We have a major change up on Bonneville Mountain to report this morning courtesy of the Kiese Blog, and indeed, we can confirm it via our own listening right now. It's a change we certainly didn't see coming during our day today!
At 5:00 last night, WYGY-FM 94.9/Cincinnati switched over to an 80s format. It's branding itself as "Rewind 94.9, Feel Good Favorites from the '80s & More".
That sends WSWD-FM 97.3/Ft. Thomas back to a country format. You'll recall that one of the very first items on this blog was the swap between 97.3 and 94.9 back in November.
And what of "The Sound"?
You'll need an HD Radio to receive that channel, as at the same time as the other two switches, "The Sound" was moved to the HD-2 signal at 94.9.
The guess is that Bonneville feels confident enough about their country monopoly at 105.1 WUBE-FM/Cincinnati and WYGY to change 94.9 to something else.
Are you happy with the switchover? Were you a listener of "The Sound" and are you going to buy an HD Radio to get it back?
(Maybe a dumb question, seeing the responses on the Kiese Blog link above. Every single response we have seen says "No, we're not happy with this".)
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21 comments:
i now, and once again, have no radio station. and i'm boycotting ALL bonneville stations.
somebody with some start-up capital, please, Please, PLEASE re-start channel z or WOXY! we could re-hire sterling and matthew harris and reboot as an independent station.
i could do PR -- i work cheap!
WOXY never went away...it was internet only but now you can hear it over the air at WVXU HD2. Just get an HD radio once and hear woxy.com all the time
well, if i still wanted to listen to the sound i could get an HD radio. you miss the point. i'm not paying for radio; i choose iPod.
i'm well aware woxy and the sound stream; unfotunately, work filters and i don't believe in paying for braodcast radio. cable TV is bad enough. i'm tired of getting squeezed.
that's why God made limewire and bittorrent, folks.
HDRadios are expensive. One can't deny that.
But, once you get them, there technically isn't a subscription fee to get the HD-2, HD-3, etc. stations. Your basic HD Radio receiver will run you $50 but can get as expensive as several hundred.
[sarcasm]Gosh, for a few weeks there I felt like we had a shortage of broadcast Twang. Whew. [/sarcasm]
This is the second time they've jerked us around inside a year. NO WAY I'm going to PAY for hd to have it happen there too.
The radio stations probably set this whole scam up to try to get us to switch to HD radio. I am not going to play in to their scheme. Why can't Cincinnati get a decent radio station AND KEEP IT?! I am very sad to see The Sound disappear. But I am not switching to HD! And another thought, if I did switch to HD, what proof do I have that The sound will stay on HD? Given their previous track record, they will probably drop off of HD too!
One more thing, I am keeping my factory radio, so who wants to have extra junk in their car?
You've got to be kidding me. thought you were just about the music. apparently not. no way am i going to buy hd to listen to the sound. not gonna happen. i'll stick with 96.5 thank you.
This is complete and total crap. Once again, Bonneville plays musical chairs, and once again The Sound is left standing. First it was the shuffle to low-power 97.3. Now, they're completely marginalized to HD.
And no, I won't buy a HD Radio to follow a station that even the management won't support.
Nice going, Bonneville. Keep right on puking out country tunes. I won't be listening.
It's the sense of yours truly that, just as happened at the Kiesewetter blog, the large majority of you are against the "Sound" move.
Now, to dip into the opinion part of blogging.
It is this blogger's personal opinion that they should have just undone the November swap, and if they really wanted an 80s feed, put THAT on an HD2 subchannel.
We're as big of a fan of Huey Lewis as anyone who was born early enough that that was the "cool" thing to listen to...but to displace "The Sound" for 80s music...kind of questionable.
And you watch and see of Cumulus maybe doesn't capitalize on the angst going around town right now from all those who were "Sound" listeners, and try flipping 92.5 or 94.1 to a AAA format.
i want an independent, stand-alone, non-conglomerate channel z. there. i said it.
sterling oh sterling where are you? come back from the depths of clear channel hell and lead us to our own private idaho!
I am UNHAPPY in the extreme! While 94.1 is interesting, it still lacked some of the freshness of 97.3 the Sound, and I miss it greatly. I'm down to one station of decent music in this town! Garg!
Oh, and one more thing...I'm 49, and if ANYONE should want 80's programming it'd be ME, and I DON'T! Bring back the Sound to the non-HD airwaves!!!
This is absolutely ridiculous. To change the sound to country? And not have it on the radio besides HD? The sound is my favorite radio station and I think the change is a big big mistake. I personally will not go and buy a HD but I and so many others will miss the sound. Bonneville needs to realize how much of a mistake they have made by this change. BRING BACK THE SOUND!
What an absolutely ridiculous change. How many country stations do country listeners really need? The Sound was the only good Alternative Rock station in Cincinnati. The next best option is 96.5 and they seem to be obsessed with morning talk shows (that are absolutely abysmal) and Metallica. Bring back The Sound!
i think there's enough country channels already, grrrrr! I HATE country! Bring back The Sound!
I am not happy, not happy at all. I hate Country and I hate 80's. I hate that they took away the one decent radio station that the 'nati had. There will be heck to pay from angry teens and adults who don't want to be stuck in the past.
And another thing, what happened to the summer supply of concert tickets to River Bind go? They had every concert including Warped, how cheep, what a rip off.
I am so disgusted with Bonneville International. Your management and executives are idiots. Like many of the other people on here, I am boycotting all Bonneville stations and will not buy from any of their sponsors ever again. These are 94.9, Q-102, B-105 and 97.3 I am also sending them e-mails and letters of how disgusted I am with their removal of 97.3 The Sound. Bonneville-get out of Cincinnati, we don't want you here, you ruin all of the good radio stations. You don't keep changing frequencies and formats every 6 months you morons. The Sound always got rated in the Top 5stations in Cincinnati, so you take it away? WTF? On top of that, you don't say a word to anyone in advance about the changes? That's very poor business and NOT the way to keep listeners. 94.9 is just another 80's version of WARM 98. I WILL NOT buy an HD radio to listen to The Sound on 94.9-2 Bring it back to the FM dial! Joe beans-I can't agree with you more. We definitely need a Channel Z back. They played the best music ever before kiddie rap 107 took over. I miss Sterling and Matthew Harris. Bring back alternative radio to Cincinnati!
Not only has Bonneville taken away my favorite radio station-97.3 The Sound, I just found out today that they have taken the very popular Saturday Night Retro Party (With Hunter) off of Q-102. They had played a lot of dance/party songs from the 80's and 90's. It was a great show. I am royally pissed at Bonneville. What is your problem Bonneville? Are you trying to get rid of listeners? You take away the most popular stations and shows and put on crap people don't want to hear. You obviously like to make people mad by making horrible management decisions. Do you realize what you have done? Your company needs to get out of Cincinnati before you ruin other stations. BRING ALTERNATIVE RADIO BACK!
Once again, we feel we have to note something here.
We're not affiliated with Bonneville in any way, shape, or form. We just post media news.
It's clear this has generated a LOT of angry listener comments. We understand this.
But we think we know why the move to pull the "Saturday Night Retro Party" from WKRQ-FM 101.9/Cincy was made. Quite simply...to avoid duplication. The same songs will likely be found on WSWD 94.9/Cincinnati on the new "Rewind 94.9". So Bonneville pulled that off of WKRQ.
As long as they don't mess with Q beyond that, yours truly will be okay. But...if they mess with my Friday Night Free-for-All, I will be highly upset.
Yes, yes! The people are with me. E-mail me at johnnyscarface777@yahoo.com if you want to do something about it . . .
NEVER mess with a PR guy's radio.
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