WJJZ Philadelphia Drops Smooth Jazz

[EvanJ]

www.radioandrecords.com/RRWebSite/ says that WJJZ will change formats. After Clear Channel changed a different frequency with that used to have the call letters WJJZ, Greater Media gave Philadelphia Smooth Jazz back, but for less than two years. See www.philly.com/philly/blogs/the-insider/Smooth_Jazz_being_dumped.html

[Slinky]

The sweepers are saying "something new, something now". That makes me think Greater Media will go with a "newer AC" format like Fresh 102.7 in NYC to take on dominant Philly AC B101. They can't use the name Fresh because B101 owns the rights to it, but they'll probably come up with something similar.

I'd also say there's an outside shot of it being Adult CHR, or very current-leaning Hot AC, since they're emphasizing "now" in the sweepers. This would be tricky for Greater Media because they also own a Variety Hits station in Philly, Ben-FM, that would probably share a lot of audience with a Hot AC. An Adult CHR would fill a void, since Philly's CHR, Q102, leans rhythmic, but Greater Media has tried variations on Hot AC/Adult CHR in Philadelphia before, and they've all failed.

[EvanJ]

Sept 6, 2008 1:22:49 GMT -5 Slinky said:

The sweepers are saying "something new, something now". That makes me think Greater Media will go with a "newer AC" format like Fresh 102.7 in NYC to take on dominant Philly AC B101. They can't use the name Fresh because B101 owns the rights to it, but they'll probably come up with something similar.

Correct. Radio and Records says AC as Now 97.5.
Edit: The call letters changed to WNUW.