Big 95.5

[MarkW]

Angie in the morning and the gimmicky playlist suggest to me this station is more interested in appealing to millennials who might not typically be P1's for rock radio as opposed to the people who genuinely appreciate & breathe rock music.

"Sad but True" (pun intended!).

 

[macattack]

Angie in the morning and the gimmicky playlist suggest to me this station is more interested in appealing to millennials who might not typically be P1's for rock radio as opposed to the people who genuinely appreciate & breathe rock music.

"Sad but True" (pun intended!).

I definitely think Millennials and Gen X are the target audiences. As I suggested in the ratings thread; if WCHI starts emulating WBUZ, a Nashville Active that reports to Alternative, it might be the right course of action to strengthen its ratings.

Despite being classified as an Active by Nielsen, WBUZ reports to Alternative survey panels due to the station regularly picking up Alternative currents as well as Active ones. It's a mold that WCHI fits into very well as their golds selection contains many songs that only charted on Alternative/Modern Rock. Currents are great for keeping the music fresh and WBUZ still plays several classic rock favorites along with the currents. It's an evolution of what WCHI does and I think Millennials would take to it well along with Q101 nostalgics.

I think this would also give the station a firm identity which be especially helpful to Angie. I get the sense that she's not sure what her target audience is with her show - I think she will do a lot better once the station gets over its split personality.

 

[TheBigA]

As I suggested in the ratings thread; if WCHI starts emulating WBUZ, a Nashville Active that reports to Alternative, it might be the right course of action to strengthen its ratings.

How would this station, owned by an small regional company, get on the radar of iHeart Chicago?

 

[macattack]

How would this station, owned by an small regional company, get on the radar of iHeart Chicago?

You got me. Maybe somebody from iHeart Chicago lurks on this forum?

They're under no obligation to listen to me anyway. I'm not a radio consultant. I will say that, after checking the Nashville bookings, WBUZ pulled a 3.4, 3.4, and a 3.2 the last three months in not the most rock-friendly environment, and WCHI isn't close to that. 6+ PPM doesn't tell the full story of course, but I think we can safely say whose ratings are better when the gap is that noticeable.

I remember that WBUZ was pulling 1.7-2.0s for a while too, but then a new PD came on last year, diversified the classic rock selection, and doubled the current airplay from about 20 currents to 40 (though a lot of them don't see daypart airplay). The ratings went up by making things more interesting for both older listeners who wanted more classic rock and younger ones who wanted more new music.

I can safely say that WCHI isn't going to co-exist with WDRV, WXRT, and WKQX for long, Chicago isn't big enough for four rock stations. I can tell you that WCHI isn't going to dislodge WDRV, who is what the Loop used to be in this town, and they're not disrupting WXRT either (unless Entercom-erm "Audacy" sabotages them, which they're dumb enough to do). But they can dislodge WKQX, who has been vulnerable. So, from my layman's perspective, while not abandoning the "rock" identity I think adapting the WBUZ strategy and going after WKQX would be the best way to secure a niche and marginalize a competitor.

 

[TheBigA]

I will say that, after checking the Nashville bookings, WBUZ pulled a 3.4, 3.4, and a 3.2 the last three months in not the most rock-friendly environment,

I'm not sure I agree with that characterization of that city. If you look beyond that station in the ratings, there is a wide array of rock stations in Nashville, including several non-commercial stations.

 

[macattack]

I'm not sure I agree with that characterization of that city. If you look beyond that station in the ratings, there is a wide array of rock stations in Nashville, including several non-commercial stations.

What I meant is that for a station like WBUZ to exist is that it has to contend with three country stations (all of which book well) and a couple of powerful urban stations (one owned by Cumulus, another by iHeart), plus the well-regarded Lightning 100, multiple other noncommercials, and a strong iHeart classic rocker. It's a tough environment for that station to just exist, much less book 3.0+.

 

[TheBigA]

It's a tough environment for that station to just exist, much less book 3.0+.

There's also a very rock-oriented well programmed Jack station that is usually near the top of the ratings. I'm also not sure that there's a lot of sharing with those other formats.

 

[MarkW]

WBUZ is not the station I would model after. I think I'm on the same page with BigA here.

The station has long had a wide musical lane to itself, and at times, has had difficulty carving out a solid identity. It hasn't been a major ratings player in Nashville in a long time and has never been a major revenue player.

Fall Out Boy does not belong on a station that also plays Metallica, in my opinion.

A formula similar to the one used by WRIF in Detroit and KAZR in Des Moines is what 95.5 needs - straight-ahead Active Rock featuring a couple currents an hour, a couple 70s/80s classics an hour from credible bands (meaning Van Halen, Ozzy, Zeppelin, Def Leppard...NOT Journey or Bryan Adams), and the rest of the playlist rounded out with guitar-oriented rock from the Grunge era forward. Alternative spins should be limited to mass appeal groups such as the Killers or high testing singles from groups such as Cage the Elephant or Awolnation.

I've never seen a 90's intensive rock station feature such a poor selection of Metallica cuts. Why does 95.5 refuse to play anything pre-Black album?!?! (Watered-down DC101 followed the same playbook, so I guess I shouldn't be terribly surprised.)

If 95.5 wants to continue to play Journey, Night Ranger and Bryan Adams, then it should remove Limp Bizkit (another band it overplays incessantly), Drowning Pool, et al. and retool as a Classic Rock station to directly compete against WDRV. Right now, 95.5 is basically throwing a bunch of crap at the wall and not doing a particularly good job of appealing to any cohort.

 

[scanman1]

WOZZ, KUPD, WZOR, and WJJO would also be good models for WCHI to follow playlist-wise.

 

[gr8oldies]

How would this station, owned by an small regional company, get on the radar of iHeart Chicago?

iHeart has and is building a big presence in Nashville.

 

[TheBigA]

iHeart has and is building a big presence in Nashville.

It's a big company. Thousands of employees. As I've said, this station in Chicago isn't following any of the iHeart rock station templates from any of their other stations. I'd think Pittsburgh would be a good template, but it's already being done at The Drive.

 

[macattack]

A formula similar to the one used by WRIF in Detroit and KAZR in Des Moines is what 95.5 needs - straight-ahead Active Rock featuring a couple currents an hour, a couple 70s/80s classics an hour from credible bands (meaning Van Halen, Ozzy, Zeppelin, Def Leppard...NOT Journey or Bryan Adams), and the rest of the playlist rounded out with guitar-oriented rock from the Grunge era forward. Alternative spins should be limited to mass appeal groups such as the Killers or high testing singles from groups such as Cage the Elephant or Awolnation.

I've never seen a 90's intensive rock station feature such a poor selection of Metallica cuts. Why does 95.5 refuse to play anything pre-Black album?!?! (Watered-down DC101 followed the same playbook, so I guess I shouldn't be terribly surprised.)

If 95.5 wants to continue to play Journey, Night Ranger and Bryan Adams, then it should remove Limp Bizkit (another band it overplays incessantly), Drowning Pool, et al. and retool as a Classic Rock station to directly compete against WDRV. Right now, 95.5 is basically throwing a bunch of crap at the wall and not doing a particularly good job of appealing to any cohort.

The problem with your logic, speaking as a local, that straight-ahead Active hasn't worked since the late 80's (unless you're WIIL, who doesn't reach the entire area). The Loop never successfully transitioned to the paradigm of the 90's and every attempt to include music from post-1990 backfired. The Blaze is still fondly remembered by some but it didn't last very long. Neither did The Zone; the "40 minutes non-stop rock" format wound up backing them into a corner advertising-wise. I also remember The Zone having a rather confused playlist (Jimi Hendrix AND Lamb of God?!), which probably did it no favors. Chicago hasn't had a true Active since the Zone; the closest was Q101's final phase from 2007-11, which was basically a slightly cracked mirror of KPNT.

I am sure WIIL's presence is a complication for any Chicago rocker that wants to have more of a pulse than WKQX. You have to hold your own against WIIL in the northern reaches of the market and also directly compete against WKQX.

I do think you and I are on the same page with the 80's ballads, Journey, Night Ranger, Poison, etc. all gotta go. The Metallica selection also needs to get those 80's thrash classics on the table; if KPNT and WBUZ can yank out "Master of Puppets" and "One" without issue then WCHI oughta do the same. Everyone knows "DARKNESS, IMPRISONING ME! ALL THAT I SEE, ABSOLUTE HORROR!" at this point, "One" won't scare anybody off.

 

[CMNTMXR57]

Speaking of Bryan Adams, each time Capone plays him, you can hear his disdain for it on that station.

Oh, and I forgot one more thing I don't care for... Conrad Cooper.

 

[MarkW]

The problem with your logic, speaking as a local, that straight-ahead Active hasn't worked since the late 80's (unless you're WIIL, who doesn't reach the entire area). The Loop never successfully transitioned to the paradigm of the 90's and every attempt to include music from post-1990 backfired. The Blaze is still fondly remembered by some but it didn't last very long. Neither did The Zone; the "40 minutes non-stop rock" format wound up backing them into a corner advertising-wise. I also remember The Zone having a rather confused playlist (Jimi Hendrix AND Lamb of God?!), which probably did it no favors. Chicago hasn't had a true Active since the Zone; the closest was Q101's final phase from 2007-11, which was basically a slightly cracked mirror of KPNT.

I am sure WIIL's presence is a complication for any Chicago rocker that wants to have more of a pulse than WKQX. You have to hold your own against WIIL in the northern reaches of the market and also directly compete against WKQX.

I do think you and I are on the same page with the 80's ballads, Journey, Night Ranger, Poison, etc. all gotta go. The Metallica selection also needs to get those 80's thrash classics on the table; if KPNT and WBUZ can yank out "Master of Puppets" and "One" without issue then WCHI oughta do the same. Everyone knows "DARKNESS, IMPRISONING ME! ALL THAT I SEE, ABSOLUTE HORROR!" at this point, "One" won't scare anybody off.

Rock 103.5 was very much in the Active Rock lane, and only failed because Mancow bolted for Q101, which then positioned its playlist more closely to that of WRCX. Bob & Tom were filler until AMFM decided where to go next.

Q101 when Dave Richards was programming it was as close as possible to Active Rock musically without being an Active Rock reporter. Played nearly all the currents from the format but didn't include AC/DC, Motley Crue or Ozzy in its gold library. Those artists were the bread & butter of WLUP at the time. Q101 in that era sounded outstanding in all respects. When Dave Richards left to go to Seattle, Tim Richards - a veteran CHR/Pop programmer who arrived from WKQI in Detroit with little to no prior rock radio experience - unfortunately ran the station into the ground by pivoting to a bunch of warmed-over Modern AC friendly junk. After he left, the programming arguably grew even worse for a number of years until the guy from KPNT started taking over programming chores and tried his best to repair a horrifically damaged station.

WKQX's final hurrah as "Q101" before the FM News fiasco featured a very nu-metal oriented Active Rock playlist, quite similar to WZOR and WJJO during their prime, but I think the station (i) did a lousy job communicating its new hard rock direction to the audience and (ii) made a major mistake by keeping the reprehensibly awful "Manno Brothers" show in PM drive for a year or two after the music shift took place (I despise Tisa LaSorte and whoever hired her to this day).

Sherman & Tingle in mornings + Tim Virgin in PM drive was a good tandem. Came too late unfortunately.

 

[chrocket87]

The station just seems a bit disjointed and the playlist is a mess. I can’t see people actually enjoying listening to a bunch of Q101/WKQX castoffs playing Skid Row, Poison, and Bryan Adams.

I agree with Mark. If they want a chance to succeed, they’re gonna need to go straight-up Active Rock or Classic Rock (probably the best option). Trying to occupy two lanes is really not working out.

 

[Todd Mitchell]

WBUZ pulled a 3.4, 3.4, and a 3.2 the last three months in not the most rock-friendly environment

Now take a peek at WNRQ...

 

[macattack]

Now take a peek at WNRQ...

I'm well aware that they do very well, they're the one of the top performers of iHeart's Nashville operation. Sometimes even the top performer.

I really should have specified "active rock" but too late to edit now...

 

[macattack]

Too late to edit this into the previous post, but I did a check of WJJO's adds in March since scanman1 mentioned them and they're not crazy far from the market, being in Madison, Wisconsin.

MARCH WJJO ADDS:
1. Myles Kennedy - "In Stride"
2. The Offspring - "Let The Bad Times Roll"
3. Of Mice and Men - "Anchor"
4. Tetrarch - "You Never Listen"
5. 10 Years - "The Unknown"
6. Atreyu f/Travis Barker - "Warrior"
7. Badflower - "F*** The World"
8. PLUSH - "Hate"
9. Evanescence - "Better Without You"
10. Rise Against - "Nowhere Generation"

3/31 2 PM SAMPLE HOUR:

1. Falling In Reverse - "Popular Monster" (2019,R)
2. Rob Zombie - "Living Dead Girl" (1998)
3. Myles Kennedy - "In Stride" (2021, C)
4. Ozzy Osbourne - "Crazy Train" (1980)
5. Theory of a Deadman - "Hate My Life" (2008)
6. Rage Against The Machine - "Killing In The Name Of" (1991)
7. Chevelle - "Self Destructor" (2021, C)
8. Soundgarden - "Pretty Noose" (1996)
9. Red Jumpsuit Apparatus - "Is This The Real World?" (2020, R)
10. Five Finger Death Punch - "Living The Dream" (2020, R)
11. Avenged Sevenfold - "A Little Piece of Heaven" (2007)
12. Bring Me The Horizon - "Teardrop" (2020, C)

Adds feel a little conservative (outside of PLUSH and Tetrarch) but I think the sample hour would be a good direction.

Just to be fair because this was my original suggestion, here's WBUZ's adds for March and their 2 PM sample hour.

MARCH WBUZ ADDS:
1. Mike Shinoda - "Happy Endings"
2. The Offspring - "Let The Bad Times Roll"
3. The Strumbellas - "Greatest Enemy"
4. Black Pistol Fire - "Look Alive"
5. Royal Blood - "Typhoons"
6. Manchester Orchestra - "Bed Head"
7. Grouplove - "Deadline"
8. Badflower - "F*** The World"
9. Imagine Dragons - "Follow You"
10. Rise Against - "Nowhere Generation"
11. 10 Years - "The Unknown"
12. All Time Low - "Once In A Lifetime"
13. Beartooth - "The Past Is Dead"
14. Daughtry - "Heavy Is The Crown"

3/31 2 PM SAMPLE HOUR
1. My Little Viking - "Haunted" (2021, local band getting their new song spun)
2. Puddle of Mudd - "She Hates Me" (2001)
3. Red Hot Chili Peppers - "Scar Tissue" (1993)
4. Bush - "Little Things" (1994)
5. Linkin Park - "Burn It Down" (2012)
6. Foo Fighters - "Waiting On A War" (2021, C)
7. Sublime - "Doin' Time" (1997)
8. Three Days Grace - "Animal I Have Become" (2006)
9. Highly Suspect - "My Name Is Human" (2016)
10. Hole - "Celebrity Skin" (1998)
11. Royal Blood - "Typhoons" (2021, C)
12. Seether - "Remedy" (2005)
13. Nirvana - "Come As You Are" (1991)

WBUZ is a little more aggressive currents-wise, but that's because they regularly pull from the Alternative format to flesh their playlist out (which is why they report to the Billboard Alternative panel despite being registered as an Active to Nielsen).

WBUZ also tends to do 3 currents an hour in the daypart like WJJO, though in this 2 PM hour they spun a local band in place of a normal current. I don't think their sample hour is bad either.

Really I could see either solution improving WCHI's fortunes. They're not super far apart from each other playlist-wise, one solution just keeps more of the Q101 classics around than the other... and slips in a few Alternative currents.

 

[DavidEduardo]

WBUZ is a little more aggressive currents-wise, but that's because they regularly pull from the Alternative format to flesh their playlist out (which is why they report to the Billboard Alternative panel despite being registered as an Active to Nielsen).

WBUZ does not chose the format under which they report to Billboard. Billboard decides, based on airplay, what format a station is grouped with for its charts.

Similarly, Nielsen provides a very specific list of formats a station can claim. However, that information is not provided to the radio news media as part of the 12+ or 6+ numbers they release; each publication that reports ratings inserts the format and attributes the owner on their own... and that is why different sites have different format names and will often inaccurately label a station's format.

 

[macattack]

WBUZ does not chose the format under which they report to Billboard. Billboard decides, based on airplay, what format a station is grouped with for its charts.

I know. I was saying that they pull Alternative currents (and play Alternative-leaning songs in general) frequently enough that Billboard put them on their Alternative panel instead of their Active (Mainstream Rock) panel. There's a college station out in Iowa, KIWR, that has played currents from artists as heavy as Trivium and Of Mice and Men, but they add enough Alternative currents and spin enough Alternative gold that Billboard assigned them to their Alternative panel as well.

(KIWR and WBUZ have been factors in why Chevelle, many years after alt-metal was booted from Alternative, has been hanging around on the Alternative chart for the last month, albeit in the 35-40 range).