inquisitor said:
Sean Gilbow said:
I agree with Kevin's comments 100 percent.
All of the hosts Inquisitor cites were or are on Columbus radio, the bulk of them (if not all) on 1230 at some point in time. That includes Ingraham, which moved from 1230 to 103.9 with 1230's sports flip and is scoring no ratings.
Dr. Laura was even on WTVN and was booted by Glenn Beck after 9/11.
The ratings consistently show WTVN owns the consevative talk crowd, and WBNS owns the sports crowd. That's not going to change.
Again, you have to look at this like a businessman would.
Historically, radio stations have sold for a cash flow multiple of 12 times or more. Let's say WTDA is worth $5 million as a viable property (I think that's what they paid for it). That means it needs to have a net income of just over $400,000 a year ($5,000,000 / 12). Can lib talk do that? Is it worth sitting on the signal for two years for such a shaky format? Remember, they probably also have debt service ... are you going to take losses for two years for something that isn't a sure thing?
$4,000,000 amortized over 20 years at 8% generates a $ 33,457.60 monthly payment (roughly $402,000 annually). That's before any of your other expenses. Are you going to roll the dice on lib talk if you have to generate $400,000 a year to pay off your debt, or are you going to go with something proven?
Once again, Inquisitor, you've shown another card in your conservative stack by using hypotheticals.
You're also showing a lack of knowledge of North American Broadcasting's history with this signal, which has been the bafflement of many of the regular posters on the Columbus board.
There is no way any station in this market can take listeners away from WTVN. It still has the largest news department in the market, in addition to a combination of local talkers and the nation's leading conservative talkers. When Glenn Beck went back to WTVN, WTDA's ratings went poof.
Your prejudices, which resulted in a number of your posts being deleted, contradict what you originally said about targeting a niche audience. In spite of all the problems with sound quality, among other things, WVKO still climbed in audience numbers over the course of a year.
Like WVKO, WTDA has a poor signal. But there is an audience who would ignore the signal problems and tune in.
Does this mean the station can just put any talker on the air? No. But there are five progressive talkers which, according to
Talkers magazine, have national audiences in excess of one million. Three of them are from one syndicator, Dial Global: Ed Schultz, Thom Hartmann and Stephanie Miller. Progressive talker Bill Press is also syndicated by Dial Global with the likes of Neal Boortz, Clark Howard and Michael Smerconish. The other two progressives with audiences of a million plus are Lionel, syndicated by Air America Media, and Alan Colmes, syndicated by (get ready for this) Fox News Radio. Since there are only around 40 talkers with national audiences in excess of a million, and there are significantly more conservative talkers than liberal ones, that should tell you something.
Meanwhile, some of the talkers with huge audiences are getting no ratings on WTDA, including Laura Ingraham, Dennis Miller and Michael Savage--zero, zip, nada. When Ingraham and Savage were on 1230, their audience was also lower than the progressive talkers.
Beck was the only talker that could take audience numbers away from WTVN, and now he's back on 610.
With NABCO's track record, the station is better off switching to Radio Disney.
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Now, having said that...since you say you have a small business, Inquisitor, are you advertising on the radio? I advertised on both 1230 and WVKO as well as a progressive station in Akron over the last five years. I put my money where my mouth is. If you want more conservatives on WTDA, you should be on the phone with NABCO tomorrow saying you want to advertise your business.
