107.9 Sacramento

[Big D]

I personally am surprised they are stunting this long. I would have expected a soft launch right into the format. But I’m not a PD.

It certainly seems to be generating interest as intended, both on this board and the general listening audience. Which is a good thing because we all know that radio listenership and interest is not what it used to be.

 

[TheBigA]

Excellent point.

I still believe that the legislation that allowed radio consolidation was due to studies showing that the majority of radio stations were not profitable and that had to do with just two things: the deep recession in about 1980 to 1982

And then another recession in 91-92. What people never talk about is that the 96 Act required companies buying radio stations to buy an equal number of AMs and FMs. You couldn't just buy the profitable FMs. You needed to buy the boat-anchor AMs too. That saved a lot of low power AMs from being shut down in the 90s. Of course a lot of them are on life support now.

 

[Michael Rivers Kramer]

And then another recession in 91-92. What people never talk about is that the 96 Act required companies buying radio stations to buy an equal number of AMs and FMs. You couldn't just buy the profitable FMs. You needed to buy the boat-anchor AMs too. That saved a lot of low power AMs from being shut down in the 90s. Of course a lot of them are on life support now.

Not quite. It law stated you can have up to 8 stations, but no more that 5 on one band in the markets with most signals. Nothing was stated that you had to buy AMs as well.

 

[jhimbo]

Question: Would IHeart care about monitoring this board to see what opinions are being floated?

 

[TheBigA]

Question: Would IHeart care about monitoring this board to see what opinions are being floated?

They already know what format they're doing, and it's based on revenue, not opinion.

 

[MarioMania]

IHeart has

93.7 the River going up against 96.9 the Eagle
92.5 the Breeze going up against Mix 96 even know the Breeze is Soft AC

There's CHR, Classic Hits or Country

Would they dear go after KNCI

My pick would be KCCL

 

[Michael Rivers Kramer]

It’s Ground Hog Day on 107.9

 

[davideduardo]

One notable exception is auto parts/tires/repair chains.

Tractor Supply buys smaller market radio where they have stores .

And national chains buy Spanish and Black radio quite a lot.

 

[davideduardo]

Not quite. It law stated you can have up to 8 stations, but no more that 5 on one band in the markets with most signals. Nothing was stated that you had to buy AMs as well.

In fact, the company I was with was aggressively buying radio under the new rules and we only bought two AMs just because they were packages (MIA and Chicago).

Added additional FMs or bought multiple ones in Fresno, SF, SD, PHX, Austin, Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, McAllen, Miami and Chicago.

 

[CTListener]

Tractor Supply buys smaller market radio where they have stores .

And national chains buy Spanish and Black radio quite a lot.

In Connecticut, you can't escape O'Reilly ads, along with those from the regional Town Fair Tire chain.

 

[TheBigA]

In Connecticut, you can't escape O'Reilly ads, along with those from the regional Town Fair Tire chain.

A lot of those O'Reilly ads are national buys. Same with Autozone. If you don't hear a local tag with address, they're probably national spots.

Tractor Supply buys smaller market radio where they have stores .

My recollection is they don't do national ads because they don't have stores in every state. Same with Cracker Barrel.

 

[TheBigA]

In fact, the company I was with was aggressively buying radio under the new rules and we only bought two AMs just because they were packages (MIA and Chicago).

On the other hand, when Clear Channel, Citadel, and CBS went on their buying sprees, they mostly bought groups rather than individual stations. That may be why I thought there was something in the law, because they each ended up with a lot of low power AMs, some of which have been shut down. Citadel especially.

 

[ksradiogeek]

Or he can pay for a streaming service that allows the creation of custom playlists or one that learns from telling it what not to play again.

Ah, but that takes too much work! 😉

 

[finallyescaped]

On the other hand, when Clear Channel, Citadel, and CBS went on their buying sprees, they mostly bought groups rather than individual stations. That may be why I thought there was something in the law, because they each ended up with a lot of low power AMs, some of which have been shut down. Citadel especially.

Replace the word 'groups' with the word 'revenue' and you realize why they didn't buy stand-alone stations. Those acquisitions were looking for revenue, and especially revenue that allowed them to use existing resources to cut costs and improve margins/cash flow for investors. It's very difficult to buy stand-alone stations and experience margin improvement.

 

[K108 Sacramento]

107.9 is using HD-1.

 

[radioguysac]

Anyone notice that the VO is slightly different?

 

[davideduardo]

My recollection is they don't do national ads because they don't have stores in every state. Same with Cracker Barrel.

No, but they buy spot radio in the markets and rural area where they are located. I've heard them on the country station in the Palm Springs market, as they have a big store at the eastern edge of the metro which is where the huge agricultural area begins... where we have four crops a year!

 

[davideduardo]

It's very difficult to buy stand-alone stations and experience margin improvement.

Unless you buy several stand-alones in the same market and consolidate them. Clear Channel and the early aggregators were formed that way as there were not that many groups to buy; even if you bought pre-1995 groups you only got a couple of stations in each market.

The improved margins were based on having a joint management staff, a single office location, shared engineering, combined insurance costs and the like.

In my own group, when I added the third station and beyond in a single market the incremental cost increase was less than 10% per new station up to the 8th station.

 

[davideduardo]

On the other hand, when Clear Channel, Citadel, and CBS went on their buying sprees, they mostly bought groups rather than individual stations. That may be why I thought there was something in the law, because they each ended up with a lot of low power AMs, some of which have been shut down. Citadel especially.

A lot of the early Clear purchases were single station sets with an AM and an FM in the same market. They'd buy additional sets or single stations to create clusters.

And even when they bought groups, they only got one or two stations per market. They had to make multiple buys to create clusters in each market.

A lot of the early consolidations were small groups or local stations adding another station or two to their operation. It was the later 90's when big consolidators ate the smaller ones.

 

[TheBigA]

The improved margins were based on having a joint management staff, a single office location, shared engineering, combined insurance costs and the like.

The problem is it takes a while to work through all of those things, such as pre-existing lease obligations and personnel contracts. It took Clear Channel a few years before they had the infrastructure in place to manage a thousand stations, and that caused a huge problem. When Citadel bought ABC Radio, they inherited a lot of pre-existing leases and contracts that they couldn't get out of until they filed for bankruptcy.

And even when they bought groups, they only got one or two stations per market. They had to make multiple buys to create clusters in each market.

Not always. There had already been some consolidation before Clear Channel bought Jacor, which led to having spin off a bunch of stations in Cincinnati. I think the same thing had happened within Capstar.