CC-Hartford Prediction

[BRNout]

Look, the bottom line is this. 979 moves to Hartford (the application will be approved, CC has some of the best consulting engineers in the biz, they WILL make it happen one way or another). Format changes. I think most likely Talk, but it could be something else...

Wait until it is reported that WTIC loses its rights to Rush and Hannity. Then and only then will the writing be on the wall for "Rush Radio 97.9".

IF that happens. In my mind, it's a definite possibility, but other formats are possible too. Some of which would provide younger demos.

Either way, I would also keep an eye out for Kix to move to (most likely) 100.9 to serve Springfield. Although WWYZ comes in ok in much of that market, their signal isn't exactly local grade in many parts of the market. As Kix has a bigger following than WRNX, it's more likely that CC would simply flip their stronger intellectual property to another frequency and jettison the less successful format. As for 97.9, I totally agree that it will be something completely new. Good to see that Necrat agrees with me! Means I'm on the right track....

 

[Mike JR]

Hey all.....can someone explain to me why Rush or Hannity would leave a 50,000 watt CBS station for Clear Channel..it makes absolutely no sense to me

 

[MarcB]

CC is the parent company of Premeire Radio Network, which distributes Rush, Hannity, and Beck amongst others. As such they can yank Rush and Hannity from WTIC and Beck from WDRC. All CC has to do is pay-off CBS and Buckley. They just did this in Boston.

 

[Mike JR]

Hey Marc..Or should I say Jay Clarke Haha..I understand what you are saying..but it wouldn't make any sense for Premiere to take Rush and Hannity off of a 50,000 Watt radio station..from a pure business standpoint, it doesn't make sense to do that

 

[MarcB]

There was no "E" at the end of "Jay Clark". Jay Clark died 6 years ago this August when the Supermax format which had only been on the air 12 hours a day went to a 24 hour schedule on WXCT.

Anyway getting back on topic. Right now it's purely speculation on everyone's part that the new FM station is going to be doing talk as Rush Radio. The only thing that is confirmed is the fact there is an application on file with the FCC to move WPKX 97.9's tower from Agawam, Mass to downtown Hartford. That being said Clear Channel doesn't always make smart business decisions. I'll remind you of the 4 years they ran an unsuccessful Urban format on 104.1 from 2003-2007 before flipping it back to a rock type format and ultimately selling it to Red Wolf Broadcasting in 2009.

 

[DToTheJ]

I may have said this on another thread, but... you think CC wished they'd hold onto 104.1 for "Rush Radio" rather than move in a signal from Springfield?

 

[WPPCProductions]

How bout a chat fest on 93.7.

 

[necrat123]

CBS Radio Inc., has filed an informal objection to the application for WPKX.

 

[DToTheJ]

Interesting. Though expected, if they're defending their own WTIC.

 

[necrat123]

Yeah I think this adds more cement to the theory that 97.9 will become talk.

 

[BRNout]

Yeah I think this adds more cement to the theory that 97.9 will become talk.

At least CBS Radio thinks so.

Or, perhaps they've heard something regarding their continued carriage of Rush and Hannity on WTIC. This stuff gets more and more interesting as we go along.

 

[Whale]

Remember when Clear Channel used to be the bad guys? CBS is taking over that role for sure. Thanks for slowly killing WTIC-AM and trying to foil a plan to bring another choice to the Hartford. Also for putting all local sports teams on HD subchannels nobody can hear. Clear Channel has stayed in downtown Hartford, not moved to an office park in Farmington. They sold 104.1, but also put the wheels in motion to give the market an alternative station which is a great option. CC is on an upswing, CBS is now the evil ones.

 

[DToTheJ]

I guess this also means that CBS is planning to hold onto their Hartford cluster and stick around in the Nutmeg State for years to come. Sure, they haven't been in a selling frenzy of late, but the fact that they're taking a whack at CC's (projected) effort at bringing a competing talk station into the market speaks volumes.

Of course, if that new performance radio tax passes, this will all be moot, anyway, as CC will figure out which one of its music stations to flip to Rush Radio.

 

[BRNout]

I guess this also means that CBS is planning to hold onto their Hartford cluster and stick around in the Nutmeg State for years to come. Sure, they haven't been in a selling frenzy of late, but the fact that they're taking a whack at CC's (projected) effort at bringing a competing talk station into the market speaks volumes.

Of course, if that new performance radio tax passes, this will all be moot, anyway, as CC will figure out which one of its music stations to flip to Rush Radio.

If you look at the ratings, you'll see that CBS is doing really well in Hartford. So, that may be a reason why they've elected to stay in and fight like crazy - rather than selling. Another reason is that it's not the greatest time to sell a radio station - valuable properties like these would certainly sell, but not for as much as CBS would like to see. And, with the regional geography, it's an easy market to keep tabs on. Add them all together and it doesn't appear that CBS Radio will be selling out anytime soon.