XPost: rec.radio.info

RadioInsight

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Washington Post: After Ida, New Orleans residents find a source of hope:
The hurricane station

Posted: 08 Sep 2021 11:52 AM PDT https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/09/08/new-orleans-ida-radio-wwl/



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WREO Moves To A Lite Mix

Posted: 08 Sep 2021 11:00 AM PDT https://radioinsight.com/headlines/212580/wreo-moves-to-a-lite-mix/


Media One Group shifted Hot AC Mix 97.1 WREO-FM Ashtabula OH to a softer playlist as Lite Mix 97.1 on Labor Day.

Unlike most Soft ACs the station says it is retaining its focus on the
1990s through now positioning on its website as The best lite rock music,
the softer hits, of the past 30 years. From the ’90s through today. No hard rock, no metal, no rap, no hip hop, although there is a sizable amount of
1980s in its playlist as well.

The stations on-air lineup continues to come from the Tom Kent Radio
Network with Jeremy James in mornings, Bill Shannon 10am-1pm, Tom Kent and
Mike Lacing from 1-4pm, and Jackie Newton 4-7pm.


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Vulture: How System of a Downs "Chop Suey!" tore up the airwaves - before getting banned post-9/11

Posted: 08 Sep 2021 10:05 AM PDT https://www.vulture.com/article/chop-suey-system-of-a-down-oral-history.html



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WEPN & KSPN SVP/GM Tim McCarthy To Depart Ahead Of Potential Good Karma Takeover

Posted: 08 Sep 2021 09:56 AM PDT https://radioinsight.com/headlines/212575/wepn-kspn-svp-gm-tim-mccarthy-to-depart-ahead-of-potential-good-karma-takeover/


Ahead of the expected LMA of 98.7 ESPN New York 1050 WEPN/98.7 WEPN-FM and ESPN LA 710 KSPN/1110 KRDC Los Angeles to Good Karma Brands, Tim McCarthy
has told staffers he will be departing as SVP/General Manager of both
stations at the end of the month.

As first reported by the New York Post, McCarthys exit is timed to the
planned takeover of the stations operations by Good Karma Brands. Good
Karma, which owns ESPN affiliated stations in Cleveland, Madison,
Milwaukee, and West Palm Beach as well as other stations in Milwaukee and Beaver Dam WI. It previously took over operations of ESPNs ESPN 1000 WMVP Chicago in September 2019.

McCarthy has been with parent ABC/Disney since 1990 first as an account executive for 95.5 WPLJ New York and then Sales Director of WPLJ and 770
WABC. He rose to General Manager of WABC in 1998 and added duties at WEPN
when it launched in 2001. He relinquished his duties at WABC when it was
sold to Citadel in 2006. In addition to overseeing ESPNs operated stations
in New York and Los Angeles, McCarthy also served as SVP/Audio
Play-By-Play for ESPN Radio.

ESPN also owns ESPN 103.3 KESN Allen/Dallas TX. Its status in the Good
Karma deal is not known.


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1999: Livin La Vida Lost Factor

Posted: 08 Sep 2021 09:00 AM PDT https://radioinsight.com/ross/212142/1999-livin-la-vida-lost-factor/


Pop music’s resurgence was peaking in 1999. Top 40 radio was varied — truly embracing Hip-Hop and R&B for the first time in a decade; still drawing
heavily from Modern AC; welcoming a Latin crossover mini-boom; embracing a third wave of teen acts, as Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera joined ‘N Sync and Backstreet Boys.

Not surprisingly, it’s the teen acts of 1999 who dominate our Lost Factor rankings of the year’s hits that now receive the least radio airplay.
Unlike earlier teen booms, there are certainly Britney, Backstreet, and ‘N Sync songs that are easy to hear now on Throwback Thursday, the handful of all-‘90s stations, and at every wedding. But teen acts also dominate the songs that didn’t endure. 

Because of those Throwback Thursdays and all-‘90s stations, the average
Lost Factor calculations from 1999, the most recent year we’ve looked at to date, are relatively low. In 1997, when Top 40 was beginning to rebound
with help from Hanson and the Spice Girls, the average Lost Factor —our calculation of year-end Top 100 points divided by BDSradio spins for the previous week — is an 8.30. For 1999, it was a 3.46. There are only three songs in the year’s Top 100 that get no airplay at all now.

We haven’t calculated Lost Factor for every year between 1995-99 yet, in
part because the Billboard charts have more quirks in those years,
including mega-hits that never became commercial singles and thus never
made the year-end Hot 100. By 1999, Billboard had begun allowing
non-singles to make the Hot 100. By now, we were also starting to see
animpact, common today, of songs without significant Mainstream Top 40
airplay — not just R&B but Country hits in some cases. 

Here are the 15 “most lost” hits of 1999, based on points for their standing for the year divided by the number of plays they receive now. In parentheses is the Lost Factor, followed by the number of spins the songs received in the U.S. and Canada according to NielsenBDS in the week prior
to my calculations.

R. Kelly & Celine Dion, “I’m Your Angel” (lost factor 85, spins last week 0)
Divine, “Lately” (70, 1)
98 Degrees, “Because of You” (32, 0)
Jordan Knight, “Give It to You” (19, 2)
Mariah Carey, “I Still Believe” (16, 4)
Mo Thugs (Bone-Thugs-N-Harmony), “Ghetto Cowboy” (14, 1)
Total f/Missy Elliott, “Trippin’” (14, 3)
Joey McIntyre, “Stay the Same” (9, 0)
Silk, “If You (Lovin’ Me)” (6, 7)
‘N Sync, “God Must Have Spent (A Little More Time on You)” (6, 10)
98 Degrees, “I Do (Cherish You)” (5, 6)
JT Money, “Who Dat” (5, 9)
Jewel, “Hands” (4, 11)
‘N Sync & Gloria Estefan, “Music of My Heart” (4, 1)
Will Smith, “Wild Wild West” (4, 18)


Compared to other years we’ve looked at, there are no more than five songs that most people would think of as big consensus pop hits in 1999 — the
Jewel and Will Smith songs chief among them. At least six of the 15 titles could be classified as boy bands/teen idols, a constant trait of high Lost Factor titles over the years.

The No. 1 Lost Factor title, “I’m Your Angel,” is undoubtedly informed by R. Kelly’s disappearance from the radio in recent years, but it wasn’t much of a radio record at the time, charting largely on sales and the momentum
of two hot acts at their chart peak. “When a Woman’s Fed Up,” a song that did have some presence until Adult R&B radio mostly stopped playing R.
Kelly, is the No. 16 song on this list. 

Because there are now some all-90s stations and more 90s airplay, here are
some signature hits of the year that are not lost now: Will Smiths Miami (0.32), Ricky Martins Livin La Vida Loca (0.34), and Eagle-Eye Cherrys Save Tonight (0.15). It perhaps helps Smith that the most prominent monitored
90s channel is in Miami.

It’s worth noting that even though there were a number of mostly-Country
and mostly-R&B/Rhythmic Top 40 songs on the year-end chart, not all of
those songs have a high Lost Factor. It helps that ‘90s R&B and even
Hip-Hop have become the center of the Adult R&B format. A song such as “Nobody’s Supposed to be Here” by Deborah Cox that lives primarily at that
format now still has a Lost Factor of 0.5. Maxwells Fortunate has an 0.29.

Similarly, the handful of Country-only songs that made the Top 100 still receive airplay in part because they were the Country songs big enough to
make the Hot 100 in the first place. Three of the top five songs with the lowest Lost Factors are Country and only one, Lonestar, was a crossover hit. These are the songs that punched above their weight with the most
spins proportionate to their year-end placing.

Goo Goo Dolls, “Iris” (1,827 spins)
George Strait, “Write This Down” (392 spins)
Britney Spears, “ … Baby One More Time” (2,732 spins)
Kenny Chesney, “How Forever Feels” (453 spins)
Lonestar, “Amazed” (375 spins) 



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First Listen: Delilahs KDUN; Throwback 24/7, WREO

Posted: 08 Sep 2021 08:57 AM PDT https://radioinsight.com/ross/212570/first-listen-delilahs-kdun-throwback-24-7-wreo/


Of the half-dozen or so format changes that took place over Labor Day
Weekend, there are at least three that will likely be of special interest
to Ross On Radio readers. There’s the first fulltime affiliate of Tony Lorino’s Throwback Nation Classic Hits format, the launch of syndicated
host Delilah Rene’s venture into station ownership, and a distinctive take
on Soft AC.

KDUN (K-Dune) Reedsport, Ore.

“Once upon a time, every small town had a big voice,” says the promo. That’s been Rene’s stated intent since purchasing her hometown (and first on-air) station. Another promo, like the ones that KLSY (Classy 92.5)
Seattle would have run during Delilah’s time there, asks listeners to help build “America’s last real radio station from the ground up.” Already there
are ads for a local swap meet and a local realtor (“Liz loves this
community; she lives it and lists it”). And there’s a swap-shop show in middays.

One of the great things about Soft AC KSWD (the Sound) Seattle in its early days was hearing Delilah on middays followed by PD Smokey Rivers in
afternoons. Rene showed her versatility by being herself, but in a
different framework. Rivers brought unexpected over-the-intros energy to
his afternoon show. Now, KDUN is using Clear Media Networks’ ‘60s/’70s “Big
Oldies” format, overseen by Rivers, and with him in afternoons. Delilah’s syndicated show is heard at night with AC music. 

Liners promise “good times and great music for the Oregon Dunes” from a time when “radio was A-M-azing.” Here’s KDUN around 4:30 p.m. on its second
day, Sept. 7:

Fleetwood Mac, “Go Your Own Way”
Temptations, “My Girl”
Elton John, “Crocodile Rock”
Dire Straits, “Sultans of Swing”
Jackie Wilson, “(Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher and Higher”
Eagles, “Peaceful Easy Feeling”
Diana Ross, “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough”
Rare Earth, “(I Just Want to) Celebrate”
Rascals, “Groovin’”
Staple Singers, “I’ll Take You There”
Joan Jett & Blackhearts, “I Love Rock ‘n’ Roll”
America, “Sister Golden Hair”
Rolling Stones, “Brown Sugar”
Jackson 5, “I’ll Be There”
Simon & Garfunkel, “Mrs. Robinson”
Jean Knight, “Mr. Big Stuff”
Aerosmith, “Dream On”


WYET (Throwback 102.3) South Bend, Ind.

WYET was already Classic Hits and an evening affiliate of veteran PD Tony Lorino’s syndicated Throwback Nation show. Now, they’re the first full-time Throwback affiliate, billed as “the greatest hits of the ‘80s and ‘90s.”
Lorino’s evening show will be joined by former KYKY St. Louis morning host Paul Cook, middayer Trisha Moore from WKKW Morgantown, W. Va., and former
KHMX (Mix 96.5) Houston PD Chase Murphy. 

Throwback 102.3 launched commercial-free for Labor Day weekend, and will
also do a commercial-free 9 a.m.-noon bloc. Here’s the station at noon on Sept. 7:

Bryan Adams, “Heaven”
Daryl Hall & John Oates, “You Make My Dreams”
John Mellencamp, “Hurts So Good”
Chumbawamba, “Tubthumping”
Cyndi Lauper, “Girls Just Want to Have Fun”
Huey Lewis & News, “The Power of Love”
Naked Eyes, “Always Something There to Remind Me”
Robert Palmer, “Addicted to Love”
Dead or Alive, “You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)”
Loverboy, “Working for the Weekend”
Haddaway, “What Is Love”
Eddie Money f/Ronnie Spector, “Take Me Home Tonight”
Billy Joel, “Tell Her About It”
REO Speedwagon, “Take It on the Run”


WREO (Lite Mix 97.1) Ashtabula, Ohio

The rise of Soft AC was, in part, a reaction to the quest for a “millennial AC” format. As Mainstream AC stations moved closer to Hot AC and CHR, suddenly the Air Supply soft ‘80s seemed novel again. But what about a “millennial Soft AC,” based not in Hall & Oates and Christopher Cross, but with a lot of music from the last 20 years? 

WREO softened from Hot AC “Mix 97.1” on Labor Day, a change brought to my attention by reader Tristan Sanchez. The sister station of WQGR (Gold
93.7), another ROR reader favorite, WREO is billing itself as ‘90s-to-now Soft AC. It still has some ‘80s, but the center of the station is a lot of ‘00s AC titles that you haven’t heard for a while. 

Here’s Lite Mix 97.1 at 10 p.m., Sept. 6:

Colbie Caillat, “Brighter Than the Sun”
John Legend, “Ordinary People”
Selena Gomez, “Love You Like a Love Song”
Daughtry, “Start of Something Good”
Duncan Laurence, “Arcade”
Shawn Mendes, “There’s Nothing Holding Me Back”
Rachel Platten, “Stand by You”
Lifehouse, “Halfway Gone”
Mariah Carey, “Dreamlover”
Madonna, “La Isla Bonita”
Pink, “All I Know So Far”
James Blunt, “You’re Beautiful”
U2, “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For”
Simple Minds, “Don’t You (Forget About Me)”
Ashe & Finneas, “Till Forever Falls Apart”
Justin Bieber & Benny Blanco, “Lonely”



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Kristin Roderick Joins WBLS/WQHT As Vice President of Sales

Posted: 08 Sep 2021 08:51 AM PDT https://radioinsight.com/headlines/212568/kristin-roderick-joins-wbls-wqht-as-vice-president-of-sales/


MediaCo has announced the appointment of Kristin Roderick as Vice President
of Sales for Rhythmic CHR Hot 97 WQHT and Adult RB 107.5 WBLS New York.

Roderick joins MediaCo from Townsquare Media where she has been Director of Regional Partnerships and VP/Partnership Sales since joining the company in 2017. She previously spent seven years with iHeartMedia New York in
multiple roles including General Sales Manager and Director of Agency Sales.

MediaCo Holding Inc. (NASDAQ: MDIA), owner of HOT 97, WBLS, and Fairway Outdoor, announced today that Kristin Roderick has been named Vice
President of Sales, effective August 9, 2021. Roderick, a long-time
industry veteran, was most recently the Vice President of Partnership Sales
for Townsquare Media where she utilized data-driven, integrated marketing programs to accelerate incremental revenue growth for their flagship 14
station New Jersey cluster. She will lead the sales team for the two
iconic brands.

Market President Ron deCastro said, “Kristin is the perfect person to lead our sales effort at HOT 97 and WBLS. She has extensive experience building integrated campaigns that satisfy customer goals. She is a natural leader
and will take our two national brands and massive digital platform to new levels.”

Roderick will lead HOT 97 and WBLS’ sales efforts with a focus on its accelerated digital growth strategy, providing insight and solutions for advertisers, while delivering tangible results. “I’m so excited to be part of the MediaCo team and two of the nations most legendary brands: HOT
97 and WBLS. I started my career at HOT 97 as an account executive and
feel like I’m returning home. I look forward to growing our best-in-class sales operation and leveraging our extensive multimedia platform to satisfy customer needs and support our community.”


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WOAP Opens A Portal To Rock/Alternative/CHR Hybrid

Posted: 08 Sep 2021 08:16 AM PDT https://radioinsight.com/headlines/212565/woap-opens-a-portal-to-rock-alternative-chr-hybrid/


Canos Broadcasting has flipped Variety Hits 103.1 The O 1080 WOAP/103.1
W276CZ Owasso MI to a mix of Rock, Alternative and CHR as 103.1 Portal-FM.

Featuring an alien imaging voice, General Manager Tony Burke told Durand
Now that the station is an Alt Blend that pulls mostly from Alternative and Active Rock charts with some Top 40 hits. Burke explained the reasoning for
the flip as the station having nothing to lose due to the loss of revenue during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The new format debuted on September 1 under Program Director Alex Weiss and Music Director Tim Michaels. Burke noted that the three of them developed
the new format by reviewing the stations request logs for the last 6 years.

WOAP serves rural eastern Michigan west of Flint and northeast of Lansing.


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Jack-FM Enters Wausau

Posted: 08 Sep 2021 05:06 AM PDT https://radioinsight.com/headlines/212554/jack-fm-enters-wausau/


Midwest Communications has flipped Rock 94.7 WOZZ Mosinee/102.9 W275AC
Wausau WI to Variety Hits 94.7 Jack-FM.

The change took place at midnight this morning bringing an end to the
eleven year old Rock brand. The flip places the station in direct format competition with NRG Medias Big Cheese 107.9 WBCV. That station currently
ranks tied for third in the Wausau market with a 7.4 share trailing
Midwests CHR 95.5 WIFC, Country 101.9 WDEZ and tied with News/Talk 550 WSAU/99.9 WSAU-FM.

WOZZ ranked seventh in the Wausau/Stevens Point market with a 3.9 share in
the Spring 2021 Nielsen Audio ratings. The move leaves NRGs Classic Rock
103.3 WGLX as the only Rock focuses station in the market.


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WMGG Sale Brings Ritmo To Tampa

Posted: 07 Sep 2021 03:01 PM PDT https://radioinsight.com/headlines/212547/wmgg-sale-brings-ritmo-to-tampa/


NIA Broadcasting has agreed to sell 1470 WMGG Egypt Lake/101.9 W270DU Tampa
to Daniel de la Rosas DRC Broadcasting for $600,000.

DRC began operating the station via Time Brokerage Agreement on August 31 flipping the station to Spanish Tropical Ritmo 101.9. WMGG had been simulcasting NIAs Regional Mexican Caliente 96.1 WTMP-FM Dade City.

The deal includes a five year Time Brokerage Agreement with a nonrefundable $250,000 upfront payment that will go towards the purchase price. DRC will
also pay $1000 per month to lease the transmitter site for five years.

The buyers owns similarly formatted Ritmo 99.9 1460 WQXM/99.9 W260DA Bartow/Lakeland FL.

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