Following up on an item from earlier in the week.
WROW (Magic 590) began a promotion on January 23 in which they're playing 10 songs in a row without commercial interruption most of the day. The exceptions are during Magic in The Morning between 5:30 and 8:45 am, at which point the first 10 in a row block plays, and The John Tesh Radio Show (7 pm-midnight). As noted previously, the Class Reunion Hour, a segment of Magic in The Morning that was brought over from WGY some time back, is on at least a hiatus.
What we've also discovered is that there are fewer breaks for CBS Radio news, and on Magic in The Morning, the World News Roundup at 8 am has been replaced with a standard news brief to allow more time for music, and that the news seems to disappear after the 8 am briefing. There are no news breaks on the weekends, for however long that lasts.
So what's the point, you might ask. Ratings, of course, and also experimenting with the 10 in a row format. The Friday listener request format ("Free-For-All Friday") has been suspended for the duration, and morning host Ben Patten apparently was told not to say anything about why. The DJ-free Saturday Night at The Oldies, which has been on autoplay since Richie Norris was let go a couple of years back, is also on hiatus. WROW and its parent company, Albany/Pamal Broadcasting, have not done anything in the press to promote the changes, meaning that listeners are left in the dark.
If that's the approach they're taking, then things will revert to normal come spring.
John Tesh, by the way, is doing his part to help the station, which added his program back in October. Tesh has recorded some localized promos for local businesses, the same ones that have been read by Patten otherwise. Tesh makes a point to plug Magic in The Morning in a localized spot on his show, which of course creates the idea that he could bring his show to Albany at some point.
Will that actually happen? Will Magic give up 10 songs in a row? Stay tuned.
No comments:
Post a Comment