Audacy HD Cuts Reach Boston

[jlehmann]

The cuts that Audacy has been making to HD subchannels nationwide have reach Boston.

93.7 HD2 is gone, was "WAAF." WAAF does remain on 104.1 HD2 for now

103.3 HD3 The Cove (Soft AC) is gone. Channel Q remains on HD2

104.1 HD3 "Tomorrow's Hits Today" is gone

106.7 HD2 Christmas is gone.

 

[Wimmmex]

106.7 HD2 Christmas is gone.

In this instance, how expensive is it to run an automated Christmas format on an HD2?

How much could they possible be saving shutting it down?

 

[AceBiscuits]

In this instance, how expensive is it to run an automated Christmas format on an HD2?

How much could they possible be saving shutting it down?

It has less to do with the format than it does with the broadcast medium. The expenses to run any HD subchannel with music include the music licensing fees, the automation licensing, and the licensing to Xperi for the channel itself. It's several thousands of dollars for each music HD subchannel, so you figure that for each one Audacy shuts down, it's saving that much money; with the couple hundred FMs they own with such subchannels, it adds up quickly.

 

[Gregg.]

Aww, it's a shame The Cove is gone from WBGB-HD2. The Cove has been running I think since HD subchannels became popular. It was an echo of what was once on 103.3 in Boston: WEEI-FM, one of the CBS Soft Rock stations, including KNX-FM Los Angeles and a few others.

 

[nowradioguy]

Audacy is ruining the stable of legacy stations it acquired from CBS Radio. I don't care all that much about the Boston stations, except perhaps Magic 106.7, but I really feel bad for the former CBS all news stations in NY, Philly, Chicago, Detroit, SF, LA, as well as the legacy stations like KDKA, KMOX, WCCO, KRLD, WTIC.

iHeart had more than enough stations and troubles of its own and never could've taken on any of the stations mentioned above, and neither could Cumulus.

All around sad state of affairs.

 

[mnw1890]

HD radio when it started was a promising technology to expand the capability of standard AM & FM and give listeners more choice of programming without the cost of a monthly subscription like satellite radio. The only upfront expense was the HD receiver and auto makers made radios with HD. With these HD cutbacks, the technology took a big step backwards. If this is what to expect in the future, automakers would eliminate HD from their car radios and HD would fade away into the sunset. Too bad, HD had a promising future. Some AM stations are going all digital and the only way to hear them is with an HD radio. Outside of Boston, WSRO AM650 is all digital with a classical music format. Listening to it you wouldn't know it is an AM station. It has FM quality sound.

 

[TheBigA]

Audacy is ruining the stable of legacy stations it acquired from CBS Radio.

The fact is that anyone who bought those stations would be in the same boat now. The problem isn't Audacy or iHeart. Even Beasley is having trouble. The problem is finding a new revenue source for radio. Because the current one has dried up.

 

[Eli Polonsky]

The fact is that anyone who bought those stations would be in the same boat now. The problem isn't Audacy or iHeart. Even Beasley is having trouble. The problem is finding a new revenue source for radio. Because the current one has dried up.

Yes, other non-Audacy stations in the area that used to have HD subchannels and are now running only HD1 include Beasley’s 96.9 WBQT, 102.5 WKLB and 105.7 WROR, and iHeart’s 97.7 WZRM.

 

[davideduardo]

In this instance, how expensive is it to run an automated Christmas format on an HD2?

How much could they possible be saving shutting it down?

Music licensing, and the fees for the HD license. Corporate wide, I am guessing a couple of hundred thousand a year.

 

[KeithE4]

Music licensing, and the fees for the HD license. Corporate wide, I am guessing a couple of hundred thousand a year.

$200K is that much of an expense? I would think that, for a company the size of Audacy, that would be chicken feed. They're probably paying that much for one WCBS, KNX, or WBBM news anchor's salary, or the electric bill for all the stations they own in each city.

 

[davideduardo]

$200K is that much of an expense? I would think that, for a company the size of Audacy, that would be chicken feed. They're probably paying that much for one WCBS, KNX, or WBBM news anchor's salary, or the electric bill for all the stations they own in each city.

But if you pare expenses in every market, in every station, in every department, you end up with millions.

 

[KeithE4]

But if you pare expenses in every market, in every station, in every department, you end up with millions.

Millions in lost business. I've been through that wringer in several of the (non-broadcast) companies I worked for. Going on the cheap is the easiest way to go out of business. The customers and stockholders will notice and won't be pleased.

Paying attention to the bottom line is wise. Cutting expenses that put the product at risk and angers customers is just foolish.

 

[davideduardo]

Millions in lost business. I've been through that wringer in several of the (non-broadcast) companies I worked for. Going on the cheap is the easiest way to go out of business. The customers and stockholders will notice and won't be pleased.

Paying attention to the bottom line is wise. Cutting expenses that put the product at risk and angers customers is just foolish.

But eliminating HD channels that have no audience and no revenue is not going to cost business. Except for a handful of paid ethnic shows in some larger markets, HD only serves to allow a bunch of translators to operate as out-of-market-cap additional services; the audience there is on the translators, not the HD channels.

 

[raccoonradio]

Beasley is running sports talk podcasts on 98.5 HD2 and while they do have Bloomberg biz news on 106.1 FM translator for WRCA, they also have it on 92.9 HD2. iHeart runs Black Info network on 94.5 HD2. Both Audacy and iHeart have gay-lesbian HD2s.
True, not much income from HD signals overall...
iHeart put WRKO 680 and WXKS 1200 on HD2 and HD3 respectively of WZLX.

As for HD 1 a thread I have on Facebook got a comment saying the sound quality of an HD1 is better to his ears than the regular signal.
Not everybody has or wants an HD radio.
The "tabletop portable" Insignia I got (AC or batteries) is FM only with the various HDs (no HD AM--what you would need to get WSRO 650). Still it has pretty good reception of analog FMs and quite a few HD subchannels. I'm in Beverly but am getting not just regular signals but HD2s for stations like the 100.3 on the NH seacoast.

 

[Deleted User]

Beasley has LMA'd to Bloomberg WRCA and the 106.1 Translator

Beasley is pretty much "hands off" of those two stations.

HD-1 and HD-2's usually sound pretty good

I can tell the instant my radio goes from FM Stereo to HD-1, the highs are much brighter

As for WRKO on one of WZLX HD-2 ( Audacy/Entercom) the difference between AM and the HD2 is light years better, same thing for WBZ-A on WXKS HD2

 

[Eli Polonsky]

As for WRKO on one of WZLX HD-2 ( Audacy/Entercom) the difference between AM and the HD2 is light years better, same thing for WBZ-A on WXKS HD2

WRKO and WZLX are now both owned by iHeart.
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When CBS gave up on radio in 2017 and originally gave all their stations to Entercom (now Audacy), they could not keep all of the CBS stations because they would have put Entercom over ownership limits along with their own in the Boston market. Formerly CBS-owned WZLX and their own WRKO were two of the stations they chose to divest, iHeart was there to scoop 'em up.

 

[sacredcod]

Technically not Boston, and technically not about HD, but hearing traffic reporter Gerri Griswold was let go today in Hartford along with some weekend news people.

 

[nd2023]

Getting rid of the sub channels is detrimental to HD radio. That was one of the ways HD radio sold itself to listeners, the “stations between the stations”

 

[davideduardo]

Getting rid of the sub channels is detrimental to HD radio. That was one of the ways HD radio sold itself to listeners, the “stations between the stations”

And after that horrible campaign, how much did HD radio increase its listening? Answer: none.

 

[Eli Polonsky]

Getting rid of the sub channels is detrimental to HD radio. That was one of the ways HD radio sold itself to listeners, the “stations between the stations”

Due to the poor marketing and implementation of the HD platform, that ship sailed long ago.

There WAS some relatively compelling original and niche locally produced programming on HD subchannels ten or fifteen years ago. Once stations found that the public couldn’t find HD radios, and that people (including even clerks at stores that used to carry one or two) didn’t even know what HD radio was, they all eventually pulled local unique subchannel programming because, though mostly automated, it cost a little bit in money, local manpower, and music licensing fees, to produce these channels that almost no one was listening to and therefore couldn’t get ads, and for the past decade or so, HD subchannels then became mostly either rebroadcasts of other stations owned by the company, broadcasts of network feeds owned by the parent company, or (in some areas) a way to feed programming to analog FM translators. The uniquely locally programmed “stations between the stations” concept already died several years ago.