WBVQ Stunting

Bitmapped · Post by **Bitmapped** » Mon Apr 30, 2007 4:29 pm

It appears that WBVQ/93.1 FM Barrackville is going to be changing away from the SAM format. I was listening earlier this afternoon (around 3:30pm or so) when they went to dead air in the middle of playing a Robert Palmer song. I flipped away and came back about 20 minutes ago. Since then, they've just been playing the sound of a clock ticking.

I'm kind of disappointed by the change. I liked SAM. Any guesses as to what the new format might be?

Bitmapped · Post by **Bitmapped** » Mon Apr 30, 2007 5:03 pm

At the top of the hour they just have a voiceover that said "WBVQ Barrackville. Change is coming in 13 hours." I guess the new format rolls out at 6:00am tomorrow morning.

The voiceover had a really dark tone to it. I'm guessing hard rock for the new format, but that doesn't make much sense with WCLG already basically taking that niche.

Bitmapped · Post by **Bitmapped** » Tue May 01, 2007 6:37 am

WVRC has decided to pull a KAZ. WBVQ has flipped from SAM to "Classic Top 40" and adopted a new call sign of WFGM. They're positioning themselves as "The Tri-Cities' Music Station" but not the cities you're expecting. They are referring to Fairmont, Grafton, and Morgantown. Seems like an odd choice - I've never heard this referred to as the "tri-cities" and I'm surprised they'd mention Grafton in the same breath as Morgantown and Fairmont.

I missed the exact cut-over at 6:00am, but they were in the middle of Billy Joel's "Only the Good Die Young" at 6:02am. Bread's "Make It with You" was next.

Max Wulf is doing the mornings back as "Max in the Morning," apparently live. It remains to be seen if they're going to be live the rest of the day or just during the morning drive. I'd love to hear Chongo from WBVQ/WBTQ/WELK come back. He appears to be selling advertising for the Elkins Inter-Mountain, maybe he could be convinced?

The mix I've heard over the last half-hour seems decent and fairly upbeat. Needs some tuning but not too bad. They've got to tone back on the imaging though. Identifying yourself after every song is overkill. WKAZ went overboard with this when I last listened about a month ago. Are they better now?

I do miss the SAM format. I would think someone could reply one of the country stations and do OK with that. With their music mix, WFGM does seem to be differentiating itself from WPKL and WCLG-AM.

BobFrank · Post by **BobFrank** » Tue May 01, 2007 6:48 am

WFGM...that brings back some memories of my year and a half stay in WV from 92 to 94. "The Great 98"....that was probably the only thing I listened to outside of 'CLG and 'DVE. Anyone have a audioclip of their top of the hour ID?

Rock on,

Tybois Uphold
Editor/News Director
SVRTV-Winchester, VA
www.svrtv.net
tybois@svrtv.net

Bitmapped · Post by **Bitmapped** » Tue May 01, 2007 7:12 am

A couple more comments:
It's not clear what the legal ID is. They've run it twice now but it has gone by so quickly I couldn't exactly make out what call letters they are giving. It sounds like it might still be WBVQ.

They are apparently running as least some programming from Tom Kent.

I'm not sure if Max Wulf actually is live. I just caught an apparent automation glitch a couple minutes ago where Tom Kent was reading a bunch of station identifiers. They were a mix of ones with WFGM and WBVQ mentioned.

There were some promos with Tom Kent advertising Dick Bartley's American Gold including one where he said "I'm Dick Bartley." Not sure if the Dick Bartley promos were just sarcasm or if it really will be running here.

They are running ABC news updates at the top of the hour. No local news.

J. Fox · Post by **J. Fox** » Tue May 01, 2007 9:53 am

93.1 is officially WFGM-FM according to the FCC website.

BobFrank · Post by **BobFrank** » Tue May 01, 2007 10:43 am

Actually, I was meaning the old "Great 98" top of the hour ID:)

Tybois Uphold
SVRTV....blah, blah, blah, you all know who I am

Arp2 · Post by **Arp2** » Tue May 01, 2007 12:53 pm

Brian Powell wrote:They've got to tone back on the imaging though. Identifying yourself after every song is overkill.

Uhhh.......ummm.......

Bitmapped · Post by **Bitmapped** » Tue May 01, 2007 1:00 pm

Arp2 wrote:
Brian Powell wrote:They've got to tone back on the imaging though. Identifying yourself after every song is overkill.
Uhhh.......ummm.......

I'm listening to WFGM now and it seems better, but this morning they were running a jingle after every single song. I know they're new and need to establish themselves, but the constant WFGM jingles were annoying me to the point of changing the station.

Big Media · Post by **Big Media** » Tue May 01, 2007 2:19 pm

Nevermind. Ignore.

Schaffer · Post by **Schaffer** » Tue May 01, 2007 6:20 pm

I was heading back to Hagerstown from Charleston this morning and caught the new format. I make the I79 to I68 drive about once a month, so I noticed the change right away. I thought it sounded much more upbeat than WKAZ, but I only listened for a short time. Too much of that format will make me run my car into a tree and "end it all". It is nice to see a live morning show on a new format right away, since it doesn't happen too often any more.

P.S.

Identifying yourself after every song is not overkill. A new format requires constant identification, especially when it launches during the spring book. Ya gotta know what you are listening to before you can write it down in your little diary. Don't assume everybody is a radio geek, you have to think like a listener.

Best Music · Post by **Best Music** » Tue May 01, 2007 8:54 pm

Schaffer wrote:P.S.

Identifying yourself after every song is not overkill. A new format requires constant identification, especially when it launches during the spring book. Ya gotta know what you are listening to before you can write it down in your little diary. Don't assume everybody is a radio geek, you have to think like a listener.

What he said.

Big Media · Post by **Big Media** » Tue May 01, 2007 10:10 pm

Schaffer wrote:Too much of that format will make me run my car into a tree and "end it all".

My god. I was thinking the same thing while listening to KAZ. I just can't stomach the old crap. Hell, if was recorded prior to 1985, time for it to die.

Arp2 · Post by **Arp2** » Tue May 01, 2007 10:27 pm

fanofbigmedia wrote: I just can't stomach the old crap. Hell, if was recorded prior to 1985, time for it to die.

Hmmm...and I've been thinking that music has been sounding really rested and fresh.....