Topic: Cincinnati: Local Media News & Discussion

[taestell]

"The Sound" is dead.  Well, almost - they're still online and streaming on HD radio.

Welcome To The '80s on FM 94.9

Welcome to the '80s! All that Kool & The Gang, Billy Joel, Madonna, Queen, and the Bee Gees have sent The Wolf scampering back to 97.3 FM. At 5 p.m. today, the "Rewind 94.9, Feel Good Favorites from the '80s & More" format debuted on Bonneville's WSWD-FM (94.9), with The Wolf country returning to 97.3 (where it was until last December). "The Sound" alternative rock has been pulled off the regular radio dial, and put on the 94.9 HD-2 channel and the web.

[UncleRando]

This is crap.  The Sound was Cincy's best station in my opinion, although their song selection was progressively getting worse with less and less independent music.

I like 80's music, but a whole station dedicated to it?  Eh.  Country music sucks...so I'm done.

I am presently streaming The Sound online though...gotta love "The Chill" program.

[taestell]

It's a shame that there is no indie or alternative rock on the air.  Our only FM choices are country, top 40, classic rock/oldies, hard rock/metal, soft rock/elevator music, and hip hop.

If you're going to listen online, don't forget about Cincinnati's own indie rock station WOXY.com or the diverse programming of Bearcast!

[UncleRando]

In all honesty Bearcast plays a really good collection of music.  It's just not often that I stream radio from my computer.  Haven't yet checked out WOXY, but definitely will in the near future.

[xumelanie]

This is terrible.  It gives me another reason to want satellite radio. 

[pleco01]

Here's the marketing manager's e-mail. Tell him what you think. Perhaps we can change his mind.

jbryant@bonneville.com

[Cincy1]

Yeah this really sucks.  The Sound is not exactly the most alternative station, but it is pretty standard fare for what is called alternative in today's radio.  They did do a good job of mixing old and new with a lot of variety  as well as periodic nods to local artists so I will miss that.  I concur that woxy.com is worth a try, although it seems to have gotten a little more dance tracky. 

It seems like 94.1 is already slowly feeling the void, but we'll see.  It is still a little too much pop and soft (ala The Fray, urp), and 96 Rock is still too hard.  Maybe Cumulus will step up to fill the space.

[taestell]

Layoffs Hit WCPO
http://cincydaytonmediacenter.blogspot.com/2009/07/layoffs-hit-wcpo.html

WCPO will be laying off five employees starting this September as WCPO's parent company centralizes two departments. The company is consolidating the commercial sales and scheduling department, in addition to the graphics department.

[taestell]

Wow.... my heart sank when I read this news this morning.  I very rarely even listen to this station, but there is no more important music radio station tied to Cincinnati than WOXY.  It was one of the first alternative radio stations in the entire country, and was made famous nationally by the movie Rainman.  It changed over to Internet-only a few years ago and still gets huge national listenership.  And now they are tied to Cincinnati no more.

This is a huge loss, as they provide national exposure to Cincinnati area bands which they promote frequently.  They also are no doubt responsible for bring a lot of national bands to Cincinnati to play shows here.  But how can Cincinnati compete with a city that is marketing itself as the "live music capital of the world"?

WOXY.COM: WOXY Is On The Move
http://www.woxy.com/boards/showthread.php?p=1503024#post1503024

WOXY Fans and Friends -

We've been busy upgrading this year... our new broadband broadcast streams, WOXY Radio iPhone app, and great new programs like the Pampelmoose New Music Hour, Future Sounds Radio, the 1-2-3-4 More More More show and The Waiting Room. And now it's time to step up our WOXY Lounge Acts live in-studio sessions.

We're sure you'll have some questions, so we've put together a little list of frequently asked questions over at www.woxy.com/austin-faq

[Cincy1]

This does indeed suck although I really felt the loss when the terrestrial station was sold, and they moved to internet only.

[so it goes]

at least the cincy crew stays together in austin. cincy bands may get even more exposure

[Blue Line]

at least the cincy crew stays together in austin. cincy bands may get even more exposure

I wouldn't count on the latter.  It's not like they've devoted much of their broadcast to Cincinnati-based based bands, since the move from the terrestrial signal to the internet.

[so it goes]

ti just mean to say when cincy bands are going through austin they may get a shout or studio time that they may be less likely to get otherwise... it couldn't hurt.

[C-Dawg]

Layoffs Hit WCPO
http://cincydaytonmediacenter.blogspot.com/2009/07/layoffs-hit-wcpo.html

WCPO will be laying off five employees starting this September as WCPO's parent company centralizes two departments. The company is consolidating the commercial sales and scheduling department, in addition to the graphics department. Two people in commercial sales and scheduling will be let go by September and three in the graphics department will be let go by November. Station general manager Bill Fee told the Cincinnati Enquirer that "it's not a response to the economy. If we weren't in this recession, we'd be making this same move anyway." The jobs will be moving to Scripps stations in Tampa and Phoenix. A result of the graphics department changes may be a new standardized Scripps on-air look at WCPO, similar to what has happened with FOX O&O and Gannett graphics centralizations.

Then why are they hiring? Gotta love the news industry...my guess is they're laying off and planning to hire in at a lower wage.

https://www.scripps.apply2jobs.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=mExternal.showJob&RID=915&CurrentPage=10

[taestell]

Hey! We’re No. 33!
Posted by jkiesewetter September 1st, 2009, 12:47 pm
http://cincinnati.com/blogs/tv/2009/09/01/hey-were-no-33/

Nielsen’s new fall TV market estimates shows Cincinnati moving up one spot, to No. 33. We have grown by 3,100 TV homes in the past year, for a total of 918,679. That means one local ratings point equals 9,186 homes. [...] Cincinnati jumped over Columbus, which dropped from #32 to #34. Dayton fell from #64 to #65. Cleveland-Akron-Canton slipped from #17 to #18.  Moving up one spot each were Louisville (to #49) and Lexington (to #62). [... read more at original URL.]

[taestell]

After WOXY put all the effort into packing up and moving to Austin, Texas... This message appears on their site today:

WOXY Listeners, Fans and Friends...

Due to current economic realities and the lack of ongoing funding for WOXY's operations, we've been forced to suspend our live broadcasts as of March 23rd. We're continuing to explore options to keep The Future of Rock and Roll alive. For business inquiries, please contact Bryan Jay (bryan@woxy.com) or John at Future Sounds (john@futuresounds.com).

Thanks for your years of dedicated support.

- Mike, Shiv, Joe, Paige, Brian and Bryan Jay

[Sherman Cahal]

I'm somehow not shedding tears over this.

[natininja]

I'm still bummed, but not as much as I would be.

[taestell]

Message from Matt Shiv:

It is absolutely mindboggling to me that I have to sit down and write these words: WOXY.com is being shut down today by our owners at Future Sounds.

Mike, Joe, Brian, and I uprooted our lives to Austin under the belief that we were finally under ownership that would take things at the station to the next level. We also brought on Paige Maguire from here in Austin to help us do things on a promotional and marketing level that hadn’t really been in place for years. Yes, we have been dubbed “zombie radio” in the past after ownership shutdowns and resurrections, but it will take a pretty incredible company/plan coming around now to make me want to stick around at this point (although I guess we have to wait to see if anything shakes out in the days ahead). This time around, we no longer own WOXY and the entire situation is completely out of our hands.

The WOXY staff continued working last week during SXSW under good faith because a deal was “in motion” to continue funding for our operation. We were informed yesterday that that the deal fell through and now it is time for us all to walk away. There will be no farewell shows or weepy goodbyes. Our listeners deserve more than this, but I don’t think any of us on staff have it to give right now. It is, to be perfectly honest, quite a kick in the dick to have this occur again right on the heels of our most successful SXSW ever. But, I guess it would pretty much be a kick in the dick no matter what since we’ve only been living in Austin for *6 MONTHS* and have already had the rug pulled out from underneath us.

Thanks to everybody who has been SO amazing to me and this station over the years. I’ve been on this wild ride now for 12 years. I am thrilled that I have had a part in helping to program this station since 1998 and am incredibly proud of WOXY’s legacy

[taestell]

Not to be negative, because I hate to see anyone lose a job or a such great historically-significant radio station close up shop, but let's look at reality...

When WOXY was in Cincinnati, they went through several changes of ownership.  When one investor decided to bail, WOXY was able to rely on donations from loyal listeners until they could find a new investor.  But then they put all of their faith in Future Sounds and moved their DJs down to Austin... which makes sense, because it's a big hub for indie bands, but they completely blew off their listener base here and ignored their history as a Cincinnati-based station.  Now, yet again, their investors have dropped them, but this time they don't have that same dedicated base.  Any from the way Shiv made it sound, Future Sounds now owns WOXY and is in control of the fate of the station.  Tough break.

[natininja]

Yes, it turned out to be a pact with the devil.

I don't know how much business sense it made, either. They were a major player in the music scene in Cinci. They moved somewhere where they would start out as nothing, a "small fish" per se, where they would sink or swim in the "big pond". Big risk, to be sure. And apparently not a wise one.

[unusualfire]

^ Agreed. It's called Karma.

[Cincy1]

I feel bad for the long time employees, but this has been a relatively slow, painless death.  It started the day they went internet only.

[unusualfire]

The internet has been the death of all kinds of media outlets and other businesses. We are regressing not progressing.

[Sherman Cahal]

Uh, WOXY had a bad business model that got only worse as the years progressed. They were fiscally insolvent years ago and required donations from Cincinnatians to prop up their failing station. That is the cause and reason, not the Internet.

[taestell]

The Internet is not the problem.  The problem with many media outlets has been clinging to old business models instead of figuring out something that works better on the Internet.

As for WOXY, it seems like they never could figure out a business model that worked for them online.  They have been commercial-free since they went Internet-only.  They tried relying on (1) subscriptions, and (2) investors who basically used WOXY as a promotional tool for their other, money-making services.  So far, both of these have been shaky, resulting in this same situation happening every couple of months when the investor/business model changes.

[arenn]

The Internet is not the problem.  The problem with many media outlets has been clinging to old business models instead of figuring out something that works better on the Internet.

Amen. Three problems killing old media:

1. Market changes (a legitimate issue)
2. Gross mismanagement
3. Staff clinging to old business models and ways of doing things than any UAW member ever dared.

Aaron.

[Cincy1]

I do not think the internet was the cause of their demise - it is correct that WOXY could never figure out that model.  My implication was that they were an ongoing concern as a terrestrial station, but a failure as an internet-only station, regardless of the reason.  I felt it would not work when it happened, which is why I was more sad in 2004 than any point since.

[Blue Line]

To my understanding, Lala.com was acquired by Apple.  So it would make sense that they'd have to liquidate WOXY in that process.  So, I think we should careful to assume that the WOXY staff had no noggins, and went with a deal that was too good to be true.

Yes, it turned out to be a pact with the devil.

I don't know how much business sense it made, either. They were a major player in the music scene in Cinci. They moved somewhere where they would start out as nothing, a "small fish" per se, where they would sink or swim in the "big pond". Big risk, to be sure. And apparently not a wise one.

[Blue Line]

You can also blame a bill passed a couple years ago that required online streams to pay exorbitant royalties to artists.  The demise of terrestrial radio can be attributed to a different act in 1996.

[Wally]

To my understanding, Lala.com was acquired by Apple.  So it would make sense that they'd have to liquidate WOXY in that process.  So, I think we should careful to assume that the WOXY staff had no noggins, and went with a deal that was too good to be true.

Lala.com has had no role in WOXY since January 2009.  Future Sounds Inc. purchased WOXY from Lala at that time.  The move to Austin was entirely under Future Sounds and was well after Lala had sold WOXY.

On a side note, there's some strong rumblings that WOXY will be back in one way or another, possibly with an announcement by the end of the week.  Lala.com founder Bill Nguyen has said that he has interest in providing funding, but I think he wants to see a firm plan in place to (hopefully) get WOXY to a level where they can be profitable and self-sufficient.  I don't think Bill is necessarily interested in becoming the CEO of WOXY, but rather more of an investor in WOXY.

[Blue Line]

Lala.com has had no role in WOXY since January 2009.  Future Sounds Inc. purchased WOXY from Lala at that time.  The move to Austin was entirely under Future Sounds and was well after Lala had sold WOXY.

I didn't even specify when the sale occurred, but I'm aware of the full story of WOXY changing hands.  In fact, I believe you also post on the forums there.