Acceptable registrations in the queue through March 16 at 11:00a ET have now been activated. Enjoy! -M.W.

Terms of Use have been amended effective October 6, 2019. Make sure you are aware of the new rules! Please visit this thread for details: https://www.mibuzzboard.com/phpBB3/view ... 16&t=48619

Post mortem of 98.7 The Breeze's unsuccessful Christmas music run

Discussion pertaining to Detroit, Ann Arbor, Port Huron, and SW Ontario
User avatar
MWmetalhead
Site Admin
Posts: 11873
Joined: Sun Oct 31, 2004 11:23 am

Post mortem of 98.7 The Breeze's unsuccessful Christmas music run

Post by MWmetalhead » Sun Dec 29, 2019 10:07 am

Some tips:

1) QUIT PLAYING SO MANY STIFFS!!! The station was trying too hard to sound different vis-a-vis WNIC. Could not believe the number of obscure or simply unenjoyable Christmas music tunes.

2) Put some effort into the imaging elements: The voiceovers sounded deadpan and lifeless. Could not believe how poor it sounded. Whomever was responsible for the creative needs to be replaced. A Christmas-themed station should sound cheerful and upbeat. The imaging was completely counterproductive from that standpoint.

3) Promote it! When WOMC used to flip, they would put out press releases, show up at area events, and make an effort to get mainstream media coverage. I saw no such effort from 98.7.

The end result!

WDZH's cume was off by more than 200,000 listeners (!!!) from its trailing 3-survey average. I'm being conservative in using that estimate, I might add. The erosion might be north of 250,000 listeners.

WOMC and WDVD, meanwhile, weathered WNIC just fine during the period.



User avatar
BFSEsq
Posts: 66
Joined: Thu Jun 30, 2011 4:51 pm
Location: Canton, MI
Contact:

Re: Post mortem of 98.7 The Breeze's unsuccessful Christmas music run

Post by BFSEsq » Sun Dec 29, 2019 10:15 am

Just said this on the other thread but yeah, I think there's not nearly enough promotion yet. Of the station as a whole, IMO... but definitely nothing about them going all-Xmas. That was a big opportunity that they blew.

I agree the music was stiffer and older. It's like they were trying to recreate their soft AC format for Xmas, too, and dig up some older stuff. But yeah, maybe that doesn't translate well for Xmas listeners.



BKRPDM
Posts: 212
Joined: Mon Apr 13, 2009 6:40 pm

Re: Post mortem of 98.7 The Breeze's unsuccessful Christmas music run

Post by BKRPDM » Sun Dec 29, 2019 7:09 pm

Now that it’s back to the regular format, the library is still way too small, IMO.

Also, why they even have voice talent beyond the morning show is beyond me. What does Smokey Rivers add? He opens the mic like 3x and hour, and says (voicetracks) nothing important. I know the days of having someone like Kevin O’Neill running afternoons at a station are sadly beyond us, but even Entercom has an afternoon personality (Bo) at WOMC; so why don’t they do that at 98.7?



User avatar
Colonel Flagg
Posts: 1354
Joined: Tue Nov 18, 2008 3:54 pm

Re: Post mortem of 98.7 The Breeze's unsuccessful Christmas music run

Post by Colonel Flagg » Sun Dec 29, 2019 8:54 pm

BKRPDM wrote:
Sun Dec 29, 2019 7:09 pm
Now that it’s back to the regular format, the library is still way too small, IMO.

Also, why they even have voice talent beyond the morning show is beyond me. What does Smokey Rivers add? He opens the mic like 3x and hour, and says (voicetracks) nothing important. I know the days of having someone like Kevin O’Neill running afternoons at a station are sadly beyond us, but even Entercom has an afternoon personality (Bo) at WOMC; so why don’t they do that at 98.7?
Smokey Rivers is PD/PM drive at Entercom's KSWD Seattle, and VT'd on stations too numerous to mention. Entercom cares mainly about the shareholders.


"Pretty soon, every kid in America will wish he were me"

armchair pd
Posts: 346
Joined: Tue Dec 07, 2004 5:46 pm
Location: B.F.E.

Re: Post mortem of 98.7 The Breeze's unsuccessful Christmas music run

Post by armchair pd » Mon Dec 30, 2019 10:03 am

I abhor Christmas music so barley listened, but it sounded like they copy/pasted the stale playlist WOMC used when they used to flip to Christmas, and get killed by NIC.
End result was the same.



Post Reply Previous topicNext topic