I don't think it has happened here yet, but I've been noticing almost daily, there's another AM station turning in their license. I know not as many people listen as they used to, but it's still sad to see it happening.
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AM radio: A dying breed
- Thread starter neosolbrudda
- Start date
You're not the only one to notice:
Cumulus Adds To AM Station Death Count | Radio & Television Business Report
In October 2020, Cumulus Media made an executive decision as to whether or not the transmitter for a pair of AM radio stations serving Savannah, Ga., should be repaired, or if it was more prudent to surrender the licenses of the facilities. Cumulus chose the latter. Now, Cumulus has decided to...
www.rbr.com
For years, especially before the bankruptcy, Cumulus was in a bunch of markets, especially the smaller ones where it was common for them to have 2-3 AM’s, often weak signals carrying canned sports talk, second or third rate talk or the like. A lot of these smaller market properties have been sold (including entire clusters) or they’ve divested or surrendered licenses for AM’s.You're not the only one to notice:
Cumulus Adds To AM Station Death Count | Radio & Television Business Report
In October 2020, Cumulus Media made an executive decision as to whether or not the transmitter for a pair of AM radio stations serving Savannah, Ga., should be repaired, or if it was more prudent to surrender the licenses of the facilities. Cumulus chose the latter. Now, Cumulus has decided to...
I’m sure if there was money on the table for them, cumulus would gladly sell the AM’s instead of turning the licenses in.
From what I can see, they got saddled with a lot of boat anchors in the Citadel deal.
Probably will be the same programming as on the Florida stations: About Us
So Mortensen is getting out of Dallas. Welp there goes black gospel in the DF-Dub.
Those, and they were already running sizable clusters in a lot of small markets in small towns in states with a lot of small radio markets - OH, WI, MI, the general west, etc. These clusters had 2 or sometimes 3 AMs that were generally sub optimal. The large market ones are the opposite signal wise, but seem almost as impactful ratings wise (unless you count WMAL when it was still on AM, WBAP, and WJR).
That's exactly what I was thinking... I don't even know what to say...
Maybe iHeart will flip 970 from the BIN simulcast.
Uhhh no...If that was the case they never would have bought KHVN in the first place.
It was likely a "both or neither" type of transaction. iHeart could still flip 970 as both stations have similar coverage areas.
They could, but I doubt it. I feel they have a stronger committment to keep the 970/1630 simulcast going for the BIN.
970 and 1630 pretty much have the same coverage area. iHeart could flip 970 back to Gospel without any blowback, as both stations would still target the same demographics.
If Radio One had a third FM signal in DFW, they might likely use it for their "Praise" syndicated format as is done in Houston.
Praise is a placeholder. The format is not commercially viable except in a couple of deep South markets
Well it must be viable in Houston, because Urban One put Praise back on 92.1.
David, I agree with you, which is why many of us on the Houston board have been beating the drum for Radio One to sell KROI. I can think of at least ten scenarios where KROI would do much better under fresh ownership. Many of us are just puzzled why RO would relaunch the format after it failed in its original 2006-11 incarnation.
Viable as a very low-cost "placeholder".
What else can they do? Even with the new tower location, the station is a rimshot. It was good "back in the day" as a classical station, but has never found a niche ever since.
As Mediafrog and Ryan say, this is a way of cutting the losses during the pandemic and looking for future possibilities, including a sale. The format is way too old to be commercially successful.
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