570 WSYR To Simulcast On 105.9 FM

[DToTheJ]

Clear Channel has recently registered a flurry of domain names such as "1069WSYR.com" and "NewsTalk1069.com".

Methinks the "Power" will be going out at 106.9 in favor of a simulcast of 570 WSYR at some point...

So, now there will be two FM talk stations next door to each other, as WSYR-FM will be neighbors with "The Big Talker 105.9".

 

[spunker88]

You mean 106.9 in your title I assume.

Dont they already simulcast WSYR on WPHR-HD2? Are you talking about putting a WSYR simulcast on the analog channel? Im not sure if that would make sense. Would they really gain any listeners by adding a FM simulcast of WSYR, the AM station already gets high ratings in the market, second place to WBBS. WPHR gets decent ratings, enough to justify leaving it as a station. Plus there is already a WSYR-FM, a former Clear Channel station in Florida.

 

[wprt949]

remember when they flipped 105.9 to country they got forced to bring it back

can it happen agian with the talk format ?

 

[i know]

Wild stuff...the rumblings out of Citadel are that they have made the call to both Rome and Patrick's people and the local yahoo's they have on in Middays will be replaced by the first of the year. Looks like Axe will get to stay.

 

[DToTheJ]

Oops - I did mean 106.9, Spunker...thanks!

 

[spunker88]

Well look at what just happened. 620 is now broadcasting Power 106.9 and it sounds like WSYR will be on 106.9 soon. I just hope it stays on 570 as well. That is probably the strongest Syracuse AM signal north of Syracuse, along with 620.

Syracuse was starting to get too many sports stations. They already have The Score and AM/FM ESPN Radio station, there probably wasn't much room for another fulltime sports station.

I wonder is Power 106.9 will live on as an HD subchannel. Currently, according to Ibiquity's website WSYR is/was on WPHR-HD2. If/When WSYR takes over the main analog channel and the HD1 channel, it would make sense for them to move WPHR to WPHR-HD2. Maybe they will sell some HD radios to Power fans who dont want to listen to AM radio.

 

[ThePickleReport]

Okay. So now if I'm Citadel I move sports to 105.9, like they probably should have done a LONG time ago so to keep the ESPN affiliation. It doesn't look like the "Big" talked is gaining much traction.

 

[DToTheJ]

620 is now broadcasting Power 106.9 and it sounds like WSYR will be on 106.9 soon. I just hope it stays on 570 as well. That is probably the strongest Syracuse AM signal north of Syracuse, along with 620...

How would you feel if you were a loyal Power listener and you find out that your format has been moved to AM radio, no matter how powerful that AM signal may be? WSYR moving to FM alone should give you an indication of what kind of a future (or lack thereof) may be in store for the AM band... Usually, the only music stations on the AM band are 50's/60's oldies, classic country or nostalgia/big band. This is surely a unique move for CC.

Additionally, I wonder where the WHEN calls will be parked, once the WPHR calls are moved to AM 620.

 

[Rusty Muck]

Additionally, I wonder where the WHEN calls will be parked, once the WPHR calls are moved to AM 620.

Actually, my (Monopoly) money's on 620 keeping the WHEN calls for the foreseeable future. I presume "Power" never emphasized the WPHR call letters besides the TOH ID, so it may not mean as much.

 

[DToTheJ]

Well, if that's the case, they may as well plant them on their urban station in Philadelphia - "Power 99".

 

[spunker88]

How would you feel if you were a loyal Power listener and you find out that your format has been moved to AM radio, no matter how powerful that AM signal may be? WSYR moving to FM alone should give you an indication of what kind of a future (or lack thereof) may be in store for the AM band... Usually, the only music stations on the AM band are 50's/60's oldies, classic country or nostalgia/big band. This is surely a unique move for CC.

Additionally, I wonder where the WHEN calls will be parked, once the WPHR calls are moved to AM 620.

I'd be pretty mad, they are putting a death sentence on Power by moving it to AM. If they want WSYR on FM it really should go to a low power station if its going to stay on AM as well. If some stations in Syracuse didn't run the same format on several frequencies, WOLF comes to mind, then maybe there would be station assignments left so stuff didn't have to be moved to AM.

There is one little detail that WSYR is missing if they move to FM and that is call letters. Right now WSYR-FM belongs to a station in Gifford, FL. Im not sure how they got there but must be after they left WYYY years ago somebody else grabbed them.

As far as WPHR-AM, it looks to be avaliable.

 

[almaniac27]

How would you feel if you were a loyal Power listener and you find out that your format has been moved to AM radio, no matter how powerful that AM signal may be? WSYR moving to FM alone should give you an indication of what kind of a future (or lack thereof) may be in store for the AM band... Usually, the only music stations on the AM band are 50's/60's oldies, classic country or nostalgia/big band. This is surely a unique move for CC.

Additionally, I wonder where the WHEN calls will be parked, once the WPHR calls are moved to AM 620.

I'd be pretty mad, they are putting a death sentence on Power by moving it to AM. If they want WSYR on FM it really should go to a low power station if its going to stay on AM as well. If some stations in Syracuse didn't run the same format on several frequencies, WOLF comes to mind, then maybe there would be station assignments left so stuff didn't have to be moved to AM.

There is one little detail that WSYR is missing if they move to FM and that is call letters. Right now WSYR-FM belongs to a station in Gifford, FL. Im not sure how they got there but must be after they left WYYY years ago somebody else grabbed them.

As far as WPHR-AM, it looks to be avaliable.

Clear Channel also owns the station in Florida, so that shouldn't be a problem. That's also a place to park the WHEN calls, unless you're not allowed to park AM calls on an FM station, I can never remember the rules.

 

[jmtillery]

It is permissible to park any call letter combination on any service provided the correct suffix is also used in the case of shared call letters. Ex: WXXX(AM) is always WXXX. However, if these same call letters are to be shared on an FM and TV at the same time, the FM would become WXXX-FM while the TV would become WXXX-TV. If a licensee is simply moving a set of call letters to another single station and said call letters will not be shared, then simply WXXX is fine regardless of the service whether it be AM, FM or TV.

In the case of WSYR-FM 94.7 Gifford - Vero Beach, Florida; WSYR-FM is owned by the Aloha Station Trust (Clear Channel Communications) and it will be no problem moving the WSYR-FM call letters to the FM station in question in Syracuse, New York since Clear Channel owns both stations.

 

[Rusty Muck]

How would you feel if you were a loyal Power listener and you find out that your format has been moved to AM radio, no matter how powerful that AM signal may be? WSYR moving to FM alone should give you an indication of what kind of a future (or lack thereof) may be in store for the AM band... Usually, the only music stations on the AM band are 50's/60's oldies, classic country or nostalgia/big band. This is surely a unique move for CC.

Additionally, I wonder where the WHEN calls will be parked, once the WPHR calls are moved to AM 620.

I'd be pretty mad, they are putting a death sentence on Power by moving it to AM. If they want WSYR on FM it really should go to a low power station if its going to stay on AM as well. If some stations in Syracuse didn't run the same format on several frequencies, WOLF comes to mind, then maybe there would be station assignments left so stuff didn't have to be moved to AM.

There is one little detail that WSYR is missing if they move to FM and that is call letters. Right now WSYR-FM belongs to a station in Gifford, FL. Im not sure how they got there but must be after they left WYYY years ago somebody else grabbed them.

As far as WPHR-AM, it looks to be avaliable.

Might the WHEN calls be parked at 106.9, freeing up 620 to become WPHR? That's been done before in different AM/FM simulcasts (WPRO/Providence's FM simulcast is WEAN, and KCBS/San Francisco's FM simulcast is KFRC-FM... both of which are "parked" legacy calls...)

 

[Bob1370]

None of this really makes a lot of sense. An urban contemporary FM sotation, if well programmed, can be a big winner in upstate NY. Look down the road to Rochester, where WDKX has overcome a rather weak signal to be #1 both 12+ and 12-34 in the Rochester Arbitron, winning both urban and suburban young audiences. WBLK does almost as well in Buffalo with both urban and suburban young listeners. If Clear Channel throws away an opportunity to make $$$ the same way, just to slightly protect the 107.9 signal's audience, they're wasting a signal, and a chance to really pound WNTQ.

If they wanted to help themselves, the best thing to do would have been to flip formats on 570 and 620. The 620 signal may have to dump from 5000 to 1000 watts at night, but the WHEN signal in the city and both the northern and southern burbs, where more people live than in towns to the east and west, is less restricted and can reach adult news/talk listeners better than the 570 signal which has to pull in to the south especially at night. 570 could flip to sports and still reach more people than the competition on 1260.

 

[Stormychuck]

WSYR Star 94.7 FM is located in Vero Beach, Florida (col Gifford) formally Clear Channel, now in receivership of Aloha Trust LLC.....DtotheJ must have his call letter's inverted......

 

[spunker88]

None of this really makes a lot of sense. An urban contemporary FM sotation, if well programmed, can be a big winner in upstate NY. Look down the road to Rochester, where WDKX has overcome a rather weak signal to be #1 both 12+ and 12-34 in the Rochester Arbitron, winning both urban and suburban young audiences. WBLK does almost as well in Buffalo with both urban and suburban young listeners. If Clear Channel throws away an opportunity to make $$$ the same way, just to slightly protect the 107.9 signal's audience, they're wasting a signal, and a chance to really pound WNTQ.

If they wanted to help themselves, the best thing to do would have been to flip formats on 570 and 620. The 620 signal may have to dump from 5000 to 1000 watts at night, but the WHEN signal in the city and both the northern and southern burbs, where more people live than in towns to the east and west, is less restricted and can reach adult news/talk listeners better than the 570 signal which has to pull in to the south especially at night. 570 could flip to sports and still reach more people than the competition on 1260.

WPHR wasn't the best for ratings, but it certainly was worth keeping. It got from 2-4% in the last few years. Sure WSYR beats its ratings by a bit (5-8%) but an FM simulcast isn't guaranteed to bring in more listeners. If WSYR was a daytimer or had terrible coverage an FM simulcast would bring in more listeners, but I think WSYR is the most powerful AM signal from Syracuse.

But Clear Channel did the same thing in Albany, wiping out an FM station to add a fm translator for WGY. Apparently the 50kw blowtorch with HD radio wasn't providing enough coverage. Its kind of a waste of HD radio when you run the same format on FM. At least WSYR doesn't have IBOC splatter installed.

 

[almaniac27]

None of this really makes a lot of sense. An urban contemporary FM sotation, if well programmed, can be a big winner in upstate NY. Look down the road to Rochester, where WDKX has overcome a rather weak signal to be #1 both 12+ and 12-34 in the Rochester Arbitron, winning both urban and suburban young audiences. WBLK does almost as well in Buffalo with both urban and suburban young listeners. If Clear Channel throws away an opportunity to make $$$ the same way, just to slightly protect the 107.9 signal's audience, they're wasting a signal, and a chance to really pound WNTQ.

If they wanted to help themselves, the best thing to do would have been to flip formats on 570 and 620. The 620 signal may have to dump from 5000 to 1000 watts at night, but the WHEN signal in the city and both the northern and southern burbs, where more people live than in towns to the east and west, is less restricted and can reach adult news/talk listeners better than the 570 signal which has to pull in to the south especially at night. 570 could flip to sports and still reach more people than the competition on 1260.

WPHR wasn't the best for ratings, but it certainly was worth keeping. It got from 2-4% in the last few years. Sure WSYR beats its ratings by a bit (5-8%) but an FM simulcast isn't guaranteed to bring in more listeners. If WSYR was a daytimer or had terrible coverage an FM simulcast would bring in more listeners, but I think WSYR is the most powerful AM signal from Syracuse.

But Clear Channel did the same thing in Albany, wiping out an FM station to add a fm translator for WGY. Apparently the 50kw blowtorch with HD radio wasn't providing enough coverage. Its kind of a waste of HD radio when you run the same format on FM. At least WSYR doesn't have IBOC splatter installed.

It's all about the demos, companies like Cox and Clear Channel are doing this all over the country with their news/talk powerhouses because the listener base of AM-only stations is aging, and they hope getting them on FM will help, because most people under the age of 40 and maybe 30 never ever listen to AM.

 

[bartstar]

There goes CC's support of the black community! Dr. Rick won't be happy.

 

[RomeToupee]

The Great White Haired Dope continues to dis the community!