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Most improved radio stations in 2018

Discussion pertaining to Detroit, Ann Arbor, Port Huron, and SW Ontario
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MWmetalhead
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Most improved radio stations in 2018

Post by MWmetalhead » Mon Dec 31, 2018 6:29 pm

In true New Year's Eve countdown fashion, I'm gonna go in reverse order here. :hat

#5 - 104.3 WOMC. I preferred WOMC's playlist from 2017. However, the new morning team of JoAnn Purtan and Stephen Clark has gelled nicely as the year moved along. It's nice to hear a true morning show on the station once again as opposed to a guy making corny remarks between songs accompanied by a giggling lady.

#4 - 950 WWJ. The quality of the traffic reports in drive time has improved since Captain Dennis came on board in A.M. Drive and K.T. came on board in P.M. Drive. Their predecessors were fine, very polished broadcasters, but I feel the timeliness and completeness of incident reporting has improved of late.

#3 - 101.9 WDET. The station is once again showing signs of life. After multiple years of ratings stuck in the 0.5 to 0.9 share range, the station has recently shown some gains, even reaching mid 1's at times. I welcome the return of music to middays (if only for two hours), NPR's two flagship weekday programs rightfully air on the station, and some of the weekend music programming is excellent. I do wish the station would feature music weeknights, though.

#2 - 97.1 The Ticket. The station still has weaknesses. The programming during the weekend is generally terrible. However, I give the station props for two reasons. First, for the first time EVER, it actually features a morning show that is primarily geared toward SPORTS with two hosts knowledgeable in that area, although I must say Stoney's opinions are more logical than those of Jamie the Sourpuss. Second, the unfunny slappy humor that riddled Valenti's show for much of the past few years seems to have been dialed back. It still makes an occasional appearance, but not for the ridiculously long stretches that it did previously.

#1 - 89X. No surprise here. The playlist could use some additional improvement, but the station has come a long way in the past twelve months, and in particular, the past six months. For a few years, I found the station nearly if not completely unlistenable. At one point, I had removed it entirely from my presets. Now, I enjoy the station's playlist almost as much as that of WRIF. The morning show replays at odd hours annoy me, but I do like the fact 89X during most hours has less on-air clutter than WRIF. Also, I love the fact the station plays MUSIC in the morning. The station no longer subscribes to Detroit's Nielsen Audio ratings, but in spring 2018, 89X was already showing major ratings gains in Windsor. Will be interesting to see what the spring 2019 book looks like for Windsor.



Deleted User 14803

Re: Most improved radio stations in 2018

Post by Deleted User 14803 » Mon Dec 31, 2018 6:54 pm

Even though I’m not a fan of this station, I would have to say The Breeze 98.7, it took a while but Entercom did the smartest thing by pulling the plug on Amp Radio, so this could be the biggest radio story in Detroit for 2018.



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Silvio Dante
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Re: Most improved radio stations in 2018

Post by Silvio Dante » Tue Jan 01, 2019 5:38 pm

Don't listen to 89X anymore, just not my taste in music, I do think its smart that they finally made 89X not sound almost exactly like its sister station (The River). Also agree with you about the music programs on WDET, also like that they have added Marketplace and The Daily at 6pm.



Chris1980
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Re: Most improved radio stations in 2018

Post by Chris1980 » Tue Jan 01, 2019 9:45 pm

I definitely give WDET credit for its localized focus. WDET and WEMU are both more useful listens than Michigan Radio in morning drive because of the local news (and especially traffic updates) they provide. I also give WDET credit for sounding more unique now than it has in a long time. When they first dropped the weekday music and went all news/talk it seemed like they were trying to out-WUOM WUOM. Now they've forged their own identity and they are much better sounding for it, and outside of the typical public radio standards like Morning Edition, ATC, Fresh Air and Marketplace, there's little overlap between WDET and WUOM these days.

I also am not a fan of 89X's music but applaud the fact that they're serving the fans of newer rock that aren't getting served by WRIF.



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