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Citadel To Blow Up WSUB

All Access hasn't posted any Arbitron numbers for New London since 2005, but this doesn't sound like an upgrade for 104.7's lineup of syndicated conservative superstars and a good local morning show. Moving news/talk back to 980 AM - with no FM presence - is effectively putting it on a daytimer for most of the market, with its 1000 watts reduced to about 70 at night. WSUB at least still covered Groton/New London's Hispanic population after sunset, but now that area joins another eastern Connecticut town with Hispanics, Willimantic, offering no regular local Spanish language service.

If Citadel still wants 104.7 to compete in the New London market, they may be looking to take a slice out of WBMW's lead. WBMW apparently had strong fall and spring books, is upping their power and has evolved into a more contemporary sound. Citadel tried being WBMW's spoiler with 102.3 a few years ago with less than impressive results. Being next to sister Q105, I wonder if they could take from themselves instead. It's also possible that they're just looking to relay NYC's WPLJ out to the East End of Long Island. That's my armchair analysis, for what it's worth.
 
Please explain to me why someone in New London would want to listen to a New York station. Weather, traffic reports and many commercials will be useless on WELJ.
 
PaulRAnderson said:
Please explain to me why someone in New London would want to listen to a New York station. Weather, traffic reports and many commercials will be useless on WELJ.
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WFAN, WOR, WABC and WCBS do get some listeners here, but your point is well taken. Citadel wasn't born yesterday, so there are probably more pieces to this puzzle. I had thought WXLM was doing fine on FM.
 
GlennO said:
PaulRAnderson said:
Please explain to me why someone in New London would want to listen to a New York station. Weather, traffic reports and many commercials will be useless on WELJ.
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WFAN, WOR, WABC and WCBS do get some listeners here, but your point is well taken. Citadel wasn't born yesterday, so there are probably more pieces to this puzzle. I had thought WXLM was doing fine on FM.
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WCBS, WFAN and WINS have a pretty big following in southern CT. Weather reports aren't that much different. Not exactly a million miles away. I haven;t listened to WPLJ for a while, but I actually used to enjoy it.
 
I know WFAN-AM 660 and WCBS-AM 880 get out that way during the daytime, since most of the signal is traveling over the salt water (I once got WCBS-AM nearly like a local at 2 PM in Newport, RI). WINS-AM 101 would be more of a stretch since their transmitter is on land to the west in New Jersey (I don't get them too well here in New Britain). As for the type of station WPLJ-FM 95.5 is, seems to me that WTIC-FM 96.5 is a lot like it (Hot AC), but on a smaller scale.
 
KML-224 said:
I know WFAN-AM 660 and WCBS-AM 880 get out that way during the daytime, since most of the signal is traveling over the salt water (I once got WCBS-AM nearly like a local at 2 PM in Newport, RI). WINS-AM 101 would be more of a stretch since their transmitter is on land to the west in New Jersey (I don't get them too well here in New Britain). As for the type of station WPLJ-FM 95.5 is, seems to me that WTIC-FM 96.5 is a lot like it (Hot AC), but on a smaller scale.
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Smaller scale? WPLJ is a much bigger station than WTIC-FM. Similar format, but a MUCH bigger market. They get huge numbers out in the New Jersey suburbs.
 
Sorry about that! I meant to say that WTIC-FM seems to be a lot like WPLJ-FM, only that the Hartford station is a smaller version. They're both Hot AC formatted and I think they both carry The Billy Bush Show.
 
WFAN and WCBS are consistently strong days and most nights in southeastern CT. During the day, many other NYC AM stations have a great signal all along the CT shoreline. From the hills of Norwich and points north, Hot AC WTIC-FM probably has a better signal than 104.7 but isn't a big local factor in the New London market. On AM in the northern half of NL County, news/talk may be easier to get from WTIC-AM on 1080 than out of Groton on 980. I can't help but think there's more to this than the WXLM news/talk switch back to AM and a straight WPLJ simulcast on 104.7 that would aim at New London.
 
Who knows what Citadel's plans are. I wonder if this has nothing to do with New London and everything to do with trying to get an audience on eastern Long Island? Again pure speculation and I guess we'll need to see what the bigger picture is. Maybe they see WBMW getting a larger Long Island audience with their upgrade from a A to a B1 license? This is reactionary to that?
Again, speculation.

And FTR, 980's call sign changes to WXLM not WXLM-AM, there are no "-AM" call signs in the US.
 
I didn't realize WELJ (formerly WXLM) was licensed to and transmitting from Montauk NY, not Connecticut. So it's not that unusual, then, that a station on Long Island would rebroadcast a NYC station.
 
PaulRAnderson said:
I didn't realize WELJ (formerly WXLM) was licensed to and transmitting from Montauk NY, not Connecticut. So it's not that unusual, then, that a station on Long Island would rebroadcast a NYC station.
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The problem is 104.7's signal covers the forks of the East End, but degrades quickly as you move westward. It comes in spotty even in Riverhead. They're not going to reach the seasonal hot spots very well with that signal. There's much more useable signal covering SE CT, which is why the programming has been targeted toward the New London market for so long.

I can't see the area taking to a New York music station. Sports are a little different, as Yankees/Jets fans will listen to WFAN and Sox/Pats fans to WEEI-FM. The most listened to music stations are locals, even though there are plenty of other options from surrounding markets. I don't think this move will work long term for 104.7, either in CT or on Long Island. Most likely 104.7 will be spinning the format wheel again in another year or two.
 
WFAN actually carries the Mets and WCBS the Yankees (and AM 980 till the end of the season?), but your main points are dead on about 104.7's coverage. Perhaps Citadel is planning a national hot AC brand for what WPLJ does. I know it's all guesswork, but it seems to follow a few patterns. Q105's mornings are nationally syndicated, while people like Scott Shannon are no strangers to national programming with networks in place like the True Oldies Channel. Interesting theory anyway. Whoever really knows is most likely laughing at this:)
 
While on paper - that is, the paper that you and I are able to read... the PPM's - WPLJ isn't slaying the dragon ratings-wise, they're certainly making a killing in advertising. It would be interesting to see if they will get some East End business once the simulcast is set up.

fmradio1 said:
I can't see the area taking to a New York music station...
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The old WNEW-FM simulcast on 107.1 comes to mind...
 
Wait a minute, someone's going to blow up a Sub from this country? isn't that hostility considered an act of war by the US Gov't?

Sorry, it was the first thing I thought of when I saw the heading.

To return this to being a radio-topic based replay, I need to get back to working on my playlist....
 
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