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Good Karma To Lease 880; WCBS News Programming To End

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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.

I'm not doubting him, but I will say that typically, stations in this situation are only contractually obligated to carry the commercials, not the programming. But who knows what these folks signed?
 
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.
IIRC, WFAN had news at the top of the hour in its early years. It used to end with the result of the most recent race at whichever NY track was running (Aqueduct, Belmont, Saratoga), then the weather. But it as gone before a year or two had passed, and since then, all updates the station has programmed have been sports-only. (Except, I assume, on 9/11.)
 
I'm not sure if that was in response to my post. But in my defense, I did write "ESPN New York".

If you did (and forgive me for not wanting to go back one page to check that detail), I apologize for overlooking it, but my reading of your post gave me the impression that you meant integrating the CBS network news into the ESPN Radio network programming.
 
IIRC, WFAN had news at the top of the hour in its early years. It used to end with the result of the most recent race at whichever NY track was running (Aqueduct, Belmont, Saratoga), then the weather. But it as gone before a year or two had passed, and since then, all updates the station has programmed have been sports-only. (Except, I assume, on 9/11.)
I only recall WFAN doing non-sports news during Imus in the Morning.

If a major news story was in progress, there were exceptions. Examples I clearly recall were 9/11 and the days afterward, the 2000 presidential election, and the 1990 Happy Land Social Club fire.
 
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.
There is a low percentage of non-simulcast time which can be used while still getting SLR. This was intended to help sports stations with restricted-by-team simulcast issues but could be used to cover some Sunday morning hours.
 
There is a low percentage of non-simulcast time which can be used while still getting SLR. This was intended to help sports stations with restricted-by-team simulcast issues but could be used to cover some Sunday morning hours.

Of course. I've read that part of the Nielsen policy before. But I get the impression that the amount of infomercial content on Sunday may well exceed that allowance.
 
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.

I understand he’s a busy guy, but it seems I never get an answer from David on anything I ask him directly.
 
The limit for separate programming while qualifying for total line reporting is 33.5 hours in a 28 day ratings period, excluding the 12a-6a daypart.

True, presuming any infomercial client wanted to buy in the overnight daypart.

I do not know how much paid programming runs on 1070; Audacy only posts the 97.1 program schedule. (For that matter, they have erased "AM 1070" from the station logo on their website.) But if they plan to spin more and more of the weekend AM schedule to infomercials, they would hit the tipping point at 11:00pm if they started at 6:00am both days.
 
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.
That's really interesting. I wonder what would air on the ESPN New York app while CBS news airs on 880?
 
I do not know how much paid programming runs on 1070; Audacy only posts the 97.1 program schedule. (For that matter, they have erased "AM 1070" from the station logo on their website.) But if they plan to spin more and more of the weekend AM schedule to infomercials, they would hit the tipping point at 11:00pm if they started at 6:00am both days.
If I'm in the city on weekends, I'm tuned into 97.1 anyways so I'm not sure how much is running on KNX.

But if they simply moved the prior brokered programming over it is 2 or 3 hours Saturday mornings and 1 or 2 on Sundays.

Not much. As you note, they could pack 1070 on weekends with this stuff without hitting the tipping point.
 
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 true, as with any contract the importance thing is the details. Are they contractually obligated to air 24 hours a day? In Philly KYW only runs CBS top of the hour overnight. Are they contractually obligated to run 7/days a week? Are they contractually obligated to stream, run over the air or both? Could the contract obligation end if they no longer use the WCBS call letters?
 

Here are more reactions to WCBS-AM to flip as WHSQ-AM ESPN New York.
 
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.
Yes I forget commissions 🤣🤣. There’s a reason why they’re shopping at Saks Fifth Avenue, and I’m shopping at Walmart in rural Louisiana 🤣🤣
 
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.
Which further makes me think an outright flip to sports isn’t a good idea
 
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.
I fully believe listeners will definitely jump ship over that. We listen to sports to get away from news. WFAN wouldn’t do that
 

Here are more reactions to WCBS-AM to flip as WHSQ-AM ESPN New York.
A part of me feels like this has WCBS FM-Jack FM written all over it. Maybe Michael Kay shouldn’t take phone calls for a little while?
 
A part of me feels like this has WCBS FM-Jack FM written all over it. Maybe Michael Kay shouldn’t take phone calls for a little while?
You know that Jack was, demographically, more successful than the abandoned Oldie format on CBS-FM, don't you?
 
Yeah WCBS used to air the Yankees for decades, right? I think CBS/audacy may have been telling us all along which station they favored for delivering news. I still think an outright flip isn’t a good idea. I do think WCBS incorporating more sports shows (like WWL) would be the better idea. I’m sorry, but that’s a lot of money WCBS/Audacy is leaving on the table with this LMA

New Orleans is a much more parochial market with the Saints than with NY and WCBS. The Saints are a major part of the culture, and you have to have Saints coverage there and WWL is the flagship. And the majority of their listenership is on FM. Immediately after Hurricane Katrina they added the FM simulcast with 105.3 (that was a struggling hot AC before the storm).

Even with that their night programming is all Infinity sports talk after 8pm. They do Dave Ramsey at 1am CT and Gordon Deal's morning news at 4am.

When I was growing up (even until Katrina and a few years after), they had trucking shows on there overnight.
 
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