Well, so much for the speculations on this board and
the other board . . .
Seaview Radio was at the Gardens Mall in WPB doing a meet and greet, handing out swag, etc. And they had a placard on an easel. Seems the old brokered religious programming is out at “Sugar 900,” and its now "900 The Talk." Tuned in the car and, for the time being, they are simulcasting Seaview 960 on 900 AM for the time being.
As for the Seaview, classic standard/nostalgia format, it stays (with minor tweaks; this according to a Facebook post by one of their personalities), but the "Seaview" positioning is out. The station will now be known as "95.9 The Palm," with John Tesh in the mornings 5 to 10 (this according to the promos running on the station I heard over 900 AM).
I feel the smooth n' easy favorites, the classic standards, will be a nice alternative to those burnt out by "Classic Hits," which, veers off into harder "classic rock" territory. So, if the classic hits gets to "heavy" for you, (it does for me most times and I tune out) you have an alternative listening choice. I have listened to Seaview 960 in the past, when traveling within its signal, and its solid station, so glad to see it remain, as "95.9 The Palm." In fact, for the time being, they are referring to themselves as 95.9 Seaview Radio . . . still cleaning up the construction materials, as it were.
And what's up with 106.9? On that placard at the mall, 960 Seaview, and Seaview 95.9 and 106.9 were split into their own separate logos . . . so, “speculating" that "the Palm" will be on 106.9 and 95.9.
As for "900 The Talk," I will "speculate" and say the brokered talk Seaview runs in the evening and weekends will move over to 900, keeping them in-the-family, so to speak. I noticed on JVC's page they have a full time news talk outlet (their only one) in Long Island, "103.9 LI Radio News." So again, "speculating" maybe some of the 960 programming will play on "900 The Talk," while maybe (?) some programs from the Long Island station would run down here?
As for 93.5 FM, it’s now "The Bar,” playing rock, as has been wildly discussed, with lots of official press releases all over industry sites.
And where does that leave 960 AM?
Well, in referring back to the "Gossip Extra" report from Lambiet, he mentioned "sports." Yes, the agreement is we have to many sports stations in South Florida. True . . . but unlike 790 the Ticket and 560 QAM (which are solidly programmed sports outlets, and "live and local"), Palm Beach County doesn't have such a station.
All you have is canned programming on Good Karma’s 106.3 FM is running ESPN, while 760 is ESPN Spanish. Yeah, I know that 640 WFTL/WMEN, its a Palm Beach station, but after the bankruptcy and the mass exodus, or whatever's going on over there, all they have left for "live" programming is Sid Rosenberg in the morning, followed by syndicated Jim Rome, then the rest of 640 is canned programming from NBC Sports.
Since JVC prides itself on being “live and local," and a “live and local” sports station allows for listener interaction . . . this a good move for the West Palm Beach area. Besides, with JCR’s bankruptcy and their stations moving into a receivership, the sports on 640 probably won’t be around much longer anyway. I'll "speculate" a flip on 640. They'll have to, as I think a live-and-local "960 Sports" will crush what is ever left of 640.
So . . . in Palm Beach we got four new stations . . . “900 The Talk,” “93.5 The Bar,” “95.9 The Palm,” and (wild guessing), “960 The Fan?” Trying to think of “sports” terms to fill in the blank after “the," to follow the pattern that JVC put together in naming their stations . . . . Too bad, “the Ticket” is already in use . . . would have been perfect for them. “960 The Ball?” "960 The Goal?" (kidding).
So far, listened to 93.5 The Bar on web and while driving through Palm County. Sounds good . . . and Seaview/Palm is sounding good, as they're playing some nice soft stuff from the 70s and bring back that 'ol 70s AM sound. Sound good, best of luck to JVC. Good to see someone step up to the plate and make a go of live n' local . . . and get away from the lazy radio patterns of syndicating or voice tracking that seems to be the norm in good 'ol South Florida.
