RadioInsight

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Integr8 Research: Why Recurrents Are More Important to Country Than CHR

Posted: 21 Sep 2016 01:21 PM PDT
http://www.integr8research.com/blog/...untry-than-chr





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Moving Past And Call Letters And Dial Position

Posted: 21 Sep 2016 11:49 AM PDT
https://radioinsight.com/blog/blogs/...dial-position/





If there is anything lacking inÂ*my knowledge of the radio industry, it
would be the lack of attention spent listening to the national and regional
Christian music networks.

In the part of the New York market I reside only Educational Media
Foundation’s “K-Love� is available in any nearby market. But after two
trips to the Midwest this summer including a week traveling through
Michigan and from here in Nashville at the 2016 Radio Show one thing in
particular caught my ear.

Some of these brands are more prepared for our digital future than any
commercial radio station as they have moved beyond reliance on the
frequency and call letters. It doesn’t matter what frequency Educational
Media Foundation’s “K-Love� or “Air 1� are on as the branding is the same
whether its Chicago, Charlotte or Chattanooga . KSBJ’s “NGen Radio� app is
just as important for distribution and fund raising as its its new 100kW
frequency in Houston.

I may be one of the few proponents that there should be a few national
commercial brands co-existing with local brands in every market.
iHeartMedia is pushing the iHeartRadio app more than local brands in
marketing, but with so much content split there is no way for any program
to reach national critical mass. If the company say created a national
“iHeart Hits� CHR brand that reached 70% or more of the nation’s ears over
the air and the rest online, there would ability to charge higher
advertising rates as you’d be reaching both local and national audiences.
And content would be better in many of the markets. Instead of making one
jock voice-track generic liners for every market, they can spend the time
making a great national show and giving audiences a shared experience no
matter where you’re listening. Let that station have a web/social presence
that matches other great national brands.

And this would help the locally focused competitors. If one CHR in a market
was focusing on national content, the competition could focus on creating a
better experience for its home market. You’d have a less stations relying
on local advertising dollars for mostly national buys shrinking the
financial pool locally (although these national focused stations could
still have a handful of local elements like traffic/weather)

iHeart already has two similarly formatted stations in many markets. If
“102.9 Now� KDMX Dallas picked up the national programming and “106.1
Kiss-FM� KHKS stayed local they’ll have both niches claimed. The company is
already halfway there with the amount of syndication and Premium Choice
music logs their stations utilize to create in many cases something that is
trying to be local but doesn’t have the resources to do what is needed to
build the brand locally.

Many national groups have musical brands that they are starting to build
out. Cumulus has Nash and Nash Icon. CBS has Amp Radio. Saga has its
Classic Country Outlaw. And Alpha has started building out Classic Hip-Hop
G. It would be a jarring change at first to see all the local brands and
remaining hosts go away, but by shifting those local hosts to other
stations in a cluster and increasing local content on the stations that do
not go national will retain some good-will.

Every nation outside of the United States and Canada (although Bell Medias
Virgin Radio could do this in Canada) has a national radio brand. Some of
the BBC Radio stations are part of the fabric of the nation where there is
really no commercial brand here that the same can be said about. Apples
Beats 1 of all stations has come the closest in building something that
could eventually fill this niche, but without the over-the-air delivery
mechanism necessary to still reach a critical mass in 2016. Come 2020 or
2025 that may be another story, but its not there yet.

Whomever takes the leap first will deal with a lot of negative flack for
being the first to shift from a local music content strategy to national,
but so many are straddling the line of national with syndication and
voice-tracking that its time to just give up the ghost of being live &
local 24/7 on every station. Be live, be interactive, be larger than life,
be relevant to the audience.



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Zazza & Cheree Get Syndicated To Mobile & Fort Walton Beach

Posted: 21 Sep 2016 07:14 AM PDT
https://radioinsight.com/blog/headli...-walton-beach/



Cumulus Media is syndicating Tony Zazza and Cheree Carters morning show
based at CHR 107.1 WA1A WAOA Melbourne FL to sister stations Z96 96.5 WZNS
Fort Walton Beach and 97.5 WABD Mobile AL.

Zazza Mornings with Cheree will debut on both stations on Monday, September
26. In both markets the current morning shows will move to another daypart.
At WZNS Gilligan will move from mornings to 9am-2pm, with Hayden adding the
2pm hour to his afternoon show. In Mobile, John Marty moves from mornings
to afternoons while Program Director Sid Kelly shifts from afternoons to
middays. Both stations carry the syndicated Zach Sang Show at night.

Cumulus Media announces thatÂ*Tony Zazza and Cheree Carter’s popular
morning show,Â*Zazza Mornings with Cheree, currently airing weekdays on
WAOA-FM in Melbourne, FL, will air in Mornings on two additional Cumulus
stations, WZNS-FM/Z96 in Fort Walton Beach, FL, and 97.5 WABD-FM in Mobile,
AL. The show will debut in Fort Walton Beach and in Mobile onÂ*Monday,
September 26, 2016, fromÂ*5AM-9AM.

Â*

Cumulus also announces that it is expanding WZNS-FM/Z96’s local on-air
line-up in Fort Walton Beach to include a full-time local midday
personality and a multi-personality morning show. BeginningÂ*Monday,
September 26, 2016, on-air host Gilligan will move from mornings to middays
in a new show that will air fromÂ*9AM-2PMÂ*weekdays. Hayden will kick off his
afternoon drive show one hour earlier, airingÂ*2PM-7PMÂ*weekdays, followed
byÂ*The Zach Sang Show, syndicated by Westwood One, which remains in the
night slot fromÂ*7PM-12AMÂ*Midnight.

Â*

Likewise, 97.5 WABD will expand its local on-air line-up in Mobile to
include a full-time local midday personality and return to a
multi-personality morning show. StartingÂ*Monday, September 26, 2016, former
WABD morning hostÂ*John MartyÂ*will move to afternoon drive, replacing Sid
Kelly, who will move to middays fromÂ*9AM-2PMÂ*on WABD.Â*The Zach Sang Show
stays in the night position fromÂ*7PM-12AMÂ*Midnight.

Â*

Zazza, an 18-year radio veteran who spent the better part of 17 years
on-air at Dallas stations KDMX and KVIL, joined Cumulus in July 2015 and
moved to Melbourne, FLÂ*heritage Top 40 station WAOA (107.1 A1A),
launchingÂ*Zazza Mornings with ChereeÂ*to great response. Zazza is also the
President of the Board of a 501(c)(3) non-profit The Zazza Community
Foundation which serves children and families through events including last
year’s “Trick or Treat on the Street�, which provided 100 costumes for
underprivileged children along the Space Coast, and the Foundation’s
flagship event, Jingle Jetâ„¢, which took five families to the North Pole
aboard a real jet and surprised them upon their arrival with a greeting
from Santa and Mrs. Claus, decorated trees and gifts from the families’
needs and wants list. It is this kind of community outreach that will help
make Zazza Mornings with Cheree be more than just a regional morning show
for each of the markets.

Â*

Carter is a 15-year radio veteran who has had successful on-air runs in San
Francisco, Las Vegas and Harrisburg. She is a Melbourne, FL native and has
had two stints at WAOA (2001-2003, andÂ*October 2013-present). A local high
school graduate, Carter has deep knowledge of the area and has a major
presence in the community.Â*

Â*Â*

Angel Brown, Market Manager, WABD-FM in Mobile said: “Tony and Cheree are
amazing talents who bring a high level of enthusiasm and excitement to the
Gulf Coast and we look forward to waking up with them every morning on
975WABD.�

Â*

Pete DeSimone, Regional Vice President, Cumulus Media said: “This is true
collaboration for our Florida and Alabama markets. It’s an example of a
talented morning show given the opportunity to grow within the new Cumulus.
I worked with Tony and Cheree in Melbourne and I’m very confident they will
bring the same successful listener experience to the Gulf Coast markets.�

Â*

Zazza said: “It’s truly a dream come true to see this come to fruition. I
knew when I met Cheree over a year ago, she was the perfect co-host to
hopefully see this evolve and it has, beyond our expectations. Having the
support of an incredible company like Cumulus with leaders including Mary
Berner, Mike McVay, Doug Hamand, Jeff Brown, Pete DeSimone and Gary Mertins
is exciting. Were looking forward to waking up the people in Fort Walton
Beach and Mobile with an entertaining show, and to impacting those
communities not only on-air but with the efforts of The Zazza Community
Foundation. It’s a perfect match.�

Â*

Carter said: “Cumulus is a fantastic company to work for, and Tony is a
fantastic partner and talent. It’s a win, win, WIN situation. The sky is
the limit Here we come!�