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Cumulus strikes again!

If they do change formats on 94.1 or 102.7 it'll probably be several years out. Those two stations are now the cream of Cumulus' crop in Pensacola.

106.1 is the hot potato right now. Cumulus is probably just trying to find the best format for the little Pensacola station. I wouldn't be surprised to see it flip by the end of the year. My best hope would be 1370 to 106.1 and oldies or a WGOK simulcast to 1370, so we know that won't happen.

... oh, and who the heck know what's going on with 100.7. It still seems like a joke, but I'm sure they have a greater plan for it. I'm extremely surprised they didn't add any football to 100.7 when the season started... it's like a message from God. They jumped the gun with 100.7. Why? Was Clear Channel really getting ready to move WNTM to a 100kw FM? Cumulus would have known because they would have lost some talent contracts in Pensacola if Clear Channel had such plans.
 
I think it's possible they could switch formats, especially if the ratings tank and Cat Country overtakes WXBM (which I think is probably going to happen). WXBM was unique in the fact it was live and local all the time, including weekends. I think now that they have changed that, it's going to have a negative effect on the ratings, and therefore, (as much as I hate to say it), WXBM could switch formats. Although I agree with Poledo, I don't see that happening right away, but give the ratings time to go south then we will see what happens.
 
At least make some changes, remove ZZZZliaha and put Tom Kent on 94.1 at least he's got some flavor vs Premiere's "single" mother (who can be heard on 99.9. 96.9 and 98.5

Then again, this area seems to struggle with variety.

-Rob
 
Cumulus won't touch a thing format wise on 94.1 or 102.7. A strong country and AC to go along with a urban, CHR, news/talk, urban AC x2(for now)? That makes a sales job easy.
 
I seriously think it is time for Robs annual list of frequency number thingys and call abcs and formats because I have no clue what is what anymore anywhere down that .
 
My money is still on WorstMusicNow to flip.. surprised they didn't yet.

They had a great opening before football to dump their miserable format to ESPN radio.(or sell 107.3 to Hale...)
We will just see how the ratings are.

-Rob
 
Dr voicetrack said:
Cumulus won't touch a thing format wise on 94.1 or 102.7. A strong country and AC to go along with a urban, CHR, news/talk, urban AC x2(for now)? That makes a sales job easy.
Click to expand...

Well the LOGICAL thing to do would be to keep both 102.7 and 94.1 country and AC, but you gotta realize who you are dealing with here. Cumulus is known for not doing logical things or things that would make the most sense. Nothing would surprise me at this point. If Cumulus was logical they would look at the way WXBM and WMEZ have been ran the past few years (WXBM especially for being #1 for 20+ years) and they wouldn't change things. Obviously the management at WXBM have done something right. I'm a firm believer that changes shouldn't be made unless the ratings go down or your station loses money, but that's just me. Personally if I bought a radio station and it was doing good, I wouldn't change anything, that would just make more sense.

I could see Cumulus flipping both stations. That wouldn't be the best thing, but I could see it happening. It also wouldn't surprise me if we would see the morning show replaced with some morning show out of Nashville. I think this is just the beginning of the cuts. I think Cumulus has more susprises in store.
 
Rob-

107.3 couldn't go ESPN and grab football for two reasons.....

1) 1450 ESPN. Not owned by CC like 107.3 is. They own the ESPN license.

2) There isn't any football to grab. All the teams people want to listen for are gobbled up by everyone else. I guess they could grab the rights for UWF for when that team starts. But, who would listen?
 
Dr voicetrack said:
Rob-

107.3 couldn't go ESPN and grab football for two reasons.....

1) 1450 ESPN. Not owned by CC like 107.3 is. They own the ESPN license.

2) There isn't any football to grab. All the teams people want to listen for are gobbled up by everyone else. I guess they could grab the rights for UWF for when that team starts. But, who would listen?
Click to expand...

You bring up some very valid points, Dr. Voicetrack. I think when UWF launches it's football team the only people who would be interested would be the students, and it would only be logical that WUWF would broadcast the games, so I don't even think that would be a possibility for other stations.
 
Well, just sports in general - maybe the Gators, Alabama sports.. how are they doing over WABD? A 50KW mono signal can be heard further then a noisy stereo signal. (this I know)

Hale's Ticket is doing well, could he purchase 107.3 and make the flip?
(He needs to dump freedom.)

-Rob
 
I thought 92.1 WZEW was the long time home of Crimson Tide football in Mobile? If Hale still has the Tide on 100.3 down in FWB that means he's broadcasting something else on 1480 in Mobile... there's no way two Mobile stations are carrying Bama football.

NO Clear Channel will never SELL 107.3 to Hale. Now if hale can pull off another move in like he did with 93.3 from Evergreen to Fort Walton he might have something to trade Clear Channel for 107.3, but I can't see this happening... at least without moving around the frequencies of some existing stations (very expensive).

Also, I'm nearly positive that Hale made a play to buy or LMA 1450 WBSR in Pensacola before a local turned it into 1450 ESPN. Therefore Hale has been locked out of Pensacola by someone with more power/influence/money/muscle... somebody badder than Hale took over Pensacola Sports radio, I don't have a clue who it is unless Quint Studder (owner of the Pensacola Blue Wahoo's baseball team) had something to do with it. Hale has built a far bigger "Network" than I thought was possible. All I thought he wanted was coverage of Fort Walton and Pensacola. He lost Pensacola and took Panama City and Mobile instead. I don't see what he's doing... he could be building up The Ticket sports network to try and make it something special that he could sell as a whole?

Any industry big wigs or insiders, do you see any pattern to Hale's madness that might give a clue to his endgame here? The Panama City 93.5 signal isn't worth much and all the other stations are LMAs... how's he going to make a hefty profit off this one?
 
On the other hand, there's always a way... Hale does own that unused 97.1 translator license sitting out in the woods about 30-40 miles north of Pensacola. It had appeared his mules were pulling it up the road to Evergreen to get the little AM station he owns there on FM. An AM/FM translator combo in Evergreen, AL would be worth some money. Hale could change directions and haul the 97.1 translator down to Pensacola. He would need some help to "feed" the translator. It appears Hale has been playing nice with Clear Channel recently... he moved his FWB translator from 94.5 to 94.3 to open up coverage for News Talk WFLF-FM to the San Destin/Destin area then he bought Clear Channel Panama City's worst signal, 95.3. Theoretically Hale could lease a 12kb or 16kb HD2 (or even HD-3) stream from Clear Channel (which could be 107.3-HD3... or 101.5-HD3, etc..) and use that to feed a 250 watt translator in Pensacola. I really don't see any other way for The Ticket to get into Pensacola unless Cumulus really does need to sell something off to keep the FCC happy. 106.1 or 1370 could possibly be on the market in Pensacola, but could Hale afford one of those signals and would Cumulus even consider doing business with Hale after the Highway 98.1 fiasco?
 
In such a horrific, over radioed market, how in the world could Ron make any headway on profit and sales with these signals? I haven't kept up with his moves over the past few years, but it had to be virtually impossible to reap a lot of rewards. Thoughts?

Damn, that was actually a serious post. I apologize.
 
It's doubtful he's made a dime with 1480 in Mobile or 93.5 in Panama City, yet. I assume 100.3 in FWB is doing ok... he does have the only Sports station in the market, but he doesn't OWN 100.3, he just LMA's it, he could wind up having to move the Ticket to 1400 AM/94.3 FM in FWB, that would be a disaster. Now that he OWNS 93.5 in Panama City he has the only FM sports station down that way. He bought it from Clear Channel and is now competing with Clear Channel's Sports station on 590, why didn't Clear Channel put a clause in the sales contract that Hale couldn't run a competing format for a certain number of years? Isn't that standard?
Hale's obviously working to get an FM translator for 1480 in Mobile, we have no info on this other than he wants a translator, but with WNSP 105.5 having what, a 10 year history in Mobile, I believe that he's going to have a rough ride over there and he probably knows it... if he thought Mobile would be easy, 1480 IS FOR SALE, why didn't he buy it? I assume he's got a relatively cheap LMA on WABB 1480 because the Dittman family just wanted out of radio, now they don't have to put any effort into keeping the station on air while waiting for someone to come along with a serious offer to buy 1480. When that happens, Hale's gone from Mobile or will wind up on a very poor AM signal.
I already posted that it appears Hale has been strong armed out of the Pensacola market. Stations were available when he sold 98.1 and lost Pensacola coverage, but he couldn't get one. Now WBSR 1450 has gone with ESPN and has some local content along with actually advertising the station around town...

Sports. He's been around forever with the 98.1 frequency and has managed to keep enough advertisers to stay afloat on 100.3 in FWB. What he's thinking is going to happen in Panama City and Mobile... I don't see it.
 
Speaking of Highway 98.1, their signal is bleeding like crazy on 97.5 and 98.5 and I'm not next door to the stick.

Now that Cumulus has three R&B crap stations, they should dump 106.1 and let Hale put the transmitter west.. walla, FM in Mobile.

Not sure who owns the 980 station.. but, dumping 106.1 since it's just simulcasting DLT would make logical cents but, as you guys said, Cumulus never tends to do anything logical.

I hope to hear stunting soon or all holiday music in a month or so.

-Rob
 
CCENG. Do you know what the issue is with 98.1? Not like you probably have time to even think or check things like that, but I know you love to pay attention to things like this.

Since they originally moved onto the tower off 98, that signal has been 'interesting.' What is it in the processing, etc.? 200 bays? It has always seemed to sound thinner and weaker in overall volume, compared to most other local stations. To hear it's bleeding over, especially that far west in kinda surprising. Could it be the aluminum foil on Robs antenna?
 
Tibbs....as soon as I recover from your serious post, I will try to address your question. Right now, I am speechless.

cceng
 
Y'all may recall that periodically I have offered the crazy notion that radio is still an extraordinarily profitable business. And even though this guy doesn't seem to be a great operator, there might be enough loose cash flow floating around--especially since he doesn't have to send it all to Atlanta or San Antonio--to allow him to play with these dogs.

Or he might have inherited a huge pile of cash and does this to amuse himself.

FWIW, I know a jock who inherited a big patch of farmland at a spot that eventually became a busy interchange on the interstate. He sold it to Home Depot for $10 million and for the past decade has been doing a weekend Oldies show on a local station, for free.

Life doesn't always follow a logical path...
 
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