It is a wonderful station. Too bad NYC doesn't have something of its own like this.
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Country for Frisco,zilch for NYC
- Thread starter JoeBenjamin
- Start date
This says no:
COVID ‘Bump’? WSKQ Finishes 2021 As NYC’s Top Biller | Radio & Television Business Report
Full year 2021 radio billing stats for New York and Miami are being shared by Spanish Broadcasting System (SBS). Why? According to Miller Kaplan, one of their radio stations is the top-biller of the year, regardless of format or language, in "la gran manzana." The same can be said in its home...
www.rbr.com
Yes, followed by CBS-FM, WBLS, WAXQ, WKTU, WQHT and WSKQ.
Why did they choose the Jersey Shore stations over their own local WAXQ and WLTW?
How about WNEW?
WBAI is a strange one. As previous posters have mentioned, its programming is basically a series of podcasts. There's a space for radical radio, but is a commercial FM channel in NYC really it? It could sell up, have enough money to buy something cheaper to run in the NCE band and enough left over to properly market itself and improve its programming output and fundraising capacity.
As for country, if the market can't support it as a full-time, full-power radio station, does it really matter that much in 2022? There are formats that are unavailable where I live, but plenty of out-of-market stations and Spotify playlists that fill the gap for me. Very few people in rich countries are without the kind of connectivity you need to listen to whatever music you want.
The problem is that there is no space on the reserved band for a new station, and no existing station on the reserved band is up for sale. That is why WBAI is holding on to its spot on 99.5 MHz.
The trend nationally is for colleges and universities to take their FM operations online or discontinue radio altogether. Any indication that Columbia (WKCR) or CCNY (WHCR) may go that way with their stations? I assume Fordham is committed to WFUV.
As we've said, this is a station that isn't motivated by business or money, but by ideology. They see selling 99.5 as a defeat of their ideology. There was an internal battle over control of the station a couple years ago that ultimately went to the NY Supreme Court. They are not moving, regardless of what anyone else thinks. Even if they did, neither Audacy not iHeart would be able to buy it because of ownership caps, so it would likely go to a religious or ethnic company.
WKCR has long-term funding from an endowment that I believe was started by the estate of Edwin Armstrong, the inventor of FM.
But a lot of these college stations have limited signals that don't compare to the 10K signal of WBAI. WKCR is 1300 watts.
There is a case in Greensboro NC where first adjacent is allowed. The station that is stronger now was some distance away and not strong enough to matter, but somehow it ended up getting to broadcast at 100,000 watts and can be clearly heard where the tower of the first adjacent is located, except right near the tower where the nearby station blocks it. Radio-Locator shows the "distant" signal WBRF covering the territory where WIST's tower is.
I see it. There's a slight overlap in southeast Winston-Salem! It's 100KW at 535 meters. Dropping to Class C0 status should make up the difference. I think this one somehow fell under the radar!
I'm not sure you can say the market can't support it. The fact is that the market was able to support WNSH for 8 years. Then the new owners couldn't sell it. That's the fault of the new owners, not the format or the station.
But sure, there are lots of options for country, just as there are lots of options for oldies and active rock.
The station couldn’t even bill $7 million at its peak. That’s horrible billing for NYC.
That's only if you look at it from a single station perspective.
That's absolutely not true. Under Cumulus WNSH was part of a national platform called Nash. WNSH was the flagship station and was the only feasible way to get country on the radio and make some money and yet at its peak David said it billed 7m. Ratings weren't steller and it's cume was low. Then owned by Audacy it made even less money. I know you want to blame Audacy for it's failure to sell the format but the reality is that country doesn't sell well here. That has been the case for over 25 years.
This has been the subject of debate on this board for years, way before WNSH. Here we are again after an 8 year try with country and it failed. It'll be years before it will be tried again if ever
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I've given you examples of how the format has sold well over the years, starting with WJRZ, WHN, WKHK, WYNY, WYNY 107, and WNSH. It can sell well and make money when you have a sales staff that understands how to sell it. Audacy does a great job in Chicago and Detroit, which also have large black and ethnic populations. But the sales team in NY was obviously uninterested in the format from the start. They don't appear to be doing a better job with The Block.
WHN was the only real successful country station in NYC and it was also more AC. The market was less ethnic back then. WNSH was not a success under Cumulus or Audacy. It made little to no money as a format and under Cumulus was a place holder for their NASH brand in the market.
Chicago and Detroit have completely different demographics and you know very well aren't comparable markets in anyway. It seems like your clear preference for country negates any business sense. If country was a hot seller and desirable format in NYC certainly some other media company would have picked it up yet here we are again with no country station in NY. If that doesn't tell you something I dint know what else to say.
WYNY was successful according to its owner. Then again, the station collaborated as a concert promoter on a number of events including the week-long "Country Takes Manhattan." To make money with country, you need to think beyond spots and dots. That's something Audacy didn't know how to do in NY.
I have no preference for any format. I've worked in all of them. But I don't like it when the format gets blamed for bad salesmanship.
As others have pointed out, the lowest rated stations are either owned by Audacy, or owned by companies with a different agenda.
There is no open frequency to put it. Just as there is no open frequency for active rock.
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