WPLJ says farewell New York. Any thoughts on final day/shows?

johnbasalla said:

I've read that on the final day of commercial WPLJ broadcasting, that the DJs played some curious songs. Can someone please give me examples.

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John Lennon's "Imagine," which among other things imagines a world without religion (and implies that that would be a good thing, because then there would be "nothing to kill or die for."), is the only one I can think of.

They need, and want, listeners, otherwise they wouldn't be accomplishing their #1 initiative, and that is to spread the Good News through song and also obtain many more donations as the positive message inspires people to support the program.

johnbasalla said:

They need, and want, listeners, otherwise they wouldn't be accomplishing their #1 initiative, and that is to spread the Good News through song and also obtain many more donations as the positive message inspires people to support the program.

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That's why they're using this type of music. Otherwise they'd simply do what religious stations used to do, which was mainly talk.

The music conveys the message.

I was hoping for something more interesting than "Imagine", as that is, figuratively speaking, the only John Lennon solo song we're likely to hear on large and major market "oldies" stations. It is only curious because its message is diametrically (sp?) opposed to what the new owners, EMF shares.

The music conveys the message ... and does so in a listener friendly way. A song lasts 3 or 4 minutes. Many people listen to radio in short spurts. How many people are going to, and want to, listen to a half hour sermon on the radio?

johnbasalla said:

I was hoping for something more interesting than "Imagine", as that is, figuratively speaking, the only John Lennon solo song we're likely to hear on large and major market "oldies" stations. It is only curious because its message is diametrically (sp?) opposed to what the new owners, EMF shares.

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I thought that's what you were looking for -- songs that were subtle jabs at the incoming format. I think another thread on PLJ's last day may have included the last hour's playlist, which I believe was standard Hot AC (except for the Lennon oldie). I don't know if the rock jocks brought back to reminisce earlier in the day were allowed to spin a bit of classic rock from the old PLJ or not.

gr8oldies said:

There certainly are evangelical Christian churches in New York and suburbs, and as mentioned above many people have migrated in from other parts of the country. The new WPLJ will have an audience.

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And yet, this mistake is made again.

While the brains and motivation behind Contemporary Christian Music are evangelical Christian movements, the format and the music appeals beyond that. Tampa has a moderately successful CCM station, WBVM (Spirit 90.5) , which is operated by the local Catholic diocese (St. Petersburg). WBVM's call letters are an abbreviation for "Blessed Voice of Mary" - hardly an evangelical name for any organization.

Orlando has yet another successful CCM station, WPOZ (Z88.3), which promises music that, aside from religious, is free from obscenity. For a long while, it used positioning tags such as "Positive Hits" and "Safe For The Little Ears" - which was a dig at other Orlando stations playing current hits with questionable/overtly sexual content.

Tampa and Orlando are no longer small-ish "bible belt" markets. They're quite large and feature a significant transplant population from the Catholic Northeast and Anglo-Saxon Protestant Upper Midwest.

My point here being is the format does and will appeal to people who aren't very evangelical and/or religious, or even Christian, for that matter. The music is poppy enough to feel like it's mainstream and the content of the lyrics won't embarrass you if someone overhears you listening in your car.

NewsStud said:

My point here being is the format does and will appeal to people who aren't very evangelical and/or religious, or even Christian, for that matter. The music is poppy enough to feel like it's mainstream and the content of the lyrics won't embarrass you if someone overhears you listening in your car.

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That's the point. Just a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down...in a most delightful way.

Or you can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.

It's not the format, it's the sterile nature of the satellite on a local station. I know a CCM station that was built by a Bible College and did very well. They had lots of listeners and some really fine people on the air working with the community. That's history, the Bible College sold to EMF and the staff is mostly gone. Still gets ratings, people still enjoy the music but the sense of community that the station had with a staff of local people is gone, but who cares right?

What happens when there is an unexpected medium to major event that happens in NYC? Will there be a staff of people in NYC to break in with updates, or will it just be business as usual?

Since there has been so much talk about John Lennon and "Imagine" let me add this. I remember the night John Lennon was shot, I had no idea what happened. I tuned up and down the FM radio dial where I lived, stations were playing Beatles records, even stations that normally didn't play the Beatles, like the Classical/Jazz station for example. I knew something was going on..... I doubt EMF would ever do anything like that.

Flame on kiddies, you know you want to.

Mike Sheridan said:

What happens when there is an unexpected medium to major event that happens in NYC? Will there be a staff of people in NYC to break in with updates, or will it just be business as usual?

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There are a lot of other stations that are all locally staffed. If it's a big enough thing, EAS will break in.

There are two other locally originating Christian stations too. So if people agree that this sounds too sterile, they can listen to the other Christian stations.

NewsStud said:

And yet, this mistake is made again.

While the brains and motivation behind Contemporary Christian Music are evangelical Christian movements, the format and the music appeals beyond that. Tampa has a moderately successful CCM station, WBVM (Spirit 90.5) , which is operated by the local Catholic diocese (St. Petersburg). WBVM's call letters are an abbreviation for "Blessed Voice of Mary" - hardly an evangelical name for any organization.

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Essentially correct, but WBVM to most Catholics in the Bay area, stands for Blessed Virgin Mary. The call letters were once held by an AM daytimer in Utica, New York.

Mike Sheridan said:

It's not the format, it's the sterile nature of the satellite on a local station. I know a CCM station that was built by a Bible College and did very well. They had lots of listeners and some really fine people on the air working with the community. That's history, the Bible College sold to EMF and the staff is mostly gone. Still gets ratings, people still enjoy the music but the sense of community that the station had with a staff of local people is gone, but who cares right?

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If people enjoy the product, then with no ill intent...who cares is a reasonable statement. Local is not the be-all and end-all. Good content, as determined by the listening public is--isn't that a fair summation? I mean, people wanted, as measured by the numbers, Howard Stern, all across the country. They want Rush Limbaugh. Take your pick.

Mike Sheridan said:

What happens when there is an unexpected medium to major event that happens in NYC? Will there be a staff of people in NYC to break in with updates, or will it just be business as usual?

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A business can't build a sustainable model based on accounting for every conceivable "what if." Moreover, it's 2019. By and large, people can access important information in other ways, and aren't carrying around portable radios in the event the cell networks go down.

When EMF bought 971. WRQQ from Cumulus, their ratings and TSL almost doubled. If the $50M price tag is remotely correct for PLJ, then EMF got a station at a multiple under 10. Not bad. Cumulus ate away at their debt, which is literally making them much moire money than PLJ was bringing in. Win - Win for two businesses.

TheBigA said:

Think of this in terms of your church. Does it matter if people go to church? Or is it important that the church exists, and the preacher gives his sermon. Does the preacher not preach because of the number of people in the church? Or does he do the same thing he'd do if the church was full? The job of the preacher is to go forth and spread the word.

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Religion has been around since the beginning of time them adding 955 in nyc isn’t really going to make their religious mission all that much more popular.

johnbasalla said:

I've read that on the final day of commercial WPLJ broadcasting, that the DJs played some curious songs. Can someone please give me examples.

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I heard stacys mom by fountains of wayne back in time by huey lewis a Cher lloyd song i forget which one they played britney spears song The final countdown also I think was one of the final songs they played.

Tibbs4 said:

When EMF bought 971. WRQQ from Cumulus, their ratings and TSL almost doubled. If the $50M price tag is remotely correct for PLJ, then EMF got a station at a multiple under 10. Not bad. Cumulus ate away at their debt, which is literally making them much moire money than PLJ was bringing in. Win - Win for two businesses.

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Its not a win win for the over 40 people that lost their jobs and all the hundreds of thousands of people who had plj as a part of their daily routine for years.

DavidEduardo said:

While the easy answer is to say "that's business" this thread has gotten so much activity that it's worth going over the details.

First, Cumulus did not have enough stations (like iHeart and Entercom) or a strong position with fewer stations (Like Emmis and SBS) to be particularly viable in New York City. They either had to grow, at great expense even if stations were available, or sell.

Second, Cumulus needs cash to make its debt manageable. Coming out of bankruptcy, they needed to spin some assets.

Third, WPLJ was in a revenue tailspin, off about 60% in the last 6 years alone.

Fourth, to improve revenue they'd have had to change format, which means a loss of current billing, and a loss of perhaps $10 to $12 million in the first year (from going to zero billings and having to build back up in a new format). Cumulus could not do that having just come out of bankruptcy.

Fifth, WPLJ had a format that was duplicated on another local station and "approximated" by several others in age appeal. Listeners are at no loss for OTA alternatives. But for much of the market area, many are getting a choice they did not have at all. So for listeners have gained, overall, from this change.

40 people did not lose their jobs. EMF has a small local staff, and they will obviously hire more people in Rocklin to handle increased donations. So, in all likelihood, the jobs are not lost, just moved to a different place.

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Although I disagree with that in terms plj could have been successful in the new york market without flipping formats and that k love is a good choice for the market, I appreciate your clarifications and opinions on this and you are obviously very smart on radio issues, Id be interested in learning more about your radio background