Sometimes news piles up on Friday as things get “buried” heading into the weekend. This time around, it just happened.
And a fundraising idea for your Mighty Blog of Fun(tm)? Selling scorecards for the Columbus radio dial…
REWIND, NOT TALK: Lance Venta and his NetGnomes at RadioInsight pointed out a domain name registration for Saga’s Columbus cluster, the registration for names that we passed along earlier this month.
Quoting the item again:
Saga Communications appears poised to flip one or two of its stations in Columbus, OH to Talk. 1035FMTalkColumbus.com and 1043FMTalkColumbus.com were both registered last week.
As it turns out, the only thing Saga was “poised” to do was fake out Lance and this very blog, and other folks who try to make predictions based on domain name registrations.
Instead, the rimshot pair of WJZA/103.5 Pickerington and WODB/104.3 Richwood are paired again this afternoon, playing 80’s classic hits music as “Rewind 103.5/104.3”.
You can listen along courtesy of this website:
And the only sure thing about our earlier item? Smooth jazz has lost another big market outlet. Both stations once carried the format, and 103.5 held onto smooth jazz until today.
Its allegedly poor performance under the new PPM ratings measurement system has kicked the once venerable format off of stations from coast to coast.
And Saga Columbus boss Alan Goodman cites the new format’s PPM friendliness, in a statement which has now floated our way directly up I-71:
“To some, REWIND 103.5 and 104.3 will sound much like the Top 40 stations in the late ’70s and ’80s, He said, noting that “65-70% of our music will be from the ’80s … Rewind will play no ballads, only the greatest uptempo hits … Its appeal will be to 35-49 year-old women.”
Goodman also noted that the Saga Columbus cluster is also pushing aside the bird:
“Further, all of our formats will originate from COLUMBUS; no satellite delivery, no disc jockeys from anywhere USA except for those few syndicated programs at night or on the weekend.”
That’d certainly be a change from the most recent history of both 103.5 and 104.3, which were almost exclusively satellite fed.
Note that Goodman doesn’t cite local air personalities, and it’s likely that “Rewind” will go without them at least when eschewing commercials in its “three week taste test”, if not beyond…
SPEAKING OF FORMER SMOOTH JAZZ STATIONS: Cleveland’s former mainstay in the smooth jazz format, now-AAA WNWV/107.3 Elyria “V107.3”, is bringing aboard a new staffer.
AllAccess notes the arrival of former WMMS/100.7 APD/MD Brad Hanson as music director at Elyria-Lorain Broadcasting’s “V107.3”, joining a host of former ‘MMSers – including his new immediate boss, program director Ric “Rocco the Rock Dog” Bennett. GM Lonnie Gronek and consultant John Gorman are the other ex-‘MMSers in the building in Elyria.
AllAccess reports that Hanson will also take the evening on-air shift at “V”…
SPEAKING OF CINCINNATI: The new “Rewind 103.5/104.3” sounds familiar as a name, says Tri-State Media Watch’s Jeremy Moses, because of a “Rewind” outlet in Cincinnati.
And we’re talking about TSMW territory here only because we’re talking about the one station which transcends Southwest Ohio – Clear Channel talk WLW/700 “The Big One”.
As expected by many, including This Space(tm), WLW has officially tapped night host Scott Sloan to fill the mid-morning slot vacated by Mike McConnell, who will be occupying similar hours on Tribune talk WGN/720 Chicago starting one week from Monday. The Cincinnati Enquirer has a brief item on Sloan’s official promotion, also noting that WLW has extended the contract of morning star Jim Scott.
As of yet, we haven’t read any word on what effect that has on “Sloanie”‘s 9-midnight slot, but no, we don’t need a “bat signal” from him to know that sister talk WTAM/1100 Cleveland weekender Matt Patrick is hoping he has a shot at it.
Long-time WLW fill-in Eric Deters would presumably be a favorite for the station’s now-vacant evening slot, but as we passed along a few weeks ago, he’s apparently not interested in a regular talk show gig…being occupied with his “lucrative” law practice.
We’d also bet heavily against the station plugging in syndicated programming…it’s just not what WLW does…
BONUS ITEM: We just remembered that we had given the word on our Twitter feed, but hadn’t put it on the main blog.
OMW hears that former Good Karma sports WKNR/850 “ESPN 850” morning sports anchor Jeff Thomas will indeed move into the soon-to-be-vacated morning drive slot on Elyria-Lorain Broadcasting talk WEOL/930 Elyria.
The opening comes as current WEOL morning drive host Les Sekely prepares to take a full-time teaching position in Westlake.
OMW hears that Jeff starts his new gig on August 23rd, and we offer him our congratulations…
I would also bet against syndicated programming on WLW on weeknights. The only syndication they do weeknights is “America’s Truckin’ Network”… And that’s even locally based.
I can’t believe that we have lost a smooth way to enjoy our daily commutes into work and the classy and soultry sounds of jazz to “one hit wonders and ancient oldies”..If I wanted to REWIND my music, I would just download it to my iPod.
I cant believe they would take off the jazz station so abruptly, 103.5 was the only station I would listen to. I don’t want to hear “golden oldies” if I did I could just turn it to one of the other 50 stations that plays 80’s music. I don’t know who they think this is going to appeal to but I assure you that their target audience of women 35-49 are not impressed. I’ve already done all my “movin and groovin’, when I’m in my car and actually have some peace for myself, trust me I don’t want to hear all that noise. Which is why I loved the jazz channel, it was so calming and relaxing and I got to hear a lot of artist that I would not have otherwise. I hope they bring back the jazz channel because I certainly wont be listening under the new format.
Not happy with the new 103.5. Not happy at all! I and many others tuned in almost daily, but I guess that wasn’t enough. I feel a great sense of loss. The station that has replaced (REWIND) is simply CRAPPY music. I am a 49-year-old woman and I DO NOT enjoy listening to REWIND. If I wanted that type of music, I would go somewhere else. THIS IS A TERRIBLE DECISION.
I don’t beleive that the smooth Jazz is off the air. My boyfriend (59) just called me saying what happen to 103.5 they are playing some rock’n roll shiQ crap. What idiot made this stupid change, we are pissed, that is the only channel we listen to while driving in the car, if we’re not playing jazz CD. What the H is wrong with you people we have enough rock’n roll, top 40 stations.