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WPBB flips from AC to 80's/90's Classic Rock as 98.7 The Shark

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Obtuse

On December 26th at 12am, The holiday tunes gave way to AC/DC's "For Those About To Rock (We Salute You). It's an 80's/90's based Classic Rock format, which puts it between WXTB and WXGL.

Really no surprise here, with Chadd & Kristi's departure on December 5th. The syndicated Dave & Chuck The Freak (from Detroit's WRIF 101.1) will debut mornings starting Monday, January 7th.
 
Interesting move.

Mid 2's seemed decent for an Adult Contemporary format on this relatively mediocre signal. That result certainly outperformed Play 98-7, Bubba 98.7, and "No Rules Rock" 98.7. The problem is - there were multiple stations in the Tampa Bay area with similar formats and much better ratings.

I doubt The Shark will do much better than mid 2's, but perhaps in Men 25-54 the station will be able to make an impact? This should also prove to be a much cheaper station to run than B98.7 given usage of WRIF's morning show.

Playlist wise, the station looks a lot like 102.5 The Bone once looked (before 102.5 went 90's & early 00's intensive). This is basically a 2018 version of "Classic Rock that Really Rocks." 96.5 in Orlando before going News/Talk also featured a similar playlist.

98.7 The Shark will definitely deal a bit of a blow to The Eagle, which should benefit Beasley sister station Q105.
 
Holy mackeral - 98.7 actually posted healthy ratings in the just released Nielsen results!!!

Numbers were up nearly 50% from the prior survey period!!!

Perhaps this format was tossed to the curb too soon?
 
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That bump in the ratings was likely from playing Christmas Music. Nearly all the stations playing holiday songs had a significant increase in ratings in the December ratings, even though it was still well before Xmas. Note that in Chicago, WLIT went from the 3's to the 8's in December. It was thanks to Nat King Cole and The Carpenters, not due to anything the stations did.
 
Musically they straddle WXTB and The Eagle...maybe a bit closer to WXTB (like 98Rock, lots of 90's Grunge on the playlist). I'd imagine they may draw a little from both, but I don't see it setting the market on fire.

As MarkW said, it's probably more about benefiting Q105 than anything. I also would not be surprised if iHeart relaunches Thunder on the translators just to be a bee in Beasley's bonnet.
 
Obtuse said:
I also would not be surprised if iHeart relaunches Thunder on the translators just to be a bee in Beasley's bonnet.
Click to expand...

I cannot see that happening considering Throwback is the only source of classic hip-hop in the Bay Area right now. However, they did flip the translators to classic hip-hop because of Beasley's stunt two years ago, so I guess now we'll wait and see if they do anything.
 
Looks like this will prove to be a moronic format change. The Shark's numbers are abysmal!!!

This is "No Rules Rock" part deux.
 
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