Good Karma To Lease 880; WCBS News Programming To End

[Kent]

It should never have happened. Real competition is what drives innovation and a superior product. The public never benefits from a monopoly.

Generally, yes. Occasionally, however, the only way to keep two stations in the same format going is to consolidate them. We can only wonder what might've been, but it's entirely possible we would've lost either WCBS or WINS long ago had their sales and back office functions not been combined. Remember, WCBS and WINS have been under the same ownership for over 25 years. That's a long run for any format, let alone one on an inferior band with high costs.

The only two all-news options in the same market being owned by the same company is absolutely a monopoly on the format.

Who is stopping someone else from hiring the WCBS talent being let go and launching an all news competitor to WINS? We know it's not going to happen, and we know why. That's the reason it's going away in the first place.

I know you love, and will always staunchly defend your beloved giant, bloated, bankrupt radio conglomerates, but this is what it leads to. A great heritage radio station has been destroyed by it. We could have seen it coming a mile away.

This sounds like a classic case of someone who was shouting that CBS wouldn't keep two all news stations in New York when it got both of them in 1996 saying, "See? I told you so!"

 

[davideduardo]

None of those are national monopolies. They are monopolies in their own limited territories.

AT&T was a near national monopoly and in things like long distance, a definite "yes".

And while there were no national gas or power or others I mentioned, in their areas of service they were total monopolies.

SiriusXM is a true national monopoly. No one else can start up a rival satellite radio company because SXM has exclusive rights to the entire bandwidth. I've never understood why the "merger of equals" (laughable, since Sirius in fact bought out XM) was approved. Plenty of powerful palms must have been greased.

Nobody else wanted either of them separately, and the share price was in the penny stock range. Satellite radio was not viewed as an essential service, despite claims that it provided radio to many unserved or underserved places.

The merger took place in the deep part of the recession, although it had been in the works for nearly two years. Neither company could get additional loans to make up for the losses and the prospects of ever being profitable were dim.

The feeling was that a merger would prevent the total failure of the whole concept. And the years since the merger have not all been so great for the combo of the two.

 

[TheBigA]

That's a truly arrogant way to belittle a legitimate question.

No arrogance intended. Just asking a question.

 

[Weiserguy]

AT&T was a near national monopoly and in things like long distance, a definite "yes".

But that ended FORTY years ago. (The settlement with DOJ was 2-1/2 years earlier.) And even before that, MCI and Sprint had been banging on Ma Bell's door.

And while there were no national gas or power or others I mentioned, in their areas of service they were total monopolies.

For all intents and purposes, there was a national monopoly. No utility is an island, there are three interconnects in the continental USA, and every local utility/monopoly was attached to one or the other of these power networks. That was one of the big revelations that those of us who lived through the 1965 Northeast Blackout learned, if we were paying attention.

Nobody else wanted either of them separately, and the share price was in the penny stock range. Satellite radio was not viewed as an essential service, despite claims that it provided radio to many unserved or underserved places.

In the years preceding the merger, I was a small stockholder in both companies. Neither of them had been doing all that well, but neither fit the definition of a penny stock either. You are right that sat radio wasn't looked at as an essential service, but for most people it still isn't.

The merger took place in the deep part of the recession, although it had been in the works for nearly two years. Neither company could get additional loans to make up for the losses and the prospects of ever being profitable were dim.

The feeling was that a merger would prevent the total failure of the whole concept. And the years since the merger have not all been so great for the combo of the two.

Can't disagree with that assessment. But I think there is no shortage of "Road Warriors" that might.

 

[Loverofradio]

Is it really possible that those expenses would exceed the $29 million it was bringing in annually? I’m not disagreeing, I just wanted to know your opinion.

Yeah this part. I can’t imagine Audacy was spending $28.5 million (just a number I came up with) of expenses for a station billing $29 million a year. How much are NYC radio news talent paid? I’ve seen news done cheaper. This is the only thing I need help understanding

 

[Loverofradio]

I keep reading this as though companies are people and they're not. They don't make business decisions based on personal likes or dislikes. If that was true, there would still be an alternative station in NY. It's not personal, it's business.

The fact of the matter is the audience for this format is over 65. That applies to both stations. Anyone who actually listened to WCBS knows what that means as far as the quality of advertising. Anyone who listened to this station knows that the age problem meant they had to run an entire weekend of infomercials to make their budget. This decision is about money. Audacy owns a heritage all-news station in Dallas. Over the last few months, they've been adding conservative talk shows to the station. That could have happened to WCBS. The circumstances are very similar. But someone came up with the sports idea. That's what led to this decision. Not someone's personal preference. The company wants the best for all of their properties, and hopes they all make a lot of money.

This is why also I’ve never been convinced KNX is the long term play for 97.1 for Audacy in Los Angeles. Imagine having an aging format like we all say news-talk is, and then placing it on FM in the most diverse market in the country. I’ve always felt KNX is a placeholder until Audacy figures out what they really want to do with 97.1

 

[TheBigA]

This is why also I’ve never been convinced KNX is the long term play for 97.1 for Audacy in Los Angeles.

My view is there is no such thing as a "long term play."

 

[Y2kTheNewOldies]

This is why also I’ve never been convinced KNX is the long term play for 97.1 for Audacy in Los Angeles. Imagine having an aging format like we all say news-talk is, and then placing it on FM in the most diverse market in the country. I’ve always felt KNX is a placeholder until Audacy figures out what they really want to do with 97.1

What's the alternative for KNX-FM? In a way Audacy is right to put KNX on 97.1 FM given that when they had CHR on 97.1 FM they had to deal with getting beat by Ihearts KIIS-FM. Also the audience can go on any audio content app. The stuff we used to say about AM in the past is coming true for FM in some parts of the country.

 

[TheBigA]

What's the alternative for KNX-FM?

My opinion: It won't be anything with music.

 

[Ryan Williams]

I don’t think KNX is going anywhere, but if it disappeared soon, I think they would give sports on FM a try.

 

[davideduardo]

Yeah this part. I can’t imagine Audacy was spending $28.5 million (just a number I came up with) of expenses for a station billing $29 million a year. How much are NYC radio news talent paid? I’ve seen news done cheaper. This is the only thing I need help understanding

Start with the first 20% or so going for sales staff and agency commissions. Then there could be up to an 8 figure number for the sports rights. That is before salaries, utilities, engineering, insurance, and all the other costs.

 

[K.M. Richards]

*Mets. Yankees are on WFAN.

Got confused by the poster who I was replying to. Being literally on the other side of the continent, I wouldn't know from experience.

But my point was still valid. Audacy will still be pre-empting the Good Karma LMA for baseball.

 

[K.M. Richards]

None of those are national monopolies.

But you didn't phrase your question that way. You asked about "other monopolies" and there was no verbiage or context in your question to limit its scope.

 

[K.M. Richards]

I don’t think KNX is going anywhere, but if it disappeared soon, I think they would give sports on FM a try.

I think it is more likely that at some point, Audacy will discover that they have many more listeners on 97.1 than 1070, decide the electric bill for that 50kw AM signal isn't worth it, and spin it off to whoever will offer more than $1 for it, leaving the all-news format on the FM.

 

[KMan]

I think it is more likely that at some point, Audacy will discover that they have many more listeners on 97.1 than 1070, decide the electric bill for that 50kw AM signal isn't worth it, and spin it off to whoever will offer more than $1 for it, leaving the all-news format on the FM.

One big Alex Silverman change at KNX has been to put the weekend brokered content on 1070 while leaving 97.1 all news. This requires one more anchor shift on Saturdays only for which they are using a freelancer or a full-time reporter. Sundays have a bunch of news magazine content (60 Minutes, etc) so they have are able to cover with 4 anchor shifts.

 

[K.M. Richards]

One big Alex Silverman change at KNX has been to put the weekend brokered content on 1070 while leaving 97.1 all news.

That, of course, removes the single-line reporting in Nielsen, so it will be easier to tell whether any PPM wearer encounters the AM or the FM.

 

[Mark Roberts]

My view is there is no such thing as a "long term play."

Especially when it comes to matters such as survival in an unfriendly business environment.

 

[Rollo-Smokes]

We may have an answer to part of the "What happens to CBS News Radio" question....

According to a post from Ted David (veteran radio/tv broadcaster, now retired) on the NYRMB, the future WHSQ/ESPN 880 will be "contractually obligated" to continue airing CBS News on the Hour for 18 months–until first quarter 2026 at the latest.

If this is accurate–and Mr. David is well-respected in the industry, so I don't question his credibility–how that meshes with the ESPN New York programing will be interesting.

Those other CBS News Radio elements, such as audio simulcasts of Face the Nation, 60 Minutes and the CBS Evening News, may just go away in NYC. I could see WBBR perhaps picking up Face the Nation, but there's no logical landing spot for anything else.

 

[Weiserguy]

I don’t think KNX is going anywhere, but if it disappeared soon, I think they would give sports on FM a try.

Start with the first 20% or so going for sales staff and agency commissions. Then there could be up to an 8 figure number for the sports rights. That is before salaries, utilities, engineering, insurance, and all the other costs.

Look north, young men. Four hundred miles north, to be precise, to San Francisco and Audacy's KGMZ. Check how well that Sports-On-Fm has been doing, especially compared to Cumulus's stations. Should give you all the data you need.

 

[K.M. Richards]

According to a post from Ted David (veteran radio/tv broadcaster, now retired) on the NYRMB, the future WHSQ/ESPN 880 will be "contractually obligated" to continue airing CBS News on the Hour for 18 months–until first quarter 2026 at the latest.

If this is accurate–and Mr. David is well-respected in the industry, so I don't question his credibility–how that will mesh with the ESPN New York programing will be interesting.

I'm going to say this again. The programming on 880 will be the locally produced sports programming presently airing on 98.7, not the ESPN Radio network feed. That is staying on 1050.

I could see a problem in trying to fit the news into the network feed, but all the local hosts have to do is say, "now we'll break for the news on WHSQ New York." I don't think any of their listeners are going to jump ship over that.