christmas :)

radiodx10 said:
Terrestrial radio is where all the fun is though! But yes, 96.5 is definitely the better in my opinion. I wonder if they will do Christmas music (since we're not too far away from that time of the year). They have a better playlist, and no song tags. 101.1 is just so disgustingly cookie-cutter, it makes me feel like I'm in a dentist's office because that's all they play in those types of places.
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Christmas is about the only time I think terrestrial radio is fun anymore. So yeah, 96.5's plans for December have been something I've been thinking about.

HERE'S ONE OPTION: Do they stay in format while More FM does Christmas so 101.1's Grinchy listeners have no choice but to give 96.5 a try? If so, does 96.5 get a boost by adding some of 101.1's listeners or do they drop because so many of their regular listeners flocked to 101.1 for the Christmas music? I think it would be the latter since the stations' shared demo demonstrably loves Christmas music. That makes the other option seem a lot more likely.

HERE'S THE OTHER OPTION: Last year, 101.1 scored an astounding 17.9 share by being the only game in town for Christmas music. (Their previous high was in 2013, when they got a still-astounding 17.2). Is 96.5 really not going to try to tap into that? If I had to put money on it, I'd bet that 96.5 will do the all-Christmas thing this year.

Because radio is depressing, I assume CBS will use whatever cookie-cutter Christmas library they already use on other AC stations across the country. As a result, the station itself may not be of much interest to me. What I will be keeping an eye on is the timing and the marketing.

I suspect they're not going to wait until 101.1 is already in the format. Using history as a guide, WBEB may flip as early as November 16 (or as late as November 22 since Thanksgiving is early this year). In the absence of competition, 101.1 has no interest in flipping any earlier than usual. But there are some interesting considerations here. The December book starts on November 9 and ends on December 6; then the Holiday book starts December 7 and runs all the way through January 3. It might be a fun experiment for 96.5 to flip on November 9--only two weeks before Thanksgiving--and watch 101.1 squirm. (There's precedent for this. WBEB was forced into an earlier-than-usual flip only twice: Once when WJBR surprised them with an early flip and then in 2008, when an actual in-market competitor flipped on Halloween). Also, flipping on November 9 would allow CBS to try to get two full books of Christmas ratings for 96.5.

And how would it end? WBEB likes to flip back to their regular format about 3 hours after Christmas Day ends. What will they do if 96.5 is playing Christmas music through New Year's Day? Why would they both flip back before the actual end of the Holiday book? If a station in Philly is playing Christmas music during the week after Christmas, a lot of people will listen. And they would of course be people within the demo that 96.5 and 101.1 share. If 96.5 does decide to stick with Christmas until people are back at their desks on Tuesday, January 2, I would expect 101.1 to do the "sprinkling in" thing.

As for the marketing: I would think that as soon as 96.5 flips, they'll start advertising it on WOGL and with television spots. (Country stations traditionally take the biggest hit when there's an all-Christmas format in town so it'll also be interesting to see whether CBS allows any mention on WXTU of the Christmas format on 96.5.)

It is nice to at least have something interesting to look forward to!
 
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First... WBEB isn't the only game in town for Christmas music. With WOGL going all-Christmas, and WJBR putting a great signal over a very large chunk of the market (AND being influential enough to force WBEB to flip to Christmas before), there are options. Just the majority overwhelmingly choose WBEB.

That being said, my question is WHICH CBS station will go All-Christmas? My gut feeling? Flip WOGL like they have, (which usually keeps the ratings about steady), and leave WTDY as Mainstream AC to try to pull in the non-Christmas loving listeners. I'm not saying this will work (staying the course never seemed to help Mix 106 at all), but that's my gut guess.
 
atthestars said:
First... WBEB isn't the only game in town for Christmas music. With WOGL going all-Christmas, and WJBR putting a great signal over a very large chunk of the market (AND being influential enough to force WBEB to flip to Christmas before), there are options. Just the majority overwhelmingly choose WBEB.

That being said, my question is WHICH CBS station will go All-Christmas? My gut feeling? Flip WOGL like they have, (which usually keeps the ratings about steady), and leave WTDY as Mainstream AC to try to pull in the non-Christmas loving listeners. I'm not saying this will work (staying the course never seemed to help Mix 106 at all), but that's my gut guess.
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If I remember the story correctly, WJBR surprised B101 by flipping on a Saturday morning. B's PD called in from Christmas shopping and ordered the flip on 101.1. It was very sudden and unceremonious (I think the jock simply opened the mic and said "Merry Christmas" before playing the first Christmas song). I don't even think it was at the top of an hour. But it's since been pretty well established that WJBR is a non-player here, even more so at Christmastime. WBEB is all giving them side-eye and being like, "Girl, bye." LOL.

But WOGL's flip doesn't technically improve CBS's fortunes. From what I undestand, it's an attempt to stop the bleeding. My feeling has always been that they'd prefer to stay in format but a lot of their listeners head over to where the Christmas music is. But with their own AC in town, everything gets turned on its head. On 96.5, flip early to Christmas music and maybe remind listeners that Classic Hits are spinning over at 98.1 (for what its worth). Meanwhile on 98.1, make sure listeners know that Christmas music is playing right now on 96.5 to get a jump on More FM. I just think it'll make the most sense for the cluster.
 
I keep in mind the caveat on financial disclosures that past performance is not an indicator of future performance. :cool:

The WJBR thing was eons ago in media time at this point, and a different PD I believe. In all of the ensuing years, they have ample additional evidence that they have a good thing going, and they've built their "when will it happen" thing into a mini-event of its own. We all kind of know its the week before Thanksgiving at this point, but it plays well and is all in good fun.

CBS has an interesting conundrum. I'd suspect the play is to keep WOGL as the Christmas station and leave 96.5 alone and see what happens. True, it never helped nor seemed to hurt Mix, which is a fair enough reason to stay the course for this year. Are people going to tune away from 101? Sure, some will. But a negligible amount in the big picture.
 
I think it's 99% certain that 96.5 will be the CBS Christmas music station this year, not WOGL. One of the reasons an owner switches an FM station to AC music is to enjoy the ratings boost that Christmas music brings every year. Yes, in a few markets, CBS puts Christmas music on its Classic Hits station, such as Philadelphia, Dallas and Detroit. In those cities, the AC station beats the CBS Classic Hits station. The Classic Hits station does well too, but not as well as the AC outlet.

And I agree that WTDY will likely switch first, maybe in early to mid November. The whole idea is to chip away at WBEB's image as THE Christmas station. (Do you remember one year when three stations switched? WBEB came in first, WOGL second and the new AC station at 97.5 finished third in the Holiday book.) Whenever WTDY flips, WBEB will likely also flip, within an hour or so. I'm sure the format is ready to go at any time.

BTW, why are some saying they don't like WBEB tagging songs with artist and song title? These days, DJs rarely say the title and artist. Yes, WBEB as a major market station, has DJs in all dayparts except overnight. But in many medium and small markets, DJs are missing evenings, nights and weekends. It would be good if most stations put tags at the end of songs, at least when a DJ is not present.
 
Gregg. said:
I think it's 99% certain that 96.5 will be the CBS Christmas music station this year, not WOGL. One of the reasons an owner switches an FM station to AC music is to enjoy the ratings boost that Christmas music brings every year. Yes, in a few markets, CBS puts Christmas music on its Classic Hits station, such as Philadelphia, Dallas and Detroit. In those cities, the AC station beats the CBS Classic Hits station. The Classic Hits station does well too, but not as well as the AC outlet.

And I agree that WTDY will likely switch first, maybe in early to mid November. The whole idea is to chip away at WBEB's image as THE Christmas station. (Do you remember one year when three stations switched? WBEB came in first, WOGL second and the new AC station at 97.5 finished third in the Holiday book.) Whenever WTDY flips, WBEB will likely also flip, within an hour or so. I'm sure the format is ready to go at any time.

BTW, why are some saying they don't like WBEB tagging songs with artist and song title? These days, DJs rarely say the title and artist. Yes, WBEB as a major market station, has DJs in all dayparts except overnight. But in many medium and small markets, DJs are missing evenings, nights and weekends. It would be good if most stations put tags at the end of songs, at least when a DJ is not present.
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I agree. Since CBS doesn't really want to do all-Christmas on WOGL, why would they keep doing it now that they have an AC in town? I'm not sure they care about chipping away at 101.1's image as much as they just want to make some of that money. :)

Oh, song tags: I just think they sound unnatural. If I really don't know the title or artist, I can Shazam it or check the station's website. In most cases, I could also just glance at the radio's display panel.
 
atthestars said:
Flip WOGL like they have, (which usually keeps the ratings about steady), and leave WTDY as Mainstream AC to try to pull in the non-Christmas loving listeners. I'm not saying this will work (staying the course never seemed to help Mix 106 at all), but that's my gut guess.
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I never noticed WOGL going all Christmas. Is this a recent trend? If not, is Bob Pantano buying his time slot? I think he plays maybe one xmas song per hour, in season.
 
96.5 should go all Christmas Nov 1. What have they got to lose? They're only pulling just over a 2 share! 101.1 will never go Christmas that early and that could lock in WTDY as Philly's holiday music station. And when WOGL plays a Christmas song, they could easily direct people to 96.5 to hear all "your Christmas favorites 24 hours a day." Win-win for both and can only hurt WBEB.
 
AMRocks said:
96.5 should go all Christmas Nov 1. What have they got to lose? They're only pulling just over a 2 share! 101.1 will never go Christmas that early and that could lock in WTDY as Philly's holiday music station. And when WOGL plays a Christmas song, they could easily direct people to 96.5 to hear all "your Christmas favorites 24 hours a day." Win-win for both and can only hurt WBEB.
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I don’t see anyone supplanting 101 and “locking in” as the Christmas station. Maybe stranger things have happened, but I’m hard pressed to think of many.
 
AMRocks said:
96.5 should go all Christmas Nov 1. What have they got to lose? They're only pulling just over a 2 share! 101.1 will never go Christmas that early and that could lock in WTDY as Philly's holiday music station. And when WOGL plays a Christmas song, they could easily direct people to 96.5 to hear all "your Christmas favorites 24 hours a day." Win-win for both and can only hurt WBEB.
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I don't think anyone could ever really displace 101.1 as Philadelphia's Christmas station. I mean, hell, Sunny 104.5 brought the stunt into the market and 101.1 ended up with the title anyway!

I agree that it makes sense for 96.5 to flip early and use CBS's other properties to promote it. You can bet money that 101.1 will react: If they use the playbook from 2008, they'd start adding Christmas music to their regular playlist and then they'd do the full flip at least two weeks before Thanksgiving.
 
Two weeks before thanksgiving and already all christmas? Oh god no. I do remember when WDAS-AM 1480 did add christmas smooth jazz songs a few weeks before christmas.
 
radiodx10 said:
Two weeks before thanksgiving and already all christmas? Oh god no. I do remember when WDAS-AM 1480 did add christmas smooth jazz songs a few weeks before christmas.
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We see Pumpkin flavored items start popping up in July. Seasonal creep. It's a horrible thing, lol
 
AbrahamJSimpson said:
I don’t see anyone supplanting 101 and “locking in” as the Christmas station. Maybe stranger things have happened, but I’m hard pressed to think of many.
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In 2010 in Miami, Cox flipped 93.1 to all Christmas to muster in a format chance after the holidays. They were ALL OVER TV with ads promoting South Florida's Christmas station. iHeart got a little out of it, too. They ended up flipping 93.9 to Christmas too. Considering they were so close to the other station on the dial, it was a no brainer. Cox did it right. After Christmas, they debuted the new "Easy" format, a very soft AC. A little at a time, they added more and more upbeat music. They are now a serious competitor to WLYF, which was almost always #1 (or #2) in the market.
 
I have been listening to the B’s HD2 since the all Christmas flip and noticed it’s a broader playlist. I thought it would be the same, old hash tunes leftover from last year due to the fact, nobody cares about HD subs (ha ha). There are artists like Disney Choir, Sam Smith, Roger Whitaker, Carla Bonoff, and my Sombrero is too Beeg, which I have not heard on their Christmas format before. Kudos to the B for expanding their Christmas library on a sub that nobody listens to but me and two others lmao.
 
Gunsmoke said:
I have been listening to the B’s HD2 since the all Christmas flip and noticed it’s a broader playlist. I thought it would be the same, old hash tunes leftover from last year due to the fact, nobody cares about HD subs (ha ha). There are artists like Disney Choir, Sam Smith, Roger Whitaker, Carla Bonoff, and my Sombrero is too Beeg, which I have not heard on their Christmas format before. Kudos to the B for expanding their Christmas library on a sub that nobody listens to but me and two others lmao.
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Their stream and HD2 is always a bigger library. For the main channel, they whittle things down to the safest songs.
 
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