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Cumulus buys WFME 94.7
- Thread starter Kent
- Start date
"The MOST music, 94.7/WABC!!!! (Bing)"Cumulus recently took an FM in Atlanta and, hiring available former CNN radio staffers who had been laid off, started their own all-newser.
Similar staffing availability in New York? Right now, the former Merlin NYC newsies are just feeding stuff to Merlin's Philadelphia station. Others were laid off.
But this is the difference: Atlanta had NO all-news station. NYC has two. But they're on AM.
Or, perhaps, create more of a news-talk hybrid on FM, with all-news blocks in AM and PM drive and local talk the rest of the time. Might be a good sales pairing with WABC.
Similar staffing availability in New York? Right now, the former Merlin NYC newsies are just feeding stuff to Merlin's Philadelphia station. Others were laid off.
But this is the difference: Atlanta had NO all-news station. NYC has two. But they're on AM.
Or, perhaps, create more of a news-talk hybrid on FM, with all-news blocks in AM and PM drive and local talk the rest of the time. Might be a good sales pairing with WABC.
radiophiler said:
Doing that requires Cumulus actually making an investment in local content, something they haven't shown in the time they've had WABC under their umbrella. This is not saying they couldn't do it if they want to, but their track record here tells me no. After the failure of 101.9 as an all-newser, we're more likely to see WCBS or WINS (or a combination of the two) move to FM before a new all-news FM (or a news-talk hybrid) starts up here.
WPLJ to 94.7 FM. They got a good New Jersey market already and they will tweak it to hit the city by tweaking the big signal they have in Springfield, MA. WABC to 95.5 FM. 770 AM can be sold to ESPN but then what would CBS have to say about it because they are already marketing CBS Sports Radio. It's possible though that CBS Sports goes to 770 AM and 660 AM stays as a clone of 101.9 WFAN local sports talk. This way there is no confusion to the listener what they are listening to. Also makes it possible for WFAN to put the Yankees on 101.9 & Mets on 660 AM. They can also have the two signals for any runoff of schedule conflicts.
wabc860 said:
Not happening, makes absolutely no sense to do that.
wabc860 said:
Again, not happening. Like I said in a previous post, the move away from right-wing talk is happening, and it's not going to bring in any younger listeners.
wabc860 said:
And put what there, ESPN Deportes? It's already being called a waste of spectrum on 1050, so why would you put that on 770?
wabc860 said:
Possible, but doubtful.
County doesn't seem likely with PLJ already competing for that demographic of white suburban moms. WFME's signal is also in a heavily ethnic section of NJ so with the demize of WRKS could we see a new urban player?
WABC-FM also seems possible although with it's limited signal I'm not sure it would reach as much of it's conservative demographic as the am signal does.
Who knows really.....will be interesting to see.
WABC-FM also seems possible although with it's limited signal I'm not sure it would reach as much of it's conservative demographic as the am signal does.
Who knows really.....will be interesting to see.
103.9 in the Bronx could help to fill in some of the in city signal for 94.7 if both were programmed the same. Not sure how much WFAS bills for the company.
They have until July 2014 to figure out whether to move WFAS or not. I'm pretty sure the antenna was mounted on the tower when WFUV did all of their antenna replacement work.
They have until July 2014 to figure out whether to move WFAS or not. I'm pretty sure the antenna was mounted on the tower when WFUV did all of their antenna replacement work.
Cumulus New York properties signal coverage maps:
94.7 link here.
95.5 link here.
770 AM daytime link here.
770 AM nighttime link here.
Otherwise...
No way Cumulus sells 770 to ESPN (ostensibly so that ESPN could simulcast 770/98.7). The reason: Cumulus (now partnered with CBS) is now a fierce competitor of ESPN in the sports radio business.
If Cumulus wants to clear the CBS Sports Radio Network in New York, would they just put it on 94.7 and leave everything else alone? The trend is to put sports on FM although it might be intriguing if...
they put sports on 770 and move WABC's programming to 94.7? Not likely, however; aging demo talk format won't do much better on what would be a weaker FM signal, to boot.
Likely 95.5 will be left alone. Can't mess with the money-maker in the stable. They'll just go through their semi-regular format tweaks between Adult CHR + Hot AC. No straight up CHR; WXRK/WHTZ/WKTU have that market cornered, with 92~3 Now already a weak sister - no need to get into that fray. I know on the other hand: on the AC/Adult CHR side WPLJ already competes with LiteFM + Fresh and to a lesser extent with the aforementioned CHRs. They're kinda hemmed in.
103.9 WFAS could play into this if/when they start transmitting from the Bronx (currently transmitting from Hartsdale). (See d21ofnj + ansky212 + WNTIRadio postings.)
Possible format change + simulcast link with 94.7?
Possibly being sold to Family Stations - although you'd think that a swap/cash exchange would already be part of today's announcement (although terms haven't been announced yet, so things could still develop).
94.7 link here.
95.5 link here.
770 AM daytime link here.
770 AM nighttime link here.
Otherwise...
No way Cumulus sells 770 to ESPN (ostensibly so that ESPN could simulcast 770/98.7). The reason: Cumulus (now partnered with CBS) is now a fierce competitor of ESPN in the sports radio business.
If Cumulus wants to clear the CBS Sports Radio Network in New York, would they just put it on 94.7 and leave everything else alone? The trend is to put sports on FM although it might be intriguing if...
they put sports on 770 and move WABC's programming to 94.7? Not likely, however; aging demo talk format won't do much better on what would be a weaker FM signal, to boot.
Likely 95.5 will be left alone. Can't mess with the money-maker in the stable. They'll just go through their semi-regular format tweaks between Adult CHR + Hot AC. No straight up CHR; WXRK/WHTZ/WKTU have that market cornered, with 92~3 Now already a weak sister - no need to get into that fray. I know on the other hand: on the AC/Adult CHR side WPLJ already competes with LiteFM + Fresh and to a lesser extent with the aforementioned CHRs. They're kinda hemmed in.
103.9 WFAS could play into this if/when they start transmitting from the Bronx (currently transmitting from Hartsdale). (See d21ofnj + ansky212 + WNTIRadio postings.)
Possible format change + simulcast link with 94.7?
Possibly being sold to Family Stations - although you'd think that a swap/cash exchange would already be part of today's announcement (although terms haven't been announced yet, so things could still develop).
G
Groove1670
Guest
If CBS can't make the cap work. It would be good for all involved for one of their stations (1010?) to become a Family station. It takes a commercial station out of the picture, and Family stays in New York, and makes a little money on the deal.
I doubt they'll sell WFAS-FM. It puts a decent signal into NYC from the Bronx stick but don't think it's a great compliment to 94.7. From what I've read, the Bronx facility is ready to go.
WFAS-AM might be a different story...perhaps that gets sold.
Maybe they should throw CBS Sports Radio on WFAS-FM and do something else with 94.7.
WFAS-AM might be a different story...perhaps that gets sold.
Maybe they should throw CBS Sports Radio on WFAS-FM and do something else with 94.7.
Once more, with feeling:
WMAS-FM is not the biggest obstacle to moving 94.7 into Manhattan. WWSK 94.3 on Long Island is. Unlike some of the other second-adjacent situations that have lent themselves to move-ins (93.1/93.5/93.9, 96.3/96.7/97.1, 103.5/103.9/104.3), the Newark and Smithtown signals were fully spaced in 1964, and thus are not grandfathered and must continue to obey current spacing rules. And there's not much (if any) wiggle room to move 94.3 out of the picture - it's already short-spaced to WYBC-FM, among others.
There's also a huge obstacle to downgrading WMAS-FM, and that's the COL change to Enfield a few years back. Any downgrade to WMAS-FM must still put a 70 dBu signal over Enfield, and that means (a) a less-than-optimum signal over the core of the Springfield market and (b) moving the transmitter site south from downtown Springfield, which is exactly the direction you don't want to be moving if you're hoping to open up space for WFME.
WMAS-FM is not the biggest obstacle to moving 94.7 into Manhattan. WWSK 94.3 on Long Island is. Unlike some of the other second-adjacent situations that have lent themselves to move-ins (93.1/93.5/93.9, 96.3/96.7/97.1, 103.5/103.9/104.3), the Newark and Smithtown signals were fully spaced in 1964, and thus are not grandfathered and must continue to obey current spacing rules. And there's not much (if any) wiggle room to move 94.3 out of the picture - it's already short-spaced to WYBC-FM, among others.
There's also a huge obstacle to downgrading WMAS-FM, and that's the COL change to Enfield a few years back. Any downgrade to WMAS-FM must still put a 70 dBu signal over Enfield, and that means (a) a less-than-optimum signal over the core of the Springfield market and (b) moving the transmitter site south from downtown Springfield, which is exactly the direction you don't want to be moving if you're hoping to open up space for WFME.
That's a big news for WFME, I don't know that maybe in HV listening area is currently running Camping's Family Radio on 91.7 in Kingston which is WFRH, but I don't see it changing anytime soon.
Will there be any WFME HD 2 stations ?
luperm said:
While the syndicator could say that the network is getting clearance in NYC (we've all seen affiliate listings for national shows where the stations are barely on the fringes of the markets), I don't know if CBS would be thrilled with their sports product in Market #1 being heard in just portions of the Bronx, upper Manhattan, Queens, maybe Brooklyn and Nassau + Fairfield Counties.
On the other hand, CBS may not want to cannibalize WFAN by putting the network on a really strong signal. Strange days indeed...
It's may not really be CBS's call, though there's likely some kind of agreement with Cumulus as to placement.
More Cumulus property coverage maps:
WFAS AM 1230 here.
WFAS-FM 103.9 from Hartsdale (currently) here.
WFAS-FM 103.9 from the Bronx ("under construction") here.
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