Update 10/16: WCLI-FM was not destined to be the first All-Christmas station for the 2014 holiday season as it flipped to Classic Country “101.5 Hank-FM” at 10am today.
Alpha Media Dayton, OH announced today the addition of a new music station; 101.5 Hank FM (WCLI) which will play iconic hit country music from the 90’s, 80’s and 2000’s that cannot currently be heard in the area.
While the Miami Valley has several country hit stations, 101.5 Hank FM promises to differentiate itself by playing the iconic artists absent from Dayton radio—musicians that made country music popular—such as Garth Brooks, Alan Jackson, George Strait, Reba McEntire, Shania Twain and Brooks & Dunn.
Alpha Media Executive VP of Programming, Scott Mahalick commented on the announcement, “The wise decision to add Hank FM in Dayton becomes part of the foundation to help increase our value as a cluster in the market. The Icons of Country format connects us to a passionate and underserved audience that continues to grow.”
According to Program Director, Brad Waldo, Hank is being built to fill a void in the musical landscape. “101.5 Hank FM is being launched because we miss the ‘golden era’ of country music and we know that a lot of people in Dayton do too. There are some great stations in the area, just none that are playing what we play. That’s why we’re running 10,000 commercial free songs at launch—we know that once people hear it, they’ll have a new favorite station.”
Alpha Media Dayton General Manager, John King, added, “101.5 Hank FM is a fun station. We want you to hear your favorite songs, we want you to laugh with us, we want you to Crank it to Hank!”
101.5 Hank FM is on-air now and can be streamed live at 1015HANKFM.com. For more on Hank, visit their FACEBOOK and TWITTER pages.
Check out the NEW 101.5 Hank FM! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eapHZuakVeA
Original Report 10/14: Alpha Media Modern AC “Click 101.5” WCLI-FM Enon/Dayton, OH has dropped its format and is currently stunting with Christmas Music as “Santa 101.5“.
We’re not ready to deem WCLI-FM as the first All-Christmas station through the end of the holiday season. 1015HankFM.com and 101HankFM.com were registered in September. Alpha already operates the Classic Country “Hank-FM” brand in Savannah, GA.
Click 101.5 will go out with a 1.3 share of the Dayton audience in the Summer 2014 Nielsen Audio ratings. Classic Country on 101.5 could help Alpha’s Rhythmic CHR second ranked “Hot 102.9” WDHT and third ranked Urban AC 92.1 WROU cut their deficit behind Cox Media’s market leading Country “K99” WHKO.
Joseph_Gallant 
Nathan Obral 
borderblaster 
stevens 
If this move had happened two weeks from now (October 28th), then yes, I would think this would be a stunt that w0uld last through December 25th.
If this stunt lasts more than three weeks (or until November 5th), then WCLI-101.5 would likely stay all-Christmas until December 25th and indeed become North America’s first Christmas station of 2014.
Or did WCLI do this because they thought that given all in the world (ISIS, Ebola, etc.), they decided to move-up the start of their Christmas format by anywhere from two-and-a-half to six weeks??
Interestingly enough, most of their homepage at this writing (October 15th at 5 P.M. EDT) still has content compatible with their previous format.
Ebola and ISIS had nothing to do with this format stunt/flip. Good grief.
Soo…. this is NOT Nash-Icons??
Similar to Nash Icons, but no
No currents (certainly no Bro Country) unlike Nash Icon and the gold goes older on Hank. I’ve heard titles from as far back as the late 60s. My understanding is that Nash Icon only goes back as far as the 1980s.
Why on earth would they put the word icon in the logo and slogan?
Why not? Icon is a buzzword right now, and Cumulus isn’t in Dayton, so there’s no confusion with an in-market Nash Icon station.