Winston-Salem has the Triad's largest urbanized area, is second only to Charlotte in Fortune 500 headquarters in the Carolinas, has the largest office market in the Triad, is the southeast's #4 banking center (just behind Atlanta, Birmingham and Charlotte), is the fastest growing large city in the Triad and has the highest annual income in the Triad (no real surprise with the financial companies, state's best medical facilites (#2 & #3 largest hospitals in North Carolina) and the large headquarters). The company that owns Charlotte's second largest hospital is headquartered in Winston-Salem. And Winston-Salem is largely overlooked by radio with Hitz 94 having the best FM signal over the city! Also Winston-Salem is now only 3,000 people behind Greensboro in population, after a recent annexation. In the 2010 Census, it is very likely the metro area will change names back to Winston-Salem again. Winston-Salem was the state's largest city at one time and was second largest (behind Charlotte) for a number of years after that and had a better skyline than Charlotte until around 1980. I don't see Greensboro as the lead city. They have an industrial, hotel/retail and distribution based ecomony that isn't doing too well and that is what they want to expand their economy with. Greensboro is #15 in the nation for most lost jobs. Basing which city is the leading city on population inside the city limits alone doesn't give you a clear picture. Afterall, Charlotte has a larger city population than Atlanta, but I don't think anyone would say Charlotte is the main city in the southeast.
I have seen Hitz 94 around Winston-Salem, at the weekly Summer on Trade downtown concert series, they share Smitty's Notes guide to things to do in Winston-Salem and appear in a number of Winston-Salem magazines, but their format isn't very popular in the Triad market. 98.7 isn't doing much better with the same format and complete coverage of all the market. They must try something new. And if you think their coverage of the Triad is bad, their coverage of fast growing Union and York County is much worse and the signal will have a hard time getting through those thick walls in the fast growing southern Charlotte office market. Southern Charlotte is where the wealth and suburban growth in Charlotte is. Also there's a 93.9 translator near the Charlotte-Douglass Airport. I listen to Hitz when I'm in the area and know how bad the signal is as you reach the Gaston County line. They won't do much better in Charlotte, unless they move and then you're still talking about a rimshot signal, with problems from 104.7 on the north end, where their best signal is. They will have to pick one or the other. A Charlotte rimshot or what almost amounts to a Triad rimshot, due to the directional signal.
You can make a multi-market station profitable, but you can't be a winner in several markets. You still need to focus on one to make the most money, while spending the least. I see another opening for an urban or an urban gospel outlet. I wouldn't try the latest format fads (like all 80's or Jack - sort of what they are doing now). Hitz has to stop chasing the fads and select one stable format they can use to make money long term. I could see an urban doing well in both markets and being very profitable. 94-5 The Beat had a directional signal and problems in Winston-Salem from their Hitz 94 shortspacing. They had almost no signal to the south and west. Still, they had good numbers before they flipped.
