I was listening to Bloomberg yesterday morning and they had announcements running quite frequently directing anyone who is listening on 1200 should tune to 106.1 in Boston and the North Shore and 1330 in Metrowest and the South Shore. Looks like the change at 1200 will be coming very soon.
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Bloomberg 1200 format change soon
- Thread starter DavidZ
- Start date
Around July 4 there came the news that Bloomberg was going on 1330 and 106.1 on July 4, as well as the HD2 of WBOS.At the time I thought, OK well 1200 would soon drop Bloomberg but @bostonradio said the contract with iHeart "expires in Feb." So yes, that will exit 1200 (as well as Jamn 94.5's HD2).
WKOX 1430 is to be sold; not sure how long that will take but I'd think iHR/Premiere's syndie talkers like Rush and some Fox Sports Radio, now on 1430, could wind up on 1200 and maybe both stations would air it till sale closes (similar to 1200 and 1430 when they ran Air America).A matter of clearing shows and ad spots in town. (In Pittsburgh, when their conserv talk 104.7 went to more profitable country, they moved the talk to WJAS 1320, owned by someone else, and may even be housing 1320 in their complex...just getting the shows out there...)
Speculation had Rush going to 680 but for now at least, Kuhner stays on RKO.
WKOX 1430 is to be sold; not sure how long that will take but I'd think iHR/Premiere's syndie talkers like Rush and some Fox Sports Radio, now on 1430, could wind up on 1200 and maybe both stations would air it till sale closes (similar to 1200 and 1430 when they ran Air America).A matter of clearing shows and ad spots in town. (In Pittsburgh, when their conserv talk 104.7 went to more profitable country, they moved the talk to WJAS 1320, owned by someone else, and may even be housing 1320 in their complex...just getting the shows out there...)
Speculation had Rush going to 680 but for now at least, Kuhner stays on RKO.
@bostonradio had heard Bloomberg contract expires at end of Feb
Yes, so who knows--maybe something else debuts tomorrow
@bostonradio tweet:
I heard the contract w/Bloomberg runs out at end of Feb. so can’t be much longer for 1200 to go back to Premiere talk. ...I suspect @talk1430 and @talk1200 will run a simulcast for a bit to transition a few hundred listeners from 1430 to 1200 😷😷
@bostonradio tweet:
I heard the contract w/Bloomberg runs out at end of Feb. so can’t be much longer for 1200 to go back to Premiere talk. ...I suspect @talk1430 and @talk1200 will run a simulcast for a bit to transition a few hundred listeners from 1430 to 1200 😷😷
If so, typical Cheap Channel lack of vision and creativity
True but they get to please Rush's sponsors etc who will know their ads are reaching however few people in the Boston market.Running some Fox Sports shows (also Premiere), part of the glut of sports talk networks, also a way to make a few bucks but what becomes of that $20B debt that has some action coming by 2019...do they go bankrupt and sell off parts of the company?
(Variety in Dec.:"iHeart is saddled with nearly $20 billion in debt as a legacy of its leveraged buyout in 2008. Of that, approximately $8.4 billion comes due in 2019, and the company has no obvious way to repay it.")
And who will buy 1430? Salem just sold off their no-ratings, no-earnings 1260, so may not be them...
(Variety in Dec.:"iHeart is saddled with nearly $20 billion in debt as a legacy of its leveraged buyout in 2008. Of that, approximately $8.4 billion comes due in 2019, and the company has no obvious way to repay it.")
And who will buy 1430? Salem just sold off their no-ratings, no-earnings 1260, so may not be them...
https://apps.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-92-361A1.pdf
D. Simulcasting
59. Apparent uncertainty emerges from some partles'
pleadings regarding our rules governing the simulcasting
of programming as a result of the increased ownership
permitted within a market under Our new local ownership
limits. We will take this opportunity to clarify our
simulcasting rules. Simulcasting remains unlimited for stations
in different services. For stations in the same service
whose principal community contours overlap such that
the overlap area constitutes more than 50 percent of either
station's principal community contour area. simulcasting
may not exceed 25 percent of either station's daily broadcast
time. These rules apply both to stations commonly
owned and to those separately owned but time brokered.
Our rules will be clarified where necessary.
Interesting regarding simulcasting...though I wonder if 102.1 and 105.3 on the NH seacoast get away with it? (Hampton NH/ Kittery ME, not so far apart?)
From Oct of 2004 through Dec of 06, what was then WKOX 1200 and WXKS 1430, from what was then Clear Channel, both ran Air America.Later WKOX boosted power and changed COL from Framingham to Newton. In early 2010* IIRC, CC/iHR swapped call letters and 1200 went conservative talk as Rush Radio.That lasted a couple years.
By 2015, WRKO wanted to dump Rush.WMEX wasn't interested in Rush so on the same day Kuhner went to noon on 680, iHR changed 1430 to conserv talk with some Fox Sports.
So if iHR wants to at least temporarily do conserv talk on 1200 and 1430, the signals overlap enough that it breaks the rules.If so, then iHR could throw something else on 1430 temporarily..
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*---How I recall the year: Ted Kennedy died in Aug of 09.Special election to replace him was in Jan of 2010.Not long after, there were rumblings about 1200 going conserv talk, which they did, a couple months later.Brown won the special election but lost in 2012 to Warren, who's up for re election this year.
From Oct of 2004 through Dec of 06, what was then WKOX 1200 and WXKS 1430, from what was then Clear Channel, both ran Air America.Later WKOX boosted power and changed COL from Framingham to Newton. In early 2010* IIRC, CC/iHR swapped call letters and 1200 went conservative talk as Rush Radio.That lasted a couple years.
By 2015, WRKO wanted to dump Rush.WMEX wasn't interested in Rush so on the same day Kuhner went to noon on 680, iHR changed 1430 to conserv talk with some Fox Sports.
So if iHR wants to at least temporarily do conserv talk on 1200 and 1430, the signals overlap enough that it breaks the rules.If so, then iHR could throw something else on 1430 temporarily..
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*---How I recall the year: Ted Kennedy died in Aug of 09.Special election to replace him was in Jan of 2010.Not long after, there were rumblings about 1200 going conserv talk, which they did, a couple months later.Brown won the special election but lost in 2012 to Warren, who's up for re election this year.
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Maybe. For the entire month of April 2016 AM 1270 in Springfield, Massachusetts ran on repeating loop in Spanish "Big News Springfield, Massachusetts! BOMBA Radio is now on 104.5 FM and 1490 AM!"
At that time Kool Radio was simulcast on 1490 AM West Springfield and 990 AM in Southington and for two months they ran an announcement like every commercial break "Kool Radio is moving down the dial in Springfield to 1270 AM on May 1st. Set a preset now for the all new Kool 1270 AM." (Depending on what type of radio you have 990 can be picked up in Springfield during the daytime, so it didn't matter that Kool Radio was unavailable in Springfield for a month).
1200 is leased by Bloomberg, I Heart has nothing to do with the programming.
Bloomberg found a better dance partner when Beasley got the 106.1 translator for their existing AM WRCA before the Greater Media merger was completed.
Bloomberg decided to grab the opportunity to get on a better signal/signals and cut a deal with Beasley, and that meant 1200 was redundant and as soon as the lease ran out they would be off of 1200.
That was a no brainer.
So with a new leased time agreement in place for WRCA and the 106.1 translator, Bloomberg buys WNBP and their 106.1 translator, giving them pretty good market coverage.
1200 AM is the proverbial 3rd wheel on a date, there is no need for it, and the reason Bloomberg is telling people to follow them around the dial is 1) they can, and 2) why wouldn't you want the listeners you have cultivated to know where you are going?
Sounds like good planning to me.
Bloomberg found a better dance partner when Beasley got the 106.1 translator for their existing AM WRCA before the Greater Media merger was completed.
Bloomberg decided to grab the opportunity to get on a better signal/signals and cut a deal with Beasley, and that meant 1200 was redundant and as soon as the lease ran out they would be off of 1200.
That was a no brainer.
So with a new leased time agreement in place for WRCA and the 106.1 translator, Bloomberg buys WNBP and their 106.1 translator, giving them pretty good market coverage.
1200 AM is the proverbial 3rd wheel on a date, there is no need for it, and the reason Bloomberg is telling people to follow them around the dial is 1) they can, and 2) why wouldn't you want the listeners you have cultivated to know where you are going?
Sounds like good planning to me.
They may have been making announcements for awhile saying the various frequencies, of the Beasley and Bloomberg stations only but not iHR's 1200.Unless there are new ones implying that 1200 will soon be gone, so instead tune to.... Possible the only time the iHeart stations get mentioned is TOH IDs, so then you'll hear "WXKS Newton, WJMN HD2 Boston"..because they have to.Calls, not frequencies.
The problem is that all the Bloomberg signals owned by Beasley, and in the case of the Newburyport signals by themselves are inadequate as far as full market coverage.
Bloomberg's Sweeper " WRCA 1330 serving Metrowest and the South shore" is far from accurate.
To express satisfaction that everyone did a complete job on the potential reach of targeted listeners for this format is shortsighted, and provincial.
Your statement that the Beasley signals are stronger is FALSE.
Stronger than what?
With WBZ 's future as a NEWS station in question, Bloomberg Boston provides for me, a pretty good alternative, but not if I can't hear it past sundown, or not all just a mere 25 miles west of Boston
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If you go by radio locator 's map, metro west is a fringe area during the day, and not in the pattern at all at Night.
BUT IF YOU ACTUALLY LISTEN TO IT WHILE DRIVING ALONG 495, YOU WILL EXPERIENCE THE SAME DIFFICULTY AS ME.
YOUR POSTING THE LINK FOR A RADIO LOCATOR MAP IS NOT A MEA CULPA, BUT MORE OF AN ESTIMATE
BUT IF YOU ACTUALLY LISTEN TO IT WHILE DRIVING ALONG 495, YOU WILL EXPERIENCE THE SAME DIFFICULTY AS ME.
YOUR POSTING THE LINK FOR A RADIO LOCATOR MAP IS NOT A MEA CULPA, BUT MORE OF AN ESTIMATE
I suppose it depends on how far West "metro-West" continues. ;-)
If it's Framingham/Natick/Wellesley/Natuick/Normwood/Canton Welelsley...they are in the 'purple' area, which is not Fringe. I've heard RCA there during the day pretty well.
Also, they only care about during the day when the markets are open.
During my childhood in Sharon, I remember my town and neighboring Canton being called "South Shore" communities. I still don't think of Canton, or Norwood for that matter, as Metro West. But then, I'm not sure the term Metro West existed pre-1970 (my final year in Sharon).
Because I worked for a Bloomberg station.
Because I have seen ratings/research/sales data.
No, not often....but I (once) worked with them everyday.
What they really cared about was penetrating downtown Boston buildings and being on FM.
Have you noticed 1200 and 1330 aren't the same all day?
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