"Big" changes

[JamzUSA]

From All Access:

Is There A "Big" Format Wheel About To Spin?
What's up at CLEAR CHANNEL Oldies WBIG (BIG 100)/WASHINGTON? ALL ACCESS hears that morning duo GARY MURPHY & JESSICA CASH have been told their contract will not be renewed, but that they will not be fired. Is the "BIG" format wheel about to spin?

 

[Poppinjay]

> From All Access:
>
> Is There A "Big" Format Wheel About To Spin?
> What's up at CLEAR CHANNEL Oldies WBIG (BIG 100)/WASHINGTON?
> ALL ACCESS hears that morning duo GARY MURPHY & JESSICA CASH
> have been told their contract will not be renewed, but that
> they will not be fired. Is the "BIG" format wheel about to
> spin?

CC has registered the domain 1003theriver.com, but I'm still betting it'll be sports talk.

 

[ScottBurns]

Isn't the market over-saturated with Sports Talk, especially with 106.7, and FM Talk formats in general?

 

[TheBigA]

CC has a few Rivers around the country, and none of them are sports. There may be a syndicated morning show in the works. Or perhaps Gary & Jess will move to another CC market.

 

[Gregg.]

WBIG is not Oldies. It's Classic Rock. I'd say from the following playlist, it's a hard-edged Classic Rock station. No Hall & Oates, Pat Benatar, Billy Joel or Elton John heard on Saturday afternoon...

Jackson Browne -- The Load Out/Stay
Dire Straits -- Down to The Waterline
The Cars -- You're All I've Got Tonight
Skid Row -- 18 and Life
INXS -- What You Need
Rod Stewart -- Hot Legs
Alice Cooper -- Welcome to My Nightmare
Pink Floyd -- Goodbye Blue Sky
ZZ Top -- Pearl Necklace
Black Sabbath -- Children of The Grave

Is Washington a market for this kind of Classic Rock? I wouldn't have thought so. Yet in the latest ratings, WBIG was #7. So in a market dominated by Urban radio, that's pretty good. At one time, when they called themselves "Classic Hits," WBIG leaned more pop, more Huey Lewis and Doobie Brothers, instead of Black Sabbath and Alice Cooper. But certainly no Madonna or Michael Jackson.

I wonder why neither Washington nor Baltimore has a Classic Hits/Oldies station? WCBS-FM is #1 in NYC and KRTH LA and WLS-FM Chicago are big stations in those cities. Yet the format doesn't exist in DC/MD.

 

[TheBigA]

I wonder why neither Washington nor Baltimore has a Classic Hits/Oldies station? WCBS-FM is #1 in NYC and KRTH LA and WLS-FM Chicago are big stations in those cities. Yet the format doesn't exist in DC/MD.

Oldies is dead for PPM markets. Classic Hits or Adult Hits tend to share a lot of audience with AC stations. So depending on the market or cluster, it doesn't make sense duplicating the audience. The company that owns WCBS and KRTH also owns stations in DC and Baltimore, and has obviously decided it doesn't fit their profile.