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Hot 96.9; Jam'n 94.5; 97.7 The Beat

The chain of events was that Cadillac Jack was with iHeart in NYC and announced a “retirement” out of the blue. He resurfaced a few weeks later with the launch of WBQT. One by one a lot of ex Jam’n air talent who worked with him previously joined WBQT. Ramiro joined around two years after the launch. iHeart was pushing him to sign a new deal months before his contract expired and he wouldn’t so they let him go early. Based on his social media posts at the time it seemed that he was unhappy working under the PD Dylan Sprague. Sprague was brought in around 2011 as the PD of WXKS and WJMN. He was an “outsider” after the had been always programmed by either Cadillac Jack or other “home grown” Jam’n talent like Chris Tyler.

Chris Tyler, formerly of WPRO-FM fame (overnights?)
 
Yes, and he is the PD of WZLX now.
Oh, interesting! I remember catching one night about 2 or 3 decades ago, when Tony Mascaro was turning the mic over to Chris.

Tony announces that Chris Tyler was celebrating his one year anniversary on the air there. With little or no fanfare, he just blatantly responds with "nobody cares!" The truth be told, whether accurate or not, he did have a point.

I think that it is safe to aay that Chris Tyler has paid his dues!
 
Great because they used to play music you liked? (possibly)

....or great because they achieved financial viability? (not yet!)

BTW...What did iHeart pay RadioOne for the station?

"Great" because this tiny signal was pulling nearly a 3 share!

iHM did not acquire this station from Radio One (Urban One); Entercom acquired it from Radio One. iHM then acquired the station from Entercom as part of the big multi-station exchange that had to occur to enable the Entercom / CBS Radio merger to proceed. Numerous stations in the Boston market were involved in that swap; I have no idea how much value was pinned to WKAF.

iHM has plenty of good Urban AC programming & air talent. The prior format could've been kept intact easily at relatively low cost via voicetracking.
 
Entercom paid $30 million for the signal in 2006.


It is widely known the station was pulling (6+) shares in the upper 2's fairly routinely in its final year as an Adult R&B station prior to Entercom divesting it. Not going to do your research for you on that point; I would recommend checking old threads on this very site from 2018 or early 2019.
 
Can you find me a citation when they got "nearly a 3.0 share?

Also, what did Entercom pay for 97.7?
When radio stations are bought by another conglomerate or merged, to they literal make publicly a station by station breakdown of each stations individual value? While I am sure that it is all calculated by the bean counters and the suits, I do not think that this is public knowledge at all.
 
And uh, just a side question, why did Radio One allow the 97.7 signal to fail to start with? Did they ever have the official call letters WILD-FM also? (and I still trying to recollect with what happened with WBOT as well?) Or was that the official call letters before selling it to Entercom, thus beginning the simulcast of WAAF instead?
 
It is widely known the station was pulling (6+) shares in the upper 2's fairly routinely in its final year as an Adult R&B station prior to Entercom divesting it. Not going to do your research for you on that point; I would recommend checking old threads on this very site from 2018 or early 2019.

You made the point...I was asking you to back up your point with facts. "It is widely known" is not a reference.

You make a point, be ready to back it up.

When radio stations are bought by another conglomerate or merged, to they literal make publicly a station by station breakdown of each stations individual value? While I am sure that it is all calculated by the bean counters and the suits, I do not think that this is public knowledge at all.

From the article:

Entercom has also signed a deal to buy WILD-FM in Boston from Radio One for $30 million in cash.
 
You made the point...I was asking you to back up your point with facts. "It is widely known" is not a reference.

You make a point, be ready to back it up.



From the article:

Entercom has also signed a deal to buy WILD-FM in Boston from Radio One for $30 million in cash.
Thanks!
 
When radio stations are bought by another conglomerate or merged, to they literal make publicly a station by station breakdown of each stations individual value? While I am sure that it is all calculated by the bean counters and the suits, I do not think that this is public knowledge at all.
It's pretty easy to allocate a value based on revenue multiples.
 
You made the point...I was asking you to back up your point with facts. "It is widely known" is not a reference.

Believe me or don't believe me. Your choice. I'm not going to lose any sleep over it.

If you think every poster to a discussion board is going to include references to back up every single statement as if each post were its own academic journal article, you are going to be disappointed.

February 2019 - 97.7 WKAF, under its former R&B format, scored a 3.4 share (and in January 2019, it scored a 2.9 share):


(I believe February 2019 was the brand's best book in terms of 6+ AQH share.)
 
Last edited:
Call letter history from Wiki
WBET-FM (1948–1976)
WCAV (1977–1999)
WBOT (1999–2005)
WILD-FM (2005–2006)
>>The station officially changed call letters to WILD-FM on October 26, 2005.On August 20, 2006, radio industry website All Access reported that Entercom had agreed to purchase WILD-FM from Radio One; by the next day, Entercom had assumed control of the station via an LMA, and WILD-FM signed off with "Wild Thing" by Tone-Loc at about 7:00 p.m

8-22-06--began WAAF simulcast, and:
<<The station changed its calls to WKAF on August 30, 2006, to reflect the new simulcast.
 
Call letter history from Wiki
WBET-FM (1948–1976)
WCAV (1977–1999)
WBOT (1999–2005)
WILD-FM (2005–2006)
>>The station officially changed call letters to WILD-FM on October 26, 2005.On August 20, 2006, radio industry website All Access reported that Entercom had agreed to purchase WILD-FM from Radio One; by the next day, Entercom had assumed control of the station via an LMA, and WILD-FM signed off with "Wild Thing" by Tone-Loc at about 7:00 p.m

8-22-06--began WAAF simulcast, and:
<<The station changed its calls to WKAF on August 30, 2006, to reflect the new simulcast.
But the nagging question remains, why wasn't either WBOT or WILD-FM successful?

Side note, it is funny when 97.7 was WCAV and doing Satallite Country at the time, that they were not considered to be a "Boston" station at all.
 
I actually think there may have been a time that WCAV was a Top 40 station, like in the late 70s/early 80s. I know this because on an old episode of American Top 40, Casey Kasem mentioned WCAV as one of the stations that carried the program.
 
Believe me or don't believe me. Your choice. I'm not going to lose any sleep over it.

I don't believe...or disbelieve...I was just asking you for some facts behind the assertion. As you should be ready to , when you make a statement.

If you think every poster to a discussion board is going to include references to back up every single statement as if each post were its own academic journal article, you are going to be disappointed

When someone asks a "where" or "when" about a statemernt, or any other clarification, you shouldn't be offended or bothered, and be ready to shed more light on a statement. After all, it's a 'discussion board'. ;-)

Don’t tell people to “Google it.” That’s your job, not theirs ;-)

"Urban AC “The New 97.7” WKAF, which iHeart acquired as a spinoff from the Entercom-CBS Radio merger in November 2017, notched its highest share (2.9-3.4) since the signal split from simulcasting rock WAAF in January 2107." -March 10, 2019.

Perfect! Thanks.
 
But the nagging question remains, why wasn't either WBOT or WILD-FM successful?

Two considerations: While 97.7 was WBOT "Hot 9-7-7", the tower was still in the Brockton area, and the format was urban contemporary -- not the urban AC format that WKAF found success with.

After upgrading to the Great Blue Hill site, 97.7 became WILD-FM. However, WILD-FM featured a schedule split between urban AC in mornings (Tom Joyner) and middays, with urban contemporary programming in afternoons and evenings. This is like a station being Magic in mornings and Jam'n in afternoons. The effort also didn't last too long -- Radio One needed cash and Entercom had some.

WKAF was arguably the first attempt at full-time, full-power urban AC on the FM dial and did pretty well.
 
I don't believe...or disbelieve...I was just asking you for some facts behind the assertion. As you should be ready to , when you make a statement.



When someone asks a "where" or "when" about a statemernt, or any other clarification, you shouldn't be offended or bothered, and be ready to shed more light on a statement. After all, it's a 'discussion board'. ;-)

Don’t tell people to “Google it.” That’s your job, not theirs ;-)

"Urban AC “The New 97.7” WKAF, which iHeart acquired as a spinoff from the Entercom-CBS Radio merger in November 2017, notched its highest share (2.9-3.4) since the signal split from simulcasting rock WAAF in January 2107." -March 10, 2019.

Perfect! Thanks.

Two considerations: While 97.7 was WBOT "Hot 9-7-7", the tower was still in the Brockton area, and the format was urban contemporary -- not the urban AC format that WKAF found success with.

After upgrading to the Great Blue Hill site, 97.7 became WILD-FM. However, WILD-FM featured a schedule split between urban AC in mornings (Tom Joyner) and middays, with urban contemporary programming in afternoons and evenings. This is like a station being Magic in mornings and Jam'n in afternoons. The effort also didn't last too long -- Radio One needed cash and Entercom had some.

WKAF was arguably the first attempt at full-time, full-power urban AC on the FM dial and did pretty well.
Thank you for your answer, and much agreed!
 
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