94.7 Updates

[XCountry285]

It would touch Cat Country 96.1 from Allentown in Sussex & Hunterdon counties & Thunder 106 in the eastern end in Manhattan

 

[MoldaMania182]

If you look at coverage maps of WDHA and WFME, the city-grade contours overlap almost exactly (DHA is skewed a bit further west).

I think you need better visual aids. "Official on paper" DHA city grade contour doesn't even cover Newark.

 

[Giacomo Siffredi]

The sale of WFME may well mark the demise of Family Radio. WFME was Family Radio's key station in the East. In its heyday, WFME showed up in the Arbitron ratings and contributions from WFME listeners accounted for a large chunk of Family Radio's revenue stream. It will be very difficult, if not impossible, to replicate WFME's coverage area with a rimshot Class A FM station in Mt. Kisco and whichever AM station might be available.

As stated earlier on this board, Harold Camping's heresies doomed Family Radio; to wit, his false doomsday prophecies and his teachings about the "post-church era". This kind of stuff alienated the evangelical Christians who were Family Radio's lifeblood. Many pastors used to contribute to the Family Radio ministry. But who among them would continue to give money to a false prophet who was telling people to stop going to church?

Actually, it was Harold Camping himself who rejected those outside ministries. In the early 1990s, as he was finalizing his calendar which then ended in 1994, he decided that dissident viewpoints to his prophecies should be silenced. Slowly, programs produced by other ministries were discontinued and nearly all the programming was originated in-house. This allowed for Camping's voice to be the dominant one, and his deep dulcet sound and folksy attitude added authenticity to his revelations.

This separated the evangelical Christians from the hyper-Calvinist Camping followers; the former abandoned Family Radio while the latter were sucked in as if the radio was a vacuum cleaner. Many ministers and pastors began openly criticizing Camping and accusing him of teaching heretic doctrine which was destroying the Churches by calling on patrons to depart out. Camping's response always was that everything he taught came from the bible. What he left out of his response was that he was teaching his interpretations, not God's word. And Camping's interpretations were based on his education as a civil engineer, this is why numerology was the basis for his calendar in which he loosely tied select biblical scripture.

All of the AM stations that Family Radio might be able to buy in the New York area are directional. Two that might be, or actually are, for sale are WSNR in Hackensack (620 kHz) and WVNJ in Oakland (Teaneck). WSNR has extremely poor coverage. WVNJ has its transmitter in the Ramapo Mountains and beams its signal east. In New Jersey, it only has a listenable signal in Bergen, Passaic, and Hudson Counties. In New York City, the signal disappears in Brooklyn, Staten Island, and parts of Queens.

WSNR is actually licensed to Jersey City, and you are right about its coverage. Nearly everytime I've heard this station is sounds as if the signal is refracted. And that is likely due to its highly directional coverage.

WVNJ Oakland is actually the one AM station I suggested Family Stations may be interested to purchase. I stated that here prior to the confirmation they acquired WDVY Mount Kisco.

If they are going for one or more AMs, as indicated by Charlie Menut's closing remarks the other day, these two are possibilities. But in no way can both of them together replicate the WFME Newark coverage contour, either in fidelity or signal.

One more station I'm going to throw out here which I know has been discussed before, but I just have to say it: WABC New York.

In an attempt to better compete with a new WOR which boasts more live and local programming, and potentially attract a younger audience, might Cumulus move the WABC talk programming to WFME and divest WABC to Family Stations?

I honestly think there will be a music-based format on 94.7FM. However, Family Radio has acquired some decent signals over the years, WDVY not withstanding, and the thought of them buying WABC does not feel as far-fetched as it might have even a few years ago.

The worst thing about the sale of WFME is that the station went to Cumulus, an out of state company notorious for cookie cutter programming, rather than to local people who just might have used this station to serve their community. Whatever the "real" format on 94.7 will be, it will be something dictated by the corporate people in Atlanta.

This will depend on the final format. Cumulus may indeed program a format based out of their Manhattan radio studios that would target the New York market. Ironically, during this stunting or test phase in which WFME is airing a true simulcast of WPLJ New York, this is the first time in nearly 48 years that the majority of the programming schedule on WFME Newark is being programmed locally.

 

[d21ofnj]

So who's actually listening to PLJ on 94.7...wonder if it will give a boost to WFME's ratings.

 

[Theater of My Mind]

The senior citizens on the other board are speculating that the CBS Sports Radio network will land on 94.7. This obviously makes no sense at all. Who believes CBS paid $75 million for 101.9, just to simulcast WFAN AM in perpetuity?

No, 660 AM is destined to become New York's CBS Sports Radio network flagship. That means it won't end up on 94.7

Another small clue is that Cumulus chose to simulcast music-formatted WPLJ, not talk-formatted WABC, while tuning up the 94.7 audio chain. So whether it's rock, country or polka, count on hearing music - not sports - when the flip is done.

 

[erwin33]

Discussed many times here, but sport is not gonna happen on 94.7. It's perhaps more realistic that PLJ change frequency to 94.7 and that the new format lands on 95.5, and that would be country or alternative.

 

[benale]

Please..enough CHR,Hot AC and Urban! I think New York has enough of these stations. Country or Rock would fill a void and give some diversity to the FM band.

 

[badjef]

Re: WFME Format Flip

This is already posted in the 94.7 Updates thread. Hopefully that's where the discussion will remain, we really don't need 2 or 3 different threads on this, do we?

Nope, that's why we have MANY MORE than that!

Jeff in Sa-ra-so-ta!

 

[disney fanatic]

Re: WFME Format Flip

Now that WFME is out of the way, but I don't see any changes on WFRH anytime soon. WFRH is another Family Radio affiliate at 91.7 in Kingston, NY where it does have a weak signal when it reaches Poughkeepsie. WFRH remains as a Family Radio affiliate, but it's not going to change.

 

[badjef]

Re: WFME Format Flip

Now that WFME is out of the way, but I don't see any changes on WFRH anytime soon. WFRH is another Family Radio affiliate at 91.7 in Kingston, NY where it does have a weak signal when it reaches Poughkeepsie. WFRH remains as a Family Radio affiliate, but it's not going to change.

They may not need to as WFME was the BIG money.

(although never treated that way)

Jeff in Sa-ra-so-ta!

 

[AlNYRadio]

As of 8:15, WRXP OR WFME is in HD once again, with many weird tune ups happening in the afternoon, like rewinding and forwarding in the middle of songs, changing the audio quality. It sounds marginally better than before. HD IS JUST PLAIN DISGUSTING!!! The audio sucks and sounds like the most compressed mp3 file ever with the top of equalization over 10 times the normal! RDS says WRXP, but my Auvio tuner said at times with errors using the calls WLLZ! This used to be a famous Detroit station in the 1970's and 80's. It also said personality as the format at times other than rock. The HD radio says WRXP HD1.

 

[Jeffrey]

Does it really make sense that a flagship station of a brand new country network called "Nash FM" would debut in New York, a city where a country format is risky and that has Nash in it's name? That really makes no sense. 94.7 may go country but I think Nash fm seems highly unlikely.

The alleged "Nash FM" is supposed to be a national country network. They would want a NY affiliate to attract more advertising dollars. Since it's a national network, it wouldn't matter if the station was at the top of the ratings in this market.

Selling national spots for a national network clearly takes away from the necessity to convince local advertisers to put. Aside their biast of country music but boasting about a flagship station in market no. 1 that has abysmal ratings might not necessarily be an advantage.

 

[Jeffrey]

One could argue that 94.7 would overlap with 2 suburban country stations as well, Thunder 106.3 and My Country 96.1.

Not really. My Country 96.1 is way out in Sussex county where the 94.7 signal would be very weak to non-existent. Thunder 106's signal doesn't reach much farther north than Middlesex county in NJ. So again, the overlap is on the fringe of this station as well. If you look at coverage maps of WDHA and WFME, the city-grade contours overlap almost exactly (DHA is skewed a bit further west).

My Country 96.1 is in eastern Suffolk not Sussex and 94.7 penetrates a good portion of Suffolk. True Thunder 106 doesn't reach north of Middlesex County but Essex County is an urban industrial county with heavy ethnic populations unlikely to listen to country.

Given alt rock would appeal more to city listeners than country that automatically guarantees more ratings than country regardless of overlap in NJ from WDHA.

I don't think country would get more than a 1.5 in this market.

 

[ansky212]

Selling national spots for a national network clearly takes away from the necessity to convince local advertisers to put. Aside their biast of country music but boasting about a flagship station in market no. 1 that has abysmal ratings might not necessarily be an advantage.

A national network and a local station are two different animals. Look at it from a TV perspective. You'll find CMT on just about every cable system in the NY area. Even Cablevision in the Bronx carries it. Do you think the owners of CMT don't care about being on NY cable systems because they think few people in NY will watch? Of course not, it's all about reaching the highest number of *potential* listeners/viewers. When it comes to national advertising, it hardly matters that nobody in the Bronx is watching. It matters that the network is available to the most viewers.

ABC has a new show called 'Nashville'. I don't see WABC pre-empting that show locally because they don't think NY viewers care about a show featuring a country music star. It's all about reaching the most potential viewers. A national radio network would work the same way.

 

[ansky212]

that automatically guarantees more ratings than country

LOL..I hope you're not their advisor. Not many things in life are an "automatic guarantee" ;D

 

[Jeffrey]

Selling national spots for a national network clearly takes away from the necessity to convince local advertisers to put. Aside their biast of country music but boasting about a flagship station in market no. 1 that has abysmal ratings might not necessarily be an advantage.

A national network and a local station are two different animals. Look at it from a TV perspective. You'll find CMT on just about every cable system in the NY area. Even Cablevision in the Bronx carries it. Do you think the owners of CMT don't care about being on NY cable systems because they think few people in NY will watch? Of course not, it's all about reaching the highest number of *potential* listeners/viewers. When it comes to national advertising, it hardly matters that nobody in the Bronx is watching. It matters that the network is available to the most viewers.

ABC has a new show called 'Nashville'. I don't see WABC pre-empting that show locally because they don't think NY viewers care about a show featuring a country music star. It's all about reaching the most potential viewers. A national radio network would work the same way.

Cable is different. It is paid for by advertisers and the consumer and also has a varied array of programming and for the most part unlimited channels. 94.7 is a valuable NYC frequency. They won't just throw any format on it without careful consideration even if a national network presence makes actual rating less relevant.

 

[Jeffrey]

that automatically guarantees more ratings than country

LOL..I hope you're not their advisor. Not many things in life are an "automatic guarantee" ;D

I beg to differ,especially in a case like this.

 

[d21ofnj]

One could argue that 94.7 would overlap with 2 suburban country stations as well, Thunder 106.3 and My Country 96.1.

Not really. My Country 96.1 is way out in Sussex county where the 94.7 signal would be very weak to non-existent. Thunder 106's signal doesn't reach much farther north than Middlesex county in NJ. So again, the overlap is on the fringe of this station as well. If you look at coverage maps of WDHA and WFME, the city-grade contours overlap almost exactly (DHA is skewed a bit further west).

My Country 96.1 is in eastern Suffolk not Sussex and 94.7 penetrates a good portion of Suffolk. True Thunder 106 doesn't reach north of Middlesex County but Essex County is an urban industrial county with heavy ethnic populations unlikely to listen to country.

Given alt rock would appeal more to city listeners than country that automatically guarantees more ratings than country regardless of overlap in NJ from WDHA.

I don't think country would get more than a 1.5 in this market.

I think ansky was talking about Cat Country 96.1 in Allentown, which I was able to pick up in the Somerville/Bridgewater area. If country happens to land on 94.7, to me it would feel too cluttered. Yes, the inner city is not able to pick up Country, but at the same time the ones who listen to Country only commute to the city for work, whereas when they go back home Country is served to them via Thunder, Cat, My Country, Kicks (to a degree). I was able to pull Thunder 106 from Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. Listening to Country while driving the streets of Brooklyn really feels awkward. :-X

 

[d21ofnj]

Re: WFME Format Flip

I just noticed they had a translator 90.5 out in Poughkeepsie, do they still keep that when they land on 106.3 in Westchester?

 

[Marckd]

Re: WFME Format Flip

That other thread is a bit too long by now. That was more about the future of 94.7 prior to Family Radio leaving WFME - This should be directed more toward what 94.7 will be doing next. I predict in this order 1-Rock 2-Country 3-WABC Talk Format 4-CBS Sports - I was leaning toward Country for the past few weeks but more recently with reports they are applying for WRXP calls though they are still legally WFME at this moment that Rock is more possible than Country. Allan Sniffin's country prediction is still on his board though HE HAD MADE NO PROMISES EITHER. Another Radio Historian is firmly thinking CBS Sports. I think that is maybe 10 % chance. I do not think CBS would put sports on a competitor and competing with WFAN and WFAN FM. But I may be wrong. Still my hope for the sake of the Country Music people is that 94.7 takes a Country format. Also CBS Sports could go to WFAS maybe? Rock to WFAS maybe? Aren't they marketing WFAS as New York City rather than Westchester County? Maybe WFAS takes Country and WFME takes Rock??? So WFAS could be in this equation someplace. They are still AC at this time at least.