In maybe one of the most controversial moves in Erie media history, Connoisseur Media (the radio group at the Boston Store) has changed their 94.7 signal from a Oldies “Froggy” format to a “Bob-FM” broad-playlist format. Now we know that radio stations change formats all the time; in fact you’d be hard pressed to pinpoint one or two years in the past twenty that didn’t have a format change on a local Erie station. So it’s not that Erie people are opposed to change (actually, they usually are) but it was the way this change was handled that has caused a revolt up here. The Froggy station was one that matched the psyche of Erie; reminiscent of an earlier, more upbeat time in the listeners’ lives, when well-paying union jobs, weekends at the beach, bugging State Street while listening to the hits on AM radio all contributed to a high quality of life. Dumping Bob and with it (at least temporarily), its popular morning show unceremoniously in the dead of winter seemed to lack good form, and smarts. Add to that a TV spot promoting the station that initially had the city’s name spelled wrong, and you really get people in a tizzy.
Putting my radio hat on, I would normally like a station like this, especially playing lots of 80’s hits. I was hoping it would remind me of an old station I worked at: WSEG Red Hot 102, where you could hear the Temptations into Robert Palmer, into the Police then Aretha Franklin with Journey after the break. But in listening to Bob, I’m hearing lots of songs, but not very good ones. I don’t want to hear some obscure Culture Club single that got to #18, just play the hits. But maybe that’s the problem with these stations; you have to endure the dross to get to the gold. There’s too much competition on the dial for that.