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Huntsville Cumulus sells WWFF-FM 93.3

passtheword

passtheword

True, but I'm referring to the selloff beginning as a result of/following the latest bankruptcy.
 
what about Nash Icon format... what they gonna do about that format branding...?
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Well, for WWFF...they'll toss the "Nash" branding. The new owners will install a christian format on 93.3, presumably their Joy FM.
 
While the 93.3 FM is a great signal for RTN in the Huntsville market, what can they accomplish, considering there are other CCM stations, such as K-Love, Air-1, Way-FM, along with several teaching and preaching stations in the Huntsville area?
 
Ke4kls said:
While the 93.3 FM is a great signal for RTN in the Huntsville market, what can they accomplish, considering there are other CCM stations, such as K-Love, Air-1, Way-FM, along with several teaching and preaching stations in the Huntsville area?
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There will be a very saturated market in Huntsville for Christian Contemporary, but The Joy FM will have the best signal of them all once on the air. It'll be interesting to see which station wins out for the most listeners.

93.3 has been a cursed frequency since it signed on and that didn't change when Cumulus aquired it. It's had loads of different formats and the only one I can remember ever being successful was its brief time as urban "Power 93.3," WHRP. They were beating rimshot, WEUP by a good bit when they decided to transition to Urban AC hoping for better profits. Urban AC was absent in the market at the time and mainstream urban has a bad history of not selling well in the Huntsville market. They since moved urban AC to the weaker 94.1 to try for a more profitable format on the bigger signal. It never made any sense to me going back to country for a 3rd time. It's been country under four different brands. "The Possum," WPZM when owned by Athens Broadcasting, then three times under Cumulus as "US 93," WUSX, "93.3 The Wolf," WWFF, and the current "93-3 Nash Icon." None of them have ever profitted well or come anywhere close to beating WDRM. Cumulus is hurting for cash, so I'm not surprised they decided to just sell it.
 
Ke4kls said:
While the 93.3 FM is a great signal for RTN in the Huntsville market, what can they accomplish, considering there are other CCM stations, such as K-Love, Air-1, Way-FM, along with several teaching and preaching stations in the Huntsville area?
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Just like commercial radio competes for ad dollars, these organizations are competing for donations. That's why you're more likely to see billboards for a Christian non-comm than any other radio station these days. They all have formulas on how much money they can bring in from a signal based on population counts and other analytics.
 
RollTide said:
93.3 has been a cursed frequency since it signed on and that didn't change when Cumulus aquired it. It's had loads of different formats and the only one I can remember ever being successful was its brief time as urban "Power 93.3," WHRP. They were beating rimshot, WEUP by a good bit when they decided to transition to Urban AC hoping for better profits. Urban AC was absent in the market at the time and mainstream urban has a bad history of not selling well in the Huntsville market. They since moved urban AC to the weaker 94.1 to try for a more profitable format on the bigger signal.
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Seems like WKQD "Power 93.3" did okay when it was Top-40 and, later, classic rock, but the classic rock format didn't last long. The story I'd always heard was that it had been a thorn in WZYP's side for a long time. So, 'ZYP came in, took it over, and dumped the format. At the time the classic rock format was dropped, WTAK was the only other rock station in the market, and it was a daytimer on AM. WKDF might've had its translator in Huntsville, too, at the time.

RollTide said:
It never made any sense to me going back to country for a 3rd time. It's been country under four different brands. "The Possum," WPZM when owned by Athens Broadcasting, then three times under Cumulus as "US 93," WUSX, "93.3 The Wolf," WWFF, and the current "93-3 Nash Icon." None of them have ever profitted well or come anywhere close to beating WDRM. Cumulus is hurting for cash, so I'm not surprised they decided to just sell it.
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Don't forget about WHVK, which is what it was between WKQD and WPZM. It was mostly a country format, though it peppered some classic rock in, too. WVNN simulcasted some WHVK programming, too, in its early days. WHVK fared poorly, as well. It was the first LMA in the market, and I seem to remember it was before the FCC had ruled such arrangements were legal so long as the original licensee maintained control. So, it did get some blowback, but it, of course, went nowhere, and, until this deal closes, 93.3 will have been paired with WZYP for over 35 years.
 
I always cringe when I see the expression "cursed frequency" used in these forums. Is there any evidence that a station's frequency can be blamed for continued poor performance in multiple formats and/or under multiple owners?
 
CTListener said:
I always cringe when I see the expression "cursed frequency" used in these forums. Is there any evidence that a station's frequency can be blamed for continued poor performance in multiple formats and/or under multiple owners?
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It's not a matter of cursed frequencies. It just has to do with choices/decisions people make, management, staff, business/underwriters and ultimately, the listeners. That's what makes or breaks a station.
 
I forgot way back when it was WHVK it did a hybrid country/classic rock thing. Yea, that never worked either. Just drives home the point even more that going back to country yet again never made any sense, especially when Cumulus just made it another cookie cutter station with no real effort into trying to win or even be competitive for that matter. I remember tuning in to the flip when it changed from Urban AC WHRP back to country as "The Wolf." Even that was incredibly underwhelming. No stunting. No announcement of any kind. Just a legal ID, and then suddenly a country song. If listeners and advertisers have heard country so many times on the frequency and it never stuck around before, why would they stick around to listen to it or advertise on it?

Right, Josh. "Cursed frequency," not really referring to the frequency itself, just poor decisions done on the frequency. Nothing has ever worked on 93.3 under the ownerships that it has had because of scrappy management decisions and half hearted efforts, despite it having a good signal. The best thing Cumulus ever did for it was get the tower moved into the city.
 
RollTide said:
Right, Josh. "Cursed frequency," not really referring to the frequency itself, just poor decisions done on the frequency. Nothing has ever worked on 93.3 under the ownerships that it has had because of scrappy management decisions and half hearted efforts, despite it having a good signal. The best thing Cumulus ever did for it was get the tower moved into the city.
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“Cursed frequency” really is a bad term, but I suspect there's some truth to the notion that people skip stations that were either their favorite stations before they changed or have a history of “bad” programming.

93.3 hasn’t been successful in over 35 years, and the audience is long over it. Most people just know it’s never been one of their favorites. They’re not going to stop and see if that’s changed.
 
ThePowerCow said:
Always thoght WVNNwould end up on 93.3
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I always thought the same. I never understood why that never happened. I thought maybe WVNN-FM would move to 93.3 and 92.5/94.1 would return to a simulcast airing urban A/C. 92.5 signal by itself is terrible in most of Huntsville. Considering the entire radio market consists of Madison, Limestone, and Morgan counties, I never really liked the splitting that simulcast move. Neither signal covers the whole market well on their own but together worked really well as far as signal strength goes.
 


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