Who is the New B96 WBBM-FM Chicago competition? Think I finally figured it out.
Posted by WYTZZ95FM on December 25, 2023, 11:31 am
When I was disappointed by the HD2/3 selections on Chicago Radio dial (they are mostly off), I scanned the FM dial. This was a week ago on Monday. It became pretty obvious that 100.3 WSHE-FM is battling it out with B96 for the same "Lifestyle" demo (but musically different).
In the 5PM drive time hour, 100.3 aired a (not verbatim) announcement that their personalities are recorded, but that is OK! (Radio has conditioned their listeners that this OK, the ratings and total floor drop of the younger demos shows it is *not* OK). They played Relax by Frankie Goes to Hollywood into Genie in a Bottle by Christina Aguilera into Ride wit Me by Nelly. Following that was a 5 minute skit from the "Brooke & Jeffrey" morning show, which is not even live and local. The skit was obviously staged, how they send people out on dates. This one was a guy and gal, the gals mom showed up on the date, telling him her daughter is a tramp and trying to set the guy up with her other daughter. Then they put the guy and gal "on air". He proceeded to express how he wants to meet her sister. She is seething about her Mom and sister....... FML. I digress.
So people, B96 is focusing on Gold Hip Hop & Gold Urban CHR & Pop CHR while WSHE is focusing on a set of train wreck Gold dance CHR and Gold Urban CHR titles. You are witnessing a race to the bottom.
Once again..... Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays everyone! 🎄
Z
Re: Who is the New B96 WBBM-FM Chicago competition? Think I finally figured it out.
100.3 is a mix of Pop, Rock and Rhythmic songs from mostly the 90s and 2000s. Some 80s, some 2010s. The morning show is syndicated nationwide by Hubbard. It's based in Seattle. They are clearing it in Chicago by running it on 100.3. Format doesn't matter. It's actually a CHR morning show.
The rest of the airstaff is local. The music mix and branding could be adjusted a bit better.
The station otherwise flanks for WTMX as it always has.
B96 came after. They are probably using B96 to prevent people from listening to 100.3 instead of 104.3 for 90s and 2000s music if they decide to switch stations. Not much local on there. The morning show is. Middays are from Detroit. Afternoons are local. Evenings are from Los Angeles.
Re: Who is the New B96 WBBM-FM Chicago competition? Think I finally figured it out.
Jeremy I agree, but the bottom line is, those 2 stations are sharing #s, as slim as they are, while they are flanking their own sister station. To be using a heritage like B96 to be a flanker, is painful to think about it.
If you thought radio 2013 was bad, look at today. Care to predict 10 years from now in 2033? 🤦🏻♂️🤣