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Greater Media selling 950 AM is a mistake

J

Jul

Guest
And I tell you why. For me being a fan of ESPN Radio, I really wanted GM to have ESPN radio air 24/7 on 950 AM and clear most of their play by play broadcasts, but unfortunately, its been 50/50. I have been disappointed that 950 decided to air mostly a simulcast of 97.5 instead of giving valuable air time to espn radio on a 24/7 basis on 950 AM and not clearing most of their play by play broadcasts. I know nova being on 950 is going to bump some games from ESPN radio or other espn radio programming, but I would have liked to take solace in the fact that for the first time, ESPN Radio can be aired on a 24/7 basis in Philadelphia proper. That should have happened on the day GM decided to put the sports on 97.5 FM as their primary station and 950 being a secondary sports station. If GM had done this, the station would not have been sold to a religious broadcaster. I don't think that ESPN Radio will ever get a 24/7 clearance here in Philly and that to me AS A LISTENER, its a shame.
 
I wish 950 would stay as a simulcast of 97.5. 950 was good as a simulcast of 97.5. It fills holes in 97.5's signal, especially in New Jersey. I don't think the ratings will have gone higher as a 24/7 ESPN station. People want to listen to local talk, not national talk. 97.5 is local enough. 950 did air the MLB and NBA games, when 97.5 aired local talk. If you want ESPN radio all the time, listen to ESPNradio.com. I would like 950 as a simulcast but if I was GM, I would have sold to Family Radio for money instead of owning a station getting a massive 0.1 in every book. They could work out a deal with Townsquare Media to simulcast 97.5 on 97.3 WENJ Atlantic City.
 
I would have liked to see 950 clear all of ESPN Radio's shows and P-B-P, and continue to be an overflow for sports programming that can't be aired on 97.5 due to conflicts. It would be a welcome break from the local silliness that rears it's ugly head from time to time. At least 610 will pick up the national feed of the new CBS Sports Radio Network after Jan 1.
 
It would be really hard for a national sports station to make inroads in Philadelphia, a town so passionate about the local teams. Apparently WIP-AM will try, but it does seem more like a filler to have the frequency available for overflow play by play. These sports affiliates of ESPN, Fox, etc. are reallly aimed at markets that can't afford local hosts or don't have local pro teams to discuss. As someone mentioned, you can tune in to a 24 hour affiliate of ESPN at home or by satellite radio if really interested.
 
If the new CBS radio sports network has good interviews, good discussions, gives the listeners a laugh, etc, etc, it could do OK in the Philly market. I understand the passion of the Philly sports fan, but who can listen all day to a discussion of should we dump Andy Reid, or is Michael Vick doing the job well, or why aren't the Phillies bats giving better results, etc. Most of you can't get Dan Patrick or Jim Rome in Philly as 1290 the Ticket WWTX in Wilmington can't be received well in most of Philly and suburbs. I find myself listening to Dan, especially, but Jim too as you get burned out on hearing the same ole same ole each day about the problems of Philly teams. Listening to a national show that doesn't ONLY focus on Philly is kind of like listening to a scouting report of the other teams. Plus it seems, to my ear, to be more entertaining as their focus is far broader than 94.1 WIP or 97.5 WPEN.

I realize the real die hard Philly fan won't agree and will stay with either 94.1 or 97.5 rather than switching to 610's CBS Radio Sports Net, but my point is, with the radio markets in Philly/Wilmington/Trenton that 610 WIP covers, they probably CAN pull in enough listeners who want to hear more than just talk about Philly sports to make 610 survive with enough ratings and local spots to cover the local avails that it is possibly that 610 could pull its share of the load in Philly in generating money due to local spots for their CBS radio owners. The second benefit is CBS radio also wants 610 to give their new radio network, clearance in three radio markets all with one station. So this could be a real win/win for 610 WIP and CBS radio. Plus as John 1 said, 610 will be available as that frequency available for overflow play by play. Seems like a good use of Philly's 610 WIP.
 
Greater Media blew it by selling 950, when they moved 97.5 to Burlington, they took a perfect 50kw signal and reduced the power so it would fit. WPST use to have a fine signal down into Wilmington, De but I understand its barely there now. 950 was listenable there day and night. The combo of WIP FM and AM is going to do WPEN in, give it some time.
 
I get both NYC and Philly where I live. I noticed that NYC's ESPN 98.7 runs a lot more play-by-play, they ran the Giants-Cardinals playoff game the other afternoon while at the same time 97.5 had a local sports talk program. I rather hear the play-by-play especially when it's an important game.
 
BobSmolarek said:
I get both NYC and Philly where I live. I noticed that NYC's ESPN 98.7 runs a lot more play-by-play, they ran the Giants-Cardinals playoff game the other afternoon while at the same time 97.5 had a local sports talk program. I rather hear the play-by-play especially when it's an important game.
Click to expand...

New York's 98.7 is owned by Disney/ESPN. Philly's 97.5 is not.

And I think Greater Media had the baseball on 950. What it will do when that's no longer an option is an interesting question but they don't have to actually do it yet.
 
Dave, 950 comes in good in the day parts, but after sunset, we lose it in Wilmington. 97.5 comes in ok, not nearly as good at 94.1. Depending on where you are in the Wilmington area, 97.3 ESPN can come in really good, other places mostly static. So in this market WIP will definitely beat out WPEN. My guess is the western suburbs of Philly probably also will have similar issues with WPEN at 97.5.

In the car, 94.1 and 610 signals cover probably about 1/2 to 2/3'rds of Delaware and probably a major part of Western South Jersey too.
 
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