October 3, 2013

V103 WVAZ Chicago/Oak Park, Illinois Celebrates 25 Years on the Air

Chicago radio, Clear Channel Media and Entertainment, doug banks, herb kent, tom joyner, V103, wgci, WVAZ

The secret to the station’s success, [Director of Programming Derrick] Brown said, is listening: “We are absolutely focused on the likes and dislikes of our listening audience, and we do our level best to meet the expectations. What we’ve seen over the years in this industry when you violate expectations, it damages your brand. I think that’s why our brand is so strong — because we listen.”

After the successful run of WBMX FM 103 in the mid 70's and 80's, V103 arrived on the scene in 1988 with a completely different sound by putting the younger audience aside and targeting adult listeners.

One key was playing oldies or "dusties" as long time radio personality Herb Kent "The Cool Gent" calls them. The station's 25th anniversary on Saturday will also mark the 85th birthday of the Radio Hall of Famer. You can catch Herb Kent's show on Saturday mornings and Sunday afternoons on V103.

FROM Robert Feder.com -- On the eve of its 25th anniversary as Chicago’s pioneering urban adult-contemporary radio station, WVAZ FM 102.7 has more to celebrate than its groundbreaking format and illustrious history.

Ratings released Monday by Nielsen Audio (previously known as Arbitron) show V103 leading the market with a commanding 6.2 percent share of all listeners and a cumulative weekly audience of 1,128,600.

And that’s no fluke: The Clear Channel station has been No. 1 overall in 17 of the last 18 books.

The station’s ratings dominance is even more remarkable considering how the radio landscape has changed. While most other formats declined when Portable People Meter technology replaced the old diary measurement method five years ago, V103 flourished.

“We took the new measurement system seriously,” said Derrick Brown, director of urban programming for Clear Channel Chicago and program director of V103. “We studied a lot and took the time to understand how the new methodology could affect us as a radio station. It took quite a bit of tweaking, but it’s worked out well for us.”

The secret to the station’s success, Brown said, is listening: “We are absolutely focused on the likes and dislikes of our listening audience, and we do our level best to meet the expectations. What we’ve seen over the years in this industry when you violate expectations, it damages your brand. I think that’s why our brand is so strong — because we listen.”

It’s quite an achievement for a unique hybrid that many wrote off as a flash in the pan when V103 debuted on Oct. 18, 1988.

Read more at RobertFeder.com...