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Family Stations Will Sell 94.7FM WFME Newark

Strength in numbers.

No place else in the country does that exist as it does in the 5 boroughs.

New York is the hub. New York is the exception, not the norm.

Car ownership and use is freedom. Not New York, it is an unnecessary expense.

Buy gasoline in The City, not on your life.

Where is The City? I didn't have to tell you, you already knew.

"Breathe fresh air", cut your own grass, "cook your own food".

Except in New York City.

Where are the people?

New York City.

Jeff in Sa-ra-so-ta!
 
WPLJ bills pretty well on an audience that is mostly in the suburbs. They don't do well in NYC proper at all, but do hit the money demos in the money pockets.

I'd rather have 800,000 people in NJ than 800,000 in the Bronx if I were a luxury car dealer or similar type of advertiser.

It all depends upon who you are trying to reach.
 
WNTIRadio said:
WPLJ bills pretty well on an audience that is mostly in the suburbs. They don't do well in NYC proper at all, but do hit the money demos in the money pockets.

I'd rather have 800,000 people in NJ than 800,000 in the Bronx if I were a luxury car dealer or similar type of advertiser.

It all depends upon who you are trying to reach.
Click to expand...
Imagine the scenario that WPLJ were on 94.7 instead of 95.5. Would they be billing as high?

Jeff in Sa-ra-so-ta!
 
If the numbers were the same, then yes. Agencies buy on numbers and demos, and numbers within those target demos. They don't care whether the signal comes from Empire, South Mountain or underground. If you're #2 in 18-34 women, then you're #2 in 18-34 women and you'll get the buy. As long as you get numbers in the New York metro PPMs and rank in the top 5, what does it matter?
 
WNTIRadio said:
If the numbers were the same, then yes. Agencies buy on numbers and demos, and numbers within those target demos. They don't care whether the signal comes from Empire, South Mountain or underground. If you're #2 in 18-34 women, then you're #2 in 18-34 women and you'll get the buy. As long as you get numbers in the New York metro PPMs and rank in the top 5, what does it matter?
Click to expand...
If the signal wasn't from Empire, it wouldn't have the numbers. Why do you think they are there?

I doubt they are doing signal manipulation.

Jeff in Sa-ra-so-ta!
 
Maybe, maybe not. Depends on the format. If it's a format that doesn't do well in the city proper, then it can have decent numbers with the signal it has now.

If ESPN goes on it, people will tune in. WEEI-FM in Boston doesn't have a "full signal" either, but it does well. Signal is very important, but good programming is more important. FM News has a full signal, and gets beat by WALK and other "out of town" stations. WBAI has a full signal too, and less listeners than a lot of college stations.

I'm not saying that WFME won't have a handicap compared to other stations as far as reaching Long Island, but that can also be turned into a plus because now you also reach farther into NJ. Is it worth the same as a signal on Empire? No. Is it still worth a crapload of money? Yes! Would it still be valuable to an ESPN or other major owner? Hell yes!!

Here's an idea:

WFME should do a signal swap with WBAI for the station and a couple million. The radicals can save on Empire tower rent, which they are frequently behind on, pick up some much needed cash and Family Radio would get a much higher price for 99.5, given both its physical location and dial position.
 
WNTIRadio said:
FM News has a full signal, and gets beat by WALK and other "out of town" stations. WBAI has a full signal too, and less listeners than a lot of college stations.
Click to expand...

It is not the same thing to say that a bad signal with good programming can do well as to say that a good signal that is badly programmed or too narrowly targeted can do poorly. In the former, the number of people who can not hear the programming is critical. In the latter, it's about the programming being obtainable but uninteresting.

I'm not saying that WFME won't have a handicap compared to other stations as far as reaching Long Island, but that can also be turned into a plus because now you also reach farther into NJ. Is it worth the same as a signal on Empire? No. Is it still worth a crapload of money?
Click to expand...

No. Advertising is so seldom bought across markets that there is just not a strategy for market straddling stations. Were there many many cases of this, and many many advertisers looking for cross market buys, there would be an opportunity. There exists neither.
 
WNTIRadio said:
WFME should do a signal swap with WBAI for the station and a couple million. The radicals can save on Empire tower rent, which they are frequently behind on, pick up some much needed cash and Family Radio would get a much higher price for 99.5, given both its physical location and dial position.
Click to expand...

In the same vain, is there any chance that the City of New York would consider selling WNYE to WNYC so they could move WQXR to 91.5 and clear up another possible commercial slot at 105.9? I'm sure the city could use the money.
 
mets18 said:
WNTIRadio said:
WFME should do a signal swap with WBAI for the station and a couple million. The radicals can save on Empire tower rent, which they are frequently behind on, pick up some much needed cash and Family Radio would get a much higher price for 99.5, given both its physical location and dial position.
Click to expand...

In the same vain, is there any chance that the City of New York would consider selling WNYE to WNYC so they could move WQXR to 91.5 and clear up another possible commercial slot at 105.9? I'm sure the city could use the money.
Click to expand...

I think that is an excellent idea. New York should not be in the radio business, as ratings indicate virtually no one is listening to WNYE. WNYC could haul in a considerable amount of cash for 105.9, and WNYE should not be all that expensive, given the lack of listeners and the noncommercial frequency. 91.5's signal is comparable to 105.9's, so the classical music programming should not lose audience.
 
mets18 said:
In the same vain, is there any chance that the City of New York would consider selling WNYE to WNYC so they could move WQXR to 91.5 and clear up another possible commercial slot at 105.9? I'm sure the city could use the money.
Click to expand...
WNYC already tried to buy WNYE in 2000, and failed. According to the Daily News, the brokered ethnic programmers on WNYE objected and put a halt to the sale. (I don't know why WNYC didn't simply offer to hand over WNYC-AM 820 to them.)* An old NYT article gives more detail on their objections.

In any case, I don't believe more commercial stations is necessarily better. I like the Alternate Side programming on WNYE on weekday mornings. It's unique here. It's rebroadcast from WFUV-HD3, but I'm not one of the 10 people with HD radios around here, and even if I had one, the main WFUV analog signal is poor enough in Essex Co., NJ, never mind digital.

If WNYE shouldn't be in the hands of the city, then maybe WFUV has enough money to buy it and program the Alternate Side 24/7, or 20/5 or something? That is, if the brokered ethnic programmers don't put a wrench in the works again. Maybe WFUV could think more creatively than WNYC did, and cut a deal with them.

Also, how many times does WQXR have to switch frequencies? Some of WQXR's older listeners would have trouble finding the station after TWO moves in so short a span of time. That's a bit much.

(*Regarding the attempt by WNYC to acquire WNYE, this was part of most public radio stations' craze for acquiring a second, lesser frequency and segregating their classical music there, making the main frequency all-news/talk, often on the advice of slimy consultants. This trend continues. I actually prefer news/talk over classical myself, but I do not think that a non-commercial, non-profit operation's main motive should be raising as much money as possible. It's not like WNYC would have gone under if they had left the classical music on 93.9 from 2001-2010 or so. But they had to rake in more more more more more more more MORE MORE MORE MORE MORE MORE $$$$$ to pay their executives exorbitant salaries.)
 
d21ofnj said:
...it looks like WQXR has a little bit more of a reach than WNYE.
Click to expand...
Almost identical except for that little bump at the top of WNYE's circle.
Remember, those maps compare a 57dbu contour in the reserved band to a 60dbu contour in the non-reserved band.
Like comparing a Red Delicious to a Golden Delicious ;D
WNYC(AM) should definitely be disposed of as a bargaining chip.
A mediocre AM in the number one market has got to have value.
 
The WBAI-WFME swap idea is really interesting. WBAI would get a lot of cash for their extremely desirable, full-signal center of the dial 99.5, and still stay on the air via 94.7. OK, their signal wouldn't be as good, but aren't most of their listeners in the boroughs anyway? Not sure. Mostlikely, BAI will not bite because they have had very big offers before and always turn them down, as Pacifica does in LA, too, where KPFK is on a commercial frequency with the best FM signal in LA.

WBGO just did a move to 4 Times Square with a directional. Couldn't WFME do this, too, to protect their short-spaces?

Also a thought: How would WFME's current NJ transmitter coverage improve if they went to mono? Presuming this is a sports or news format, you could go mono. FME could go mono right now as an experiment to see.
 
HHH said:
The WBAI-WFME swap idea is really interesting. WBAI would get a lot of cash for their extremely desirable, full-signal center of the dial 99.5, and still stay on the air via 94.7. OK, their signal wouldn't be as good, but aren't most of their listeners in the boroughs anyway? Not sure. Mostlikely, BAI will not bite because they have had very big offers before and always turn them down, as Pacifica does in LA, too, where KPFK is on a commercial frequency with the best FM signal in LA.
Click to expand...

KPFK is on a non-com frequency, although they do have a very, very good signal. It's KPFA, the flagship Pacifica station in Berkeley/SF, that has a kickass signal at 94.1 and has probably turned down as many offers over the years as WBAI in NY.
 
d21ofnj said:
not a bad idea, but that's only if the city of NY decides to sell. Besides, from the FCC, it looks like WQXR has a little bit more of a reach than WNYE.
Click to expand...

Just keep in mind that about 95% of the at home and at work listening occurs inside the 65 dbu contours of an FM. This is particularly important in NYC where in-car is only about 25% of listening historically. The average consumer radio can not reliably pick up signals outside that contour, so maps that go way beyond that limit are for show only.
 
Unsubstantiated story has it that the WNYC/WQXR people are looking at a bankruptsey purchase of WBLS wherein they would move the WQXR operation to 107.5 and sell 105.9. I, too see WFME going to a strong buyer - Perhaps ESPN Latino?
 
I would love to see/hear the greatest classical music radio station anywhere back where it belongs, on a full class B.
Are we all aware that Chicago's WFMT is slightly grandfathered for their height and power.
 
broadcastamerica said:
Unsubstantiated story has it that the WNYC/WQXR people are looking at a bankruptsey purchase of WBLS wherein they would move the WQXR operation to 107.5 and sell 105.9. I, too see WFME going to a strong buyer - Perhaps ESPN Latino?
Click to expand...

A great portion of the worth of WBLS is the format and the billing / cash flow.

A sale to do a non-profit, low listenership format is not going to happen.
 
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