Charlotte is trading their Charlotte cluster to Radio One. This is WBT 1110 /99.3 WLNK, WFNZ. In exchange Entercom will get stations in DC, Philadelphia and St. Lewis. Why no mention of it here?
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Entercom Trades Charlotte Cluster
- Thread starter Mike Sheridan
- Start date
It's great how Urban One is growing their cluster in this market, maybe they could move The Block to 107.9 from 92.7, so that way The Block can now out perform Powerless 98. And then move WFNZ to 92.7 from the 102.5 translator. Then perhaps WBT can use the 102.5 translator to boost their signal where its harder to receive 99.3.
Because not everybody checks this board religiously. Not like the old days.
*St. Louis.
I don’t see them sacrificing ‘LNK. Pre-Covid, Bob and Sheri pulled in a decent chunk of $ for that cluster, and are likely top 10 AM drive. If anything, I see some more spinning of the cluster to someone else...again.
OOPS! I know better, really!
They're not going to spin it to someone else. Charlotte is a market that used to be not profitable for Urban One, but they've turned that around the last couple of years. They have 2 full market signals now with 105.3 and 107.9. If they combine 92.7 and 99.3 they could cover most of the market. 102.5 could also enhance 100.9's coverage area.
I do see them flipping the formats, though. Urban One targets black audiences, and they're not going to keep WBT as a conservative talk station. They may keep it as a talk station, but I would expect a shift to more news based or liberal leaning. I don't see them keeping WLNK as an AC either. WLNK is the lowest ranked AC behind WKQC and WLKO. The one issue is that Bob and Sherri and Matt and Ramona are syndicated. Not sure what would happen to them. Urban One doesn't have any conservative talk or adult contemporary stations.
Bob was a DJ back in the early 70s. That makes him at least 70. Shouldn't he be thinking about retirement? Or at the very least he should be hosting a show for adult standards radio. I don't know how old Sheri is.
I think the most likely scenario is for them to keep the Urban AC format on 105.3, and then move the urban format to 107.9. They could add the 610 and 102.5 signal to Praise. That would enhance their coverage in Northwest Mecklenburg and Gaston counties. Then they could leave 1110 and 99.3 as talk and add the 92.7 signal. 92.7 covers Charlotte and the northern part of the market. 99.3 covers South Carolina and south Charlotte. The weak spot would be Gaston county, but they should be able to pick up the fringe signal from one or both stations. WBT has the rights to the Carolina Panthers games which is valuable, and talk makes a lot of money. WBT used to be the highest biller in the market. I don't see Urban One keeping the right wing trash like Rush Limbaugh, though. Maybe keep Matt and Ramona/Bob and Sherri and put them on the talk station? Maybe not have a local affiliate? Who knows?
Does anyone know if there is enough space for 4 or 5 stations at the studios off of West Morehead? I would bet that Urban One's current location near Carowinds is too small. They only have 5 studios total and that would be cutting it close. Ironically, prior to 2008 Radio One used to be a couple of doors down from WBTV at the corner of W Morehead and Wilkinson.
The company has branched out into other non-urban formats the last few years (Radio Now in Indy, the short lived News 92 in Houston and two La Grande stations in Indy and now Columbus, as well as the sports-formatted WXGI in Richmond, to name a few). What’s to say that the status quo remains?
(Also, middling ratings doesn’t always tell the whole picture. Revenue speaks volumes, though Covid has changed that for the moment.)
WBT has been the #1 biller every year, and last year it was about 10% over the #2 station. It has a big "don't mess with me" sign on it.
Sure Urban One doesn't do conservative talk, but they also didn't do all news either. That didn't stop them from running an all-news station in Houston for several years. So they'll do something outside the box, and do it credibly, if that's what they have to do.
But the other side of me wonders if iHeart isn't putting together a package of stations to trade in order to get this very tempting treat.
It’s true that U1 has done some non-urban formats. However, that’s only in markets with smaller black populations where they don’t want to fragment the audience, where the urban market is already saturated or where a station is not profitable (for example KROI). But make no mistake, Urban One is a company that targets the black audience first. Top biller or not, conservative talk doesn’t fit Urban One’s overall business strategy. I don’t see them keeping WBT in its current form.
Charlotte is the 12th largest black DMA. Urban One’s problem here has been that they only have one full market signal. Prior to 2012, they only had 2 class A’s that barely cover Charlotte. This deal is more about being competitive in the urban space than it is about expanding into the general market. WOSF does well, but WQNC and WPZS continue to struggle mainly due to their limited signals.
107.9 is one of the strongest sticks in the market, and if you combine 99.3 and 102.5 with 92.7 and 100.9 they can reach a much larger audience.
A business strategy is to become top biller. Otherwise its not a business strategy. It's a social agenda or something else. And that's OK. But don't confuse blowing up a top biller with a business strategy.
It's still about the benjamins
Houston is bigger than Charlotte, and so is Indianapolis. Two examples of where they have general market stations. Charlotte's MSA is 23% Black, so it is not an immense Black radio market.
WBT was priced based on revenue. They are a public corporation with a board. They can not destroy the asset value just for fun.
Like most cities, the African American population is concentrated in central city areas. If you cover the HDBAs, then you are relatively competitive. You have to program for the meters in a transactional market, and the meters are in the HDBAs.
And there is no radio DMA. That is a TV term. Metered markets have only a TSA.
Not really. Look at the percentage of Black listeners that are just in the HDBA areas... just as the percentage in the HDHA for Hispanics. Cover them, and you can win.
In any case, they are not going to touch ongoing revenue producers and certainly not the top biller in the market, an AM, when AMs are further prejudiced by the much younger average age of African Americans and where there is no other format that works, nationally, for a big AM signal in a market that size. What they might do is add an FM, even a Class A, to the AM signal.
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It might not matter anyway, given his current situation.
Of course he's not trash. His information might be, but he's very talented.
What were you trying to say here?
"They can not destroy the asset value just for fun"
You’re clearly not familiar with the Charlotte market or with the history of Radio One here.
It’s true that the largest concentration of blacks are in North and West Charlotte. However, blacks make up a large percent of the population in places like Gastonia, Rock Hill and the South Carolina side of the market.
92.7 covers Charlotte and some of the northern areas, but doesn’t reach Gastonia or South Carolina. I live in Southwest Charlotte, and I can’t pick up 92.7 indoors. Only in the car. 100.9 doesn’t even reach all of Charlotte. It’s coverage area is mostly the rich, predominantly white and Republican areas.
The only time that 92.7 has ever beaten its direct competitor (WBAV or WPEG depending on format at the time) either overall or in the demo was in 2004/2005 when Radio One bought the rights to the then #1 Tom Joyner Morning Show and moved it from WBAV to their station. That was during the diary age, and WQNC nor WPZS has ever beaten WBAV or WPEG in PPM. Things got so bad at one point, that Radio One tried to exit the market. WOSF is the only station that is competitive ratings wise. Revenue wise, WPEG and WBAV significantly outperform Radio One.
Radio One has stated publicly, and I’ve spoken with people familiar with the situation that confirm changes are coming. You don’t know what you’re talking about. They’ve explained that this deal was about deleveraging underperforming assets and being more competitive in Charlotte.
KROI operated at a loss in Houston under the Praise format, which is why they flipped it. They also already have an Urban AC and rhythmic station in the market. In Indianapolis, blacks make up a smaller percentage of the market makeup and they have an Urban AC and rhythmic station there already as well.
WBT isn't an "underperforming asset." And replacing top rated hosts with Al Sharpton won't improve billings. You can take that to the bank.
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