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FM Frequencies As a Function of Programming/Format

C

Calhoun

I've listened to "local" radio all over the word. I've noticed particularly here in the US, FM stations that play classical music tend to be on the low end of the dial. They are generally much closer to low end 88MHz than to the the upper limit of 108MHz. I've also noticed many of those classical stations are NPR.

So the question is, are classical/NPR stations relegated to the lower end of the band, or is it a coincidence? If yes, why?
 
Calhoun said:
I've listened to "local" radio all over the word. I've noticed particularly here in the US, FM stations that play classical music tend to be on the low end of the dial. They are generally much closer to low end 88MHz than to the the upper limit of 108MHz. I've also noticed many of those classical stations are NPR.

So the question is, are classical/NPR stations relegated to the lower end of the band, or is it a coincidence? If yes, why?
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The bit of the band from 88.1 to 91.9 MHz is reserved for non commercial stations. Non comms can go anywhere on the dial, it's perfectly possible for a non comm group to buy a commercial station and convert it, but commercial stations can't encroach on the bottom end of the band. NPR stations are always non commercial, classical stations are overwhelmingly so with few exceptions.

It isn't that all the classical stations got together and said "let's all cluster around 91 MHz", nor is it any kind of "relegation" (not that any one part of the FM band is any "better" than another), it's just because that's the part of the band specifically set aside to accommodate that type of station.
 
radiofan2023 said:
KXTR was classical in Kansas City on 96.5 from 1959-2000, but I don't remember if it was noncommercial or not. @Mark Roberts do you remember?
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It was quite commercial.

KFUO-FM in St. Louis was at 99.1, owned by the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, featuring classical music from Parkway tapes. I recall that it varied between commercial and non-commercial status. Its current operator, Gateway Creative programming contemporary Christian music, has a commercial license.

WMRY in East St. Louis was at 101.1, owned by an order of Roman Catholic nuns, playing what would now be called soft adult contemporary music interspersed with inspirational messages. It operated non-commercially until the 1980s when it went to a more mainstream format, but I don't think it ever formalized that status with the Commission. Its predecessor was a commercial station.

KMFC in Centralia, Mo. is at 92.1. It started out as a commercial station featuring Christian teaching and music; after K-Love bought it, it converted to noncommercial status. KMFC's commercial status restricted its ability to use translators outside its primary coverage area; supporters of the station set up an independent company to operate translators for KMFC in Columbia and Jefferson City. When KMFC was sold to K-Love, the translators were sold to other parties.
 
Miss Tuned said:
The bit of the band from 88.1 to 91.9 MHz is reserved for non commercial stations. Non comms can go anywhere on the dial, it's perfectly possible for a non comm group to buy a commercial station and convert it, but commercial stations can't encroach on the bottom end of the band. NPR stations are always non commercial, classical stations are overwhelmingly so with few exceptions.

It isn't that all the classical stations got together and said "let's all cluster around 91 MHz", nor is it any kind of "relegation" (not that any one part of the FM band is any "better" than another), it's just because that's the part of the band specifically set aside to accommodate that type of station.
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Correct. And I'd guess that at this point in time the majority of classical stations are non-commercial.

It used to be otherwise, but commercial classical stations have generally either switched formats or gone non-commercial. Examples of classical stations that used to be commercial but converted include WFMT Chicago (98.7), WRR Dallas/Fort Worth (101.1), and KING(FM) Seattle/Tacoma (98.1). But I'm sure there are several others.
 
TexasTom said:
Examples of classical stations that used to be commercial but converted include WFMT Chicago (98.7)...
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WFMT, last I heard, still aired commercials, but not to the extent that the mainstream Chicago stations do. It may be owned by WTTW (which also aired a limited number of commercials in the '80s and '90s; I don't know if they still do), but WFMT is licensed as a commercial station.
 
KeithE4 said:
WFMT, last I heard, still aired commercials, but not to the extent that the mainstream Chicago stations do. It may be owned by WTTW (which also aired a limited number of commercials in the '80s and '90s; I don't know if they still do), but WFMT is licensed as a commercial station.
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It apparently is owned in common with WTTW -- so I am surprised that they're still airing commercials. WRR ceased doing so when management of it was taken over by KERA and KING(FM) also dropped commercials when it switched to non-commercial operation.
 
TexasTom said:
It apparently is owned in common with WTTW -- so I am surprised that they're still airing commercials.
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Window To The World Communications, parent to WTTW Channel 11, received WFMT 55 years ago from then-Continental Broadcasting, which owned WGN radio and TV, and was a subsidiary of the Chicago Tribune. Trouble was, since the Trib already owned an AM and TV station, as well as being one of the largest newspapers in the country, the FCC took a dim view of them also owning an FM. It took two years, but the donation to WTTW happened in 1970. It was a commercial FM then, even though Channel 11 was a non-comm PBS affiliate, and AFAIK, it still is on a somewhat limited basis.
TexasTom said:
WRR ceased doing so when management of it was taken over by KERA and KING(FM) also dropped commercials when it switched to non-commercial operation.
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I'm not familiar with either station, having never set foot in either Dallas or Seattle, but I lived in Chicago for 20 years, and remember WFMT quite well, as well as the other commercial classical stations WNIB and WEFM, both of which are long gone now.
 
Calhoun said:
I've noticed particularly here in the US, FM stations that play classical music tend to be on the low end of the dial.
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It wasn't always that way. If fact at one time, FM was mainly a band for classical music and beautiful music. We're talking about the 1950s into the early 60s. Every city had at least one major commercial classical music station. New York had two. WQXR at 96.3 and WNCN at 104.3. As you can see, they were in the middle of the dial, not at the bottom. Back then, FM radio was an audiophile thing. People would buy expensive component systems with FM tuners, because it required an extra antenna. It wasn't portable like AM. There were magazines for FM listeners that would print the playlists of the classical stations. That way people knew when to tune in to hear their favorite symphony. Or if they didn't know the work, they could just check the magazine and find the title and composer. All this was before rock music discovered FM in the mid-60s.

After that, FM frequencies became more popular, and classical music got pushed aside. This started in the 70s when WNCN became WQIV and played rock music. Ultimately, the frequency is now WAQX and plays classic rock. Classical music became less profitable. It was a better fit for non-commercial radio, which is, as you say, mainly on the lower end of the dial. But at one time, classical reigned supreme on FM.
 
There has been a trend in the past few years of commercial classical stations becoming non-commercial. The previously mentioned WQXR New York (previously commercial at 96.3, now non-comm at 105.9) would be a good example. WQXR is now a sister station to WNYC, the area's NPR affiliate. Then there is Boston's WCRB (previously commercial at 102.5, now 99.5) and is now owned by Boston's NPR affiliate WGBH.

Interesting to note that in both cases, the frequency swaps always seem to leave the classical station with the less desirable frequency. That's certainly the case in Boston, where WCRB is now on out-of-town 99.5, although they are simulcast on WGBH 89.7-HD2.

There is one commercial classical station that I am aware of, WCRI-FM (95.9) in Block Island, RI.
 
KeithE4 said:
Trouble was, since the Trib already owned an AM and TV station, as well as being one of the largest newspapers in the country, the FCC took a dim view of them also owning an FM.
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The Washington Post had the same problem, and they donated their FM to Howard University. Today WHUR is one of the top rated stations in DC.

WGMS was Washington's "good music station." It was commercial classical, owned by RKO. It survived many attempts by its parent company to go Top 40. But by the 2000s, the city's all news station, WTOP, was looking for an FM. They bought 103.5, made a deal with the local NPR station WETA 90.9 to get the classical library and take the format full time.

Ed Nielson said:
There has been a trend in the past few years of commercial classical stations becoming non-commercial.
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Commercial classical stations had a reputation for being less adventurous musically. They basically played the warhorses, the most popular stuff. They also had a problem with loud obnoxious commercials breaking the mood created by the music. Both of those problems were solved when the format went non-commercial.
 
TexasTom said:
It used to be otherwise, but commercial classical stations have generally either switched formats or gone non-commercial. Examples of classical stations that used to be commercial but converted include WFMT Chicago (98.7), WRR Dallas/Fort Worth (101.1), and KING(FM) Seattle/Tacoma (98.1). But I'm sure there are several others.
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KHFM (95.5) Santa Fe, NM, which American General Media transferred to a related non-profit entity called the American General Media Foundation in September 2017. According to the Albuquerque Journal, this was to avoid divestment due to additional acquisitions by AGM in the market.

KHFM's own history is a bit tangled. It started out in Albuquerque in 1954 at 96.3; Citadel sold the KHFM intellectual property to AGM in 2001, which effectively moved the station to Santa Fe and the 95.5 frequency, though the studios for the station remained in Albuquerque.
 
TheBigA said:
They also had a problem with loud obnoxious commercials breaking the mood created by the music. Both of those problems were solved when the format went non-commercial.
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Most commercial Classical stations I ever heard had policies forbidding such spots. A lot of Beautiful Music stations had similar policies.

The first station I worked at, in the mid-1970s, had a nightly four-hour Classical program (and I turned out to be the best board op/producer in the station's history, lasting just under three years in the position, which included afternoon drive for the regular "contemporary MOR" format and a one-hour dinner break between the two shifts) and the station owner -- who was also the host, via voicetracking -- solved the problem by selling the program to a dozen or so local businesses as sponsorships and producing low-key spots just for use during "Great Music To Midnight".
 
K.M. Richards said:
Most commercial Classical stations I ever heard had policies forbidding such spots. A lot of Beautiful Music stations had similar policies.
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WFMT still does. But WGMS was owned by RKO, so they had spots they didn't control. The way they handled it was to run the loud spots during their TOH news. Certainly now, given how limited the ad pool is, PDs have less say in the ads they run. It's not uncommon today to hear ads on stations that clash with their formats and target demos.
 
TheBigA said:
It's not uncommon today to hear ads on stations that clash with their formats and target demos.
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I can give you a real world, current example, A.

KRKE in Albuquerque, which runs my Classic Hits format The Eighties Channel™, is presently running a spot for the New Year's Eve event at one of the local casinos, which is being headlined by a local Country band. Spot comes complete with clips of their songs, which I doubt any of my listeners come even close to recognizing. This follows a campaign a month or so back promoting a concert at the same casino by Kansas, who have a total of zero songs in my library (I would be hard pressed to name even one song they had that charted in the 80's, in fact).

But it is a regional agency buy across all the stations in the cluster, regardless of format. I keep wondering how the listeners to our Rhythmic AC and Urban stations react to the New Year's Eve spot.
 
K.M. Richards said:
I keep wondering how the listeners to our Rhythmic AC and Urban stations react to the New Year's Eve spot.
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On the other side, imagine how country stations feel airing a spot built around the Kelis song "Milk Shake." In case you're not familiar, the song is about her very ample breasts. Her milk shake brings all the boys around. "I could teach you, but I'd have to charge." Not family friendly. Not close to country. Back in the day, most advertisers created alternate spots for specific formats. This was from Procter & Gamble. They had no alternate spot. Oh well.
 
b-turner said:
Jump back to 1968, I was a frequent visitor to KXTR. Tom Green that did 6 to Noon told me the station was doing well with about 20 commercials a day. I know one advertiser was Comer Carpet in Independence. So, yes, KXTR was commercial.
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A regular advertiser for KXTR's concert broadcasts in the 1970s (which I could pick up when I was in north Missouri) was Aristocrat Motors.

I always got the feeling Robert Ingram ran the station to keep his Mission Hills buddies happy. If you ever saw a copy of "The Independent", a weekly magazine chronicaling Kansas City society figures which he published, you'd see what I mean.
 


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