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94.3 goes back to Pirkle

K

knoxside

Guest
The long-term LMA between South Central and Johnny Pirkle expires at the end of October 2013. This time around the LMA will not be renewed and the station goes back to Pirkle. What do you think he will do? News? Rumor is he has Hannity and Beck lined up.

The X is moving to 95.7 for a new permanent home. Power FM goes away when The X moves over.

More changes in Knoxville!!
 
Since Pirkle is apparently LMAing WKVL, he already has a format in place. Add Beck and Hannity, local mornings and sports, Coast to Coast and he has all but a couple of dayparts filled. Depending what happens with TRN, it's pretty easy to put that together.

What's the possibility Pirkle cashes out 94.3 as well?
 
God, I hope he cashes it out & sells. We sure don't need that lousy, poorly ran talk format wasting a signal yet again.
Maybe if he sells, Cumulus will put up an offer if South Central isn't offering enough.
 
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Anyone else catch the job listing for "rock oriented jocks" on CL recently?

Seems Pirkle Jr. is interviewing jocks for the return of WNFZ, and is keeping it as a rocker.

Things are about to get really good on the Knoxville dial!
 
A real alternative format would be nice again (like the old 94Z & 94.3 The Planet). I hate the active rock format the X moved to during the past decade. And pure alternative stations are on the rise again right now in other markets. But I really doubt Knox will support two current based rockers for very long. The ratings won't be there, and male demos aren't as attractive to advertisers as females. If this happens, I think one will give up. I'd also personally prefer for S. Central to keep Power over The X, but probably won't happen.
 
Pirkle jr was/is the force/ originator behind the original 94Z/Planet. I assume with the station coming back it will return to its (updated) roots.

I just wonder how many points it will pull from WIMZ, B97 and Star?
 
Not wanting to get too far off topic but whoever ends up with it what should they do about the pirate running @ 94.5 in Maynardville?
Is it affecting 94.3's signal any near that area?
 
The producers of the WBIR segment more than likely have no clue the station is operating illegally, still if I were the operator of this pirate I don't know if I'd want publicity on a major TV signal.
 
They have a web site and an active Facebook page. I have also seen upcoming events listen for them in the newspaper. I guess the FCC doesn't care as long as they aren't causing any interference.
 
The X format is moving to 95.7 on October 14th. Seems that South Central thinks enough of the format to keep it going. Power FM goes away when The X moves over. It will seem strange to hear 95-7 The X.
 
Any real guesses as to the new format for 94.3? Will it just be WKVL's talk moved to FM? Will it be a similar hard rocker like the X?

We just DON'T need another FM talker!!!
 
I'm still wondering if they couldn't reach a sales deal with South Central, if maybe Cumulus will step in and make Pirkle an offer for 94.3.
 
They are on the street selling talk on 94.3. 850 was a placeholder to keep all the infomercials in place til Nov. 1. I would expect to hear classic country there by the end of the year. The rock feint was an old radio guy having fun like old radio guys used to do.
 
BRH said:
I'm still wondering if they couldn't reach a sales deal with South Central, if maybe Cumulus will step in and make Pirkle an offer for 94.3.
Click to expand...

Naah. If he wanted to sell he wouldn't need to go to the trouble of taking it back.

And Cumulus doesn't need to spend more money for another signal when the ones they have aren't bringing in to near their potential any more.
 
Seems kind of odd that Pirkle keeps pushing that talk format. It performed awfully on the big 100.3 stick, so not sure why he would want to keep it going. Actually I'm not sure why he's even bothering. At his age, I wouldn't want the trouble. I'd just continue to LMA it or sell it & cash the checks. He most certainly would make more money doing that than operating it as a small stand-alone FM with all the involved costs. If he insists on operating it himself, he'd be better off to just put something cheap like Jack FM or Bob FM on it.
 
BRH said:
Seems kind of odd that Pirkle keeps pushing that talk format. It performed awfully on the big 100.3 stick, so not sure why he would want to keep it going. Actually I'm not sure why he's even bothering. At his age, I wouldn't want the trouble. I'd just continue to LMA it or sell it & cash the checks. He most certainly would make more money doing that than operating it as a small stand-alone FM with all the involved costs. If he insists on operating it himself, he'd be better off to just put something cheap like Jack FM or Bob FM on it.
Click to expand...

Supposedly they were making money despite the ratings on 100.3, but that could just be smoke. I'd certainly just cash the checks if I was in his position. I heard from a from someone out of market that Pirkle didn't even offer to renew the deal with SS, just formally notified them that it was up.
 
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