Hot 104 Mobile?

[Poledo]

Could it happen?

So the next question is, will it happen? Cumulus will probably stick with country on 104.1 for at least a year, so is 100.7 safe? The ratings are low, but is Q-100 making much money? Clear Channel should be happy with KSJ, TK, and The Rocket, so that leaves My 107.3. I assume that Clear Channel could take Rush and the other shows from WCOA at will to start up a talk station on 107.3. Will they do it?

In my opinion Cumulus should swap WCOA with Magic 106.1. I would bet that Magic would get the same ratings if they were on AM and that WCOA would go up 25% or so by flipping to FM and picking up a new audience that doesn't know AM exist. As for Mobile, Cumulus could (should) move WDLT to 100.7 or 104.1 and try local talk on 98.3, maybe even black talk. Clear Channel should then strike back with syndicated talk on 107.3 with the WPMI-FM call letters and NBC-15 news backing it.

And yes, I hope that they would report a 2 car accident with no injuries on highway 29 in Flomaton. It's sad that right now WXBM and Classic Country 1620 give the best traffic reports. FM talk would be great, but not at the expense of local news/talk.

Gainesville, Tallahassee, Dothan, Panama City, Biloxi, Hattisburg, Jackson, and New Orleans all have FM talk... the only hole in that part of the map is Mobile/Pensacola.

 

[mountaineer]

107.3/WPMI-FM

Bingo. You got it. From their stick on the state line north of Cantonment, 107.3 puts a city-grade signal to the foot of Government Street in downtown Mobile and a 60 dBu over the whole urban area; turn the stereo light off (don't need it if ya ain't playin' tunes) and tack on another 5 miles. Point is, the signal has never been quite strong enough in Mobile to be competitive in music formats (though they did okay there as "New Rock"), but in news-talk it would be "better than any AM"--by a long shot!

Yeah, they could probably grab Rush for both markets, but I'd still vote for an all-news approach--leave the talk shows on AM (besides, losing Rush would kill Newsradio 710). With Channel 15 contributing content and cross-promoting it, the thing could rack up BLX-style bi-market shares, but with sky-high qualitative.

Only real problem: My 107.3 had a great fall book in Pensacola. Right behind TK, giving 'em a sweet female-male upscale sales story. Might have to wait for a full-power MEZ to bring 'em back to earth. Unless the aforementioned DC sees the bigger picture without having to be pushed.



> So the next question is, will it happen? Cumulus will
> probably stick with country on 104.1 for at least a year, so
> is 100.7 safe? The ratings are low, but is Q-100 making
> much money? Clear Channel should be happy with KSJ, TK, and
> The Rocket, so that leaves My 107.3. I assume that Clear
> Channel could take Rush and the other shows from WCOA at
> will to start up a talk station on 107.3. Will they do it?
>
> In my opinion Cumulus should swap WCOA with Magic 106.1. I
> would bet that Magic would get the same ratings if they were
> on AM and that WCOA would go up 25% or so by flipping to FM
> and picking up a new audience that doesn't know AM exist.
> As for Mobile, Cumulus could (should) move WDLT to 100.7 or
> 104.1 and try local talk on 98.3, maybe even black talk.
> Clear Channel should then strike back with syndicated talk
> on 107.3 with the WPMI-FM call letters and NBC-15 news
> backing it.
>
> And yes, I hope that they would report a 2 car accident with
> no injuries on highway 29 in Flomaton. It's sad that right
> now WXBM and Classic Country 1620 give the best traffic
> reports. FM talk would be great, but not at the expense of
> local news/talk.
>
> Gainesville, Tallahassee, Dothan, Panama City, Biloxi,
> Hattisburg, Jackson, and New Orleans all have FM talk... the
> only hole in that part of the map is Mobile/Pensacola.
>

 

[Poledo]

Re: 107.3/WPMI-FM

> Bingo. You got it. From their stick on the state line north
> of Cantonment, 107.3 puts a city-grade signal to the foot of
> Government Street in downtown Mobile and a 60 dBu over the
> whole urban area; turn the stereo light off (don't need it
> if ya ain't playin' tunes) and tack on another 5 miles.
> Point is, the signal has never been quite strong enough in
> Mobile to be competitive in music formats (though they did
> okay there as "New Rock"), but in news-talk it would be
> "better than any AM"--by a long shot!

Hell, New Rock 107 did okay in Blioxi when it was on, it was the right format at the right time. According to the FCC, 107.3 has applied to move it's transmitter to central Baldwin county with the rest of the gang, so improved Mobile coverage is in the works.

> Yeah, they could probably grab Rush for both markets, but
> I'd still vote for an all-news approach--leave the talk
> shows on AM (besides, losing Rush would kill Newsradio 710).
> With Channel 15 contributing content and cross-promoting it,
> the thing could rack up BLX-style bi-market shares, but with
> sky-high qualitative.

I've been misunderstanding you all along. A local all news station? Do they exist outside of New York City? Can you give an example of one, better yet one in a mid-sized market like ours or one in Dixie? They don't have all news stations in Atlanta, New Orleans, Tampa, or any other city I've been to.
We have an all news AM in here in Pensacola with WPNN 790, but it's basically a simulcast of the CNN Headline News TV station. Strange thing is, WPNN does okay... but I'd hate to hear it on a full powered FM.

> Only real problem: My 107.3 had a great fall book in
> Pensacola. Right behind TK, giving 'em a sweet female-male
> upscale sales story. Might have to wait for a full-power MEZ
> to bring 'em back to earth. Unless the aforementioned DC
> sees the bigger picture without having to be pushed.

My 107.3 has already gotten stale. I really don't see the station staying strong much longer. With the current rumor that Clear Channel plans to flip New Orleans heritage rocker WRNO to news/talk, maybe they would consider flipping TK to news/talk. I doubt TK has many 25-45 year old women listening.

 

[mountaineer]

Re: 107.3/WPMI-FM

> Hell, New Rock 107 did okay in Blioxi when it was on, it was
> the right format at the right time. According to the FCC,
> 107.3 has applied to move it's transmitter to central
> Baldwin county with the rest of the gang, so improved Mobile
> coverage is in the works.

Yeah, New Rock One-Zero-Seven was the bomb (as they said back then)! Steve Williams, Joel Sampson, Lalaine, Suzy Bo, Special Ed--great lineup. A stroke of genius. Too cool for the idiots who bought it and "merged" it with TK.

> I've been misunderstanding you all along. A local all news
> station? Do they exist outside of New York City? Can you
> give an example of one, better yet one in a mid-sized market
> like ours or one in Dixie? They don't have all news
> stations in Atlanta, New Orleans, Tampa, or any other city
> I've been to. We have an all news AM in here in Pensacola with WPNN 790,
> but it's basically a simulcast of the CNN Headline News TV
> station. Strange thing is, WPNN does okay... but I'd hate
> to hear it on a full powered FM.

Yeah, most of 'em are in the majors: WBBM/Chicago, KYW/Philly, WTOP/DC. There's a great little small-market example in WKOK/Sunbury, PA. But the format isn't a big mystery, nor does it have to be extrordinarily expensive. They all use network material for national news, in-briefs and features... and sometimes sports; outsource the weather; use state nets. So the anchors become like jocks, doing local casts & updates between the other elements.

Some have incorporated long-form NPR-style stuff, and some carry (evening/weekend) sports p-b-p. Sure, there's repetition, but name a format without repetition. (Office pool: Who can name every one of the same 450 titles WRKH has been playing for the past 10 years)? Having access to the crack NBC15 news staff (and having existing news staffers in both radio markets, already, would ease the cashflow crunch. It's more a matter of organization than tossing money at it. Might need to add a body or two, but nothing to cause financial peril.

> My 107.3 has already gotten stale. I really don't see the
> station staying strong much longer. With the current rumor
> that Clear Channel plans to flip New Orleans heritage rocker
> WRNO to news/talk, maybe they would consider flipping TK to
> news/talk. I doubt TK has many 25-45 year old women
> listening.

Office Pool #2: Who can name every one of the same 350 titles My 107.3 has been playing every 23 hours since replacing Cool? But--yes--it currently shows great strength in Women 25-54 (it's just another form of AC!!!) that complements TK's Men 25-54 very nicely. So TK gets all the beer buys; My gets all the grocery buys. Nice combo.

So we may need to wait for My to fade before WPMI-FM surfaces!

 

[Nate Wesley]

Re: The 100kw Baldwin county stations need to play music

Mobile has 4 weaker stations that don't put any signal over Pensacola which would be better choices for a news talker. If Cumulus wants to do Mobile news talk, put it on 98.3 and move their #1 station WDLT to 104.1. Why hasn't this been done already? Why is WDLT, Mobile's #1 station, on a 50kw stick when Cumulus has 2 low rated class C's just stittin' around collecting dust?

Moving WDLT to 104.1 would've been been my second choice, assuming the first choice would've called for a strong non-ethnic format with wider advertising appeal...well, except country. 'DLT and 'BLX are almost always first and second in the posted ratings, so you'd have had some reliable ad money on both. Then use 98.3 for whatever. Now, taking the points made about the difficulty of programming news/talk...why not sports? Enter into some agreement with WNSP/DotComPlus and split the money (or buyout WNSP's intellectual properties and staff). Plenty of SEC fans in the listening area, not to mention the Saints and Braves. Since Mobile $$ would butter the bread, tilt the scales towards Alabama listeners...I'd bet P'cola and the panhandle would still tune in (toll-free call ins!).