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Good Karma To Lease 880; WCBS News Programming To End

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boombox4 said:
But they were billing well, right?
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Much and maybe most of the billing was for the sports franchise, not for the news part.
boombox4 said:
Do ratings wars really matter when you're billing well and you're 'losing' to another station in your own cluster?
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The last few months the news time periods were vastly below those of WINS AM&FM.
boombox4 said:
Between the two stations (WINS and WCBS) Audacy raked in just shy of $70 Million in 2023, $40 Million for WINS, just shy of $30 Million for WCBS.
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And on WCBS, a huge percentage of the revenue went for the sports rights.

Remember, just for starters the first roughly 20% of billing... and often more... goes to sales commissions, agency commissions and rep firm commissions. That is why, over and over, the folks who actually work in radio or have until recently will tell you that billing can be deceitful as a metric. All news is the most expensive format possible, and that is why only the very largest markets have all news stations. And even in some larger markets, all news just can't get enough audience to be profitable.
 
luperm said:
Billing numbers are nice, but profit is what matters. All news is a very expensive format to produce.
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Understood, but none of the stories I've read about WCBS's demise have yet said that it was losing the company money. The story quoted upthread says they were in a ratings battle with WINS. But didn't way anything about them losing money as a station, or losing money for Audacy. And, as we're frequently told about ratings, ratings are important but ratings aren't everything.
 
DavidEduardo said:
Much and maybe most of the billing was for the sports franchise, not for the news part.

The last few months the news time periods were vastly below those of WINS AM&FM.

And on WCBS, a huge percentage of the revenue went for the sports rights.

Remember, just for starters the first roughly 20% of billing... and often more... goes to sales commissions, agency commissions and rep firm commissions. That is why, over and over, the folks who actually work in radio or have until recently will tell you that billing can be deceitful as a metric. All news is the most expensive format possible, and that is why only the very largest markets have all news stations. And even in some larger markets, all news just can't get enough audience to be profitable.
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So they were losing Audacy money then?
 
boombox4 said:
So they were losing Audacy money then?
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Not necessarily. But after they added FM to WINS, the numbers in the sales demos were below a 1 share and that could not sustain it for long.
 
boombox4 said:
But didn't way anything about them losing money as a station, or losing money for Audacy.
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But with news dayparts below a 1 share, they were not making money on news. The sports, which they kept the franchise for, brought in much of the revenue but the expense of all news was not sustainable below a 1 share.
 
Rollo-Smokes said:
We may have an answer to part of the "What happens to CBS News Radio" question....

According to a post from Ted David (veteran radio/tv broadcaster, now retired) on the NYRMB, the future WHSQ/ESPN 880 will be "contractually obligated" to continue airing CBS News on the Hour for 18 months–until first quarter 2026 at the latest.
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I haven't been able to listen yet this morning. Are they airing CBS news at the top of the hour?
 
Right now, 880/101.1 HD2 has the former 98.7 programming, while 98.7 has the National ESPN feed. Looks like this is the future of the stations?
 
CaliRadioFan said:
Right now, 880/101.1 HD2 has the former 98.7 programming, while 98.7 has the National ESPN feed. Looks like this is the future of the stations?
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No. ESPN New York carries the national "Greeny" from 10am to 12pm. All three signals are simulcasting this week.
 
CaliRadioFan said:
Right now, 880/101.1 HD2 has the former 98.7 programming, while 98.7 has the National ESPN feed. Looks like this is the future of the stations?
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As far as ESPN is concerned, 98.7 is going away after 8/31. It's irrelevant what happens to it in the next few days.
 
NYRadioFan22 said:
I’m hoping we get more news about that this week
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Here is "the news": there is no buyer or LMA partner out there, at least not one that wants its identity or plans revealed ahead of time.

The very high likelihood is that whatever's on 98.7 as of next Monday morning will be a filler format run as uncreatively and inexpensively as possible, and we will all find out what it is together by listening on 98.7 at midnight.

No amount of hoping or wishing on a message board is going to change that.

Again: 98.7 right now is that big empty anchor space at the mall where Macy's is a week away from ending its final clearance sale and returning the keys to the landlord.

Your best case scenario is that Spirit Halloween opens up in there next week. It's not going to become a cool indie bookstore or art house cinema. Do you comprehend that at all?
 
I tried listening to WEPN this morning, and it was just two guys yammering on for 10+ minutes without taking any calls or even mentioning the station or network. It sounded more like a podcast than a radio morning show. Who listens to this stuff!?
 
kevtronics said:
I tried listening to WEPN this morning, and it was just two guys yammering on for 10+ minutes without taking any calls or even mentioning the station or network. It sounded more like a podcast than a radio morning show. Who listens to this stuff!?
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Men, mostly in their 50s. Some markets have higher rated Sports stations than others. Places like New York and Boston where people live and breathe Sports. Other places very few listen, often the lowest rated stations in the market, but they bill well because there are advertisers that want to be associated with the Sports, or the ESPN brand. They're generally cheap to operate. Lot of network fill. For the local shows, some of the hosts are employees, some are independent contractors. Their fulltime job might be at a TV station or newspaper and the radio show is a side hustle. Might have an ad agreement with the station. Not get paid directly by the station, but share any ad revenue the show generates. Things like that. Depends on the station. Lot of things they can do to make money.

I listen to none of it. I hate Sports and Political Talk radio. That's not my thing. But I understand why they see it as generally a good way to generate revenue.
 
fybush said:
Again: 98.7 right now is that big empty anchor space at the mall where Macy's is a week away from ending its final clearance sale and returning the keys to the landlord.

Your best case scenario is that Spirit Halloween opens up in there next week. It's not going to become a cool indie bookstore or art house cinema. Do you comprehend that at all?
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Excellent comparison, Scott. (y)

I only hope that the dreamers will read, understand, and realize that reality always beats out fantasy.
 
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