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June Radio Ratings

Cumulus’s 760 WJR up on Detroit enjoys success WLS could only dream of - I’m assuming due to less competition (no WGN and a less successful all news outlet than WBBM with WWJ)…and probably a more receptive market to conservative news/talk
Yes. Michigan is a much purpler state than Illinois.
 
WLS clears programming for Westwood One and they lease out weekends. It serves it's purpose. The Westwood One shows need to be cleared in Chicago.
 
WJR and WMAL are pretty much the only large market talkers Cumulus has that appear to do well in the ratings. WBAP doesn’t do badly, either.
WMAL is probably going to do well in the ratings because it's a talk station in the nation's capital.
 
You gotta wonder at what point Cumulus decides the land and electric bill are no longer worth clearing their programming in the top 3 markets.
Can a sale to a religious, ethnic, or brokerd programming outfit be far off? Otherwise....and I never thought I'd say this...could cloud company just plug the Tinley Park transmitter into an Ipod loaded up with vintage WLS music and jingl They can borrow mine. It's 17 years old and has both.
 
WMAL is probably going to do well in the ratings because it's a talk station in the nation's capital.
And WMAL, after selling the very valuable transmitter land, relocated to an inferior location... but they have FM backup.
 
WMAL has been heard only on FM 105.9 for several years. AM 630 flipped to ESPN Radio quite a while ago. I think AM 630 switched calls to WSPN or WSBN.
 
WMAL has been heard only on FM 105.9 for several years. AM 630 flipped to ESPN Radio quite a while ago. I think AM 630 switched calls to WSPN or WSBN.
That is what I meant... there was a backup plan when the AM transmitter site was sold, and that was to pretty much give up on the AM and move the WMAL (AM) audience to FM.

The AM now gets a 0.1 share and the FM is around a 4 share in 12+. However, the FM averages less than a 1 share in 25-54, so retreating to FM did not help the demos. WTOP, also a move to FM case, gets nearly a 6 share in 25-54.
 
That is what I meant... there was a backup plan when the AM transmitter site was sold, and that was to pretty much give up on the AM and move the WMAL (AM) audience to FM.

The AM now gets a 0.1 share and the FM is around a 4 share in 12+. However, the FM averages less than a 1 share in 25-54, so retreating to FM did not help the demos. WTOP, also a move to FM case, gets nearly a 6 share in 25-54.
There was a big push around 2010-2016 or so where AM talk stations that were even primarily syndication were migrating completely to full power FM signals. Now the more standard practice is to just add translator(s). Some, like WVOC in Columbia, SC and WDBO in Orlando, FL were placed on full powered FM signals and ended up going back to AM only then added translators. WBAP made a similar move. Was the hope that the 25-54 demos would improve at the time by adding the full powered FM? If so, it seems to have died down (obviously there are outliers in the cases of KIRO, WTOP, KSL, etc which are strong stations in general and outliers).

The content on your typical News talker that is only local in AM and maybe PM drive is just as much of an issue with 25-54. As I said elsewhere, old white guys screaming is a turn off on FM just as much as AM for a lot of 25-54s. News/Talk stations that rely on syndicated programming also have a content problem. Rush was the glue that helped hold them together…and since a replacement wasn’t planned out, I feel like a lot of N/T stations have lost their way even more.
 
There was a big push around 2010-2016 or so where AM talk stations that were even primarily syndication were migrating completely to full power FM signals.

Although my recollection is that WMAL-FM is not a full power FM signal. It's tower is out near Manassas VA.
 
Although my recollection is that WMAL-FM is not a full power FM signal. It's tower is out near Manassas VA.
Yes, it is one of the marginal signals such as the old WPIK's FM and WEZR, moved as close to DC as possible. The 60 dbu does, however, come close to covering the whole metro and it does a great job of serving the faster growth areas in the Virginia suburbs. The tower is between Alexandria and Fairfax in Fairfax County, not the old one down in Woodbridge just off the Interstate.
 
Sorry, when I said full signal meaning not a translator. Even heritage stations like KMOX, KDKA, WFLA, WTAM, etc just utilize translators instead of taking away content from an existing full market signal to add an FM.
 
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