After stunting with Christmas music as “Best-FM” for two weeks, iHeartMedia flipped 92.1 WXXM Sun Prairie/Madison WI to Classic Hits “Rewind 92.1” at 6am this morning.
The new format competes directly against Entercom’s 94.9 WOLX, which is also in the process of its seasonal switch to Christmas music. Positioned as “Madison’s Greatest Hits”, the station lists Eagles, Elton John, Michael Jackson, and Fleetwood Mac as core artists.
iHeartMedia Madison announced today the debut of the new Rewind 92.1, Madison’s Greatest Hits station, effective immediately.
Rewind 92.1 will broadcast Madison’s Greatest Hits from artists including the Eagles, Elton John, Michael Jackson, Fleetwood Mac and others. The station will announce its full programming lineup at a later date.
“Local listeners haven’t had a station that consistently plays the greatest hits from the ‘60s, ‘70s and ‘80s – and now they do, with Rewind 92.1!” said Keith Bratel, Market President for iHeartMedia Madison. “We’re excited for listeners to tune in to Rewind 92.1 for their favorite music, which we believe is the perfect complement to the hit music on Z104 and the Classic Rock on 101.5 WIBA-FM.”
Original Report 11/9: iHeartMedia Liberal Talk “92.1 The Mic” WXXM Sun Prairie/Madison WI dropped its format at 11am this morning and has flipped to Christmas Music as “92.1 Best-FM“.
As reported yesterday in our Daily Domains report, the move will lead to a new format for the station under the “Best-FM” branding after the holidays. A format change had been expected since the station’s brokered afternoon show was told in late October that WXXM was cancelling their show.
92.1 The Mic goes out with a 2.1 share in the Summer 2016 Nielsen Audio ratings, by far the highest for any station in the format registered by Nielsen.
INSTANT INSIGHT: WXXM was the longest lasting and most successful of the Liberal Talk stations to launch in the mid 2000’s. While the timing of the format change following the election of Donald Trump last night will elicit a strong backlash from the station’s previous core audience, from a billing perspective there’s no way the station was making money. It’s audience skewed just as old as Conservative Talk without a flagship program to sell to national advertisers.
The format may very well see a rebound under the Trump administration, but it will need an owner that is invested in the format and willing to find a way to find that flagship national program.
iHeartMedia Madison announced today the debut of Madison’s Home for the Holidays 92.1 BEST FM, a new holiday music station for listeners in the Madison community. 92.1 BEST FM will broadcast around-the-clock festive music leading into the holiday season. Fans can listen to 92.1 BEST FM on the station’s website, http://www.921bestfm.com, as well as on iHeartRadio.com.
Beginning today, November 9, 2016 at 11 a.m.
“We’re excited to spread cheer throughout the community with popular holiday music on WXXM. Madison’s Home for the Holidays 92.1 BEST FM is a great way for our listeners to get into the holiday spirit!” said Keith Bratel, Market President for iHeartMedia Madison.
only1moore 
Eric Jon Magnuson
Looks like this was bound to happen. I’m surprised that WXXM lasted this long, but I hope Madison will get another Liberal Talker in the future.
Per the State Journal (at http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/the-mic-is-dropped-christmas-music-replaces-madison-s-liberal/article_89e1fa42-81d6-530b-9a55-66ed82fbcb60.html), Mitch Henck’s morning show continues online–and the aforementioned Devil’s Advocates “is set to start up in 20 markets in January”.