With the recent launch of All-News 106.7 in Atlanta, could co-owned Cumulus Z106.7 be headed to the spoken word format? Atlanta is serving as the hub for the all-news operations that will be rolling out in the near future. Stay tuned
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106.7 Harrisburg going All-News?
- Thread starter frdeaconjosephz
- Start date
They just launched Z Country. Why would they flip already? Harrisburg is too small a market to support an all news operation any way you look at it.
it can be fed from Atlanta
With Bob 94.9FM. 105.1, WGTY 107.7 & Z106.7, Harrisburg can AFFORD to lose a country player.
All-News 106.7 Harrisburg can use live anchors for AM & PM drive times Monday-Friday & use the Cumulus All News Feed from Atlanta during non drive & weekends
All-News 106.7 Harrisburg can use live anchors for AM & PM drive times Monday-Friday & use the Cumulus All News Feed from Atlanta during non drive & weekends
Along with no ASCAP or BMI royalty fees.
I know I don't know what I am talking about most of the time, but I just think the Harrisburg, York, Lancaster, Lebanon market is a little to small to support the kind of ad rates that would be required to make an all news station profitable. Even with syndicated programing in the non drive hours it is still a very expensive format to program and promote.
The Harrisburg, York, Lancaster, Lebanon market, if you combined all, is probably borderline for an all news operation, as Loeper mentioned. Any station even thinking about it, would need to cover the entire market with a good signal. That being said, I find H/L/Y/L is still fragmented with all the space between each city. Look at places like Albany/Troy/Schenectady in NY. They are a true tri-cities...how about the Quad cities in Iowa/IL...in both example the cities are actually very close together. In other words, you can almost step over to the city limits of Albany to Troy with one foot. Can't do that here in Central PA. I spoke with a radio buyer from out of the market years ago...she shook her head and said this is indeed a tough market to hit, without buying multiple platforms/stations.
I know for a fact that Cumulus is committed to Country on 106.7. It may seem to many of us that they are taking their time building a staff, but they have just begun to start competing in the marketplace. Granted...it's going to be tough to knock off the established players, but a plan is in place to be an established player in Harrisburg and York. It's a work in progress...stay tuned!
WITF announced they're dumping the classical stuff to go to a 24/7 news talk format. This showed up in DCRTV 6/1. So looks like 106.7 won't be changing anything. How about OLDIES? Nah, we're that forgotten demographis (thank god for the Internet).
Cumulus does not like Oldies!
And the people who like Oldies don't like Cumulus (WARM, a Cumulus station, is True Oldies, by the way, whenever its on the air)
I am not a big fan of Cumulus, but I have to give them credit when credit is due; with the WYAY change from Classic Hits to All-News dis they not only keep the existing on air talent, but they created about 30 new jobs!
WYAY is supposed to be an All-News station just for Atlanta. I don't think Cumulus is going to do a nationwide syndicated All-News format that can be picked up in other markets. Yes, there are Cumulus stations in San Francisco and Dallas that have added news blocks to their talk formats. And the CEO of Cumulus says he wants to do All-News in other markets too.
But I don't think Harrisburg is one of them. It's an expensive format to do right. And if it's done on the cheap, it won't get ratings. Several decades ago, WBRE-AM-FM Wilkes Barre-Scranton did All-News, first as an affiliate of NBC's NIS network. When that went out of business, they went a few years with their own All-News format. But I don't think locally-produced All-News lasted too long. And they had a co-owned NBC TV station to rely on for reporters and audio.
Yes, you've got the state capital and four cities with their own politics and news. So I guess you'd have enough material if you were willing to pay for reporters to cover all four cities. But currently there are no All-News stations doing well in the ratings outside the top 13 markets. (Seattle's KOMO does well in Market #13.) Below market 13, you only have KQV Pittsburgh, which has trouble getting a one rating, and KLIV San Jose which doesn't do much better. There are now some small AM stations running ARN, a sort of conservative-leaning news and interview network. But I haven't that heard any of them doing well in the ratings.
How about Talk? Philadelphia now has an FM Talk station but they were able to get Rush, Hannity & Beck. WHP is owned by Clear Channel, which also owns Rush, Hannity, Coast to Coast, etc. So you'd be starting a Talk station without the most popular syndicated shows.
I guess if you could get the rights to the Phillies, FM Sports might work. If Philadelphia has two FM Sports stations, could H-L-Y-L support one Sports FM? That might be the most logical move if Country doesn't work.
Gregg
[email protected]
But I don't think Harrisburg is one of them. It's an expensive format to do right. And if it's done on the cheap, it won't get ratings. Several decades ago, WBRE-AM-FM Wilkes Barre-Scranton did All-News, first as an affiliate of NBC's NIS network. When that went out of business, they went a few years with their own All-News format. But I don't think locally-produced All-News lasted too long. And they had a co-owned NBC TV station to rely on for reporters and audio.
Yes, you've got the state capital and four cities with their own politics and news. So I guess you'd have enough material if you were willing to pay for reporters to cover all four cities. But currently there are no All-News stations doing well in the ratings outside the top 13 markets. (Seattle's KOMO does well in Market #13.) Below market 13, you only have KQV Pittsburgh, which has trouble getting a one rating, and KLIV San Jose which doesn't do much better. There are now some small AM stations running ARN, a sort of conservative-leaning news and interview network. But I haven't that heard any of them doing well in the ratings.
How about Talk? Philadelphia now has an FM Talk station but they were able to get Rush, Hannity & Beck. WHP is owned by Clear Channel, which also owns Rush, Hannity, Coast to Coast, etc. So you'd be starting a Talk station without the most popular syndicated shows.
I guess if you could get the rights to the Phillies, FM Sports might work. If Philadelphia has two FM Sports stations, could H-L-Y-L support one Sports FM? That might be the most logical move if Country doesn't work.
Gregg
[email protected]
I completely disagree with Gregg regarding his idea about 106.7 flipping to Sports.
If we can glean anything from the sports radio stations in Harrisburg, Lancaster, and York, it's this: they have zero listeners.
Taking a stick like 106.7 and devoting it to a format that has shown nothing but hopeless underperformance in this region is utter insanity.
One more time from the top: this is not a big-league area. WEEI in Boston is a powerhouse because a) they have generation upon generation of absolutely rabid, die-hard, team-logo-tattoo fans of the Red Sox, Celtics, Bruins, and Patriots, and b) at least two of those teams constitute one-half of a rivalry that helps to define the history of their sport (Red Sox/Yankees, Celtics/Lakers).
Aside from possibly the Hershey Bears (and even there it's a hell of a stretch), not one of our local teams generates even the slightest amount of interest or buzz on the street. When was the last time you went into a downtown bar and heard the drinkers having an argument about the Harrisburg Senators? Answer: You never have.
Why waste a signal that strong on a format so weak?
If we can glean anything from the sports radio stations in Harrisburg, Lancaster, and York, it's this: they have zero listeners.
Taking a stick like 106.7 and devoting it to a format that has shown nothing but hopeless underperformance in this region is utter insanity.
One more time from the top: this is not a big-league area. WEEI in Boston is a powerhouse because a) they have generation upon generation of absolutely rabid, die-hard, team-logo-tattoo fans of the Red Sox, Celtics, Bruins, and Patriots, and b) at least two of those teams constitute one-half of a rivalry that helps to define the history of their sport (Red Sox/Yankees, Celtics/Lakers).
Aside from possibly the Hershey Bears (and even there it's a hell of a stretch), not one of our local teams generates even the slightest amount of interest or buzz on the street. When was the last time you went into a downtown bar and heard the drinkers having an argument about the Harrisburg Senators? Answer: You never have.
Why waste a signal that strong on a format so weak?
HardCore is partially right in that you can't build an All-Sports station around a minor league team, such as the Hershey Bears. But you can't judge an FM Sports station that covers four cities based on the existing upper-end-of-the-AM-dial Sports stations doing poorly. I'm guessing those stations take the network feed (ESPN or Fox Sports) 24/7. And they're probably hard to hear after sunset more than a few miles from their transmitters.
The AM Sports stations that do well around the country are either 50,000 watts, relatively low on the dial (660 WFAN NYC, 670 WSCR Chicago, 680 WNBR San Francisco, 850 WEEI Boston) or 610 WIP Philadelphia with 5000 watts very low on the AM dial. And all of them are flagships for important MLB teams. But now FM Sports has created a new world for itself. Cities that didn't have successful AM Sports stations now have FM stations doing well. CBS is so high on the concept that they now have FM Sports stations in Philly, Boston, Washington, Dallas, Detroit, Baltimore, Pittsburgh and Cleveland. Some of them are still struggling but the Detroit station sometimes hits #1, something no AM sports station in Detroit had ever done.
I'd only suggest 106.7 go All-Sports if they could get the rights to the Phillies and maybe the Eagles. Or maybe the Ravens... but I wouldn't do it if only the Orioles are available. Other than York, I don't think they have much loyalty in the rest of the market.
And the station would have to have its own morning, midday and afternoon shows... no just running the national ESPN, Fox or Yahoo Sports networks. That's only for nights and weekends.
Gregg
[email protected]
The AM Sports stations that do well around the country are either 50,000 watts, relatively low on the dial (660 WFAN NYC, 670 WSCR Chicago, 680 WNBR San Francisco, 850 WEEI Boston) or 610 WIP Philadelphia with 5000 watts very low on the AM dial. And all of them are flagships for important MLB teams. But now FM Sports has created a new world for itself. Cities that didn't have successful AM Sports stations now have FM stations doing well. CBS is so high on the concept that they now have FM Sports stations in Philly, Boston, Washington, Dallas, Detroit, Baltimore, Pittsburgh and Cleveland. Some of them are still struggling but the Detroit station sometimes hits #1, something no AM sports station in Detroit had ever done.
I'd only suggest 106.7 go All-Sports if they could get the rights to the Phillies and maybe the Eagles. Or maybe the Ravens... but I wouldn't do it if only the Orioles are available. Other than York, I don't think they have much loyalty in the rest of the market.
And the station would have to have its own morning, midday and afternoon shows... no just running the national ESPN, Fox or Yahoo Sports networks. That's only for nights and weekends.
Gregg
[email protected]
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