WGER flips to 106.3 The Core

[TheGeekJedi]

Here's my take on some of the complaints - being a former long-time PD and OM:

The complaints here are actually pretty typical radio things. When you launch a new station you always want to have a super-tight playlist of your highest testing songs. There will be a lot of sampling going on, so the last thing you want is some obscure song to play, leaving a bad first impression.

As for the song rotation? It is pretty standard to "recycle" your slower rotating songs between overnights and mid-days. Typically the audiences will be different, and you can burn through the titles in those categories much slower. Add that to what I said about a tight playlist, and that describes the repeats.

[Realist]

Do you mean in terms of taking on an incumbent, highly successful hard rock station? Bear in mind Detroit had multiple stations playing hard rock or alternative at the time, whereas the Tri-Cities has only one (Z93), unless you wish to count Christian Rock Radio U 101.7 / 103.5.

You are correct insofar as most markets seem capable of supporting only one hard / active rock station for any extended length of time. Cincinnati is the one outlier that comes to mind.

One could argue Detroit during the 00's and early 00's could qualify, too, but both WRIF and 89X played plenty of songs that could not be heard on the other station.

You forgot Banana 101.5 which can be heard pretty well in Saginaw and Bay City

[Realist]

Drove through Bay City and Saginaw yesterday. Saw absolutely no billboards or any outdoor advertising for this station. I still truly question how people are going to know they exist. The only people who do know they exist, short of other radio enthusiasts, are the employees of the other radio stations in this town. Granted, there was a news article in mlive.com last Friday, but how many millennials read the paper anymore?

I did just find this one minute video on their Facebook page and website that they just posted. The thing is, unless this is advertised on social media, who is going to see it?

https://fb.watch/fSLXkqlk4J/?mibextid=34ey5e

[Colonel Flagg]

Do you mean in terms of taking on an incumbent, highly successful hard rock station? Bear in mind Detroit had multiple stations playing hard rock or alternative at the time, whereas the Tri-Cities has only one (Z93), unless you wish to count Christian Rock Radio U 101.7 / 103.5.

You are correct insofar as most markets seem capable of supporting only one hard / active rock station for any extended length of time. Cincinnati is the one outlier that comes to mind.

One could argue Detroit during the 00's and early 00's could qualify, too, but both WRIF and 89X played plenty of songs that could not be heard on the other station.

This has all the makings of a flanker station, placed there to be a nuisance to the competition. To Infinity's credit, at least 97.1 Detroit and 92.3 Cleveland were full power signals for Extreme Radio. Too bad the suits knew little about the format, and wouldn't listen to those in the building who did. The out of town morning show is another factor. In the beginning, there was some promotion of K-Rock. There was basically ZERO promotion money spent on the shift to Extreme Radio. We had one box of t-shirts, and election style lawn signs, many of which were placed in front of the studios on 12 Mile near Greenfield. I have a feeling that's what's going on here, with WGER:

*Piped in morning show

*Very narrow music format

*Inferior signal compared to the competition (WKQZ)

*Sales execs with their car radios likely tuned elsewhere, and unfamiliar with the music

*No promotion budget or very little

Modern Rock is a good idea, but you have to be "all in" to win. I interviewed years ago at a station, where the GM admitted to me it was there to be a flanker. I told him "I don't flank. I play to win, or I don't play at all" Needless to say, I didn't take the gig.

[Realist]

Do you mean in terms of taking on an incumbent, highly successful hard rock station? Bear in mind Detroit had multiple stations playing hard rock or alternative at the time, whereas the Tri-Cities has only one (Z93), unless you wish to count Christian Rock Radio U 101.7 / 103.5.

You are correct insofar as most markets seem capable of supporting only one hard / active rock station for any extended length of time. Cincinnati is the one outlier that comes to mind.

One could argue Detroit during the 00's and early 00's could qualify, too, but both WRIF and 89X played plenty of songs that could not be heard on the other station.

This has all the makings of a flanker station, placed there to be a nuisance to the competition. To Infinity's credit, at least 97.1 Detroit and 92.3 Cleveland were full power signals for Extreme Radio. Too bad the suits knew little about the format, and wouldn't listen to those in the building who did. The out of town morning show is another factor. In the beginning, there was some promotion of K-Rock. There was basically ZERO promotion money spent on the shift to Extreme Radio. We had one box of t-shirts, and election style lawn signs, many of which were placed in front of the studios on 12 Mile near Greenfield. I have a feeling that's what's going on here, with WGER:

*Piped in morning show

*Very narrow music format

*Inferior signal compared to the competition (WKQZ)

*Sales execs with their car radios likely tuned elsewhere, and unfamiliar with the music

*No promotion budget or very little

Modern Rock is a good idea, but you have to be "all in" to win. I interviewed years ago at a station, where the GM admitted to me it was there to be a flanker. I told him "I don't flank. I play to win, or I don't play at all" Needless to say, I didn't take the gig.

I completely agree with your above assessment of The Core. They are going to be a nat to Z93. I often thought Mix 106 should have changed formats years ago with their low ratings. Never thought they’d switch to this.

No promotion = no ratings.

[bmw]

When you launch a new station you always want to have a super-tight playlist of your highest testing songs. There will be a lot of sampling going on, so the last thing you want is some obscure song to play, leaving a bad first impression.

This from me, a radio fan and not a PD or someone who has worked in the industry ever: The flip side of this is, you don't want potential P1 listeners to get bored after 3 days after having already heard 90% of the playlist and hearing most songs repeating already. You gotta play, even if just once an hour, a song that you haven't yet played. I can understand 80 to 85% of the playlist being tight, but In the case of a station that plays both active rock and alternative from a 15-year span, there's plenty of, if you don't want to go as deep just songs that barely charted for a few weeks, certainly stuff that spent 10+ weeks on the charts and made it into the top 20 that can make up that other 15%. People like me who grew up listening to all kinds of music in the 90s and 2k's are probably going to know the vast majority of that what others might call "obscure" music, and often get excited when we have that "oh, now there's a great song I haven't heard on the radio in a long time" moments.

Now as to 106.3, maybe my timing is just bad, but every time I check the station out I hear commercials. Or a song that I've already seen just by briefly browsing their playlist over the past week. This is a station that if I lived close enough for it to come in better, it MIGHT end up on one of the last presets on my dial and probably wouldn't be on much.

My overall take as of right now - this will be stale corporate radio that performs, at best, marginally better than Mix 106.3 performed.

[Mega Hertz]

The 6am break (if it happens during the week) may not be their fault.

D&CtF often play best-of until 6am, and then stay in spots until 6:14 or 15. I didn't understand that to begin with as D&M used to start even a few minutes before 6. Why are you starting your prime hours with a quarter hour of spots?

[Realist]

I’ve been told that the ratings for the Tri Cities will be out in a couple of weeks. Considering that there was only an article in MLive when they flipped, then some portable signs in front of a few businesses shortly afterwards, I don’t think most people know this station exists and I’m sure the ratings will reflect that.