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Cumulus Cluster To Air 49'ers
- Thread starter radio dx
- Start date
Seems as though KNBR-680 and 107.7 The Bone do a more than adequate job all season. Why does the game have to air the 49ers on all six Cumulus SF stations?
In NY, Giants coverage will air on CBS' 50 kW blaster WFAN exclusively, as it does all season. No way will CBS air the game on all six of their NY stations.
Weird!!!
In NY, Giants coverage will air on CBS' 50 kW blaster WFAN exclusively, as it does all season. No way will CBS air the game on all six of their NY stations.
Weird!!!
Maybe it's a way to grab more than 7 listener's to KGO? A strong case of overkill for sure, seeing how the 49's are going to lose this game! Time will tell.....lol lol lol......
About five years ago Citadel tried a similar ploy in Buffalo with the Bills. Somebody at corporate had the brilliant idea to broadcast the Buffalo Bills (in another losing season) on three FMs in this market. Prior to that season, the games were heard in a simulcast on two Citadel's FMs; Classic Rock 97 Rock (the primary, which also carried game audio synched to TV) and the secondary, Active Rock 103.3 the Edge (which carried the audio in real-time for in-stadium listening.)
The Buffalo trimulcast added Oldies 104 (now Classic Hits 104.1.) That little experiment resulted in the primary station received 80% of the listening, the secondary about 14% of the listening. Oldies 104 picked up the remainder and more harm than good resulted. After that season, the games reverted to two FMs, with 97 Rock getting 80% of the listening and The Edge getting 20%.
Cumulus walked away from the Bills a few weeks ago, after 13 years of the game being aired on 97 Rock and The Edge. Entercom's sports AM will air the games for the next four years.
Cumulus' San Francisco multi-cast reasoning probably goes something like, "Just think of the thousands of fans will discover our stations that don't ordinarily carry the games." Dumb move. Listeners who want to hear the games usually gravitate to the primary stations, which get the best ratings/shares.
Admittedly, Buffalo is nowhere the size of SF, but the lesson applies, even if San Francisco and half the state is in a 49'er Frenzy.
The Buffalo trimulcast added Oldies 104 (now Classic Hits 104.1.) That little experiment resulted in the primary station received 80% of the listening, the secondary about 14% of the listening. Oldies 104 picked up the remainder and more harm than good resulted. After that season, the games reverted to two FMs, with 97 Rock getting 80% of the listening and The Edge getting 20%.
Cumulus walked away from the Bills a few weeks ago, after 13 years of the game being aired on 97 Rock and The Edge. Entercom's sports AM will air the games for the next four years.
Cumulus' San Francisco multi-cast reasoning probably goes something like, "Just think of the thousands of fans will discover our stations that don't ordinarily carry the games." Dumb move. Listeners who want to hear the games usually gravitate to the primary stations, which get the best ratings/shares.
Admittedly, Buffalo is nowhere the size of SF, but the lesson applies, even if San Francisco and half the state is in a 49'er Frenzy.
You said the Buffalo Bills tri-mulcast involved three FMs. Their Oldies 104 probably ran voice-tracked programming on the weekends, anyway. This may be a little different. Cumulus may feel they have nothing much to lose and everything to gain because they can save money by not running their regular Sunday KGO air staff for a few hours, while hopefully garnering at least a few listeners who will stayed tuned in after the game to catch that great ( ???) new KGO programming.
And they may also be selling the game to local advertisers as being a great deal because it's simulcasting on all those stations.
Or I could be totally wrong...just speculating.
And they may also be selling the game to local advertisers as being a great deal because it's simulcasting on all those stations.
Or I could be totally wrong...just speculating.
radio dx said:
Sponsors make the commercial radio world go 'round. Given that it's a special event I'm sure it's being packaged in a way to make it especially appealing to advertisers. I can't fault Cumulus on this kind of business plan from a business standpoint, but from a bandwidth standpoint it's stupid.
DavidKaye said:
My thoughts exactly. Seems 680/1050/107.7 can serve the FB fans well enough. All that 7-station simulcast will do is dilute the audience between the stations, thereby hurting the advertisers who bought KNBR, etc. Having 7 stations instead of 3 carrying the game is not gonna make the non-fans listen.
It is a poor idea.
It's a perfect example of why a company or group should not own so many stations in a market.
The FCC should investigate !
There is NO REASON to clutter the dials with the game while these signals could be used for their normal purpose,this game is not a national emergency.
Investigate Cumulus for " improper use of the frequencies ".
alok
It's a perfect example of why a company or group should not own so many stations in a market.
The FCC should investigate !
There is NO REASON to clutter the dials with the game while these signals could be used for their normal purpose,this game is not a national emergency.
Investigate Cumulus for " improper use of the frequencies ".
alok
alok said:
Investigate what? Something that is arguably stupid, but legal?
The right to own that many frequencies in a market has been settled law since 1996. Short of changing that law, there's not much that can be done. Nobody complains when some charitable broadcast (Haiti Earthquake Relief, USA for Africa, etc.) runs on a dozen different TV networks at once. Granted, this is a sporting event, so it's a little different, but it's only for a few hours, so it's hard to see the harm.
No body said what they are doing is llegal ,but most of us seem to say it is stupid. As far as comparing this to a charitable organization airing a program on a number of networks or stations . . . . the NFL ,this game ,the 49ers are not charitable groups in need !
Sure it can't be investigated . . . but it sure shows how stupid it is. The people that run Cumulus do not know what to do with their stations ,so they air the same thing on them ,when they think it'll be a great idea.
Real imaginative ???
alok
Sure it can't be investigated . . . but it sure shows how stupid it is. The people that run Cumulus do not know what to do with their stations ,so they air the same thing on them ,when they think it'll be a great idea.
Real imaginative ???
alok
Lkeller said:
Moveover, in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, the CC and Entercom clusters joined forces for round-the-clock coverage on all of their stations. They had to as all the FM stations had to ration fuel in order to maintain some broadcast schedule (as the city was basically isolated for such an extended period).
alok said:
Cumulus is a "too big to fail" company as it is. Let them go bankrupt (just like Citadel did) on their own accord. And they will. It's the cycle of life.
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