At this point, WFAS is a computer on a rack. It gives Westwood One programs and spots "clearance in NYC" for next to nothing in expenses. Cumulus is in no rush to get rid of it.
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98.7
- Thread starter Radio-Bored-Op
- Start date
Which brings up the question of honesty...again.
Does Cumulus imply to its clients that ads placed in that programming are an effective way to reach the audience in the NYC market (Market #1)?
If you are talking about 98.7, an operator could do a stand alone FM in market #1, but it would probably have to be an Ethnic station that could be profitable because agencies have separate budgets for Black/Hispanic stations. Townsquare does have some Spanish stations in Texas, but they are part of clusters.
As far as I know, Cumulus doesn't have a sales office for WFAS. So they don't sell WFAS as a NY station. WFAS carries nationally syndicated programming on WFAS. National programming uses market definitions based on stations within certain contours. For example, I've seen stations based in Wyoming that somehow fit into the Denver market. I don't know how it's realistically possible for anyone in Denver to hear a station in Wyoming. But it qualifies as a market clear.
With regards to the word 'honesty,' any client who buys time in these syndicated shows gets station lists, so they know which station in NY will be airing their spots. Every client knows where and how their spots will be heard. No one is hiding anything.
Got it.
YOUR MESSAGE WILL BE HEARD IN MARKET #1!!!!!!*
*On WFAS that covers a corner of Westchester county with puny digital-only signal that virtually no one listens to
Market #1 is very broadly defined, and people who work in the industry all understand that.
Townsquare does not seem to have any interest in the bigger markets. It's formula is to use radio and new media in a combo for selling to direct local accounts in smaller markets.
The one major owner that does not own a station in NYC is Hubbard. They own an FM in DC that happens to be the #1 billing station in the country, as well as 3 small AMs. They could but 98.7 and WLIB if it was at a good price. Hubbard, as a family company, is very aware of the pitfalls of debt. They were one of the companies that thought about buying CBS Radio, and ultimately walked away. What would they do with it? Obviously not news. A year ago they flipped a successful country station to AAA in Seattle. Its been a ratings disaster for them. They have a lot of success with the AC format in Chicago and other places.
Hubbard owns an FM Talk station in its home market, Minneapolis. 107.1 WTMY doesn't get great ratings but its been doing an FM Talk format since 2002, more than two decades. So would Hubbard buy 98.7 and try an FM Talk format in NYC? As I understand it, it's more lifestyle discussion, not hard political talk.
Perhaps we could add to the mix the possibility that 98.7 could be purchased to serve the large and rather affluent Russian population in this area. Perhaps Gregory Davidzen, owner of primarily Russian WSNR 620 AM could afford to buy it, and shift over the programming from his highly directional AM station. I know there is also a Russian music station on a translator on104.7 FM, but that may have an even more directional and limited signal. There are also another 2 Russian stations on HD subchannels. So Russian radio is a thing in this area.
WLIB has no studio. It's operated entirely remotely, entirely automated.
No not enough of an audience for one.
There is no agency money targeting Russians. They would be selling $10 spots to local businesses in the Russian areas of the metro.
A single station is not going to attract all Russians, as Russian is a language, not a format. If you listen to the FMs in Moscow, you will find as big a variety as in any European or US market.
And, in this day and age, do Russians–or any other ethnic group outside of the various Spanish-speaking Latin groups–really need to rely on a single radio station as a source of information and entertainment when there are online and streaming sources available?
Look at what happened a few months ago with the demise of WVIP in New Rochelle. There was after-the-fact talk that the station should have been offered to the Caribbean programmers who were buying time on 93.5 FM, or that they would pool resources and buy a frequency of their own. But, would it have been sustainable in the long run? Probably not. I'm not sure what those programmers are doing now, but they've probably found a way to reach their audiences without the need to buy brokered airtime on an FM signal.
Speaking of WVIP...its former sister station WVOX was donated by the O'Shaughnessy family to a non-profit, then sold to Jeff Chang. If I'm Emmis, I would seek a similar solution for WLIB.
Look at what happened a few months ago with the demise of WVIP in New Rochelle. There was after-the-fact talk that the station should have been offered to the Caribbean programmers who were buying time on 93.5 FM, or that they would pool resources and buy a frequency of their own. But, would it have been sustainable in the long run? Probably not. I'm not sure what those programmers are doing now, but they've probably found a way to reach their audiences without the need to buy brokered airtime on an FM signal.
Speaking of WVIP...its former sister station WVOX was donated by the O'Shaughnessy family to a non-profit, then sold to Jeff Chang. If I'm Emmis, I would seek a similar solution for WLIB.
Each could have a separate format in Russian.
Yeah and all 1.6 million are going to immediately tune in to it if it flips to Russian.......hardly. If you go by the Law & Order franchises, all Russians in the area are vicious criminal gangs that make the Mafia [registered trademark, I believe, I don't wanna get whacked] look like your local Girl Scout troop, so I don't think they'd have time to listen to it anyways unless it's being used to send coded messages from Vlad.
Besides relatives that fled from the Bolsheviks, the only Russian I met was in the early 80s wandering around the town square looking lost at 3 in the morning. Somehow he'd gotten out of Russia and made it to the USA. Guy was like 20 and he was hitchhiking across the country from NYC to see a friend in Oregon and he wasn't sure if he was in the town the guy lived in. Finally found out he needed to get to a town 15 miles away so I gave him a lift. He asked for my name/address and I was thinking "Great, either the KGB or the FBI will be showing up at my place" but 6 months later I get a calendar in the mail from him saying he made it to Oregon. I found the calendar a couple of years ago, decided to google his name and apparently he's living in Oregon. I just found it amazing that during the height of the Cold War where Russia was the "Evil Empire" that this guy made it all the way across the country with nary a problem from anyone.
Y'all are missing the boat on this. Russian language radio is big because of Russian-language speakers in the area. Not just Russians. We have the largest Ukrainian population outside of that country. Former Soviet nations like Uzbekistan, Belarus, Georgia, etc, speak Russian and listen to stations like Freedom FM 104.7 and Davidzon Radio. And the most popular shows are talk shows in the Russian language, where hosts aren't just from Russia. Some are born here, or have immigrated from other Russian-speaking parts of the world. While David is right on that this is more niche and that the dial has a lot of variety in those countries, it is the concept of a full-fledged Russian station on FM -- that would be tough because of sales/revenue and demos, hence why they have been on AM or most-recently, an FM translator.
You could make the same argument about any number of ethnic groups in NYC, though.
Many of the pirate stations are running Caribbean formats, an indication that group may be underserved.
New York has the largest Chinese population of any city outside Asia, but no FM station serving them either.
There's a scarcity of FM frequencies and not even the most common mainstream radio formats are all covered in NYC, let alone the special interest groups.
The simplest way to serve the niche/ethnic groups in the 21st century is through streaming. There's no need for an OTA signal to do it anymore.
Many of the pirate stations are running Caribbean formats, an indication that group may be underserved.
New York has the largest Chinese population of any city outside Asia, but no FM station serving them either.
There's a scarcity of FM frequencies and not even the most common mainstream radio formats are all covered in NYC, let alone the special interest groups.
The simplest way to serve the niche/ethnic groups in the 21st century is through streaming. There's no need for an OTA signal to do it anymore.
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