Dallas-Fort Worth Radio Ratings November 2022

[Mediafrog+]

I’ve wondered for a while if KLUV could be a candidate to become “BIG 98.7”…

That reminds me of a comment Lance Venta made on this board a few weeks ago:

Certain stations have potentially more value to a buyer for their brand names which could lead to a deal between a company in financial distress and a buyer with a seemingly unlimited budget to keep growing thanks to their very large donor base and trying to prevent an upstart competitor from beating them into getting a Cedar Hill based signal. Based on what I've been hearing a sale of this type could be made in the coming weeks.

So tossing this out there: Could EMF make a deal with Audacy to acquire just the rights to the K-Love brand in DFW? In such a scenario there would be new branding and call letters for Audacy’s 98.7, but the format would stay the same, or perhaps be tweaked a bit. Meanwhile EMF would acquire some other DFW station and place its national K-Love programming on that signal.

Far fetched or a real possibility?

 

[victorres43]

I knew a day would eventually be coming that 98.7 gets shoehorned by 100.3. Back when 100.3 first flipped to Jack there were clear distinctions between classic and adult hits. Classic hits was going to be later 60s-early 80s mostly pop oldies. Adult hits/Jack was going to be 70s/80s/90s+ “we play anything” but an emphasis on 80s rock. Classic hits has evolved but adult hits is still pretty much in the same place (you may not hear 60s or as much 70s now), so you have two formats that are different yet share a lot of audience.

It’s still working in LA. KRTH is definitely a rock leaning classic hits station, while KCBS is a rock friendly adult hits station. KLUV is already pretty rock leaning for a classic hits station (as per Audacy norm), but if they went the WOGL direction of adding tracks like “Better Man” that’s stating to get in Jack territory pretty heavily. It’s definitely becoming a much more narrow line to walk.

If KLUV did go BIG, it’d probably be a lot more like the Phoenix station than Philadelphia.

KCBS-FM plays plenty of Alternative from not just the 80s and 90s, but also from the 2000s and beyond. So there is a distinction, even if KRTH is more New Wave/Alternative friendly for a Classic Hits station (but not completely immune to Rhythmic material).

KLUV can be more pop friendly, but DFW has a noticeable appetite for Rock and Country. (KHKS has a somewhat more heartland/less rhythmic sound compared to the likes of KIIS.) A lower proportion of non-black listeners are seeking Rhythmic-oriented music in the Metroplex, or so it seems.

 

[E-Cam]

I’ve wondered for a while if KLUV could be a candidate to become “BIG 98.7”…

Wouldn't even surprise me if they are quietly looking to divest 93.3.

This is probably the perfect recipe for EMF to buy 93.3 (as they did buy a cluster of Cumulus stations a few years ago) and make it a K-Love station. But I'm sure there's more to that than a basic recipe.

 

[TheBigA]

This is probably the perfect recipe for EMF to buy 93.3

They could have bought 103.3 last year.

 

[MarkW]

Well, it took time for KJR-FM to have salvagable ratings. Note that sports/talk stations bill highly, even if the ratings are not amazing. WFAN is said to be a good example of this.

Any notion that WFAN's ratings are somehow not good is untrue. Station performs extremely well in male demos, and with the exception of maybe a couple short-lived blips, that's been the case for years. True, their billing power ratio has also long been better than average.

If you are going to make a male-targeted, non-urban radio buy in NYC, chances are you're going to want your advertising to run on either WFAN, Q104.3 or ESPN 98.7 (whose ratings are much lower than the other two).

 

[sox fan matt]

It takes time to

I’m clueless of the demos, but putting WBAP on 93.3 seems like it would be a bad idea. You’re eliminating a revenue stream from an extra format (Hot), and trading in a MUCH more demographically friendly station to simulcast one that’s heavily 55+. Stations like KYW are a bit of a different animal as they’re all News, heavy 55+ but more likely to get listeners that wouldn’t tune to AM. The listeners WBAP and its flavor of talk attract are likely content with AM, especially on a blowtorch like WBAP where the signal is strong enough to still overcome most interference.

The consensus seems to be that placing a talk station on FM can stop the bleeding if the station is falling off a cliff or to save the audience if AM is affecting it retaining listeners. But I don’t think putting an increasingly aging format on a FM signal that’s making its own money is the best idea right now.

WBAP has had an FM simulcast on 96.7 in the late 00s (way better signal for the format than 93.3), but they didn’t go to any moves to keep an FM simulcast for it back then when they put Ticket on 96.7 and 820 went back to AM only. So I’m sure they already have an idea of how an FM simulcast would perform. If there were significant upsides I think we would have seen the simulcast move from 96.7 to 93.3 when it was already on FM (or BAP stay on 96.7 and Ticket go to 93.3), or well before now.

I too do not understand why you put 820 on 93.3 for the above mentioned reasons.

 

[TheBigA]

I’m clueless of the demos, but putting WBAP on 93.3 seems like it would be a bad idea.

Cumulus doesn't seem to like the simulcast idea. In DC, they had WMAL as a simulcast and split up the programming, putting talk on FM and sports on AM.

 

[101tm]

Cumulus doesn't seem to like the simulcast idea. In DC, they had WMAL as a simulcast and split up the programming, putting talk on FM and sports on AM.

And if memory serves, wasn’t WMAL 630 a somewhat limited signal or struggled in parts of the market? 105.9 isn’t the market’s strongest but it seemed to alleviate the issues with the 630 signal.

Cumulus and iHeart have kept their talk stations on AM for the most part, with the exception being translators of course. Some companies, like Cox and the former Entercom seemed to be big advocates of it, but I haven’t heard of a news/talk station getting a full powered FM simulcast partner in a while.

 

[MarkW]

I like 101tm and Mediafrog's theories regarding KLUV.

I think a rebrand for 98.7 is probably needed.

I also think DFW would be a terrific market for EMF's K-Love to enter.

 

[b-turner]

From what I can gather, Christian Radio reaches 8% of listeners. From there it is divided between Spoken Word and Music. When you look at DFW, you have Salem, KCBI, Way FM and Air1. Would another over-saturate the market?

 

[AceBiscuits]

Even if K-Love entered the market, and Audacy rebranded KLUV, the call sign probably would stay to avoid dilution of the KLUV trademark, thus preventing K-Love being used as branding.

And I agree, EMF could enter the market, but there is a lot of competition and at this point may not be worth it for them.

 

[davideduardo]

Cumulus doesn't seem to like the simulcast idea. In DC, they had WMAL as a simulcast and split up the programming, putting talk on FM and sports on AM.

But that was after they castrated the signal on 630 AM by selling their transmitter site and diplexing at a different site which has towers with less than optimum wavelength for the low frequency and an antenna layout that is not able to get as ideal a pattern as the old one die.

 

[davideduardo]

From what I can gather, Christian Radio reaches 8% of listeners. From there it is divided between Spoken Word and Music. When you look at DFW, you have Salem, KCBI, Way FM and Air1. Would another over-saturate the market?

If you look at cume rather than share, the Christian formats... ranging from rock to AC to preaching & teaching... reach an even higher percentage.

 

[Mediafrog+]

From what I can gather, Christian Radio reaches 8% of listeners. From there it is divided between Spoken Word and Music. When you look at DFW, you have Salem, KCBI, Way FM and Air1. Would another over-saturate the market?

A cardinal de facto rule of radio broadcasting in the U.S.: “There is no such thing as too many religious stations in a market.”🤪

Even if K-Love entered the market, and Audacy rebranded KLUV, the call sign probably would stay to avoid dilution of the KLUV trademark, thus preventing K-Love being used as branding.

Not sure what you’re trying to say here. The KLUV call could be moved to whatever station EMF purchases in DFW, or moved out of the market altogether. How would the brand be diluted?

Two stations to keep an eye on: KRNB, whose format could be moved to 104.5 under a new owner should Service Broadcasting decide to cash in. EMF would get the 105.7 signal, which has proven it can pull in decent numbers.

KCBI is another one that could be in play.

 

[neosolbrudda]

Two stations to keep an eye on: KRNB, whose format could be moved to 104.5 under a new owner should Service Broadcasting decide to cash in. EMF would get the 105.7 signal, which has proven it can pull in decent numbers.

I could see Urban One dumping 94.5 and moving Majic to 97.9 before Service getting rid of 105.7. The Beat's numbers are now as bad as Majic, while KRNB is 4th even with that lackluster signal. I could see Majic giving KRNB a run for its money with the stronger 97.9 signal.

 

[AceBiscuits]

Not sure what you’re trying to say here. The KLUV call could be moved to whatever station EMF purchases in DFW, or moved out of the market altogether. How would the brand be diluted?

I am saying that even if Audacy were to rebrand KLUV, they would not change the calls at 98.7 in an attempt to try to prevent EMF from using "K-Love" as branding in the DFW area, as it could cause confusion amongst listeners, which is what happened in Los Angeles when EMF acquired 100.3.

I will concede this is likely a moot point: EMF probably would not use the branding either way due to the connotation with the brand that already exists in the market.

 

[davideduardo]

I am saying that even if Audacy were to rebrand KLUV, they would not change the calls at 98.7 in an attempt to try to prevent EMF from using "K-Love" as branding in the DFW area, as it could cause confusion amongst listeners, which is what happened in Los Angeles when EMF acquired 100.3.

That did not happen in LA, because, first, the "other" K-Love is in Spanish and, second, it's a PPM market where listeners don't have to even know the name of the station they are listening to.

EMF was licensed to use the K-Love name in LA with a number of conditions, one being "no outside advertising with the K-Love name".

I will concede this is likely a moot point: EMF probably would not use the branding either way due to the connotation with the brand that already exists in the market.

EMF would want to use the brand as they do not do local programming in any market and their brand extends to local outreach such as counseling, activities, etc. That's why they paid a nice seven figure amount to the heritage K-love to use the name.

 

[AceBiscuits]

That did not happen in LA, because, first, the "other" K-Love is in Spanish and, second, it's a PPM market where listeners don't have to even know the name of the station they are listening to.

EMF was licensed to use the K-Love name in LA with a number of conditions, one being "no outside advertising with the K-Love name".

EMF would want to use the brand as they do not do local programming in any market and their brand extends to local outreach such as counseling, activities, etc. That's why they paid a nice seven figure amount to the heritage K-love to use the name.

I appreciate the correction David.

 

[Loverofradio]

Seems to me The Freak is not a sports talk station so I too doubt it will take over the sports talkers. That's about like saying a CHR station was going to overtake a couple of country stations. The CHR isn't trying to and the country stations are not worried.

it’s definitely a sports station