For all of those that lament the loss of stations playing music from past decades a haven is being created in Cape May County NJ.
Coastal Broadcasting Systems will flip Alternative 106.3 WJSE North Cape May to Classic Hits “106.3 The Shore” on Monday, April 17. The new format will feature hits from the 1960s through 80s and join a very cluttered gold based space that includes Oldies “Cruisin’ 92.1” WVLT Vineland, “94.3 Wibbage-FM” WIBG-FM Avalon, 1230 WCMC Wildwood, Classic Hits “Kool 98.3” WTKU Petersburg, and Soft Oldies “Easy 93.1” WEZW Wildwood Crest.
This marks a return of the “106.3 The Shore” moniker to the market as it was previously used by Modern AC WKOE Ocean City (now 106.5 WTHJ Bass River Township) in the late 1990s. The new Shore will feature Mark Hunter in the morning (while continuing to host middays at sister AC “98.7 The Coast” WCZT Villas), ‘Rudy On The Radio’ in middays, and the syndicated Ashley & Brad in afternoons. The station will also feature 1980s centric programming on weekends.
My guess is that the median age of people living in southeastern portion of New Jersey must be much higher than the national average, for why else would the Oldies/Classic Hits format be on so many spots on the dial??
Had WJSE-106.3 been an all-1980’s or a station programming hits from 1980-1995, it might have stood a chance.
Yeah, speaking just of Cape May County, median age as of 2010 was 47 (up from 42 ten years prior) so it’s up there. Plus, the strong “retro” vibe of Wildwood is a main attraction for tourists, so they’ll likely skew older and/or have an affinity for oldies music.