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Should 96.1 Flip To Talk?

DToTheJ

DToTheJ

I think iHeart should just throw in the towel on CHR and just admit that they're never going to give Kiss a real battle. Aside from a few odd books where they actually finished ahead of Kiss, Kiss is clearly a legendary brand in town, and 96.1 through all of its iterations and changes over the last 15 years continues to lose the fight with Kiss. They've trended down 3.0-2.6-2.2. The freakin' Classical station is beating them, for crying out loud!!

So what's next? Well, when it comes to talk radio, WBT is the only game in town. And while it's hard to believe that a mix of syndicated shows could possibly dethrone a Goliath with 16 hours of live and local programming a day, at least iHeart would get clearances in the market for Sean Hannity, Clay and Buck and others. Maybe throw in a Fox News show or two; Jimmy Failla's show is doing really well.

Thoughts?
 
Of the top 25 PPM markets there are only TWO that iHeart doesn't have a CHR and in one of them the consider their Spanish CHR (San Antonio) to fill the hole. It's not just about local format holes for them, but selling national scale. WHQC's ratings are on par with many other CHRs across the country in their portfolio and you're only seeing 6+ and not how they are performing in their core 18-34 and 18-49 demos. Having access to selling events, music promotions, and advertisers across the country and format portfolio is what makes the company money.

While Conservative Talk may get a higher share, the format takes time to build an audience. It will also skew much older and is not guaranteed to make more money.
 
Very well said, Lance. Why blow up a MUCH more attractive format for the key demos for a 55+ (more likely 65+ in reality) format from scratch?
 
A second talk station has been attempted at least 2-3 times in the past but they end up changing formats after a year or so. For whatever reason nobody has been able to challenge WBT
 
I don’t agree with flipping to Conservative Talk for a variety of reasons, but iHeart needs to do something else with 96.1. They don’t perform well in the demos, and their morning show is horrible and the worst rated in the cluster. They haven’t been competitive since they dropped Ace and TJ. I haven’t been a fan of iHeart dropping all the long standing morning shows (Paul Schadt, John Boy and Billy, Ace and TJ a couple of years ago), but they should have dropped Miguel and Holly a long time ago. Whoever is running that cluster is not very intelligent. Beasley is kicking their ass.
 
I would like to see 96.1 flip their format and concede the CHR battle to 95.1. Not sure talk is the answer. Although I would like to see WBT on a stronger FM signal, if they would flip 107.9. But it seems the AC Mix format provides decent results, and apparently Radio One does not wish to change there. Would it benefit iHeart to move the country format from 96.9 to 96.1? As 96.1 has a stronger signal to the west, although it may satisfactorily reach the core market of Charlotte.
 
tylerSC said:
I would like to see 96.1 flip their format and concede the CHR battle to 95.1. Not sure talk is the answer. Although I would like to see WBT on a stronger FM signal, if they would flip 107.9. But it seems the AC Mix format provides decent results, and apparently Radio One does not wish to change there. Would it benefit iHeart to move the country format from 96.9 to 96.1? As 96.1 has a stronger signal to the west, although it may satisfactorily reach the core market of Charlotte.
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There’s nothing wrong with the 96.9 signal in the DMA.
 
101tm said:
There’s nothing wrong with the 96.9 signal in the DMA.
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That's what I said, yes. It reaches the core market of Charlotte. But 96.1 is indeed stronger to the west, and 96.9 from Charlotte now has interference from a Greenville translator as you travel from Spartanburg into Greenville County. But I realize that is not a concern for out of market. But there are those of us that like to listen to distant signals from neighboring regional markets. And 95.1, 96.1, and 107.9 reach into the Upstate.
 
I don't know how bad the interference problem is for either, but before the station at 96.9 improved its signal Greensboro already had a popular FM at 97.1 playing Black music. That station improved its signal too. It is frequently no. 1 in its market.
 
I would say 98.9 could (and maybe would like to be) almost be considered a Charlotte station at this point, even if its secondary coverage.

They are WYRD (Weird) and pretty much now competing with their formerly owned station WBT on 2nd adjacent 99.3 ... "The voice of the Carolinas" ... As far as they are concerned, and like to brag about, that includes everything within their 40 dbu contour on their coverage map. (I heard them even mention Newport - which is in East Tennessee!)

Would be shocked if they swap 107.9 or 92.7 to simulcast WBT for even better coverage around the area. (i.e. if Mix ever moved off from 107.9)
 
We should note that iHeart has FM talk stations in North Carolina's two other Top 100 markets... 106.1 WTKK Knightsdale-Raleigh with a big Class C1 signal. And 94.5 WPTI Eden-Greensboro, also a Class C1. The two stations have similar schedules. They share a North Carolina-based morning show, hosted by K.C. O'Dea. Then it's the usual Premiere/iHeart line up: Glenn Beck, Clay Travis & Buck Sexton, Sean Hannity, Jesse Kelly and Coast to Coast AM with George Noory. They also run Dave Ramsey in the evening.

I would guess that if iHeart ever wanted to try talk on FM in Charlotte, it could duplicate these programs with not much of an added expense.
 
CLTRadio said:
I don’t agree with flipping to Conservative Talk for a variety of reasons, but iHeart needs to do something else with 96.1. They don’t perform well in the demos, and their morning show is horrible and the worst rated in the cluster. They haven’t been competitive since they dropped Ace and TJ. I haven’t been a fan of iHeart dropping all the long standing morning shows (Paul Schadt, John Boy and Billy, Ace and TJ a couple of years ago), but they should have dropped Miguel and Holly a long time ago. Whoever is running that cluster is not very intelligent. Beasley is kicking their ass.
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I think (soft) AC could be a viable option; give them a head-on battle with K104.7 but distinct themselves enough with 1029 the Lake.
 
107.9 Mix may not score high in the 6+ but likely does well enough 18-34.

I don't know how many 12-24 year olds use radio anymore since they can find free music on YouTube and other places. They can select the music they want whenever they want via computers and especially smartphones.

That being said you realize the revenue stream would be cut by 40 to 50 percent (maybe more) by selling one format rather than 2 formats. For what, a couple of rating points?

A full simulcast or even syndicated talk on 107.9 (if it managed any success) would be the death of WBT. Why would they want to compete with themselves?
 
If 96.1 could secure big syndicated names and some live sports, flipping 96.1 to news/talk would be a no-brainer. WBT would be destroyed within a year's time.

iHM owned FM talk stations pull big numbers in Raleigh and Greensboro. WSB-F (Cox) pulls big numbers in Atlanta.
 
KyleSmith1988 said:
I would say 98.9 could (and maybe would like to be) almost be considered a Charlotte station at this point, even if its secondary coverage.

They are WYRD (Weird) and pretty much now competing with their formerly owned station WBT on 2nd adjacent 99.3 ... "The voice of the Carolinas" ... As far as they are concerned, and like to brag about, that includes everything within their 40 dbu contour on their coverage map. (I heard them even mention Newport - which is in East Tennessee!)

Would be shocked if they swap 107.9 or 92.7 to simulcast WBT for even better coverage around the area. (i.e. if Mix ever moved off from 107.9)
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Radio One should leave everything alone at this point. LNK is usually top 3 in cume and has been doing better in middays and some of the demos. Within the last year, FNZ has had the best ratings in the history of the 92.7 signal. OSF has been in a slump recently, but they’ve led the market before. PZS has a very loyal and consistent audience and does well in some areas like political. WBT has been on the same signal for over 100 years, and used to lead the market in revenue. I do think The Block on 610 AM is a waste, and that signal would be better served simulcasting Praise or WFNZ, but it won’t make much difference either way.
 


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