The Infinite Dial

It's one of the year's most interesting press releases. This morning, Vallie-Richards-Donovan consultant Greg Dunkin announced that heritage AC WBEB (B101) Philadelphia would "incorporate" the Fresh FM brand, which would now be "incorporated into the [station's] programming and marketing." In doing so, the heritage AC powerhouse becomes the second "official" user of the name, following WWFS (Fresh 102.7) New York's successful January debut.

That announcement, of course, set off buzz around the industry that B101 had "gone Fresh." As of today, anyway, B101 is still called B101 and very much sounds like B101--there are still at least two '70s titles an hour (and sometimes more) on the station, which still goes as far back as 1967's "Brown-Eyed Girl." The "fresh" word appears several places on the Website. On-air, Edison's Larry Rosin reports hearing it several times in one break. But I tuned in a few minutes later and went for a half-hour without hearing it. "Most music" and "soft rock" still remain the dominant images on the station with a mix of other images also present ("five in a row," "great songs to sing along to,").

We'll revisit B101 in a future blog post. But here's B101 from 2:50-3:25 p.m. this afternoon:

Billy Joel, "She's Got A Way"
Gloria Gaynor, "I Will Survive"
Cyndi Lauper, "Girls Just Want To Have Fun"
Del Amitri, "Roll To Me"
Kelly Clarkson, "Behind These Hazel Eyes"
U2, "With Or Without You"
Mariah Carey, "Hero"
America, "Sister Golden Hair"
TLC, "Waterfalls"
Elton John, "Your Song"