This is my gut instinct. Might not even make it six months. Honestly CIMX going all-Windsor without any Detroit marketing might be the only chance that Alt on WZDH has.
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89X To Return?
- Thread starter umfan
- Start date
I give WDZH the more optimistic 1-2 years, but a format flip within 6 months wouldn't surprised me. Anyhow, 89X targeting all-Windsor won't matter to Audacy. WWJ is the only all-news station that they own that is without an FM simulcast. WWJ on an FM signal is bound to happen sooner or later.
I agree 100%, but any change to 98.7 would be dictated by Audacy determining whether or not they'll make more money with WWJ on FM than by any direct influence over a station that is explicitly targeting Windsor.
There is some flexibility in Cancon. For example, some formats, such as classical, jazz, and I would assume R&B/Hip-hop, are cut some slack due to lack of Canadian product. I'm sure that's not an issue with alt rock.
Yeah, and add to that that Detroit is not exactly Chicago, New York, or LA. Does the demand for all-news exist here as it does in those three major cities.
"Demand" doesn't matter. It's all about billings.
A few random observations:
- 89X is streaming on the U.S. iHeart app, but it doesn't yet show up by searching for it in the app. I went to 89xradio.com, clicked the "Listen Live" button which opened it in the iHeart app. From there I was able to add it to my library save it as a preset for future access.
- The music programming on 89X sounds great so far.
- The streaming processing sounds a little too compressed and there's even a bit of audible clipping distortion. There's no need for that on a stream.
- Windsor is a pretty small city/market for such a big signal with a rather niche format to serve. A sign seen when entering Windsor itself displays a population of 196,000. I don't know what the Numeris market population figure is, but I suspect it's only around 350,000. A large percentage of that audience listens to the plethora of Detroit stations, leaving a smaller number of Canadian listeners to be divided up between Windsor's stations in the Canadian market. Meanwhile there's the huge, lucrative Detroit market right next door, which is why the Windsor stations targeted it for so long.
- I believe one reason Bell closed its Detroit sales office and turned its focus solely to Windsor was political. Bell needs to ask the CRTC for approval of licenses and various other things across its whole portfolio of telecom businesses on a regular basis, and radio isn't its highest priority. The CRTC puts a huge priority on media companies serving Canadians though, and I suspect Bell didn't want to have to defend themselves against serving Americans with its radio stations in this particular market. This is in contrast to Geoff Stirling who originally owned CIMX (them CJOM), who was notorious for flouting the CRTC's rules and standing up to the commission when it got in his way.
- The CanCon level for the Windsor stations used to be set at 15%, but it increased to 20% when CanCon mandates crept up to 35% or more nationwide. Windsor is still unique to have such a low CanCon mandate compared to the rest of Canada due to the competition from the Detroit stations.
- Steve Jones, President of Canada's Stingray Media, has been on a crusade to reform CanCon rules. He explains that they were conceived at a time when Canadian radio had to support a struggling Canadian music industry, but today the opposite is true with radio being the struggling industry while the Canadian music industry is very healthy. He also points out how ridiculous it is that certain songs from Canadian artists like Justin Bieber, The Weeknd, Tate McRae and others can't be counted as CanCon by Canadian radio stations, simply because of the way those artists collaborated with others in creating them. His LinkedIn posts on the subject are a great read for anyone interested.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/steve-jones-aa4332b4
Well, I'm sure the morning shows that stay on the air on iHeart Country stations prove their worth. I assume they became institutions in their cities, years before Premiere Networks began putting Bobby Bones on most iHeart Country outlets.
It doesn't have to do with market size. You might think iHeart would put a high-quality local morning show on in most large cities and leave the syndicated show for lesser markets. But that's not the case. In a large market like Atlanta, WUBL carries Bobby Bones. Yet in Lexington KY, WBUL, the iHeart country station, has a local wake up show called "Officer Don and DeAnn." But I don't think those two hosts are schmos. WBUL is #1.
And we can assume that WWJ bills very well. As we've seen in recent months in St. Louis (KMOX), Portland (KFXX) and Miami (WQAM), Audacy is willing to sacrifice a so-so FM station to preserve a high-billing AM format.
All of the other Audacy All-News stations have FM simulcasts. The only two left exclusively on the AM dial are WWJ and iHeart-owned WBZ Boston.
Been out of the city for a little while but glad to hear it’s back! When it left it truly was a sad day. Listened for most of the day and must say I don’t share the same positivity so many others have shown. Maybe it’s first day jitters but heard a lot of technical issues, bad segues, and the playlist is pretty on par with 98-7. Not really hearing what is special so far other than the Canadian songs that are a mix of awful/unknown.
If I still lived there I would probably keep listening to other stations until they (if ever) become a less redundant product in the marketplace. Speaking of, I doubt this makes any changes, as speculated, to the current landscape. Last I hear they aren’t included in any ratings or sales initiatives so why would anyone worry? Seems billing is healthy across the city and until that changes I think everyone can be ok.
Hopefully it turns around because I’m a fan of the format, even at my advanced age, and hate seeing stations go away. The more the merrier!
If I still lived there I would probably keep listening to other stations until they (if ever) become a less redundant product in the marketplace. Speaking of, I doubt this makes any changes, as speculated, to the current landscape. Last I hear they aren’t included in any ratings or sales initiatives so why would anyone worry? Seems billing is healthy across the city and until that changes I think everyone can be ok.
Hopefully it turns around because I’m a fan of the format, even at my advanced age, and hate seeing stations go away. The more the merrier!
The last publicly released Numeris survey for Windsor (2022) listed it with a 12+ population of 314,450.
Here's a recording of the launch. Well done!
Relaunch was A+. Although I keep hearing issues like the same song playing multiple times in 40 minutes and multiple repeat titles and it’s only been 9 hours.
I’ve been rolling tape on it since launch, and I can’t say I’ve seen any repeats (including checking/refreshing their ‘recently played’ log).
Last data I saw had WWJ near $13 million in annual revenue.
Had someone that worked there a while back and that’s way over what they told me and the fact that it’s so expensive to run makes it turn a very small profit. His words
I have always loved it but have grown to worry about its relevancy. As someone said earlier this isn’t New York City or LA or Chicago. Is an all news product needed in 2025 here? Its future viability has always been questionable for me.
No exception for R&B Hip-Hop.