do u think we will have sports station on fm

[djfrresh]

chicago need a sports on fm

 

[rapking]

Hell no! Music should only be on the FM Dial .

 

[radiotower40]

I am not a fan of sports talk radio, I need to say that to be fair, and to show I am completely biased on this subject. With that said sports
talk does bill very well in most cases compared to the ratings they get. If most of the 50,000 watt stations that are news or talk only
got the ratings of the two 50,000 watt sports talkers here in Chicago they most likely would be gone yesterday. I know WIND which is
only 5,000 watts directional does not do well in the ratings, but it is owned by Salem and mostly syndicated, and is typical of the most
Salem properties. I am not saying that is right or wrong I'm just using it to make a point. The point I'm making is that THE SCORE and
ESPN 1000 don't to well in the 12+ ratings, but in their target demo's they do very well. Now once again this is my personal opinion I think
we have enough sports stations, with 670 and 1000 being sports 24/7 720 being sports from 7-9 780 doing a lot of sports during Bears
season and not to mention a lot of small stations in the suburbs doing sports nights and overnights as well as weekends(stations such
as WJOL 1340 Joliet, 1320 WKAN Kankakee.) Now I know a lot of people do like the format and that is great, but me personally I would
not mind if they put a sports station on FM if they bumped one from the AM side.

Once again just my opinion.
As someone who is not a big sports guy I think this market as well as
many others such as Cincinnati are over sportstalked. Does anyone else feel this way? Not from a revenue perspective, but from a
personal point of view. Sorry if I rambled it a little here but it's been a long day :

 

[radio_radio]

I think it would make sense. Sports on AM works, as mentioned earlier, but what else would a broadcaster do with fine signals like 670 or 1000. WGN and WBBM have sports to bring cume to thier respective stations. I am not sure how much money they make with sports as the rights fees are so high, but if it is self liquidating it is probably better than buying a bunch of billboards...however you need to consider the opportunity costs associated with selling your sports inventory vs. your regular inventory (that is a discussion for another thread)

So that brings us back to M-F 6a-7p where most radio listening is done. AM is the domain for those of us who graduated high school prior to Steely Dan's FM in 1977, meaning that a great percentage is now 50+. The guys who listen to sportstalk on AM, for the most part, are the fanatics. If you put sports on FM, the fanatics will follow and you will pick up the casual sports fan.

I sell a wide a variety of formats. My pitch for the sports station (not the play by play stuff) is the analogy everyone surfs past ESPN sooner or later, some stay longer than others. To me, sports on FM is akin to having ESPN on cable vs having ESPN on some nameless UHF station that you sort of have to push several buttons and use a special antenna to receive. The fanatic will search it out...the casual won't.

If the combined rating for two Chicago sports stations on AM is 2.0 12+, I bet a single sports station on FM in Chicago could post a 2.5 or higher...just because of the band change. One of the AM stations will die in the process ESPN should do this, buy an FM from a cash starved group, sacrifice AM 1000 to the eventual death of AM (pay for play religion would be a viable format as AM 1000 has a great signal vs. where the pay for play religion is currently running), and be done with it.

It's all about capacity. In the early days of FM, the underpowered AM stations had to run the fringe formats. Now that we have all the FM drop-ins and more capacity on the internet, and a slowing radio economy, the higher powered AM stations and some of the FM's need to pick up some of the fringe formats. It will mean the eventual death of some of the real underpowered stations, or eventual gift to a not for profit, etc. However I am not sure a not for profit would accept 1330 in Evanston with a six tower array and 45 watts nighttime power as a gift.

Sorry for the ramble.

 

[radiotower40]

I think it would make sense. Sports on AM works, as mentioned earlier, but what else would a broadcaster do with fine signals like 670 or 1000. WGN and WBBM have sports to bring cume to thier respective stations. I am not sure how much money they make with sports as the rights fees are so high, but if it is self liquidating it is probably better than buying a bunch of billboards...however you need to consider the opportunity costs associated with selling your sports inventory vs. your regular inventory (that is a discussion for another thread)

So that brings us back to M-F 6a-7p where most radio listening is done. AM is the domain for those of us who graduated high school prior to Steely Dan's FM in 1977, meaning that a great percentage is now 50+. The guys who listen to sportstalk on AM, for the most part, are the fanatics. If you put sports on FM, the fanatics will follow and you will pick up the casual sports fan.

I sell a wide a variety of formats. My pitch for the sports station (not the play by play stuff) is the analogy everyone surfs past ESPN sooner or later, some stay longer than others. To me, sports on FM is akin to having ESPN on cable vs having ESPN on some nameless UHF station that you sort of have to push several buttons and use a special antenna to receive. The fanatic will search it out...the casual won't.

If the combined rating for two Chicago sports stations on AM is 2.0 12+, I bet a single sports station on FM in Chicago could post a 2.5 or higher...just because of the band change. One of the AM stations will die in the process ESPN should do this, buy an FM from a cash starved group, sacrifice AM 1000 to the eventual death of AM (pay for play religion would be a viable format as AM 1000 has a great signal vs. where the pay for play religion is currently running), and be done with it.

It's all about capacity. In the early days of FM, the underpowered AM stations had to run the fringe formats. Now that we have all the FM drop-ins and more capacity on the internet, and a slowing radio economy, the higher powered AM stations and some of the FM's need to pick up some of the fringe formats. It will mean the eventual death of some of the real underpowered stations, or eventual gift to a not for profit, etc. However I am not sure a not for profit would accept 1330 in Evanston with a six tower array and 45 watts nighttime power as a gift.

Sorry for the ramble.

radio_radio, Did 1330 do that nightime upgrade yet? I have not been buy there in over a year now and they still only had four
towers up, and it did not look like there was any work going on. So I assumed they were still 17 watts. If you owned that station would
you spend the money on two new tower's to only upgrade to 45 watts? I know with the 17 watts they were only one tower at night, The
four tower array is four the 5,000 watt daytime signal.

 

[BobMSmith1959]

It's just like me as myself, Who gives a damn or two shits about Sport-Talk radio on the FM band.
the FM band should be for music only. Besides, we already have way enough of Sports talk radio
on the AM band anyway.

Please help me out, I don't understand all of this nonsence of haveing a Sport-Talk radio format
on the FM band. Is there a reason why for this to happen???..

 

[mimo]

it was tried on a rimshot FM signal a few years ago (94.3), it obviously didn't work out that well, as that programming has moved back to AM on 950 last I heard and 94.3 is music again. It was already done and the listeners didn't migrate.

 

[11south]

it was tried on a rimshot FM signal a few years ago (94.3), it obviously didn't work out that well, as that programming has moved back to AM on 950 last I heard and 94.3 is music again. It was already done and the listeners didn't migrate.

It was already done on a rimshot does not mean it wouldn't work on a full market FM. Look at Nashville, TN. It is working there. It killed the AM sports station. Tell me a station like WCFS wouldn't put more money to the bottom line than they do now with ESPN product instead. It's not about how much you bill, it's about how much you keep.

ESPN would love to have access to the younger cume offered by the FM band.

I say Jimmy Swaggart, Benny Hinn, Joel Osteen, and Ernest Angley every half hour on AM 1000 and Sportscenter on FM!

 

[b344077]

If you build it, they will come. I am befuddled with the discussion of AM vs FM. My guess is that in some places, talk on FM makes sense. In towns that are mountainous like Pittsburgh where there are few big gun AM stations, Talk on FM has a good shot.

In places where AM has great penetration (delivery or sales channels), the correct format is just fine.

In Chicago where we have two strong high powered sports talkers plus a news/talk with a strong sports presense, it would be a struggle. I can't imagine anyone (young or old) not listen to a program simply because the program is provided by an FM or AM transmiter.

To say in one town it did or did not work and then to assume it won't work elsewhere may be leading to the wrong conclusion. So many factors come into play beyiond whether it was an AM or FM station.

 

[w9wi]

It was already done on a rimshot does not mean it wouldn't work on a full market FM. Look at Nashville, TN. It is working there. It killed the AM sports station. Tell me a station like WCFS wouldn't put more money to the bottom line than they do now with ESPN product instead. It's not about how much you bill, it's about how much you keep.

Strangely enough, the AM sports station here is still sports, despite competition from not one, but two all-sports FMs. Nobody would tell you AM 560 is burning up the ratings charts though.

But there's a very big difference between Nashville and Chicago: while Chicago has six full-market AM signals, Nashville has only one. A sports format on any station besides WSM is doomed to inadequate coverage. In fact, there was an attempt to take WSM all-sports a few years back - it failed only because of protests over the potential loss of WSM's unique format.

I don't sense that 670's listeners are having any serious reception issues. As long as that's the case I'd bet Chicago radio execs will reserve their FM signals for less-costly music formats.

 

[mimo]

It was already done on a rimshot does not mean it wouldn't work on a full market FM. Look at Nashville, TN. It is working there. It killed the AM sports station. Tell me a station like WCFS wouldn't put more money to the bottom line than they do now with ESPN product instead. It's not about how much you bill, it's about how much you keep.

Strangely enough, the AM sports station here is still sports, despite competition from not one, but two all-sports FMs. Nobody would tell you AM 560 is burning up the ratings charts though.

But there's a very big difference between Nashville and Chicago: while Chicago has six full-market AM signals, Nashville has only one. A sports format on any station besides WSM is doomed to inadequate coverage. In fact, there was an attempt to take WSM all-sports a few years back - it failed only because of protests over the potential loss of WSM's unique format.

I don't sense that 670's listeners are having any serious reception issues. As long as that's the case I'd bet Chicago radio execs will reserve their FM signals for less-costly music formats.

Agreed, 670's signal is simply the best of all the chicago stations, due to low dial position and the maximum power it runs. I've been in many parts of Chicago where radio reception is just horrendous, due to buildings, interference, signal loss, you name it. 670 is always receivable. My ex in-laws have a condo on North Lake Shore, where AM just doesn't come in throughout most of it, except for 560, 670, 720, 780, 890, 1000, 1160 and 1200. ONLY 3 of those signals are perfect, 670, 780 and 1200. 670 also carries further than any other station for the above mentioned reasons. It makes it as far east as Southwest Ontario and as far west as halfway between Des Moines and Omaha.

Full market penetration is one of the biggest problems American AM stations face. That's a go0d reason why the AM dial is what it is, you do what you can with the facilities you have.

 

[w9wi]

Oops. If not already guessed from context, I meant:

A sports format on any AM station (in Nashville) besides WSM is doomed to inadequate coverage.