Could Jam'n 94.5 be gone soon?

[TheBigA]

You're comparing two different types of radio. Kuhner and Carr are talk show hosts. They aren't hiding their point of view. The show is them and their opinions. That's what the show is. J&M do interviews. They speak with politicians and people who represent things. Very different approach. Do their guests have a political position? Yes. Is it mostly liberal? Probably. Did the head of the Massachusetts VA bash the feds? Yes he did. Are people in the state and city government opposed to the feds? Absolutely, and they've made no secret about it. Do they say so on J&M? Absolutely. The same gets said about NPR. They do interviews with people who have points of view. Just because those people appear on the radio station doesn't necessarily mean the radio station agrees. The comments you hear "don't necessarily reflect the views of WGBH, etc."

Of course this has nothing to do with iHeart. They're not moving WRKO to an FM frequency, and the reason has nothing to do with politics and everything to do with money.

 

[MassMusicMan]

I'm not here to evaluate or debate political policies.

You would have done so gleefully had I agreed with your assessment of the content of Boston Public Radio.

 

[lanceventa]

REMINDER: Personal political posts are not permitted.

 

[TVCOOL]

I still don't get The Juice 93.7 here in Fall River, MA it's a portugués radio station.

 

[lanceventa]

I still don't get The Juice 93.7 here in Fall River, MA it's a portugués radio station.

You shouldn't and you won't. There's a separate translator licensed to Fall River rebroadcasting 1400 WHTB.

 

[spt87]

Simulcasting big AMs on FM seems to be something done by companies that can't figure out what to do with one of their FMs. WINS was fine on AM only. 92.3 had been failing ever since its famous morning show left in the late 2000's for Sirius.

As said above, putting the AM programming on FM doesn't always help anything. Even if it does help, you now have given people an option other than the AM devaluing that signal and, to some degree, all the other AM signals in the area since people are less likely to flip over and scan the band.

When I look at what Audacy is doing, I wonder if their end game is to migrate everything worthwhile to FM then dump the AMs at some point. iHeart seems much more committed to the AM band. It's unfortunate as Westinghouse and then CBS did invest in their AMs to keep them successful.

As I've said before, WRKO has done remarkably better 12+ under iHeart than it was doing under Audacy. WEEI got all the attention when they were co-owned and was moved to FM, yet WRKO is now regularly beating it with a new owner.

 

[TheBigA]

Westinghouse and then CBS did invest in their AMs to keep them successful.

It depends how you measure success. If it's with 12+ ratings or billings. This thread is about JAMN, and we know it doesn't get big 12+ ratings. But it fits well demographically in what they're doing. Same with WBWL. Not every station can get great 12+ numbers. That's not really the goal.

 

[LetsShakeOnIt]

I do think JAMN is on its last legs. I don't see iHeart giving them much more than the Summer book and if it doesn't improve , which is highly unlikely, then it's done. iHeart will likely pull the plug and make it some sort of Jacked/Mike format with prerecorded or AI voiceover. It will cut down on their costs (which iHeart loves) and it won't do any worse, and likely will do better ratings than JAMN currently pulls in.

I think this Summer is going to see a real big change in Boston radio. I think you will see major changes at all the iHeart stations in addition to other stations.
1. I think Kiss morning show is a goner
2. Magic 106.7 is going to go almost all syndicated programming (Audacy wants to gut more than iHeart).
3. I do think WBZ 1030 ends up on an FM signal as well.

 

[fybush]

The math for iHeart isn't good when it comes to its Boston AMs.

WBZ still brings in pretty significant revenue just on AM. If you move it to FM, you preserve that revenue and avoid some of the inevitable erosion that will happen as the "AM Cliff" (my new phrase for the lowest age group that will still even try anything on AM) moves from 50-something now up to 60+ in the next few years.

But... you also lose all of the revenue that goes with whichever FM you kill off in the process. And right now, iHeart is making money on everything, including Jamn and Bull and Rumba.

And there's another problem specific to Boston: if you refocus WBZ as an FM station, you run the risk of doing damage to all of AM listening in the market. Which matters to iHeart because the only other AM in town with significant ratings and good revenue is WRKO, which has done remarkably well the last few years.

If WRKO hadn't done as well as it's been doing, I think the decision to move WBZ to FM might have been an easier one.