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Five News Talk Stations in Pensacola? Someone's got to go!

P

Poledo

So now that 100.7 WCOA is picking up whatever scraps are left for news/talk programming I assume they will start picking and choosing the decent shows away from the AMs currently running News Talk. Anything owned by Premier/Clear Channel is probably off limits to 100.7 FM... so what's left?

WPNN 790 (been there, done that, still making some money)
WEBY 1330 (the super-power daytimer)
WCOA-AM 1370 (5000 watts, 24 hours a day baby)
WNRP 1620 (the X-bander!)

and now WCOA-FM 100.7

There's now way Pensacola can support 5 news talk radio stations. Especially with one being a 100kw Class C FM. Someone's got to go!
WEBY is a daytimer with one hell of a daytime signal. WPNN is low on the dial but their signal still covers Pensacola well and Papa Don likes the format and does not like change. WNRP could be working on an FM translator and if they get it, 1620 + FM translator would make a great Classic Country or oldies station or they could decided to fight it out as news/talk.
WCOA-AM will apparently have to stick around until Clear Channel fires back with a 100kw FM Talk station of their own and take back the rights to all the Premier Radio Network programming for their yet unborn new FM news Talker.

Does anyone see it any differently. Cumulus may have fired the first shot with News/Talk 100.7 but Clear Channel still has the upper hand with regards to the programming that folks want to hear. Unless Cumulus cultivates some local voices before Clear Channel makes a news/talk move to FM, there done for. Is it even possible to cultivate local voices that people in Pensacola, on the Easter Shore and in Mobile will all want to listen too? If a hurricane comes through this year and 100.7 manages to stay on the air, they will have one hell of an advantage.

Oh yeah, where does The Schnitt Show fall into all of this mess? He seems somewhat entertaining over in Panama City, yet with more news/talk than we know what to do with he's not even on the air here.
 
If 107.3 HMN fails, I wonder if 710 WNTM will be the next format. Surely, I hope not than that's 3 FM's. Two at the bare minimum is the most we need.
 
I expect most markets, not necessarily Mobile, to migrate to more talk on FM as music radio declines in affordability and profitability.

Birmingham has the following FM talk:

94.5 - WJOX - sports (also on 690)
97.3 - WZNN - sports
100.5 - WAPI - talk (also on 1070, but the schedule is mostly different)
101.1 - WYDE - talk (also on 1260)
105.5 - WERC - talk

And that's not counting two NPR signals available in most of the market. So for Mobile-Pensacola to have three FMs running talk is definitely not out of the realm of possibility. We already have sports on FM with 105.5 and maybe one day in the future 1450 in P'cola will get a translator.

The question I have is whether CC will panic and blow up HMN or another frequency or just build out that 250 watt translator they have a permit for. As I've said before, some of Mobile gets some of the same programming WNTM hosts via 104.9 out of Pascagoula. And that's a CC property so it's "all in the family". The translator would just fill in the Eastern Shore and maybe downtown Mobile.

Of course they could blow up a full power station for talk and put a music format on the translator via HD subchannel, so anything's possible.

I've asked before and never really gotten a clear answer on how syndicated programming is sorted out; technically Mobile and Pensacola are two different radio markets, so shouldn't WCOA-FM, being Pensacola-licensed, be able to host all the shows they want, despite the signal reaching Mobile and even Biloxi?

Or maybe syndicated programming goes by signal reach. I dunno. That whole part of radio is still a mystery to me.

If that's the case, WCOA would have a hard time getting much national content because they overlap WNTM and WAVH in Mobile and then all the talk stations on AM in Pensacola. This is what happens with Birmingham's WYDE, whose signal covers not just Birmingham but also Huntsville, Gadsden and Tuscaloosa. They get the scraps outside of live-n-local shows despite having a monster signal, and it's reflected in their nearly non-existent ratings.

Cumulus may just try to do what they're doing in Birmingham with WAPI-AM/FM. The AM runs syndicated programming during the day… Boortz, Hannity, Huckabee (tape delayed!) while the FM is live and local from 10 am to 6 pm. Here, they could do Huckabee as the signature national show and go local towards P'cola the rest of the time. Which would be irrelevant to the rest of us in the 80% of their coverage that isn't Escambia/Santa Rosa counties.

Going local would definitely put the hurt on 1620, since that seems to be their niche. Their night signal is pathetic and they're on AM, so that's a huge disadvantage here.
 
I'm sick of typing posts that just disappear, so here's a new idea. WABB went away and left Cumulus and Clear Channel the gift of CHR. WABD is on a much better signal that 107.3 and according to people on this here board, WABD is doing better. Cumulus had a second unused frequency with 100.7. Clear Channel has a full plate with 95 KSJ, Lite Mix 99.9, TK101, and 96.1 The Rocket.

News Talk 100.7 sucks. Could it all be a stunt? Could Cumulus be trying to force Clear Channel to dump CHR from 107.3 or Classic Rock from 96.1 and finally launch WNTM complete with Rush and a full day of top talk shows, on a mono signal from 107.3?
News Talk 100.7 isn't going to survive on the scraps. Heck, Pensacola already has 4 news/talk station carrying just about everything anyone wants to hear. But... if Clear Channel quits competing with WABD and drops CHR from 107.3 for news/talk WNTM 107.3 they would have a winner and Cumulus would get to keep CHR for themselves. If CC wants to keep competing for the top CHR station their other option would be to ditch Classic Rock... fine, Cumulus could launch a new Classic Rocker on 100.7 and do just fine.

Maybe I wouldn't be thinking this way if someone could explain to me why having one big ass 3rd rate news talker on 100.7 and having two local signals carrying Urban AC, 98.3 and 106.1, is the right way to go. I really believe Urban AC belongs on 100.7 and WCOA belongs on 106.1 and 98.3 could be used as a Mobile news talker or it could be used for something better.
 
The site has been experiencing some technical issues, which hopefully have been sorted out.

There's logic to urban AC being on two smaller frequencies: there's not much market for it in between (Baldwin County) and it allows them to run separate ads in each market, essentially doubling ad revenue for the format versus one big signal that tries to serve two radio markets.

Logic would also dictate that this should apply to talk radio, so 100.7 is definitely an oddity. But it does allow Cumulus to get their signature national talker, Mike Huckabee, heard in both markets. No matter how sucky the rest of the lineup it'll probably stick around simply because people prefer FM to AM. Strongly.

I don't see Clear Channel blowing up HMN, but instead maybe just focusing more on Pensacola where it's a more viable signal. I seem to recall the 12+ ratings had HMN on WABB's heels right before the buyout. It's possible they would have outranked WABB in Pensacola for the first time had things remained the same. WABD, on the other hand, is following is WABB's footsteps and is more Mobile-centric. They can/will co-exist.

As I've said before, the real question is what will Clear Channel do to bolster their tiny, barely audible AM talker in Mobile? It's now up against three FM signals in all or part of its coverage area. At this point, if they were to take on that 100.3 translator, it would be weak sauce against a new 100,000 watt competitor.
 
Well, like I kinda already posted. At this point I could easily imagine Clear Channel killing The Rocket and taking the rights to all Premier Radio talk shows away from WCOA and moving WNTM to 96.1 or 107.3. Obviously 107.3 would be the best signal for news/talk and the speculation that CC might move CHR to 96.1 started before WABB died. I do not see why this area would NEED two CHR stations except that Clear Channel and Cumulus will both want to win the battle, but the best way to win the battle might be with a different format...

It seems like the next big question is who will launch the first 100kw sports station in the Mobile/Pensacola dual market? We have four big college football teams that all need a FM station, we have 1 NFL team, the Saints, we have NASCAR fans, and we have these piddly little minor league baseball teams in Mobile and Pensacola. Because of the logistics required to run four college football games on many given Saturdays the only real players to do Sports right would be Cumulus and Clear Channel. Cumulus even has the ability to run Florida and FSU games on Fort Walton/Pensacola stations and Auburn and Alabama games on Mobile/Pensacola stations.
 
Well, wouldn't it be interesting to see if Clear Channel will do anything in terms of bringing WNTM as well on the FM with the upbringing of WCOA-FM on 100.7

We will just have to wait and see, folks.
 
From a sales standpoint, it will be interesting who will buy these stations. Some clients won't touch a talk station (liberal or conservative). The proof will be in the numbers, not the shows.
 
What the hell is "Red Eye Radio" it's boring. Dave Ramsey would have been a better choice IMHO.
 
I speculated earlier on who might launch a sports station. If Clear Channel takes their Premier Radio shows and moved WNTM to a class C signal, 107.3 or 96.1, Cumulus could keep Huckabee and one or two more talk shows on 100.7 and fill the rest of the time with Sports talk. 105.5 and 106.5 in Mobile might wind up being freed up for new music formats soon.

-I still think news/talk would do better with local Mobile and Pensacola signals (98.3 and 106.1) with WDLT being on 100.7. First of all it would solve Cumulus' problem with not being able to run all of WCOA's shows on 100.7... unless they have something else planned for the near future or have possibly already been notified that Premier won't be renewing Rush's contract with Cumulus Pensacola.
-We don't need two CHR stations and Pensacola has three with Cumulus owned Z96 actually putting in a better signal that Clear Channel's 107.3. Perhaps a local Mobile CHR on 106.5 would be able to compete with WABD?
-Every market is getting multiple FM news/talk stations. Now we have a half assed one, might as well go ahead and do one right with Rush and the gang.
-Rock seems to be dying around the country. While I like all the rock stations except for TK (I'm too old for Nicklebag), I don't expect all of them to survive on 100kw signals. TK or the Rocket could wind up as an HD-2 and have a 250 watt translator in Mobile and another in Pensacola. Classic Rock or Modern Rock could wind up on 1370 in Pensacola with a translator. WABB selling out to god was just the start, I'm starting to think it was a good thing. We'll have a whole new dial in two years... probably with one less Country station! It'll be more interesting to see what ADX and Pamal do than to see what becomes of the Clear Channel and Cumulus clusters. Can't imagine Pamal changing either of their formats but they really need to knock Cat Country down hard to force 98.7 to change formats. Cumulus and Clear Channel will own news/talk so Sports or music will hopefully be in 98.7's future.
-I even wonder if the new owners of the Quantum cluster in Fort Walton might sell Highway 98.1 to Cumulus in a trade for Country 105.5 and some cash to pay off debt.
 
I wish someone would pick up classic hits like the old MY 107.3
 
Has anyone found a bone fide lineup/schedule for WCOA-FM?

I tuned in around 11:45 and there was some sort of weird type talk on. The website said it was Coast to Coast AM! In fact now the site says Coast to Coast AM 12am-4am, but now that I'm listening I see that's for the AM. Had me fooled for a sec., though, since the old C2CAM guy is doing voice work for Cumulus exclusively now.
 
I think this is a stunt to get people to tune to FM. 100.7's lineup is crap, total crap. No Kim Kommando, Rush or Coast (again, Cupulus dropped Coast all over.. BAD move, I love Coast to Coast..)

I'd like to see that, *** get 98.1 push Country 105.5 to 98.1 put WFTW on 105.5 or turn it into an oldies station.

Cat Country isn't doing so well is it? How are they doing with Your Country 102.7? That's two mighty 100KW signals that can be dropped (more than likely Cat.. since 102.7 has been around for ages)

Don't forget 104.7, that station if it ever gets sold, would make a great talk station - put the transmitter up on Hollywood, be done with it, they can (still) carry the Braves games and the local Crestview content so they can still obtain that local flavor

-Rob
 
I'll try to post this again.

Hope it will go through this time.

Give WCOA FM time, kind sir.

They're new to this Talk thing.

Let them get things established.

Once they do, I can see them picking up the top billing programs. 

(A.K.A. The Head Of the Republican Party and possibly C2C)

R.D.P. <><
 
R.D.P. said:
(A.K.A. The Head Of the Republican Party and possibly C2C)

R.D.P. <><
Click to expand...

The Head Of the Republican Party = Rush? I don't even think my cousin Alec, the real head of the RNC, likes Rush (yeah, I've got connections in very high places). Besides, with Clear Channel and Cumulus owning the bulk of the Mobile and Pensacola markets, including the top news talk stations, Clear Channel will never allow Cumulus to air Rush on FM with a strong signal in Mobile. Clear Channel will flip an FM to some flavor of Talk to air Rush or just leave Rush on AM stations.
Come to think about it, Rush might just fit in fine on The Rocket: John Boy and Billy, Rush, Classic Rock all afternoon and night. Why not try something new?
 
R.D.P. said:
Give WCOA FM time, kind sir.

They're new to this Talk thing.

Let them get things established.

Once they do, I can see them picking up the top billing programs.
Click to expand...

You say that like they're brand new. WCOA AM has been doing talk for nearly 20 years, if not longer. If they don't have it figured out by now… ;)
 
Thanks for the response Mr. Zach.

I was thinking about Mr. Robfwb and his concerns for this new station, in case you was wondering.

Give their FM station time and they'll end up broadcasting "The Head of The Republican Party", (Rush)  if Clear Channel doesn't prevent them from doing this.

Since this is the first time Talk has been tried on FM, in P-Cola, they got to establish a following and get things adjusted like they want it.

Once they get those things in place, I predict success for their new presentation.

R.D.P. <><

P.S. Keep up the good work with your awesome web site, Mr. Zach.  I still love it very much.
 
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