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94.7 is changing formats today

No dispute there. All I was saying was the station was not #1 in cume in September.

The reason the format was dropped was not because of cume. It was because of sales. I doubt that situation will improve with the programming now on HD-2.
that goes without saying and while the cume may have been higher than most country stations in the US, it was still low for the market.
 
WSM is a museum piece. They don’t draw any ratings and certainly cannot compete with WKDF, WSM-FM and WSIX… but the Opry is still a big-time moneymaker so they can afford to staff it as such.

Part of the selling point of the Opry is that it is a live radio show, and the Opry sponsors have their commercials read from the stage in front of the audience, as well as on the radio. In addition to 650 WSM, the Opry airs on Sirius. The station stopped subscribing to Nielsen many years ago. They stopped following any organized format many years ago. For a long time, they were classic country. Then they switched to Americana. Now they're a combination of the two with some bluegrass thrown in. You might say they're an Opry format. The morning show is also simulcast on the Circle Network TV channel.
 
Perhaps WMTR 1250 AM, which puts a decent signal into many parts of NJ where WNSH had strong ratings, such as the Morristown area, could flip to Country. It wouldn't reach much of New York, but may do better than its current oldies format among NJ listeners, especially if it offers very local programming.
WMTR Coverage
 
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That's a nice idea, but doesn't solve the inherent problem which was that the sales department couldn't sell the format. They CAN sell sports and sports gambling.
Online sports gambling just had its full launch here in Connecticut last week, and several sports books open tomorrow. Advertising for the half dozen or so services licensed to do business in the state are all over radio here, and not just on all-sports WUCS. At least initially, this is going to be a huge boost for radio advertising.
 
Perhaps WMTR 1250 AM, which puts a decent signal into many parts of NJ where WNSH had strong ratings, such as the Morristown area, could flip to Country. It wouldn't reach much of New York, but may do better than its current oldies format among NJ listeners, especially if it offers very local programming.
WMTR Coverage
WMTR got a 2.7 share in the Spring Morristown Market, That is amazing for a high dial position station that has one of its 3 counties in the NYC metro survey area.

They are not going to change; they are outperforming as it is.

The station's usable coverage is much smaller than the innermost red circle on the "for amusement only" map you linked. Noise levels in the NYC metro are so high that it takes about 10 mV/m to cover well and even that is doubtful for in-home listening in dwellings full of noise from "newfangled" devices.
 
An AM station in the car is a simple thing to access, probably two button pushes. This I would suggest is excellent for getting casual potential listeners to try them out. Setting up Bluetooth or other devices is more work that is an obstacle. If it were not, AM stations would/should be thriving.

I’m not sure I follow your logic here. Granted, streaming is only a small fraction of listening, but I don’t see how AM would be thriving if people would just find setting up Bluetooth easier. Plus, you seem to be forgetting that the programming on AM is, as a whole, terrible. AM is around 10% of listening in most markets.

If 660 were to be relegated to sports gambling programming, I can't believe they would get more listeners and quality advertising than a market unique country station would. It will be intersting to see how a sports gambling 850 fares against two FM sports talkers. My bet (no pun intended) is that it will be an afterthought down with 1200 WXKS.

Whenever I listen to sports radio, I hear a ton of ads for male enhancement products. The experience I had when I worked in radio was that those companies paid in advance, paid top dollar, and the checks always cleared. The real issue is sales, and a quality advertiser is any that pays on time. Country, unfortunately, didn't get the sales it needed.
 
People really want classic hip-hop to fail. What they don't realize is that for men my age (mid-30s), it's our "classic rock."

The challenges are not the format, it's audience fragmentation. I have the privilege of having a solid KDAY signal everywhere I drive. But half the time, I'm listening to classic hip-hop of Spotify.
 
I'll be curious how this lasts over the long run, but if they program it right, this can probably prove pretty popular. I pop in on Rock the Bells radio on SXM from time to time and it can be good to listen to. I think they will need to work on keeping the playlist calibrated to this area. They should focus on NYC based artists first and mix in other stuff that tests well.
 
I think they will need to work on keeping the playlist calibrated to this area. They should focus on NYC based artists first and mix in other stuff that tests well.

The playbook has basically been written by JackFM. Just study their rotation, how they cycle the playlist, how they keep the imaging updated and relevant to what's happening locally. Since Audacy has a bunch of Jack stations in the company, some of which are doing very well, it should be an easy job. Then they can do the same thing with Dave in San Francisco. IF it works.
 
The playbook has basically been written by JackFM. Just study their rotation, how they cycle the playlist, how they keep the imaging updated and relevant to what's happening locally. Since Audacy has a bunch of Jack stations in the company, some of which are doing very well, it should be an easy job. Then they can do the same thing with Dave in San Francisco. IF it works.
Still … at the end of the day, it’s the signal that is 94.7’s Achilles heel. Hopefully the transmitter that will bring their closer to NYC (if that ever happens) will provide a better signal for Long Island. Given that country is now on HD2, it was hard enough to get the analog signal in Eastern Nassau and it’s nearly impossible to lock in new station on HD1 and forget trying HD2. For those of us who occasionally listened to Country, our only hope would be for Long Island Country 96.1 to find an HD station that would reach Nassau (perhaps WALK could add HD3 or WBAB could add an HD2 as WKJY and WBZO do not broadcast in HD).
 
I wonder if The Ed Lover Morning Show would be syndicated and brought here in New York City??
His flagship station where he broadcasts from wbmx is audacy owned. Seems like syndicating it on 94.7 the block is a good idea to me. Does anyone know if the wnsh call letters will be changing to fit the format better somehow? Honestly im surprised that the call letters werent changed when audacy bought the station and it changed from nash fm to new yorks country.
 
I'll be curious how this lasts over the long run, but if they program it right, this can probably prove pretty popular. I pop in on Rock the Bells radio on SXM from time to time and it can be good to listen to. I think they will need to work on keeping the playlist calibrated to this area. They should focus on NYC based artists first and mix in other stuff that tests well.
This format is probably closer to “Fly” on SXM. I’m not sure how this format will do long-term, but this mid-30s suburban White male is enjoying it!
 
Does anyone know if the wnsh call letters will be changing to fit the format better somehow? Honestly im surprised that the call letters werent changed when audacy bought the station and it changed from nash fm to new yorks country.
It has been previously mentioned that Audacy applied for the call letters WXBK on Fri. 10/22/2021.
They did not apply earlier so as not to tip off other operators about the format flip.
Plus, call letters only matter to the ad agencies who see reports with just call letters and format descriptors listed.
To 99% of the listening audience, they are of no consequence - just a 3-second-per-hour intrusion to the on-air presentation.
The branding "94-7 The Block" is what the audience will be asked to remember most (as far as retention goes).
 
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