Friday, July 1, 2016

FM Radio Changes in Detroit, Grand Rapids


SPORTS OUT IN DETROIT, R&B IS IN FOR GRAND RAPIDS
105.1 now stunting in Detroit; new micro-urban AC stations for Grand Rapids 
*DETROIT: After just three years on the air, Greater Media's WMGC Detroit Sports 105.1 is no longer on the air.


The station went dark Wednesday afternoon at 5 p.m., replaced with a temporary oldies format provided by sister station WCSX-HD2 94.7. In the last Nielsen book, the station only registered a .9, making them Detroit's lowest-rated commercial FM station. Meanwhile, the station they thought they could topple, CBS' WXYT 97.1 The Ticket, is sitting pretty at #1 thanks to Tigers and Red Wings play-by-play.

Since purchasing 105.1 20 years ago, Greater Media has flipped the station four times (alternative The Edge > urban oldies The Groove > AC Magic 105.1 > Detroit Sports). The station became Detroit Sports 105.1 when sister station WRIF 101.1 amicably dropped Drew and Mike and replaced them with 89X expatriates Dave and Chuck the Freak. The plan was for Drew and Mike to host a new afternoon show on 105.1, but only Drew came on board. Since the station affiliated with ESPN, they were forced to air their required programming, ie Mike and Mike. Since Detroiters could care less about some dude in Connecticut blabbing about LeBron James while 97.1 has a guy who knows Detroit from the back of his hand, well, there's the reason why Detroit Sports 105.1 bombed.

GRAND RAPIDS: In the past few weeks, not one, but two new micro-urban stations have appeared on the FM band here in Grand Rapids.

Last week, Townsquare launched a new urban AC station, Magic 94.1, which simulcasts WNWZ 1410. The 250-watt translator replaces 1410's old urban AC format "The Touch", which was satellite-fed from Cumulus. The new station is locally programmed and staffed with the exception with the syndicated Steve Harvey Morning Show.

The other station is WJWC-LP 97.3 The Beat, which is run by the Empowerment Radio Project. The 49-watt station covers downtown and most of GR metro. The station airs a mixture of R&B, hip-hop and urban oldies.

Grand Rapids has one other micro-urban FM, GR94.9, which simulcasts WYGR 1530. The closest thing to a full-powered urban FM GR has is iHeartMedia's WSNX 104.5, which plays a decent amount of urban titles, but is also a full-blown CHR.

No comments:

Post a Comment