Grand Rapids August Ratings are in, with surprises..

[bosco]

https://ratings.radio-online.com/content/arb127

Look at WOOD-AM move up, and GRD did well..

[MWmetalhead]

WOOD posted its strongest 6+ share in quite a while.

WSNX tanked; that was a bit of a surprise. Such things have happened to them before. Usually within 2 or 3 months, they swing back to normal.

WHTS and WTNR are a joke.

The air has slowly escaped the WBFX balloon. Is the novelty fading? Are their listeners spending more time with 1300/106.9 perhaps? I have to believe 101.3's A25 to 54 numbers are significantly weaker than their already weak 12+ AQH share.

The fact the market lacks an Urban AC on a decent signal bothers me. I also think an 80s / 90s / 00s classic country station would perform decently.

If iHM were to flip 101.3 again, my fear is they'd put a crappy cookie cutter Alternative station on that signal instead of something more sensible such as Urban AC. (Most iHM owned Alternative stations sound incredibly lame.) Perhaps Regional Mexican would even be a viable option.

[48125er]

WOOD posted its strongest 6+ share in quite a while.

WSNX tanked; that was a bit of a surprise. Such things have happened to them before. Usually within 2 or 3 months, they swing back to normal.

WHTS and WTNR are a joke.

The air has slowly escaped the WBFX balloon. Is the novelty fading? Are their listeners spending more time with 1300/106.9 perhaps? I have to believe 101.3's A25 to 54 numbers are significantly weaker than their already weak 12+ AQH share.

The fact the market lacks an Urban AC on a decent signal bothers me. I also think an 80s / 90s / 00s classic country station would perform decently.

If iHM were to flip 101.3 again, my fear is they'd put a crappy cookie cutter Alternative station on that signal instead of something more sensible such as Urban AC. (Most iHM owned Alternative stations sound incredibly lame.) Perhaps Regional Mexican would even be a viable option.

101.3 as alt would be 96.1 X 2.0

105.3 just needs to die already. 104.9 would still be great for jethro if townsquare sold that and moved magic to 100.5.

107.3 would be great as a duke fm type station being they cover areas 94.1 doesn't well.

[ChrisWL1980]

Regional Mexican is an intriguing choice. 101.3 covers areas 93.3 doesn't reach and which aren't served by another Spanish language signal outside of AM daytimers.

[GrahamWellington]

WOOD posted its strongest 6+ share in quite a while.

WSNX tanked; that was a bit of a surprise. Such things have happened to them before. Usually within 2 or 3 months, they swing back to normal.

WHTS and WTNR are a joke.

The air has slowly escaped the WBFX balloon. Is the novelty fading? Are their listeners spending more time with 1300/106.9 perhaps? I have to believe 101.3's A25 to 54 numbers are significantly weaker than their already weak 12+ AQH share.

The fact the market lacks an Urban AC on a decent signal bothers me. I also think an 80s / 90s / 00s classic country station would perform decently.

If iHM were to flip 101.3 again, my fear is they'd put a crappy cookie cutter Alternative station on that signal instead of something more sensible such as Urban AC. (Most iHM owned Alternative stations sound incredibly lame.) Perhaps Regional Mexican would even be a viable option.

I would say the novelty is fading. WBFX's playlist just doesn't flow well. It has changed from the initial sign-on to a weird combination of Oldies, Classic Rock, Classic Hits, and 1980s formats. The vibes don't mesh. Using a 50,000 watt FM station to play what sounds like someone's niche playlist from Spotify coupled with 10 minute commercial breaks and voice tracked personalities who don't give two shits about the music they are introducing seems like a recipe for disaster.

People are listening to SiriusXM for this music or letting the algorithm of a music service create their playlist.

[ChrisWL1980]

And sped-up music too, as though it were a CHR station circa 1988. It makes no sense with 101.3's type of format.
If I were an oldies listener in the market I would probably be going through contortions to listen to the Cool FM format on 100.9 or 1450.