94.5 The Q - new format is Adult Album Alternative

[TRPacker]

No way does this make it. It is far too good to last. No talk is a Godsend especially for a family that just S-canned Sirius XM for cost reasons. Speaking of Sirius, it is very similar to Spectrum or Pulse. When the first song I heard was “Love Shack” I was worried. Last three have been DMB, Police, and Morgxn. Much better.

[format this]

94.5 has a good signal into Kalamazoo. I’ve checked out the station, and it shares a lot of the former Z96-5’s playlist. Perhaps disenfranchised 96.5 listeners will find this station to their liking.


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[format this]

Speaking of Kalamazoo vs. Grand Rapids radio, it sure would be nice if someone in G.R. would pick up the Jack FM format.

C'mon 101.3 - DO IT!!!

It could happen... let’s say the board is ignored after a WMU broadcast. It could be Jack FM until... (it would never happen but just for fun speculation)


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[Deleted User 12201]

I’m just still impressed it even happened at all. It’s unreal to hear some of this stuff on the radio, especially the older 80s and 90s tracks, much of it playing on the original WKLQ, back in the day.

And, yeah, Jack would be great on 101.3. It might slightly impact 105.7, but maybe they could just make it a bit more classic rock leaning (sort of like The D 2.0).

[cckadlec]

So when exactly did the on-air switch occur?! I browsed through the posts here but can't seem to figure out the answer as the original post mentions the change via streaming, but then I didn't see any post until a few posts ago that mentions they were listening to the radio and heard the songs. I have been working on other radio projects, so I haven't been actively tuning, but just ran into it tonight while wandering through the dial.

I think it's a good choice of formats compared to what else they could have (and were expected to have) chosen. Good on them, for once.

[radionut]

So when exactly did the on-air switch occur?!

Saturday 1/19 11am

[Deleted User 12047]

This is not a listener or ratings move - this is a "30 year old advertising agency buyer" move that will respond IMMEDIATELY to a station that appeals to media forgotten millennials and buy lots of commercial time, as long as it's cheap. So far, sounds really good to me. On air talent might ruin it.

EDIT - I'm listening on the VERY BAD website and getting NO song details at all. But the audio quality is vastly superior to other stations.

[Deleted User 12201]

Songs are being titled correctly if you listen via the new iHeartRadio feed they confirmed yesterday on Facebook. You can also ask your favorite digital assistant or smart speaker to "Play The Q on iHeartRadio" and it comes up correctly.

https://www.iheart.com/live/the-q-945-5440/

The odd thing is that it says "Muskegon's The Q 94.5", at least as of this writing. I really think the original idea that MW put forth had some teeth to it (put The Vibe on 94.5), because I'm convinced in some alternate universe that's something like this one, it would be saying "Muskegon's The Vibe 94.5" and we'd be hearing hip hop and not hipster pop.

This is not a listener or ratings move - this is a "30 year old advertising agency buyer" move that will respond IMMEDIATELY to a station that appeals to media forgotten millennials and buy lots of commercial time, as long as it's cheap. So far, sounds really good to me. On air talent might ruin it.

EDIT - I'm listening on the VERY BAD website and getting NO song details at all. But the audio quality is vastly superior to other stations.

[zackeast]

In terms of the question "which stations do 94.5's intended listeners currently listen to?", my guess would be that 104.1 WVGR is at the very top of the list.

WLHT & WSNX are probably #2 and #3 - albeit considerably behind WVGR.

I consider myself a perfect target for this station. I know 90% of the music being played, and have been listening nearly every day since it launched with piqued interest. I agree with MW's assessment. When I am in-market from my weekday home in St. Joe, I listen typically listen to WVGR, and WYCE to see what weirdness is playing, then usually WLAV and occasionally WFGR.

My observations thus far:
- I agree the website is awful and the lack of song data is disappointing
- I am not a fan of the over the air processing. Put it up against REALLY bright stations with great thick sound like WLAV, WGRD or WLHT and you get a quiet, timid, no-attack presence. Perhaps it's by design, because I don't feel fatigued listening to it. But it's just noticeable when button-punching
- When listening to the stream, you may still catch a random Zane or H*** WBBL promo. At least I did Saturday. Ah, replacement spots on the stream. My favorite.
- The currents are quite tight. Almost every 4 hours for As. A bit much for my blood. But I understand why. Though I will say this much...AAA is a high TSL format, so I immediately noticed when I tuned in 3 separate times on Saturday that I recall hearing the same current only a few hours ago.
- Just to see what would happen, I asked my Alexa to play WKLQ on iHeartRadio, and it found it right away. Expect those calls to attach this week probably when they get approved.

That's all for now.

[Deleted User 12047]

For a radio station that wants to be "different" - why do all the songs and bands sound the same? Listened for an hour yesterday and every song sounded like a Dave Matthews Tribute Band.

[Mickey Lolich]

I'm underwhelmed. Of course, I likely am not the target, but I am not liking the library.

[JeremyAndrews]

It’s new. New stations tend to have tighter playlists regardless of format. It will have to grow over time, which includes hiring of staff. This seems to be more of a hybrid of AAA and Alternative (Which Cumulus has done before on certain stations) but it has a much more full blown AAA presentation. They seem to be leaving it room to adjust as needed. If the AAA side fails, it wouldn’t take too much to adjust to full blown Alternative. If the hybrid is not successful and the AAA side is more popular, they could take it to a more full blown AAA format.