101.7 Upgrade

[davideduardo]

I love the instant proclamation that WWBB will make less revenue. Sure, it may be true, but can you tell me how? Will the ratings drop? Agencies buy on things like format, demos, and ratings breakouts. In order for the signal downgrade to be responsible for a downtick in share, the signal would have to be unlistenable within the market TSA. Can you tell me what town within the Providence-Warwick-Pawtucket TSA can no longer hear WWBB?

Providence, a PPM market, does not have a TSA. Just an MSA.

And the only counties that the station has to cover are Bristol (MA), Bristol (RI), Kent, Newport, Providence, Washington. And in those counties, 75% of the population is within the new coverage area. Much of the loss is in less populated areas or outside the MSA.

 

[nowradioguy]

Well, since 96.9 dumped theirs, thereʼs no (commercial) FM news/talk...yeah, the FM n/t's have lost ground in a lot of markets, but with 6-80 sinking and 15-10 a joke, there is certainly room and justification for an FM-er (and iHR certainly has the programming—albeit birdfeed—in its stable).
I can certainly think of one gasbag on AM who would like to be on FM!

If it were Cumulus or Cox running 101.7, I'd say to go for it regarding FM news/talk, but not iHateCC. "Birdfeed" is pretty much all we'd get. They've pretty much pushed out all the local voices formerly on WOR, one of the nation's truly great heritage stations, which was ruined, IMHO, after iHateCC acquired them.

 

[nowradioguy]

Providence, a PPM market, does not have a TSA. Just an MSA.

And the only counties that the station has to cover are Bristol (MA), Bristol (RI), Kent, Newport, Providence, Washington. And in those counties, 75% of the population is within the new coverage area. Much of the loss is in less populated areas or outside the MSA.

And what about WXTK on the Cape, the other iHateCC station downgraded to enhance the bull? Will they still cover the required counties with their new signal?

 

[Eli Polonsky]

And what about WXTK on the Cape, the other iHateCC station downgraded to enhance the bull? Will they still cover the required counties with their new signal?

WXTK is 95.1, not near WBWL on the dial, and was not downgraded as far as I know. I think you mean WCIB 101.9.

On my drive through the Boston metro-south suburbs last week (Brockton, Abington, etc...) I could still hear the fringe of WCIB, though it was not as strong as before, while 101.5 WWBB, which used to be strong in those areas, was barely audible.

 

[wildthing202]

No wonder I can't hear 101.5 in Worcester County anymore. That stinks basically they took off more classic rock stations to put on even more country music. Just because it's basically redneckville outside the city doesn't mean that everyone listens to country.
That's what 4 classic rock stations basically dead in Central Mass in the past couple years or so(WODS, WORC, B101, and 101.9). It's getting closer and closer to just playing my mp3 player all the time and skipping the radio considering the stations left barely play anything good anymore. I wish they would bring back a good station like Mike FM.

 

[iyiyi]

A 101.7 B1 rimshotting Boston from Malden is destined to be second tier. Regardless of format. There are a number of full coverage stations currently dukeing it out for 2s and low 3s. Good luck!

 

[nowradioguy]

WXTK is 95.1, not near WBWL on the dial, and was not downgraded as far as I know. I think you mean WCIB 101.9.

On my drive through the Boston metro-south suburbs last week (Brockton, Abington, etc...) I could still hear the fringe of WCIB, though it was not as strong as before, while 101.5 WWBB, which used to be strong in those areas, was barely audible.

Thank you, Eli. I obviously had the two Cape stations confused. I'm glad 'XTK did not get screwed - this time, anyway. Correction graciously accepted.

Oh, hasn't anyone informed you yet that you are not even supposed to receive B101 in the Boston metro-south suburbs through which you were driving?
I know a variant of that message was made abundantly clear to me by a couple of other insiders. From one of them:

"The only counties that (B101) has to cover are Bristol (MA), Bristol (RI), Kent, Newport, Providence, Washington. And in those counties, 75% of the population is within the new coverage area. Much of the loss is in less populated areas or outside the MSA."

So, you see, who do we think we are, expecting B101 NOT to have made way for The Bull?

 

[Wimmmex]

So, you see, who do we think we are, expecting B101 NOT to have made way for The Bull?

I don't know...a couple of self-indulgent listeners who think the entire radio business should cater to their whims and desires?

(BTW...Who is the "we"?)

 

[Unregistered]

A 101.7 B1 rimshotting Boston from Malden is destined to be second tier.

WXRV is a rimshot. WPLM is a rimshot. A tower 6 miles from the Pru (closer than any of the 128 stations!) is not a rimshot.

 

[nowradioguy]

Providence, a PPM market, does not have a TSA. Just an MSA.

And the only counties that the station has to cover are Bristol (MA), Bristol (RI), Kent, Newport, Providence, Washington. And in those counties, 75% of the population is within the new coverage area. Much of the loss is in less populated areas or outside the MSA.

So, where exactly is the antenna for B101 now? Still in Rehoboth, MA, or was iHateCC able to move it to the "Superman" building in downtown Providence?

Were they required to reduce power? If so, would they really still be able to cover the six counties you mentioned?

 

[reelyreal]

The WWBB antenna is on the roof of One Financial Plaza (the Hospital Trust tower.) It's running 6kw. The 60 dBu contour of the new signal covers all or part of all of those counties, and more importantly covers the vast majority of the population. It's not going to effect ratings much if the station's signal is weaker in Burrilville, it's just as strong in Providence.

 

[nowradioguy]

The WWBB antenna is on the roof of One Financial Plaza (the Hospital Trust tower.) It's running 6kw. The 60 dBu contour of the new signal covers all or part of all of those counties, and more importantly covers the vast majority of the population. It's not going to effect ratings much if the station's signal is weaker in Burrilville, it's just as strong in Providence.

interesting that you mentioned Burrillville (RI).

From the mid-60s till 1989, when it switched to oldies, 101.5 FM was WLKW-FM, sister to WLKW 990 AM, whose 50-KW transmitter and six-tower directional array were in Burrillville. The two stations went their separate ways regarding co-ownership probably sometime in the 90s.

When WLKW 990 AM signed on in 1961, they billed themselves as "Rhode Island's first and only 50,000-watt station". In fact, the call letters "LKW" mean 50 (L in Roman numerals) kilowatts. The FCC was rather clever back then.

 

[iyiyi]

I love the instant proclamation that WWBB will make less revenue. Sure, it may be true, but can you tell me how? Will the ratings drop? Agencies buy on things like format, demos, and ratings breakouts. In order for the signal downgrade to be responsible for a downtick in share, the signal would have to be unlistenable within the market TSA. Can you tell me what town within the Providence-Warwick-Pawtucket TSA can no longer hear WWBB?

Agencies aren't dropping buys because you can't hear WWBB nearly into Boston. They don't care. Neither do local advertisers. Let's say I own a bakery in Cranston... do I care how well WWBB comes into Connecticut? No.

B101 has been iHM's Providence cluster top rated station for a long time. Usually in the 7s. Cool 102 has been equally dominant on the Cape and Islands.

101.7 has always been a major market midget in Boston. A 101.7 B1 rimshotting Boston from Malden? What do you think?

This deal sets a bad precedent for radio.

See you in a few Books!

 

[Kent]

Keep in mind, when Clear Channel sold to the private equity firms that eventually created iHeartMedia, 90% of the company's revenue came from the top-20 markets. Markets 21-50 only added another 5%.

A mediocre player in Boston stands to make a lot more than a top-rated station in Providence. Prior to the recession, the top rated stations in Boston individually billed more than the entire Cape Cod market, which has always been a difficult place to make money. Cape has always had a reputation for underperforming in the revenue category. Plus, most everyone in the Providence and Cape Cod market who presently listens to B-101 or Cool 102 will still be able to hear them.

I wouldn't say this deal sets a bad precedent for radio. If it's anything bad, it follows plenty of other bad precedents. I grew up in Texas and Oklahoma, and almost every station in the Sherman/Denison market left to be a second or third class Dallas/Ft. Worth station. Several stations in Beaumont/Port Arthur, including its top rated station at-the-time, up-and-moved into Houston. Why wouldn't they? Even as also-rans, pretty much every one of those stations is billing more in the larger markets than they could have if they'd stayed. At least Providence and Cape Cod get to keep their stations. Sherman/Denison and Beaumont/Port Arthur didn't even get that.

 

[JustinT]

B101 has been iHM's Providence cluster top rated station for a long time. Usually in the 7s. Cool 102 has been equally dominant on the Cape and Islands.

iHeart owns plenty of signals in each market. If iHeart believe that full-market coverage is extremely important to WWBB, then it will be on 93.3 in a few books.

Unless there are maps that I haven't seen, WCIB stays on the same tower, with a null taking out its signal on the South Shore. Signal on Cape Cod isn't impacted at all.

 

[raccoonradio]

Today's NERW column at http://www.fybush.com mentions the move to become a B1 from Medford,which will result in a minor downgrade of WCIB and says Boston city listeners might get multipath problems but it also says areas like the Merrimack Valley could get a clearer signal, and iHM may well want to keep harvesting the country audience.

Still less powerful than KLB but enough to grab some part of the audience and be a thorn in GM's side?Maybe a small thorn..and like what was said above they would sacrifice signals in Prov and on the cape,a bit to help out their Boston signal.

 

[Unregistered]

B 101 's weak signal

One can only hope that as a result of the downgrades, that CC will lose shares on all three stations. B 101 will not even cover all of the southcoast. They will have destroyed the strong signal the Cape, and hopefully Greater Media's 102.5 will castrate the bull. It could not happen to a better company.

The Bull with its new signal showed no gain. B 101 went from a 7.3 share with 450,000 cume to a 4.7 share with a 274,000 cume. That share and cume will continue to tumble as listeners will become annoyed with its weak signal on the southcoast. Good move CC.

 

[Unregistered]

B101 has been iHM's Providence cluster top rated station for a long time. Usually in the 7s. Cool 102 has been equally dominant on the Cape and Islands.

101.7 has always been a major market midget in Boston. A 101.7 B1 rimshotting Boston from Malden? What do you think?

This deal sets a bad precedent for radio.

See you in a few Books!

B101 has only been #1 in the 6+.
WHJY is the top dog in the Providence group, in terms of demos and revenue.

 

[Uncle Kaimbridge]

Tweaking Format Slant?

It appears they may be tweaking their slant a bit—including more traditional current ballads that have been avoided up to now (e.g., Eric Paslayʼs “She Donʼt Love You”) and adding some older stuff (e.g., Rascal Flattsʼ “Fast Cars And Freedom” and Jason Aldeanʼs “The Truth”).
Also noticed this week that they got a new imaging/VO guy—?

 

[raccoonradio]

http://www.bostonglobe.com/magazine...-music-soul/kc65VvEuCb138mUpXIPaRK/story.html
WKLB vs WBWL:Inside the battle for Boston's country music soul