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Good Karma To Lease 880; WCBS News Programming To End

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In a way it had to happen given that Audacy did an aggressive campaign to promote 92.3 WINS-FM and 1010 WINS as the flagship all news stations in New York.

Also the business model to have 2 all news stations WCBS and WINS in New York no longer viable given that they have been a duopoly for nearly 30 years since Westinghouse merged with CBS (former owners of WINS and WCBS/soon to be WHSQ). In a way WCBS-AM had to deal with a situation KFWB Los Angeles had to deal with losing their all news format due to KNX Radio having 50kw to cover the Southland and the then new purchase of KCAL News/now known CBS News Los Angeles.
 
Questions:

Why would Good Karma lease 880 when they were no longer interested in leasing 98.7?

Why would Audacy give up all that revenue from Newsradio 880 which is still one of the top earners in the country?

If Audacy is leasing 880, does that open up a slot to acquire 98.7? And if so, might they move the “Newsradio” brand there? Or perhaps use it for a better signal for “The Block”?
 
So all the talk about Good Karma moving everything to streaming when the lease on the FM ended was just that, all talk. In 2024, you still need OTA radio to reach the largest audience.
 
RMarino said:
Why would Good Karma lease 880 when they were no longer interested in leasing 98.7?
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By all accounts, the 98.7 lease was onerous and untenable. Disney could afford it because they are Disney and it was a mere budget line item. Craig Karamzin couldn't.

If this is a much favorable lease with a more logical purchase option, then it shows how much the AM band is devalued even in market #1.
 
RMarino said:
Why would Good Karma lease 880 when they were no longer interested in leasing 98.7?
Click to expand...

"We don't need another radio station in New York. We'll be fine with 1050 and streaming. Oh...wait..."

RMarino said:
Why would Audacy give up all that revenue from Newsradio 880 which is still one of the top earners in the country?
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Money. I can't imagine it will pay what it paid Emmis for 98.7, but Good Karma is going to be sending a lot of money to Audacy every month. Plus, Audacy will no longer have the expense of operating the station. I don't know how much it will save, though, as I've been under the impression it shared most of its staff with WINS.

RMarino said:
If Audacy is leasing 880, does that open up a slot to acquire 98.7? And if so, might they move the “Newsradio” brand there? Or perhaps use it for a better signal for “The Block”?
Click to expand...

Audacy is at the FM cap for New York. It can't acquire another FM without divesting one or without some cap relief from the FCC, the latter of which isn't going to happen in the next couple months. I suppose a divestiture and purchase isn't completely out of the question, but you usually have to have money to do that, and Audacy doesn't have that right now.
 
sjs1959 said:
Um, and doesn't Audacy own WFAN? Didn't they just go from competing with themselves in news to competing with themselves in sports?
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Oh it's happened before. Look at the Cleveland Browns radio contract in which Good Karma's WKNR and Audacy's WNCX/WKRK share flagship rights and airstaff across the network.

Besides, Good Karma will no longer be subscribing to Nielsen this fall across the entire chain. And they are now a tenant and Audacy plays the role of landlord. Audacy gets easy money every month and all they need to do is file the bare minimum of FCC paperwork and pay the electric bill.
 
No one believed me when I postulated that the advent of a WINS 1010 simulcast on FM meant the clock was ticking on WCBS 880's demise.

"But Mark - the outlying areas need WCBS's strong signal!"

"But Mark - 880 bills $25 million a year and Audacy has slashed overhead by consolidating with the WINS newsroom!"

It is obvious Audacy feels a decent chunk of 880's revenue and audience will flow to 1010 / 92.3.

I also suspect 880's real time revenue is significantly weaker than the figures David and others here were purporting. 880's AQH share has been abysmal YTD.

Would not surprise me if Audacy has been quietly marketing 880 to interested parties for over a year.

I am not quite sure I understand the rationale for the "WHSQ" call sign for 880. Yuck.
 
Wow, no one had this on their radar.

Good Karma played a mean hand of poker here.

Now, a moment of silence for WCBS Newsradio 880. Fifty-seven years of almost all-news, nearly all of the time is about to wrap up. And after nearly 80 years, the call sign is going to change.

That's a lot to digest in one big gulp.

My thought was always that some point, one of the High Island AM signals would go to satellite sports talk as either Infinity Sports Network or BetQL. Then this happened.

Aside from what GKB now does with 1050 AM and the still unknown future of 98.7 FM, who takes up the CBS Radio News affiliation in NYC? It will be weird for some one other than 880 to run CBS News on the Hour.
 
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sjs1959 said:
Um, and doesn't Audacy own WFAN? Didn't they just go from competing with themselves in news to competing with themselves in sports?
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The sports format on 880 will earn AQH share no better than the sports format on 98.7. In fact, I expect 880's results to be poorer than 98.7.
 
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