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WOGL Rebrands at Big 98.1
- Thread starter Route 222
- Start date
Clearly there was some kind of research about the branding not working. My only guess is because the OGL in WOGL stands for "Old Gold", it's possible there was negative brand perception around it, not to mention WOGL has performed really poorly lately.
As far as I can tell, it's just a rebrand, no real music tweak.
EDIT: The guess seems on point. https://www.bizjournals.com/philadelphia/news/2022/04/28/audacy-goes-big-with-981-wogl-rebrand.html
As far as I can tell, it's just a rebrand, no real music tweak.
EDIT: The guess seems on point. https://www.bizjournals.com/philadelphia/news/2022/04/28/audacy-goes-big-with-981-wogl-rebrand.html
Maybe people will stop calling it OLDIES 98!! As it hasn't been for two decades.
Without local DJs in all dayparts, ratings will flatline.
Sounds like a copy of Ben FM and all Jack's/Bob's around the nation,
Without local DJs in all dayparts, ratings will flatline.
Sounds like a copy of Ben FM and all Jack's/Bob's around the nation,
That slogan had been gone for a while.
The other news that is in the Philadelphia Business Jorunal article is that WOGL has dropped the voice-tracked mid-day and afternoon shows from WCBS-FM's Race Taylor and WOCL's Domino, and it sounds like they will be looking for some local hosts.
Another observation, the imaging went from sounding very similar to WCBS-FM to sounding like K-Earth 101, using the same VO guy and everything (their alternate, not Joe Cipriano).
Reality is some people will call it oldies 98--that's just what it is. But the re-brand makes sense to do what you can to distance yourself from it a bit more. If their research tells them "Big" will help do that, more power to them.
The "average" listener isn't going to know or care if Joe Schmo the DJ is in Philly or Piscataway.
The "average" listener isn't going to know or care if Joe Schmo the DJ is in Philly or Piscataway.
Ah I didn't realize the 80s slogan was gone for awhile. Haven't listened in forever because the station turned very boring in my mind. I'm going to give it an honest try again with this new branding.
Just for kicks I asked Alexa to play the station, and have yet to find a way to bring it up. Asking for WOGL brought up the HD2 feed, even asking for HD1. Oldies 98 didn't work. Philadelphia's Big 98.1, or any version of Big 98, didn't work. The joys of trying to introduce a new brand in the connected device era.
They could've just dropped the L and call it OG 98.1. "OG" is urban slang for "incredibly exceptional, authentic, or 'old-school.'"
www.dictionary.com
OG - What Does OG Mean? | Slang by Dictionary.com
OG is a slang term for someone who's incredibly exceptional, authentic, or "old-school.
www.dictionary.com
Audacy is also using the "Big" branding for its adult hits station in Boston.
On the other hand iHeart uses Big at its classic hits in DC:
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wbig.iheart.com
On the other hand iHeart uses Big at its classic hits in DC:
BIG 100 - Washington's Classic Rock Radio Station
Washington DC's Classic Rock Radio Station. Home of The Don Geronimo Show in the mornings, Lisa Berigan middays, and Big Rig in the afternoons and Doc Reno at nights. Playing Classic Rock hits from the 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s.
So far, it seems like they're playing more '70s than '90s. Of course the '70s titles mostly seem to be in the Classic Rock category, though they did play "Stayin' Alive".
I can’t explain it, because apart from the dog collar in Boston’s branding, it’s just text, but something about the Philly brand execution (as seen today, admittedly) is just…meh. Not saying Boston’s is the greatest thing since sliced bread…but dang, it barely looks like they tried in Philly. And this from someone who prefers simple design aesthetics.
Why? Some of the top rated classic hits stations around the country have little to no live/local jocks. It's not the mandatory thing us radio folks wish it was.
Same here. I get that in the past decade, logos everywhere (not just in radio) have become simpler, with the explanation that it needs to look good and be easy to read on a mobile phone screen. But the logo design for Big 98.1 looks... BAD.
I get that it might not matter that much. The on-air product is the key, but still.
100 percent it’s a little irrelevant thing. And simplicity, easy readability, I get and appreciate in today‘s small screen world. But my first reaction was…that’s it?
Missed my window to edit. I should add, so far, I think the on-air brand execution is a step up. It was a low bar, and there’s plenty more room to improve if they’re so inclined.
Is Big 98.1 using jingles? Audacy seems to be moving away from them on a lot of their classic hits stations vs iHeart and other companies. I have read that Audacy’s classic hits format captain/format VP, based in LA is not a fan of them, as evidenced by KRTH which has almost eliminated them under his leadership. Funny though, Audacy still uses them heavily on AC, hot AC, country and CHR so it must just be a perceived negative for classic hits.
iHeart also has classic hits 95.7 BIG FM in Milwaukee. The DC station is classic rock.
iHeart also has classic hits 95.7 BIG FM in Milwaukee. The DC station is classic rock.
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Listening off and on once I just played it over my phone 😀 there were none I heard. I’m ambivalent on them. Mostly just background clutter that don’t add anything for my listening. I did a fair amount of holiday streaming of the B this past season, and those jingles actually annoyed me after the 3,632nd use of the same one each hour.
Jingles are still heavily used on WOCL and WCBS from what I can tell.
WOMC still uses jingles heavily as well. WOLX in Madison and KEYN in Wichita both use them also (the ReelWorld K-Hits package that WOGL used).
WIAD in DC occasionally plays some fast shotgun sings.
KLUV, KOOL-FM, KXSN, and WMXJ have dropped them entirely. Add in them being almost non-existent on KRTH save for a few ID’s, it almost seems Regional with the exception of WOCL with them all being west coast or sunbelt.
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