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AM_Rocks
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There's rumor that Clear Channel is going to blow up 940AM. Anyone hear anything about that?
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I think there are plenty of other stations a little higher up than WINZ in the "likely to blown up" column...on the AM dial, WQAM, WAXY and certainly James-Crystal's WJNA or WFTL or both. At least WINZ has a unique format with low operating expenses. And its sister station, although it took a post-hurricane hit - is the BIG news talker in South Florida.
Blow up 940 to do what? Become the third sports talker? The second conservative talker (not counting WKAT until they do a little better) in a market that only supports conservative talk in Spanish? Brokered 24-7 to compete with1470? What serious alternatives are there for this facility?
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AM_Rocks
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I didn't make this post because I was speculating that they would change or should change WINZ. I didn't post this because I thought it was right or wrong to do it. I didn't post this because I wanted to see what other stations anyone thought should get "blown up." I posted this because I heard a rumor at the CC building that it might be happening and wanted to know if there was any truth to it.
The station is still looking pretty good in Men 25-54 and 35-54, the only targets a sprots station has. With the increases in total Spanish shares, all English stations are off to some extent. Never look at a sports station in 12+. WFAN in NY, one of the market's top 3 or 4 billers, is 15th in 12+.Jeff said:
Unless you're looking at WEEI.DavidEduardo said:
Okay here's a possibly stupid idea!Clear Channel probably has an under performing AM or FM station in just about every market (no disrespect intended). How about doing a national all-news network like NBC did in the '70's with NIS the "News and Information Service"? Unlike NBC they could base it in a city where they didn't have to pay big union salaries. If you ever heard NBC's NIS they had a good thing going for awhile. If all the CC stations shared the cost it seems like the impact would be minimal especially in the day of computer automation.Crazy idea?If I'm in the car at night and I want to hear an all news format I have to tune to WCBS or WBBM both way out of my home market.
Not too many people are in their cars at night looking for news very often. And these underperforming AMs are partly so for a reason - crappy signals that a lot of people can't hear day or night.
Which smaller markets?
Of course WINZ used to be all-news! It would be great to hear them return to that format. I've been wanting for it ever since they added talk to their lineup.
WINZ was all news back in 1975 when NBC started NIS (NBC NEWS & INFORMATION SERVICE). They tried to keep it going for awhile after the network folded.
I recall the station being all news up through the late 80's and possibly into the very early 90's as well. I just loved that old synthesized CBS Radio News jingle at the top of the hour!
WINZ's "All News All Day" days ended in the mid-90's when Paxon put Laura and Rush on for mid-days. News Blocks continued in the drive times. The All News format did reasonably well in mornings, but numbers were non-existent the rest of the day (except for the OJ Trial, then the numbers dropped again). No surprise that Rush and Laura gave WINZ a noticable bump up in ratings. WINZ was an award winning news station and its lack of numbers demonstrates, to me anyway, that Miami is not a good all news market. Look how well all those hours and hours of all news hours, "powered by the Sun-Sentinel" did for "Live 85" - not. But I don't think we're all that unusual. Except where it's been a long time fabric of the comunity (like the CBS stations in Chicago, New York, Philly, Boston, San Fransisco, even LA), I don't think all news is as important or as useful as it once was. The news junkies now have Cable News Channels and the i-n-t-e-r-n-e-t.
True all news, 24/7/365, will probably only work in the top 10 markets, with a couple additional ones in the top 20 being able to support it.Hybrids are a possibility. What about news blocks in AM drive, noon hour, PM drive, weekend mornings? People being in their cars is key for all-news.
Boom...Faraway said:
...and boom. I discussed this very thing with the owner of my local news/talker. You can't browse the net or watch TV in a car.Of course the local news on the station still sucks, but a minimally additional amount of effort is being put into it now thanks to my argument.The point, though, is that news still has a very solid place on the radio. Radiophiler, I like the idea of a hybrid... I assume you're suggesting something similar to what WINZ used to do as mentioned earlier in this thread. The only problem I can think of is this: who would attempt it? The AM stations that can't seem to stick with one format for much of a time don't really have signals that could support such a thing, and everyone else seems to be settled in (including WINZ, which is one of CC's better-rating and better-billing libtalkers).radiophiler said:
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