New Radio Format In Charlotte Snatches Ears

A year ago, Radio One was looking to sell its under performing Charlotte stations.

It couldn’t get a good offer, so the Maryland-based broadcasting company decided to go all-in and try to make a dent against CBS Radio’s powerhouse urban duo of WBAV-FM (“V” 101.9) and WPEG-FM (“Power” 97.9).

Based on the October rankings from Arbitron, Radio One hit its target with a vengeance.

According to a story by Mark Washington at charlotteobserver.com,  key to the strategy was its $7.75 million acquisition of WNOW-FM (105.3). Radio One switched formats from Spanish to classic hits in September.

 It was renamed “Old School” for its menu of black artists like the Isley Brothers, Stevie Wonder and Rick James. In a single month, the station’s overall audience shot up nearly 140 percent, landing in a tie at No. 11 with Clear Channel Radio’s WHQC-FM (“Channel” 96.1).

LISTEN TO OLD SCHOOL 105.3, CLICK HERE.

This week “Old School” (WNOW) changed its call letters to WOSF-FM.    CBS Radio quickly picked up the WNOW call letters for 92.3 FM in NYC.

“That’s for ‘Old School Flavah,’ says Gary Weiss, who oversees Radio One’s stations in Charlotte, Raleigh and Richmond. “Spell it right – it’s F-L-A-V-A-H.”

Radio One’s gains came at the expense of CBS Radio’s stations. WBAV-FM, which has long dominated radio rankings with its bookend syndicated shows of Steve Harvey in the mornings and Michael Baisden in afternoon drive time. It fell to No. 3 behind the city’s two country stations in October, a 20 percent tumble for WBAV-FM. Sister station WPEG-FM fell 11 percent in overall listeners, landing at No. 5.

LISTEN TO V101.9, CLICK HERE.

In nearly every ratings period since the beginning of 2006, WBAV-FM has been Charlotte’s the No. 1 station. It lost Tom Joyner’s morning show to Radio One’s WQNC-FM (and is now on “Old School”) in late 2004 and faded before landing Harvey a year later. He was an instant success and WBAV-FM has topped ratings since.

WBAV-FM’s operations director Terri Avery says she expected some dip because every new station attracts sampling. But she believes that CBS’s stations will continue to dominate against “Old School,” which plays music but has no local hosts, because of CBS’s intensely local focus and popular talents like Chirl Girl, Gary Knight and Jewel Carter.

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