vjm said:
107.3 started out as WEOL-FM when it first signed on.
A modern day WEOL-FM with Jeff Thomas in the morning, Laura Ingraham, Clark Howard, and Sean Hannity?
And maybe GKB doing an LMA from 6p-6a (like they did in Milwaukee a few years back).
KNR2 - 1540 days/107.3 nights?
Before anyone go further with any speculations on 107.3, please keep this in mind. WEOL has had their staff gutted beyond the point of no return.
Jeff Thomas is a part-time announcer (and so was Les Sekely; which is why he left WEOL to take a full-time teaching job). Their lone remaining newscaster, Craig Adams (who prior to 2009 was also the OM) is part-time, and most of his newscast content is referenced directly from the Elyria Chronicle or from Jeff's prior interviews.
The sales department is full-time because nearly all of them double in the sports department. Tim Alcorn is both the sports director and sales manager. It's fitting because their sports PBP lineup is what gets the biggest ratings.
Why is this?
Well, WEOL has had to rely on the revenue from 107.3 and their two sister newspapers - the Elyria Chronicle and Medina Gazette. 107.3's been hurting in revenue since late 2008, coincidentally after longtime PD Bernie Kimball was fired. Their decline was such that, prior to flipping to V, 107.3 was being out-billed by THEIR SISTER STATIONS IN SANDUSKY. Meanwhile, the Chronicle has to battle the Lorain Journal for readership and revenue in an economically devastated region in Lorain County. It would be tough for one paper to survive in an area like this. TWO PAPERS is nearly impossible- and mind you, the Journal's parent company emerged from bankruptcy last year.
By this alone, I can't see WEOL going to FM on 107.3. It would be a colossal wast of a signal simply because they won't put any money into the news/talk format and hasn't since 2003. Even if it's a full-blown relay of the TRN lineup, the ratings would be so disastrously low that V's numbers would look like a million bucks. TRN's lineup - aside from Laura Ingraham and Savage - cannot compare to WTAM in any way. Maybe if they did transplant Sean onto 107.3, they could have a chance... but I'm not that confident it will.
BTW, a nighttime LMA for KNR2 would be utterly ridiculous. KNR2 can't get out beyond Rocky River at it's peak. It's a rumor in Avon and virtually impossible to pick up in any other part of the county. And the nighttime signal would be on one of the better rimshot signals with 2000% better coverage?
Better Craig just buy the signal outright and move WKNR there as "SportsRadio 107.3" - and take 850 into an all-network "ESPN 850." KNR2 could then be handed back to Dale Edwards or turned off entirely - or make it an all-Gregorian chants station. (Yes, I don't think Craig could even afford such a deal IMO.)
