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Will Audacy ever realize that 102.9 The Wolf isn't working?

RadioGuy1019

RadioGuy1019

I don't get it. Why aren't they gone already? What's so great about country?... besides trying hard to kill K102 with absolutely no luck. Heck, the 9kW Country rimshot had higher ratings than that... It makes absolutely no sense...

Here's what I think they should consider doing when the time comes: (which it will; 102.9 is a ticking time bomb)

A) Simulcast WCCO

Why not? WCCO has good ratings, adding an FM signal would theoretically make sense -- Why not let WCCO have 100kW of clear FM power to expand the News/Talk/Sports programming to more people?

After all this has been proven too work, and very fast too, look at WSB AM/WSBB FM in Atlanta, WBBM AM/FM in Chicago, KCBS/KFRC in San Francisco...if it works, why not do it?

B) Return to AC

WLTE left a huge gap in the market when they flipped to Country. However, the market has changed a lot since. During the end of WLTE's run as AC, Minneapolis was oversaturated in AC and AC leaning formats. KS95 at the time was an AC leaning Hot AC format, Cities 97 being another AC leaning Hot AC, and Love 105 with Soft AC/Oldies...not to mention WLTE hadn't really seen a refresh in branding or anything in a long time, and too put it short, was just boring in the end. Love 105 went AC to fill 102.9's AC gap and ended up getting a three share, but ended up randomly flipping to Sports/Talk and ruining it all. Now, 94.5 leans CHR, 97.1 is Hot AC, and Love 105 being back with Soft AC, all three formats come close, but not as close together as before, there needs to be something to bridge that gap. Granted, does Audacy really want to put their time into reviving an AC station with mediocre ratings in the end? Doubtful.
 
Screenshot 2021-10-20 9.19.00 AM.png
Look at those ratings... WLTE did well. This was in done '08.
 
TheBigA said:
What's so great? It reaches women 25-49. That's a much better sales demo than news/talk.

They partnered with Twins baseball, so that made some extra money. It also hurt their country ratings.
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And AC doesn't? AC would most likely work on 102.9 if they put effort into rebuilding it. Audacy does a great job...when it comes to instantly running things straight into the ground. 102.9 did so much better under CBS, even with the Country format.
 
NBRadioMN said:
And AC doesn't? AC would most likely work on 102.9 if they put effort into rebuilding it. Audacy does a great job...when it comes to instantly running things straight into the ground. 102.9 did so much better under CBS, even with the Country format.
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They would have to staff it. The company has a national country platform. They haven't started one yet for AC.
 
TheBigA said:
They would have to staff it. The company has a national country platform. They haven't started one yet for AC.
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I can't see Audacy doing that with AC... at least now. AC seems to work best when there is a local on-air presence. I feel like the only thing most likely hindering Audacy from going back is their "budget." Probably too cheap to hire an all-local air staff.
 
NBRadioMN said:
I can't see Audacy doing that with AC... at least now. AC seems to work best when there is a local on-air presence. I feel like the only thing most likely hindering Audacy from going back is their "budget." Probably too cheap to hire an all-local air staff.
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I don't think you can generalize. Audacy hires all local staff at WCCO. They have lots of local staffs in lots of their markets. They have some ACs with local staff, and they're not getting great ratings. So just hiring an all local staff for an AC in Minneapolis is no guarantee of success. Jack is getting good ratings with NO local staff.
 
TheBigA said:
I don't think you can generalize. Audacy hires all local staff at WCCO. They have lots of local staffs in lots of their markets. They have some ACs with local staff, and they're not getting great ratings. So just hiring an all local staff for an AC in Minneapolis is no guarantee of success. Jack is getting good ratings with NO local staff.
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Jack has local staff....
 
NBRadioMN said:
I can't see Audacy doing that with AC... at least now. AC seems to work best when there is a local on-air presence.
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Which would be why so many successful AC's run Bob & Sheri and John Tesh...

Like with most radio formats, AC's audience drops off a cliff by dinnertime, and almost no AC has a live personality after 7:00 PM. Many of those voicetracked personalities aren't the slightest bit local. Running a successful AC on the cheap isn't particularly difficult.
 
When The Wolf was launched, they included some classic country mixed in with the new stuff. Now they bill themselves as the “new country leader”, dropping the classics and reverting to the same bro country crap they played as “Buz’n”. And WTF was with the name “Buz’n” anyway? I know, it was CBS, not Entercom/Audacy who cooked that one up. But the seed of fecteration continued to bloom under Audacy to this day.
 
aspric said:
When The Wolf was launched, they included some classic country mixed in with the new stuff.
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They usually do an entire classic country show Sunday mornings.

You can't tell from the website, since it doesn't promote any of the specialty shows.
 
MarkW said:
With the imminent demise of 94.7 in NYC, hope abounds 102.9 will ditch country soon!
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The two situations are independent of one another. Audacy is always willing to dump an underperforming format. If it feels The Wolf is underperforming, or has been too long, it will take action. Otherwise, it's going to keep spinning country.
 
Checked the ratings. KMNB slid down 1.7 - 1.6 and KLCI went up 1.6 - 1.8. Milestone must be laughing. The puny 9kW rimshot station is beating the big 100kW station. Not the first time either, I think last spring or winter KMNB had a 2.4 and KLCI had a 2.6. I wonder if Audacy is going to maybe try adjusting 102.9 again; with Classic Country doing well on KLCI especially with their limited signal, could Classic Country potentially come to 102.9? I don't know, just a thought.
 
Hip Hop could be another possibility. KTCZ-HD3/K273BH have a 1.8 share. YES, you heard that right...A 250watt translator/HD3 station is doing BETTER ratings-wise over a 100kW full power station... that is laughable. Go 95.3 did about the same ratings wise, so I assume every former listener just flipped to 102.5 as soon as 95.3 flipped to CCM. I wonder how it would do on a 100kW FM. The only problem is, I'm guessing 102.9 wouldn't have any listeners outside the TC metro if they tried Hip Hop; whereas AC, Classic Country, and News/Talk would probably work better in the suburbs and outside the metro.
 
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