For the last few weeks I have been listening to Winnipeg’s new radio station FAB 94.3. I’ve heard a few opinions, good and bad, about the station’s new format, and I have a few opinions of my own.
I’m going to try and be fair balanced about it, but there are a few things I don’t like about FAB. That being said, there are a lot of things I do like about FAB. I’m going to start with the good things about FAB, just because there are a lot of good things; at the very least, FAB has a lot of potential.
They’ve taped into music that isn’t really represented in Winnipeg. It’s basically a top 40 of the 60s and 70s. It’s going to be pretty hard to go wrong there. In Winnipeg the closest comparable stations are 92 CITI and K-ROCK. BOB FM and POWER 97 might over lap with FAB sometimes, but for the most part, I think those two aren’t really that close, as far as what they are playing is concerned. The Stuff that CITI and K-ROCK are playing is still going to be pretty different, mainly because FAB is playing Top 40 stuff so it’s going to play quite a bit more soul, and they even play a little bit of Yacht Rock, while K-ROCK and CITI are pretty much only going to play classic rock.
That slight difference is going to allow FAB to play a lot of really cool stuff you won’t here on any other station in the city. For example, I’ve heard FAB Play Al Green, and I don’t think there is anyway you’ll hear Al Green or Martha and The Vandellas on another Winnipeg station. That’s just one example. I don’t have a list compiled or anything, but they play a lot of other good stuff from Mo-town and Staxx.
As far as the bad things go, well, let’s see. I don’t think they take advantage of their format as much as they should. They play a lot of boring music. Sometimes they’ll play something kick-ass like, Hold On I’m Coming, or Born To Run, but then they follow it up with a snoozer. It’s a total buz kill.
Another thing they’ve fallen into is pretty much the same thing almost all other stations have fallen into, and that’s they don’t play enough variety. I swear I hear Soul Man by Sam and Dave at least once a day. Don’t get me wrong it’s a good song, but Sam and Dave have other ones switch it up, and that goes for pretty much every other artist they play as well.
The third thing that bugs me about FAB is the promos. I think they could be way better. I know I’m not in the demographic FAB is targeting, but I don’t think their Target demographic is as isolated as they think, or as old. I mean, they’re playing some of the coolest music ever recorded, at least they could be. The promos should be cool. I don’t want to hear about how this music created the generation gap, and I’m pretty sure no one else does either. The promos should be about how the music is timeless or it actually has a groove. Why not, “you’re listening to FAB 94.3. We got that groove now,” or “Don’t fight it feel it, FAB 94.3 the hits of the 60s and 70s. You want soul, we got it.” Those are just off the top of my head. I Just think they could try harder to be cooler.
Now to what other people have said, this is something I don’t want to spend too much time on, but I do want to mention one point. I’ve heard a few people saying they liked the old hits of the 90s format. I don’t agree with that, because I think the 90s market is getting played on a lot of stations so it had a lot of competition. I’ve just heard a few people saying that. I wonder how many of those people still listen to FAB, maybe they should consider aiming at that demographic a bit more.
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