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Classic Country 105.9 Middletown is Gone!

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Toledo Radio Died
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Classic Country 105.9 Middletown is Gone!

Post by Toledo Radio Died » Wed Jul 13, 2022 8:13 am

WNKN Middletown is now Classic Hits "105.9 The Oasis", splitting up the classic country duo 106.7 Dry Ridge, KY and 105.9 Middletown, however if one was still wondering 106.7 is still classic country. 105.9 The Oasis sounds like a classic hits format from 10 to 15 years ago with very heavy amounts of 70's with the occasional 60's and 80's thrown in, will miss the classic country format on this station but it's nice to hear a classic hits that doesn't specialized in burnt to a crisp 80's hits like all the other stations.



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Colonel Flagg
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Re: Classic Country 105.9 Middletown is Gone!

Post by Colonel Flagg » Wed Jul 13, 2022 7:52 pm

Toledo Radio Died wrote:
Wed Jul 13, 2022 8:13 am
WNKN Middletown is now Classic Hits "105.9 The Oasis", splitting up the classic country duo 106.7 Dry Ridge, KY and 105.9 Middletown, however if one was still wondering 106.7 is still classic country. 105.9 The Oasis sounds like a classic hits format from 10 to 15 years ago with very heavy amounts of 70's with the occasional 60's and 80's thrown in, will miss the classic country format on this station but it's nice to hear a classic hits that doesn't specialized in burnt to a crisp 80's hits like all the other stations.
What a ridiculous name for a Classic Hits station.

I'm surprised they flipped, but honestly, WGRR has sounded stale as of late.


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Re: Classic Country 105.9 Middletown is Gone!

Post by Ben Zonia » Wed Jul 13, 2022 11:15 pm

This was WPFB-FM. That's why I didn't recognize it. WPFB 910 was supposed to be a Daytime only station. The owner kept pushing STAs for 100 watts Night. Finally, it was granted 100 watts Nondirectional Night. Then they were trying to get 250 watts Nondirectional Night. WSUI complained and the FCC put the kibosh on that.


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Colonel Flagg
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Re: Classic Country 105.9 Middletown is Gone!

Post by Colonel Flagg » Thu Jul 14, 2022 3:52 pm

Ben Zonia wrote:
Wed Jul 13, 2022 11:15 pm
This was WPFB-FM. That's why I didn't recognize it. WPFB 910 was supposed to be a Daytime only station. The owner kept pushing STAs for 100 watts Night. Finally, it was granted 100 watts Nondirectional Night. Then they were trying to get 250 watts Nondirectional Night. WSUI complained and the FCC put the kibosh on that.
WPFB shares some similarities to 102.7 Mt. Clemens.

It's a suburban FM with an imperfect signal that comes up with the right idea every once in awhile. It usually works, until one of the main in-market FM's steals the idea and runs with it. WPFB was "Disco 106" for a brief period, way back when. :hat


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Re: Classic Country 105.9 Middletown is Gone!

Post by MotorCityRadioFreak » Fri Jul 15, 2022 2:48 am

Is it class rock or? Is it supposed to be like Sirius XM Margaritaville?


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Re: Classic Country 105.9 Middletown is Gone!

Post by MWmetalhead » Fri Jul 15, 2022 6:32 am

This flip is definitely surprising, mainly because of the fact 105.9 Middletown shared most or all of its airstaff & programming with 106.7 Dry Ridge, which remains as-is.

WNKN's ratings had been falling hard for the past year or more in the Cincinnati market. They are only a fraction of what they once were. I guess the novelty of gold-based country music has worn off there, sadly.

I've not listened to the new station online yet. It appears the new format is perhaps similar to 101.3 Big FM in Grand Rapids and 107.5 in Lima, OH.

The new format at WNKN does partially fill the void created by the departure of Big 106.5 (Classic Hits) in the Dayton market earlier this year. I say "partially" because 106.5's served Dayton from a tower 30 miles NW of town whereas WNKN's tower is located about 20 miles south of town.

101.5 Hank FM in Dayton should benefit from the demise of Classic Country 105.9.

Of course, WNKN with its new format also hopes to snag some shares from top rated 103.5 WGRR in the Cincinnati market.



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Re: Classic Country 105.9 Middletown is Gone!

Post by FakeAndyStuart » Fri Jul 15, 2022 3:35 pm

Colonel Flagg wrote:
Thu Jul 14, 2022 3:52 pm
It's a suburban FM with an imperfect signal that comes up with the right idea every once in awhile.
Nah, it's a pretty good signal.. just doesn't cover downtown Cincinnati.. but you can comfortably listen all the way north to Wapak!

Image

Was owned by NKU who bought it for 7 million and sold it for 4 in a fire sale to the dude in Dry Ridge KY. A few years ago, the combo has spectacular numbers.. I think it was a quirk in the PPM panel. Once the panel changed and all the new country stations showed up, no more numbers in Cincy or Dayton. This is a good move for them... station sounds great.



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Re: Classic Country 105.9 Middletown is Gone!

Post by MWmetalhead » Fri Jul 15, 2022 7:16 pm

94.1 in Cinci seems to have modified its playlist in an effort to appeal to former 105.9 listeners.

It still plays unadulterated garbage from the likes of Niko Moon, but it is now playing a healthy amount of 90s and early 00s country, similar to KPLX Dallas and WSM-FM Nashville.



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Colonel Flagg
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Re: Classic Country 105.9 Middletown is Gone!

Post by Colonel Flagg » Fri Jul 15, 2022 10:04 pm

FakeAndyStuart wrote:
Fri Jul 15, 2022 3:35 pm
Colonel Flagg wrote:
Thu Jul 14, 2022 3:52 pm
It's a suburban FM with an imperfect signal that comes up with the right idea every once in awhile.
Nah, it's a pretty good signal.. just doesn't cover downtown Cincinnati.. but you can comfortably listen all the way north to Wapak!

Image

Was owned by NKU who bought it for 7 million and sold it for 4 in a fire sale to the dude in Dry Ridge KY. A few years ago, the combo has spectacular numbers.. I think it was a quirk in the PPM panel. Once the panel changed and all the new country stations showed up, no more numbers in Cincy or Dayton. This is a good move for them... station sounds great.
Gee, thanks for the tutorial.

Sure, it's a good signal if you're on a horse farm near West Chester, or up on a hill, and not down in the valley...just like 96.5, 105.9 covers a lot of rural zip codes. Additionally, Radio-Blowcater doesn't figure in important things like terrain, which both Cincinnati and Dayton have a lot of. That's why there's an RPU, and an intercity relay on the old 96.5 stick, for remote broadcasts. You're right about 105.9 making it to Wapakoneta. 96.5 is usually pretty good til around Piqua, or Sidney at best. I've done more than one tour of duty through both Dayton and Cincinnati. Hat tip to Clark Davis, and the great Pete Cavanaugh for that. :smokin


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MWmetalhead
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Re: Classic Country 105.9 Middletown is Gone!

Post by MWmetalhead » Sat Jul 16, 2022 7:21 am

You're giving 96.5's range too much credit. My experience has been that 96.5 is unreliable north of I-70 and rock solid south of I-70.

It's usually horrible around Troy, thanks to interference from the K-Love signal at 96.9 MHz (looks like it might've flipped to Air 1 recently), which I believe runs IBOC.

Yes, it can be heard around Piqua, but signal is usually quite scratchy. That's too bad, because the rock stations in Dayton all suck from a programming standpoint. It's as if the rock gods purposely screwed over the Dayton area. First, they lose the outstanding X @ 103.9 to a sissified alternative format, then IBOC on 96.9 screws up reception of WFTK north of Dayton, and on top of all that, the existence of 102.9 WDHT makes good reception of WEBN impossible in most of the Dayton metro. (I've gotten WEBN on seek mode in multiple spots along I-75 near Dayton, but splashover from WDHT makes listening impossible.)

105.9 earned terrific ratings just a couple years ago, so while its signal is disadvantaged compared to the Class B sticks that are located in Cinci proper, in many areas the signal is fine. Based on experience, I will say its signal isn't quite as good in Cinci, Covington, Newport, etc. as 96Rock, and quite honestly, it is no stronger than Dayton's 99.1 WHKO down that way.



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Re: Classic Country 105.9 Middletown is Gone!

Post by MWmetalhead » Sat Jul 16, 2022 7:26 am

Getting back to programming discussion:

Looks like longtime ratings laggard 97.3 The Wolf flipped to 90's & early 00's based classic country some time ago, with a couple older songs also thrown into the mix:

https://onlineradiobox.com/us/973thewolfwygy/playlist/
https://www.facebook.com/973TheWolf/

So, between 101.5 in Dayton, 97.3 in Cincinnati, and to a lesser degree 94.1, fans of the former Classic Country 105.9 have multiple options on the FM dial from which to choose.



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Re: Classic Country 105.9 Middletown is Gone!

Post by FakeAndyStuart » Sat Jul 16, 2022 9:59 am

Colonel Flagg wrote:
Fri Jul 15, 2022 10:04 pm
Sure, it's a good signal if you're on a horse farm near West Chester
Lotta bodies with lotta money in WestChester right now. The creep north (Cincy) and south (Dayton) is just beginning. Anyway, let me be clear - from a signal standpoint, WNKN will not really be a competitive Cincinnati radio station. But it can EASILY be a competitive Dayton radio station with enough PPM pickups in northern Sin City to irritate WGRR. And it's my understanding the owner is a pretty slick salesperson - not as slick as me, of course, but I'm the slimiest.



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