1110 New Format

[Mediafrog+]

I get the impression most (not all) commercial broadcasters dislike Public Radio seeing it as unfair competition.

Public Radio isn’t competing against commercial broadcasters for ad revenue. And if they resent the government assistance in funding those stations they should remember there are countless for-profit businesses feeding on the taxpayer gravy train via government contracts.

Besides, Public Radio is quite different as it provides types of programming commercial operators won’t touch for a variety of reasons. If those commercial operators believe noncomms are stealing audience, perhaps they should ask themselves why that is.

 

[K.M. Richards]

How about this thought as to the delay? As Lance said back on the first page of this megathread:

Most of the Premiere syndicated shows such as are not cleared in Charlotte. By agreeing to clear the Premiere lineup such as Glenn Beck, Clay Travis & Buck Sexton, and Sean Hannity, which are only on small stations surrounding Charlotte at the moment, Radio One may have prevented iHeart from launching their own completing Talker on FM in the market to pair with 94.5 Greensboro and 106.1 Raleigh. This way iHeart/Premiere gets the best of both worlds. They clear their syndication in a missing Top 25 market and don't need to eliminate one of their existing stations to do so.

Is it possible those small stations have conditional affiliation agreements and Premiere hasn't been able to regain clearance for WBT to air them yet?

 

[IM42A]

I get the impression most (not all) commercial broadcasters dislike Public Radio seeing it as unfair competition. Also WFAE is doing fine and doesn't need it.

I was just thinking of it as a way for Urban One to unload the frequency, get something for it (the tax writeoff), and put it to what could be seen as its highest and best use, kind of the way people donate used cars to Goodwill or Kars4Kids. Perhaps better than just turning in the license, and having real estate to sell and a bunch of scrap metal to get rid of. (I suppose the tower could be used for mobile services as well as others.)

 

[gr8oldies]

Thanks, done found and posted. Reckon I had heard all of it (thought there was more), on that DX Audio Service tape, 'cause it's only 40 secs LOL. Anybody else ever heard that one before? Looks like it's kinda new to some folk.

I'm not aware of any longer version.

 

[vchimpanzee]

Very interesting. The tempo is a little slow. They must be doing something right. I heard the 'presenter' say that 14 Feb was their 11th birthday.

Good thing they have enough outliers to support them. I may send them a few quid. (they are based in the UK)

To keep from going off topic

What are some good station recommendations that still broadcast primarily Standards like KLBB?

Are there some good recommendations for stations that mostly still play "Adult Standards", in the US? Like KLBB 1220 used to? KLBB Used to be a Loved One's fav. station, Rest Their Soul. I think of them whenever I hear this kind of music. (EDIT: I know of Uptown 1010 WMIN, but they make it...

radiodiscussions.com

 

[gr8oldies]

Okay, people, help me out here, was WVWA a real station, are parts of this story true and some of them an April Fool's joke, or is it entirely fiction?

WVWA was fictitious but the inspiration was WWDJ, a suburban top 40 station trying to make waves in New York. You can read the whole story from Howard Hoffman here, Nine (The Ultimate Radio Format) (0:05:41) - Reel Radio, but briefly,

"Randy West and I were driving around greater Middletown listening to WWDJ through the static shortly after Mark Driscoll took over the reigns. They had already shortened their moniker from 97/WWDJ to 97/DJ – but for reasons known only to Driscoll, they started calling it “9/J” (using the slogan Pass the J – the formatic lasted about 9 hours before they went back to “97/DJ”). Randy and I stopped the car, looked at each other and simultaneously yelled, “What’s NEXT?! They’re just gonna open the mikes and yell ‘NINE’!?! Epiphany."

 

[K.M. Richards]

To keep from going off topic

What are some good station recommendations that still broadcast primarily Standards like KLBB?

Are there some good recommendations for stations that mostly still play "Adult Standards", in the US? Like KLBB 1220 used to? KLBB Used to be a Loved One's fav. station, Rest Their Soul. I think of them whenever I hear this kind of music. (EDIT: I know of Uptown 1010 WMIN, but they make it...

radiodiscussions.com

Except that is itself off-topic because this thread is about what 1110 is likely to do permanently.

 

[Josh Owens]

The word from WBT itself was that there would be a new format on 1110. A reasonable person would expect (a) that this would happen within a couple of weeks at most, and (b) that WBT had a definite plan for what this new format would be. Whether they mean to or not, the impression being created is that whatever they were going to do fell through with.

Here's a wild thought that just came to me: maybe donate it to the University Radio Foundation (the entity behind WFAE) and take a huge tax writeoff? WFAE is basically a news and talk station.

(a) True, I remember hearing that from them.
(B) That's very possible.
(wild thought) I could see that as a viable option for them, but am not a fan of NPR-type programming, so wouldn't listen if I was there. I heard of a couple stations getting donated to a church for such a tax writeoff, then they were sold to another heavy hitter with a similar format.

 

[IM42A]

WVWA was fictitious but the inspiration was WWDJ, a suburban top 40 station trying to make waves in New York. You can read the whole story from Howard Hoffman here, Nine (The Ultimate Radio Format) (0:05:41) - Reel Radio, but briefly,

"Randy West and I were driving around greater Middletown listening to WWDJ through the static shortly after Mark Driscoll took over the reigns. They had already shortened their moniker from 97/WWDJ to 97/DJ – but for reasons known only to Driscoll, they started calling it “9/J” (using the slogan Pass the J – the formatic lasted about 9 hours before they went back to “97/DJ”). Randy and I stopped the car, looked at each other and simultaneously yelled, “What’s NEXT?! They’re just gonna open the mikes and yell ‘NINE’!?! Epiphany."

Thanks. I've heard about a station in New York using the "NINE" slogan before, and just assumed it was an actual station. I don't recall specifics. I thought it might have something to do with Gary Dell'Abate ("Bababooey") and the way he pronounced the number as "noine" (which, BTW, would be very close to the German word for nine).

I just listened to this Reel Radio clip, and I wouldn't know it wasn't some kind of overly ambitious genuine small-town station from the 1970s. IMO it really doesn't come across as a parody.

 

[IM42A]

(a) True, I remember hearing that from them.
(B) That's very possible.
(wild thought) I could see that as a viable option for them, but am not a fan of NPR-type programming, so wouldn't listen if I was there. I heard of a couple stations getting donated to a church for such a tax writeoff, then they were sold to another heavy hitter with a similar format.

Yes, once you donate a station (or anything else) to a nonprofit entity, they can turn around and sell it to whomever they like, if they need the money more than they need the asset.

 

[Josh Owens]

How about this thought as to the delay? As Lance said back on the first page of this megathread:



Is it possible those small stations have conditional affiliation agreements and Premiere hasn't been able to regain clearance for WBT to air them yet?

That's possible.

 

[Josh Owens]

I'm not aware of any longer version.

Me either, just thought the DXAS tape just had part of it thereon.

 

[KilowattKat]

How about this thought as to the delay? As Lance said back on the first page of this megathread:



Is it possible those small stations have conditional affiliation agreements and Premiere hasn't been able to regain clearance for WBT to air them yet?

Really, this is the only explanation that makes sense.

 

[amos1001]

I just listened to this [NINE] Reel Radio clip, and I wouldn't know it wasn't some kind of overly ambitious genuine small-town station from the 1970s. IMO it really doesn't come across as a parody.

IDK, when this thing came out we all knew it was the funniest, and most accurate parody we had ever heard. It would have been hard to think it was real. Maybe now, 50 years later, it doesn't translate as easily. To those of us that heard it when new it's still pretty funny. Young West Chester and Bob Roberts were copies, very bad copies, of the stereotypical DJs in the 50s, 60s and 70s.
Did you listen to the Ninety Nine ( 99 ) (0:11:36) - Reel Radio "remake?"
And what about the TM Productions "Tomorrow Radio" cut?

 

[amos1001]

Is it possible those small stations have conditional affiliation agreements and Premiere hasn't been able to regain clearance for WBT to air them yet?

I realize I'm beating a dead horse here, but would you not think a national company like R1 would have all their ducks in a row before they pulled the trigger? Let's see, that's three clichés in one sentence.
I've said before what I expect. First I thought sports, simulcast with WFNZ. But if they wanted a simulcast they already had one with 610. So I changed my prediction to some form of urban talk, maybe a Charlotte version of WOL. Obviously none of us know, but that's my guess.
Why it's taking so long? I'd like to think it is simply a part of their plan. It certainly doesn't make sense to us, but maybe it does to them.
Besides, as I've said before, if a national talk format was the plan, why blow up 1110? If it truly is a clearance issue they'd be better off simulcasting in the meanwhile.
I'm just surprised they didn't do whatever they planned on the first day of the February ratings book, or at least sometime in Black History Month.
I hope the redirect loop pulls a better rating than some other stations. Maybe not AQH, but cume could be amazing. (He said, sarcastically.)

 

[Fighting Irish]

In regard to the topic at hand, I'm not sure if this question has been asked yet, but...

Who mixin on Presidents Day?

 

[101tm]

In the original scenario, 1110 would have served as a brand extension of 107.9 for national conservative talkers, mainly for sales purposes. It would be sold with 1110 most likely and net R1 a bit more revenue. Again, see what Audacy is doing in the Greenville-Spartanburg market as an example:

News/Talk 989 WORD

Explore comprehensive coverage of 989word on Audacy

www.audacy.com

Upstate Red

Explore comprehensive coverage of upstatered on Audacy

www.audacy.com

Upstate Red simply serves as an extension of WORD, and it’s likely not to get much listenership being relegated to two poor AM signals and an HD2. But Audacy can use it as a sweetener for sales, if you will. It’s a combo, not a competition.

And I can’t fathom why R1 would consider Black History Month, with all due respect, when doing something with 1110.

Whether this is a delay, a plan gone bad, whatever, I do feel it’s having an even more negative effect on the awareness of any programming on the AM band in the Charlotte market. People aren’t going to go back to AM.

 

[davideduardo]

Here's a wild thought that just came to me: maybe donate it to the University Radio Foundation (the entity behind WFAE) and take a huge tax writeoff? WFAE is basically a news and talk station.

A donation of any AM to a non-profit entity is not going to result in a "huge" item on the P&L under "charitable donations". That is because standard accounting rules require assets to be revalued periodically if they significantly decrease in value so as not to inaccurately influence the balance sheet.

 

[IM42A]

A donation of any AM to a non-profit entity is not going to result in a "huge" item on the P&L under "charitable donations". That is because standard accounting rules require assets to be revalued periodically if they significantly decrease in value so as not to inaccurately influence the balance sheet.

Then all you've got is the value of the real estate, whatever the value of the tower would be (no clue how you'd figure that with deprecation, whereas land doesn't depreciate), and whatever value you could assign to the broadcast license.

 

[IM42A]

If it truly is a clearance issue they'd be better off simulcasting in the meanwhile.

Now that they've made this big-to-do about moving to 107.9, and putting 1110 on ice for six weeks or so, they really can't go back to simulcasting. That would basically be an admission of "things didn't go quite as planned, so we're putting WBT back on 1110, but there will be a new format sooner rather than later, we promise". That defeats the whole purpose.

If it's something beyond their control, they've gone and gotten their tail stuck in a crack.