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iheart to launch black information network on WGST

R

Rick Rose 2.0

Guest
Well Fox News Radio 640 WGST is done. Iheart is launching a new black information network on 15 stations nationwide at noon tomorrow. They are stunting with speeches from many influential blacks including President Obama. No word on who will be hosting programs on the network. The network will air on AM and Fm translators in markets with a higher percentage of black population even a full power FM in Norfolk.
 
Great idea. Timing couldn't be better. Follows in a long tradition of black-targeted news networks, going back to Sheridan and American Black Network. Surprised it took iHeart to do this and not Urban One. They owned an all-news radio station in Houston for several years.
 
TheBigA said:
Surprised it took iHeart to do this and not Urban One. They owned an all-news radio station in Houston for several years.
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Radio One actually already did this and it didn't work out so well. This was around 2005-2006, featured WOL as the flagship and AM stations in Boston, Baltimore, Miami, Detroit, and maybe a few others.

Granted, we don't really know what the 'this' is yet. Maybe iHeart has a new angle that can provide new life to this portfolio of stations.
 
encarta95 said:
Maybe iHeart has a new angle that can provide new life to this portfolio of stations.
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Correct...it's an interesting group of mainly low rated Fox News and Fox Sports stations:

https://radioinsight.com/alert/1898...tations-stunting-ahead-of-new-network-launch/

Based on what I see, it could be a combination of urban-oriented music and hourly news. They could do that easily.

Black-oriented news talk would require a bit more investment, although they have access to a few.
 
They will have some competition in Atlanta with WAOK, which has been doing Black-oriented news/talk for years. WGST has a better signal, though, at least during the day.
 
encarta95 said:
Radio One actually already did this and it didn't work out so well. This was around 2005-2006, featured WOL as the flagship and AM stations in Boston, Baltimore, Miami, Detroit, and maybe a few others.

Granted, we don't really know what the 'this' is yet. Maybe iHeart has a new angle that can provide new life to this portfolio of stations.
Click to expand...
I do remember Radio One attempting this.
 
encarta95 said:
Radio One actually already did this and it didn't work out so well. This was around 2005-2006, featured WOL as the flagship and AM stations in Boston, Baltimore, Miami, Detroit, and maybe a few others..
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But today we have the heightened awareness due to Black Lives Matter issues. Perhaps this is the time to both offer this kind of programming and when advertisers many be thinking more about ethnic group advertising.

Plus, it makes iHeart look good at this moment.
 
Mutual also had a Black network called the Mutual Black Network. It was launched in 1972 (about the time I started in radio).
So, the idea is nothing new.
From what I can tell, WAOK (1380) has the Black talk audience sewn up.
AND, have you noticed they've been on high power at nights here, recently? Hmm.
 
A bit off topic, but I can't help but recall the name of the salesperson who called on me from American Urban Radio Networks. It was Tahjma Hall.
 
TheBigA said:
Correct...it's an interesting group of mainly low rated Fox News and Fox Sports stations:

https://radioinsight.com/alert/1898...tations-stunting-ahead-of-new-network-launch/

Based on what I see, it could be a combination of urban-oriented music and hourly news. They could do that easily.

Black-oriented news talk would require a bit more investment, although they have access to a few.
Click to expand...

So far, it sounds like a network news wheel with local traffic/weather inserts.
 
CaliRadioFan said:
The call letters are chaning as well.....WBIN-AM 640 going forward (Black Information Network)
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If they make that change, they will have just trashed the second-oldest callsign in the city behind WSB. Of course, trashing heritage callsigns seems to be par for the course for iHeart (see WKLS).

WGST was the second radio station in Atlanta, owned by Georgia Tech. The callsign stands for Georgia School of Technology, the original name for Tech. Many of the older buildings at Tech have "GST" monograms and the like.

The University System Board of Regents sold WGST to Meredith around 1974, and Jacor moved it from 920 to 640 around 1988. So, for a while in the early 70s, Georgia Tech had two radio stations--the other being WREK 91.1, which Tech still owns.

I just found this: https://radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/finder?call=wbin&x=0&y=0&sr=Y&s=C

Apparently there's already a WBIN-AM, but it is silent and their license up for renewal on 1 August.
 
They have definitely requested the call letters as of yesterday per CDBS, though they are assigned to an AM in Benton, Tennessee. So potentially a WBIN-FM is coming, but not a second WBIN AM.

Also worth noting: said AM has been sold and silent for the last 9 months.
 
jabba17 said:
If they make that change, they will have just trashed the second-oldest callsign in the city behind WSB. Of course, trashing heritage callsigns seems to be par for the course for iHeart (see WKLS).
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A radio station with no audience has no heritage. And, in today's era of slogan-based station names, call signs are veritable antiques, and rather confusing to the younger generations.

Most of the world does not even use call signs on the air. In one place I owned stations, identifying by calls was not permitted!
 
I heart WGST ...

Did anyone know what the call letters were. Georgia School of Technology.now no more
 
Don't know if you remember...

awhile back, there was an article in R/W about some vintage WGST equipment found in a basement at Georgia Tech, that was simply pitched into a dumpster. There was no telling what it was and might have been just junk, as the good stuff had already been picked over by professors and students.
It was sold to Meredith in '74 so the equipment was probably older than that.
You can probably go to David's website and search for the issue of R/W that had the article in it.
 
DavidEduardo said:
A radio station with no audience has no heritage. And, in today's era of slogan-based station names, call signs are veritable antiques, and rather confusing to the younger generations.

Most of the world does not even use call signs on the air. In one place I owned stations, identifying by calls was not permitted!
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I get it, it's still a shame.

I was wondering if iHeart wanted to make a clean break since the format was changing so dramatically, with WGST being synonymous with conservative talk for over 3 decades.
 
Overall, it is a well-produced, all news radio network but the amount of news stories is rather limited. As a result, it can become boring and repetitive if you listen to it for a long period of time. My suggestion to iHeart is to add more engaging and informative African-American-oriented talk programming to make the station more appealing to listeners. lf you don't add some compelling, informative, and engaging talk programming to the Black Information Network along with the news, then it can cause listener fatigue and they will tune away from it, which will result in its ultimate demise long term.

Since iHeart owns the legendary WDIA AM 1070 in Memphis, which features Black talk programming during the day, they could nationally syndicate some of those talk shows on the Black Information Network. In addition, Midway Broadcasting's legendary WVON in Chicago, which leases iHeart-owned AM 1690, is another Urban News/Talk station they could partner with and utilize that station's resources to provide quality talk programming for the new network. In addition to nationally-syndicated programming, there needs to be programming and news that are specific to each station's local markets to keep listeners informed and engaged concerning local issues of their particular state or city. If the Black Information Network wants to be successful in the long term, these suggestions I've outlined should be implemented or at least be put into serious consideration.
 
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olmjax said:
Since iHeart owns the legendary WDIA AM 1070 in Memphis, which features Black talk programming during the day,
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Are you sure they do black talk during the day? I didn't hear any.

When you look at black talk stations such as WVON or WOL, the demo is very old. News isn't much better, but venturing into talk means leaning in a political direction, and that might be a problem. This is a better approach for what it's mean to be. Yes it gets repetitious. That's what all-news radio is. You listen to WTOP and they do the same stories every half hour. So don't expect big cume. But it's good short term listening.
 
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