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Post by CAwasinNJ on May 2, 2023 0:27:47 GMT -6
As always, imagine you're given ownership and complete control of 98.7. You have the resources (money, personnel, etc.) to do whatever you want with the signal without having to worry about higher ups on the corporate ladder, what clustermate stations are doing, etc. You can leave it as is, completely change it, or anything in between, but the ideas should be at least plausible/possible. What do you do?
The B has been around a long time but frankly doesn't do well most of the time. It has the occasional burst in the ratings but those are short lived. So what I would do would be to move the playlist to a lite/soft AC. I'd be looking for slow tempo and ballads primarily from the mid 60's through the 80's. A few random examples might be 'Something' by The Beatles, 'Precious and Few' by Climax and 'Time After Time' by Cyndi Lauper. There would obviously be some overlap with the AC and classic hits stations, but the difference would be that this station would maintain a mellow tempo consistently instead of having a roller coaster of highs and lows. I think this has the possibility to take off as an at work/in the store kind of station. Stations like FM 100.3 are good in that space but to me can get just too distracting.
For the name I'm thinking I might want to rebrand without completely throwing away the decades of history with the B name. Maybe B-Mellow 98.7?
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henry
Silver Level Member
Posts: 316
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Post by henry on May 2, 2023 1:59:47 GMT -6
In defense, the Bee has never done well 12+ (or 6+). But when I talked to Rusty Keyes (like 20 years ago), he told me the station tends to bill really well in the women 18-34 demo. A lucrative spot that's kept the station safe for decades.
A little promotion, a strong live airstaff to engage with the listeners, and it would be a strong AC/Hot AC.
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Post by Timmy on May 2, 2023 10:24:37 GMT -6
It seems the same as several other formats in SLC. There's 3-ish stations all doing it. Three Country, Three CHR, Three HotAC, On and on... I like the idea of SoftAC, kinda what KOSY was doing some years ago and what KSWD is doing in Seattle. It would separate itself from 99.5 and 100.3 (and 100.7 too). I get there's a lot of stations in this market.. and there are only so many successful formats to fill them. But I think, with a full market signal and some budget to promote itself, it could do well as the only SoftAC in SLC. (If there's another SoftAC here, I don't know about it)
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Post by oldiesfunhouse on May 2, 2023 11:46:33 GMT -6
B-Mellow 98.7 would definitely be one of my favorite stations if CA took it over. My question, Ca, is twofold: how different would the format be than Easy 99.1 was before it flipped to Bloomber, and, secondly, Since Easy didn't last, why do you think B-Mellow would? What did Clear Channel do wrong with Easy? If we were to keep 98.7 as it is, there are two formats I would put on their HD2 and HD3. They used to run these formats on weekends years ago. On HD2 I would put what they called "The Awesome 80s". And on HD3, ... (does anyone remember this), Studio 987!!!
They actually used to do this on weekends. They even had singing jingles for it.
It was an all disco format that they would play a couple of weekends a month.
When I first heard it, I thought they had changed formats.
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Post by Timmy on May 2, 2023 14:32:46 GMT -6
B-Mellow 98.7 would definitely be one of my favorite stations if CA took it over. My question, Ca, is twofold: how different would the format be than Easy 99.1 was before it flipped to Bloomberg, and, secondly, Since Easy didn't last, why do you think B-Mellow would? What did Clear Channel do wrong with Easy? Isn't 99.1 a really tiny signal? I imagine that was the reason it didn't work/last too long. |
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Post by CAwasinNJ on May 3, 2023 8:16:02 GMT -6
In defense, the Bee has never done well 12+ (or 6+). But when I talked to Rusty Keyes (like 20 years ago), he told me the station tends to bill really well in the women 18-34 demo. A lucrative spot that's kept the station safe for decades. It wouldn't surprise me. I've heard that about similar stations for years now. They are the Suburban Soccer Mom stations. That's an OK niche to be in but with their ratings and what other stations are likely getting in that demo plus other demo ranges it seems ripe for a change to me. YMMV. |
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Post by CAwasinNJ on May 3, 2023 8:47:49 GMT -6
how different would the format be than Easy 99.1 was before it flipped to Bloomber, and, secondly, Since Easy didn't last, why do you think B-Mellow would? I really couldn't compare what I described to Easy 99.1 since I couldn't actually hear Easy. As Timmy said, it's a small signal. It's "official" coverage area is from the North Interchange to the South Interchange and that's pretty much it. I'm not sure iHeart did anything wrong per se. It held it's own and sometimes beat stations that can be heard across the entire market. That said, the numbers were still understandably small given the small coverage area. The partnership with Bloomberg makes sense for a station with that small a footprint in that location. If we were to keep 98.7 as it is, there are two formats I would put on their HD2 and HD3. Stations on HD only are irrelevant in 2023. Any station that you hope to have any relevance today would need to be on an analog/HD1 station and there are a number of them that need new formats, so I'd suggest saving those. I have some ideas coming up further up the dial that I think might be up your alley so stay tuned. On the other hand, if you have a pet project that wouldn't be reliant on anyone actually listening, tossing it on an HD would be perfect. |
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