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1110 New Format

CLTRadio said:
I don’t like most of the content either, but I don’t think you can say they’re not running a top-notch operation because of issues with the automation system. Most of the time during overnights or weekends they only have one person in the building monitoring 5 or 6 stations.

I’ve had issues with my client’s spots at all the clusters. A couple of their spots “misfired” during a voicetracked show on WSOC. On WBAV, the music continued to play during the whole stop set and you couldn’t hear any of the spots. There is a hard stop at 7pm to start syndication on WOSF, and one of my clients spot was cut off after 10 seconds because DL Hughley ran late. WKKT’s automation system jumped an hour ahead, and they had to make up everybody’s time. Automation issues are very common unfortunately.

If there is a jock in the studio live, I’m less forgiving. They should be catching those issues ahead of time.
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If this were a one-off, I wouldn’t be nearly as critical—stuff breaks, automation glitches, it happens. But when the same thing keeps happening, even after it’s been noticed and reported, that’s no longer just a technical issue. That’s a process problem.

Maybe that makes me old-school, but expecting zero tolerance for extended dead air doesn’t feel unreasonable. Twenty-plus minutes of silence isn’t a minor hiccup—it’s a fundamental failure.

If that’s considered acceptable in today’s radio environment, then the problem isn’t expectations being too high. It’s the bar being set too low.
 
caudleweather said:
If this were a one-off, I wouldn’t be nearly as critical—stuff breaks, automation glitches, it happens. But when the same thing keeps happening, even after it’s been noticed and reported, that’s no longer just a technical issue. That’s a process problem.

Maybe that makes me old-school, but expecting zero tolerance for extended dead air doesn’t feel unreasonable. Twenty-plus minutes of silence isn’t a minor hiccup—it’s a fundamental failure.

If that’s considered acceptable in today’s radio environment, then the problem isn’t expectations being too high. It’s the bar being set too low.
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I haven’t heard 20+ minutes of dead air consistently on any station. Sounds like a one off. The only time Fox News runs is overnight anyway, so nobody’s listening. They might have been doing some work, or maybe the syndication went to break and didn’t sync up right and then had to correct itself. Could be a lot of things. I’d love for every station to be flawless and perfect, but that’s just not reality.
 
CLTRadio said:
I haven’t heard 20+ minutes of dead air consistently on any station. Sounds like a one off. The only time Fox News runs is overnight anyway, so nobody’s listening. They might have been doing some work, or maybe the syndication went to break and didn’t sync up right and then had to correct itself. Could be a lot of things. I’d love for every station to be flawless and perfect, but that’s just not reality.
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If nobody’s listening overnight, then I guess they could just sign off at midnight and save the electricity so us “nobodies” aren’t tempted to tune in.

Joking aside, I’ve personally heard extended dead air more than once, and once is already too many. Whether it’s syndication, maintenance, or automation hiccups, the cause doesn’t really matter to the listener—silence is silence.
 
Mediafrog+ said:
Advertisers hate dinosaurs.😞
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Correction agencies who have clients that are targeting 20 to 40 somethings are only following orders. They really don't care if it's AM or FM they are only looking at numbers.

If someone with a CB radio*, stream or podcast* had the numbers and the cost per thousand was good they would be placing orders. It's only a "commodity" with them. The only limitations possible are if a station won't accept the advertising like CCM and Beer or if the client doesn't want to be associated with left or right wing extreme political folks.

I know the CB is impossible.
 
This might actually be worse than the AM 560 situation in San Francisco ...At least Cumulus had the sense of knowing when to turn off the transmitter! You can only run a 'loop' for so long...
 
caudleweather said:
If nobody’s listening overnight, then I guess they could just sign off at midnight and save the electricity so us “nobodies” aren’t tempted to tune in.

Joking aside, I’ve personally heard extended dead air more than once, and once is already too many. Whether it’s syndication, maintenance, or automation hiccups, the cause doesn’t really matter to the listener—silence is silence.
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Back in my early days in radio, we had some technical issues and during one of those events, I'll never forget something I was told by someone close to the situation, even though I can't quite remember who it was. It stuck with me and I believe it's unfortunately true. Silence pulls listeners away.

Romans 11:33-36 KJB

Josh

Church Podcast: Pleasant View Baptist Church | SermonAudio
Personal Podcast: Back To The Old Paths
TIBPF Podcast: https://www.tibpf.sermon.net
 
KilowattKat said:
This might actually be worse than the AM 560 situation in San Francisco ...At least Cumulus had the sense of knowing when to turn off the transmitter! You can only run a 'loop' for so long...
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I have to agree, this is the longest stunt I've ever seen, even (if memory serves) longer than 'BIG moving to 102.1, back in '87.

Romans 11:33-36 KJB

Josh

Church Podcast: Pleasant View Baptist Church | SermonAudio
Personal Podcast: Back To The Old Paths
TIBPF Podcast: https://www.tibpf.sermon.net
 
Josh Owens said:
I believe it's unfortunately true. Silence pulls listeners away.
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Especially silent STAs.

Once, I was brought back to a station which I had been PD of twice (under different owners) that went silent and bankrupt a few months after I had left for the second time. The third owner had asked around and knew my reputation in the market -- especially my knowledge of the Schafer 903 system* that they had inherited with the purchase -- and asked me to put an automated AC format on when they went back on the air.

We ran for three months before any commercials other than trade accounts aired. I left again after a year and we still hadn't shown up in the Arbitrons ... and this was a station which, the first time I programmed it, went from no-show to #5 in its first book. The only real difference was that we had been off the air for several months this time.

* - I should disclose that at that point in time, I had become the local expert on Schafer automation systems; three stations in the market had 903s, plus one station in an adjacent market. Two others had earlier 800-series Schafer systems. So I wasn't hard to locate if you made a couple of calls to any of the stations in the area ... everybody knew me by that time.
 
The LORD allowed me to work for a station which had just recently changed hands. Unfortunately, the previous hands were somewhat soiled. Subsequently, we had a hard time selling spots. Maybe that's part of the reason I say ads are so fickle and I'm a better program seller LOL.

Romans 11:33-36 KJB

Josh

Church Podcast: Pleasant View Baptist Church | SermonAudio
Personal Podcast: Back To The Old Paths
TIBPF Podcast: https://www.tibpf.sermon.net
 
One station that had a "profitable" skywave was WLAC 1510 Nashville. "John R" and "The Hoss Man" sold everything from baby chickens to records. Rumors in the early 1970's were they were making more profit at night than the daytime "News". News & Blues lasted till they hired Dick Kent from WMAK and went Top 40.

Not may folks realized Life and Casualty of Tennessee was in the process of getting out of broadcasting at the time. They realized the impact of 80-90 and got out when the getting was good.
 
rosecitymedia said:
Canada and Mexico have the right idea in taking a significant number of their's dark.
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Mexico's congressional bodies declared AM "dead" when they legislated to support the move of as many AMs to FM as possible. In part, this was aided by removing the second adjacent protection that NARBA nations had. Canada had fewer stations due to its system of granting new stations based on economic impact and viability.

And in much of Latin America, AMs are dying just due to lack of viability. Quito, Ecuador, when I owned stations there, had 41 AM operations. Today, only about 12 still exist and operate regularly. Half of those are government, municipality or religious group owned.

Instead, the US offered translators which required that the dead AM continue to operate.
rosecitymedia said:
The U.S. is just lagging behind because larger operators simply want to squeeze as much out of them as absolutely possible.
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For years, this was based on some kind of belief in either a new technology or the increase in market caps.

The fact is that nearly all larger city AMs don't cover their markets fully and have not for decades due to urban sprawl and increasing man-made noise.
rosecitymedia said:
Sounds like WBT has been wrung dry, at least from its owner's perspective, and this lengthy "stunt" is just how little they actually regard the 1110 facility.
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Like you, I wonder why it has taken so long to find a use for 1110. I even wonder if they are trying to find a buyer or do something else with the station.
 
secondchoice said:
One station that had a "profitable" skywave was WLAC 1510 Nashville. "John R" and "The Hoss Man" sold everything from baby chickens to records. Rumors in the early 1970's were they were making more profit at night than the daytime "News".
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But today, who wants to endure a fading and noisy signal if the same content and more of it is available through many different streams.

As I said previously, if someone invented a way to prevent AM skywave totally, many AMs would buy into that so they could go non-directional and increase power to viable day and night levels. However, this involves modifying the laws of physics...
 
Mike Sheridan said:
Funny how well WBT was doing when Rush Limbaugh was on the station. If the programing is good the audience will find a way to hear it. I have never been a fan of Rush Limbaugh but these problems didn't surface until after he died.
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But Rush was fading even before his death. We saw it when KFI moved Rush to an inferior "sister" signal in LA and he started to lose affiliates. Now, we have the multiple disadvantages of AM (coverage, noise, bad quality car AM radios, etc.) combined with better choices on the web; I doubt that there is a chance for AM.

A friend said, "AM can't generate 25-54 listening even if they broadcast The Second Coming live".
 
Mike Sheridan said:
Maybe they're trying to find a buyer. Maybe someone interested in that big, beautiful night skywave?
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Then to let on as though there is some kind of new format just around the bend, would be kind of disingenuous.

I'm wondering if something could have gone wrong with the program contracts, and what was possibly supposed to be just a one- or two-week tease has turned into an "oh, no, what do we do now?" scenario.
 
Because it seems obvious that Radio One's plan was to completely blow up 1110 by moving all the listeners to 107.9, is it not conceivable that they will debut the new format at the beginning of the ratings period? The loop started on day one of the January book. The first day of the February book has been my prediction since a few days into the loop. Otherwise, I would think they would have stunted for just a few days.
Whatever the new format for 1110 is, I expect it to be revealed Friday, Feb 6 at 0600. I originally thought it would be a sports-talk simulcast, but if they wanted a simulcast it would have continued on 610.
I'm sticking with my prediction that it's about to get real up in here, along with a new set of call letters. The urban talk format won't share any significant audience, if any, with the conservative audience that was on 1110.
It's not what I'd want or what I'd do. I would simulcast 1110 and 107.9 like so many News Talk outlets have done. But that ship has sailed.
I hope I'm wrong and will gladly be accepting recipes for the crow I'll be eating if I am.
 
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If there is something planned for the beginning of the book (which is tomorrow, not Friday) it won't include new call letters, because no request for same is in LMS as of now (8:40pm ET).
 


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