Sure, all they need is 1480 or 610 for the market clear, but with 102.5's signal covering a chunk of Philly and most of Camden, putting the BIN on there too might not be that bad of an idea. How many people are listening to the Gambler on 102.5 (or... the Gambler at all?)
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iHeart's BIN coming to Philly
- Thread starter atthestars
- Start date
Sure, all they need is 1480 or 610 for the market clear, but with 102.5's signal covering a chunk of Philly and most of Camden, putting the BIN on there too might not be that bad of an idea. How many people are listening to the Gambler on 102.5 (or... the Gambler at all?)
Leasing an AM is not really what I expected, but I guess it was never out of the realm of possibility. I think it would make sense for BIN to go to 102.5/1480 simply because of the FM translator (yes, they could change the translator's originating station).
It’s on a full class B stick in Norfolk. It’s on a good signal in Detroit, too, with 50,000 watts day and 10,000 watts night (though the night signal, especially, is highly directional). So, I wouldn’t say Philly is the only market with BIN on a flamethrower. It is, however, one of the few as most BIN affiliates are on translators and/or peanut whistle AM's.
https://www.facebook.com/610ESPN/videos/311611750063660/
Here's a link to a Facebook video podcast of yesterday's "Museum of Sports" show. The first bit is cut off so you don't hear any explicit mention of BIN launching on 610 but you can hear them discussing this being their last show on WTEL, the show moving to WWDB next week, and "sports going away" on 610.
DCRTV.com is reporting that iHeart is buying WUST in Washington DC, a 50KW daytime/3KW night station, most likely to carry BIN.
WUST is daytime only - 50kW daytime, 3kW critical hours. I don't see any translators attached to either WUST or WTEL though I suppose iHeart could swing that if they wanted to, at least in DC.
Once again, their goal is to get a market clear for national sales. That's it. They get that with WUST and WTEL.
iHeart theoretically could repurpose their DC translator W284CQ for BIN. Currently airs a (lackluster) political talk format that seems to generally serve as a market clear for some syndicated shows.
If they wanted to use the translator, they didn't need to buy WUST.
We have liftoff... kinda.
At around 11:57, WTEL broadcast a final station ID into Roy Rogers '"Happy Trails" (followed by another station ID on top of the end of the song). Then came a bit of dead air before joining Barack Obama mid-sentence in what sounds like the pre-launch speech montage used before the initial BIN launch, complete with the message between speeches promoting an announcement at 12 noon today (presumably the full BIN launch).
They also snagged WDAS HD-2. The HD broadcast of "The Gambler" has shifted to WRFF HD-2, bumping off their Premium Choice rock station feed
At around 11:57, WTEL broadcast a final station ID into Roy Rogers '"Happy Trails" (followed by another station ID on top of the end of the song). Then came a bit of dead air before joining Barack Obama mid-sentence in what sounds like the pre-launch speech montage used before the initial BIN launch, complete with the message between speeches promoting an announcement at 12 noon today (presumably the full BIN launch).
They also snagged WDAS HD-2. The HD broadcast of "The Gambler" has shifted to WRFF HD-2, bumping off their Premium Choice rock station feed
Upon further research it appears that there is a CP for WUST to run 50 watts at night.
Is any ad agency in 2020 fooled into thinking that it matters that you're cleared on an AM facility in a market with an aversion to AM listening (DC), without an FM presence? If iHeart is buying some of these AM-only facilities, I guess they believe the clearance on even an AM OTA means something to some ad buyer somewhere. Can't figure out why though.
I'm also noticing that in terms of the operations of WUST, iHeart has entered an LMA and "asset purchase agreement" with the owners of WUST... is this just an overly complicated way of saying that iHeart is buying it?
An agency does not look at AM or FM... they look at numbers. What is the AQH audience in the target for their client?
The problem with general market AMs in DC has been coverage... there is not one station on AM that covers the entire MSA day and night.
However, this specific AM in DC does a fairly good daytime job of covering much of the African American population. And since Nielsen used HDHA and HDBA focused sampling to achieve sample balance, if the signal covers the HDBA well then they could get at least a decent level of listening.
Further, I believe the network is available from Alexa and other streams, so the will supplement the coverage that way. The assumption is that African Americans who would listen to a talk format would be users of new media devices and audio sources because the content appeals to a better educated and well informed segment of the population.
It is quite common for a buyer to lease a station ahead of the purchase. Because the FCC has taken considerable time in the past to approve station sales, a buyer who is very interested in immediately beginning operations will lease in the interim.
There can also be stipulations in the lease/purchase agreement about resolving specific issues that impede finalizing the sale. These can range from contamination at the transmitter site to pending litigation to satisfactory termination of existing contracts.
Yes, this is normal. And yes, this is like "rent to own" but for a radio station, not an overpriced TV.
They're not buying individual markets. They're buying reach. That means they're buying 25 of the Top 25, or something like that. And this is just a line item on a sales package that involves many other things, including online.
Funny thing is iHeart sold their 3 AM'ers in the DC market around 2-3 years ago, now they're buying back in. Radio can be a strange business.
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