97.5 Flips to Sports on Monday

[oaktree]

I'm not certain it's a "rights" deal in major league baseball these days - or other sports, for that matter. The teams now own the rights and sell the advertising in-house, then buy time on the station(s) they get the best opportunity for reach, inventory and signal with. CBS has a legacy in that arena with the Phils and Eagles. A move to FM for the Phils with the Eagles, not to mention the Sixers and Flyers could be attractive -- and in an overload situation, CBS has the stations to fall back on - WIP and WPHT.

Keep in mind, the Phillies were the first team in Major League Baseball to buy their own Arbitron breakouts with particular and specific breakdowns in addition to overall market numbers. The Phils hold the rights and they do the buying, not like in the old days where a station bought the rights and had to go sell the advertising, while the team got the broadcasts aired.

In St. Louis, for example, to get out of that with KMOX, the Cardinals didn't have to argue rights agreements with anyone -- they just went about bought their own radio station -- or a 50% share of it (KTRS.)

Overloading to WPEN might not be seen as a good option, be it for signal or legacy as being "sports dominant" in the market. The simulcast on WYSP & WIP hasn't hurt the Iggles, nor has the one with WPHT and WIP.

As long as it's attractive enough for the Phils and Eagles to be able to sell the bulk of the advertising revenue (which it keeps) and dole out buying the time on the station package it wants - those stations get the ability to sell more in-game revenue and everybody goes home happy.

WIP then remains as the possible (and lucrative) college station for play-by-play -- and whatever it wants to do, maybe as a news/talker ala KFWB and KNX in LA.

As much as I'd love to see it go back to its Metromedia personality music days -- that's not going to happen. But a news/talk/sports hybrid I could see.

Or, they flip sell it for another FM in the market -- but not with the revenues coming in as they are right now. CBS isn't going to just flip a switch over this -- and will gladly watch Greater Media make the initial mistakes and research for such a move.

 

[kingbill]

I was listening to 97.5 on my way home, and noticed that it is now playing ESPN Radio. So much for Monday. Besides, Greater Media owns both 97.5 and 950. I would think that 97.5 has a better signal, which would make more sense. I would not be surprised if they simulcast ESPN Radio on both in the meantime. I guess that we will to find out shortly.

-Kingbill

 

[Seltzer]

I have been following what's been going on in the Boston sports landscape and the Entercom playbook looks like a pretty good one:

1. The Fanatic needs to have local personalities in all the weekday daytime dayparts. They have Mikey M. Need to fill out AM drive & middays. The idea of Preston & Steve has been bantered about. Definite appeal to 18-34 men. Or a team like them. Philly is a local sports town and you won't compete with WIP with national programming in your prime dayparts.

2. Put ESPN 24/7 on 950. Of course, this would be your station for some of the secondary Play By Play.....Villanova, Soul, etc
Doing this gives the Fanatic what it would really want from ESPN----Continued access to their personalities.

3. Make a big play for the Phillies. Baseball is trying to appeal to a younger demo. You need to put the games where the younger listeners are.

4. ESPN during most of the weekend on 95.7, however, there should be a local show two hours before any Eagles game and for a couple of hours afterward. Of course, if you have Phillies rights, that would have to be adjusted.

5. Like what WEEI has done, build out a network to surrounding areas. There are smaller stations in PA, Jersey, abd Delaware that would make sense. Like what WIP did years ago on Jersey & the Lehigh Valley.

 

[aindik]

I know that we're 15 years in to the future and radio is completely different now. I just think moving an established rock morning show out of their element to sports is a bad move. I somehow don't see (or hear) Preston, Steve or Casey answering calls and discussing why it's a smarter move to start Hamels over Lee in Game 4...

I wouldn't expect them to change their show at all. Just switch stations. They don't have to do a sports show just because they're on a sports station. It's not like they're doing a rock show now.

 

[aindik]

how can u stand that when the sound is 30 seconds behind live and 22 or 23 seconds behind your tv picture?

Got the sound turned down on the Yankee game and listening to Jon Miller on 97.5. Sounds good.

TOH station ID was WPEN Philadelphia, also heard on WNUW Burlington Philadelphia.

TiVo. Because the radio is behind the TV, I can delay the TV myself so they sync.

 

[Jul]

3. Make a big play for the Phillies. Baseball is trying to appeal to a younger demo. You need to put the games where the younger listeners are.

4. ESPN during most of the weekend on 95.7, however, there should be a local show two hours before any Eagles game and for a couple of hours afterward. Of course, if you have Phillies rights, that would have to be adjusted.

CBS Radio IMO will not give up the broadcast rights of the Phillies games. It would be a stupid move and plus people will be complaining about the signal if they move to 97.5.

 

[aindik]

CBS Radio IMO will not give up the broadcast rights of the Phillies games. It would be a stupid move and plus people will be complaining about the signal if they move to 97.5.

What makes you think it's up to CBS?

 

[oasisrulz]

I think there is a problem no one seems to address....THE SIGNAL....97.5 does not have the coverage that the other FM signals have, if P&S moved there, they would sacrafice their coverage and thus limit their audiance. 97.5 has a lousy signal or just downright rotton in many areas...its just not like the other FM's....give them a try, even if you are in the coverage area, not as good as the others, bad penetration. BEN should of been the one to switch, if they want to make it...

 

[radiobob]

I just found out from someone at GM that the PD for ESPN is married to the afternoon chic that was on NUW. I heard she had no idea and didn't even find out from him. Talk about being in the communication business and not communicating. That guy must be an ass. She was good too. What a crappy business.

 

[aindik]

I think there is a problem no one seems to address....THE SIGNAL....97.5 does not have the coverage that the other FM signals have, if P&S moved there, they would sacrafice their coverage and thus limit their audiance. 97.5 has a lousy signal or just downright rotton in many areas...its just not like the other FM's....give them a try, even if you are in the coverage area, not as good as the others, bad penetration. BEN should of been the one to switch, if they want to make it...

I think the argument can be made that you put the exclusive content on the worse signal because people will listen through the static, etc., to hear it, which they won't do for music.

If the signal on 97.5 is really that bad, then no music format that is in any way similar to another station in town will ever have any traction at all.

CBS did this for years in DC with WJFK-FM's inferior signal. Music on WJFK would not have gotten any ratings because of the inferior signal, but talk did.

Also, inferior signals are going to do better in cars than they do in buildings, which is one reason to put a car format on one, rather than an office format.

 

[wprt949]

i hope they get a live and local morning show i would love that
cant stand 610s show too many people on it

 

[AdamfromPhilly]

I am sorry if that has been asked and answered before on this post, but is the simulcast of 97.5 going to be a mirror image of 950?

it would make sense to keep the middays and afternoon dayparts the same, but I think a local morning show would work out nicely (Since Mike and Mike can be heard a lot of places, WPEN 950 and 1040 am, XM and Sirius). the same for the evenings.

also does anyone know if espn offers multiple games to their affilates? It would be nice to have pxp of different games on the am and fm.

 

[aindik]

I am sorry if that has been asked and answered before on this post, but is the simulcast of 97.5 going to be a mirror image of 950?

it would make sense to keep the middays and afternoon dayparts the same, but I think a local morning show would work out nicely (Since Mike and Mike can be heard a lot of places, WPEN 950 and 1040 am, XM and Sirius). the same for the evenings.

Nobody from Greater Media has said one way or the other. The promos say "ESPN 950 is now 97.5 the Fanatic." Make of that what you will.

I agree on a local morning show, and I don't even think it needs to be a sports show. As I said, I think Preston & Steve fit the demo wonderfully, perhaps better than they fit the WMMR demo.

I also agree they should split the signals and run ESPN Radio 24/7 on 950 (other than local play by play overflow), and run local stuff at least 6a-7p if not 6a-10p on 97.5, run Tony Bruno's late night show, and ESPN at other times.

also does anyone know if espn offers multiple games to their affilates? It would be nice to have pxp of different games on the am and fm.

If you're talking about right now for MLB playoffs, yes ESPN had separate feeds going for the Yankees game and the Phillies game last night. I was listening to 97.5 when they switched the Yankees feed off in the middle of the game because the Phillies game was starting. Made perfect sense in this market, but it might have been nice to stick with the Yankees game to its conclusion on 950 while airing Phillies coverage on 97.5. Maybe if it wasn't two days after the launch they'd have done that.

Truth be told, though, anyone (at least, anyone in a car) wanting to hear the Yankees game on the radio in the Philadelphia area could probably have tuned to 880.

 

[aindik]

On another note, anyone think Greater Media's three stations MMR, MGK and this one (Ben-FM aside) have too much demographic overlap now? They all target some segment of M25-54.

 

[instigator]

This could be very interesting in a possible war with WIP....Why Oh Why Stephen A Smith...I can't stand his manner of speaking and to be quite frank other than basketball he often has no idea what he's talking about...bad decision on their part.

 

[ccuphl]

(1) P&S are NOT going anywhere. WMMR is the 3rd highest billing station in the market, behind KYW and B101. Greater Media is not going to change anything with WMMR. 97.5 flipping to sports draws 25-54s away from WIP, which will benefit Prestion & Steve.

(2) If you run ESPN Radio, you must clear Mike & Mike In The Morning. No way around it.

(3) The 97.5 signal really isn't that bad. If you look at the WNUW coverage map on radio-locator, 75% of the market's population is within the red "local" contour.

On another note, anyone think Greater Media's three stations MMR, MGK and this one (Ben-FM aside) have too much demographic overlap now? They all target some segment of M25-54.

There's nothing wrong about owning anything 25-54. WMMR pulls M18-34/M25-54, WMGK pulls M25-54/M35-64, and now 97.5 bridges the two. Very smart move for Greater Media.

 

[Seltzer]

Mike & Mike could be cleared in the morning on 950 only. 97.5 needs a local show to compete with Angelo & the gang on WIP.

 

[aindik]

(1) P&S are NOT going anywhere. WMMR is the 3rd highest billing station in the market, behind KYW and B101. Greater Media is not going to change anything with WMMR. 97.5 flipping to sports draws 25-54s away from WIP, which will benefit Prestion & Steve.

Do you think P&S will bill less on 97.5 than they're billing now? If not, why does it matter which station Greater Media airs them on? Do you think they care that one of their stations is the No. 3 biller? They care about total dollars in the entire cluster. Wouldn't they make more with P&S on 97.5 and, say, Jaxxon in mornings on MMR, than they do with P&S on MMR and Mike & Mike on 97.5?

(2) If you run ESPN Radio, you must clear Mike & Mike In The Morning. No way around it.

What if you run ESPN Radio on two stations in the same cluster, and you want to clear Mike & Mike on only one of them. Think they might go for that?

There's nothing wrong about owning anything 25-54. WMMR pulls M18-34/M25-54, WMGK pulls M25-54/M35-64, and now 97.5 bridges the two. Very smart move for Greater Media.

The concern is that, in addition to stealing listeners from WIP, 97.5 might steal listeners from WMGK.

 

[imhomerjay]

Do you think P&S will bill less on 97.5 than they're billing now?

Yes.

If not, why does it matter which station Greater Media airs them on? Do you think they care that one of their stations is the No. 3 biller? They care about total dollars in the entire cluster. Wouldn't they make more with P&S on 97.5 and, say, Jaxxon in mornings on MMR, than they do with P&S on MMR and Mike & Mike on 97.5?

No disagreement that total cluster $ matters , but tinkering with the success of the overall formula for a station can detract from the whole thing...it's not always a simple "mix and match." Unless there's some serious crack in the water supply, they're not moving P&S, period.

What if you run ESPN Radio on two stations in the same cluster, and you want to clear Mike & Mike on only one of them. Think they might go for that?

If they're keeping the ESPN branding on 950 and not using it on 97.5, that seems like a plausible option down the road.

The concern is that, in addition to stealing listeners from WIP, 97.5 might steal listeners from WMGK.

But if someone listening to WMGK decides they want sports talk at some point, wouldn’t YOU want them? Having a sports and a rock station or two all targeting different tastes within the demo makes clear business sense.

 

[evolve991]

Any reason GM can't simulcast Preston n Steve on 97.5? Clear Channel has Elliott in the Morning on both DC101 and Channel1043. I realize thats in 2 different cities while MMR and 97.5 aren't but it could work couldn't it?