What's going on at WOGL?

Their library right now is just about the best I've ever heard it (for my personal taste, of course) but for the past 24 hours, the playlist looks kinda weird. Two Mariah Carey songs little more than an hour apart, a Janet Jackson song at 9:28pm and another at 9:35pm (literally one song between), and they played "Opposites Attract" at 5:43 this morning and then again at 8:38. Weird, right?

The one part that maybe can be explained for the evening of Wednesday 11/15/2017:

It seems WOGL was featuring songs from November 1990 (with other 1990 songs thrown in) from 9-11 PM.
That would account for the two Mariah songs from her debut album and the two from Janet's "Rhythm Nation 1814" album.

As for the Abdul song being repeated in less than three hours, did you actually hear this or are you taking the online "last played" log as gospel? I've seen "phantom" spins show up on other stations' logs when I've checked them against my actual listening.

Maybe WOGL is adding a lot of 90s music to their playlist? I know during their final years of existence as an Oldies Station WDRC-FM in Hartford was playing quite a few 90s songs. They played "Believe" by Cher, which came out in 1996 - my Freshmen year of High School. They were also playing some other 90s songs too, but nothing that sticks out in my mind as much as the Cher song. I think they began playing "Believe" in 2012 and my mind was blow. I remember thinking "I'm 30 years old and the Oldies station is playing a song that came out when I was in high school."

pjc1961 said:

The one part that maybe can be explained for the evening of Wednesday 11/15/2017:

It seems WOGL was featuring songs from November 1990 (with other 1990 songs thrown in) from 9-11 PM.
That would account for the two Mariah songs from her debut album and the two from Janet's "Rhythm Nation 1814" album.

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I was wondering if there was a themed show going on. I wish I was listening. I loved 1990!

CTListener said:

As for the Abdul song being repeated in less than three hours, did you actually hear this or are you taking the online "last played" log as gospel? I've seen "phantom" spins show up on other stations' logs when I've checked them against my actual listening.

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I was looking at their website. I've seen odd phantom stuff show up on those lists as well but usually you can tell by the timestamp that it didn't happen. In this instance, it looks pretty much like the song played both times.

I did notice the website is teasing "COMING SOON: PHILADELPHIA’S GREATEST CHRISTMAS HITS ON 98.1 WOGL". Not sure if it will flip this weekend, or in December like it has in past years, but that erases any speculation that WTDY would go all-Christmas instead.

I like WOGL's Christmas format because they focus on the old stuff and have a deep library

nkd said:

I like WOGL's Christmas format because they focus on the old stuff and have a deep library

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Think that might change this time around with the major playlist tweak? Perhaps all those classic soul Christmas tracks will be dropped.

CTListener said:

Think that might change this time around with the major playlist tweak? Perhaps all those classic soul Christmas tracks will be dropped.

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That would work for me!

I've noticed that with the flip to Christmas, they've debuted a new jingle package. Same Reelworld package used on several other former CBS Classic Hits stations, originally created for the now-defunct K-Hits Chicago. Wish they would have stayed with JAM instead, maybe getting some cuts from the packages heard on WCAU-FM and/or Eagle 106 (Hitradio 1 & 2, Power Station, Z100 packages, etc.), or even a new custom. But that's just my personal jingle anorak tastes. I guess this is the corporate standard.

The traditional Xmas songs always work best, Lite fm in NYC focuses on them and does very well with it. 101.1 is the established home for xmas in the Philly market, so WOGL has an uphill battle they can't really win. I think at this point they have found that this is the best way to battle the seasonal 101.1 domination. Interesting that WCBS doesn't switch outside of doing xmas songs in the evening. It really is a pick your poison going up against these established Xmas brands.

mjb1124 said:

I did notice the website is teasing "COMING SOON: PHILADELPHIA’S GREATEST CHRISTMAS HITS ON 98.1 WOGL". Not sure if it will flip this weekend, or in December like it has in past years, but that erases any speculation that WTDY would go all-Christmas instead.

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WOGL flips on the day before Thanksgiving. Maybe the first year they did it they chose a different date but I think that would be the only exception.

Sounds like WOGL has all but abandoned the "Oldies" Christmas format in favor of a more mainstream approach. There are a couple exceptions like Salsoul Orchestra and Chubby Checker but additions like Straight No Chaser, Pentatonix, and Idina Menzel/Michael Buble are more frequent plays. I guess Anne Murray tests well though I'll never understand why. haha

mjb1124 said:

I've noticed that with the flip to Christmas, they've debuted a new jingle package. Same Reelworld package used on several other former CBS Classic Hits stations, originally created for the now-defunct K-Hits Chicago. Wish they would have stayed with JAM instead, maybe getting some cuts from the packages heard on WCAU-FM and/or Eagle 106 (Hitradio 1 & 2, Power Station, Z100 packages, etc.), or even a new custom. But that's just my personal jingle anorak tastes. I guess this is the corporate standard.

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Sounds good. I wonder if they're sticking with other cuts from this package after Christmas. It certainly give the impression of old school Top 40 while just about extinguishing any thoughts of "Oldies."

mjb1124 said:

I've noticed that with the flip to Christmas, they've debuted a new jingle package. Same Reelworld package used on several other former CBS Classic Hits stations, originally created for the now-defunct K-Hits Chicago. Wish they would have stayed with JAM instead, maybe getting some cuts from the packages heard on WCAU-FM and/or Eagle 106 (Hitradio 1 & 2, Power Station, Z100 packages, etc.), or even a new custom. But that's just my personal jingle anorak tastes. I guess this is the corporate standard.

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Well, in my opinion, the "corporate standard" is horrid. What ever happened to a radio station sounding individual, sounding like it's city? Now, radio just sounds like the same old same old, no matter what station I listen to. It's really distasteful; what are America's radio programmers thinking?

polaris said:

Well, in my opinion, the "corporate standard" is horrid. What ever happened to a radio station sounding individual, sounding like it's city? Now, radio just sounds like the same old same old, no matter what station I listen to. It's really distasteful; what are America's radio programmers thinking?

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Whatever happened to the Sound of Philadelphia? How would you define that sound today? The problem isn't radio. The problem is the music. At one time, music was identifiable with its city. Not any more. And the music industry is doing everything it can to homogenize the genres, having rappers sing with country stars. What's going on here?

BTW, have you been in the Philly airport lately? The music they play is generic soul music. But it's not Philly soul. So you hear Motown music in the Philly airport. What's up with that?

polaris said:

Well, in my opinion, the "corporate standard" is horrid. What ever happened to a radio station sounding individual, sounding like it's city? Now, radio just sounds like the same old same old, no matter what station I listen to. It's really distasteful; what are America's radio programmers thinking?

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Perhaps that it's 2018 and not 1968?

We're far more interconnected to one another than in decades past. We're more transient. People more to new places, and while there are long-timers just about everywhere, there also are "newbies" in greater numbers.

I'm guessing that the vast majority of Americans don't travel to different domestic locations except maybe once every few years. And of that percentage, fewer spend time spinning a radio dial while on those vacations.
So a huge percentage of those who stay close to home have no idea that the music they're hearing from a Philadelphia station is not indigenous to Philadelphia and that station.
Scarce few of these regional folks .... Long Island .... Baltimore .... Chicago .... Pottsville PA .... know or care that what they're hearing is also being heard in distant places because of the national streamlining of playlists. As far as they're concerned, these listeners feel that whatever their local station is playing has a nearby regional provinciality that is unique.

It looks like WOGL has freshened up their logo on the website and social media in the past few days... and it now includes the tagline we've been hearing on-air.. "Nobody plays more 80s!"

http://wogl.radio.com/

Let's see how the 80s battle plays out with WOGL vs. WBEN, with WBEB and WTDY also dipping a toe into the 80s music.