Raleigh Radio: Bluegrass Ends At WFNL

Curtis Media Group’s experiment with a commercial bluegrass radio station in the Triangle has come to an end after just two months, according to newsobserver.com.

Market rimshot WFNL 102.3-FM (licensed to nearby Smithfield, NC) had been airing Bluegrass since Raleigh's “World of Bluegrass” festival earlier this fall.  But as of Tuesday,, not only is the format gone, but the station itself is silent.

Curtis is in the process of selling the station to Triangle Marketing Associations.  A still-to-be-announced format will launch in the next several weeks. Triangle is headed by departing Curtis Media VP/GM Rick Heilman.

As for the potential viablity of bluegrass as a commercial-radio format, WFNL did not make a compelling case for it in the station’s short existence, according to David Menconi at The News-Observer.  He write Curtis put little into the station, which did not have deejays and often sounded like the programming consisted of loading up a few bluegrass CD compilations and hitting “shuffle.”

WFNL 102.3 FM (2.6Kw) 60dBu Coverage

It had pretty much exactly the ratings you’d expect such an experiment would yield. WFNL’s November rating comes to a 0.2 share, which ranks No. 22 in the Triangle -- behind stations broadcasting niche formats including Classical, Mexican, Christian, Talk and Jazz, and just barely ahead of Spanish Sports.