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Hot 96.9; Jam'n 94.5; 97.7 The Beat

radiolives said:
Can Boston support all 3 stations? I know Jam'n plays more newer songs then sister The Beat which plays older hits. And now Hot plays a bit of everything new and old, when they first flipped they became very popular in Boston.

I can see iheartradio possibly doing something with Jam'n or The Beat, I know it sells well with Kiss 108. Iheartradio does also own 100.7 WZLX Bostons classic rock. Either a Alt 94.5 or Alt 97.7 would sell well with WZLX.

Alt 94.5 Boston's Alternative
Jam'n 97.7 Boston's NEW Hip Hop

Thoughts
Click to expand...
 
radiolives said:
Can Boston support all 3 stations? I know Jam'n plays more newer songs then sister The Beat which plays older hits. And now Hot plays a bit of everything new and old, when they first flipped they became very popular in Boston.

I can see iheartradio possibly doing something with Jam'n or The Beat, I know it sells well with Kiss 108. Iheartradio does also own 100.7 WZLX Bostons classic rock. Either a Alt 94.5 or Alt 97.7 would sell well with WZLX.

Alt 94.5 Boston's Alternative
Jam'n 97.7 Boston's NEW Hip Hop

Thoughts
Click to expand...
Boston does need an alternative station, anyone but Iheart
 
Retro said:
If they did an "Alt" format, then they would have to at least consider WWBX also. From what I have seen in different places, Today's Hot AC and Alternative stations tend to aim for similar audiences. And again, 92.9 was that kind of station for years, albeit with Hodge podge programming, for lack of a better term. With that said, the numbers at WBOS were actually improving, before they flipped to a slightly younger version of WZLX. Something does need to be done, but the big question is, since WJMN improved quite a bit after AMP Radio bit the dust, and WKAF still seems to be an afterthought. There is the big question if anything would even be done at this present point of time?
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I think Beasley killed WBOS by not having that many currents/recurrents in the playlist. The nature of the format, like CHR, is it's reliance on new music. It only seemed that Beasley was injecting contemporary music into it in the last few months, which was starting to show in ratings.
 
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I think it would be nice if 94.5 flipped to The Breeze. Is that still possible? I'm sure teenagers would hate it, and people like us would love it.
 
There is a format that is starting to make a comeback in a couple of markets. That is Smooth Jazz. Wouldn't that at least theoretically be a better sale than The Breeze format?

It might actually compliment iHeartRadio's existing CHR and Rhythm based stations. I think that there would be a slight appeal to WZLX listeners also. Just a thought.
 
Retro said:
There is a format that is starting to make a comeback in a couple of markets. That is Smooth Jazz. Wouldn't that at least theoretically be a better sale than The Breeze format?
Click to expand...
Where is Smooth Jazz making a commercial radio comeback?
 
I think it would be nice if 94.5 flipped to The Breeze. Is that still possible?
Click to expand...

Interesting thought!

WPLM, of course, occupies the Soft AC space already, but that station's median song age is quite a bit older than the format's representatives in cities such as Philly, San Francisco, Seattle and Miami. It also suffers from mediocre metro coverage.

I'd love to see someone give the modern interpretation of Soft AC a try locally.
 
WOW, WKAF rock bottom...it had better ratings as WAAF (half signal)...Still can't answer WHY iHeart trashed the original Urban AC format, as someone mentioned before....the current audience of 160,000 is valueless, I recall the other WKAF had 330,000+ cume at one point. Bad fear based move all around - the rhythmic landscape looks weak right now even as the pandemic is easing up.
 
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While we are talking about this, why Jam'n allow Hot 96.9 to pull the rug from right under them? I am talking back in 2013 when then Greater Media hired Cadillac "Jack" McCarthy to launch the station. I mean you would think that the Clear Channel would have known what exactly was going to happen, or were they infact shortsighted instead?
 
WKAF is so disappointing
the same 100-150 songs
Too Micheal Jackson heavy
Wheres Prince?
I would say go further back even tossing in 70s or even 60s once every hour or so
 
Retro said:
While we are talking about this, why Jam'n allow Hot 96.9 to pull the rug from right under them? I am talking back in 2013 when then Greater Media hired Cadillac "Jack" McCarthy to launch the station. I mean you would think that the Clear Channel would have known what exactly was going to happen, or were they infact shortsighted instead?
Click to expand...

Jam’n letting their entire morning show go to Hot 96.9 was quite the move also. A highly rated morning show moved to their new competitor. The initial attempt to replace it was an epic fail although I’m not sure what the ratings are now.

If you read between the lines, Ramiro was sick of working for a meddling PD who inherited a show he probably didn’t like.
 
A lot of botched/missed opportunities dating back 10 plus years from the Clear Channel/iHeart side...then again as long as you had/have the revenue of Kiss 108, nothing else matters
 
kp2780 said:
Jam’n letting their entire morning show go to Hot 96.9 was quite the move also. A highly rated morning show moved to their new competitor. The initial attempt to replace it was an epic fail although I’m not sure what the ratings are now.

If you read between the lines, Ramiro was sick of working for a meddling PD who inherited a show he probably didn’t like.
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Hmmmm, very interesting! Didn't Corporate realize who they were dealing with? Who was it that was snatched from then WZOU to Kiss 108?who was it that was named Program Director for Jam'n 94.5 once the sale to Kiss 108's parent company had closed?

Was Clear Channel really that naive, or were all the people involved during 1994 were far gone by 2013 instead?
 
WKAF = garbage. At some point, it'll flip to one of iHM's fad formats or will be used to rebroadcast 680 or 1030.

iHM ruined a great radio station. Sad.

However, to their credit, they brought back WRKO from near extinction!

By "modern interpretation" of Soft AC, I'm referring to a station whose median gold library song birthdate is 1990-something, a station that goes light (if at all) into 70s MOR artists, does play some classic soul staples, and is willing to include a very select number of recurrent singles in rotation.
 
The chain of events was that Cadillac Jack was with iHeart in NYC and announced a “retirement” out of the blue. He resurfaced a few weeks later with the launch of WBQT. One by one a lot of ex Jam’n air talent who worked with him previously joined WBQT. Ramiro joined around two years after the launch. iHeart was pushing him to sign a new deal months before his contract expired and he wouldn’t so they let him go early. Based on his social media posts at the time it seemed that he was unhappy working under the PD Dylan Sprague. Sprague was brought in around 2011 as the PD of WXKS and WJMN. He was an “outsider” after the had been always programmed by either Cadillac Jack or other “home grown” Jam’n talent like Chris Tyler.
 
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