CBS Radio To Purchase 107.9 FM, Challenge WTOP

[Kent]

I believe CBS could add one more FM in the Washington, DC market to their cluster and still be in compliance with FCC rules. I know they could've done so prior to re-licensing 99.1 from Annapolis to Bowie. So, in terms of FCC compliance, CBS should be doing okay in DC. Of course, it would be possible the DOJ could step in for revenue concentration concerns and tell them to spin something off if they were to acquire a station like WTOP.

 

[Radio-X]

I believe CBS could add one more FM in the Washington, DC market to their cluster and still be in compliance with FCC rules. I know they could've done so prior to re-licensing 99.1 from Annapolis to Bowie.

99.1 was part of the Ball'mer market as an Annapolis station, and with adding the 107.9 signal they will be over the limit in the Charm City market. Mind you, both 99.1 and 107.9 will broadcast from the CBS Washington studios in Lanham even as they were in the other market on paper.

This is not a new idea. Clear Channel did this recently with two stations they would have been forced to divest in Orlando. Luckily, they were both licensed to cities in a different market (Melbourne, FL), which allowed them to be part of CC-Melbourne on paper while still keeping the studios and sales staff in Orlando. Another example I can think of is the over-radioed Salt Lake City area, where several stations are on paper considered part of the Ogden (or Provo) markets but in every other way are SLC metro stations.

There are some smart people financially running (or ruining) these companies. A lot of us radio dweebs would say that is the problem with the industry, however. Sadly, the days of eccentric radio owners have long gone past the wayside.

Oh, and anybody will tell you this: anything (including WTOP) is available for the right price. However, for CBS, it was probably not worth paying well over $50 mil for a station when they can establish their own for far less than half that amount!

Radio-X

 

[hookem]

Reports say that WTOP is hanging on to it's contract with CBS Radio News, both Top of the Hour and features. This would indicate that CBS will most likely model the new 99.1 FM after WINS-AM in New York. More of a "Headline News" station that will perhaps focus on Maryland. So don't be surprised to hear "All News 99.1 FM. You give us 20 minutes, we'll give you the world!"

In many of the CBS owned stations, they work with TV stations. My guess is that WNEW and WJZ could be working together like WCBS-TV and WCBS-AM, WBZ TV/AM, and KYW-TV/AM. Any thoughts?

 

[DToTheJ]

While 99.1 can be heard in Baltimore as well as Washington, I'm thinking that 99.1 would be concentrating mostly on the Washington market, thus would rather have an affiliation with one of the Washington TV stations (perhaps Channel 9, the CBS affiliate owned by Gannett). If you think about it, 99.1 will be part of the cbswashingtondc.com family of local media, not so much cbsbaltimore.com - though the latter is certainly not out of the question...

That reminds me: a previous poster opined about CBS not needing to pay $50 million for WTOP... looks like they'll only be paying a fraction of that for the cbswashington.com domain, among others they squatted recently...

 

[klutch00]

None of the press releases suggest this new station is going to routinely cover Baltimore news & traffic. They all describe the new product as a "Washington, D.C." station. There's absolutely zero mention of Baltimore.

And if this station were to give Baltimore a fair amount of attention, why would Washingtonians want to sit through that when they can just tune into WTOP?

Radiodxrichmond makes a great point about staffing, too. No way in hell will this station be able to compete in D.C. with only 1/3 the staff of WTOP.

Weak signal + poor staffing + extremely formidable competitor = FAILURE.

CBS would be much better off making this a Baltimore-centric station, IMO. They'd be the first all-news station in that market, and WBAL would be much easier to knock off than WTOP!

Outside of New York City, I don't think there are any markets with two full-time all-news affiliates. This doesn't count simulcast operations. CBS will definitely have their work cut out for them and I for one can't think of any real logical reason as to why they'd buy a station in the B-W market for an all-news format. KFWB in LA has failed; WMAQ in Chi-town, same way. They're going to have to realize that they're going to need the staff and professionalism that WTOP currently has along with a decent set of signals which covers enough of the metropolitan areas to make it worth it.

This is why (stated previously) I strongly urge a simulcast on 106.7 with the sports format moving to 94.7! These sentiments have been voiced elsewhere including the dcrtv.com website. This will offer the area decent coverage. True, it doesn't penetrate as far into Virginia as 107.7 does, but it's at least respectable. With the null that 103.5 has toward Harford County, 99.1 could compensate.

A better option for CBS and 99.1 (especially if they don't take my advice about a 106.7 simulcast and want to offer an information-based format) would be to offer a WBZ-like news/talk format where they are all news during the day and all talk at night. Maybe like WBAL, they could offer a talk show during mid-days. A slogan to consider might be "News all day, talk at night, bulletins at once".

 

[davideduardo]

Another example I can think of is the over-radioed Salt Lake City area, where several stations are on paper considered part of the Ogden (or Provo) markets but in every other way are SLC metro stations.

Ogden and Provo are part of the SLC market; the Arbitron definition which is used by the FCC includes both Weber and Utah counties.

 

[davideduardo]

KFWB in LA has failed;

KFWB, having far the lesser signal than co-owned (at the time) KNX, was taken out of the news arena as neither station was able to get much beyond a 2 share.

With KFWB out of the format, KNX was able to move into the 3 share area 12+ and break, barely, into the top 20 in 25-54.

WTOP has between a 9 and a 10 share 12+; LA has not had more than three news shares for some time. The issue is not that KFWB failed (it didn't) but that news fails to attract a large audience in LA.

 

[wpb1999]

to offer a WBZ-like news/talk format where they are all news during the day and all talk at night. Maybe like WBAL, they could offer a talk show during mid-days. A slogan to consider might be "News all day, talk at night, bulletins at once".

Love the slogan.......I like the format on all-news stations like KOMO, where you are offering a non-biased look at the news with a talk format. They call it "KOMO Newsline AM and PM). That is two three-hour shows from 9-12 and 12-3. During the morning and afternoon drive, they have a news and information show where two hosts read the news, traffic and weather every ten minutes on the fours.

Or you could go with a KFI talk format with talkers 24/7 with two syndicated shows/all the rest of the local shows. I know this is Talk, but considering the success, you could at least try to have some local hosts. DC'ers would just love to have hosts talking about events happening in DC located outside of 1600 Penn. Ave............which is what you are going to find on WMAL or Big Talker.

 

[recto101]

Its like San Francisco when CBS bought 106.9 from Camping and sold 610 so Camping can come in

 

[HHH]

WTOP seems to be gearing up for the battle with CBS.

A MAJOR improvement in loudness and audio quality on 103.5 the last few days.

 

[quietboy]

Do you think CBS will simulcast the new news station on AM1580?

 

[wprt949]

today is THE LAST day for Family radio on 107.9 cbs closes on 107.9 december 1st

 

[klutch00]

today is THE LAST day for Family radio on 107.9 cbs closes on 107.9 december 1st

I wonder when 'the big switch' will happen? I've been monitoring 107.9 and haven't heard any announcement to tune to 750 or whatever.

 

[Radio-X]

There has been no announcement locally besides the sat-queued ID's. 100% Family Radio programming.

As of 12:05 AM, there was a pre-recorded announcement at 11:59 PM by the station manager announcing that 860 is now WFSI and 107.9 is now WBGR. "In 50 seconds if everything goes to plan, you will hear spanish language programming on 107.9".

However, there was a technical snafu and the Family Radio programming is still running with "nightwatch"

Will be recording the stuff down here in Fredericksburg complete with WWWT HD buzz included!

Radio-x

 

[tonyshep]

I think WTOP is vulnerable. Before reaching its current level of revenue and ratings, it struggled for years. That was odd, given the fact that Washington D.C. is one of the cities in which all-news should have been flourishing. D.C. may be able to support 2 all-news stations. CBS has resources that WTOP's parent does not, giving it some logistic/economic advantages.

 

[ddsparxx]

Early this morning, WFSI appeared to be simulcasting El Zol 99.1.

 

[Radio-X]

They switched at about 2:30. One thing I did notice was the TOH ID was read live by a board op or engineer at 1:00 AM with info about a job vacancy for Anne Arundel. It was a botched flip, though it didnt matter much given the time.

I should point out CBS received a waiver to simulcast with 99.1 until the 11th. After that, what will we hear? Promos 24/7? Christmas music? I would imagine they would use the 20 or so days to promote the hell out of the new station by running promos a la All News 92 in Houston.

And as for the signal, I wonder if they will do what they did with 106.7 by adding several out of market HD subchannels (WCBS-AM, KYW, etc.) and put the main 99.1 signal on WPGC's or WIAD's subchannel?


Radio-X

 

[recto101]

I say its a plausable move for WNEW-FM to dominate in DC on 107.9 since its owned by CBS and CBS is well known to do the All news format in major cities very well. Look at San Francisco 106.9FM was bought by CBS and 610AM went to Camping and CBS did well.

 

[mewing80]

I applied for a job there and was wondering if anybody knows if there studios would be in Lanham or in DC?

 

[DToTheJ]

The new WNEW-FM 99.1 is expected to emanate out of Lanham, MD, where WPGC, Fresh, El Zol and "The Big Talker" (the other WNEW) are currently housed. In fact, WJFK, currently based in Fairfax, as it has been for many years, is expected to join the others in Lanham effective next week.