Anyone who didn't think this was the inevitable for 880 was honestly just not being realistic. I forget which thread I posted this in, but I anticipated that news on 880 would be gone by the end of the decade, and moving news to 94.7 or what have you was unrealistic. It took almost two years of the 92.3 simulcast to eventually spell the end of news on 880. That said, this is not the way I expected it to go down, and I think it will be very interesting to see what becomes of 98.7. Maybe multiple party sale/trade on the way?
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Good Karma To Lease 880; WCBS News Programming To End
- Thread starter lanceventa
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I wonder if 1050 is going off the air?? What format would fit there after Good Karma leases WCBS (WHSQ pending) from Audacy??
If 98.7 returns to music, what format would make the station more popular??
It still makes no sense why Good Karma would go through the trouble of selling 1050 and buying or leasing 880. Sounds like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.
1050 could continue to air the national ESPN Radio lineup, like it does now, to allow for the market clearance? Doesn't GK basically sell the network spots now too, which would possibly make sense for them to keep it around?
ESPN Radio 88 and Espn Radio 1050? That's going to be tricky, how would they brand them separately? In Cleveland we had WKNR (ESPN 850) and "KNR 2" (WWGK 1540). WKNR did mostly local programs during the day with ESPN Radio in the evenings and overnights/weekends.
1540 WWGK (as KNR 2) would do the straight up national feed with some overflow from 850.
However 1540 was a daytimer and a year or so after COVID, the station's licence was surrendered.
WKNR 850 continues on with it's 50 kilowatt day signal (5 kw nights)
I mean, you could say that about many companies that own TV and/or radio stations & them thinking about the future, but not caring that much about how the audience gets & receives their content (ie Nexstar & their ridiculous idea to delay/ditch live streams of newscasts from their stations).
CBS content could still come from newscalls. You don't necessarily have to have a CBS network anchor to read copy; correspondent voicers and actualities could still be used as part of the station's own news wheel.
They would need to file.
Listeners who might get another chocie of programming on that particular frequency?
If it includes a deal for an HD simulcast, then the new programming on 880 will also air on WCBS-HD2.
They no longer have to own a station and are assuredly paying a favorable lease rate that is less expensive than 1050's monthly power bill. Plus it gets them the Mets and Rutgers, which makes up for Good Karma losing the Jets.
Trading up and improving the long-term viability of ESPN New York, which is effectively what 880 is becoming a simulcast of.
Sounds like they'll wanna put WCBS on 98.7 or move WFAN from 101.9 onto there surely they wouldnt let go of their Flagship station. 1010 WINS (loses) in that case ... 🤔 or Swap with 1010 so the sport stations can be neighbors (1010 & 1050)
It will be a sad day for those who appreciate broadcast heritage and legacy but, then again, legacy only gets you so far. Unfortunately, good people will lose their jobs and will have nowhere else to go. Much as I wish I could be an advocate for radio news, I can't. Everyone has a wire service equivalent available to them now, on a phone or on a computer. The habit of listening to radio for news was broken long ago, killed by programming dogma and general inattention. Even if that hadn't happened, ubiquitous connectivity would have had a negative effect sooner or later. It just happened sooner. I've wondered how long the few remaining all-news stations can hold out. I'm not going to make predictions here, because I'm not striving for some kind of prophetic reward, but future moves involving those stations, driven by economic pressures, are likely, in my opinion.
Sports is a stopgap for AM radio. That will eventually end up on FM, too. While this is not speculation about 98.7 but a more general statement, much will depend upon whether Good Karma believes long-range planning is something for 72 hours in the future or for a few more years in the future.
Financial exigency has a way of making the unthinkable thinkable.
Sports is a stopgap for AM radio. That will eventually end up on FM, too. While this is not speculation about 98.7 but a more general statement, much will depend upon whether Good Karma believes long-range planning is something for 72 hours in the future or for a few more years in the future.
Financial exigency has a way of making the unthinkable thinkable.
Audacy can't buy any more FM signals, and Emmis isn't going to lease out 98.7 again. WCBS is simply going away.
Yup I know Audacy is Maxed out in NY.
Sounds like something that was recently
done in San Francisco with KGO 810.
I thought it would take years for WCBS 880 to go away because of how well it billed. I guess Audacy got an offer that they couldn't refuse.
We know how well they bill, but given the costs of producing an all-news format, how profitable was it?
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