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Non-comm. changes

Tim said:
Radio hobbyists are idealists who seem to forget even non comms can’t be all things to all people without regard to revenue sources that pay employee salaries.
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It's not about being "all things to all people." It should be about fairness in regards to some of the shows being cut from the main signal and being moved to HD signals which many listeners are not aware of or don't have the equipment to receive them. As I said earlier, the HD radios are not all that expensive and are in a lot of cars but that doesn't help those who are confused by change and this tends to be older folks. It will the "radio hobbyist" more than likely who will help those listeners navigate these changes.

What's interesting about the change to full time classical on WCPN 90.3 is that Ideastream WVIZ has very little musical arts programs except at membership drive times. You would think with five channels on OAT, that more musical programming could be on one of those at some time. The last few years, WVIZ has shown very little of the Metropolitan Opera for example where WEAO/WNEO has that programming regularly on most Sunday afternoon on 49.2/45.2 as well as the Classic Arts Showcase overnights. Being that Cleveland is the home of the Cleveland Orchestra and other musical organizations, you would think WVIZ would take more of a lead in that area but it's the Akron PBS that does a better job in that genre.
 
VintageMac said:
It's not about being "all things to all people." It should be about fairness in regards to some of the shows being cut from the main signal and being moved to HD signals which many listeners are not aware of or don't have the equipment to receive them. As I said earlier, the HD radios are not all that expensive and are in a lot of cars but that doesn't help those who are confused by change and this tends to be older folks. It will the "radio hobbyist" more than likely who will help those listeners navigate these changes.

What's interesting about the change to full time classical on WCPN 90.3 is that Ideastream WVIZ has very little musical arts programs except at membership drive times. You would think with five channels on OAT, that more musical programming could be on one of those at some time. The last few years, WVIZ has shown very little of the Metropolitan Opera for example where WEAO/WNEO has that programming regularly on most Sunday afternoon on 49.2/45.2 as well as the Classic Arts Showcase overnights. Being that Cleveland is the home of the Cleveland Orchestra and other musical organizations, you would think WVIZ would take more of a lead in that area but it's the Akron PBS that does a better job in that genre.
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Just because WCLV had long championed Cleveland Orchestra broadcasts doesn’t mean that WVIZ ever had that same focus.

It’s also tough to say, but the fact ethnic programming of any sort remained on a mid-major NPR member station in 2022 was something of a miracle.
 
I do not like Classical stations that also play Jazz. They are 2 different formats that do not belong together any more than a station playing rock some of the time and country other times. That is frustrating that is what they have done.
 
Nathan Obral said:
Just because WCLV had long championed Cleveland Orchestra broadcasts doesn’t mean that WVIZ ever had that same focus.

It’s also tough to say, but the fact ethnic programming of any sort remained on a mid-major NPR member station in 2022 was something of a miracle.
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My main point had to do with the two PBS tv stations not that WCLV has long had Cleveland Orchestra concerts. Clearly, the Akron PBS station WEAO/WNEO does better with musical programs as WVIZ has much less by comparison and it is ironic how Ideastream has placed the classical music on the main FM channel in light of that. But maybe they will have more met opera etc. if the listeners ask for it on WVIZ.
 
VintageMac said:
104.9 only had one HD channel for WCLV. It now appears that the HD signal is off so 104.9 has the WKSU relay from 89.7 HD1. WCLV call letters are still being used on 104.9 as before.
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If 104.9 is now going to be talk 24/7, they probably do not need an HD signal.
 
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brian marchand said:
I do not like Classical stations that also play Jazz. They are 2 different formats that do not belong together any more than a station playing rock some of the time and country other times. That is frustrating that is what they have done.
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Agreed. And apparently they assume jazz listeners are insomniacs. There is no need to simulcast WKSU on 90.3 HD2. They could put jazz there.
 
brian marchand said:
I do not like Classical stations that also play Jazz. They are 2 different formats that do not belong together any more than a station playing rock some of the time and country other times. That is frustrating that is what they have done.
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John Simna hosted Jazz All Night on WCLV (either on 104.9, 1420 or 95.5) Saturday nights for decades prior to their non-commercial conversion. Plus it’s a legacy move as WCPN played jazz in some form since day one.

Other classical stations have featured jazz in some capacity, the most visible being Mount Wilson’s various incarnations of classical music in Los Angeles on either 105.1 FM or 1260 AM.

Of note, this is the first time WCLV has had locally-based announcers around the clock in the station’s history. Classical overnights had always been automated to some degree.
 
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VintageMac said:
104.9 only had one HD channel for WCLV. It now appears that the HD signal is off so 104.9 has the WKSU relay from 89.7 HD1. WCLV call letters are still being used on 104.9 as before.
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The call letter swap still needs to be processed by the FCC. For all intents and purposes it is a mere technicality. In other cases stations have identified by the new calls ahead of FCC confirmation and the commission backdates everything.

104.9’s HD signal needs to be reconfigured to match WKSU’s mux. Should not take long to do. It was much easier for 90.3 as that amounted to a round-robin swap between the HD1 and HD2.
 
Nathan Obral said:
The call letter swap still needs to be processed by the FCC. For all intents and purposes it is a mere technicality. In other cases stations have identified by the new calls ahead of FCC confirmation and the commission backdates everything.

104.9’s HD signal needs to be reconfigured to match WKSU’s mux. Should not take long to do. It was much easier for 90.3 as that amounted to a round-robin swap between the HD1 and HD2.
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As Skiwest mentioned, maybe they won't need the HD signal since music is not the focus and their power is not that strong to begin with. We shall see.
 
Nathan Obral said:
John Simna hosted Jazz All Night on WCLV (either on 104.9, 1420 or 95.5) Saturday nights for decades prior to their non-commercial conversion. Plus it’s a legacy move as WCPN played jazz in some form since day one.

Other classical stations have featured jazz in some capacity, the most visible being Mount Wilson’s various incarnations of classical music in Los Angeles on either 105.1 FM or 1260 AM.

Of note, this is the first time WCLV has had locally-based announcers around the clock in the station’s history. Classical overnights had always been automated to some degree.
Click to expand...
The thing is when WCPN started, there was jazz during the day not just at night and later that changed to most of the NPR talk which can get stale at some point. They could put jazz on an HD2 or HD3 channel as opposed to just repeating the same thing on different frequencies.
 
VintageMac said:
It's not about being "all things to all people." It should be about fairness in regards to some of the shows being cut from the main signal and being moved to HD signals which many listeners are not aware of or don't have the equipment to receive them. As I said earlier, the HD radios are not all that expensive and are in a lot of cars but that doesn't help those who are confused by change and this tends to be older folks. It will the "radio hobbyist" more than likely who will help those listeners navigate these changes.

What's interesting about the change to full time classical on WCPN 90.3 is that Ideastream WVIZ has very little musical arts programs except at membership drive times. You would think with five channels on OAT, that more musical programming could be on one of those at some time. The last few years, WVIZ has shown very little of the Metropolitan Opera for example where WEAO/WNEO has that programming regularly on most Sunday afternoon on 49.2/45.2 as well as the Classic Arts Showcase overnights. Being that Cleveland is the home of the Cleveland Orchestra and other musical organizations, you would think WVIZ would take more of a lead in that area but it's the Akron PBS that does a better job in that genre.
Click to expand...
There are only so many hours in the day, and when you combine 2 radio stations that have some different programming, a few of them will get moved to HD. But once again....while non comm's are legal non profits, they still need to use the hours the best they can in order to attract the widest audience so they can generate enough revenue to pay their employees. Programming that historically reaches smaller audiences is much less appealing to underwriters. When certain niche programs get moved to HD, it's better than not being broadcast at all. Being all things to all people is the quick route to stations turning in their licenses and going off the air.

This is social media, so everybody has an opinion, though reality/common sense isn't always in play. For the operators of Ideastream/WKSU, they have to be as rational as possible for their very survival. When classical music was dropped on many non comms years ago, that format's most passionate fans were crushed...and understandably so. But, many of them learned to adapt. The talk/news most non comm's switched to has led to all time record audiences in the ratings, and that keeps many of these stations viable and on the air. Nothing will ever please 100% of people. That, VintageMac...is simple reality.
 
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VintageMac said:
The thing is when WCPN started, there was jazz during the day not just at night and later that changed to most of the NPR talk which can get stale at some point. They could put jazz on an HD2 or HD3 channel as opposed to just repeating the same thing on different frequencies.
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WCPN adopted a daytime talk format because jazz as a full time format was unsustainable even in 1997. A full-time jazz subchannel would likely be a relay of WFMT’s Jazz Channel, and that can be sourced in multiple places.

Jazz and the weekend ethnic fare were legacy programming that didn’t and couldn’t get enough ratings and revenue. They’re trying to keep them alive in any way possible.
 
Nathan Obral said:
WCPN adopted a daytime talk format because jazz as a full time format was unsustainable even in 1997. A full-time jazz subchannel would likely be a relay of WFMT’s Jazz Channel, and that can be sourced in multiple places.
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No one said jazz had to be full time but some during the day would bring some variety to the same old same old. As I recall back then, WCPN didn't give daytime jazz much time so it's hard to say whether it was sustainable or not.
 
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