101.1 FM Birmingham, Al changing format from news talk.

[Timbo64]

Does anyone have any information on the format change at 101.1 FM The Source in Birmingham, Al. I called and asked if they were changing formats and I was told no coment. There is nothing on their website about this. I received an e-mail from a friend stating that they were changing to oldies rock and roll. WTF!!! For as long as I have been listning to this station it has been GOD AND COUNTRY as their motto. They have some great local host. I do not need another oldies station to listen to.

[gov_bean_ counter]

Somebody has an aversion to success.

[weegee]

Be grateful they didn’t switch format to Spanish language hosts and hip hop/dance. The trend for such flips (of stations in general) extends all the way to DC.

[Vision]

What are the call letters?

[truthkeeper]

I’m surprised they’re not changing over to Spanish.

[Uriah_lost]

Maybe it was in anticipation of the “Fairness Doctrine”. Give em hell before it’s too late. Get on all the local boards and post contact numbers. Go to any national shows they carry and alert them.
After the defeat of “comprehensive immigration reform” and the “fairness doctrine” I’m feeling pretty mighty....

[Gay State Conservative]

Be grateful they didn’t switch format to Spanish language hosts and hip hop/dance. The trend for such flips (of stations in general) extends all the way to DC.

Our local (Boston) Err America station switched to "rumba" about 6 months ago.

[Uriah_lost]

I got this from wiki:
‘WYDE’-FM
City of license Cullman, Alabama
Broadcast area Birmingham/Huntsville/Tuscaloosa/Gadsden
Branding 101.1 FM, the Source
Slogan The Voice of Alabama
First air date 1950, as WFMH-FM
Frequency 101.1 MHz
Format Talk radio
ERP 100,000 watts
Class C
Callsign meaning Bartell Broadcasting, who owned the original WYDE-AM (850) in Birmingham in the 1950’s and ‘60’s, dubbed WYDE and co-owned WAKE-AM in Atlanta as “Your WYDE-a-WAKE Stations”
Owner Crawford Broadcating Company
Website www.thesourcefm.com

looks like all the associated websites are down....looks bad for the AL listeners.

[Vision]

WYDE-FM News Talk Information 1.8 1.6 1.5 1.0

They were dead last among existing radio stations and trending badly.

Numbers represent market share of the last four quarters with the most current rating last.

In order of ratings.

WBHK-FM Urban Adult Contemporary 11.1 12.3 11.6 13.5
WBHJ-FM Rhythmic Contemporary Hit Radio 9.1 8.6 9.4 8.4
WZZK-FM Country 4.5 5.3 5.4 7.7
WDXB-FM Country 7.2 4.8 4.6 5.9
WMJJ-FM Adult Contemporary 4.9 4.5 6.1 5.2
WBPT-FM Classic Hits 4.2 3.4 4.2 5.1
WQEN-FM Pop Contemporary Hit Radio 4.9 5.7 4.8 4.3
WDJC-FM Contemporary Christian 5.2 3.3 2.4 3.8
WJOX-FM All Sports * * 1.9 3.8
WENN-FM Alternative 5.6 5.4 5.0 3.4
WZRR-FM Classic Rock 4.8 5.1 4.5 3.2
WAGG-AM Contemporary Inspirational 2.4 2.1 1.3 3.0
WUHT-FM Urban Adult Contemporary 3.1 2.9 3.9 2.9
WAPI-AM News Talk Information 1.6 1.5 1.1 2.2
WERC-AM News Talk Information 2.5 3.1 3.1 2.1
WNCB-FM New Country 1.5 1.4 1.1 2.1
WYSF-FM Adult Contemporary 5.4 6.0 4.6 1.6
WSPZ-AM All Sports * * 3.2 1.3
WATV-AM Urban Oldies 1.2 1.4 1.5 1.2
WJLD-AM Urban Adult Contemporary 1.2 1.3 0.9 1.0
WYDE-FM News Talk Information 1.8 1.6 1.5 1.0
WPHC-FM Southern Gospel * * * 0.8
WLGD-AM Oldies * * * 0.4
WAYE-AM Religious * * 0.5 *
WJOX-AM All Sports 2.1 2.7 * *
WKLD-FM Country 0.4 0.5 0.4 *
WRAX-FM Alternative 2.3 2.1 * *
WRTR-FM Classic Rock 0.4 * * *
WXJC-AM Religious * 0.5 * *
WZGX-AM Mexican Regional 0.7 * 1.0 *

[Vision]

Good God man. Urban Adult Contemporary bets Country in Birmingham?

[Vision]

Good God man. Urban Adult Contemporary beats Country in Birmingham?

[Uriah_lost]

FM talk is a tough market, it’s not what most people think of when they think “talk radio”. If it’s not working for them, they should change but I’m betting somebody will pick up the slack.

[Vision]

How is it different from AM talk?

[Uriah_lost]

Part of it is habit, part is range and part is that talk doesn’t really take advantage of the better fidelity of the FM band. I also think that, looking at those numbers, the market may have too much talk. Few markets seem to be able to support very many talk outlets. There is also a cyclical factor to political/talk type programming.

[Timbo64]

I know that the rating do not look to good for WYDE-FM 101.1 The Source. The thing is, WYDE is a 100,000 watt station that can be heard in the whole state of Alabama. While a 1.0 rating in Birmingham is bad, if you combine it with all of the other markets it reaches I wonder what the total ratings would be. I guess I knew they were in trouble when they started playing 30 to 40 public service announcements per day and never seemed to have any new advertisers. I heard that they were moving to 92.5 FM in Birmingham, but I can not get that station in north Alabama. I guess if I want to listen to Matt Murphy, I will need to listen online.

[Jabba the Nutt]

Call letters? double-ewe eff tee. ;^)

[raccoonradio]

radio-info.com board posts, Alabama:

>>Looks like Crawford is going to be having fun in Birmingham. If you go to http://www.legends1260.com you’ll see the new Fun 101.1 logo. I guess that answers what was going to happen to Legends 1260 also.

[raccoonradio]

more from radio-info:

>>http://www.radio-info.com/smf/index.php/topic,74842.0.html
This from http://www.home101show.com/

Show Notes
June 30, 2007

BREAKING NEWS...
Crawford Broadcasting is cancelling their
FM talk format. As this is a shock to all
of us I ask that you rememeber those that
were employeed by the station and are now
with out jobs.

This Saturday will be the final airing of
the Home 101 Show so please join in as
this will be a great show especially for
those around Smith Lake or other owners of
waterfront property.

---

<<This has been confirmed by someone who works at Crawford Broadcasting... possibly a flip to an oldies format is what I’m told...

[EdReform]

Damn! This is bad news. Guess I won’t be listening to the radio during the am/pm commute.

[RodR]

I would like to hear from Charles Allen Head, Bessemer, to give us the legalities of this move