• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

And the winner (of WCRB) is...Greater Media

fybush

fybush

Administrator
Staff member
Or so I'm hearing. They'll have to spin one of their five FMs, which means WKLB goes to 102.5 and the 99.5 signal gets sold. No word - yet - on a price. More as it develops.<P ID="signature">______________
Tower Site Calendar 2006 JUST RELEASED! - <a target="_blank" href=http://www.fybush.com/nerw.html#calendar>www.fybush.com</a></P>
 
Peter Smyth is a class act. WCRB should be under good hands if Greater Media takes over WCRB. Would be nice if they stay classical in some format. After all, this is Boston, the center of culture for the North East... ;-)



> Or so I'm hearing. They'll have to spin one of their five
> FMs, which means WKLB goes to 102.5 and the 99.5 signal gets
> sold. No word - yet - on a price. More as it develops.
>
 
> Or so I'm hearing. They'll have to spin one of their five
> FMs, which means WKLB goes to 102.5 and the 99.5 signal gets
> sold. No word - yet - on a price. More as it develops.

Wow. Here goes Greater Media's third classical outlet. It's a logical purchase, though, it makes sense for a company like theirs to have all city-grade signals. Will another container need to go up on the Pru?

In any case, as the race for 102.5 winds to a close, the race for 99.5 is only beginning.
 
Paul Yovino commented:

> Peter Smyth is a class act. WCRB should be under good hands
> if Greater Media takes over WCRB. Would be nice if they stay
> classical in some format. After all, this is Boston, the
> center of culture for the North East... ;-)

Personally, I'd like to see Greater Media sell-off 99.5, include the WKLB call letters and country-music format, and keep WCRB-102.5 classical.

But I doubt that will happen. When Greater Media acquired what was classical WFLN in Philadelphia some years back, they flipped the station's format away from classical music.

My guess is that 102.5 will go country and that 99.5 gets spun-off.

Hopefully, there will be some way to get 99.5 in the hands of someone who would make it classical music (barring the unlikely scenario of Greater Media keeping 102.5 classical).
 
> Peter Smyth is a class act. WCRB should be under good hands
> if Greater Media takes over WCRB. Would be nice if they stay
> classical in some format. After all, this is Boston, the
> center of culture for the North East... ;-)

If they could keep 99.5, I suspect they'd put classical there. But they can't. And my gut tells me we'll be seeing the area's first Spanish FM there. This one's just getting started, though. <P ID="signature">______________
Tower Site Calendar 2006 JUST RELEASED! - <a target="_blank" href=http://www.fybush.com/nerw.html#calendar>www.fybush.com</a></P>
 
> But I doubt that will happen. When Greater Media acquired
> what was classical WFLN in Philadelphia some years back,
> they flipped the station's format away from classical music.

And in Detroit, where 105.1 WQRS became an active rock station "The Edge" in 1998, which was canned to go urban oldies as WGRV "The Groove" (which somehow failed in Detroit, of all places), and then cloned WMJX to become "Magic 105.1" WMGC, which has been fairly successful at throwing off that Heritage AC station 100.3 WNIC.

> My guess is that 102.5 will go country and that 99.5 gets
> spun-off.

99.5 is definately being spun-off. No, I don't have any sources, but why on Earth would GM sell one of their other signals? Greater Media has two choices of what to do with the situation, given that WKLB will probably be moving to 102.5:

1. Move the country format and WKLB calls to 102.5, while moving WCRB to 99.5. In that scenario, the company that purchases 99.5 will get at least some intellectual property.

2. GM could also move the country format and WKLB calls to 102.5, put the WCRB calls on 99.5, and simulcast the two stations while
will probably put WCRB on 99.5

> Hopefully, there will be some way to get 99.5 in the hands
> of someone who would make it classical music (barring the
> unlikely scenario of Greater Media keeping 102.5 classical).

Perhaps they would would accept one of Marlin's penny-pinching offers. $60m for 102.5 WCRB? This is from the guy who sold WTMI 93.1 in Miami for $100m.
 
Do all the other stations owned in WCRB group go to Greater Media, or just 102.5????<P ID="signature">______________
It's not the size of the tower.....
It's how you use it.</P>
 
Ownership limits?

> Or so I'm hearing. They'll have to spin one of their five
> FMs, which means WKLB goes to 102.5 and the 99.5 signal gets
> sold. No word - yet - on a price. More as it develops.

Why does Greater Media have to unload a stick? I thought the market limit was 8 stations. Did that change when I wasn't looking?
 
Re: Ownership limits?

> > Or so I'm hearing. They'll have to spin one of their five
> > FMs, which means WKLB goes to 102.5 and the 99.5 signal
> gets
> > sold. No word - yet - on a price. More as it develops.
>
> Why does Greater Media have to unload a stick? I thought
> the market limit was 8 stations. Did that change when I
> wasn't looking?
>

The limit in a major market like Boston is 8 but only 5 can be on one band. Since General Media currently owns 5 FMs but no AMs they can only have a net gain of signals by going onto the AM band. With the purchase of 102.5 General Media is most likely to spin off the weakest Boston market signal which is 99.5fm.
 
> Do all the other stations owned in WCRB group go to Greater
> Media, or just 102.5????

Just 102.5. Which is odd, because in all of the previous press releases, it had said or at least implied that if you want the diamond (WCRB), you're stuck with the rough (the rest of the stations).

Nassau is probably interested in the Cape stations, which would really allow the company to build an empire on Cape Cod. However, CRB's Rhode Island properties are really unattractive; I can only guess that local owners will eventually take them.
 
> Or so I'm hearing. They'll have to spin one of their five
> FMs, which means WKLB goes to 102.5 and the 99.5 signal gets
> sold. No word - yet - on a price. More as it develops.
>

Who'd have thought that in Boston, Country would be the profitable choice for programming? But I guess when it comes to profitable formats, Brooks and Dunn beats Beethoven...

I wonder if someone will try to fill the gap left by Star, but I guess that's 97.7, huh?
 
> I wonder if someone will try to fill the gap left by Star,
> but I guess that's 97.7, huh?

Um... not exactly. 97.7 is the most segregated station on the FM dial, even though it's owned by Radio One. Star was a mix of Dance, Hot AC, and CHR. You could hear some classic Madonna followed by Shape:UK followed by the Black Eyed Peas. WILD-FM incorporates hip-hop, Urban AC, and slow jams, but they're all separated. Afternoons are strictly hip-hop: there are no Urban AC tunes to be found. Then, late nights are slow jams. But God forbid, you will never hear a slow jam during the hip-hop segment.

The station is almost the exact opposite of Jack, Mike, Star 93.7, et al.
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom