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ESPN Radio affiliation should be moved to WPEN 950 AM ASAP

"I'd say WPEN, lose Jim Rome, pick up the last hour of Bruno, dump the overnight jabroni for FSR."
I agree and will add, get rid of stumbling, mumbling, Glen Foley! He adds nothing! His lame attempts at being controversial come across as making him sound just plain stupid. I grew tired of WIP years ago except for Flyers games and the four letter network lost me when Poker became their dominate programing. I want to listen to WPEN in the am.....but Foley makes it very difficult.
 
Did WPEN-950 carry ESPN's NBA broadcasts last season? Philly is a huge basketball town and not having a radio outlet for at least the NBA sticks out.

BRNout said:
Great point! The mouse grabbed the 50 kw 1050 frequency in NY and basically ruined it with ESPN Radio - merely for presige and not to attract listeners. WFAN absolutely KILLS WEPN in the ratings. In fact, just about every New York station does. They barely show up at all in the ratings - which is a complete waste of a 50 kw signal. As you've said, I do not know of any ESPN radio affiliates that garner enough listeners to make the slightest splash in their respective markets. The programming is not getting any traction and most of the affiliates are merely throwing unnecessary RF interference into the ether while wasting copious amounts of electricity.
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1050 ESPN is the flagship for Jets football, Knicks basketball, Rangers hockey and St. John's men's basketball. In fact, Madison Square Garden renewed its Knicks/Rangers contract with 1050 ESPN just last month.

One reason 1050 gets killed in Arbitron is the signal, very directional to protect KYW-1060 among others.
 
The transmitter sites of WEPN and KYW are 79 miles apart; hence the deep nulls they have towards each other.

Dave Gardiner

WVCH 740/WNWR 1540

Philadelphia
 
DG02816 said:
The transmitter sites of WEPN and KYW are 79 miles apart; hence the deep nulls they have towards each other.

Dave Gardiner

WVCH 740/WNWR 1540

Philadelphia
Click to expand...

But, that also means that stations like WEPN and KYW directionalize their signals, making the effective power much higher within the lobes. This helps WEPN's signal in NY City, SW Conn., Westchester and Long Island. So, crappy signal is really no excuse for non-existent ratings.

The real issue is that there is room for only one good sports talker in most markets and WFAN has that niche filled in NY by being live and local. WIP seems to have it here and would clobber any ESPN affiliate that tried to move in on its turf.
 
BRNout,
To prove your "theory" that stations with LOW 12+ numbers could not be doing well with Men 25-54 in the example that I gave you of Atlanta, you asked for proof and the Spring Arbitron numbers provide it.
680 The Fan-WCNN, finished 23rd in 12+ numbers in the Spring Book. As anyone who knows, programs or sells sports radio knows, 12+ numbers are meaningless. In the only demo that matters for that format, MEN 25-54, 680 is 4th in the marketplace 6am-7pm.
790-WQXI finished 9th with MEN 25-54 despite finishing 24th in the meaningless 12+ numbers.
680 posted 4th with MEN 25-54 in morning and afternoon drives, with their afternoon show posting a 4.8 in the market, just off of the third place finisher.
12+ numbers again mean nothing. MEN 25-54, they are extremely solid mixing local drive times and ESPN syndication.
It could work in Philly if they followed the same formula on a successful AM signal with solid coverage.
 
atlsportsnut said:
BRNout,
To prove your "theory" that stations with LOW 12+ numbers could not be doing well with Men 25-54 in the example that I gave you of Atlanta, you asked for proof and the Spring Arbitron numbers provide it.
680 The Fan-WCNN, finished 23rd in 12+ numbers in the Spring Book. As anyone who knows, programs or sells sports radio knows, 12+ numbers are meaningless. In the only demo that matters for that format, MEN 25-54, 680 is 4th in the marketplace 6am-7pm.
790-WQXI finished 9th with MEN 25-54 despite finishing 24th in the meaningless 12+ numbers.
680 posted 4th with MEN 25-54 in morning and afternoon drives, with their afternoon show posting a 4.8 in the market, just off of the third place finisher.
12+ numbers again mean nothing. MEN 25-54, they are extremely solid mixing local drive times and ESPN syndication.
It could work in Philly if they followed the same formula on a successful AM signal with solid coverage.
Click to expand...

For such a narrow demo, those numbers still are not that good - if they are to be believed. And, I would love to see the breakouts because the math sounds suspicious. Mostly because the 12+ numbers are so bad and because almost all am radio listeners are over 40 in age. So, you'd have a lot of 55+ listeners at your station. Listeners who would be counted in the 12+ numbers. Chances are, your 25-54 number shrinks a little every quarter as a certain percentage of the audience has their 55th birthday!

But, I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and we'll assume that WCNN is 4th in men 25-54, apparently not having any other listeners in any other group. Well, to be taken seriously, you should still be in the top 3 for that sort of narrowcasting. This is particularly true when your overall numbers are so sucky. So it is nothing to brag about. And, that other station being 7th in their one and only demo? You're boasting about that? ::) Who would advertise there?

Put it all in perspective by looking at successful sports talk stations around the country, before making statements about how great ESPN radio is doing in Atlanta. Look at WFAN's numbers in NY or WEEI's in Boston. Now THOSE are sports talkers that are successful! And, they bill incredibly well as a result.

Put another way, do you really think that an ESPN radio jukebox can knock off an established station in the format (WIP)? Why not ask the folks at ESPN Radio in Boston? WEEI is one of the top stations in that market and ESPN 890 has what - 3 listeners? This is a more likely scenario for an ESPN Radio outlet in Philly. Unless WIP signs up with them and only airs their stuff during overnights. Which is not what Julius is asking for.
 
I have picked up KYW in Florida sometimes at night

DG02816 said:
The transmitter sites of WEPN and KYW are 79 miles apart; hence the deep nulls they have towards each other.

Dave Gardiner

WVCH 740/WNWR 1540

Philadelphia
Click to expand...
 
If 950 doesn't get ESPN Radio so they can carry the MLB stretch run and the playoffs, then 950 AM should drop the sports format for good. They must get this affiliation now I don't care how the ratings are.
 
Julius May said:
If 950 doesn't get ESPN Radio so they can carry the MLB stretch run and the playoffs, then 950 AM should drop the sports format for good. They must get this affiliation now I don't care how the ratings are.
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Do you read ANY of the responses Julius?
 
Beejus said:
Julius May said:
If 950 doesn't get ESPN Radio so they can carry the MLB stretch run and the playoffs, then 950 AM should drop the sports format for good. They must get this affiliation now I don't care how the ratings are.
Click to expand...

Do you read ANY of the responses Julius?
Click to expand...
Yes I have and I'm still standing by what I have said about this.
 
Outsiders crack me up the way they think radio stations can just move programs at the drop of a hat or how management ought to be fired simply because they don't cater to one listener.
 
Matt Nahigian just took the PD reigns at WPEN. He will make a difference there. Don't misunderstand me, They won't get close to WIP. That's like Sanyo trying to compete with Bose if their speakers were the same price. But he will reposition the station and do what he can with the resources made available.
 
If PEN just goes Live and Local they will be fine. They have a presence in the market, they are at every event, have a beat reporter at every Eagles, Phillies, Flyers and Sixers game, plus they carry college. The word will spead, they just need to get a philly guy into the midday spot and overnight and maybe get Jody a partner. It a sin that people cant call into PEN after a Phils game.
 
Jody sounds good as is. The 700 Level guys are now on till 11 pm.

Dave Gardiner

WVCH 740/WNWR 1540

Philadelphia
 
atlsportsnut said:
BRNout,
To prove your "theory" that stations with LOW 12+ numbers could not be doing well with Men 25-54 in the example that I gave you of Atlanta, you asked for proof and the Spring Arbitron numbers provide it.
680 The Fan-WCNN, finished 23rd in 12+ numbers in the Spring Book. As anyone who knows, programs or sells sports radio knows, 12+ numbers are meaningless. In the only demo that matters for that format, MEN 25-54, 680 is 4th in the marketplace 6am-7pm.
790-WQXI finished 9th with MEN 25-54 despite finishing 24th in the meaningless 12+ numbers.
680 posted 4th with MEN 25-54 in morning and afternoon drives, with their afternoon show posting a 4.8 in the market, just off of the third place finisher.
12+ numbers again mean nothing. MEN 25-54, they are extremely solid mixing local drive times and ESPN syndication.
It could work in Philly if they followed the same formula on a successful AM signal with solid coverage.
Click to expand...

ATL,

What you don't understand is that in towns like Philly, NYC, Boston where you have some of the ORIGINAL sports talkers in the country fans want LOCAL. They don't care about what's going on outside their market. In the case of National news their own local guys have enough clout locally & nationally (I.E. Mike & the Mad Dog) that their opinions are held with as much regard as any national host. Atlanta for one has become a very TRANSIENT city. Therefore, a mix of local & national works well there. WIP, WFAN & WEEI are untouchable. WEEI airs FSR for 4 to 5 hours/night and they still rank in the top 2 or 3 every book. Why? Simple the talk show hosts they air JT The Brick & Jorge Sedano are Yankee fans. The audience listens to them only to fight them on every word. You can look it up yourself, when they aired ESPN Radio they were generally in the top 5 overnights, sometimes even outside the top 5 in M25-54. Again the point is... all they air from the bird is overnight.

Comparing Atlanta Sports Talkers to any of those stations is like comparing apples to oranges. That's what BRNout was trying to convey to you.
 
No, what he was quoting was 12+ numbers for sports talk radio.
Clearly it is a different sports marketplace in the Northeast where pro sports has been established for generations in a town than in Atlanta where pro sports has only been around for 40 years!
There is no arguing your rationale.
12+ numbers to make a point is just idiotic and misinformed.
 
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