Cumulus shutdown tracker

[michael hagerty]

Here's the list:

Twenty Cumulus & Townsquare Media Stations Cease Operations With More To Come

Cumulus and Townsquare Media both continue to shut down under-performing stations across the country. Following its shutdown of “ESPN Quad

radioinsight.com

]

Not that it matters now, but KBOB in Davenport spent the better part of 40 years (1946-1984) as KSTT, and it was a big deal in those days, with the original Top 40 PD being Ken Draper, whose credits after that included KYW, WCFL and KFWB. Ken is credited with the "Give us 22 minutes and we'll give you the world" slogan.

There's a whole history of the station here:

History

A capsulized version of the book “Someplace Special – KSTT” by Dave Coopman Chapter 1 WHERE IT ALL STARTED KSTT first took to the air on July 7, 1946, as a 250 watt daytime-only …

ksttgoodguysdotnet.wordpress.com

 

[EricStein]

Guess all three of my Texas AM predictions on another thread came true: KIKR, KBED and KPUR.

Not sure when KPUR went back to sports, had been agriculture news a couple of years ago. Station had apparently been struggling since the demise of CHR ~35 years ago; Amarillo market also has a huge number of FMs for its size.

Even though their Tucson AMs (KCUB and KTUC) don't bring any value to the table, the tower is right next to the studio complex, so they most likely will stay in operation.

 

[ted chittenden]

Mexico’s congress declared AM dead and ordered the licensing bureau to allow as many as possible to move to FM. By relaxing second adjacent channel rules except in the U.S. border zone, about 80% of existing AM stations moved. Some AM channels were reassigned to rural stations, particularly one broadcasting in indigenous languages.

At one point, Mexico had nearly 900 AM stations, while the U.S. had nearly 5000.

In both the Mexican and Canadian cases, it was a lot easier for AM stations to move to FM frequencies simply because the governments in both countries had not allowed as many new FM stations to come on the air as had the U.S. The result is that unless the AM translator rules are changed (or are allowed to expire), many current U.S. AM outlets, particularly in larger metropolitan areas, will be unable to move to FM frequencies (I hope I remembered the rules correctly) specifically because there is no available space for them there.

 

[davideduardo]

In both the Mexican and Canadian cases, it was a lot easier for AM stations to move to FM frequencies simply because the governments in both countries had not allowed as many new FM stations to come on the air as had the U.S.

Yes, Mexico had "full bands" in the major markets. Only by changing the seconded adjacent channel protection rules could they accommodate more stations.

The result is that unless the AM translator rules are changed (or are allowed to expire), many current U.S. AM outlets, particularly in larger metropolitan areas, will be unable to move to FM frequencies (I hope I remembered the rules correctly) specifically because there is no available space for them there.

What the U.S. did that neither Canada nor Mexico did extensively was to allow so many daytime only stations. In Mexico, the bulk of daytimers were along the U.S. border, but were still allowed to run to 7PM local time all year around. Canada had a severe system for decades where any new application had to show that it would not severely affect existing stations' services.

 

[ted chittenden]

Here's the list:

Twenty Cumulus & Townsquare Media Stations Cease Operations With More To Come

Cumulus and Townsquare Media both continue to shut down under-performing stations across the country. Following its shutdown of “ESPN Quad

radioinsight.com

Minor point: Cumulus' KBBM is also licensed to Jefferson City, Mo. (and isn't being shut down). One of the Missouri stations being shut down, KJMO, is licensed to Linn, just outside Jeff City.

The KLIK shutdown is notable as the original frequency of KWOS, dating back to 1937.

One thing that interested me about this list is the number of stations being shut down that carried the Infinity Sports network. I didn't see any Fox Sports stations on the list, and I think I caught two (both a simulcast) that carried ESPN (or maybe did at one time). So the question has to be asked: Is Infinity now the loser in the sports market competition?

 

[101tm]

I’m curious to see if iHeart joins the AM shutdown trend with their second and third rate AM’s with no translator and not-great signals. They’ve been using them primarily to clear FOX Sports Radio and BIN, but why do that on AM when you’re more likely to get listeners on an HD subchannel and still clear the networks?

Then again, iHeart has bought AM’s in some recent cases to clear BIN, so perhaps they feel differently. They’re definitely not eager to put their more successful news/talk stations on full power FM’s. That’s Audacy (who surprisingly doesn’t have many derelict AM signals, and I don’t believe they’ve sold any).

 

[R.D.P.]

Makes me wonder if any of these mop and pop standalone AM signals will go off too. We have a few of them, in the state of Alabama.

Dan <><

 

[Theater of My Mind]

I'm not very familiar with the market but surprised to see WLXX Lexington among the cuts. That's not AM, not a translator, but a Class C FM.
I see it happened a couple weeks ago but just spotted it today.

 

[EricStein]

One thing that interested me about this list is the number of stations being shut down that carried the Infinity Sports network. I didn't see any Fox Sports stations on the list, and I think I caught two (both a simulcast) that carried ESPN (or maybe did at one time). So the question has to be asked: Is Infinity now the loser in the sports market competition?

CBS/Infinity Sports Network never really got the clearance that ESPN and Fox Sports Radio did. However, they did outlast NBC Sports Radio and One-On-One/Sporting News/SB Nation/SportsMap. The sports betting networks like ViSN and BetMGM are now considered the bottom-barrel sports radio networks.

 

[EricStein]

I’m curious to see if iHeart joins the AM shutdown trend with their second and third rate AM’s with no translator and not-great signals. They’ve been using them primarily to clear FOX Sports Radio and BIN, but why do that on AM when you’re more likely to get listeners on an HD subchannel and still clear the networks?

Then again, iHeart has bought AM’s in some recent cases to clear BIN, so perhaps they feel differently. They’re definitely not eager to put their more successful news/talk stations on full power FM’s. That’s Audacy (who surprisingly doesn’t have many derelict AM signals, and I don’t believe they’ve sold any).

Absolutely. There is an iHeart AM (Fox Sports formatted, all national content) in my market in which the land the towers sit on is probably worth more than the station itself, and consistently registers a .1 share 6+.

Makes me wonder if any of these mop and pop standalone AM signals will go off too. We have a few of them, in the state of Alabama.

Dan <><

The Mom and Pops are struggling too. They probably have less time than many of the corporate-owned AMs. One of our local operators is having a hard time selling his two AMs (and two pretty worthless FM translators - also leasing a third translator from a separate local owner of two FMs who can easily convert one of the full power stations to HD to run a third format on the translator), even with a "must sell fast" price reduction. They'll probably go silent before finding a buyer.

 

[crainbebo]

Makes me wonder if any of these mop and pop standalone AM signals will go off too. We have a few of them, in the state of Alabama.

One of which is in Gadsden. WMGJ-1240. Their stream went away in early 2023, but their R&B mix was/is unbeatable. Album cuts sprinkled like candy. Atlantic Starr, B.B. King, James Brown... have 20+ airchecks that I've taped from the old stream starting from March 2021.

What I find shocking is all the *FMs* that Cumulus is taking off the air. Not even selling them to K-LOVE or AFR. Just off. HISSSSSSSSSSSSSS. Full-power too!!
And translators.
Could this be a trend? Eventually, could many of these 'revitalization' translators be going away across the USA given the AM shutoffs? That would clean up the FM dial and (in some cases) allow previous semi-locals to be heard in those markets again.

 

[radioislife2020]

Cumulus filed to take KIKR 1450/KBED 1510 in the Beaumont/Port Arthur market silent today.

Guessing it might be a good moment to make them an offer.

 

[JustinT]

I was in Houston earlier this week and tried, several times, to listen to local radio, particularly FM. I was in a Galleria-area hotel on a higher floor. The dial is clotted with translators, and some rimshots, that put in a barely usable signal at best. I was starting to think that it might have been better if they broadcast at higher power, to have at least a somewhat useful signal, and let the rules on adjacent signals be relaxed. I thought the "Aurora Triangle" in Denver at 93.7-93.9-94.1 was bad, but the situation in Houston seemed worse. Withal, RD participants in or near Houston will have a much better insight into this than I can have from a few days in the city and also trying to map stations to what they used to be 39 years ago.

The spacing in Houston has to be the worst of any top-10 market. Just take a look at, say, 96 to 100 on the FM dial.

In NY, LA or Chicago, you have five full-power signals - 96.3, 97.1, 97.9, 98.7, and 99.5.
In Houston, you have three - 96.5, 97.9, and 99.1.

As you note, there have been various efforts over the years to fill the gaps in the dial. From the 1980s through 2000s, you saw several radio stations move in from the Beaumont market, but none with serious full-market coverage. At the same time, Houston is a huge market geographically. So in the past 10 years, you've seen translators squeeze in anywhere they can, many of which are co-channel. There are regular discussions on the Houston forum where we cannot pinpoint what translators we are hearing around town. If we can't figure it out, how can the average listener?

Worth noting as well -- despite Houston being flooded with translators, none are run by major players, and none offer secular English-language programming (closest I can think of is the FM translator of Salem's "Answer"). A very different story than other Texas markets where you see Audacy and Alpha using translators to enhance their local portfolios and get Tejano and classic country into the heart of town.

 

[boombox4]

One of which is in Gadsden. WMGJ-1240. Their stream went away in early 2023, but their R&B mix was/is unbeatable. Album cuts sprinkled like candy. Atlantic Starr, B.B. King, James Brown... have 20+ airchecks that I've taped from the old stream starting from March 2021.

What I find shocking is all the *FMs* that Cumulus is taking off the air. Not even selling them to K-LOVE or AFR. Just off. HISSSSSSSSSSSSSS. Full-power too!!
And translators.
Could this be a trend? Eventually, could many of these 'revitalization' translators be going away across the USA given the AM shutoffs? That would clean up the FM dial and (in some cases) allow previous semi-locals to be heard in those markets again.

FM isn't as valuable as it was in 2005. Anyone who thinks that only AM would be affected by Radio's present malaise isn't really thinking. Look at what happened with WPLJ a few years ago. I remember people on RD talking about how it had dropped in value in just 15 years or so, and it's in Market #1.

Obviously, the revenue issue is hitting FM as well as AM.

And HD won't fill in the gap necessarily. How many listeners, aside from radio geeks, actually listen to HD Radio channels? I mean -- HD2's and HD3's?

 

[PTBoardOp93]

Absolutely. There is an iHeart AM (Fox Sports formatted, all national content) in my market in which the land the towers sit on is probably worth more than the station itself, and consistently registers a .1 share 6+.

A whole lot of AM stations are not making enough profit to have value from the ongoing business, and could not exist without their cluster partners supporting the basic costs of the operation.

The problem is that Cumulus is unprofitable, even on an EBITDA basis, so they don't have a lot of extra cash to support dead weight.

What I find shocking is all the *FMs* that Cumulus is taking off the air. Not even selling them to K-LOVE or AFR. Just off. HISSSSSSSSSSSSSS. Full-power too!!
And translators.

The FMs they're turning off are all clunkers, rimshotting into very small markets. It looks like 2 of the FMs being turned off are rimshots of markets in the 210s in Nielsen's rank (Bloomington and Muskegeon), and two are in unrated markets (Wichita Falls, and Jefferson City). Markets like that are really tough these days, and basically impossible when the ratings say you're delivering a 1 share.

 

[boombox4]

Sort of a surprise to see FM's being shut off along with AM's.

Looks like by 2040 both radio bands will be hiss, static, and a few pirates.

 

[Syfy]

WAPI is 102 years old but its audience clearly migrated to simulcast partner WZZR nine years ago. Doubtful anyone will even notice it is gone.

Honestly, that list is filled with so many turnkey operations with no local content whatsoever. Just running the Westwood One conservatalk lineup, the Infinity Sports Network, Nash Icon, etc.

Wzzr is a completely different format what are you talking about. It’s hot talk in a whole different state.

 

[Syfy]

News radio 1440 wlwi has been turned off as far as the online stream as of this morning.

 

[CTListener]

CBS/Infinity Sports Network never really got the clearance that ESPN and Fox Sports Radio did. However, they did outlast NBC Sports Radio and One-On-One/Sporting News/SB Nation/SportsMap. The sports betting networks like ViSN and BetMGM are now considered the bottom-barrel sports radio networks.

I see that one of the doomed AMs on the list carries, in addition to its network sports programming, a local sports talk show, which will be moved to a classic country FM after the shut-off. I wonder if that station or any of the other sports stations on the elimination list also carries minor league, college or high school play-by-play, and whether radio options for those franchises and schools in those markets will disappear or also migrate to music stations.

 

[radioislife2020]

are they selling or just trying to save some $$ for a few months?