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U of L sports moving to WLCL 93.9 / WGTK 970

This was bound to happen eventually. U of L has chafed at being the #2 school on WHAS Radio dating back to 2007, when UK took the priority position. It's really kind of surprising the change took so long.
 
I wonder how Iheart feels bout this move. How badly will it hurt revenue for 840 whas. That's okay your sister 100.5 your life on shuffle can take up the slack 😂😂😂
 
WildcatGuy said:
This was bound to happen eventually. U of L has chafed at being the #2 school on WHAS Radio dating back to 2007, when UK took the priority position. It's really kind of surprising the change took so long.
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Let's be clear: in 2007 UK bought the priority position, and iHeart (Clear Channel at the time) changed its programming away from the hometown and preferred university of their city of license in favor of a school from outside the market on a purely financial basis, rather than programming according to the best interest of their city of license.

Now $15 million later, congrats to iHeart for their business decision, shame on the FCC for allowing it, and I will applaud the karma that hopefully makes 790 AM leave the dial to be no more.

I say this because iHeart has few options for 790. They can't put something on it that will take audience from 840 or 1080. They can't put music on it and make any money with that. And there is nothing left to entice listeners as a sports station.

The interesting twist here is that those 4 towers occupy real estate in eastern Jefferson County that is worth more than the radio station itself. Perhaps the best business deal for iHeart and everyone concerned is to take the station dark and sell off the land.

OH BUT WAIT.... they can't!! Because iHeart sold their towers years ago to Vertical Bridge. LOL. Suckers. They deserve the situation they are in.
 
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Interesting to me is that at the last minute in 2010 Union bought 680 from Disney / ABC and started down a path to make the station what it is today. They put a lot of effort and dedication to local sports talk and they went on to prove that a small company could beat a station owned by a big company like iHeart. It has really paid off for them now with getting the play by play of Cardinals sports.
 
You guys are missing it. Iheart will come out fine, probably better financially. They were paying Iheart for the commercial inventory during the broadcasts. When the games go away; Iheart gets the inventory back, they will sell it for the same rate or better and clear the same or more money. Radio has always been willing to drop rates for bulk buys, how much do you think Iheart dropped the rate to keep Louisville on after they gave Kentucky priority on WHAS? 40% to 60% is my guess. They also have expense savings, no games = no board-ops and higher margin which Wall Street loves.

Times have changed, sad but true and these broadcast rights don't mean what they once did. All the games are on TV and video streaming via mobile devices. Pre/post game, lead-up, fan frenzy and on-air talent drive ratings and revenue. Not the game broadcasts; plus no accurate avenue to pull ratings data for these broadcasts in a dairy market.

AM radio isn't about ratings anymore, it's a buy based on passion, opinion, talent and community. Don't get me wrong, if you can get ratings it's easier but not required for success on spoken word.

My guess is this change didn't surprise Iheart, I wouldn't be shocked to learn Louisville lowballed them and Iheart walked from the deal. I've heard they did that with soccer and baseball. I do suspect changes will be made on the AM stations, they have plenty of content both local and national to complement and further flank WHAS. I see several plays for them, including a real opportunity for sports.

Unfortunately, I think the school at its fans are the real losers in this deal. The games are now on two pitiful signals with well noted deficiencies in the metro, those signals will be divided in the event of conflict with other U of L sports; which happens often. Louisville also probably lost play-by-play clearance in Cincinnati, Lexington and Somerset since they were on Iheart stations in those markets. Time will tell but this could be horrible deal for Louisville overall.

Looking forward to watching this play out, love a good David vs Goliath storyline. I really miss this strategy part of the business, don't miss all the other BS. Thanks for letting an old broadcaster contribute! Take care -S
 
Kentucky_TVandRadio said:
You guys are missing it. Iheart will come out fine, probably better financially. They were paying Iheart for the commercial inventory during the broadcasts. When the games go away; Iheart gets the inventory back, they will sell it for the same rate or better and clear the same or more money. Radio has always been willing to drop rates for bulk buys, how much do you think Iheart dropped the rate to keep Louisville on after they gave Kentucky priority on WHAS? 40% to 60% is my guess. They also have expense savings, no games = no board-ops and higher margin which Wall Street loves.

Times have changed, sad but true and these broadcast rights don't mean what they once did. All the games are on TV and video streaming via mobile devices. Pre/post game, lead-up, fan frenzy and on-air talent drive ratings and revenue. Not the game broadcasts; plus no accurate avenue to pull ratings data for these broadcasts in a dairy market.

AM radio isn't about ratings anymore, it's a buy based on passion, opinion, talent and community. Don't get me wrong, if you can get ratings it's easier but not required for success on spoken word.

My guess is this change didn't surprise Iheart, I wouldn't be shocked to learn Louisville lowballed them and Iheart walked from the deal. I've heard they did that with soccer and baseball. I do suspect changes will be made on the AM stations, they have plenty of content both local and national to complement and further flank WHAS. I see several plays for them, including a real opportunity for sports.

Unfortunately, I think the school at its fans are the real losers in this deal. The games are now on two pitiful signals with well noted deficiencies in the metro, those signals will be divided in the event of conflict with other U of L sports; which happens often. Louisville also probably lost play-by-play clearance in Cincinnati, Lexington and Somerset since they were on Iheart stations in those markets. Time will tell but this could be horrible deal for Louisville overall.

Looking forward to watching this play out, love a good David vs Goliath storyline. I really miss this strategy part of the business, don't miss all the other BS. Thanks for letting an old broadcaster contribute! Take care -S
Click to expand...

There are several problems with your analysis, #1 being iHeart doesn't sell spots on a station like 790. They give them away for "free" as value added for a buy on HAS and AMZ. They've done that for years.

Second, 790 has a very decent signal during daylight hours, but after sunset they are 1KW and highly directional, completely gone from some parts of the metro.

A simulcast of 93.9 and 105.7 covers substantially more area, better. And WGTK is 5KW 24x7.

Coverage in Cincinnati, Lexington, and Somerset remains to be seen, but as you know, if it can be sold, it will be broadcast by somebody.
 
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