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Yes, WLS-FM 94.7 Again!

Posted by Hunter <iframe src='https://members.boardhost.com/chicagomediachat/info/user=Hunter' width='330' height='300' border=0 style='border:none;'> on November 12, 2024, 2:38 pm

I was examining the last 15 hours of WLS-FM's playlist. I've come to the conclusion this station is stuck on both Billy Joel and especially Michael Jackson.

Todd is at it again. Yeah, I get it: research, research, research and testing songs to death.

>>BILLY JOEL<<
1:27 AM Uptown Girl
9:18 AM My Life
10:55 AM Uptown Girl (again!)
1:18 PM Piano Man
2:14 PM It's Still Rock and Roll to Me
--------------------
Todd, Stevie Nicks had more than one hit.
4:35 AM Edge of Seventeen
1:46 PM Edge of Seventeen
--------------------
I saved the "best" for last. Michael Jackson OWNS 94.7 in Chicago. Testing must have gone through the roof! Take a look.
>>MICHAEL JACKSON<<
12:39 AM Thriller
1:33 AM Bad
2:29 AM Rock with You
4:17 AM Wanna Be Startin' Something
5:39 AM The Way You Make Me Feel
7:20 AM Beat It
9:38 AM Thriller
11:14 AM Pretty Young Thing
1:51 PM Billie Jean
2:52 PM Bad
-----------------------------
This is lazy programming. Far too many great songs which test well aren't being played. I get it...Billy Joel and Michael Jackson are core artists, among others.

WDRV-FM 97.1/The Drive...sleep well, WLS-FM doesn't rock as hard and frequently as they used to since changing program directors. No way anyone confuses WLS-FM with WDRV-FM. If you're lucky, both stations might play a Tom Petty song at the same time.

Re: Yes, WLS-FM 94.7 Again!

Posted by ABRockNJock <iframe src='https://members.boardhost.com/chicagomediachat/info/user=ABRockNJock' width='330' height='300' border=0 style='border:none;'> on November 12, 2024, 3:04 pm, in reply to "Yes, WLS-FM 94.7 Again!"

97.1 FM The Drive is also guilty of this. It's one thing to play Billy Joel, Stevie Nicks, Rush, Def Leppard, Pink Floyd & Queen. It's another when they don't dig deeper to feature songs that we don't hear quite as much on the radio.

While that's why The Drive has "Ten @ 10" weekday mornings as well as Rock 'n' Roll Roots" Sunday mornings & nights with Bob Stroud, the variety of songs is getting a bit repetitive.

If it were up to me, I'd start a "No Repeat" policy where you won't hear the same song twice, three or even four times per day. I remember the old CD 94.7 used to do just that. I also want more variety. It's also more than okay to play the Beatles, Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix, Steely Dan, Santana & others.

Yeah, The Drive has also added quite a few '90s songs to its playlist as well. I get it. What came out 30 years ago is now classic. I think they can dig deeper. When was the last time you heard Metallica's "Master of Puppets", "Fade to Black" & "For Whom the Bell Tolls" on your radio?

Do better. Try harder.

Re: Yes, WLS-FM 94.7 Again!

Posted by WYTZZ95FM <iframe src='https://members.boardhost.com/chicagomediachat/info/user=WYTZZ95FM' width='330' height='300' border=0 style='border:none;'> on November 12, 2024, 3:17 pm, in reply to "Yes, WLS-FM 94.7 Again!"

I am actually impressed, that is 8 different Michael Jackson tunes. iHeart has a rule, no more than 4 songs spinning at once from the same artist. Todd will also tell you, only that Stevie song tested well! 🤣

The "artist recognition" thing has been a radio hard on forever. The wrench gets thrown in when you have less staple megastars in the 80s and 90s like you did in the 60s and 70s. There were a lot more one and two hit wonders that defined the era. You can't build a station on them, but, artists like "The Time", "Cameo", "Christopher Cross", "Air Supply" and how about "Lionel Richie" defined the decade of the 80s. I know.... they don't test well! (ack) But here is Jesses Girl, spun for the 100th time this week! (PD's have forgot he was choke full of Top40 hits in the 80s too).

WLS-FM is blah compared to KOSF and especially KOLA (which has evolved nicely into the 90s w/o being reliant on hip hop) concerning Classic Hits stations. It is listenable, if not fun. It could be a lot worse. But, Todd is pouring over the research. I have seen Cardigans Lovefool and Fugees Killing me Soflty creeping in. He is slowly, safely introducing the 90s. Which is good if the station needs to evolve and survive.

Where is WDRV going to evolve to??? Play Boston and Led Zeppelin for the next 20 years, 70 years after they were at their peak? Alternative which has been burned to death? If they take that route they will be on top of WCHI. Good luck WDRV!

Z

Re: Yes, WLS-FM 94.7 Again!

Posted by ABRockNJock <iframe src='https://members.boardhost.com/chicagomediachat/info/user=ABRockNJock' width='330' height='300' border=0 style='border:none;'> on November 12, 2024, 5:23 pm, in reply to "Re: Yes, WLS-FM 94.7 Again!"

I don't know if ROCK 95.5 will survive long term in the wake of morning host Angi Taylor being among iHeart Media's many cuts at radio stations across America.

As for 97.1 The Drive, Led Zeppelin & Boston are both classic rock radio standards. Zeppelin has a LOT more in their catalog than Boston.

I think when 97.9 The LOOP went away for good, The Drive seemed to take the reigns when it came to playing Classic Rock in this city. My gripe is the constant repetition. At the same time, there are songs by REO Speedwagon that have no business on a classic rock station. "Can't Fight This Feeling"?! "Keep On Loving You"?! Really?

Re: Yes, WLS-FM 94.7 Again!

Posted by WYTZZ95FM <iframe src='https://members.boardhost.com/chicagomediachat/info/user=WYTZZ95FM' width='330' height='300' border=0 style='border:none;'> on November 12, 2024, 6:23 pm, in reply to "Re: Yes, WLS-FM 94.7 Again!"

I don't know if ROCK 95.5 will survive long term in the wake of morning host Angi Taylor being among iHeart Media's many cuts at radio stations across America.

They will eventually put the show on the bird or VT with some iHeart nationwide drivel, or VT it specific for Chicago and other major markets. It was a cost saving measure they will exploit further, permanently for the AM drive show. As cool as Angi is, the station will continue. If B96 survived E&J leaving, the MIX survived Eric leaving and WGN survived when a ton of the AM drive jocks left when they were earring double shares in AM drive, WCHI will survive too. The only exception is Rock 103.5FM when Mancow left as he was the whole station, the other dayparts were dismal and the numbers overall tanked when he left, station got toasted.

Zep first broke the scene in 1968, 56 years ago. The 20 year old listening to them then is now 76. There are almost no younger demos that are replacing the aging ones dying off. At some point, the staples of Led Zeppelin and Boston will be gone. (except for music aficionados, anyone < 40 years old have 0 clue who Boston is). You rarely hear Elvis or even the Beatles on Classic Hits stations anymore. One day that will apply to Prince, MJ, Madonna.....

You are correct about the Loop and DRV. The repeat is because most people tune and tune out of radio. They want you to hit on a popular song or artist you know, to stay, or to stay by flipping to a sister station, before you are gone and listen to commercial on another station and the PPM shows you bolted.

Z

Re: Yes, WLS-FM 94.7 Again!

Posted by Jeremy Andrews <iframe src='https://members.boardhost.com/chicagomediachat/info/user=Jeremy+Andrews' width='330' height='300' border=0 style='border:none;'> on November 12, 2024, 6:56 pm, in reply to "Re: Yes, WLS-FM 94.7 Again!"

95.5 is a Sag-Aftra station so there are very specific things they have to do. For now it looks like one of their weekenders is filling the shift

I think in the Country days they went syndicated but had someone local on that shift basically running the board like a jock would.

Re: Yes, WLS-FM 94.7 Again!

Posted by ABRockNJock <iframe src='https://members.boardhost.com/chicagomediachat/info/user=ABRockNJock' width='330' height='300' border=0 style='border:none;'> on November 13, 2024, 11:45 am, in reply to "Re: Yes, WLS-FM 94.7 Again!"

I remember when Mancow bolted ROCK 103.5 for Q101, circa 1997, WRCX (As they were identified legally back then) replaced Mancow with the syndicated "Bob & Tom Show" based in Indianapolis weekday mornings. The show, which is still on the air elsewhere today, never caught on in Chicago.

Chancellor Media (Now iHeart) pulled the plug on ROCK 103.5 completely, traded in WRCX for different call letters and replaced it with "The Beat" & a "Jammin' Oldies" format. It didn't catch on either
and KISS' Top 40 format has been there for many years.

Whether ROCK 95.5 has a similar date in due time remains to be heard. After all, it is radio...

Re: Yes, WLS-FM 94.7 Again!

Posted by WYTZZ95FM <iframe src='https://members.boardhost.com/chicagomediachat/info/user=WYTZZ95FM' width='330' height='300' border=0 style='border:none;'> on November 13, 2024, 1:56 pm, in reply to "Re: Yes, WLS-FM 94.7 Again!"

ABRockNJock,

The irony was Jammin Oldies was very profitable. The reason they popped it? They were on bend to have "KISS" in every market and if KISS was taken by someone else they could not sue to get it, they just wanted a CHR in every top market. Part of the nationalization trend to save money.

Z

Re: Yes, WLS-FM 94.7 Again!

Posted by WKDI <iframe src='https://members.boardhost.com/chicagomediachat/info/user=WKDI' width='330' height='300' border=0 style='border:none;'> on November 14, 2024, 11:33 am, in reply to "Re: Yes, WLS-FM 94.7 Again!"

The other thing about ditching the Jamming Oldies is that it also waa taking ratings from sister station V103 and Real Oldies 1690. That made 103.5 the perfect choice for a mainstream CHR format as B96 waa still a mix of dance and churban.
As for 94.7, it's targeted audience is really the same audience they were targeting back in the 80s and 90s, it's just the audience is older now. They will never stray from that.

Re: Yes, WLS-FM 94.7 Again!

Posted by WYTZZ95FM <iframe src='https://members.boardhost.com/chicagomediachat/info/user=WYTZZ95FM' width='330' height='300' border=0 style='border:none;'> on November 14, 2024, 11:44 am, in reply to "Re: Yes, WLS-FM 94.7 Again!"

WKDI, you are right. The other station was WNUA. Its demise was also due to sharing too much with V103.

Z

Re: Yes, WLS-FM 94.7 Again!

Posted by Jeremy Andrews <iframe src='https://members.boardhost.com/chicagomediachat/info/user=Jeremy+Andrews' width='330' height='300' border=0 style='border:none;'> on November 14, 2024, 1:25 pm, in reply to "Re: Yes, WLS-FM 94.7 Again!"

Real Oldies 1690 didn't launch until 2003.

All I know is they wanted CHR and there were rumors either WLIT or 103.5 were going to go CHR. People were hoping if they did go CHR that they would do it right. Instead when KISS 103.5 launched, it was pretty much all voice tracked out of market except for Rick Party and Pyke (Later Java Joel) and Craig Carson that first year. The imaging was literally KIIS Los Angeles' imaging simply adding "103.5" and "Chicago" to it.

They eventually brought in a few people, particularly Rod Phillips, Jeff Murray (Smash) and Java Joel later in the year. Scott Tyler came on in 2002. They tried to get Eddie & Jobo during the contract dispute in the summer of 2002 but ended up Drex, and Nikki for Middays in 2003. They put on a very good radio station until 2005. It was brutal between 2005 and 2013. Instead of trying to be different from B96, they basically copied B96 during those years.

But the first year overall was pretty much cookie cutter.

Re: Yes, WLS-FM 94.7 Again!

Posted by Jeremy Andrews <iframe src='https://members.boardhost.com/chicagomediachat/info/user=Jeremy+Andrews' width='330' height='300' border=0 style='border:none;'> on November 14, 2024, 1:30 pm, in reply to "Re: Yes, WLS-FM 94.7 Again!"

As far as Jammin' Oldies, that format pretty much disappeared nationwide in 2001. 103.5 was one of several that flipped or tweaked to an Urban format. The playlist on those stations were way to narrow. It had no longterm viability in that state.

Re: Yes, WLS-FM 94.7 Again!

Posted by Hunter <iframe src='https://members.boardhost.com/chicagomediachat/info/user=Hunter' width='330' height='300' border=0 style='border:none;'> on November 14, 2024, 6:40 pm, in reply to "Re: Yes, WLS-FM 94.7 Again!"

Jeremy: You're the historian on this board.

What did WJMK-FM/104.3 do if anything, to combat Jammin' Oldies?

Jammin' Oldies had a narrow playlist as you referred to.

This format/flavor of the month, rarely have any staying power.

Re: Yes, WLS-FM 94.7 Again!

Posted by Jeremy Andrews <iframe src='https://members.boardhost.com/chicagomediachat/info/user=Jeremy+Andrews' width='330' height='300' border=0 style='border:none;'> on November 14, 2024, 7:11 pm, in reply to "Re: Yes, WLS-FM 94.7 Again!"

WJMK simply added more 70s into rotation if I remember right. Not much.

When The Drive came along in 2001, the format was basically Rock-based 60s-70s. Basically for Men who felt too young for WJMK but too old for The Loop.

WJMK continued to add some more 70s and rebranded from "Oldies 104.3" back to "Magic 104.3" in February 2002 if I remember right. Didn't last long. They were back to Oldies 104.3 by the summer of 2003.

Re: Yes, WLS-FM 94.7 Again!

Posted by WYTZZ95FM <iframe src='https://members.boardhost.com/chicagomediachat/info/user=WYTZZ95FM' width='330' height='300' border=0 style='border:none;'> on November 14, 2024, 7:26 pm, in reply to "Re: Yes, WLS-FM 94.7 Again!"

They were adding a lot of late 70s and softer 80s stuff too. People were balking at it. They wanted their 60s, Beatles etc that did not blend well with Disco Bee Gees and Lionel Richie.... It wasn't long before JACK surfaced.

You all are really off base about the success of the format. Jammin Oldies was a limited playlist (but what terrestrial format isn't?) It was established that it was eating into sister station formats, majority owned by whatever they were at the time, now iHeart. The downside of owning 5 stations in the market is stepping to o much on another format that is more legendary and might bill more too due to it. The format could have evolved into the mid to late 70s and beyond. There was a lot of Urban material into the late 80s and early 90s..... oh that is called Urban AC (V103) :-)

Z

Re: Yes, WLS-FM 94.7 Again!

Posted by Jeremy Andrews <iframe src='https://members.boardhost.com/chicagomediachat/info/user=Jeremy+Andrews' width='330' height='300' border=0 style='border:none;'> on November 14, 2024, 8:22 pm, in reply to "Re: Yes, WLS-FM 94.7 Again!"

Rhythmic Oldies overall could have lasted longer on 103.5, but that entire year stations were flipping left and right.

105.1 in New York went Urban that spring.

95.7 in Seattle went Rock-based Classic Hits in the Spring or Summer of 2002.

WJMR in Milwaukee tweaked to Urban AC in August of 2001. They had no other stations in the cluster the Rhythmic Oldies was competing against. It just wasn't performing as well as it initially did.

There were several attempts to revive the format locally. First with WWYW (Y103.9) in Dundee in 2004. The format there was more friendly with 80s and 90s music than the original Jammin' Oldies stations were. They tweaked it to typical 60s-70s Oldies a year later.

WILV (100.3) tweaked their R&B-leaning Soft AC format to Rhythmic Oldies "Feel Good Music" in Early 2006. Like WWYW, it was more friendly on the 80s and 90s. It tweaked to Adult Hits in 2008.

WLIT followed 100.3, not by flipping outright but by leaning heavy on Rhythmic Oldies that year. I think they had a Rhythmic Oldies format on their HD2 as well during that time. They eventually went back to AC.

Down in Bloomington, there was an AC station that also did what WLIT did.

WNEW in New York also went with an 80s-friendly Rhythmic Oldies format in 2004. That continued until 2007 when the original Fresh 102.7 launched.

Re: Yes, WLS-FM 94.7 Again!

Posted by Jeffro <iframe src='https://members.boardhost.com/chicagomediachat/info/user=Jeffro' width='330' height='300' border=0 style='border:none;'> on November 30, 2024, 6:01 pm, in reply to "Re: Yes, WLS-FM 94.7 Again!"

"I think in the Country days they went syndicated but had someone local on that shift basically running the board like a jock would."

Yes and no, Jeremy. There WAS someone live in studio for the first few months of Bobby Bones. Me! However that was not a union requirement. I was in there simply to work out the kinks and make sure things ran smoothly. It was 100% automated for the rest of Bobby's run...just shy of 2 years.

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