ESPN 97.3

[aindik]

Just checked out the South Jersey dial because I'm headed down there for vacation. I see Millennium has gotten rid of the NJ101.5 simulcast on 97.3 and replaced it with an ESPN-heavy format. Is there now no way to hear NJ101.5 on the dial in Atlantic City or south? That seems like a weird move for Millennium for a station branded "New Jersey" but can't be heard in north of Newark or south of Atlantic City. When did they do this?

But if they're sticking with ESPN-based sports talk, I wonder if Millennium and Greater Media would be interested in a deal that converts 97.3 from its own ESPN station in that market to a 24/7 simulcast of WPEN? That would greatly widen the Philly station's reach (competitor WIP reaches much of the area where 97.5 and 950 don't reach but 97.3 does), and provide South Jersey listeners with content that is essentially local to them (as local as sports talk gets) for part of the day, probably at minimal cost to the owner. Also, one is right next to the other on the dial, which makes the switch while driving easy.

The combined reach of 97.5 and 97.3 might make the stations attractive as play by play outlets for the local pro teams.

 

[Bill_W]

June 1, 2009 97.3 became ESPN. They switched it from 1450am which then became ESPN Deportes. 1450am was NJ 101.5 for awhile when 97.3 was Mix which switched to SoJO 104.9. Check out wiki.

 

[aindik]

Could ESPN Deportes really be generating more revenue than a simulcast of 101.5 would? If they simulcast 101.5, they'd get to keep all the ad money, instead of having to share it with ESPN.

 

[Bill_W]

Beasley just added ESPN Deportes to Philly. You can always listen on NJ1015.com. If someone crossed a wire in Ewing, NJ101.5 would be coming out of 104.9 instead of SoJO.

 

[Seltzer]

Funny...I believe this frequency was previously a sports talk outlet in the early 90s. Using ESPN when it only provided weekend programming. I vaguely remember listening on a Saturday and they were airing a football game involving Florida State, using the local Florida State PBP folks.

 

[Bill_W]

Funny...I believe this frequency was previously a sports talk outlet in the early 90s. Using ESPN when it only provided weekend programming. I vaguely remember listening on a Saturday and they were airing a football game involving Florida State, using the local Florida State PBP folks.

97.3 was WBSS then NJ101.5 simulcast then Mix then NJ101.5 simulcast again now ESPN.

 

[Seltzer]

Yes Bill. I think I'm remembering a sports station at 102.7 or somewhere up at that end of the dial.

 

[aindik]

So, no traction for my idea of a simulcast of WPEN's local programming on 97.3?

 

[Bill_W]

Yes Bill. I think I'm remembering a sports station at 102.7 or somewhere up at that end of the dial.

That was a simulcast of WIP for awhile.

 

[Bill_W]

So, no traction for my idea of a simulcast of WPEN's local programming on 97.3?

Could work? Maybe. ESPN is doing it up in NYC with simulcasts in North Jersey on1050 in Flemington and on Long Island with one of the former 'DREs.

 

[MarcB]

Could work? Maybe. ESPN is doing it up in NYC with simulcasts in North Jersey on1050 in Flemington and on Long Island with one of the former 'DREs.

107.1 WLIR. And it's up for sale. The last station owned by Jared Broadcasting (The Morrey Group). 98.5 and 105.3 have since been by Jared Broadcasting to JVC. (Vic Latino, et. all)

 

[nd2023]

I know this is the wrong board, but does JVC own 107.1 and LMA it to ESPN?

 

[deepstblu]

Yes Bill. I think I'm remembering a sports station at 102.7 or somewhere up at that end of the dial.

That was a simulcast of WIP for awhile.

WSKR ("Score 102-7"), the first occupant of that frequency at the Shore...they started out live and local much of the time but that didn't last long; went to a lot of stuff off the bird, then the WIP simulcast.

 

[MarcB]

I know this is the wrong board, but does JVC own 107.1 and LMA it to ESPN?

Nope. WLIR is still owned by Jarad Broadcasting. They're the ones LMAing to ESPN.

http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/fmq?list=0&facid=61089

 

[Seltzer]

Yes Bill. I think I'm remembering a sports station at 102.7 or somewhere up at that end of the dial.

That was a simulcast of WIP for awhile.

WSKR ("Score 102-7"), the first occupant of that frequency at the Shore...they started out live and local much of the time but that didn't last long; went to a lot of stuff off the bird, then the WIP simulcast.

That's right. WIP programming during the week and ESPN in the weekend, when ESPN radio first started out.

 

[pab]

Yes Bill. I think I'm remembering a sports station at 102.7 or somewhere up at that end of the dial.

That was WSKR on 102.7. I was there from its launch through the original WIP simulcast, then the attempts at going local again. Left in November 1992. The death of that station actually happened purely by accident.

The station was sold out of avails its first two weeks, and mostly sold the rest of the month. (We had a lot of avails, obviously, overnight.) Part of that was that all the contracts had ratings guarantees in them.

The fall book of 1991, our first book in existence, we didn't even list. However, WNEW-FM posted their best numbers ever. So did WIP. It turned out that no one bothered to register the new frequency with Arbitron. When we inspected diaries, there were a lot of "102.7" or "Score 102.7" that got credited to WNEW-FM. Anything with "Sports" went to WIP. By the time anything could have been corrected or dealt with, we owed tons of make-good spots to all of our advertisers.

That severely impacted sales, obviously, since a lot of our inventory went to make-goods. Also very few new advertisers wanted to pay decent rates for a station that, according to the official Arbitron numbers, literally no one was listening to. So revenues plummeted. Staff was laid off left and right. Eventually we signed a cash plus barter deal with WIP to simulcast their programming.

Some of my best radio memories were at WSKR. It was a station that deserved better than it got.