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No Translator for WGR?

S

SirRoxalot

Driving around WNY and trying to listen to sports on WGR is a frustrating experience. Besides the usual AM interference problems, their coverage in the car doesn't come close to their "predicted pattern". Nighttime operation is even worse as they pull into a figure 8 pattern the nulls out big chunks of Rt. 400, 219, and other well-travelled routes.

Of course, the easy answer would be to carry the Bills and Sabres on Alt 107 - potentially boosting their ratings significantly. Yes, I realize that using 107.7 as a translator for WBEN was ineffective, but the audience for sports is still young enough to find the FM/AM selector switch.

What about a translator? Star 102 - arguably the best signal in the market - has a translator, W284AP-FM at 104.7 MHz, located near UB South Campus at the old WUFO site. Star needs a translator smack in the middle of the metro? Not nearly as much as WGR does in my opinion.

Yeah, there's the KISS HD2 feed for WGR. That's in the "who cares" category for 95% of WNY listeners.
 
Isn't 104.7 a translator for ALT 107.7 not STAR?
Does the public know or care?

Airing games on 107.7 must be profitless.
The cost of paying an engineer to flip a switch back & forth
4 times a week on a 1.5 share station ain't worth it...
 
Rox suggested that Entercom air games on 107.7.
That would mean that WGR gets a simulcast on 107.7 for games.
They don't do it, so it must not be worth it...
 
Radio-locator had it listed as a translator for WTSS. You are correct. It is currently a translator for Alt 107.7 - which would make more sense if they didn't already have a translator at 107.3. Now, 107.3 may very well get crushed by Q107 at 107.1. Their signal does boom into the northtowns. I'll have to give 107.3 a listen on my travels today to see what's actually on the frequency, and what the coverage is like. Giving Alt two translators with pretty similar coverage while WGR languishes without on seems really foolish.

BTW, if I were the Sabres, I'd sure be insisting on an FM partner of some kind for WGR.
 
I doubt that they will ever try a simulcast again.
The day may come when WGR gets moved to 107.7 and
the 550 AM signal goes off to oblivion...
 
104.7 is licensed to WTSS but carries 107.7 programming. 107.3 is the original WLKK translator sitting atop the Fairfax Apartment Building on Delaware Ave. near downtown. It's also a 1kw aux site for WKSE and WTSS.
 
107.3 gets crushed by Q107 in the burbs. It wouldn't help WGR. I'm not sure it helps Alt 107.7 for that matter. They don't even mention it on their website.
 
I'm sure every AM station would like an FM translator. Some have management that can do the necessary work to locate one for sale within 250 miles, move it, get the engineering reports to see what frequency would work in their market and get FCC approval. Others haven't opted for the expense or effort... or they've been trying but have been unsuccessful.

Yet if Entercom has a translator that isn't even talked about for Alt 107.7, it would make sense to put WGR on it, and maybe improve it in some way, so it doesn't get buried by CILQ Toronto. Although the proximity to Canada may be the real problem. There just aren't that many other frequencies for a WGR translator to move to. So maybe management figures it doesn't pay to switch 107.3 to a simulcast of WGR.

BTW, is WGR really that bad? 5000 watts non-directional by day, on the second lowest spot on the AM dial. That's probably the best daytime AM signal in Buffalo, even with WWKB's 50,000 watts. But I do see the figure-8 pattern for nighttime directional service. That's not good if you are outside the pattern.

Someday Entercom may switch it to FM, perhaps 107.7. Maybe someday all these still highly profitable AM stations will have to cannibalize one of their FM sister stations currently playing music. But for now, both stations bring in money, alternative rock on the FM, sports on the AM. So 550 is where the sports will stay for now.
 
Could be the management of Entercom Buffalo discovered a few things years ago when they attempted to simulcast WBEN on 107.7. As a result, the decision makers, locally and in Bala Cynwyd may be a bit gun shy about simulcasting an AM on FM or a translator, at least as it applies to the Buffalo market. Moreover, Entercom appears to be committed to the Alt format (however droll its execution) on 107.7. Entercom is doing everything possible to get the Alt (Control + Delete) format to the ears of as many listeners, including broadcasting on 104.7, arguably the best translator in the market. Many years ago, a Class A might have been a possibility on 104.9, a mere 200 kHz up the band, had there been a legitimate petition to the Table of Assignments for a station in the suburbs south and east of Buffalo, such as Orchard Park or East Aurora. That possibility is as long dead as 105.7 once assigned to WKBW, or the first existence of WUSJ Lockport on 99.3. More tales of what might have been, gone, and never to be. As to WGR, Entercom appears content with the night signal. Regardless of its limitations in the suburbs east of Buffalo, the station and format are printing money.
 
Entercom must learn slowly. They tried a WBEN simulcast which
failed badly. Now, they're trying to force the ALT format.
All the translators in the world won't matter if the content isn't
desirable. After 3 years, they have a 1.4 share.
Props to them if they're "printing money" anyhow...
 
Entercom has translator at 107.3 sitting on the air with a very low hum and poor low audio of something mixed in. Why don't they put WGR on it or 107.7 HD2 The Lake on it? How long can a translator be on the air with no ID and no audio?
 
WJPYFM said:
Entercom has translator at 107.3 sitting on the air with a very low hum and poor low audio of something mixed in. Why don't they put WGR on it or 107.7 HD2 The Lake on it? How long can a translator be on the air with no ID and no audio?
Click to expand...

Entercom is probably focused on their big markets and the CBS stations
They are getting. Buffalo is much lower priority.
They have 4 AM stations there. That's not good in 2017.
They also have the 1 share ALT 107.7. No Young Demos there.
Even though the CBS deal doesn't directly involve Buffalo
(CBS left long ago) - some chess pieces could be disposable...
 
C'mon, 'bolt. They're not going to give up any stations in the market, and they're not giving up any markets that continually bring in a nice return on their investment.
 
Entercom is currently spinning off stations in other markets.
They turned in the license for The End in Sacramento.
(The station that had the tragic listener death WEE FOR WI contest)

I didn't say Entercom is leaving Buffalo. Remember they tried to
buy the Citadel (Cumulus) stations there. Now their focus is elsewhere.
As CBS found out, nobody is stepping up to buy Radio--
Hence the CBS/Entercom merge...
 
They gave up the license for The End in Sacramento because they were going to have to spin off stations there anyway with the CBS "merger". They were tired of paying lawyers, so they moved the format to a different frequency and turned in the license to put an end to litigation over their stupid "Hold your wee for a Wii" contest nearly a decade ago, and to clear the docket for the merger.

The Entercom/CBS merger will mean a more spin-offs or creation of a trust like iHeart's "Aloha Trust". iHeart is still making money from stations it was supposed to sell a decade ago through that trust.

I don't expect anything to happen in Buffalo other than for them to continue to bring in the most revenue in the market despite other companies having arguably better properties. The FCC will likely make some decisions on AM revitalization under Ajit Pai. Whether they will be enough to save old-line AMs like WBEN in the long run remains to be seen, but for the moment they're still churning out profit.
 
tbolt909 said:
Entercom is currently spinning off stations in other markets.
They turned in the license for The End in Sacramento.
(The station that had the tragic listener death WEE FOR WI contest)

I didn't say Entercom is leaving Buffalo. Remember they tried to
buy the Citadel (Cumulus) stations there. Now their focus is elsewhere.
As CBS found out, nobody is stepping up to buy Radio--
Hence the CBS/Entercom merge...
Click to expand...
As reported in a few trades, the initial asking price for the CBS Radio group, speculated at 9 to 9.5 times cash flow, was higher than the price Entercom paid by way of the Reverse Morris Trust, estimated by knowledgeable radio and financial types to be 7.5 to 8.5 times cash flow. As such, it's not that "nobody is stepping up to buy radio," as much as it's a matter of a seller's (CBS in this case) asking price. That's the way it goes in media today. If the price is right, the deal will be done. If not, the prospective buyer will pass. This deal worked for buyer and seller because of the tax benefits of the Reverse Morris Trust, and the ability of Entercom to support the deal through stock parlays and cash. Entercom is far healthier than Citadel was when the latter attempted to bite off more than it could chew, swallow and digest in the ABC acquisition. Entercom will have to spin some stations or put them in a trust. Some wonder if the new Entercom-CBS group will hold on to markets like Rochester and Buffalo. To this poster's perspective, it's markets like Buffalo and Rochester, where E'com is particularly healthy, that helped swing this deal. Why would Entercom sell a cluster that's turning a 35% (or higher) margin?
 
Element9 said:
Entercom is far healthier than Citadel was when the latter attempted to bite off more than it could chew, swallow and digest in the ABC acquisition.
Click to expand...

Maybe. There are always surprises, as Farid discovered. Citadel's entry to major markets came with some declining AM stations that are still a boat anchor for Cumulus. Guess what? CBS has a bunch of them too. Sure they postponed the tough decisions with AM-FM combos like WFAN and WBBM. There are still some big decisions to come. At some point, WINS and KYW will become too expensive to run as AM-only operations. The one thing I've noticed is that TV-based companies, like ABC and CBS, do things differently than radio-only companies. TV companies can spread their expenses over multiple platforms. Radio-only companies can't. Citadel, to their credit, realized they had overpaid before they took possession, and renegotiated the price. Regent didn't do as well when they bought some CBS clusters, including Buffalo. They are the poster child for buyer's remorse. Will Entercom also discover a lot of hidden costs? Probably. The thing that's hurting Entercom is they aren't invested in digital platforms. CBS is. Entercom bought a lot of the CBS Radio digital platform. But it has to be extricated from the CBSLocal TV package. I'm expecting a lot of hidden expenses there. Entercom can be a healthy company now. But they don't have a big fat wallet to draw on when the hidden expenses pop up. Alpha was a healthy company before they bought Digity. Not any more.

Yes I agree that Entercom will hold on to Buffalo and Rochester. But the home office won't be paying a lot of attention anymore.
 
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