Boston radio in the year 2023 - 10 years from now

[Fenway1912]

If you look at Boston radio 10 years ago the key stations were WXKS-FM, WEEI-AM, WBZ-AM, WBUR, WMJX, WODS, WZLX, WROR and WJMN.

Today the landscape has changed - WXKS-FM is still healthy. WEEI has moved to FM and is sputtering. WBZ-AM has eroded but still a force, WBUR is still healthy as WGBH has failed to make a dent. WMJX has slipped but still healthy. WODS blew up the franchise as CBS had no clue how to sell to the older crowd. WZLX is healthy, WROR likewise with WODS gone. WJMN is floundering.

The top 3 clusters are healthy - CC, Greater Media and CBS. Entercom....well

I find it amusing that a CBS station in Tampa is now selling Boston spots on their internet stream due to the popularity of Paula Street from WODS. Hearing a 1-800 54GIANT ad on Paula's show was strange as I don't think they do business in Florida.

But where are we going?

10 years from now ( actually much sooner ) Matty will be gone, Loren and Wally will be gone and radio as we know it may well be 98% internet delivered.

I have no clue what to expect.

 

[dumber than a box of hair]

I find it amusing that a CBS station in Tampa is now selling Boston spots on their internet stream due to the popularity of Paula Street from WODS. Hearing a 1-800 54GIANT ad on Paula's show was strange as I don't think they do business in Florida.

Are you sure those Internet spots aren't geo-located? (IOW, they know where you're listening from, so they push Internet spots tailored to your listening area.)

 

[willpetnc]

I'm pretty sure most Internet spots, whether they be on radio stations or newspaper websites, are geo-located. I can be reading or listening to Boston media, but since I live in North Carolina, I am just as likely to see/hear a spot personally tailored to my location as I am to Mass. listeners.

 

[TSBench]

I think that 10 years from now there could quite well be fewer stations, AM and FM, and those that survive will be running as cheaply as possible. The days of the big money talent contracts will end when the current crop packs it in. It's tough to be on the wrong side of a paradigm shift

The grim reaper will be along, as soon as he's done visiting the newspaper business.

Regards,
TSB

 

[CTListener]

WODS blew up the franchise as CBS had no clue how to sell to the older crowd.

You can't sell anything to the older crowd if all the agencies shun your station for the precise reason that the music it plays appeals to the older crowd.

 

[CTListener]

I think that 10 years from now there could quite well be fewer stations, AM and FM, and those that survive will be running as cheaply as possible. The days of the big money talent contracts will end when the current crop packs it in. It's tough to be on the wrong side of a paradigm shift

The grim reaper will be along, as soon as he's done visiting the newspaper business.

Regards,
TSB

That was my business until I got a visit from the Reaper a couple of months ago. I survived only to age 58, so I still need to work a while longer, but there's very little out there for us printed-word guys now. I'm a copy editor, and a damned good one, but mine is a talent that's largely unappreciated in online media.

 

[Joseph_Gallant]

I think you may see one or two Spanish-language stations on the FM band.

And most of the AM dial will consist of foreign-language stations (languages other than Spanish; I think Spanish-language programming will have moved to FM and in fact, I think Boston will get it's first Spanish-language FM station by the end of 2015, maybe sooner).

In fact, there may only be four AM stations broadcasting in English. And except for religious stations, they (read: WRKO-680 and WBZ-1030) may also be simulcast on FM.

You probably will also see more speech-based FM stations. We may still have two all-sports FM stations in 2023, one news/talk station (a simulcast of WBZ) and probably two or three general-interest talk stations on FM.

And there may well be one or two formats around that nobody today can predict. That's how fast new trends and changes in popular taste will develop.

 

[raccoonradio]

There is a fairly powerful FM in Spanish or Portuguese WJFD 97.3 New Bedford and in the Merrimack Valley and even parts of the North Shore WNNW 800 is
// on a 102.9 lic. to Newton NH but stick is in Lawrence I think

As for WRKO on FM only if Ent. buys one. They'll keep 93.7 as is and keep puttibg WAAF on the 2 frequencies it now is on. Poli-talk trending older listeners; Greater gave up on it. Had
they been able to buy 101.7, Ent. could have // RKO there but it's not a full market signal; by day when most listen the 680 signal is pretty good and it's doubtful a simulcast on FM would much help them get younger/more listeners (had Ent gotten 101.7 I could have seen them bringing back 'Mike').
Sports talk is different. Broader demo of ages, interest in play by play.

Ent. would rather attract 30-something sports fans than 60-something political junkies, on an FM. For the latter they still have 680.

 

[Fenway1912]

CBS can sell the format in NY, Philly and Tampa - but not Boston?

I have heard that AMP is bringing in even LESS revenue than the previous format.

I suspect 103.3 will be country within a year as somebody will go after 102.5

 

[raccoonradio]

Interesting; there have been predictions CC would flip WJMN to country (it was also rumored to be the format for 101.7) and now you think CBS may try it with 103.3, and you predict it'll be to go after the WKLB audience. For years it was thought that country wouldn't work here. WCOP AM and FM had it and due to a lawsuit it eventually wound up on WDLW 1330; then WBOS tried it for awhile and perhaps dumped out of it before the "new country" (hello Garth) movement got going. WKLB eventually started country on 105.7
(as WCLB) and for a time it was also on 96.9; there was a merger of sorts and WKLB bounced from frequency to frequency and made
a slow move up the ratings charts, becoming #1 for a period not long ago. It has had the country audience to itself though there
are rimshotters in New Bedford, Dover NH etc.

As has been said the approach is female based, and maybe the listeners could be middle aged folks who are tired of the current
pop music and enjoy the various artists and songs, plus some younger people who enjoy it (watered down with a pop approach,
including the addition of things like rap--as in "Dirt Road Anthem") Ice cold beer sittin' in the console--em, are you aware of the
Commonwealth's open container law, sir? Well Jason Aldean ain't around here I guess... He has one thing in common with David Ortiz
and Prince Fielder, though; he's played at Fenway Park. His July 2013 concert at Friendly Fenway
sold out in seven minutes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lb9q1ScC4cg

 

[Mattcatlover456]

Amp is starting to gain higher ratings and with jackson blue gone on kiss it might even gain more Amp also just started a 8at8 countdown.

 

[MickeyD]

I think you may see one or two Spanish-language stations on the FM band.

And most of the AM dial will consist of foreign-language stations (languages other than Spanish; I think Spanish-language programming will have moved to FM and in fact, I think Boston will get it's first Spanish-language FM station by the end of 2015, maybe sooner).

In fact, there may only be four AM stations broadcasting in English. And except for religious stations, they (read: WRKO-680 and WBZ-1030) may also be simulcast on FM.

You probably will also see more speech-based FM stations. We may still have two all-sports FM stations in 2023, one news/talk station (a simulcast of WBZ) and probably two or three general-interest talk stations on FM.

And there may well be one or two formats around that nobody today can predict. That's how fast new trends and changes in popular taste will develop.

I think that foreign language radio will also decline in ten years as the older population also declines.

 

[JustinT]

There is a fairly powerful FM in Spanish or Portuguese WJFD 97.3 New Bedford

Spanish and Portuguese might be the same in that they're not English, but there's a huge difference between the two. Boston's Dominican and Puerto Rican communities aren't going to be listening to WJFD.

And while stations like WSNE and WHJY cover the Boston metro pretty well, the WJFD tower is way down in Fairhaven and puts a lot of signal out to sea. Even the Radio-Locator coverage maps claim that WJFD puts very little signal into Boston.

101.7 is the signal that will go Spanish first. It has to be. Only question is when, and that could be quite a ways off.

 

[raccoonradio]

Good points. 97.3 seemed strong to me in some ways, though. CC has some Hispanic content via Mia 1430.indeed would they do Spanish lang programming eventually on 101.7? What was their intent in buying 101.7 for $14.5M...exposing their EDM format or something or keeping it out of the hands of an Entercom or CBS?

 

[Joseph_Gallant]

(C lear Channel) has some Hispanic content via Mia 1430; indeed would they do Spanish lang programming eventually on 101.7? What was their intent in buying 101.7 for $14.5M...exposing their EDM format or something or keeping it out of the hands of an Entercom or CBS?

For about five months after Clear Channel acquired 101.7, it was called WHBA and broadcast an automated "variety hits" format branded as "The Harbor".

Personally, I think that CC made two mistakes with 101.7.

First, they should have tried to keep it alternative rock.

But if they went ahead and dumped it, their second mistake was that they should have launched a contemporary Spanish-language music format on it.

Despite a Class A signal, I think it would have been the surprise success story of Boston radio over the last 14-15 months.

 

[JaneChristo]

Personally, I think that CC made two mistakes with 101.7.

I too think they should have kept a (alternative) rocker in their cluster. Would've been a good outlet for sales that didn't want a complete rythmic buy of JAMn or Kiss.

I am waiting for Clear Channel to roll out on 101.7 the "Holy Trinity" of Beck, Hannity, Levin....and of corse, Coast2CoastAM.

None of which are getting cleared in this major market.

 

[frnkp2000]

Levin and C2C are on WRKO, but the other three are not to be heard here!

 

[raccoonradio]

Stations in Worc, NH, Cape Cod, and RI have the shows etc. Don't think CC would put talk of any kind on an FM like 101.7 at this point given demos, PPM performance etc. That being said I guess El Rushbo & Sean are heading back to WPHT in Philly with iq106.9 going away. They had a great stunt when they debuted the talk format there: 106.9 used to be owned by Harold Camping, he of the "massive earthquakes, the Rapture is coming...
really". So they played REM's It's the End of the World...funny enough by itself, but what's the first line of the song? "That's great it starts with an earthquake..."
Brilliant!

 

[Joseph_Gallant]

I also think that radio station values could fall over the next decade to the extent that in 2013, a seventy-something Bob Bittner may not be the only "one man band" in Boston-area radio (or in many other markets).

He may be joined by two or three other owner-operators of lower-powered stations; and a similar situation may exist in most markets outside of the "top five".