Talk

Voting to the beat of a different drummer

Voter participation isn't what it used to be, but does anybody remember casting a ballot in the referendum over which radio station plays the most music?

The question comes to mind if you happen upon TV commercials or in-house promotions for WWRM, the local radio station that calls itself the New Magic 94.9. The soft-rock station boasts incessantly that it's been "voted No. 1 again for the most music while you work!"

Says who? Well, there wasn't actually a vote. "We didn't do a ballot," says Howard Tuuri, general manager of the station that considers women at work its prime audience. "We do our own polling and survey of our audience internally."

And about that "New Magic 94.9" description. . . The station, owned by the Cox chain, has had the same format for almost three years. "Repetition is something that's really key in branding," Tuuri says. Besides, he adds, the station is new to you if you aren't already a listener.