Acceptable registrations in the queue through March 16 at 11:00a ET have now been activated. Enjoy! -M.W.

Terms of Use have been amended effective October 6, 2019. Make sure you are aware of the new rules! Please visit this thread for details: https://www.mibuzzboard.com/phpBB3/view ... 16&t=48619

Stunner!!! OM/PD & on-air personality Robbie Bridges is leaving WDVD

Discussion pertaining to Detroit, Ann Arbor, Port Huron, and SW Ontario
User avatar
MWmetalhead
Site Admin
Posts: 11870
Joined: Sun Oct 31, 2004 11:23 am

Stunner!!! OM/PD & on-air personality Robbie Bridges is leaving WDVD

Post by MWmetalhead » Fri Nov 02, 2018 7:24 pm

I thought Robbie did a terrific job programming WDVD, is a very capable on-air personality, and he even breathed some life (at least for a little while) into the moribund 93.1 Nash FM.

Evidently, his five-year employment agreement is due to expire and he has made the decision to return to New England.

I cannot help but wonder if Lori Bennett will be brought back to Detroit? Or perhaps the fella who is overseeing the Cumulus FM stations in Toledo will be promoted?

He does toot his own horn quite a bit in his Facebook "thank you" letter. Sounds more like a sales pitch for his next gig. Newsflash - WDVD had even better ratings many years ago when Ron Harrell was running the station. It reached #1 in ages 6+ a couple times and had numerous first place books in Females 25-54. Blaine, Lisa & Allyson, Jake Edwards, Jesse Addy, and Scott Vertical were the best on-air lineup the station ever had, IMHO.

Also, WDRQ remains one of the weakest billing FM stations in the market and has been on a ratings losing streak of late. That said, he did improve the sound of the station during his tenure and gave it some rock solid air talent - despite being hamstrung with an out of market morning show.

https://radioinsight.com/headlines/1717 ... s-detroit/



non-anon bob
Posts: 170
Joined: Thu Oct 06, 2005 10:41 pm
Location: South Lyon

Re: Stunner!!! OM/PD & on-air personality Robbie Bridges is leaving WDVD

Post by non-anon bob » Sat Nov 03, 2018 2:12 pm

Cumulus needs to "Stash The Gnash" and flip 93.1 to "The NEW Classic Q," and make it a hybrid of OMC and CSX! Jingles and liners similar to 104.3, but a playlist closer to CSX's. Start off stunting "931 songs in a row" on either Thanksgiving Day or New Year's Day! I guarantee a 5.0-5.9 market share in the 1st month, depending on what air-talent they keep and/or acquire. (They already have a few possibilities in-house.)


...and NOW, Ladies & Gentlemen...The Next Poster!
...CKLW, the Motor City...

Deleted User 14803

Re: Stunner!!! OM/PD & on-air personality Robbie Bridges is leaving WDVD

Post by Deleted User 14803 » Sat Nov 03, 2018 4:45 pm

90’s will soon be the new oldies so why not bring back WDRQ and do 90’s hits .



User avatar
MWmetalhead
Site Admin
Posts: 11870
Joined: Sun Oct 31, 2004 11:23 am

Re: Stunner!!! OM/PD & on-air personality Robbie Bridges is leaving WDVD

Post by MWmetalhead » Fri Nov 09, 2018 8:05 am

Country is probably the right format for 93.1. It just is not living up to its potential thanks to poor morning show decisions.

Lately, the out-of-town morning show has been producing custom voicetracks just for 93.1 and even doing some live cut-ins (likely when the live nationally syndicated version of the show is in commercial or playing music). It doesn't sound any better than what they were doing before. If anything - it sounds contrived. It's plain as day that the hosts are hundreds of miles away and know next to nothing about Detroit.

GET A TRULY LOCAL MORNING SHOW, 93.1!!!! No one here gives two shits about Ty, Kelly & Chuck.



User avatar
WOHO
Posts: 820
Joined: Thu Dec 16, 2004 12:05 am
Location: 2965 Pickle Rd.

Re: Stunner!!! OM/PD & on-air personality Robbie Bridges is leaving WDVD

Post by WOHO » Fri Nov 09, 2018 8:34 am

Maybe Andy Stuart will get the Detroit Cumulus Cluster**** in addition to Toledo? He could look into a morning drive simulcast with cutaways for traffic and weather, but I'm sure he doesn't want to jeopardize his top-rated morning show of 14 years on K-100 to prop-up 93.1? Does the Cloud have an "Jack-type" stations anymore?



User avatar
MWmetalhead
Site Admin
Posts: 11870
Joined: Sun Oct 31, 2004 11:23 am

Re: Stunner!!! OM/PD & on-air personality Robbie Bridges is leaving WDVD

Post by MWmetalhead » Fri Nov 09, 2018 8:45 am

Cumulus for some unknown reason dislikes the Variety Hits format.

They killed off a moderately successful Jack station in Kansas City a few years ago in favor of wimpy alt rock. In Indianapolis, they morphed the Jack station into Classic Hits and discontinued the Jack licensing. Despite having multiple low rated signals in places such as Atlanta, Cincinnati and Salt Lake City over the years, they've never tried Variety Hits in either of those two markets.

The closest Cumulus came to doing so was the ill-fated and poorly executed "Journey" brand developed by Jan Jeffries and John Dickey.

I will give Cumulus credit for doing a good job with its Classic Hits stations, though. 104.5 in Indy and 103.5 in Cinci have been getting great ratings for years, and of late, 94.7 WLS-FM has been posting terrific numbers.



Deleted User 12047

Re: Stunner!!! OM/PD & on-air personality Robbie Bridges is leaving WDVD

Post by Deleted User 12047 » Fri Nov 09, 2018 2:15 pm

Our fearless leader is not far wrong when he wrote:Cumulus for some unknown reason dislikes the Variety Hits format.
I think some of those decisions were money based. To use the Jack branding and format costs stations in major markets up to $1 million or more per year. That’s for fees and licesnsing as well as research and promotion required spending.



User avatar
JobyOne
Posts: 11
Joined: Fri Oct 28, 2005 9:41 am
Location: Saginaw
Contact:

Re: Stunner!!! OM/PD & on-air personality Robbie Bridges is leaving WDVD

Post by JobyOne » Fri Nov 09, 2018 7:41 pm

NASH is not going to go local in mornings. The whole brand is about the national platform for advertising.



User avatar
MWmetalhead
Site Admin
Posts: 11870
Joined: Sun Oct 31, 2004 11:23 am

Re: Stunner!!! OM/PD & on-air personality Robbie Bridges is leaving WDVD

Post by MWmetalhead » Fri Nov 09, 2018 8:09 pm

The Nash station in Colorado Springs - which is owned by Cumulus - has a local morning show. There are a couple others in smaller markets that have gone local in mornings, too.

The lack of local presence in mornings is hamstringing billing for the station as a whole.

105.1 The Bounce has been around less than half the amount of time of Nash yet bills at least double what Nash bills.

Too bad that Cume-u-Less doesn't give Detroit country listeners the same consideration as its Atlanta and Dallas listeners. The Cloud owns not one, but two (!!!) Country-formatted radio station in Dallas. Ty, Kelly & Chuck airs on neither of them.



Post Reply Previous topicNext topic