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Fa-greed is good - Cumulus buys Citadel

50 kW blasters WSB Atlanta and WBAP Dallas are simulcast on FM. Both of those AM signals are among the best in their respective markets. If WABC were to be simulcast on 103.9 FM, it wouldn't set any precedent. Not saying that's what will happen, but it's not out of the question. :)
 
Well here it is end of business Wednesday. No deal yet. If it doesn't happen by the end of the week, I think there's a real question if it's going to happen at all. Perhaps Farid will throw a hail mary that's caught.
 
I could understand a simulcast of WABC on a full market signal, but what's the point of putting it on 103.9. Even in some parts of NYC it won't be listenable, 770 is a blowtorch all over the place. Having a static/interference/pirate plagued signal for the simulcast won't gain anybody anything.

If WPLJ wasn't the cash cow it is, make it WABC-FM and move the format to 103.9. But, 103.9 won't cover the 'burbs where PLJ does best.

So best to leave it alone on 770 and come up with something interesting for 103.9. How's about WLIR?
 
Seltzer said:
Well here it is end of business Wednesday. No deal yet. If it doesn't happen by the end of the week, I think there's a real question if it's going to happen at all. Perhaps Farid will throw a hail mary that's caught.
Click to expand...
Still nothing. I think it will happen eventually, but I wonder if something has happened?
 
I guess that Cumulus will be taking over WABC and WPLJ in weeks or months to come. Look at the other stations that the Hudson Valley Cumulus owns WKXP's "The Wolf", WCZX's "Mix 97.7" when it flips to a WPLJ clone this Thursday as the "New Mix 97.7", WPDH, WRRV, WKNY, WEOK's "True Oldies Channel" and WFAS. Cumulus owns many of the stations in the Hudson Valley area including Connecticut's WDBY's "Kicks 105.5", WEBE's "Webe 108", WITC and so on. I hope WABC and WPLJ will be getting rid of the Citadel universe and Cumulus will be the new owner on both WABC and WPLJ. That would be great!
 
BruceS8852 said:
Barry said:
In the current edition of Northeast Radio Watch, Scott Fybush speculates on WFAS 103.9 FM. He states that if the deal goes through, "it may make some sense" for the station (which is in the process of being moved to the Bronx), to simulcast WABC.
Would that be a worthwhile use for WFAS? I would hope it would instead broadcast some format not currently available in New York.
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I certainly respect Scott's knowledge and enthusiasm for the radio business, but 770 WABC has an excellent signal and I don't see the point of rebroadcasting it on FM. I personally would like to hear country music or 1955-63 oldies on terrestrial radio, but doubt it will happen.

Bruce
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Simulcasting on FM can open up the format to a younger demo set totally unaware that the AM band exists.
 
Nathan Obral said:
Simulcasting on FM can open up the format to a younger demo set totally unaware that the AM band exists.
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The younger demo doesn't care about talk radio (unless it's sports or Howard Stern). Moving WABC to FM is not going to make any difference.
 
Country is never coming back to NYC. It is hard to believe that is even an idea floated on a discussion board with so many radio followers who know there is zero ad support for that format. The demographics of where WFAS would cover be it from Ferncliff or Montifiore would never support country. Think about the 60db contour around Montifiore. Do you really see a lot of ten gallon hats walking around?

If RXP on a 50K signal doesn't draw numbers, why would it do better on a 3k signal?

How about adding a couple of people and making WFAS do what it did best for so many years? Server the community. There is a novel idea.

I agree with some earlier postings though. This deal should not be allowed to happen. Neither company has the genuine interests of broadcasting in mind. Why should they be allowed to aquire more debt and further diminish the product?
 
Towerclimber31 said:
Why should they be allowed to aquire more debt and further diminish the product?
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Neither of those things is against the law so why should they be prevented from doing either? And doing the opposite is not a requirement to owning a radio license.

In fact, as long as you're a US citizen and haven't been convicted of a crime, that's about all you need to own a radio station.
 
From the looks of the TRI article Monday, there will be more layoffs than I was expecting there to be, and sooner. Assuming something is worked out and this goes through (eventually, it will), will they be required to sell off some of their smaller market holdings (I believe this has been done before) and when would Cumulus take control of the old Citadel stations? Any ideas?
 
carolinaradio said:
From the looks of the TRI article Monday, there will be more layoffs than I was expecting there to be, and sooner. Assuming something is worked out and this goes through (eventually, it will), will they be required to sell off some of their smaller market holdings (I believe this has been done before) and when would Cumulus take control of the old Citadel stations? Any ideas?
Click to expand...

If you look at Poughkeepsie's WCZX for example, Bob Miller and Suzy Garcia had both let go over the weekend, because of the changes at "Mix 97.7" that is taking place this Thursday to become the "New Mix 97.7" as a Hot AC like WPLJ and WWFS' "Fresh" at 102.7 combined.
 
Towerclimber31 said:
How about adding a couple of people and making WFAS do what it did best for so many years? Server the community. There is a novel idea.
Click to expand...

If WFAS moves to the Bronx site it's going to serve two vastly different demographics. The city-grade signal is going to reach the very wealthy suburbs of southern Westchester and northeastern NJ. At the same time that same signal is reaching very poor, urban areas of the Bronx, Harlem, etc. So with their low-power signal what format is going to best serve those two very different communities? My guess is the station will fall to some foreign language or religious programming and be forgotten.
 
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