As I said earlier, multiple radio companies, including CBS, attempted to launch all news stations around the same time as 106.7, and all of them ended the same way. The situation in Atlanta wasn't unique.
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Buffalo Cumulus sells AM to Buddy Shula
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As I said earlier, multiple radio companies, including CBS, attempted to launch all news stations around the same time as 106.7, and all of them ended the same way. The situation in Atlanta wasn't unique.
K.M. Richards
Program Director, The Eighties Channel™
Here's a good example both of how hard it is to compete for all-News listeners -- in a major market -- with a note about syndicated all-News formats.
30 years ago, in 1995, AM 1260 in Los Angeles (having just changed hands less than two years previous) went all-News as KNNS using the then-new AP All-News Radio feed. To have full coverage of Southern California, they simulcast on 540 in Orange County and San Diego. On-air, AP branded it as "The News Station".
"K-News" was up against two stations that had already been competing for the News audience for close to 30 years ... KNX/1070 and KFWB/980 ... which, on top of everything else, came under common ownership when Group W bought CBS Radio the same year as "K-News" started. And even though they executed the format on-air very well, with frequent traffic updates and local inserts, it lasted less than two years ... by the beginning of 1997, they pulled the plug.
The AP format had a decent affiliate count, but that declined over time and they finally threw in the towel in 2005. The audio simulcast of CNN Headline News ended two years later, and its successor CNN Radio, as noted, ended five years after that.
KFWB edged its way out of the all-News format in 2009 by taking everything outside of morning and afternoon drive to Talk. Then CBS bought KCAL-TV/9 and KFWB went into a trust to satisfy ownership caps. Two years later, they went all-Sports, and two more years afterwards, were sold and went to the "Bollywood" music format that was also airing in San Jose and Seattle. Even that wasn't a huge success, it was sold again and went to a Regional Mexican format.
And this was in market #2!
Takeaways, all validating @TheBigA's points: It's an expensive format to run, and every attempt at national all-News formats ultimately ended with the plug being pulled. NIS had the resources of NBC. "The News Station" was backed by the Associated Press. The CNN Headline News simulcast was essentially part of CNN itself, and its replacement was operated by Westwood One.
There are only about a dozen 24/7 all-News stations left. None are purely FM.
30 years ago, in 1995, AM 1260 in Los Angeles (having just changed hands less than two years previous) went all-News as KNNS using the then-new AP All-News Radio feed. To have full coverage of Southern California, they simulcast on 540 in Orange County and San Diego. On-air, AP branded it as "The News Station".
"K-News" was up against two stations that had already been competing for the News audience for close to 30 years ... KNX/1070 and KFWB/980 ... which, on top of everything else, came under common ownership when Group W bought CBS Radio the same year as "K-News" started. And even though they executed the format on-air very well, with frequent traffic updates and local inserts, it lasted less than two years ... by the beginning of 1997, they pulled the plug.
The AP format had a decent affiliate count, but that declined over time and they finally threw in the towel in 2005. The audio simulcast of CNN Headline News ended two years later, and its successor CNN Radio, as noted, ended five years after that.
KFWB edged its way out of the all-News format in 2009 by taking everything outside of morning and afternoon drive to Talk. Then CBS bought KCAL-TV/9 and KFWB went into a trust to satisfy ownership caps. Two years later, they went all-Sports, and two more years afterwards, were sold and went to the "Bollywood" music format that was also airing in San Jose and Seattle. Even that wasn't a huge success, it was sold again and went to a Regional Mexican format.
And this was in market #2!
Takeaways, all validating @TheBigA's points: It's an expensive format to run, and every attempt at national all-News formats ultimately ended with the plug being pulled. NIS had the resources of NBC. "The News Station" was backed by the Associated Press. The CNN Headline News simulcast was essentially part of CNN itself, and its replacement was operated by Westwood One.
There are only about a dozen 24/7 all-News stations left. None are purely FM.
Also another issue was local politics. At that time GA was a Red State. Now it's purple heading back to Red. Is there a successful all news station in a Red State?
I believe WTOP is only on FM.
K.M. Richards
Program Director, The Eighties Channel™
You're right. Brain freeze; I was remembering the original home of the format and calls on 1500, which is still co-owned by Hubbard. Probably doesn't help that they don't have their frequency in their online logo (or for that matter, anywhere prominent on the website ...
Yep. And, like WECK locally, WTOP uses 2 repeaters to add more reach to their 103.5 FM primary signal.
You couldn't do that all day. At BEST, it would only work in AM & PM drive. WBZ-AM in Boston doesn't do news around the clock, either; Dan Rea hosts the talk show Nightside weeknights at 8pm. Weekends see a bit less news and more talk shows.
And competed with the seller. The seller had too many similar services, and focusing on fewer would, supposedly, result in lower costs and larger individual network audience sizes to selel.
"Almost" is an exaggeration. Most public corporations never get any serious shareholder challenges because those groups are not big enough to get even a single person on the board.
But it had the relations with the agencies and advertisers that made it nearly invincable revenue-wise.
WGST had a signal that did not cover the whole radio survey market by day and only a small piece at night
But WECK uses translators. I thought the WTOP "repeaters" were additional full FM signals. Of course, the geographical area of the Washington, DC, metro is quite a bit bigger than Buffalo and is pretty densely populated right to the edges.
K.M. Richards
Program Director, The Eighties Channel™
WTOP has one translator, with the inadvertently accurate assigned calls of W252DC, on 98.3, technically covering the Reston VA area but with an actual "footprint" closer to DC itself.
No on-channel boosters. Two 24/7 simulcasts on full-power FMs: WTLP/103.9 Braddock Heights MD (NNE of DC) and WWWT/107.7 Manassas VA (WSW).
Thanks. So there are two "full FMs" and one translator.
When I briefly worked at WEZR, where we were not encouraged to call it "wheezer" we did often ask "who put the 'ass' in Manassas? Today, there are no asses in Manasses, but a lot of donkeys as it's one of the more Democrat areas of DC.
The 98.3 translator doesn't carry the main WTOP programming. It's carrying one of the HD subs, or at least it was until recently.
Signal challenged WGST provided WSB with: Rush, Clark Howard, Neal Bortz. Bortz once said WSB really stood for We Stole Bortz. One of the old WGST reporters Bill Caiaccio frequently does the news. CC put WGST on 640 and then they put WGST on 105.7. Some genius at Clear Channel thought WGST didn't need 105.7. CC started "Cool Oldies" on 105.7 after Cox flipped 97.1 to Jamz 97 trying to dethrone V103. 640 don't have the signal of WSB especially early winter mornings and evenings and nights and WSB's better signal and reasorces eventually won out.
K.M. Richards
Program Director, The Eighties Channel™
Appreciate that, Scott. As good as @Michi's site is, it can't tell when a translator is using a HD2 or HD3 as its primary, because that's not in the FCC records.
But that explains why the translator has a footprint outside of its COL.
COL is a meaningless concept for a secondary service such as FM translators. There's no requirement that a translator cover all, or even any, of its "COL." It's just a field that exists in LMS and therefore has to be filled in with something.
K.M. Richards
Program Director, The Eighties Channel™
Now that you mention it, the first time I consulted Don Davis' stations, one of his translators had the transmitter site (Sandia) in that field.
I still find it amusing that the calls for WTOP's translator (which, as we know, are simply assigned sequentially) are W252DC. (It's sort of a throwback to the original FM call letter configuration.)
This is correct, also for LPFM stations. There is an LPFM station in "Cell Site, Montana". In the recent window, there's a pending application in an MX Group for "AARP Insurance, New Jersey". The community of license is nothing more than just a "placeholder".
The Rosenworcel FCC wanted to impose a requirement for LPTV and TV translator stations that the community of license must actually reach that community (not a 50% or 70 dBu requirement like full-service has). REC still opposes this proposal as some stations are in deep rural areas and in some cases, it may not reach a community that would otherwise be eligible to be considered a community for allotment purposes. REC also opposes this because we do not want to one day see this TV policy spill over to radio. I think the Carr FCC will not run with this. In other words, delete a regulation before it even becomes a regulation.
It would simplify everything if stations had the option simply use MSA it's located in for COL.
In the full-service context, it must be at the community level, pursuant to the Communications Act.
K.M. Richards
Program Director, The Eighties Channel™
The biggest problem with the antiquated concept of COL is the 73.1201 station identification requirements. Example: The two stations I program in Albuquerque have COLs in smaller -- but valid -- communities just south of the ABQ city limits for their AMs, but other than during the TOH announcement, we only reference Albuquerque. (Without even thinking hard, I can name three other stations in the market, not co-owned with my client's cluster, who are in the exact same situation.)
The original concept, which was programming in the public interest of the residents of the COL, is outdated and non-existent in the real world. The "community issues" for Peralta, Isleta, Belen, Los Lunas, and Bosque Farms are the same as the ones in Albuquerque proper ... and 90% of the time are the same ones regardless of geographic market.
Carr wants to declutter the regs? Fine. Include 73.1201 ... either do away with it like most of the rest of the world has, or let stations use their market identifier instead, similar to what @secondchoice suggested. It appears to be meaningless for translators and LPFMs anyway (maybe those should be 73.1201 optional?).
The original concept, which was programming in the public interest of the residents of the COL, is outdated and non-existent in the real world. The "community issues" for Peralta, Isleta, Belen, Los Lunas, and Bosque Farms are the same as the ones in Albuquerque proper ... and 90% of the time are the same ones regardless of geographic market.
Carr wants to declutter the regs? Fine. Include 73.1201 ... either do away with it like most of the rest of the world has, or let stations use their market identifier instead, similar to what @secondchoice suggested. It appears to be meaningless for translators and LPFMs anyway (maybe those should be 73.1201 optional?).