Combining of markets, ever?

[David Sharp]

When I worked in Tampa (prior to taking my career to Australia in 2000), there had always been talk of combining Tampa-St.Pete with Lakaland and/or Sarasota markets. I wonder, whether this will ever happen? I know there are many factors involved, i.e. group ownership etc but I thought Arbitron considered outlying (secondary) markets' connection with a larger market, when deciding if an amalgamation was necessary? Interesting to note, out of about 39 rated stations in Lakeland-Winter Haven, 17 are from the Tampa area (and 7 are in the top ten). In Sarasota it's a similar story with 22 rated stations (and several move-ins from both markets, to Tampa).

 

[sbe1]

David, nice to see you here.. you used to have one of the best radio web sites around. Is it still on the web?

 

[CentralFloridaEagle]

With a population of over half a million, Lakeland/Winter Haven needs to remain as it's own seperate market. True, most of the top stations come from Tampa/St. Petersburg, but the smaller stations here that would not even show in the TSP book need the information about listenership locally so they will at least have some figures to present to potential advertisers that are interested in the local audience.

One interesting fact: "97 Country" WPCV, licensed to Winter Haven but located in the Hall Communications complex next to the Lakeland Center, shows up in both the Tampa/St. Petersburg and Orlando books. Albiet, they have less than one percent of the listeners in each market, but... WPCV has long been the dominating ratings winner in Lakeland/Winter Haven for years and at one time was considered one of the best country stations nationwide. I'm not a country music fan, but can say from what I hear it's a well run operation.

 

[Ferreri]

Hi David...Good to see your name pop up. Trust all is well with you. Likewise, your site was good reading...

Frank

 

[zoneguy]

Sharp was one of the best radio guys in this market. While happy for his opportunity when he left, I was sad to him go. Of course, with the state of Tampa Radio and radio in general these days, David may be best off overseas.

 

[vibe]

In Englewood Fl we receive stations from the Tampa-St. Pete market, Lakeland, Sarasota, and ft Myers-Naples markets on a day to day basis. For some reasons stations seem to propogate (is that correct) much further in FL than say, New England.

 

[CHRles]

That's b/c stations in the South are 100,000 watts "flamethrowers" . Up north it's not even easy to find 50,000 watts stations (unless you're in Maine or Upstate NY).

 

[BJohnson]

I agree it would be extremely unfair to add Lakeland to the Tampa-St Pete-Clearwater Market. Some popular stations would die a quick death if that were to happen. For example, Wild 98.7. That signal barely makes to county line road if you travel east on I-4.

 

[David Sharp]

I agree it would be extremely unfair to add Lakeland to the Tampa-St Pete-Clearwater Market. Some popular stations would die a quick death if that were to happen. For example, Wild 98.7. That signal barely makes to county line road if you travel east on I-4.

I think it's more likely the stations in Sarasota and/or Lakeland would suffer, if they combined with Tampa. Still though, there was talk about realigning the markets in the early 90's. I want to think back then it was on the premise, a million-dollar station in Tampa would be worth a heck of a lot more if amalgamation took place and Tampa was bumped up the ranks. Now though, I suspect if (as an example) Tampa and Sarasota combined, it would certainly cause problems for Clear Channel and also possibly for Cox (especially with 97.1 and 102.5). I don't see similar scenarios if Lakeland combined with Tampa, other than the fact Lakeland holds its own and the stations there would likely oppose the move-- many would not even rate if combined with Tampa. Anyone else with thoughts?

 

[flwfg]

Hasn't there already been combining ???

103.5 and 102.5 and even930 AM all licensed to Bradenton,Sarasota, Holmes Beach yet studios no where near here and only two transmitters remain here...


walt

 

[sbe1]

Agreed 103.5, 102.5 are Tampa market stations although they are licensed to the Sarasota market. Then you have 98.7 which is a Tampa rimshot licensed to the Sarasota market. Then of course you have 930 which is really a shame and probably cant be heard at their Tampa studios. I dont know how they can serve the Sarasota market with no presence here. Even the people they contract their traffic and news out to dont know how to properly pronounce local landmarks and roads. The rest of the decent signals are owned by Clear Channel. I never have figured out how Clear Channel can own so many stations in the Sarasota market, because technically you need to include 103.5 in the Sarasota station mix, even though the studios are in Tampa. The rest of the few signals in Sarasota are mostly weak AM's or non comm FM's. What Sarasota needs is a NPR outlet. Maybe a translator from WUSF. WUSF's signal in south Sarasota/Venice is poor.

 

[billalm]

This area isn't the only area that has this issue. Technically speaking.... ok, I'll give ya 102.5-WHPT-Sarasota because that station still transmits from the Manatee/Sarasota tower. However, even though 98.7-WLLD-Holmes Beach and 103.5-WFUS-Bradenton are licensed as such, transmitting antennas are on towers of other "Tampa Bay" radio stations. Let's face facts people, "city of license" is nothing but an out of date moniker and FCC ID for each individual radio station. I'll bet 90% of the listeners to Wild 98.7 don't even know where Holmes Beach is and I'll bet an equal amount of residents of that beach community don't even listen to 98.7 anyway! 103.5/98.7 are "Tampa Bay" radio stations due to transmitter locations and coverage area. The city of license nonsense should be dropped. It's silly in 2006.