I agree on all points. IMHO, "Public Radio" has a bad reputation of double and triple-dipping, so given that and their obvious political bias, I'm not one to rely on them for news, even locally. As I said in another thread, I believe the FM (talking about 'BT on 107.9 here) needs to get some traction, so about a year would be right. To the ones looking for local news, etc, seek and ye shall find.
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1110 New Format
- Thread starter amos1001
- Start date
I agree on all points. IMHO, "Public Radio" has a bad reputation of double and triple-dipping, so given that and their obvious political bias, I'm not one to rely on them for news, even locally. As I said in another thread, I believe the FM (talking about 'BT on 107.9 here) needs to get some traction, so about a year would be right. To the ones looking for local news, etc, seek and ye shall find.
Coupling this with the importance of Cume that I have recently learned about, this is why I think Radio 1 has really stepped into the warm and smelly with 1110. If the new program was not ready to go when WBT made the full powered move to FM, there should have been some sort of backup plan, even a "oops, the exciting new features for 1110 have been delayed, but until they do arrive, enjoy the new Double WBT." Instead of running commercials, they could have gone to the repetitive music loop that redirects everyone to the FM home. But really, they have to do something very quick now with new replacement programming if they intend to keep the transmitter on. Once the audience left shortwave with the fairly complete shutdown of the BBC, I get the impression that everybody left. Whenever I have recently turned on the shortwave, there really is mostly nothing there - so much so that I wonder if there's something wrong with my antenna.
Although I would guess Radio 1 could afford it, isn't there some kind of minimums that a facility the size of 1110 would require to operate? If all the replacement programming turns out to be is low rated satellite talk, will that make it worth it for a radio operator to run? With the low numbers that KSFO was getting at last sighting (I think .5) does that bring in enough for cash strapped Cumulus to operate it without it being a drag on the rest of the cluster?
Is WBT really News/Talk? Every time I tune in it’s an old angry white guy spewing Trump talking points. I would say it’s more Conservative Talk.
Charlotte is getting bluer by the day. Could it be that WBT’s target audience is dying off? Maybe the problem wasn’t the AM format, but changing demographics?
Charlotte is getting bluer by the day. Could it be that WBT’s target audience is dying off? Maybe the problem wasn’t the AM format, but changing demographics?
Not sure why this reason wasn't mentioned sooner. When you alienate your listening audience to (typically) just the oldest among the general population, this is what you get.
Well most talk radio nationwide tends to be conservative talk, with perhaps the exception of NPR. And the morning show on WBT tends to be middle of the road, without any specific political agenda. And the hosts have said they want to appeal to all potential listeners, rather than one specific political persuasion. And WBT remains the primary radio source for news and weather information in Charlotte, as well as traffic. While I don't necessarily agree with the viewpoint of most of the hosts, I still listen to their discussion of current events and politics. I remember Vince Coakley from his days as a news anchor on Channel 9-WSOC-TV.
I used to enjoy Neal Boortz on WSB. They have yet to find a local host to fill his shoes.
WBT on 107.9 can be received in parts of Greenville County and Laurens County. A good set of rabbit ears or VHF antenna pulls it in decently. But car reception can get spotty due to interference ironically from a Radio One station in Atlanta, Hot 107.9. I don't see how that station at lower power and height can bounce all the way into Greenville County and the Upstate, as WBT on 107.9 has a taller tower and I believe more power. Although there have been reports over the years that Hot 107.9 was over their legal limit of power and causing interference issues even in their core Atlanta market. But I can be driving around Greenville County while listening to WBT on 107.9, and all of a sudden it is overtaken by WHTA on 107.9, then WBT comes back in. Although a hissing static can remain in the background which is I believe caused by WHTA in Atlanta also on the same 107.9 frequency.
I feel like I’m losing brain cells every time I listen to the WBT morning show. No real substance, just a whole lot of giggling. Every major station does weather and traffic reports during prime, and most do a news recap in AM drive. WBT is definitely not the only station doing that.
Brett Jensen is really the only host on WBT covering local news consistently. He has a lot of local politicians and newsmakers on which I like, but his facts are often wrong and he doesn’t have a clear understanding of how a lot of things work. Pete Kaliner covers some local news, but he is way too far right with his commentary. The rest of the schedule is straight far right MAGA national politics and no different than Sean Hannity, Glen Beck, etc.
There’s nothing wrong with WBT being conservative talk, but their billboards and tv advertisements calling themselves “News/Talk” would imply that they would be more neutral, and not just Fox News all day.
I’m center left and love local news, but I’m not a big fan of WBT or WFAE for that matter. WFAE hosts are always whispering like we’re in a library, they’re too liberal and I don’t care about most of the things they cover. I would listen to a News/Talk station without all the partisan bias on a consistent basis.
Let's thrown out the politics side of this and what works in this market or doesn't.
Bottom line - Radio One blew this one. Badly. They come off unprepared and incompetent.
Bottom line - Radio One blew this one. Badly. They come off unprepared and incompetent.
1000% this. Who stunts for 3 MONTHS???
K.M. Richards
Program Director, The Eighties Channel™
A station whose original plan has gone sideways and is having trouble figuring out what to do next?
Can anyone educate me is stunting or looped messages this long normal in the radio business? I'm confused, this has been 3 months of the same looped messages. This is a very first for me.
I find it hard to believe that the original plan has gone sideways. If you were going to do something like this, wouldn't you have all your ducks in a row before initiating the initial changes? But yes I agree something is amiss. I'm beginning to think the plan was to run a redirect loop until they could claim economic hardship and then request to go silent.
Edit: maybe "until they could claim economic hardship" was the wrong way to phrase that. But run the loop for a while, and then request to go silent. Not turning in the license, just silent so nobody else can compete with them. Running the loop once a year for a couple of days to stay compliant.
Isn't AM radio already a financial hardship?
I see listeners who didn't know their favorite FM station was also on AM.
My point if AM wasn't a financial hardship then they most likely wouldn't take the time to simulcast or use translators.
Some stations are selling their land because the land is worth more money than the station or licenses.
Those that remain on AM brand their FM translator and drop the AM radio from their brand, excluding the legal ID where they do mention the AM.
D
Deleted member 108832
Guest
More like an operator who has no intention of retaining the license. They simply don't care, K.M.. It's glaringly obvious at this juncture that 1110 in Charlotte is going the way of the dodo bird.
Well we don't really know if that's the case. I'm thinking about reaching out to the station for comment. This has been three months now.
Apparently, R1 does. I don't understand it either, from this proverbial armchair, with a radio close by LOL. Oh and I thought I was multiquoting the post before mine, but looks like not.
As someone said a while back (can't remember who) they're playing on-hold music and we've been on hold for three months.
D
Deleted member 108832
Guest
Right you are, we don't really know. None of us receive an Urban One paycheck. However, much like 560 in San Fran, if it looks, floats, and quacks like one, it's likely a duck...and in both cases mentioned, it's a sitting one.
For what it's worth...Rollye James on WGN speculated that she thinks the land where the towers sit, is probably being shopped around to potential buyers.
K.M. Richards
Program Director, The Eighties Channel™
A station whose original plan has gone sideways and is having trouble figuring out what to do next?
No, hence my original comment, duplicated above.
This is only a guess on my part, but I think Radio One had a plan for 1110, otherwise they would have just changed the imaging to 107.9 and left the AM alone. That would be consistent with other News/Talk stations in other markets that have added a FM simulcast.
I don't think the plan was to surrender the license, or they wouldn't still have the stunt loop on 1110. The audience has already moved to the FM by now. So either they had something planned which went south -- maybe they had counted on the availability of specific programming that was yanked away by a syndicator -- or they had a buyer lined up who backed away after the stunt loop was already on the air, or something else that they themselves did not anticipate.
As has been pointed out by several commenters, none of us have an inside track at Radio One, and with all due respect to @IKHNetworks, I don't think asking them directly is going to get an answer. Whatever the case, I believe they are too embarrassed to make any kind of public statement until they know what the new plan is.