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Atlanta Radio, Really

M

max100

Atlanta radio IMO is truly embarassing for a metro this huge. Our neighboring city to the NW about 240 miles blows Atlanta off the map when it comes to variety. I am talking about Nashville. In particular they have a station called "Hippie" radio WHPY 94.5 that is amazing to listen to. Sounds like the Top 40 of yester year. This tired market (Atlanta) cannot do anything different in radio, Totally sick of it.

Check it out. Tell me you don't think this sounds cool.

http://streamdb4web.securenetsystems.net/v5/WHPYFM
 
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WHPY is a rimshot and only serves the western portions of Nashville. They don't seem to subscribe to Nielsen so there are no numbers. I would think this format will trend 55+ so probably not a big money maker.
Atlanta has had some somewhat experimental programming on the translators but none have done very well.
 
wavo said:
WHPY is a rimshot and only serves the western portions of Nashville. They don't seem to subscribe to Nielsen so there are no numbers. I would think this format will trend 55+ so probably not a big money maker.
Click to expand...

The station averages around 20th in share, with much of that being 55+, and it is about 24th in billings.

Old oldies will definitely get an audience. In most markets it can not be monetized. The bigger issue for WHPY is the very limited signal.
 
It's also basically a hobby station, run by a guy who does what he likes. Not many owners like that in Atlanta. Even the non-coms are programed to make money.
 
BS, Classic Hits had way better numbers when it was on 106.7, certainly better that what news is pulling in, and had much much better ratings on 98.9 with that disaster that is there now...
 
Atlanta has had some somewhat experimental programming on the translators but none have done very well.

max100 said:
BS, Classic Hits had way better numbers when it was on 106.7, certainly better that what news is pulling in, and had much much better ratings on 98.9 with that disaster that is there now...
Click to expand...
 
max100 said:
Atlanta has had some somewhat experimental programming on the translators but none have done very well.
Click to expand...

In essence, WHPY is a translator. Keep in mind radio doesn't exist for ratings, but to make money. If a station gets great ratings, but makes no money, it's in trouble. This station in Nashville apparently bills less than a half million a year. With that money, they have to pay salaries, rent, utilities, and all other expenses. That's not good.
 
TheBigA said:
In essence, WHPY is a translator. Keep in mind radio doesn't exist for ratings, but to make money. If a station gets great ratings, but makes no money, it's in trouble. This station in Nashville apparently bills less than a half million a year. With that money, they have to pay salaries, rent, utilities, and all other expenses. That's not good.
Click to expand...

It is a 5100kw translator, lol. Making money? Tell that to Clueless, 106.7, 98.9 and 100.5 are disaster's that need major help.

WHPY covers all of Nashville just fine, I have a friend who lives in Murfreesboro and it comes in like the other bigger sticks in the area.
http://radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/patg?id=WHPY-FM
 
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max100 said:
BS, Classic Hits had way better numbers when it was on 106.7, certainly better that what news is pulling in, and had much much better ratings on 98.9 with that disaster that is there now...
Click to expand...

If you have a HD capable radio there is a great classic hits format on 88.5 HD3. They keep saying they are "testing" so I have no idea if it is here to stay. They play some really deep cuts and do not talk at all except for the "testing" thingy.
 
max100 said:
It is a 5100kw translator, lol. Making money? Tell that to Clueless, 106.7, 98.9 and 100.5 are disaster's that need major help.

WHPY covers all of Nashville just fine, I have a friend who lives in Murfreesboro and it comes in like the other bigger sticks in the area.
http://radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/patg?id=WHPY-FM
Click to expand...

As Big A and David post over and over...if it makes no money it gets no air. David gave you the ratings and revenue numbers for Nashville's WHYP. Does that make sense to you? If you invested millions of dollars in an Atlanta FM signal would you be happy with a $0.5M return??!!
I feel your pain; I think Big A and David feel your pain. Reality is a cold footed bedfellow...
 
wavo said:
If you have a HD capable radio there is a great classic hits format on 88.5 HD3. They keep saying they are "testing" so I have no idea if it is here to stay. They play some really deep cuts and do not talk at all except for the "testing" thingy.
Click to expand...

Really,,,Thank you...
 
max100 said:
It is a 5100kw translator, lol. Making money? Tell that to Clueless, 106.7, 98.9 and 100.5 are disaster's that need major help.

WHPY covers all of Nashville just fine, I have a friend who lives in Murfreesboro and it comes in like the other bigger sticks in the area.
http://radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/patg?id=WHPY-FM
Click to expand...

The maps on Radio Locator are useless. Most "coverage" maps are based on the FCC's 50/50 contours. That means 50% of receivers will receive that signal strength 50% of the time. Another interesting fact...the receive antenna, for these predicted signals, is 30 feet above the ground. A better prediction of coverage are Longley-Rice coverage maps.
WHPY is a class A (5100 watts at aprox 330 feet) located 15-18 miles west of downtown Nashville. This signal will NOT serve the entire metro area with a city grade signal. Car reception may be OK but not indoors or "Walkman" type receivers.
 
wavo said:
WHPY is a class A (5100 watts at aprox 330 feet) located 15-18 miles west of downtown Nashville. This signal will NOT serve the entire metro area with a city grade signal. Car reception may be OK but not indoors or "Walkman" type receivers.
Click to expand...

If you run the Longley-Rice on the Canadian site at http://lrcov.crc.ca/main/, you will see that the coverage is very spotty and not good enough to provide reliable indoor reception in about 75% of the MSA.
 
max100 said:
It is a 5100kw translator, lol. Making money? Tell that to Clueless, 106.7, 98.9 and 100.5 are disaster's that need major help.
Click to expand...

While a coverage-challenged station doing "real" oldies can bill some money off local direct in a smaller market like Nashville, there is a much higher percentage of transactional business in a Top 10 market like Atlanta.

Such a niche format is the only possible choice for a limited signal in Nashville, but not for a larger signal in Atlanta.

The "oldies" (not "classic hits") format skews too old to be of interest to most transactional buyers. It may get lits of listeners in the senior to geezer demos, but it can't be significantly monetized.
 
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wavo said:
The maps on Radio Locator are useless. Most "coverage" maps are based on the FCC's 50/50 contours. That means 50% of receivers will receive that signal strength 50% of the time. Another interesting fact...the receive antenna, for these predicted signals, is 30 feet above the ground. A better prediction of coverage are Longley-Rice coverage maps.
Click to expand...

Thanks for posting this. There is a tendency to look at the 50 dbu predicted contour on radio-locator and think that lots of listening will be taking place "out there".
 
I believe Tony Richards is still one of the VPs of Federated Media as his "real job". If not, WHPY may be more of a retirement project.
 
DavidEduardo said:


Thanks for posting this. There is a tendency to look at the 50 dbu predicted contour on radio-locator and think that lots of listening will be taking place "out there".
Click to expand...

If you actually go out and measure any FM station's signal you will be quite surprised at the signal strength measurements. In the 60 dbu circle you might measure anywhere from 5-110 dbu! Higher antenna HAAT seems to help even out the numbers but they are still all over the place. It is very telling to measure several different signals in the market, all using the same panel antenna, on the same tower, and see how equivalent power/HAAT signals almost never track each other. Station A might measure 30 dbu at a given longitude/latitude and station B is at 75 dbu.
The easy way to understand radio signals at FM frequencies is to think of how visible light behaves. RF, after all, is the same thing only at lower frequencies.
 
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wavo said:
If you actually go out and measure any FM station's signal you will be quite surprised at the signal strength measurements. In the 60 dbu circle you might measure anywhere from 5-110 dbu! Higher antenna HAAT seems to help even out the numbers but they are still all over the place. It is very telling to measure several different signals in the market, all using the same panel antenna, on the same tower, and see how equivalent power/HAAT signals almost never track each other. Station A might measure 30 dbu at a given longitude/latitude and station B is at 75 dbu.
The easy way to understand radio signals at FM frequencies is to think of how visible light behaves. RF, after all, is the same thing only at lower frequencies.
Click to expand...

The visible light analogy is great. I am going to steal it for future use. :)

Again, the Longley-Rice charts show in much better detail the near-ground-level probabilities of having a useful signal at a given location. And using the Canadian site and the coordinates and HAAT data from the FCC site, it is pretty easy, although a tad cumbersome, to see a "real" approximation of useful coverage areas.

I'm reminded of my experience with the 105.9 signal in New York; a mighty 620 watts from the Empire State Building. Per the contours, it had a 70 dbu at the hotel I stayed in at 52nd and Madison. In reality, even on a higher floor, unless I had a street-facing room and put the radio next to the window, I could not hear the station.

Reality sometimes sucks.
 
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