Here's one for the rumor mill...

[scooterodell]

Word on the street is an unnamed group is working on obtaining an unnamed AM signal in Rochester for a Gospel format...

...and that's all I've heard.

Speculation, anyone? With the right signal, such a format might just be viable, but they'd need to be really community-focused and would probably still have to sell some brokered time stuff.

 

[Mark_Giardina]

Word on the street is an unnamed group is working on obtaining an unnamed AM signal in Rochester for a Gospel format...

...and that's all I've heard.

Speculation, anyone? With the right signal, such a format might just be viable, but they'd need to be really community-focused and would probably still have to sell some brokered time stuff.

I don't deal in rumors, but if I were to guess than I would think the most likely candidate (station) might be either WROC-AM or the new station that someone might establish in the Town of Ontario in Wayne County.

Why WROC-AM? First of all it hardly shows up in the ratings and with the dough Entercom is going to shell out for those CBS FM's they bought in Rochester, I'm sure they wouldn't mind unloading 950-AM for some cold hard cash.

As for the other station in Ontario on 1330AM, which isn't even off the drawing board yet, I've mentioned before what other format is left for an AM station? It's very doubtful that 1330 would go country, since you have WBEE and the station in Newark to compete with. All news? Nope. WHAM, WXXI and WYSL have that format covered. Oldies maybe? 990 is currently doing a decent job with that format. Besides, from what I've heard, 1330-AM's signal isn't the best anyways. So the best route for whoever buys that frequency is to go religion.

 

[raymond_shaw]

Yeah, a construction permit for a station on 1330AM for Ontario, NY was granted by the FCC earlier this summer to some out of town radio engineer who apparently plans to resell it to whoever has the cash. And yeah, the signal will barely make it into Irondequoit Bay(WLVL in Lockport is on 1340, so I assume the signal can't drift westward to avoid interferring with WLVL??). Gospel would make sense, though Wayne County is not exactly a hotbed of economic expansion. But again, what else can you do with a startup AM in Ontario, NY?

WROC, AM 950's transmitter site is all by itself, is that correct? And they have many towers because of their directional pattern? So Entercom has to pay property taxes and upkeep on these many towers, not to mention the transmittter itself. I don't know how much this all costs them per year, but with all these new FMs they'll soon own they might want to dump WROC which is never going to do any better than it is right now.

Any other thoughts on this?

 

[dampier]

Word on the street is an unnamed group is working on obtaining an unnamed AM signal in Rochester for a Gospel format...

...and that's all I've heard.

Speculation, anyone? With the right signal, such a format might just be viable, but they'd need to be really community-focused and would probably still have to sell some brokered time stuff.

If this is true, it will probably turn out to be a rimshotter. And the fact they are looking for an AM station seems odd to me for a music format in general, because unless you are over 45, you aren't listening to AM anyway. More likely is a regional AM station that can be had for a song.

WROC-AM is near the bottom of the ratings, but it isn't at the bottom, and considering its restricted coverage area, zero promotion, and automated format, this isn't much of a surprise. But it's still viable for Entercom as a talk outlet, and they seemed happy enough with it.

 

[anoldguy]

WROC, AM 950's transmitter site is all by itself, is that correct?

I thought I heard a while back that the religious station on 1460 was going to move to WROC's site on South Clinton Ave. They were going to share the facilties.

 

[scooterodell]

Besides, from what I've heard, 1330-AM's signal isn't the best anyways. So the best route for whoever buys that frequency is to go religion.[/b]

Religion may be the obvious choice here, but Gospel is not. That signal isn't going to even reach the City of Rochester, and you would need that audience for a Gospel format.

 

[Mark_Giardina]

Besides, from what I've heard, 1330-AM's signal isn't the best anyways. So the best route for whoever buys that frequency is to go religion.[/b]

Religion may be the obvious choice here, but Gospel is not. That signal isn't going to even reach the City of Rochester, and you would need that audience for a Gospel format.

You got the wrong fella. I never mentioned a Gospel format. I said religious. Someone else who posted on here suggested Gospel.

 

[dampier]

You got the wrong fella. I never mentioned a Gospel format. I said religious. Someone else who posted on here suggested Gospel.

The only viable thing here would be another WWWG tape mill, since the satellite networks are largely polluting the FM educational band already. One would think if that was making the big money, WWWG wouldn't have sold out to Catholic Radio instead.

 

[scooterodell]

Besides, from what I've heard, 1330-AM's signal isn't the best anyways. So the best route for whoever buys that frequency is to go religion.[/b]

Religion may be the obvious choice here, but Gospel is not. That signal isn't going to even reach the City of Rochester, and you would need that audience for a Gospel format.

You got the wrong fella. I never mentioned a Gospel format. I said religious. Someone else who posted on here suggested Gospel.

oops! my apologies

 

[Bob1370]

Philip Dampier remarked that "The only viable thing here would be another WWWG tape mill, since the satellite networks are largely polluting the FM educational band already. One would think if that was making the big money, WWWG wouldn't have sold out to Catholic Radio instead."

Actually, the only reason WWWG was sold was that Tony Brandon, its longtime principal owner, wanted to cash out holdings in the American General Media company his family had launched years ago. He's now sitting on a large chunk of cash, although he is not retired--he is now serving as President/GM of Baltimore, Maryland's principal NPR affiliate, WYPR.

WWWG didn't reflect Tony's personal views (which are really more in line with the station he manages now). That station was a business just like the country and AC format FM stations he owned in various parts of the country. And it was a lucrative, low cost and highly predictable business for many years. Someone may decide it would be a good business model again, for an AM or lower powered FM with iffy signal coverage outside the city and inner-ring 'burbs.