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Hartford-Springfield Stations

B

bowserb

Is it possible for a station to position themselves like 97.9 country in Enfield and cover both the Springfield/Hartford area but be in both Designated Market Areas (DMA) wouldnt that be an easier way to gain revenue. Have all signals in the area go halfway say in Enfield or Longmeadow, MA and combine it to one larger market, where a larger audience could be targeted plus more listeners? For example, 94.7 in Springfield is pretty clear all the way down to Middletown, CT.

Couldnt that station move a few more miles south to cover the hartford area better and combine the markets? I mean stations like 96.5 TIC already are the main station in the springfield area for top-40 (if thats what they are calling that stuff on there nowadays) and 100.5 soft rock is a large station up there, not to mention 106.9

If the FCC could let that happen I think it would be great, now on the other hand places like Waterbury and Norwich might be a little more left out, but Waterbury already gets alot from the Bridgeport/Stamford area. And Norwich relies heavily on the New London Area. Thoughts on this? Also I know the radio market in Hartford is about #50 in the DMA list, and Springfield's is #82 to my most recent knowledge, anyone know what spot this market would move to if they were to combine? My guess is maybe low 40's upper 30's?

Thoughts on this idea?
 
Waterbury is actually closer to the West Peak (Meriden) transmitters than Hartford is. However, they're seaprate for radio from Hartford/New Britain/Middletown, AFAIK.
 
Hartford and Springfield have been separate markets for a long time. Back in the seventies I was told by a well-respected broadcaster: "To make it in Springfield you have to be in Springfield." That has only gotten to be more of a fact since then as more signals have signed on north of the border. WWYZ and WRCH were very big in Springfield when they had something the hometown stations lacked. When people have a choice, they go with WMAS, WAQY, WPKX, WHYN AM/FM, etc. On the other hand, it was no real revenue benefit or loss for the Hartford stations since showing in the Springfield book was more of a beauty contest than much in sales.

Even though they carry south through Hartford, Springfield stations really don't get much if any listenership past northern Hartford County. WAQY does the best, but they recognize their primary market as "Springfield's Classic Rock." For Clear Channel, it works fine having WPKX as the country outlet for Springfield and WWYZ for Hartford and New Haven. One of the bigger disasters of trying to serve "Hartford/Springfield" was WHYN-FM's attempt to cover both areas in the mid eighties as "The Giant."

With TV, the trend to separate the two markets is just as evident.

The idea of moving the FMs somewhere between the two cities wouldn't be practical for the stations doing just fine with the current setup. FM assignments are pretty tightly squeezed in as is. For example, if WPKX 97.9 moved south, the interference to New York's WSKQ or Norwich's WCTY could be a problem. The bottom line: it won't happen. Pigs will fly and the Patriots will move to Hartford before they combine these two already lucrative markets.
 
It happened in the Golden Age

WDRC moved to Hartford in 1936 when CBS wanted a station for Hartford and Springfield.

These days Hartford and Springfield stations go their own way as GlennO put it. All-sports station WVEI-FM/105.5 targets Springfield but doesn't aim for Hartford.
 
Hi,
I sent this to the Northern New England forum and saw it on the Connecticut forum. Here it is again just in case. (Sounds like an announcer's name.)

Hey Bowserb,
Let's see if I can give you some insight. Stations in Hartford and Springfield have always crossed paths. Drop the DMA. You have to look at the Metro, the TSA, (Total survey audience,) and the TSL, (Time spent listening.) I was on the air at WACKY 102 FM (WAQY,) which is now, I thing, Album Oriented Rock before going to WDRC FM for 10 years. When I worked at WACKY doing afternoon drive, I beat WTIC FM in their own book. The Arbitron rating system is broken down to a station's TSA. It hurt em, but that's the way it has always worked.

As far as moving a station, the FCC doesn't want to hear that. It just can't work. The only thing a station can do is buy a translator. It's a lot of red tape but gets your signal to places you never reached before. In the Hartford Springfield area, you don't see many of them because the land is flat. FM stands for Frequency Modulation. The signal travels in a straight line. Go north and the signal will run into a mountain and quit. AM is Amplitude Modulation. AM signals travel from the ground to the stratosphere and bounce back up and down and travel further at night. That's why you can pick up far away stations on AM but only regionally on FM.

By the way, I believe the Hartford Market is about 37, not 50. At least it was when I was on the air at DRC FM from 1980 to 1990. I hope i filled you in with something you may have not been familiar with. Let me know if you have anymore questions.

Regards,

Ken Gilbert
Albany Broadcasting
 
Hartford is market #51, down from past rankings. That's not due to shrinking population, but from sunbelt markets growing faster. Connecticut even lost a Congressional district while places like Jacksonville and Tucson expand like crazy. Boston, Detroit and Philadelphia are also moving down the ladder.

New Haven or even Waterbury would be incorporated into the Hartford metro, as with TV, before Hartford and Springfield would be combined. That seems a bit far fetched, too, since many stations in New Haven and Hartford would drop in share and ranking. Bridgeport stations that do well in New Haven really would be out of luck.

WTIC-AM used to give the forecast for the "Hartford/Springfield area." Now they include New Haven traffic.

To be picky, WDRC moved from New Haven to Hartford in 1930.
 
I doubt 97.9 could mvoe any further south, it'd be too close to WCTK 98.1 and WCTY 97.7
 
WFCS-FM of New Britain (Central Connecticut State University) used to be on 97.9 FM. It was moved to it's present spot of 107.7 FM for this very reason.
 
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