Magic's Out, HITS is in...

[Clay JD Walker]

Something NEW in Huntington!

http://hits979.com/

[Cameron]

...sounds like Dial Global's "Hits Now" format. "Locally owned and (remotely) operated."

[Hoosier Daddy]

It will be intersting to see what impact this has on WKEE.

Glad to see something besides the addition of the 8th or 9th Country station in the market ...

[reeves]

...sounds like Dial Global's "Hits Now" format. "Locally owned and (remotely) operated."

If this is done by Dial Global then why the heck am I spending so much time scheduling music...

Com'on Cameron, you know me. I don't believe in those satellite formats.

[Dave Harman]

Going against an established format leader with a satellite feed? Huh. Good luck with That, it'll be needed.

[Cameron]

...sounds like Dial Global's "Hits Now" format. "Locally owned and (remotely) operated."

If this is done by Dial Global then why the heck am I spending so much time scheduling music...

Com'on Cameron, you know me. I don't believe in those satellite formats.

...and that's how you smoke 'em out.

There was only one person I thought would put in the work this high-maintenance format.
I hope your attentiveness is shared by your staff.

Well good. Dig a hole and throw the Delliah receiver in it, please.

[reeves]

...sounds like Dial Global's "Hits Now" format. "Locally owned and (remotely) operated."

If this is done by Dial Global then why the heck am I spending so much time scheduling music...

Com'on Cameron, you know me. I don't believe in those satellite formats.

...and that's how you smoke 'em out.

There was only one person I thought would put in the work this high-maintenance format.
I hope your attentiveness is shared by your staff.

Well good. Dig a hole and throw the Delliah receiver in it, please.

Let me drive to Gallipolis to get it!

[RADIOHEAD 1]

Does this mean no Christmas music starting the middle of November?..It won't be the same holiday season this year.

Also did I hear a liner saying "Today's Best Music"....Wasn't that used on another station in the market for years?

Who's doing mornings? Maybe team up Gary "Music" Miller and Ernie G. Anderson..

[Hoosier Daddy]

Going against an established format leader with a satellite feed? Huh. Good luck with That, it'll be needed.

In this case, the "market leader" canned almost all of its well-known local talent (some with decades of familiarity to listeners) and went with either a sat-fed arrangement or voice tracking. The only thing they really have is a huge 50 kW signal. I have a number of friends in the tri-state that either listen to Electric 102 in Charleston or hop on the Sirius XM KIIS feed rather than eat what KEE-FM is serving.

I welcome the competition. Hopefully, Kindred's gutsy move will force the other stations to raise the bar.

[Mr. Jones]

I welcome the competition. Hopefully, Kindred's gutsy move will force the other stations to raise the bar.

[Cameron]

Well good. Dig a hole and throw the Delliah receiver in it, please.

Let me drive to Gallipolis to get it!

Just a word of advice since you're running such a tight format...Don't run it so tight that you back-announce a song that ends in an, "s", sound followed by your station-moniker!

Jus' sayin'

[Ace Purple]

I like the way Hits sounds and think the shift to Hot AC is a pretty good idea -- the upbeat music selection is great, with enough gold mixed in to hopefully help it avoid the burn of having too tight of a playlist. I even heard a remixed version of "Somebody That I Used To Know" that made the song considerably more upbeat and not sound out of place.

Going with the Today's Best Music positioning statement is pretty smart... should make it easy to pull in pop-alt songs that don't quite fit the harder rock sound of Planet, WAMX, etc. And I like the V/O talent identifying the song artist/title, a smart move.

The challenge: keeping enough variety in the playlist to allow it to remain a viable option for office listening. The little jabs at KEE 100 were amusing, though KEE will be fine considering its strong signal and how CHR is in a boom period right now.

Good luck to all involved.

[Big Media]

Nice work. I like it.

I hope to hear some local talent piping through very soon.

[sportsvoice]

...sounds like Dial Global's "Hits Now" format. "Locally owned and (remotely) operated."

That's what is on WXZQ 100.1 in Piketon. I'm not in the area to see if the programming matches, but it might not since I think that's a Dial-Global "Local" format where they just send you a log and it plays locally.

[Cameron]

...sounds like Dial Global's "Hits Now" format. "Locally owned and (remotely) operated."

That's what is on WXZQ 100.1 in Piketon. I'm not in the area to see if the programming matches, but it might not since I think that's a Dial-Global "Local" format where they just send you a log and it plays locally.

Nah, The Crown Prince said he's programming it. No reason to believe otherwise.

[Ace Purple]

I've really liked Hits 97-9 to this point. I was happily surprised just now to hear the voiceover talent identify "Paralyzer" by Finger Eleven, which isn't a song I would have imagined would have had its own liner considering that it's a gold title and not exactly in heavy rotation. From what I've heard there appear to be song identifiers for the vast majority of the station's catalog, which is a plus.

The presentation has been strong from what I've heard, and I imagine the potential P25-54 boost of adding male listeners than Magic didn't appeal to should help out the station's numbers -- and, in turn, the bottom line. At first I questioned the wisdom of abandoning the conventional AC approach for this, but particularly being in the midst of a CHR boom, it makes sense to cherry-pick from that realm (and a little bit of alternative) to live up to the station name and play the hits... or songs that *were* hits not too long ago. And it's not so far gone from a traditional AC approach as to be jarring to Magic P1s, the majority of which I suspect have remained P1s for the tweaked format.

Hits is upbeat, it's fun to listen to (at least from my experiences thus far), the VO talent sounds good, and the station seems to be well-programmed. It has enough new music to appeal to the 18-34 demo (which I will fall out of in less than twenty days) but also enough depth (and 90s/early 00s gold) to appeal to the 25-54 demo. The station positioning statements promise hit music without the duds, and that seems to be the case.

I know there might be some who want live jocks, and perhaps that will come in time, but the VO song identification has worked well, at least in my opinion. The quick positioning statements and new station name promos between songs are strong and brief enough to not be an annoyance. Even the testimonial spots are quick enough to not get in the way. Well done.

[cgarison]

Well, I am looking forward to hearing the new format in a month. And most of all, I might not drive Mom nuts listening to WNKU all the time. Even worse, she could not believe when I was able to identify artist like Brian Setzer, Taj Mahal, Dr. John and other blues and swing rockers. I guess I spent too much time with The Interpreter.

[Ace Purple]

I heard a liner this morning on Hits 97.9 that it will begin carrying the Bert Show (out of Atlanta) effective Tuesday, 9/10.

[cgarison]

I heard a liner this morning on Hits 97.9 that it will begin carrying the Bert Show (out of Atlanta) effective Tuesday, 9/10.

With Kristen being a UK grad, this show should be a hit in the eastern KY side of the Market.

GO BIG BLUE!

[EZ103.3FM]

http://www.herald-dispatch.com/news/x18 ... unications

New radio shows to debut at Kindred Communications
September 08, 2013 @ 11:37 PM
The Herald-Dispatch

HUNTINGTON -- Kindred Communications, locally owned and operated in Huntington, announces the Tri-State return of "The John Boy & Billy Big Show" to SuperTalk 94.1 FM & AM 930 WRVC beginning Monday, Sept. 9. The show will air 6 to 10 a.m. Monday through Saturday.

Also, two of Huntington's former mayors, Jean Dean and Bobby Nelson, team up for a talk show at 3 p.m. weekdays. That show also debuts Monday on SuperTalk 94.1 & AM 930. The two will cover today's current world and local events.

At 10 p.m. Monday, "The Artie Lange Show" debuts on SuperTalk 94.1 & AM 930. It is a late-night look at the world of sports and entertainment. Lange starred on "MADtv" and "The Howard Stern Show." It runs Monday through Friday.

The New Hits 97.9 WMGA FM will also have a new morning show starting Tuesday, Sept. 10, called "The Bert Show," hosted by Bert Weiss. It includes lifestyle advice, entertainment news and celebrity guests.