WFME has a translator on 97.3 in Stroudsburg, PA where I live. I don't think a single soul listens to it, however I am hoping for either an alternative or oldies format (CBS-FM is starting to play wayyy to many late 80s music and hardly any from the 60s).
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Family Stations Will Sell 94.7FM WFME Newark
- Thread starter Giacomo Siffredi
- Start date
XCountry285 said:
You have obviously missed the many reports in the trades that 2012 is the year of FM talk. The transition of successful AM talk, sports and news stations to FM is accelerating.
75% of Americans don't listen to AM, and the average age of listeners is increasing. Most Americans under 55 or so did not grow up using AM for anything, and don't like the poor audio and susceptibility to static and noise.
Add to that the fact that the average top 100 market has perhaps one or maybe two AMs that actually cover the market; there are only about 150 viable AMs in the entire top 100 markets!
Take a good AM talker and put it on FM, and the under-55 demo performance increased dramatically.
J
Jersey Maiden
Guest
TheBigA said:
I find it weird how Greater Media has so many stations in Philly but here, they're staying in the suburbs. The only way I can see active rock moving to New York is if they buy up this frequency and blow up DHA. Not that I think it will happen.
It may work in other cities but Merlin is screwing up this golden opportunity in New York and Chicago. Others thinking about putting spoken word on FM are going to look at WEMP's numbers and think it's not worth trying. I think New York and Chicago are going to be safe from this talk takeover of FM and I for one take comfort in that.
DavidEduardo said:
That probably has as much to do with the content as the technology. AM radio has evolved into the medium of choice for angry old white man conservative talk, and the audience for that isn't exactly getting younger.
Put an all-sports station, live play-by-play or a solid, local all-news outlet on AM and people still tune in. In fact, that kind of station on AM still tops the ratings in many markets.
I'm not saying you don't make some valid points, but I don't think the overall decline in AM listening is entirely due to its audio issues. A lot of its stigma is for other reasons.
That's like saying that Macy's shouldn't locate at the new mall because "it's not hard for young people" to drive downtown. In retail, you go where the customers are. In radio you go where the listeners are. It does, in some cases, make sense to simulcast on a relatively inferior FM signal (and also inferior relative to the AM sister). You catch those new listeners, get them hooked, and then remind them that if they lose the FM signal on the way out to the 'burbs, you can catch your favorite talkers on that AM signal. That's why I think you'll eventually see stations like WABC, WFAN, WINS, WEPN, and WCBS on AM. Waste of a frequency? Maybe, but that's like saying building another McDonald's or Walgreens a mile or two away is a waste of real estate.XCountry285 said:That's a waste of an FM signal 32,0000 watts are you kidding me? No Music belongs of FM talk belongs on AM it's not hard for young people to push the AM button on their radio dials to hear sports/talk/newsMike said:well i hope you guys get an fm sports talker in nyc good luck
Jersey Maiden said:
WEMP's lack of early success is in no way a predictor of the success of moving WABC/WCBS/WEPN/WFAN/WINS to FM. It also does not affect the potential success of any of those established brands moving to FM. Not even close. Please try again.
Theater of My Mind said:
That does not explain why KCBS added and FM simulcast... why WBBM did the same. Or why WTOP moved entirely to FM. Or why WXNT in Detroit became the #1 station when they put the sports on FM.
With the exception of a couple of markets, most top 100 cities have from 0 to 1 or 2 full coverage AMs. Generally, any decent AM already has a viable format which is aging and which should, soon, move to FM or die.
That's not what I'm saying at all in any way shape or form. it's just that AM has a farther signal than FM does and it's great to hear Yankee Games on FM but on AM is great because if you travel far distances it's easier to receive. You can get the AMs anywhere where FMs it's tougher to receive if you are out of range of the signal. I don't understand why AM has to be on FM it's just a waste they have the same exact coverage area as for AM the signal goes extremely far. I once heard WCBS 880 all the way down in Charlottesville, VA. That's far! Sure there's static but at least you can pick it up that far.SonoSational18 said:That's like saying that Macy's shouldn't locate at the new mall because "it's not hard for young people" to drive downtown. In retail, you go where the customers are. In radio you go where the listeners are. It does, in some cases, make sense to simulcast on a relatively inferior FM signal (and also inferior relative to the AM sister). You catch those new listeners, get them hooked, and then remind them that if they lose the FM signal on the way out to the 'burbs, you can catch your favorite talkers on that AM signal. That's why I think you'll eventually see stations like WABC, WFAN, WINS, WEPN, and WCBS on AM. Waste of a frequency? Maybe, but that's like saying building another McDonald's or Walgreens a mile or two away is a waste of real estate.XCountry285 said:That's a waste of an FM signal 32,0000 watts are you kidding me? No Music belongs of FM talk belongs on AM it's not hard for young people to push the AM button on their radio dials to hear sports/talk/newsMike said:well i hope you guys get an fm sports talker in nyc good luck
That sucks for someone to be able to hear FREE MUSIC on FM radio it'll be gone because there will be no place for hearing any type of music for free. Technology is great but when for example I"m camping I'm not going to bring my computer with me or even my smartphone i rarely bring if I do camp. I don't plug in my phone to listen to in the car it's dangerous as it is. If I want to listen to music I want to put on the FM dial on my portable radio and hear music not talk. It eliminates there even being a chance for music to ever be brought back to FM ever. if anything I hope that AM improves it's sound so at least music can return to AM and have a 770 Top 40 back on or a rock back on AM or a Hip Hop station on AM. to at least be fair. Or if programming a sports station make it sports and rock because that combination works well usually. Look at 107.1 The Bone in the Lehigh Valley.
TheBigA said:
And you'll still have all those stations below 92.1 mhz to cater to the more esoteric musical tastes. Plenty of college stations have punk and folk and classical and bluegrass shows. It's just the "not quite" mass appeal formats, like AAA, pre-1964 oldies and smooth jazz that will be increasingly unavailable on FM.
In theory, the future of radio could/should be HD sub channels. It's ashame that hasn't taken off. If everyone had an HD radio and stations actually cared what they put on their sub channels there would actually be enough fm stations for most viable or even non viable formats. It would silence the whole AM/FM debate.
I originally bought an HD radio to get the oldies on 101.1 HD2. Now that station is a Jack clone called ToNY. I wish WCBS-FM would create and 1954-63 oldies channel on HD. I do enjoy smooth jazz(101.9-HD2) and country (106.7-HD2) which disappeared from HD1 years ago.
Bruce
Bruce
With all this discussion about the issues dealing with moving the 94.7 stick to ESB, I thought I would post the links to the projected coverage areas of the stations involved:
WMAS: http://radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/pat?call=WMAS&service=FM&status=C&hours=U
WFME: http://radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/pat?call=WFME&service=FM&status=L&hours=U
I'm not a radio engineer nor sure about the accuracy of the reports but I think something can be worked out between the two if the new owner does decide to move the stick.
Anyway, as I would have expected, now that they're finally getting around to selling the station, like a hungry pack of wolves surrounding a famished lamb, there's a ton of interest in what is a rarity in NYC and that is a fulltime commercial signal, even one whose stick is in NJ, possibly going on the market. It should be needless to say but fulltime commercial stations in NYC are locked down. Over their dead bodies would the owners of the 92.3, 93.1, 93.9, 95.5, 96.3, 97.1, 97.9, 98.7, 99.5, 100.3, 101.1, 101.9, 102.7, 103.5, 104.3, 105.1, 105.9, 106.7 and 107.5 sticks would be willing to give them up, barring a financial need or other issues that force them to sell. Meanwhile, there are multiple groups of people with proclivities toward the following: 50/60s oldies, alternative rock, true dance, classic soul, country, etc., whose wants are not satisfied by the stations above. To complicate matters even further, four of the stations on the commercial dial: 93.9, 94.7, 99.5 and 105.9, are noncommercial stations. I don't think there's a market that has that condition elsewhere.
I predict that the demand for the 94.7 stick, even with its limitations, would be greater than we think. The patterns that we saw with the sales of WKDN and WFSI won't be the case here. We're talking a city of 8 million people, in an area of even millions more. The problem is money, of course. Not many are capable of paying what a true commerical signal would cost. But somebody will pay good money for it.
WMAS: http://radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/pat?call=WMAS&service=FM&status=C&hours=U
WFME: http://radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/pat?call=WFME&service=FM&status=L&hours=U
I'm not a radio engineer nor sure about the accuracy of the reports but I think something can be worked out between the two if the new owner does decide to move the stick.
Anyway, as I would have expected, now that they're finally getting around to selling the station, like a hungry pack of wolves surrounding a famished lamb, there's a ton of interest in what is a rarity in NYC and that is a fulltime commercial signal, even one whose stick is in NJ, possibly going on the market. It should be needless to say but fulltime commercial stations in NYC are locked down. Over their dead bodies would the owners of the 92.3, 93.1, 93.9, 95.5, 96.3, 97.1, 97.9, 98.7, 99.5, 100.3, 101.1, 101.9, 102.7, 103.5, 104.3, 105.1, 105.9, 106.7 and 107.5 sticks would be willing to give them up, barring a financial need or other issues that force them to sell. Meanwhile, there are multiple groups of people with proclivities toward the following: 50/60s oldies, alternative rock, true dance, classic soul, country, etc., whose wants are not satisfied by the stations above. To complicate matters even further, four of the stations on the commercial dial: 93.9, 94.7, 99.5 and 105.9, are noncommercial stations. I don't think there's a market that has that condition elsewhere.
I predict that the demand for the 94.7 stick, even with its limitations, would be greater than we think. The patterns that we saw with the sales of WKDN and WFSI won't be the case here. We're talking a city of 8 million people, in an area of even millions more. The problem is money, of course. Not many are capable of paying what a true commerical signal would cost. But somebody will pay good money for it.
J
Jersey Maiden
Guest
tophour said:
So what happened to Blink 102.7 and Free FM (which still had better numbers than WEMP) doesn't mean anything either?
Jersey Maiden said:
Both were efforts to capture "the spirit of Howard" 24/7 for a demo that has no custom of using talk radio... 18-34. They didn't work, and certainly would not work in the PPM world.
94.7 can move, and should move, to Empire.
If you see the FCC's 54dbu contour of 94.7 as it is presently in West Orange
http://maps.google.com/?q=http://tr...FME&freq=94.7&contour=54&city=NEWARK&state=NJ
and compare it with WMAS in "Springfield"
http://maps.google.com/?q=http://tr...FM&freq=94.7&contour=54&city=ENFIELD&state=CT,
then take any given full Empire signal, in this case WPLJ,
http://maps.google.com/?q=http://tr...J&freq=95.5&contour=54&city=NEW_YORK&state=NY
you will see that in no way do either scenarios fall inside the protected contours of the other.
Radio-locator is a cute website, but go to the guys and gals signing off of the potential change.
As I've stated before and ""stationless listener" has eluded to, 94.7 is part of the "Holy Grail" of radio: starting with 88.3-107.5, at 800kc increments.
I sometimes have to wonder if there isn't an effort to minimize the importance of these frequency allocations. But then I think that, after all, this is just a discussion board.
Move it, then spin the format wheel.
Unless Pillar of Fire gets it. (yeah, I read non-comm to comm license, too - big deal. Buy the station, first.)
Jeff in Sa-ra-so-ta!
If you see the FCC's 54dbu contour of 94.7 as it is presently in West Orange
http://maps.google.com/?q=http://tr...FME&freq=94.7&contour=54&city=NEWARK&state=NJ
and compare it with WMAS in "Springfield"
http://maps.google.com/?q=http://tr...FM&freq=94.7&contour=54&city=ENFIELD&state=CT,
then take any given full Empire signal, in this case WPLJ,
http://maps.google.com/?q=http://tr...J&freq=95.5&contour=54&city=NEW_YORK&state=NY
you will see that in no way do either scenarios fall inside the protected contours of the other.
Radio-locator is a cute website, but go to the guys and gals signing off of the potential change.
As I've stated before and ""stationless listener" has eluded to, 94.7 is part of the "Holy Grail" of radio: starting with 88.3-107.5, at 800kc increments.
I sometimes have to wonder if there isn't an effort to minimize the importance of these frequency allocations. But then I think that, after all, this is just a discussion board.
Move it, then spin the format wheel.
Unless Pillar of Fire gets it. (yeah, I read non-comm to comm license, too - big deal. Buy the station, first.)
Jeff in Sa-ra-so-ta!
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