Daytime only am

[firepoint525]

If one of your 50+ year old listeners does go out after 7pm, turns on the radio, and you are not there, they will punch up another station. The next morning, when they get in the car, its THAT station which will come up when they turn the radio on. Not yours!

My parents were, and still are, FIERCELY loyal to the station(s) that they listen to. If your scenario arose, they would simply punch up their favorite station the next morning.

 

[amfmxm]

WAMO in Pittsburgh has an FM translator--and a pretty good one: 99 watts @ 925 feet, HAAT, essentially a Class A signal. Some of y'all may remember that Sheridan sold their Class B Urban to the Catholics and left Pittsburgh as the only Top 25 market in America without an urban station, so these guys (very creatively) jumped in to fill the gap. Not perfect, but it works. However, WAMO-AM can't be credited for the success--it's just the licensing excuse for the FM translator.

A great example of what has now become an epidemic (see CBS' 97.5/HFS in Baltimore) of Skirting The Rules. And the FCC's response has been... "Huh?" Duh.

IIRC, WRZN just recently snagged an FM translator outside Ocala to turn 720 into a real radio station. The modest "success" they've had over the years has been due to addressing an obvious audience segment--retirees (in Florida?)--untouched by the local FMs. Apparently, being the 4th Country station is more lucrative than being the only nostalgia station...

 

[amfmxm]

FWIW, I am aware of several AM daytimers that do well in very small markets. The company I work for has a 5-kw AM daytimer on a low clear-channel frequency that has a significant audience (as confirmed by Arbitron's County Coverage) and does a good bit of business in a town of about 10,000 and a county of about 45,000. They do a very good full-service morning show--the source of most of the ad bucks--followed by the Rightwing Unholy Trio--Beck, Rush & Hannity, a tough sell in local direct markets except to attract GOP campaign dollars in a year like this.

But it is part of a cluster with FM sticks that generate 3X the revenue... and the morning crew also functions as VT talent for the FMs... and cost of operation isn't separated from the cluster--so it is hard to tell whether it could stand on its own. Probably not. But we'll never know.

My last thought on this subject is this:

The Top 40 format--and format radio, in general--started on an AM Daytimer: Omaha's 660/KOWH. It started on an AM Daytimer because the owners (Storz Brewing Company) had to do something different because they couldn't compete with fulltimers KFAB, KOIL, WOW and KBON. They had to take a risk.

Within a few years KOIL switched to Top 40 and their 24/7 signal killed KOWH. And they flipped 660 to something else (Easy Listening, I believe, as KMEO). That has always been the story for AM Daytimers. If you can find a viable format that no one else will program in your market you may be able to make some money for awhile.

Just recognize that it will likely be a temporary success, and have your next idea lined up.

 

[davideduardo]

IIRC, WRZN just recently snagged an FM translator outside Ocala to turn 20 into a real radio station. The modest "success" they've had over the years has been due to addressing an obvious audience segment--retirees (in Florida?)--untouched by the local FMs. Apparently, being the 4th Country station is more lucrative than being the only nostalgia station...

WRZN is hardly what I would call "moderately successful." It is billing around $9,000 a month, and is 32nd in 12+ ratings, with no-shows in most dayparts. The billing is a third of what it was just 5 years ago.

Standards, today, appeals to persons well over 65. Boomers didn't grow up on that music, so what you have is an audience group that is really disappearing or not economically attractive to advertisers due to the economy.

Retirees under about 70 wouldn't listen to a standards station... the under-70's are listening to the talker, the country station or the classic rocker (rated top 3 in those demos).

The AM country station bills a tiny bit more. The FM country stations, together, bill 50 times more.

 

[cd637299]

WRZN is no longer a standards station. They are, I guess, 3rd tier talk.

cd

 

[secondchoice]

One point that is often overlooked is rate of return in investment. You can purchase a Class C FM station that bills huge dollars but if all the free cash flow is used to pay debt then you can go backwards with the slightest economic downturn. I would rather be an operator of a daytimer, with some kind of profitable niche / brokered programming and not have a huge debt service eating up the positive cash flow.

 

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

One point that is often overlooked is rate of return in investment.

I think you and I share some philosophy here, and we go our separate ways on other issues. I don't know what you meant to say, and I think you know the difference, but I am sure some people come away with what I first read into your post: The guy thinks R-O-I and Cash Flow are the same thing. I was something of an attachment and a novelty there when I worked in the Accounting Department, but my memory is that in the case of your example FM station, you actually have cash flow even though there is no cash in the bank to speak of at the end of the year. If you are using the cash to pay down the loan, that cash is part of Cash Flow. But... that is something of a semantic technicality.

Here is where you and I may have different wants, different goals. If I have this "station" of some kind and I am brokering time to people who are selling sleazy stuff.... whether it is a sleazy gold scheme, a sleazy bowel cleanser product and scheme, or a sleazy religious scheme... I am not having the satisfaction of being a broadcaster, a community service combined with making a living. I am simply a "pimp" tying up a frequency that could be turned into a more wholesome relationship with the community and the audience. Unlike pimps who sell access to human flesh, "radio pimps" are legal and don't need to be on a first name basis with a bail bondsman.

 

[davideduardo]

WRZN is no longer a standards station. They are, I guess, 3rd tier talk.

Hmm. They have the demographics of a standards station. What few listeners they have are in the geezer demos.

 

[Nostalgia]

They made the flip from adult standards to talk on/about October 28, 2011 so the numbers you are looking at are probably from the "old" days (pun intended).