1110 New Format

[IM42A]

I presume by now, Nielsen has considered it a break in the WBT AM/FM simulcast, thus causing their ratings to now be listed separately. If it goes on long enough, it will be interesting to see what kind of rating the "Lounge music loop" format will get!

It was cute for a few days, but it's starting to get old by now.

I say fish or cut bait.

 

[CLTRadio]

Questionable decisions strike again.

IMHO: why waste electricity doing stunting for an extended time? I seriously doubt anyone except DXers and radio nerds are scanning the AM band looking for a new great station to listen to. The only stunt that would really build excitement on AM would be for someone to hack your Barix and play profanity laced comedy.

I would suggest to start building you new audience ASAP in a PPM market You might get lucky and maybe a few listens might stick with you especially in spoken word formats. Maybe last century stunting would build "excitement" but I would like to see the research that supports it now. Especially on AM in a market with only one 24 hour signal that covers the whole market.

It kinda like stopping someone's heart just to see if you can restart it. The longer the worst the odds are for a full recovery.

I think they’re more concerned about losing the WBT audience vs whatever they’re going to do with 1110. People may hear the announcements, but that doesn’t mean they’re really listening. I still see a lot of comments on social media asking what happened to Praise, Mix or Block.

 

[101tm]

They’ve been running RDS updates on 99.3 and 107.9 about the changes too. Something like “MIX on 99.3/100.9, WBT 107.9, Praise 102.5”.

 

[vchimpanzee]

I wasn't familiar with how much something like that costs. I suppose $100 per day isn't much for them to pay, to be able to stall and maintain suspense for whatever reasons they might have for doing that.

They were still stunting as of 7 am this morning (Wednesday 14 January).

And three hours later, though I forgot to check on the way home.

 

[IM42A]

And three hours later, though I forgot to check on the way home.

They were still doing it this evening.

 

[davideduardo]

We'll (probably) know more in the next few days. They're spending a whole lot of money on electric bills to heat up those towers with lounge lizard music.

I keep wondering why many posters thing electricity is a significant expense at a major market radio station. It is not, even if we are talking about a higher power AM.

 

[test123]

I keep wondering why many posters thing electricity is a significant expense at a major market radio station. It is not, even if we are talking about a higher power AM.

Same here...Modern solid state AM transmitters are very efficient. The Nautel NV-50 is using MDCL which makes it even more efficient.

Music license fees are more than the power bill.

 

[Fighting Irish]

It was cute for a few days, but it's starting to get old by now.

I say fish or cut bait.

I get the feeling they might still be getting all the programming deals sorted out before launch (if the are, in fact, going the syndicated talk route). Probably makes sense to have the complete package first before launching.

 

[secondchoice]

I get the feeling they might still be getting all the programming deals sorted out before launch (if the are, in fact, going the syndicated talk route). Probably makes sense to have the complete package first before launching.

They should have had stuff lined up before the started stunting.

 

[Fighting Irish]

They should have had stuff lined up before the started stunting.

Which is easier to say sitting on the outside.

 

[IM42A]

You would think they would have had any programming deals done months ago. Surely they knew when they were going to cut over.

 

[kevtronics]

Did WBT have regular announcements leading up to the "stunting" saying something to the effect of "if you're listening to us on 1110 AM, please switch to 107.9 FM"?

 

[amos1001]

Did WBT have regular announcements leading up to the "stunting" saying something to the effect of "if you're listening to us on 1110 AM, please switch to 107.9 FM"?

No, but from the beginning of the simulcast they completely stopped any mention of 1110. Like now, all the imaging on the actual format was "Charlotte's FM news talk. 107.9 WBT". When the simulcast ended announcements began on 1110 that "your station is on the move" to 107.9. Those announcements have been repeating, several times a minute, for a week now. Their purpose is to move all 1110 listeners to FM.

 

[secondchoice]

Which is easier to say sitting on the outside.

True. The last station I flipped was a music station AC to Country* last century before you could download music legally off the Internet. Getting the music corraled took time. About 6 weeks a former all cart converting to mostly CD station.

That is why "executives" get the big bucks!

They could have easily had their programming on both AM and FM with promo announcements for the FM until they had the AM programming ready. Then the week before the split they could promoted the "new WBT AM". It's after Christmas, I am pretty sure they could squeeze the announcements in the regular stop sets.

Personally I would think twice about reprogramming the AM. WSB, WINS, WBBM, and several other operators of big 50,000 watt AMs kept their talkers on AM even when they got a decent FM signal. IIRC the last post by someone on the Atlanta board claims about 750 WSB AM had somewhere between 10 and 20 percent of the total 95.5 - 750 ratings.

* I am thankful for the CDX folks. Really nice folks who got the currents to us on CD.

 

[kevtronics]

No, but from the beginning of the simulcast they completely stopped any mention of 1110. Like now, all the imaging on the actual format was "Charlotte's FM news talk. 107.9 WBT". When the simulcast ended announcements began on 1110 that "your station is on the move" to 107.9. Those announcements have been repeating, several times a minute, for a week now. Their purpose is to move all 1110 listeners to FM.

But the 1110 AM / 107.9 FM simulcast only lasted about a month, as it began on December 11th, 2025. That's not much time to get everyone to switch over their presets, especially during the holiday season.

Official Announcement: WBT To Begin Broadcasting on 107.9 FM

Bo Thompson, Beth Troutman, Radio One Market Manager Marsha Landess, WBT Program Director Mike Schaefer, and WBT Sports Director Jim Szoke make the official announcement that as of December 11, WBT will begin airing on the 100,000 watt signal at 107.9 FM...

wbt.com

 

[vchimpanzee]

I still see a lot of comments on social media asking what happened to Praise, Mix or Block.

Where are these?

 

[tablin]

Where are these?

Charlotte, all affected by moving WBT to FM. Praise is urban gospel, Mix was on 107.9 and the Block was hip hop that is now gone.

 

[vchimpanzee]

Charlotte, all affected by moving WBT to FM. Praise is urban gospel, Mix was on 107.9 and the Block was hip hop that is now gone.

The comments on social media. Where are they?

 

[CLTRadio]

The comments on social media. Where are they?

Social media

 

[amos1001]

The phone number heard up and down the eastern seaboard at night for over 45 years has been disconnected 704-570-1110.