Plus Pages

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

WMFQ Ocala, FL Drops Classic Hits For Hot AC

After seven years of giving a home to oldies rock ‘n’ roll, WMFQ 92.9-FM in Ocala has discarded the format and on Monday started broadcasting hot adult contemporary music.

According to a story by Fred Hiers at ocala.com, the decision was made three months ago as part of the radio’s station’s effort to expand its audience, especially women listeners, said the station’s operations director, Shane Finch.

Although the previous format, Big Oldies 92.9, had a loyal audience, the station was competing with other area stations for essentially the same demographic group: predominately men ages 40 and older.
“It was a bunch of people fighting for the same slice of pie,” Finch said.

While the station’s previous format of 1960s-1980s rock and pop was enough to continue to pay the bills, Finch said hot adult contemporary music offered financial opportunities because it gives the station the potential to grow its audience. As for the station’s previous format, Finch said, “if we just kind of freeze dried where we were, we would (have) seen diminishing returns,” citing the audience’s increasing age.

Finch said the decision to change formats was made after discussions amongst the station’s staff and did not originate from the station’s owner, Asterisk Communications, Inc., based in Fort Lauderdale.

WMFQ’s hot adult contemporary music will be similar to top 40, but slightly easier listening and will include such artists as Daughtry, Maroon 5, Katy Perry and John Mayer.  LISTEN HERE

Finch said that if the format change attracts an additional 5 percent market share, the switch would have proved itself a financially wise one.

Read More.

No comments:

Post a Comment