WDRC-FM

[Jim Motyl]

Everyone got excited about the WODS flip; just to discover it was moved to
103.3 HD-2. The old DRC-FM is still on 102.9 HD-2. One of the live oldies
station is still WLNG on line and with a very sharp web camera.
Since everyone has access to the internet, there is very little reason to
rely on 'regular' 20th century radio waves.


On Thu, Jul 10, 2014 at 1:46 PM, M.Casey <map@mapinternet.com> wrote:

> With Conneisseur Media's purchase of the Buckley stations in Connecticut,
> things have really changed at WDRC-FM 102.9. Although it is difficult to
> get extremely reliable listenership reports, those available (combined with
> historic data as it relates to adjoining markets where WDRC-FM was formerly
> listed) show that WDRC-FM has consistently been in the 5-7 share range in
> not only the Hartford market, but also in adjoining New Haven and
> Springfield, MA markets where WDRC-FM has a city-grade or near city-grade
> signal. (Note that if the markets in this area were defined similar to the
> Boston market, and many other areas of the country,
> Hartford-Springfield-New Haven might actually be one market.)
>
> The new owners have changed the format from a very successful
> broad-based/chart-based Classic Hits of the late 60's through early 90's to
> a limited rock-only-based Classic Hits of the 70's through early 90's.  The
> only complaint I've heard about the recent Buckley format was that it
> seemed to some listeners to lean a bit too much toward the disco hits. But,
> despite this, the ratings for the past couple of years showed steady
> listenership. Now, listeners are without a real broad-based Classic Hits
> station in the Hartford and adjoining markets of New Haven and Springfield,
> MA. The new, Conneisseur formatted WDRC 102.9 and competitors WPLR 99.1
> (New Haven), WHCN 105.9 (Hartford), and WAQY 102.1 (Springfield, MA) are
> almost indistinguishable. To add to the competition, 3 more stations WCCC
> 106.9 (Hartford), WRCH 100.5(Hartford) and WRKI 95.1 (Brookfield, CT)
> compete for the "Classic" listeners also. With the exception of WRCH, all
> of the pre-mentioned stations competed on a much, much lesser scale with
> WDRC-FM's pre July 6 format.
>
> Conneisseur's spokesperson claimed that the Hartford market had a "hole"
> for a classic hits based station. With very similiar versions of that type
> of that classic hits format already in existence on stations  WPLR, WHCN
> and WAQY, (that each cover the majority of the market and duplicate each
> other), the new WDRC format does not fill any hole. Now, a real "hole"
> exists where the pre-July 6, 2014 WDRC-FM format once existed. Listening to
> WDRC-FM before and after the format change, the listener would be hard
> pressed to find more than 10% of the pre-July 6 songs in the new format.
> So, using some twisted math for entertainment purposes here, (I just can't
> help it-ha!) maybe 90% of the listeners will go elsewhere.
>
> But, seriously, it's really hard to figure from both a sales/financial and
> listener viewpoint why Buckley's unduplicated WDRC-FM format was so changed
> to one already over-duplicated in the Hartford market, and why it wasn't
> just fine tuned a bit. Hopefully the Conneisseur folks will take a hard
> look at the format, the competition, (some of which is their own!),
> listenership figures and demographics as they relate to sales, and also
> appreciate the historical lesson of WCBS-FM's 2005-07 change to an
> unsuccessful "Jack FM", then back to a successful WCBS-FM.
>
> Mark Casey
> Hampden, MA
> K1MAP
>
>
>
>
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