Re: Easy 99.1 - WPLM

[Larry Weil <kc1ih@mediaone.net>]

At 12:01 AM -0500 1/3/99, \"Mike Thomas\" wrote:
>Dan Strassberg wrote:
>
>> The Easy format is devoid of focus or character. Sounds as if WPLM
>> management is clueless and the format is doomed.
>
>At this stage, I disagree.  WPLM sounds like a station that is going for 35 to
>64 females, a demo that is largely underserved in most radio markets.
>Traditional Adult Standards stations don't pick up much of the older end
>of the
>25-54 "money demo" while this new format seems to be trying for this audience.
>I think that once all the artists are "unveiled" and the format settles in,
>you'll see a Soft AC/Standards hybrid, heavier on the AC end with the
>Standards
>being the "sidedish" rather than the "entree." The music that WPLM is playing
>is quite diverse, but these songs are all familiar and likable to the target
>audience. This won't be the standards format many on this list have hoped for,
>but it just might work.   It's a bold move on WPLM's part, but at least
>it's an
>attempt to do something other than the same cookie-cutter formats that you see
>in every market.

I agree with both these comments, I think they are unfocused at the present
time, but if they get their act together, they might make a go of it.
After all, nothing else has worked out for this station, so why not give it
a shot and give it some time to develop?

While I rarely make predictions about this unpredicable media, I have the
feeling that I may have been right on with my prediction earlier in the
week that they are going to target older women (although to a guy of 48 a
woman of 35 or so hardly seems older!).

Larry Weil
Lake Wobegone, NH

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