A Saga Surprise coming to 99.9

[Speedyb]

On the other board, several people did some research and determined that Saga will assume the Hits brand and place the format on its 99.9 translator, re-broadcasting from KIOA-HD2. You can see the progress being made on their website by searching Google and using tags: hits, 99.9, des moines, you'll have to cache the hit in order to find the site.

Still sticking with my source who indicated that Cumulus was going to jump into the CHR realm at some point in the near future.

 

[radiorobert]

It appears Des Moines may have 3 CHR based formats at some point in the near future. It will be interesting to see how this plays out.

It appears that Hits 99.9 will be Rhythmic CHR. Based on what Cumulus will/could do I would say it's entirely possible we will have 2 Mainstreams and a Rhythmic in the near future. But one way or another someone will go down. My gut tells me that KISS may be defeated in the next few years and CC will have to find something different to do with 107.5. Or, Cumulus will crash and burn. Either way, Saga can run 99.9 on the cheap and steal ratings like crazy, packaging with STAR and the rest of the cluster.

It has already been established early this year but it needs to be said again.....Des Moines is no longer a 1 CHR town!!!

 

[Speedyb]

It appears Des Moines may have 3 CHR based formats at some point in the near future. It will be interesting to see how this plays out.

It appears that Hits 99.9 will be Rhythmic CHR. Based on what Cumulus will/could do I would say it's entirely possible we will have 2 Mainstreams and a Rhythmic in the near future. But one way or another someone will go down. My gut tells me that KISS may be defeated in the next few years and CC will have to find something different to do with 107.5. Or, Cumulus will crash and burn. Either way, Saga can run 99.9 on the cheap and steal ratings like crazy, packaging with STAR and the rest of the cluster.

It has already been established early this year but it needs to be said again.....Des Moines is no longer a 1 CHR town!!!

Totally agree! ;D

And like I mentioned before, my source was pretty specific on dialogue going on about moving one of their stations (Cumulus) to a CHR at some point in the future. His indications on when and where were nebulous indeed, but was confident this will go down in the future!

My gut tells me they may wait for KISS to start its crash and burn, then bounce a CHR at the right time to finish them off and take the CHR lead, while Star can segue back to a more mainstream Hot AC, which is where they're more comfortable at. It would be a smart move!

BTW Radiorobert, wasn't you that came up with this idea of 99.9 doing something like this? If so, YOU THE MAN!! No way in the world did I see this coming...

 

[jh]

And like I mentioned before, my source was pretty specific on dialogue going on about moving one of their stations (Cumulus) to a CHR at some point in the future. His indications on when and where were nebulous indeed, but was confident this will go down in the future!

My gut tells me they may wait for KISS to start its crash and burn, then bounce a CHR at the right time to finish them off and take the CHR lead, while Star can segue back to a more mainstream Hot AC, which is where they're more comfortable at. It would be a smart move!

News of Saga's plans getting out just might force Cumulus to move sooner. It will be easier for them if they don't let 99.9 get established. I wouldn't expect 3 CHRs to last long, though. Saga is doing this to knock a few shares off KISS to make Star look better by comparison. I doubt they intend to really spend much money on 99.9. Cumulus would be more serious at taking the CHR audience.

It would be kind of funny if what happened to Saga in Milwaukee happened again. Awhile back, it got out Saga was going to flip some station in Milwaukee to CHR at the end several days of stunting. CC found out and the next day flipped one of their stations to CHR. Saga ended up cancelling their plans to go CHR and went classic country. I guess they wanted to hurt CC's heritage country, but it hasn't.

 

[radiorobert]

It appears Des Moines may have 3 CHR based formats at some point in the near future. It will be interesting to see how this plays out.

It appears that Hits 99.9 will be Rhythmic CHR. Based on what Cumulus will/could do I would say it's entirely possible we will have 2 Mainstreams and a Rhythmic in the near future. But one way or another someone will go down. My gut tells me that KISS may be defeated in the next few years and CC will have to find something different to do with 107.5. Or, Cumulus will crash and burn. Either way, Saga can run 99.9 on the cheap and steal ratings like crazy, packaging with STAR and the rest of the cluster.

It has already been established early this year but it needs to be said again.....Des Moines is no longer a 1 CHR town!!!

Totally agree! ;D

And like I mentioned before, my source was pretty specific on dialogue going on about moving one of their stations (Cumulus) to a CHR at some point in the future. His indications on when and where were nebulous indeed, but was confident this will go down in the future!

My gut tells me they may wait for KISS to start its crash and burn, then bounce a CHR at the right time to finish them off and take the CHR lead, while Star can segue back to a more mainstream Hot AC, which is where they're more comfortable at. It would be a smart move!

BTW Radiorobert, wasn't you that came up with this idea of 99.9 doing something like this? If so, YOU THE MAN!! No way in the world did I see this coming...

LOL!
My gut instinct on these things told me we should look left while everyone was looking right. There WAS PROOF someone had taken the HITS brand to pick up after KZHZ but the Cumulus angle was too vague and while the timing is somewhat right the situation was just too good to be true given Cumulus fairly recent aqcuisition of Citadel. Especially given that the discussion between companies would have had to involve three seperate companies. Two of which were in merger discussions.

My gut told me to consider the next, lesser popular option since everyone was talking in earnest with little proof about the 'popular' one. Especially given how corprations know about boards like these and R&N!!

 

[radiorobert]

And like I mentioned before, my source was pretty specific on dialogue going on about moving one of their stations (Cumulus) to a CHR at some point in the future. His indications on when and where were nebulous indeed, but was confident this will go down in the future!

My gut tells me they may wait for KISS to start its crash and burn, then bounce a CHR at the right time to finish them off and take the CHR lead, while Star can segue back to a more mainstream Hot AC, which is where they're more comfortable at. It would be a smart move!

News of Saga's plans getting out just might force Cumulus to move sooner. It will be easier for them if they don't let 99.9 get established. I wouldn't expect 3 CHRs to last long, though. Saga is doing this to knock a few shares off KISS to make Star look better by comparison. I doubt they intend to really spend much money on 99.9. Cumulus would be more serious at taking the CHR audience.

It would be kind of funny if what happened to Saga in Milwaukee happened again. Awhile back, it got out Saga was going to flip some station in Milwaukee to CHR at the end several days of stunting. CC found out and the next day flipped one of their stations to CHR. Saga ended up cancelling their plans to go CHR and went classic country. I guess they wanted to hurt CC's heritage country, but it hasn't.

Good point but I think it's too late to move in this case and given that Saga has already started building something...even if Cumulus did do a 'preemptive' Saga would launch anyway given it's on a translator and they can run it cheaper.

Who knows, Saga may have already been 'speaking' with Cumulus and there could be an informal agreement to squeeze KISS with Cumulus doing Mainstream and Saga having a Rhythmic and a Hot AC. (Gotta think biz strategy)

 

[Speedyb]

And like I mentioned before, my source was pretty specific on dialogue going on about moving one of their stations (Cumulus) to a CHR at some point in the future. His indications on when and where were nebulous indeed, but was confident this will go down in the future!

My gut tells me they may wait for KISS to start its crash and burn, then bounce a CHR at the right time to finish them off and take the CHR lead, while Star can segue back to a more mainstream Hot AC, which is where they're more comfortable at. It would be a smart move!

News of Saga's plans getting out just might force Cumulus to move sooner. It will be easier for them if they don't let 99.9 get established. I wouldn't expect 3 CHRs to last long, though. Saga is doing this to knock a few shares off KISS to make Star look better by comparison. I doubt they intend to really spend much money on 99.9. Cumulus would be more serious at taking the CHR audience.

It would be kind of funny if what happened to Saga in Milwaukee happened again. Awhile back, it got out Saga was going to flip some station in Milwaukee to CHR at the end several days of stunting. CC found out and the next day flipped one of their stations to CHR. Saga ended up cancelling their plans to go CHR and went classic country. I guess they wanted to hurt CC's heritage country, but it hasn't.

Good point but I think it's too late to move in this case and given that Saga has already started building something...even if Cumulus did do a 'preemptive' Saga would launch anyway given it's on a translator and they can run it cheaper.

Who knows, Saga may have already been 'speaking' with Cumulus and there could be an informal agreement to squeeze KISS with Cumulus doing Mainstream and Saga having a Rhythmic and a Hot AC. (Gotta think biz strategy)

Agreed! This is something we can definitely to chew on and discuss these next few months! There is no doubt that Saga and Cumulus don't care too much for CC. Figure in the old saying: "An enemy of my enemy is a friend of mine"

 

[radiorobert]

I think the 'flip' has to be coming VERY soon. Possibly within the next few days/1 week. The website for Hits 99.9 was started just over a week and 1/2 ago. Looks like it has been sitting 'ready' since.

 

[Speedyb]

I think the 'flip' has to be coming VERY soon. Possibly within the next few days/1 week. The website for Hits 99.9 was started just over a week and 1/2 ago. Looks like it has been sitting 'ready' since.

Maybe you can answer this for me.

Will 99.9's signal sound better when it's bounced off the HD channel? I live in WDM and the sound quality on 99.9 (currently simulcasting from 102.5) is fair at best...compared to 105.9. I've researched 99.9's contours on the FCC website and the area I live is on the fringe part and I don't know if this will improve if the original signal is coming from an HD channel. Being an old CD mixer back in the day, this new technology is a little foreign to me.

Thanks in advance!

 

[radiorobert]

I think the 'flip' has to be coming VERY soon. Possibly within the next few days/1 week. The website for Hits 99.9 was started just over a week and 1/2 ago. Looks like it has been sitting 'ready' since.

Maybe you can answer this for me.

Will 99.9's signal sound better when it's bounced off the HD channel? I live in WDM and the sound quality on 99.9 (currently simulcasting from 102.5) is fair at best...compared to 105.9. I've researched 99.9's contours on the FCC website and the area I live is on the fringe part and I don't know if this will improve if the original signal is coming from an HD channel. Being an old CD mixer back in the day, this new technology is a little foreign to me.

Thanks in advance!

Not being a huge technical professional, I can't answer for sure. But, my guess is it may sound a bit louder/richer. Eventually though, you will be contrained by the signal limitations. Especially, from what I have noticed, west of 35/80. Over to that point the signal is pretty solid and the sound just off of KSTZ HD is pretty ambient. Getting out to western West Des Moines and Waukee you will notice a faded more muffled signal.

The pattern on this baby is TIGHT though! The signal goes from just fine at Oralabor in Ankeny to complete static by the time you get to the golf course where the new interchange is going to be in NE Ankeny. It goes forever to the west though. I'll bet in the open country out by Adair on the interstate you can hear it (50 miles west). But to the north, south and east this thing doesn't even travel 10 miles. You can hear it better in NW Ankeny than NE Ankeny. Thats where the circle on the pattern crosses.

 

[The Outsider]

I wonder when the flip is going to happen. A better question is when will Iowa Public Radio take over the 105.9 & 96.3 frequencies.

Whenever Hits 99.9 takes to the air, they already have a PD in place. Brandon Rowe who comes from Saga's Milwaukee cluster. He used to be on air at V100 and before that the old Hot 102 in Milwaukee.

 

[radiorobert]

I wonder when the flip is going to happen. A better question is when will Iowa Public Radio take over the 105.9 & 96.3 frequencies.

Whenever Hits 99.9 takes to the air, they already have a PD in place. Brandon Rowe who comes from Saga's Milwaukee cluster. He used to be on air at V100 and before that the old Hot 102 in Milwaukee.

The key there is when ISU takes over. I'm hearing in the next few days/week. Once they (ISU) flip the switch I would look for Hits 99.9 to go on the air almost immediately. Looks like Saga has it 'idling' ready to go.

 

[Speedyb]

All the FCC paperwork is complete! Connoisseur is just waiting for the deposit of 1.75 Million Dollars into their Bankers Trust account. Once this is done, there is only but a phone call that needs to be made to the FCC confirming that the transaction is complete.

The Board of Regents met on the 19th of this month and set an outline on the format flips on each of their stations. I've heard rumors that they might run 101.7 format from Cedar Falls on both 105.9 and 96.3, but Classical from 90.1fm seems to be they direction they're leaning.

The biggest question I'd like to know, will 105.9 stunt (similar to what 106.3 did when they moved to 100.3) in order to inform listeners to "make the switch" to 99.9 for a couple days? Reason I say this, is FCC paperwork shows that both signals can go off the air for up to ten days while the transition in underway. I'm extremely curious to know how they're going to shuffle listeners over without upsetting any of them...and not every listener follows twitter or facebook on a daily basis, so that would be a very inefficient way by itself of getting the word out to everyone.

There has to be conversation going on between Saga and Connoisseur.

 

[radiorobert]

All the FCC paperwork is complete! Connoisseur is just waiting for the deposit of 1.75 Million Dollars into their Bankers Trust account. Once this is done, there is only but a phone call that needs to be made to the FCC confirming that the transaction is complete.

The Board of Regents met on the 19th of this month and set an outline on the format flips on each of their stations. I've heard rumors that they might run 101.7 format from Cedar Falls on both 105.9 and 96.3, but Classical from 90.1fm seems to be they direction they're leaning.

The biggest question I'd like to know, will 105.9 stunt (similar to what 106.3 did when they moved to 100.3) in order to inform listeners to "make the switch" to 99.9 for a couple days? Reason I say this, is FCC paperwork shows that both signals can go off the air for up to ten days while the transition in underway. I'm extremely curious to know how they're going to shuffle listeners over without upsetting any of them...and not every listener follows twitter or facebook on a daily basis, so that would be a very inefficient way by itself of getting the word out to everyone.

There has to be conversation going on between Saga and Connoisseur.

The 1.75 Mil is whats taking longer than expected. (unless you know something I don't). I still hear it's very close. Within a week.

Not likely they will stunt the way CC did. It's moving to a different company. They may stunt just briefly once they know ISU is on their way with the cash and to get the key, possibly with a loop or something saying to " Flip to 99.9, etc." But it's going to be a little less coordinated than if it was happening within a single cluster. FB and Twitter will be used. Thats the only other most effective way. Otherwise, some listeners will just have to 'find' it as they go. I would imagine the FB page will stay up and move listeners over.

 

[Speedyb]

As of 7pm on 10/26/11, The New Hits 99.9 has begun stunting. They're looping sounds of smooching and kissing, an obvious jab at KISS 107fm.

Furthermore, Wikipedia has just identified K260AM as a Rhythmic Contemporary radio frequency and says Saga admittedly purchased "intellectual property" from HITS 105.9 parent company, IE: Connoisseur Media.

This switch will take place on Halloween according the KZHZ Wikipedia site.

 

[radiorobert]

As of 7pm on 10/26/11, The New Hits 99.9 has begun stunting. They're looping sounds of smooching and kissing, an obvious jab at KISS 107fm.

Furthermore, Wikipedia has just identified K260AM as a Rhythmic Contemporary radio frequency and says Saga admittedly purchased "intellectual property" from HITS 105.9 parent company, IE: Connoisseur Media.

This switch will take place on Halloween according the KZHZ Wikipedia site.

It's cool we'll have a Rhythmic CHR staying around. I think this will have staying power now. If Saga is picking it up AND hiring in a stand alone PD for it then they intend to run it for the long haul.

Speedy-

Any more word on what Cumulus may or may not do? They obviously aren't jumping forward on this so I would assume any CHR format from them will be Mainstream and/or come later?

 

[Speedyb]

As of 7pm on 10/26/11, The New Hits 99.9 has begun stunting. They're looping sounds of smooching and kissing, an obvious jab at KISS 107fm.

Furthermore, Wikipedia has just identified K260AM as a Rhythmic Contemporary radio frequency and says Saga admittedly purchased "intellectual property" from HITS 105.9 parent company, IE: Connoisseur Media.

This switch will take place on Halloween according the KZHZ Wikipedia site.

It's cool we'll have a Rhythmic CHR staying around. I think this will have staying power now. If Saga is picking it up AND hiring in a stand alone PD for it then they intend to run it for the long haul.

Speedy-

Any more word on what Cumulus may or may not do? They obviously aren't jumping forward on this so I would assume any CHR format from them will be Mainstream and/or come later?

Funny you should ask. As soon as this 99.9 thing started last week, I sent a text to my contact about it all. He and many others inside the Cumulus Building were apparently aware what Saga was up to, but neglected to tell me...some friend right?? I know, He was just covering his (you know what.)

Anyway, he said management is going to take a wait and see approach with KISS for at least three (3) books. As of right now, they have serious concerns that CC might actually bounce a Country station to counter balance the possible fall of KISS, or dig in wherever they can. He assured me though, If that happens, Cumulus will go CHR almost immediately!

 

[jh]

Anyway, he said management is going to take a wait and see approach with KISS for at least three (3) books. As of right now, they have serious concerns that CC might actually bounce a Country station to counter balance the possible fall of KISS, or dig in wherever they can. He assured me though, If that happens, Cumulus will go CHR almost immediately!

Seems strange they would wait three books to do anything, unless they're planning some format flip other than CHR. You'd think they would want to do something other than talk with mediocre ratings on 98.3. The talk could be moved to 1700, and they could keep whatever sports makes money.

If they're afraid CC would flip something to country, then 92.5 and 97.3 won't be changing for the foreseeable future. A three-way country battle might be interesting. I can't see any major changes to KGGO.

 

[Speedyb]

Because of the Heritage nameplates of both KJJY and KGGO, you can almost be certain neither one of them will be changing formats. My contact still maintains his stance that something WILL indeed happen in the Cumulus building in the very near future.

His understanding is that they want to see how far KISS falls within a year of steady competition, thus the reason for at least three more book reviews. So, given the fact they are only looking at KISS numbers leads me to believe a CHR-M will be the choice whenever they decided to bounce something.

Des Moines radio is finally well rounded! And with the addition of a new FM talk station at 90.1 (even though its a different type programming and lower on the dial) "could" (and I say that lightly) speed up the process of 98.3 mixing things up. Again, this is something of us to continue to discuss.

 

[radiorobert]

Because of the Heritage nameplates of both KJJY and KGGO, you can almost be certain neither one of them will be changing formats. My contact still maintains his stance that something WILL indeed happen in the Cumulus building in the very near future.

His understanding is that they want to see how far KISS falls within a year of steady competition, thus the reason for at least three more book reviews. So, given the fact they are only looking at KISS numbers leads me to believe a CHR-M will be the choice whenever they decided to bounce something.

Des Moines radio is finally well rounded! And with the addition of a new FM talk station at 90.1 (even though its a different type programming and lower on the dial) "could" (and I say that lightly) speed up the process of 98.3 mixing things up. Again, this is something of us to continue to discuss.

Speedy-

I get the impression from whats come out of the Cumulus building that WOW-FM's revenue stream isn't where they want it to be? Ratings and all aside, since those are secondary, the revenue has to be at a certain minimum and I gather KWQW probably barely garners what it needs to against WHO?

I don't know if I would put too much stalk into 90.1 because we are oprating in the world of commercial sales here. A public outlet probably won't do much to affect overall revenue other than a ratings drop that would cause some advertisers to not be able to justify the expense with an even smaller audience.