Across the US, More FM News!

[1069_KIFR]

New York, Merlin's 101.9 WRXP, to go all news
Chicago, Merlin's 101.1 WKQX, News/Talk
Chicago, CBS' 105.9 WXFS, Simulcast WBBM-AM (Sounds Like CBS in SF)

Time will tell how successful these stations do, but I see a trend starting to take hold.

 

[DaveBayArea]

Unless younger people start listening to AM in droves for some strange reason, you're absolutely right. What bothers me most is that we're already seeing a dearth of music programming on FM and now there are even fewer available frequencies.

Dave B.

 

[LKellerIII]

Unless younger people start listening to AM in droves for some strange reason, you're absolutely right. What bothers me most is that we're already seeing a dearth of music programming on FM and now there are even fewer available frequencies.

Dave B.

Maybe there's some hope of HD catching on. I had an AM/FM/CD/HD tuner in one of my cars (until it was stolen). It was great, and it only cost $20 more than the same unit without HD.

 

[recto101]

Well it worked for KCBS in San Francisco. Although KNAI, and KPIX did FM news but they failed in the past. Maybe we will see all news stations be more common with FM sometime in the future in other parts of the nations. Well some markets did have all talk stations on FM for many years like 97.1 in LA but that failed and 103.7 FM talk for KGO but that faded away and NPR talk had existed for many years on FM since the 1970's.

 

[Geek-O-Rama]

If KGO needs an FM , which Cumulus station will it be, KFOG or The BONE?

 

[DaveBayArea]

Maybe there's some hope of HD catching on.

For me at least, HD is the biggest reason there's a dearth of music on FM. A good number of the stations I used to listen to are now covered up with digital noise.

Dave B.

 

[RadioJunkieMike]

If KGO needs an FM , which Cumulus station will it be, KFOG or The BONE?

as noted here multiple times, KFOG bills very well, and now that they're in the process of "going younger" they'll probably bill even better.

Unless the new, post-merger company (Citalus? Cumudel?) feels differently.

 

[recto101]

Will KNX, WCBS, WINS, KYW, KDKA and WBZ do the same thing like KCBS and WBBM have an FM Simulcast of their All-News Brands from AM?

 

[Rusty Muck]

Will KNX, WCBS, WINS, KYW, KDKA and WBZ do the same thing like KCBS and WBBM have an FM Simulcast of their All-News Brands from AM?

WINS and WCBS will likely be the last stations from that list to jump to FM. WINS (inner New York) and WCBS (the NY suburbs) feed off of each other. Put one on FM, and the other is at a strong disadvantage. (Theoretically, the weaker-powered WINS should be first, but that would leave CBS Radio's flagship, WCBS, behind.)

CBS is limited to two FM stations and three AM stations in Philly (by having two TV stations, and overlap from O&Os in New York and Baltimore). KYW or sports powerhouse WIP will have to draw straws to see which goes to FM.

 

[WPPCProductions]

I think there will be alot more FM News and Sports stations coming in the future.It the recording industry gets their way with the performance tax issue.

 

[DavidKaye]

Well it worked for KCBS in San Francisco. Although KNAI, and KPIX did FM news but they failed in the past. Maybe we will see all news stations be more common with FM sometime in the future in other parts of the nations. Well some markets did have all talk stations on FM for many years like 97.1 in LA but that failed and 103.7 FM talk for KGO but that faded away and NPR talk had existed for many years on FM since the 1970's.

In the same way that office workers switched from using carbon paper to making photocopies, listeners have switched from AM listening to FM listening (given a few exceptions here and there). The time is right for news and talk to go to FM.

 

[recto101]

Will KNX, WCBS, WINS, KYW, KDKA and WBZ do the same thing like KCBS and WBBM have an FM Simulcast of their All-News Brands from AM?

WINS and WCBS will likely be the last stations from that list to jump to FM. WINS (inner New York) and WCBS (the NY suburbs) feed off of each other. Put one on FM, and the other is at a strong disadvantage. (Theoretically, the weaker-powered WINS should be first, but that would leave CBS Radio's flagship, WCBS, behind.)

CBS is limited to two FM stations and three AM stations in Philly (by having two TV stations, and overlap from O&Os in New York and Baltimore). KYW or sports powerhouse WIP will have to draw straws to see which goes to FM.

How about KFWB and KNX in LA do they have a similar situation like WCBS and WINS. Like WCBS is focused on the suburbs and WINS in the Inner city of NYC. Is KNX and KFWB like that? mainly because of the fact that KNX and KFWB used to compete against each other.

 

[marshallstax]

Well it worked for KCBS in San Francisco. Although KNAI, and KPIX did FM news but they failed in the past. Maybe we will see all news stations be more common with FM sometime in the future in other parts of the nations. Well some markets did have all talk stations on FM for many years like 97.1 in LA but that failed and 103.7 FM talk for KGO but that faded away and NPR talk had existed for many years on FM since the 1970's.

KCBS succeeded on FM (this time around) because it is an established, well-known, already-successful station that went perhaps as far as it could on the AM band, and now has the addition of FM for those who "don't listen to AM." The news stations that tried launching on FM did so when AM still ruled the airwaves, at least for talk formats, and were also competing with stations such as KCBS & KGO with long-established "go-to for news" positions in listeners' minds. I know that both KGO & KCBS had FM frequencies in the past, but they gave them up for other formats at a time when music ruled the FM airwaves and when the FCC had told stations not to put the same programming on multiple frequencies.

 

[recto101]

Well it worked for KCBS in San Francisco. Although KNAI, and KPIX did FM news but they failed in the past. Maybe we will see all news stations be more common with FM sometime in the future in other parts of the nations. Well some markets did have all talk stations on FM for many years like 97.1 in LA but that failed and 103.7 FM talk for KGO but that faded away and NPR talk had existed for many years on FM since the 1970's.

KCBS succeeded on FM (this time around) because it is an established, well-known, already-successful station that went perhaps as far as it could on the AM band, and now has the addition of FM for those who "don't listen to AM." The news stations that tried launching on FM did so when AM still ruled the airwaves, at least for talk formats, and were also competing with stations such as KCBS & KGO with long-established "go-to for news" positions in listeners' minds. I know that both KGO & KCBS had FM frequencies in the past, but they gave them up for other formats at a time when music ruled the FM airwaves and when the FCC had told stations not to put the same programming on multiple frequencies.

I happen to be in the group that stopped listening to KCBS on 740 3 years ago. and I primarilly listen to it on 106.9 and it worked very well.

 

[LKellerIII]

Will KNX, WCBS, WINS, KYW, KDKA and WBZ do the same thing like KCBS and WBBM have an FM Simulcast of their All-News Brands from AM?

WINS and WCBS will likely be the last stations from that list to jump to FM. WINS (inner New York) and WCBS (the NY suburbs) feed off of each other. Put one on FM, and the other is at a strong disadvantage. (Theoretically, the weaker-powered WINS should be first, but that would leave CBS Radio's flagship, WCBS, behind.)

CBS is limited to two FM stations and three AM stations in Philly (by having two TV stations, and overlap from O&Os in New York and Baltimore). KYW or sports powerhouse WIP will have to draw straws to see which goes to FM.

How about KFWB and KNX in LA do they have a similar situation like WCBS and WINS. Like WCBS is focused on the suburbs and WINS in the Inner city of NYC. Is KNX and KFWB like that? mainly because of the fact that KNX and KFWB used to compete against each other.

For the last year or more before KFWB went to talk programming (from what I understand), the station concentrated on entertainment news, and light features. Makes sense - LA is the entertainment capital of the world, after all. I don't know if it helped or not, but obviously, CBS saves a lot of money by plugging in syndicated talk shows.

Regarding all these discussions that use KCBS as an example, then predict KNBR and KGO will come to FM soon - remember that CBS had only recently purchased 106.9, and had flopped with 2 failed formats (Free-FM talk, then KFRC Classic Hits) in a short 2 or 3 years. So dumping the sad and pathetic KFRC for the news simulcast was a good move...kind of a no-brainer, really.

Somebody posting here recently (possibly on a different thread) pointed out that KFOG bills very well, despite its mediocre ratings. I believe The Bone does OK, as well. So blowing off one or both profitable revenue streams for simulcasts is not necessarily the way to go. Example: KFI in LA. People have been predicting for about 5 years that Clear Channel will simulcast KFI on one of their numerous FMs, but CC has not done so - likely because their FMs all make money on their own, and they don't think any increase in ratings for KFI will make up the difference.

David Eduardo also wrote an informative post a few months ago regarding the costs of running a simulcast. Naturally, your programming costs disappear for one of the two stations, but there are still considerable costs associated with running a simulcast. It ain't free.

So it's probably a safe prediction that those simulcasts will come eventually. But not yet.

 

[davideduardo]

How about KFWB and KNX in LA do they have a similar situation like WCBS and WINS. Like WCBS is focused on the suburbs and WINS in the Inner city of NYC. Is KNX and KFWB like that? mainly because of the fact that KNX and KFWB used to compete against each other.

KFWB is talk, KFWB is in a trust as CBS has to sell it, KFWB has a deficient signal.

LA has no "inner city" comparable to Manhattan and the Boroughs and the central part of the LA metro nearest the KFWB transmitter is highly, highly ethnic... much of it Spanish dominant. LA is 44% Hispanic, by the way, more than double the percentage of NY.

 

[davideduardo]

Will KNX, WCBS, WINS, KYW, KDKA and WBZ do the same thing like KCBS and WBBM have an FM Simulcast of their All-News Brands from AM?

KDKA is talk, not news. And WBZ is a hybrid.

 

[Ai4i]

Trouble finding an FM station to use?
Here is what is happening in lots of places:
You create or obtain a translater, only needs to be two (2) channels away from a "real" station.
With 250 watts at an unlimited height, they cover metro's as well as class A's.
Want to split the feeds for an important game or run different spots on the AM and the translater?
No prob, just send the modified feed to your full power FM's HD-3 and translate it.

 

[emprex]

KDKA is talk, not news. And WBZ is a hybrid.
[/quote]

talk and news does not make any different. Like one station playing classical music and and one station playing heavy metal.

Today's AM news are going to FM news is like a migration or domino effect. soon, there will be less choices for music and who's to blame?

 

[Ai4i]

...there will be less choices for music and who's to blame?

Radio will survive, but...
TV caused radio to drop dramas and comedies and iPods, etc. are causing radio to drop music.
Many of our AM presets are on community stations above 1600.
Here is where you wll find true localism.