94.7 is changing formats today

[pjc1961]

Daily update:

Enjoy TuneGenie! On Air Playlist from Oct 24, 2021

The latest Playlists for Enjoy TuneGenie!

wnsh.tunegenie.com

These are the "new" songs that were added to the overall playlist on Sunday 10/24/2021:

WNSH-FM Newark - PLAYLIST ADDS - 10/24/2021

1:47 pm Rock The Boat - Aaliyah
7:18 am Oh - Ciara ft. Ludacris
6:43 am Slow Jamz - Twista ft. Kanye West & Jamie Foxx
2:32 am Oh Boy - Cam'ron ft. Juelz Santana
________________________________________________________________________________________________
Note: after Midnight on Monday morning 10/25/2021, several new titles debuted.
I'll update once a day after midnight.

 

[Marcos_C]

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'm not. There have been a few cases in which a station has kept a call sign long after it separated from the branding that the call sign represented in the first place. WSNR, WZRC, and WWRU are three current examples of such stations.

 

[CTListener]

I'm not. There have been a few cases in which a station has kept a call sign long after it separated from the branding that the call sign represented in the first place. WSNR, WZRC, and WWRU are three current examples of such stations.

WPOP Hartford, same call decades after the last pop record was played. Now right-wing talk.

 

[victorres43]

I'm not. There have been a few cases in which a station has kept a call sign long after it separated from the branding that the call sign represented in the first place. WSNR, WZRC, and WWRU are three current examples of such stations.

Also WSKQ hasn't been called Super KQ since 1993 or so. And the WPLJ call letters are now stuck with EMF.

 

[SCMcKinney]

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.



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.

Programming on AM IS,as a whole, terrible. I believe that is because there is little investment in it, and most of the national broadcast companies regard the AM side as an afterthought. It is interesting to note that practically none of them will off load the higher powered properties. I suspect this is because they would rather euthanize them with satellite sports than sell them to some wise guy who might come up with some kind of innovative idea that would challenge the FM side in some way. If an owner does stick some money and imagination into their product, even on AM, there can be a successful operation. If they can get on FM somehow with a class A rimshot or translators, that is a definite plus. But for the most part in the largest markets, there is no more room at the FM inn. Therefore in NYC, Country would have to head to the AM stable. But if Audacy would look at the big picture, I suggest that they would realize that 660 is a very big stone (currently empty) stable that could compete and serve an audience they already have.

WNSH being on an HD channel is nice, but HD is an afterthought. Nearly everybody has an AM radio in their car. Practically nobody has an HD radio in their home or car. It is interesting to note what happened in Indianapolis where 50KW WFNI 1070 went off the air due to the land for the towers being sold. That longtime local address allowed them to garner a large audience, which continues with WIBC-HD2 getting the credit. I suspect it is really Apps and Echo. It will be interesting to see if the HD channel carrying WNSH is able to hang on to the audience the same way. I am suggesting a large AM station with Apps and Echo could do so even better.

When I talk of quality advertisers, I am not thinking of male enhancement peddlers. I am thinking of advertisers you would not mind being heard in your business customer waiting area. Advertisers you would not mind your kids listening to. If a radio sales force has to resort to accepting ads from porn shops (a situation I actually heard on an FM oldies station) you know it is over. Sports gambling is a tawdry business. There is a certain class of people who will listen to such a station, and a certain class of advertiser who will play with them, but it won't be quality.

>>>Music on AM? People are still trying to push this idea?<<<

I am not looking to 'push' the idea, but if my suspicion is correct, that most AM listening (maybe most RADIO listening) is done digitally, then AM can represent a whole field of open channels IF the broadcaster attempting something realizes the tower and transmitter are merely a promotional local address and otherwise an afterthought to their main focus, which should be to get that App and Echo playing their station.

 

[david]

There have been a few cases in which a station has kept a call sign long after it separated from the branding that the call sign represented in the first place. WSNR, WZRC, and WWRU are three current examples of such stations.

KYSR 98.7 Los Angeles - from when it was Star 98.7 (Modern AC). Is now ALT 98.7, yet retains the KYSR calls.

 

[davideduardo]

I am not looking to 'push' the idea, but if my suspicion is correct, that most AM listening (maybe most RADIO listening) is done digitally, then AM can represent a whole field of open channels IF the broadcaster attempting something realizes the tower and transmitter are merely a promotional local address and otherwise an afterthought to their main focus, which should be to get that App and Echo playing their station.

Actually, in the larger markets I look at the streams are only garnering a few tenths of a share point in total. In Los Angeles, none of the significant stations does a 100% duplicated stream because they have so many agency spots that specify "no streaming" so Nielsen lists the streams as separate stations. And in last month's report, only a couple of streams even showed up with numbers.

 

[TheBigA]

Programming on AM IS,as a whole, terrible. I believe that is because there is little investment in it, and most of the national broadcast companies regard the AM side as an afterthought.

The investment and programming went away when the listeners went away. There once was great programming on AM, but station after station dropped music as the audience gradually transitioned to FM in the late 70s and early 80s. The audience could hear the audio quality difference between AM & FM. It was not a difficult transition for them to make. By then, most radios had FM included, and there was a big boom going on in home stereo equipment. All that happened 40 years ago. Nothing has changed with AM audio quality. If anything, it's gotten worse. So until that gets addressed, you won't see anyone investing in music on AM. That train left the station a long time ago, and the listeners caused it to happen. The big radio companies are basically stuck with these AM stations. iHeart has invested a lot of money in its Black Information Network and all of the radio companies spend millions on talk show hosts, because that's the only programming people will listen to on AM. So to say there's "little investment in it" is incorrect.

 

[Kent]

Programming on AM IS,as a whole, terrible. I believe that is because there is little investment in it, and most of the national broadcast companies regard the AM side as an afterthought. It is interesting to note that practically none of them will off load the higher powered properties. I suspect this is because they would rather euthanize them with satellite sports than sell them to some wise guy who might come up with some kind of innovative idea that would challenge the FM side in some way.

I don't think the problem was that the owners of AM stations in the 1980's just decided to keep the carrier up and focus on their FM's. That, of course, happened in many cases, but you're getting cause and effect backward. AM signals, especially in larger markets, were having trouble covering the entire market 24/7, and those stations were being challenged by new FM's. Those successful AM's had to move to FM to survive, and, for many, it was already too late. The national broadcast companies may not be most people's favorite companies, but they have access to tons of data that smaller operators don't have. If there was a way to make good money off of AM without going all talk, they would've found it.

WNSH being on an HD channel is nice, but HD is an afterthought. Nearly everybody has an AM radio in their car. Practically nobody has an HD radio in their home or car. It is interesting to note what happened in Indianapolis where 50KW WFNI 1070 went off the air due to the land for the towers being sold. That longtime local address allowed them to garner a large audience, which continues with WIBC-HD2 getting the credit. I suspect it is really Apps and Echo. It will be interesting to see if the HD channel carrying WNSH is able to hang on to the audience the same way. I am suggesting a large AM station with Apps and Echo could do so even better.

No, the bulk of WFNI's listening before it signed off was to two FM translators that cover the area of Marion County from downtown and north as well as the northern suburbs better than 1070 did. That's where the bulk of the sports radio audience lives, and they were already listening on the FM's. So, the audience didn't drop off much when the AM signed off.

When I talk of quality advertisers, I am not thinking of male enhancement peddlers. I am thinking of advertisers you would not mind being heard in your business customer waiting area. Advertisers you would not mind your kids listening to.

I realized you probably weren't considering those male enhancement peddlers quality advertisers. Stations, however, can name their prices, and they'll pay them. When I worked in radio and we had those clients on some of our stations, they generated complaints, but our response was, "If you want them off the air for the next three months, give us the $40,000 they're giving us, and we'll gladly take them off as soon as the check clears."

If a radio sales force has to resort to accepting ads from porn shops (a situation I actually heard on an FM oldies station) you know it is over.

You're saying that, but I first worked at a radio station that was taking those male enhancement spots 20 years ago. All but one of those stations is still on-air. (The other one turned in its license to facilitate Cumulus exiting bankruptcy.) As I've mentioned before, after two recessions and a worldwide pandemic, I'm sure they don't bill what they did 20 years ago, but about 20% of radios are tuned to them on any given quarter hour. If it's over, we're still waiting.

Sports gambling is a tawdry business. There is a certain class of people who will listen to such a station, and a certain class of advertiser who will play with them, but it won't be quality.

I'll admit sports gambling isn't my favorite thing either. I don't personally have a problem with it so long as players, coaches/managers, and officials can be kept from manipulating games, but I don't enjoy listening to people talking about it. It's a radio station, not a babysitter. One person's trash is another person's entertainment. Maybe it's not something I consider quality, but Jerry Springer and Maury Povich have been a lot more successful than I'll ever be. That's not because nobody enjoyed their shows.

 

[davideduardo]

Programming on AM IS,as a whole, terrible. I believe that is because there is little investment in it, and most of the national broadcast companies regard the AM side as an afterthought.

Looking at the top 100 markets, there are less than 170 stations that have a 5 mV/m signal over at least 90% of the territory day and night. If we go with the newer 10 mV/m standard for interference free reception, the number drops to around 120 stations that fully cover the top 100 markets.

So one of the main reasons FM "won" was coverage. Clear, clean signal day and night: there were nearly 000 stations fully covering those top 100 markets in 1980, and there are more now due to upgrades and new licences.

It is interesting to note that practically none of them will off load the higher powered properties. I suspect this is because they would rather euthanize them with satellite sports than sell them to some wise guy who might come up with some kind of innovative idea that would challenge the FM side in some way.

They will keep them as long as they make a little money. And some are now overvalued on the books, so selling would create a loss against this year's profits. Talk and sports make money. News doe in a few markets.

If an owner does stick some money and imagination into their product, even on AM, there can be a successful operation.

Unless it is one of the formats I just named or religious or brokered or, in some cases, ethnic, there is no viable format. Salem makes nice money with religious and brokered formats, in fact.

If they can get on FM somehow with a class A rimshot or translators, that is a definite plus. But for the most part in the largest markets, there is no more room at the FM inn. Therefore in NYC, Country would have to head to the AM stable. But if Audacy would look at the big picture, I suggest that they would realize that 660 is a very big stone (currently empty) stable that could compete and serve an audience they already have.

With the high cost of operation in NYC, what format would get enough audience to make money?

WNSH being on an HD channel is nice, but HD is an afterthought. Nearly everybody has an AM radio in their car. Practically nobody has an HD radio in their home or car. It is interesting to note what happened in Indianapolis where 50KW WFNI 1070 went off the air due to the land for the towers being sold. That longtime local address allowed them to garner a large audience, which continues with WIBC-HD2 getting the credit. I suspect it is really Apps and Echo.

No, it is the HD channels. There is vastly less streaming and Echo listening than new media fans believe.

It will be interesting to see if the HD channel carrying WNSH is able to hang on to the audience the same way. I am suggesting a large AM station with Apps and Echo could do so even better.

They are doing the HD to placate the annoyed listeners they had. They know they can't make money from that format... as they did not make money when it was on the analog FM signal previously.

When I talk of quality advertisers, I am not thinking of male enhancement peddlers. I am thinking of advertisers you would not mind being heard in your business customer waiting area. Advertisers you would not mind your kids listening to. If a radio sales force has to resort to accepting ads from porn shops (a situation I actually heard on an FM oldies station) you know it is over. Sports gambling is a tawdry business. There is a certain class of people who will listen to such a station, and a certain class of advertiser who will play with them, but it won't be quality.

Those advertisers pay good rates and are willing to pay in advance, too. Those are quality advertisers from a business perspective.

I am not looking to 'push' the idea, but if my suspicion is correct, that most AM listening (maybe most RADIO listening) is done digitally, then AM can represent a whole field of open channels IF the broadcaster attempting something realizes the tower and transmitter are merely a promotional local address and otherwise an afterthought to their main focus, which should be to get that App and Echo playing their station.

In LA, as I mentioned previously, there is less than one percent of all listening going to the streams of local AM and FM stations.

In most markets, the FM translator gets nearly all the listening when a station has one.

 

[TheBigA]

Some analysis and viewpoints on the loss of country radio in NYC from InsideRadio:

Saying Goodbye To WNSH: ‘It’s A Detriment To Our Format.’

With Audacy flipping country WNSH New York (94.7) to classic hip-hop/R&B “94.7 The Block” on Friday, New York’s without a full-time OTA FM country station for the first time since

www.insideradio.com

John Shomby served as Cumulus’ Nash Director of Programming during some of the years WNSH was under the Cumulus umbrella. “The station’s strength was in North Jersey, which is not enough to create a strong revenue stream,” he says. “That was an issue when I was with Cumulus and New York was our anchor affiliate station.”

 

[dcowboy7]

Sports gambling is a tawdry business. There is a certain class of people who will listen to such a station, and a certain class of advertiser who will play with them, but it won't be quality.

That sounds like a stereotype non PC statement.

 

[Rusty Muck]

Some analysis and viewpoints on the loss of country radio in NYC from InsideRadio:

Saying Goodbye To WNSH: ‘It’s A Detriment To Our Format.’

With Audacy flipping country WNSH New York (94.7) to classic hip-hop/R&B “94.7 The Block” on Friday, New York’s without a full-time OTA FM country station for the first time since

www.insideradio.com

John Shomby served as Cumulus’ Nash Director of Programming during some of the years WNSH was under the Cumulus umbrella. "The station’s strength was in North Jersey, which is not enough to create a strong revenue stream," he says. “That was an issue when I was with Cumulus and New York was our anchor affiliate station.”

Gee it's like he's admitting WNSH was a mistake from the beginning.

 

[Least]

John Shomby served as Cumulus’ Nash Director of Programming during some of the years WNSH was under the Cumulus umbrella. "The station’s strength was in North Jersey, which is not enough to create a strong revenue stream," he says. “That was an issue when I was with Cumulus and New York was our anchor affiliate station.”

Gee it's like he's admitting WNSH was a mistake from the beginning.

That quote specifically reads more like the mistake is aiming 94.7 at NYC. It should probably be a New Jersey station that can be received in parts of NYC.

 

[davideduardo]

That quote specifically reads more like the mistake is aiming 94.7 at NYC. It should probably be a New Jersey station that can be received in parts of NYC.

It's a NE New Jersey station just a few miles from NYC, so it's a New York Metro Survey Area station. It does not cover all of New Jersey, just that NE corner that is part of the NYC radio metro area.

There are 9 NE New Jersey counties in the New York City radio metro. Advertisers buy the New York market, and there is no separate Northeast New Jersey market.

The quote reads "this was a suburban signal and could not compete in the full market."

 

[TheBigA]

Gee it's like he's admitting WNSH was a mistake from the beginning.

However, the station wasn't intended to exist as a stand-alone. The Cumulus idea was to use it as a loss leader for a national service. It seemed as though Audacy was doing the same thing when they launched their national country service last year, using several staffers from WNSH. The problem there was they didn't have the same national footprint as Cumulus, and they didn't offer their national programming to stations outside of their own company. In the meantime, the Cumulus service also collapsed.

 

[TheBigA]

Country Aircheck just reported this staffing update:

Following Audacy WNSH/New York’s flip from Country to Classic Hip-Hop last Friday (CAT 10/22), morning host Kelly Ford and MD/afternoon personality Jesse Addy, who also handled afternoons for Country sister WKIS/Miami, have both officially departed. Ford additionally helmed national weekend show 90s Country With Kelly Ford while Addy could be heard on the internally syndicated Country Top 20.

 

[CTListener]

Country Aircheck just reported this staffing update:

If country can't bill enough to survive in New York City, how in the world is it surviving in hard-wired-for-rhythmic Miami?

 

[TheBigA]

If country can't bill enough to survive in New York City, how in the world is it surviving in hard-wired-for-rhythmic Miami?

The costs are a lower there, and logistically, it's a lot easier to manage there.

By that, I mean working with advertisers in Boca Raton is easier than working with advertisers in NJ.

 

[101tm]

In a perfect, hypothetical world, 94.7 should have gone to EMF and 95.5 stayed the commercial station. Even the 94.7 signal makes sense for K-Love.

Who would have thought 15 years ago 95.5 would be a non commercial religious station while 94.7 is a commercial owned by the big wigs now.

I know, I know. Just hypothesizing.