First Thoughts on The Harbor

[Neanderpaul]

I've listened a bit online. Here's the thing: People *say* they want something different.

They don't.

How many restaurants in Boston? You have infinite choices to eat every day. And yet, most people go to the same 6 places over & over.
If you like beer, you have literally thousands of choices. You drink what you drink.
You develop your tastes, and you stick with the choices you make. Very few people will add something new, or different to their world after a certain age. You just get into "creature of habit" mode. And in New England, it's ridiculous. We hold on to what we know & love, forever...and good luck to any outsider who tries to introduce a new idea.

Welcome to radio in the PPM era.

It's all about exposed listening. Familiar = best chance of exposure to the masses.

We signed up for it. Whether it's right, or wrong, good, or bad, that's the game. We have to work within it. Those who've figured it out...win.

This thing won't be around long. Because there's no patience for the time necessary to build a real brand. It will get the initial interest spike. They'll cluster-sell it, to keep money out of Greater Media, CBS, & Entercom's clusters. And 2 years from now, it'll be something else they can capitalize on. It's not about ratings. It's about cost-per-point & bonusing every buyer with "more total cume for the dollar." Individual properties mean nothing.

Given the assumed overhead, The Harbor should be profitable instantly.

 

[Rick]

I listened with excitement for the first 48 hours, now I tune in and tune away within 15 minutes. Poor execution on the music rotation. Very repetitive. If it stays like this, it WILL fail. If I hear "Let's Go All The Way" by Sly Fox again I will SCREAM and punch a hole in the wall.

Hey Boston... Try 101.1 & 93.5 Frank FM instead (my favorite station)! Great Adult Hits station from Cape Cod. This weekend ironically, is a "No Repeat Weekend": http://www.frankplaysitall.com

Note: Codcomm (John Garabedian's new company) purchased this station and will take over sometime in August, so things may change... enjoy it while you can!

 

[Rick]

You develop your tastes, and you stick with the choices you make. Very few people will add something new, or different to their world after a certain age. You just get into "creature of habit" mode. And in New England, it's ridiculous. We hold on to what we know & love, forever...and good luck to any outsider who tries to introduce a new idea.

I agree with this very strongly. This is very much the mentality in New England.

 

[promixcuous]

You develop your tastes, and you stick with the choices you make. Very few people will add something new, or different to their world after a certain age. You just get into "creature of habit" mode. And in New England, it's ridiculous. We hold on to what we know & love, forever...and good luck to any outsider who tries to introduce a new idea.

I agree with this very strongly. This is very much the mentality in New England.

Of course, if new ideas were an anathema to our culture, we wouldn't have sustained one of the country's leading cutting-edge alternative stations for 29 years. So, I don't really buy that. I think what New Englanders appreciate is quality. New ideas need to be good ideas, rather than new for its own sake.

 

[uncamark]

You develop your tastes, and you stick with the choices you make. Very few people will add something new, or different to their world after a certain age. You just get into "creature of habit" mode. And in New England, it's ridiculous. We hold on to what we know & love, forever...and good luck to any outsider who tries to introduce a new idea.

I agree with this very strongly. This is very much the mentality in New England.

Of course, if new ideas were an anathema to our culture, we wouldn't have sustained one of the country's leading cutting-edge alternative stations for 29 years. So, I don't really buy that. I think what New Englanders appreciate is quality. New ideas need to be good ideas, rather than new for its own sake.

And what was the last published rating for that station? 0.8? Don't you mean a small minority of commerical radio haters that advertisers aren't interested in?

 

[iyiyi]

What are the best numbers that a stand-alone 101.7-- your choice of format -- could possibly garner here in Boston, then?

 

[NHRadio]

Here's a theory...maybe it's designed as a flanker.
Maybe CC wants WHBA to grab little pieces of share from other stations like the upper demo from Kiss, allowing them to better fight AMP.
A half to a point each from WROR, WBMX, and Magic, and some sampling from WZLX and the 104.9 in Gloucester P1s (who all overlap musically)combined with very low expenses adds up to a tidy profit.
Of course, I could be 100% wrong.

 

[TRF]

And what was the last published rating for that station? 0.8? Don't you mean a small minority of commerical radio haters that advertisers aren't interested in?

We FNX listeners have been motivated all these years by some type of hatred? What a curious notion.

 

[frankfurter]

What are the best numbers that a stand-alone 101.7-- your choice of format -- could possibly garner here in Boston, then?

My estimation based on the signal - probably not much more than a 3 share. Maybe 4.0 if you were executing a HOT format well and had no direct competition. The last time Alternative was a hot format and WFNX had it to themselves, back in 1994 or so, they garnered a 2.5 or something, and that was when they were the only station in town playing music's hottest acts - Green Day, Smashing Pumpkins, Beck, Weezer, etc with any regularity. After 1995 they always had competition - first from WBCN and later WBOS - both bigger signals with more promotional muscle behind them.

 

[promixcuous]

What are the best numbers that a stand-alone 101.7-- your choice of format -- could possibly garner here in Boston, then?

My estimation based on the signal - probably not much more than a 3 share. Maybe 4.0 if you were executing a HOT format well and had no direct competition.  The last time Alternative was a hot format and WFNX had it to themselves, back in 1994 or so, they garnered a 2.5 or something, and that was when they were the only station in town playing music's hottest acts - Green Day, Smashing Pumpkins, Beck, Weezer, etc with any regularity.  After 1995 they always had competition - first from WBCN and later WBOS - both bigger signals with more promotional muscle behind them.

Given that you can't pull in 101.7 southwest of West Roxbury, you'll never see this station bring in a 3 share.  Kiss 108 without Amp might get a 3 share if put on 101.7; that's about it.  I don't think The Harbour will pull in more than a 1.5, and not much of it P1s. Say what you will about WFNX's ratings, they had a devoted following, which is an effective ad buy.

Continuing to monitor The Harbour's Facebook page, I'm seeing few raving fans.  They need a different set of songs.

 

[trock]

I'm just waiting for them to play Chumbawumba tubthumping again. lol I'm just wondering what lost demented souls did that song test well for. Looking at their playlist. These are the exact same songs you can hear on any adults hits stations in the country. I thought Boston was supposed to be a top 10 market.

 

[OFFICENERD]

Has anyone else noticed the bad sound quality? They are most likely working out bugs but they are striving to sound like an AM station at night. The sound qulaity is horrible, sounds like the inside of a barrel

 

[radiorama1]

Has anyone else noticed the bad sound quality? They are most likely working out bugs but they are striving to sound like an AM station at night. The sound qulaity is horrible, sounds like the inside of a barrel

Couldn't agree with you more.

No punch at all. By far the worst audio processing of any commercial FM station in Boston.

 

[OFFICENERD]

Goes hand in hand with the worst FM signal. in town I never really listened to FNX much. I have been checking out the "Harba" on and off, as you can't look away from a good train wreck. Anyway, 101.7 has a dead spot on Rt 128-Wellesley Needham line--$14.5 million bucks--ouch!

 

[rockcaptain]

I never really listened to FNX much.

Same here and while I knew that their signal was bad I never really knew how bad until recently when I have been trying to check out The Harbor. It is terrible outside the city. This can't be what Clear Channel ultimately will be doing with it. A mass appeal format on a limited signal doesn't make a ton of sense to me.

 

[MR. JAROME_CALVIN]

They should've just changed to (Hot New Country) or put Mia 1430 on there. "Mia 1430" would've been a better choice, seeing 101.7 has a good signal around the Northshore area which includes Spanish City populations such as (East Boston, Chelsea, Lynn, and Salem, Ma) to name a few.
101.7 can also be heard in parts of Allston/Brighton. That would've been a better idea, have "Mia" on both 1430am and 101.7

 

[LA_Guy]

They need to move the signal back to the tower in Medford (assuming they still can). WFNX was a (commercial) college station, so they needed the downtown signal. The Harbor is more of a suburban format and they need the coverage within the 495 perimeter that 101.7 had from Medford.

Mike-FM was able to do mid 3s without a great in town signal. 101.7 from Medford is almost as good within 495 as the 93.7
signal is.

 

[WNTIRadio]

Mike didn't have a perfect in-town signal, but it wasn't that bad either. There were a few spots where it was tough, but outside of behind a few buildings and a couple blocks around the Pru it was good. Having a class B running 37kW 12 miles north of the city is a big difference from 3kW 6 miles north of the city, at a much lower height.

They're not going to move 101.7 back to Medford and lose the in-city coverage to gain a little in the north shore suburbs. The signal north of the city wouldn't change that much due to the lower height from Medford. Right now, 101.7 is "full power" to the north. There's no way CC is going to downgrade the signal. Everyone is comparing 101.7 to the other B's from the Pru, which isn't a good comparison... it will never be near the reach of those signals. But for what it is, it does get out pretty well, which is a directional class A.

 

[Eli Polonsky]

101.7 has a dead spot on Rt 128-Wellesley Needham line--$14.5 million bucks--ouch!

That's partly because your radio is being desensitized in that area due to the powerful signals coming from the FM 128 tower there at the Newton/Needham line, near the Wellesley line. Mostly due to 102.5 WKLB and 103.3 WODS, and also 98.5 WBZ-FM, 94.5 WJMN, and 90.9 WBUR are all transmitting from there.

You may not actually hear interference from them over 101.7, but most modern car stereos automatically attenuate sensitivity in areas of very strong signals to help prevent interference from intermodulation and/or overloading. It's like when you used to flip the old "Local/DX" switch on your 1970s or '80s car stereo to "Local" (if you're old enough to have done that), only it happens automatically.

Try other distant or weak stations especially near that part of the dial when you drive through that area, you may find that some other stations get weaker in that spot as well, and then improve again when you drive farther away. It won't affect the strong Class B Boston area stations, but try a NH, RI, or central MA station while driving through that spot and you may hear the same thing happen.

 

[Rick]

It's too bad that FNX didn't keep the 101.3 translator through it's last years. If CC was able to get that in the sale, they could have used 101.3 to relay Talk 1200 or Mia.