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Could a day come soon that WPTF moves to FM?

T

tothedj

As anyone who has examined the recent ratings book for Raleigh/Durham, WPTF has taken a nosedive with listeners switching to WRDU, mainly because of Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, and Glenn Beck, which poses
this question, will WPTF ever make the switch to FM?, Curtis Media Group has two powerhouse stations which
have numbers close to what 680 AM is getting now, but would moving to say, 96.1, be wise right now?, I think
one thing WPTF needs to do is make some changes to their lineup, the more local, the better, and if they have
to keep a few national hosts, like Mark Levin and Dave Ramsey, try to run them live, Dave could air 2 to 5pm,
move Bill LuMaye between 11 and 2, cut the afternoon news between 5 and 6, have Levin on 6 to 9pm, bring
"Open Line" back from 9pm to 1am with Joe Wade Formicola, and have "Red Eye Radio" with Doug McIntyre
1 till 5am, this lineup could appeal to everyone, especially younger listeners.
 
Doubt they'll totally switch to FM, but an AM/FM simulcast (like WOKV in Jacksonville) isn't out of the question. As far as which station they but it on, I'd say 94.7, 96.1 and 96.9 are safe, but 101.1, 102.9 or a combination of 102.3/102.5 (both with CPs to move closer to strategic points of the Triangle) are all fair game.
 
Dave Ramsey is not the show to beat Rush. If anything Clark Howard should be on WPTF in that timeslot. I'm a die hard Rush fan but even I will listen to Clark over Rush every now and then. One learns quite a bit of valuable information from Clark Howard's show... I don't really know what purpose Dave Ramsey serves.
 
I would not be surprised to see some consolidation of programming with WPTF, WZTK, and WSJS.

I agree that Clark Howard provides a stronger alternative to Rush Limbaugh than Dave Ramsey does.
 
The combination of WPTF in Raleigh, WSJS in Winston-Salem(which should move to 101.1) and WZTK in Burlington
is not a bad idea, if you look at WZTK's current schedule, some of those could run on WPTF AND WSJS, but each
Curtis Media Station has their own distinction.
In terms of WPTF doing the AM/FM simulcast, that's possible, but they need to secure a good FM signal to cover the
triangle, 102.5 would have been a smart choice, i'm not sure if they plan a power increase when the tower is moved
to Hillsborough, if so, it might work.
 
The FCC callsign site shows WQDR becoming WQDR-FM and WDOX becoming WQDR if that means anything:

05/11/2010 WQDR AM TRIANGLE B/C ASSOCIATES, LLC RALEIGH NC Formerly: WDOX

05/11/2010 WQDR-FM FM CAROLINA MEDIA GROUP, INC. RALEIGH NC Formerly: WQDR
 
It would be crazy to touch 101.1. They have five years in format with very little change and have established themselves well in both the Raleigh and Greensboro markets. It would be foolish to move Clark Howard to either AM station. The recent tower upgrades for ZTK should make them even more competitive in both markets.

As for WPTF and WSJS, if they were mine, I would move LeMay to mid-day opposite Rush, develop a statewide show focusing on North Carolina issues and simulcast it on WPTF and WSJS. Being able to concentrate on local, regional and state issues could be a strong force against Rush. With the resources of State Government Radio and NCNN, they have lots of tools.

Take advantages of all of the "think tank" organizations in the Raleigh area and you have even more resources.

Then pick up signals in the Charlotte, Greenville and Wilmington markets and you have a statewide network. Curtis already has relationships in the Boone area that could be included in the deal. Could make a powerful "network" buy for regional advertisers.
 
maybe...sort of...a network?
from Boone to Bolivia: the same
program aired at the same time?
(Bolivia? asked my wife. yes,
it's south of Wilmington)
what a concept!
 
I can't see them blowing up 101.1, especially throwing the WSJS lineup on there. WZTK is getting traction, last I saw WSJS/WMFR was floundering.

It could go the other way around, with WZTK feeding WSJS/WSML/WMFR, but ZTK already seems to have the "live and regional" audience/status, and they seem to be younger. Adding those AM stations wouldn't help much (especially being on AM as they are). It seems like that's why Curtis installed the new transmitter equipment at WZTK recently: to cover farther to the edges of Winston and almost to SC. And Curtis would lose three local signals in favor of going "regional" and even then it would be duplicating what's already there (and to the general public, "superior") on the FM band.

I could see WPTF moving to 102.3/102.5, but then again they'd be a third-tier FM talker [not even including WUNC's listenership], and that would be like listening to, well, take your pick: to the listening audience, if it's not "Rush/Hannity/Beck" it's "pretty much third-tier" right now. I also doubt Curtis would give up two FM signals to make up another "regional talker" to compete with himself.

It seems like Curtis would send WPTF back to some standards before he'd move it to an FM signal, or he'd throw on some of that big-bandy stuff he likes to play when he does his classics shows. I swear I heard some old music on there one evening a while back, and it wasn't even on a Sunday.

Of course, if we've learned anything from the WQDR history books, if there is more money to be made and clients to serve, Curtis Media will figure out a way and be there. It doesn't really matter what we think [still burned on that after 25 years, but I see the point now ;D ).
 
Concerning WZTK's transmitter upgrade. Was curious as I hadn't been the triad for a few weeks. Has anyone been able to tell much of a difference in signal except for maybe marginally to the south? Has it improved to the east and west? Has it even occurred yet?
 
i notice WZTK is proud of the fact that they're the "#1 FM Talk station in NC."

how many FM Talk stations are there in NC?

1 in charlotte, WLNK (unless you count wbt-fm (licenced to chester, sc)
a simulcast in the wilmingon market, WNTB and WLTT.

that's all i could find. and WLNK doesn't do the same kind of talk...
 
amos said:
i notice WZTK is proud of the fact that they're the "#1 FM Talk station in NC."

how many FM Talk stations are there in NC?

1 in charlotte, WLNK (unless you count wbt-fm (licenced to chester, sc)
a simulcast in the wilmingon market, WNTB and WLTT.

that's all i could find. and WLNK doesn't do the same kind of talk...
Click to expand...

1 in Raleigh (106.1)
1 in Greensboro (94.5)
1 in New Bern
1 in Greenville
1 in Wilmington

So, at least 6
 
so so many ways to parse this:
#1.........who says? when? how much?
FM.........that narrows it to a 12% demographic.
talk........divide by 3. or 4. nobody knows.
station....daddy, what's that thing you listen to?
 
Don't forget the oldest FM talker in NC... 107.3 WTKF Atlantic/Morehead City. New Bern has its own now (94.1).
 
It's interesting to note that a majority of the FM talkers have picked up the most listen to shows, Rush Limbaugh,
Sean Hannity & Glenn Beck, and in some places have paid off in higher ratings, which was shown recently in the
Raleigh/Durham market when WRDU went to talk, and it will be curious to see how "Rush Radio" 94.5(WPTI) will
fair when the numbers are released in a few days, and here in Eastern North Carolina, with WTIB(103.7) covering
a much larger listener base with 100,000 watts, FM talk in North Carolina has grown tremendously in just the last
five years alone, the only part of this state that hasn't benefited from this is the mountains, i'm sure down the
road somewhere you may see a FM will consider making the move.
 
XTalker said:
As for WPTF and WSJS, if they were mine, I would move LeMay to mid-day opposite Rush, develop a statewide show focusing on North Carolina issues and simulcast it on WPTF and WSJS. Being able to concentrate on local, regional and state issues could be a strong force against Rush... Then pick up signals in the Charlotte, Greenville and Wilmington markets and you have a statewide network...
Click to expand...

Don't forget Asheville - there used to be a quirky little talk station there on 1350 AM, the former "Super Talk WZNN". They were also part of the NCNN network, and had some local programming (my personal favorite for best all-time radio show title: "No Apologies Radio" ;D ) alongside syndicated shows (they actually carried Hannity since the station's inception but later dropped them)... Anyway, today, they're a different format every six months on that frequency... oh, I'm sorry, are we talking about Raleigh? ;D

Seriously, I think Dave Ramsey does a very informative radio show, and I was a little bummed that Fox Business dropped his TV show (I bet most of you here rejoice at that)...
 
The thing is, once yuou heard Dave Ram's Ear for a half hour, you've heard him do all his best bits!!! :p ::) :eek: ;D :D ;) :) :'( He never surprises you or makes you where your thinking what if i was in there shoe?
 
:eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: ::) ::) ;D ;DOoooooh Sniffy. Me so happy you back on bored. You wisdom so enlightning. Me think WPTF should go to 96.1. That music make me most frantic. I need smoothing sounds of Bill Lumade and Bart Rittner......my friend. Hope you success in your quest for your principles. JM
 
tothedj said:
the only part of this state that hasn't benefited from this is the mountains, i'm sure down the road somewhere you may see a FM will consider making the move.
Click to expand...

The problem in the mountains is the spotty FM coverage.
 
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