99.9 and 97.5 Benton Harbor change calls

[zackeast]

The boss hasn't revealed that, so my guess is that it will still simulcast The Lake for a while until they decide.

[KalamazooClown]

I'm glad to hear The Lake is getting a signal upgrade. I'm a fan of their programming and tune in whenever I'm in the area in addition to streaming from home on occasion. When the translator first moved to 107.9, the directional antenna significantly hurt reception in Benton Harbor. It appears that was later changed and the current 107.9 coverage map looks quite similar to what the previous translator at 95.7 covered. I feel it was a mistake to ever flip Z94.3 from classic hits to "quality rock". While I personally enjoyed the music, the niche format didn't seem to ever catch on in South Bend. Additionally Dave and Chuck in the morning seemed like an odd choice that would have fit much better on WIRX. Surprised to see 98.3 The Coast is out. It's the only station I recall hearing on at local businesses, and I've heard it at several over the years.

[ChrisWL1980]

I understand it's a business decision and not wanting to cannibalize Sunny and Cosy with Coast's format, but to claim the Sunny and Coast formats are "identical" is not quite accurate. Sunny isn't playing Celine Dion, Mariah Carey and Gloria Estefan (at least not outside of Delilah) and Coast wasn't playing Black Eyed Peas, Ariana Grande and Sabrina Carpenter. They're both AC but they're different kinds of AC, even if Coast is more uptempo now than it was previously. I guess Coast was getting demos that were too old and perhaps not billing all that well. I'll still miss it.

[MWmetalhead]

There are risks moving listeners of a format from one dial position to another, as the 94.5 to 107.3 country debacle in Grand Rapids has shown.

There are also instances where it's worked reasonably well. 98.5 to 104.1 (Hot AC) in Boston comes to mind.

Not gonna lie; I'm unhappy with the changes to WIRX's programming.

A single country brand on 99.9 as opposed to duplicating country on 97.5 & 99.9 does make sense. If it were me, though, I would've left 97.5 alone and launched a country simulcast with 94.3. That would've given country a somewhat better signal for reaching northern Indiana listeners.

Summary of what I would've done:
-94.3 country w/ 97.5
-94.9 no change (news talk sports)
-96.1 simulcast with either 98.3 or 107.1
-97.5 no change (country)
-98.3 quality rock
-99.9 no change (alternative)
-101.5 no change (AC)
-103.7 no change (classic hits)
-107.1 no change (rock)
-107.9 translate Sunny 101.5

Option #2:
-94.3 country w/ 97.5
-94.9 no change (news talk sports)
-96.1 simulcast with either 98.3 or 107.1
-97.5 no change (country)
-98.3 quality rock
-99.9 flips to WIRX (rock)
-101.5 no change (AC)
-103.7 no change (classic hits)
-107.1 flips to alternative (107.1 unlike 98.3 can be heard decently in some of the South Bend area)
-107.9 translate Sunny 101.5

999 (an upside down 666) would be a good imaging fit for a Rock brand.

99point9 WIRX has a good ring to it.

[zackeast]

I am making a gift for our receptionist. I have a feeling she'll be fielding more than a few confused, and potentially cranky, phone calls. But I know the company has a lot of promotional effort planned to keep people informed.

[zackeast]

I understand it's a business decision and not wanting to cannibalize Sunny and Cosy with Coast's format, but to claim the Sunny and Coast formats are "identical" is not quite accurate. Sunny isn't playing Celine Dion, Mariah Carey and Gloria Estefan (at least not outside of Delilah) and Coast wasn't playing Black Eyed Peas, Ariana Grande and Sabrina Carpenter. They're both AC but they're different kinds of AC, even if Coast is more uptempo now than it was previously. I guess Coast was getting demos that were too old and perhaps not billing all that well. I'll still miss it.

I completely agree and absolutely understand their formatic differences, but my decision-making powers at WSJM Inc. are limited only to what dad jokes I can tell on the air and nothing more. Weeee!

[CJ]

I’m bummed about Alternate moving! 99.9 came in fairly well in the westside of Kzoo. 98.3 doesn’t seem to have the same reach. It’s a good mix of music. Maybe someday Alternative will stick around in reach of Kzoo…I’ll stream until then.

[zackeast]

I’m bummed about Alternate moving! 99.9 came in fairly well in the westside of Kzoo. 98.3 doesn’t seem to have the same reach. It’s a good mix of music. Maybe someday Alternative will stick around in reach of Kzoo…I’ll stream until then.

In my monthly-ish travels to the westside, I have no problem listening to 98.3 all the way down westnedge into town.

[CJ]

I’m bummed about Alternate moving! 99.9 came in fairly well in the westside of Kzoo. 98.3 doesn’t seem to have the same reach. It’s a good mix of music. Maybe someday Alternative will stick around in reach of Kzoo…I’ll stream until then.

In my monthly-ish travels to the westside, I have no problem listening to 98.3 all the way down westnedge into town.

Good deal! I’ll have to give it another try.

[format this]

Don’t forget, 94.5 hits Kalamazoo well in spots, plus 106.5 is suddenly alt-heavy.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[cckadlec]

It seems the 98.3 switch was Thursday, not Tuesday. I checked things on Tuesday and Wednesday, and seeing nothing had changed anywhere, I gave up. Then noticed 99.9's website was the same Thursday but had the new logo. Then see the goodbye video from 98.3 from Thursday evening (at least they did a good job with that as opposed to the 106.1 switch).

So, just in a few weeks:

106.1 went from alternative to sports
96.1 went from sports to alternative
98.3 went from hot AC to alternative
97.5 went from country to classic hits/rock
99.9 went from alternative to country
107.9 went from classic hits to... ??

What's the status of 107.9? I see someone tried to ask on the 97.5 Facebook page and it looks they the employee went out of their way to NOT answer the question of what will/has become of 107.9. Off the air? Putting something else on there?

[zackeast]

It seems the 98.3 switch was Thursday, not Tuesday. I checked things on Tuesday and Wednesday, and seeing nothing had changed anywhere, I gave up. Then noticed 99.9's website was the same Thursday but had the new logo. Then see the goodbye video from 98.3 from Thursday evening (at least they did a good job with that as opposed to the 106.1 switch).

So, just in a few weeks:

106.1 went from alternative to sports
96.1 went from sports to alternative
98.3 went from hot AC to alternative
97.5 went from country to classic hits/rock
99.9 went from alternative to country
107.9 went from classic hits to... ??

What's the status of 107.9? I see someone tried to ask on the 97.5 Facebook page and it looks they the employee went out of their way to NOT answer the question of what will/has become of 107.9. Off the air? Putting something else on there?

That goodbye video was yours truly. Rough day.

Mgmt has not told us what 107.9 will end up being. For now, it’s playing Sunny 101.5’s Christmas stream.

Engineers and sales needed to do a bunch of work to move orders and STLs this week so the move got bumped to Thursday. But it went well for all intents…

[cckadlec]

That goodbye video was yours truly. Rough day.

Mgmt has not told us what 107.9 will end up being. For now, it’s playing Sunny 101.5’s Christmas stream.

Engineers and sales needed to do a bunch of work to move orders and STLs this week so the move got bumped to Thursday. But it went well for all intents…

Oh. Yeah... I totally did not connect the dots in your username, which I had seen previously here, and the goodbye video clearly stating your name. I have WLCS in the way of former Coast, but could still here it here on good days and would listen while passing through quite often.

Good job on at least saying goodbye (or perhaps for management for allowing the opportunity), though I saw no mention of the demise anywhere other than here, so I wasn't able to tune in at that time. But thanks to your video, it at least has a proper send-off and a chance for others to see it. Many stations will just switch in the middle of the night with no notice, no explanation, just poof, gone like the listeners don't matter. But being in the radio business, you know that very well!

I guess we shall wait and see about 107.9. Please do update when they figure it out so I can properly add it into the station databases.

[ChrisWL1980]

At first I thought they might relaunch Coast on 107.9, but if that were the plan they would have done that already, and that still wouldn't eliminate the playlist overlap with 103.7. I could see 107.9 becoming a translator for Cosy or perhaps Sunny.