93.3 WBAP-FM…6 Months After The Flip

[Deleted member 76036]

It’s been just over 6 months since Hot 93.3 went away and 820 WBAP started simulcasting on 93.3. I’m almost wondering if Cumulus knew they had to do something with that frequency and since it’s an election year, they just put WBAP on and they’ll eventually flip it down the road.

Wouldn’t The Ticket have been a better choice for 93.3? I know they tried 96.7 for WBAP in the past, but it seems that 96.7 sufficiently covers the areas where a lot of their far-right listener base lives in the metroplex. 93.3 isn’t as strong, but it’s centrally located and would help fill in gaps in parts of the metroplex, where you can’t reliably receive The Ticket on FM. I’m near I-20 in Grand Prairie and 96.7 gets trashed a lot in the summer and is often unlistenable, due to tropospheric enhancement/ducting. I’m not sure why they wouldn’t give full metroplex FM coverage to a station that often is at the top of the ratings. Since The Ticket is the top biller in DFW, couldn’t they bill even more when 93.3 covers more of the metroplex than 96.7?

Although I’m sure Cumulus is saved money by killing Hot, I’m not too sure that WBAP on 93.3 is working as well as they expected it to. I don’t see or have access to certain things that a lot of you on this board do, so this is basically an observation on my part from what is public.

If we were able to see 93.3’s ratings alone, I’m guessing they are similar to Hot’s. I doubt that 93.3 has gained enough listeners moving from 820 or 99.5 HD2 to break a 1.0.

 

[txchipk]

I've always believed 93.3 would best be used as either adult R&B or some form of Spanish-language format given the signal primarily covers a lot of the audience and demographics for those spaces -- much more than the rimshot signals of 94.5 and 105.7 for adult R&B and all the Spanish-language signals not on 94.1 or 107.5.

 

[Kent]

I've always believed 93.3 would best be used as either adult R&B or some form of Spanish-language format given the signal primarily covers a lot of the audience and demographics for those spaces -- much more than the rimshot signals of 94.5 and 105.7 for adult R&B and all the Spanish-language signals not on 94.1 or 107.5.

If reports from roughly 20 years ago are believable, Service was willing to participate in a 3-way swap with Susquehanna and the City of Dallas to get 93.3 for KRNB (105.7 would've gone to either the city or KERA for WRR's classical format).

That, of course, is a moot issue today, but it would support your theory.

 

[txchipk]

If reports from roughly 20 years ago are believable, Service was willing to participate in a 3-way swap with Susquehanna and the City of Dallas to get 93.3 for KRNB (105.7 would've gone to either the city or KERA for WRR's classical format).

That, of course, is a moot issue today, but it would support your theory.

Yep, Cumulus would have ended up with 101.1 for the Bone, KRNB to 93.3, and WRR would have ended up on 105.7. Although the city could have gotten a windfall of money, the classical format would be on a signal that had no city grade coverage of Dallas, which the "Friends Of WRR" baulked at, and it would have been an odd thing for the city to own a signal that doesn't serve the city.

 

[LibertyNT]

The Bone might've lived if the move to 101.1 would've happened. 93.3 has always struggled, The Bone was the best they ever did aside from one survey as CHR IIRC.

 

[Gregg.]

WBAP-AM-FM is tied for #12 in the latest ratings for Dallas. That's not bad for a talk station in the summertime.

Of course, with a Presidential campaign underway and a hotly contested U.S. Senate race in Texas, giving WBAP an FM simulcast is a good idea. We don't know, of those ratings, who's listening to 820 AM and who's listening to 93.3 FM.

Maybe Chris' idea to put WBAP on 96.7 and KTCK on 93.3 may have made sense. But with KTCK-FM doing so well on 96.7, maybe management thought just leave well enough alone. I've seen posted elsewhere that KTCK-AM-FM is the biggest billing station for Cumulus nationally. Which makes sense when you figure Cumulus has very little in Markets #1 and #2. In Chicago, it has a few FM stations but nothing lighting up the world. In San Francisco, KNBR-AM-FM are good. But KTCK likely has better billing and is sometimes the market's top station in ratings.

 

[charles1234]

The Bone might've lived if the move to 101.1 would've happened. 93.3 has always struggled, The Bone was the best they ever did aside from one survey as CHR IIRC.

Bring The Bone back

 

[Holstead]

If reports from roughly 20 years ago are believable, Service was willing to participate in a 3-way swap with Susquehanna and the City of Dallas to get 93.3 for KRNB (105.7 would've gone to either the city or KERA for WRR's classical format).

That, of course, is a moot issue today, but it would support your theory.

Believe it Kent! That was known as the "60 Million Dollar Swap" and it stunk from the head up. Right down to the feasibility study that showed where moving WRR to 105.7 would actually be quite advantageous for the City of Dallas and their affluent audience.

 

[Gregg.]

The tower for 105.7 KRNB is north of Decatur and east of Sanger, in Alvord, TX. It's got a lot of power, 93,000 watts. But it's still a rimshot. The Radio-Locator.com map shows the main signal is good for Fort Worth. But Dallas is just outside it.

And since WRR is owned by the City of Dallas, that wouldn't make much sense.

 

[Kent]

The tower for 105.7 KRNB is north of Decatur and east of Sanger, in Alvord, TX. It's got a lot of power, 93,000 watts. But it's still a rimshot. The Radio-Locator.com map shows the main signal is good for Fort Worth. But Dallas is just outside it.

And since WRR is owned by the City of Dallas, that wouldn't make much sense.

That story is about 20 years old. I don't remember all the details, but I seem to remember the old KKDA 730 would've carried the city council meetings. I also think KERA was going to take over WRR 105.7 had that deal happened.

Nationwide Communications also offered the city at least $40 million for WRR after the Telecommunications Act passed in 1996 before it ultimately swapped for KEGL 97.1 before exiting the business altogether. The city, of course, turned down the offer.

 

[salemjedi54]

That story is about 20 years old. I don't remember all the details, but I seem to remember the old KKDA 730 would've carried the city council meetings. I also think KERA was going to take over WRR 105.7 had that deal happened.

Nationwide Communications also offered the city at least $40 million for WRR after the Telecommunications Act passed in 1996 before it ultimately swapped for KEGL 97.1 before exiting the business altogether. The city, of course, turned down the offer.

That’s because the Friends of WRR made sure that 101.1 FM will stay right there.

 

[ropertex]

Speaking of WBAP-FM, this slide is the WBAP collection at Univ of North Texas, dated 1964 but perhaps from 1955 when WBAP-FM moved from 100.5 to 96.3, and somebody got the new frequency wrong. There were no FM channels with even numbers after the decimal point in the USA

 

[neosolbrudda]

Personally, I'm enjoying the Classic Hits on 93.3HD3. Nice variety of classics.

 

[TheBigA]

I think you can safely say the signal is not the reason why WBAP has fallen in the ratings. Anybody who wants to hear WBAP can receive it. The question is do they want to listen? Covering the election is one thing, but that also means running the political advertising, and perhaps that is what is alienating Dallas listeners. They can get the same news on KERA without the political advertising.

Keep in mind the audience for sports-talk and news-talk is pretty similar. It's mostly older men. Sports is a bit younger and more racially diverse than talk. Currently KTCK is a Top 10 station on 96.7. That's likely as good as it's going to get given the format. Moving it to 93.3 would take time. In Seattle, it took about a year for the audience to find KJR when it moved to FM. In New York, WEPN just moved from 98.7 FM to 880 AM. Unfortunately Good Karma doesn't subscribe to Nielsen, so we won't know how that transition affected their ratings.

Will WBAP stay at 93.3 after the election? My take is yes, because there is a solid advertising base for conservative talk regardless of ratings, and that base will stay after the election. Music of any format doesn't have that advertising base.

 

[Deleted member 76036]

Personally, I'm enjoying the Classic Hits on 93.3HD3. Nice variety of classics.

I think the classic hits format on 93.3-HD3 and the classic rock format on 93.3-HD2 have some deeper cuts and a wider variety than 98.7 and 92.5. Correct me if I’m wrong, but that’s what it seems like to me.

 

[Deleted member 76036]

Moving it to 93.3 would take time. In Seattle, it took about a year for the audience to find KJR when it moved to FM.

I guess time will tell how 93.3 works out for WBAP. When my hometown news/talk station added an FM translator, my grandparents never caught on, even though the translator was advertised all the time on air and the translator was easily accessible to them. My parents never caught on either and still haven’t and it’s been at least 10 years. I think 93.3 would see the most listeners if 820 was sold or shut off, but I doubt that will happen anytime soon.

 

[neosolbrudda]

I think the classic hits format on 93.3-HD3 and the classic rock format on 93.3-HD2 have some deeper cuts and a wider variety than 98.7 and 92.5. Correct me if I’m wrong, but that’s what it seems like to me.

I absolutely agree.

 

[Triple Fake Jerry]

DFW is so massive these days that the only thing that will hit all of it is a stick on Cedar Hill. Looks like that is maxed out, so all that are left are rimshot sticks. 93.3 is next to unreceivable in Collin County just as it was in its previous incarnations.

 

[davideduardo]

DFW is so massive these days that the only thing that will hit all of it is a stick on Cedar Hill. Looks like that is maxed out, so all that are left are rimshot sticks. 93.3 is next to unreceivable in Collin County just as it was in its previous incarnations.

However, as Dallas grows faster to the north, at some point the Cedar Hill towers will be at a disadvantage.

 

[LibertyNT]

However, as Dallas grows faster to the north, at some point the Cedar Hill towers will be at a disadvantage.

You're losing the 60dbu from most Cedar Hill sticks just north of Mckinney, in particular 75/121 where the major growth is going. That said, most DFW signals make it to Sherman without much trouble, once you're in town the issues pop up. Towards Fannin DFW is ok on 121 to Bonham, but is a real hassle once you get there. In car listeners will be mostly okay, but it's going to be a problem without really any ways to address it. A tall tower just South of Lake Lewisville / Irving would make the most sense on paper but that's easier said than done.