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Townsquare...now there are three.

Just the begining. Many more small market AM's will shut down if thay can't find a religious or ethnic operator willing to buy the station.
 
I can't think of many formats less suited for AM than classic rock, especially the '80s/'90s-focused approach taken by WRKI. Would Townsquare know via Nielsen how many people were listening to WINE's simulcast of I-95?
 
CTListener said:
I can't think of many formats less suited for AM than classic rock, especially the '80s/'90s-focused approach taken by WRKI. Would Townsquare know via Nielsen how many people were listening to WINE's simulcast of I-95?
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That's easy and it doesn't involve Nielsen: If there was no longer debt associated with the station, or the value of the land which the transmitter site sits exceeds the value of keeping or moving the station, then it's time to let it die. Other factors might include; whether the station is facing capital equipment replacement costs which exceeds what the station could ever hope to earn, or loss of a land lease.
 
TheBigA said:
According to the article, Townsquare is presenting this to the FCC as temporary.
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What could change that would prompt Townsquare to fire up those AM transmitters again? "Economic conditions" are cited in the article. Even if inflation slows and the recession the pundits predict doesn't happen for years, how would all that make AM radio more viable?
 
RadioGuy1864 said:
Just the begining. Many more small market AM's will shut down if thay can't find a religious or ethnic operator willing to buy the station.
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Or the FM band has run out of potential translator locations.
 
CTListener said:
What could change that would prompt Townsquare to fire up those AM transmitters again? "Economic conditions" are cited in the article. Even if inflation slows and the recession the pundits predict doesn't happen for years, how would all that make AM radio more viable?
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I suspect they want to see if there is an application opportunity or window for translators. If not, they go away.
 
CTListener said:
I can't think of many formats less suited for AM than classic rock, especially the '80s/'90s-focused approach taken by WRKI. Would Townsquare know via Nielsen how many people were listening to WINE's simulcast of I-95?
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They can ask for a special break-out if the station was registered for single line reporting.
 
CTListener said:
I can't think of many formats less suited for AM than classic rock, especially the '80s/'90s-focused approach taken by WRKI. Would Townsquare know via Nielsen how many people were listening to WINE's simulcast of I-95?
Click to expand...
WINE operated from the same site as WRKI with a massive 680 watts day/4 watts night. Unless someone was driving in a 1972 Oldsmobile that still didn't have an FM tuner, why would anybody be listening to 940 over 95.1? They never promoted the station as being on the AM outside of including their call letters in their legal ID. Outside of the slim percentage of people who post in groups like this, it is doubtful anyone even knew it was there or cared enough to look.
TheBigA said:
According to the article, Townsquare is presenting this to the FCC as temporary.
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As all STA filings do. And many of them only give a glimmer of the real situation. They just need to give the minimum required to get the 180 day long silent STA. This is Townsquare buying time to figure out if there's a willing buyer out there or any ROI on retaining the station license.
 
lanceventa said:
As all STA filings do. And many of them only give a glimmer of the real situation. They just need to give the minimum required to get the 180 day long silent STA. This is Townsquare buying time to figure out if there's a willing buyer out there or any ROI on retaining the station license.
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Those WINE call letters might be worth more than the blah WYOS or WTVL that Townsquare is also putting into cold storage, wouldn't you think? Or is that just geezer me forgetting that call letters, no matter how distinctive, don't matter to anyone in the sales demos anymore?
 
CTListener said:
Those WINE call letters might be worth more than the blah WYOS or WTVL that Townsquare is also putting into cold storage, wouldn't you think? Or is that just geezer me forgetting that call letters, no matter how distinctive, don't matter to anyone in the sales demos anymore?
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Call letters that would be worth way more than WINE: W, 3 numbers, and 2 letters. Yes, that is an FM translator for the AMs.
 
CTListener said:
Those WINE call letters might be worth more than the blah WYOS or WTVL that Townsquare is also putting into cold storage, wouldn't you think? Or is that just geezer me forgetting that call letters, no matter how distinctive, don't matter to anyone in the sales demos anymore?
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I’m thinking the second option 😉😉😉
 
CTListener said:
Those WINE call letters might be worth more than the blah WYOS or WTVL that Townsquare is also putting into cold storage, wouldn't you think?
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Maybe, but what kind of brand name would WINE be? Doesn’t seem like it would work like KISS.

I'm probably aging myself a little, too, but those calls make me think of George Carlin's Wonderful WINO Radio!

 
Kent said:
Maybe, but what kind of brand name would WINE be? Doesn’t seem like it would work like KISS.

I'm probably aging myself a little, too, but those calls make me think of George Carlin's Wonderful WINO Radio!

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WINE, the channel for 40 something single women.
 
Binghamton has been suffering a slow, painful death for twenty years. Company I used to work for ended up with a TV station in that market; WBNG. Even back then, drive around the community and see for sale signs on every house or condo on a full city block. Local malls and grocery stores boarded up everywhere one looks. It's actually a very sad situation. I honestly don't know how any radio station, AM of FM, could stay in business there.
 
Kelly A said:
Binghamton has been suffering a slow, painful death for twenty years. Company I used to work for ended up with a TV station in that market; WBNG. Even back then, drive around the community and see for sale signs on every house or condo on a full city block. Local malls and grocery stores boarded up everywhere one looks. It's actually a very sad situation. I honestly don't know how any radio station, AM of FM, could stay in business there.
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I have family in Binghamton and have seen the city go through so many changes over half a century.

It's actually doing a little better these days. The university has been in growth mode and has been working to make downtown more of a college town. There's a lot of student housing there, which has brought the city back from the brink. That's led to good restaurants and some decent nightlife.

Labor Day weekend brings the annual LUMA projection arts festival, which has to be seen to be believed. Thousands of people fill downtown each night and watch the facades light up with video art.

It's never going to be a boomtown again, but it's doing better than you remember from 20 years ago. Yeah, the mall in Johnson City went the way of most malls, but Vestal Parkway retail does just fine.

Townsquare still does decent local radio news on WNBF and gets good FM ratings with WHWK and WAAL. There are two local ownership groups (Equinox and Steve Gilinsky's WLTB) that are doing at least ok. iHeart exists mostly with automation and tracking.
 
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