12.9.20 Bee-otch of the Day: Cumulus Media

Bee-otch of the Day honors are awarded Monday through Thursday; Bee-otch of the Week is awarded Sunday morning on Chuck69.com's socials.

Name: Cumulus Media

Age: 23
Occupation: media giant
Last Seen: Atlanta, GA
Bee-otched For: not stopping the Thunder

----

Throughout much of the mid-20th century, John Fetzer was looked upon as a broadcasting genius. 

He owned several successful radio and TV stations here in Michigan and even the Detroit Tigers baseball team. Under his aegis, the team won two World Series: 1968 and 1984. 

Also under his aegis, John Fetzer owned America's most-powerful FM station, WJEF-FM 93.7 here in Grand Rapids. In 1960, the station's power was boosted to a whopping 500,000 watts. 

Throughout its history, WJEF-FM/WJFM had a number of formats: easy listening, CHR, AC and classic rock, just to name a few. John Fetzer died in 1991 and a year later, his company sold WJFM, which had lackluster ratings. The new owners decided to flip 93.7 to country music as B93. Almost immediately, B93 killed in the ratings. 

Coincidentally, B93 would become sister stations with its competitor, 101.3 WCUZ, a station that *was* GR's #1 country station before The Bee came buzzing into west Michigan. WCUZ would eventually flip to classic country until 2000 when it became classic rocker 101.3 The Fox.

There's no doubt that B93 is to Grand Rapids as WTCM is to northern Michigan, WITL is to Lansing, WYCD is to Detroit and so on. Try to mess with The Bee and you get stung. 

Just like Thunder 107.3.

When Matt Hanlon and Citadel Broadcasting launched Thunder 94.5 in 2004, they had hoped to overturn B93 in the ratings. They did not. When Cumulus bought the station, they flipped the name to Nash FM, which was a torrid idea. Then, not only did they kill the Nash name, but they moved Thunder to 107.3, but 94.5 became WKLQ again, only as AAA 94.5 The Q.

Since the move to 107.3, Thunder has done anything but taken west Michigan by storm. As a matter of fact, their ratings have been crashing ever since. Now, Thunder 107.3 is an official ratings abortion, scoring a big fat 1.0 in the latest Nielsen ratings book. 

And guess who's #1? B93. 

(BTW, We Crave Sexy Gradeschoolers was #2, WOOD-AM/FM was #3 wile GRD and LAV rounded the top five.)

I believe that in too many cases, a heritage station can never be beaten by the new kid on the block. Thunder/Nash had 16 years to beat The Bee, but it's time for a change. How about something like urban to go head to head against flea-powered-but-successful Magic 104.9? 

One thing is definitely fo' shizzle: it was also a shitty move moving WBBL back to 1340 and putting on a translator on 106.1. Because of this, good 'ol Big Huge Retard and Co. are floundering at a .1 in the ratings. Meanwhile, rival ESPN 96.1 is sitting pretty at a 1.7.

It's funny that when Cumulus bought out Citadel, I was hoping for positive change. True, KLQ is back on 94.5, though with its hipster format, it's still not as fun and edgy as the old KLQ was 20 years ago. Even worse, it may never come back. But, let's remember that Cumulus DID replace Howard Stern in many of their markets with shitty, forgettable morning shows like Lex and Terry many years ago. And yes, don't get me started on what they did to The (Dixie) Chicks.

But, don't look at me; I'm going to renew my Sirius subscription now that Howard Stern's resigned for five more years.

--

  ----

Got a Bee-otch to nominate? E-mail us @ chuck69dotcom@gmail.com. All suggestions (except for me) are welcome!

Bee-otch of the Day Archives can be seen on http://beeotchoftheday.blogspot.com

Bee-otch of the Day is a production of Chuck69.com, Grand Rapids' site for Stern, politics and more!

CHUCK69.COM IS ALWAYS ON!