Wzzr and 92.1

Both have horrible ratings and wzzr has an out of the area boring morning show. Why doesn’t iheart try alt rock on one of these stations. It’s a pain that north of PBI I can’t get the shark and 98.7 is so far into classic rock that we are totally missing out on a whole format

I think this was explained earlier...

WPB is a tough market to make an alternative format work. Especially since the format kinda “fragmented” about 8-10 years ago.

The Buzz was a long-time alternative station. It did well in the 90’s and early 00’s...then with the overall decline of alternative as a format, the Buzz started losing ratings quick. It didn’t help for the last 5 years or so of its life the music and personalities were all over the place.

There was also Planet Radio 92.1 which had similar results. I do believe they were competing quite well with the Buzz, but Clear Channel knew putting Soft AC was a far more lucrative format to sell. So the plug was pulled there fairly quick.

(Note: Pretty aware of the plight of modern rock in South Florida as I lived in Broward when we lost both WSHE and Zeta. Towards the end I was jury-rigging an antenna to get my new rock fix from WPB. But hey, at least we had WKPX!)

That being said, I am surprised it hasn’t showed up on a translator somewhere. Heck, if 93.5 the Bar had a translator near Palm Beach it may have kept kicking around the active rock format.

Chances are good that if iHeart blows up a long-time hot talk station (WZZR) that still currently bills well (even though 12+ ratings are soft) it’s because they know an alternative format will make them even more ad revenue. The fact that they have not yet is quite telling in and of itself.

92.1 did have some good ratings with soft A/C however not in the demographic they wanted so they blew that up as well. In this day and age if you can't get agency buys, forget about it! I guess selling local like stations used to do, pounding the pavement at the Mom and Pop stores just doesn't cut it when you overpay for a little 6KW FM.

It used to be stations could get businesses to buy commercials their station because they liked the format. Imagine that!

Mike Sheridan said:

...a little 6KW FM...

Click to expand...

They actually upgraded to a class C3 with a solid, city signal between Lake Worth and Jupiter.

wzzr and 92.1

Mike Sheridan said:

92.1 did have some good ratings with soft A/C however not in the demographic they wanted so they blew that up as well. In this day and age if you can't get agency buys, forget about it! I guess selling local like stations used to do, pounding the pavement at the Mom and Pop stores just doesn't cut it when you overpay for a little 6KW FM.

It used to be stations could get businesses to buy commercials their station because they liked the format. Imagine that!

Click to expand...

The 92.1 and Buzz stories are actually both tales of corporate "cram-downs". Buzz was a pretty good alternative station consulted by Jacobs. It had a good local morning show that was forced out by the CBS initiative to get Howard Stern on stations across the nation to try and save Stern from leaving CBS. It didn't last long. Stern left for Sirius and then there was the short-lived David Lee Roth experiment. When that was over Buzz was in oblivion which led to the next corporate cram-down and Buzz was soon CHR for a short time as part of the AMP roll-out.

As for 92.1, Planet Radio was an epic programming and sales disaster. There was really no place for it in the market. West Palm is not exactly a youth market. Sales results by the sales group that sold the other CC FMs were poor.

92.1 was smooth jazz for a short time when ZZR was switched from 92.7 to 94.3. After a short time, local management made the move to Classy 92.1 which was a huge success. Often #1 or #2 AQH or cume and the fastest growing revenue station in the CC-West Palm group.

And then another corporate cram-down in 2007. CC was in the midst of the "be the first Spanish FM in your market". First came Orlando and then West Palm with Mia-92.1.

The point about Alternative is a good one. You would think with all those HD channels they could at least put it there.

As of today Real Radio has moved to 92.1 FM and the Spanish AC formerly on WRLX is now on the superior 94.3 frequency. The article doesn't mention if the Real Radio simulcast on WCZR in Vero will be affected but I don't imagine it will be. Radio Locator doesn't show very favorable coverage of southern Palm Beach county for 92.1. Bummer.