WLLZ

[dial-it-in]

Personally, I think their playlist is almost insulting. I imagine some schmuck in a corporate office somewhere saying: "Detroit? Fuck 'em. What do they know? We'll give them the same shit we give everyone else and they're gonna LIKE IT."

And to that I say: "There is a reason you've been in the 2's for years now, you fucknut."

[edj]

So here’s the $64 question… would Jack FM work on 106.7?


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Did Doug FM work? Granted different owners but that only lasted for so long. They also don’t want to take too much with WNIC.

[MWmetalhead]

I would want a custom made Variety Hits station on 106.7 as opposed to a boilerplate "Jack" station.

Doug FM worked reasonably well until Cumulus ruined it. It was around 5th to 8th place in Adults 25-54 much of the time when Citadel owned it.

[tivoking]

Let's stop sending 50,000 watt signals into the air that no one listens to. Cell phone signals might improve.

Not everyone spends their lives on their phone endlessly. There is life outside your cellphone. Secondly, we don't need any more robotic CHR stations that sound the same or Hip Hop and R&B. Almost every station sounds exactly the same! If you're familiar with Michigan radio you know that as you drive away from Detroit Metro you got a dozen country stations too. I think all people want to listen to are the same WJLB or WKQI type stations. Boring!

TV? Those are also affected by useless powerful FM stations that no one is tuning into. They should shut down those stations that have had bottom ratings for the past 10 years or more, and multiple format changes, like 106.7 or 98.7. They should do that for AM also, but that doesn't affect the Mhz frequencies of phones and television as much.

[ZenithCKLW]

Let's stop sending 50,000 watt signals into the air that no one listens to. Cell phone signals might improve.

Not everyone spends their lives on their phone endlessly. There is life outside your cellphone. Secondly, we don't need any more robotic CHR stations that sound the same or Hip Hop and R&B. Almost every station sounds exactly the same! If you're familiar with Michigan radio you know that as you drive away from Detroit Metro you got a dozen country stations too. I think all people want to listen to are the same WJLB or WKQI type stations. Boring!

TV? Those are also affected by useless powerful FM stations that no one is tuning into. They should shut down those stations that have had bottom ratings for the past 10 years or more, and multiple format changes, like 106.7 or 98.7. They should do that for AM also, but that doesn't affect the Mhz frequencies of phones and television as much.

Who is the "they" you propose to do the job of shutting down these stations? Should my small local grocery store also be shut down by some "authority" because they don't serve as many people as Meijer and Wal-Mart or are frequently changing their merchandise mix?

Although I don't believe any "authority" intervention is the answer to the issue of stations that struggle to please a majority of listeners (how do you even measure that equitably when artificially determining who gets to survive?), I'd argue that that helping struggling stations is a better avenue than simply shutting them down. Extreme circumstances aside, and if they aren't breaking the law, I don't necessarily believe in an authority telling comparatively lesser performing businesses they have to shut down.

[Colonel Flagg]

The original, very successful WLLZ played new/current music. That's what some of you seem to forget. That's one thing missing from today's stale version. The new PD at WRIF has made some big improvements, that do a decent job of blending Active and Classic Rock. I have actually moved WRIF to preset #2. Nobody at IHM has the testicular fortitude to directly attack WRIF. Thirty or forty years ago, we all played to win, and took no prisoners.

2022's WLLZ reminds me of how the station sounded in 1993, when the end was near. And yes, even during that timeframe, they were playing a limited amount of new music. I believe Jeff Pollack was consulting. Gary Palmer was PD. Even the station liners and I.D's were stale. I seem to remember hearing "Low" by Cracker on WLLZ for the first time, but "safe" Classic Rock titles seemed to dominate in the 93-94 timeframe.

I was at WHTQ Orlando when the suits at corporate decided to change from AOR to Classic Rock. One could say that the wind had been taken out of my sails. I didn't stick around long after that.

[Mega Hertz]

Things started changing in late 1994. Lots of newer adds like Offspring, Green Day, unplugged Nirvana, AIC, Candlebox, etc. WLLZ became my preferred station by then. 89x was still a little TOO alternative and WRIF left a bad taste in my mouth. By 1995, Drew and Mike started really kicking ass, WLLZ went "new rock" (not alternative, just new rock music), and their playlist got super tight. I would almost compare that early 1995 playlist to what they play now. Then, one day, I came home for Christmas break, and my dad told me they "weren't playing rock music anymore". At least back then I had options. Planet. Z Rock. Even 95.5 dipped into those lighter alt rock songs.

Today? Whatever happened to AOR? Is there no melodic rock being made? Does it all have to be thump thump ththththump drums and durdurdur durdurdur guitars?

I guess what gets me, too, is that the classic rock format was created so that the Jethro Tull/Animals/Led Zeppelin fans didn't have to sit through Poison and Crue on their local AOR station. Now? Classic rock IS Poison and Crue

[Deleted User 15773]

Yes... I recall when WLLZ changed to New Age and Soft Jazz music. What's sort of funny is, I actually came to like V98.7. Some of the stuff they played with fluff, but some of the music I still listen to this day. It was a matter of just too many stations playing the same thing in town and WLLZ's number was up.

Now, going alternative and using The "Detroit's Wheels" name seemed odd to me. Apparently no one else was quite buying it either. I actually tried to win a CD a couple of times but was unsuccessful.

[Detroit313]

ALT 98.7 is about to pass WLLZ!

[dial-it-in]

ALT 98.7 is about to pass WLLZ!

I hope so. That will be just further evidence of WLLZ's patheticness.

[Mega Hertz]

Now class, let's review, shall we?

Now, Alt 98.7 is about to surpass WLLZ. Can anyone explain why? Yes, Bobby.

"Because Alt is changing their playlist and is adding different, better songs?"

Very good, Bobby! Does anyone else know why? Go ahead, Laura.

"Because they are listening to the listeners and phasing out the sissy tik tok rap garbage and playing harder rock titles"

Very good, Laura! Okay, kids. Class dismissed. Oh! Don't forget your homework over the weekend!

[Realist]

WLLZ needs to go back to playing 90’s/2000’s hard rock and cut the from the 70’s and early 80’s. If they sounded like SXM’s Turbo, their ratings would go up.

Then again, they’re owned by IHM so there is very little hope that will happen.

[dial-it-in]

Now class, let's review, shall we?

Now, Alt 98.7 is about to surpass WLLZ. Can anyone explain why? Yes, Bobby.

"Because Alt is changing their playlist and is adding different, better songs?"

Very good, Bobby! Does anyone else know why? Go ahead, Laura.

"Because they are listening to the listeners and phasing out the sissy tik tok rap garbage and playing harder rock titles"

Very good, Laura! Okay, kids. Class dismissed. Oh! Don't forget your homework over the weekend!

Perfect.
IF you could go ahead and send that to the station leadership that would be great.

[MWmetalhead]

The new PD at WRIF has made some big improvements, that do a decent job of blending Active and Classic Rock.

The content between songs has improved (the imaging has some zip now and there is a bit less advertising clutter overall), but I disagree regarding the music. I hear the same four, very stale sounding Aerosmith songs over...and over...and over. Ditto Van Halen. Granted, other stations out there sound worse (*cough* WGRD *cough*).

WRIF's music sounded best during the brief time Jerry Tarrants was PD.

I'll also note something *still* doesn't sound quite right with WRIF's audio chain, although it does sound better than it did during Mark Pennington's extremely overrated tenure as PD. Bass gets squashed during chorus portions of songs and at times even vocals sound trampled.

[Mega Hertz]

Yes... I recall when WLLZ changed to New Age and Soft Jazz music. What's sort of funny is, I actually came to like V98.7. Some of the stuff they played with fluff, but some of the music I still listen to this day. It was a matter of just too many stations playing the same thing in town and WLLZ's number was up.

Now, going alternative and using The "Detroit's Wheels" name seemed odd to me. Apparently no one else was quite buying it either. I actually tried to win a CD a couple of times but was unsuccessful.

Your last point, I made mention of that in another post a few months back. The "Detroit's Wheels" and WLLZ branding had way too much 80s "your dad's radio station" stink on it. How WRIF managed to wade through it is beyond me (though Podell had a H*** hand in it), but going from hair metal, to Phil Collins ballads in AM drive...to Stone Roses and Soul Asylum in 1995 without more than a change to "Today's Wheels" wasn't gonna work. By then, the younger set had 89x and Planet (for the alternative top 40), and WLLZ had stayed AOR tipping into classic rock for too long. There was talk WLLZ was on the chopping block for quite a while, anyway. They had me as a listener for sure in that 1994-95 time frame, but by the late part of 1995, EVERY TIME I tuned in, they were playing December by Collective Soul. Even as a kid I knew something was up.