> > Suggested in the past that Cumulus move 1400-The Touch to
> > 92.1 when the
> > Susquehanna stations are under the umbrella. Then, why not
>
> > put ESPN Radio
> > on 1400? Does Starview (with 1350 and 1600) own ESPN
> Radio
> > in the market?
> > It's more than annoying to have to listen to ESPN via WMVP
>
> > in Chicago, since Starview neither station reaches I-81
> > north of Harrisburg.
>
> I'm presuming you were traveling at night, but 1350 has a
> pretty good daytime signal. Used to catch them with a faint
> but listenable signal all the way up in State College.
>
> Starview also owns 1220 outside of Juniata, and the daytime
> signal gets the north and west end of the market. Its night
> signal blows, tho.
>
> Best thing would be if an FM went all-sports. It may
> actually happen now that Clear Channel no longer owns the
> PSU rights (hence the ability to simply put the games on
> 580), and maybe an FM could come in and scoop up the rights
> from Leerfield.
>
I really don't think an all-sports FM would do well in #78...as much as I would dig it. Really, aside from an ESPN/Sporting News-esque network feed, what else would you put on it? Steelers? Phillies? Even if someone were able to buy out PSU's rights, football's only in the fall.
A local show? I'd bet on crash-n-burn with it. Get caught up in talking national sports and then you're no better off than if you left the network feed running.
While it's by no means a flame thrower, 1460's a good example of how a sports station reacts. Har-Leb isn't Boston. Would an FM do better number-wise than TKT? Yes, but it'd still be a low to marginal FM. I'm sure cost's kept low, and expectations are too. The station sounds tight for running network 90% of the time, and you do get some local content with Jed and CV football in the fall.
Ok, so what about ESPN occupying 1200? While I do think a move for "The Touch" to FM'd be wise and while I'd say FSR's network is unequivically less than stellar, where would ESPN's listeners come from? Steal some of TKT's? Yeah, I could see that. But where else? A sports listener's a sports listener, in my opinion. I just can't see people turning off WHP, River, WINK, Kiss, Bob, etc. for a sports station if they're not doing it already.
Finally, XM & Sirius both carry ESPN as well, and with 1350/1600 still cranking it out, all that does is shrink potential audience who can't find it down. It's not like there's a SPORTS niche in #78 that needs to be filled.
