Huge pirate on 101.3

[HHH]

What I can't figure out is how broadcast groups can spend truckloads of money on research to try to find a niche for themselves. Yet when a station like Big City 101.3 comes on, and is so completely plugged into the community, why not then is a commercial station not considering the fact that Big City just did all of their "dirty work" for them and delivered an authentic format and an approach right to them on a silver platter!

If I were one of those second tier stations (WILD, WFNX, WWZN, etc) I would seriously consider approaching the gang at Big City and allowing them to program at least a significant block on my station. Maybe LMA the hours to them.

My point is that there is a genuine legitimacy to the programming on Big City that should not be ignored. Their morning show sounds better than many commercial stations!

 

[spilot113]

What I can't figure out is how broadcast groups can spend truckloads of money on research to try to find a niche for themselves. Yet when a station like Big City 101.3 comes on, and is so completely plugged into the community, why not then is a commercial station not considering the fact that Big City just did all of their "dirty work" for them and delivered an authentic format and an approach right to them on a silver platter..

Well, it's easy to "plug in to the community" when the community is very small.

Most commercial stations are BROADcasting....trying to reach the most people possible.

 

[ciao99]

What I can't figure out is how broadcast groups can spend truckloads of money on research to try to find a niche for themselves. Yet when a station like Big City 101.3 comes on, and is so completely plugged into the community, why not then is a commercial station not considering the fact that Big City just did all of their "dirty work" for them and delivered an authentic format and an approach right to them on a silver platter..

Well, it's easy to "plug in to the community" when the community is very small.

Most commercial stations are BROADcasting....trying to reach the most people possible.

What makes you think the Caribbean community is that small? Boston isn't like other cities, I've made the statement in here that Boston's black community is dominated by Caribbean immigrants. Which Radio One couldn't figure out and probably is one reason of many for their failure.

As for the commercial stations, yes they are broadcasting. Key word broad, I'll give you that. But they take Boston signals and proceed to ignore Boston. If they want to target the likes of Natick and ignore Boston, then do it on a non-Boston signal. I love how suburbanites like to latch on to Boston yet have nothing to do with our city.

And BTW, looking at the ratings for WWZN, so much for their 'broad'casting. That's more like narrowcasting.

 

[mistermicrophone]

What I can't figure out is how broadcast groups can spend truckloads of money on research to try to find a niche for themselves. Yet when a station like Big City 101.3 comes on, and is so completely plugged into the community, why not then is a commercial station not considering the fact that Big City just did all of their "dirty work" for them and delivered an authentic format and an approach right to them on a silver platter..

Well, it's easy to "plug in to the community" when the community is very small.

Most commercial stations are BROADcasting....trying to reach the most people possible.

What makes you think the Caribbean community is that small? Boston isn't like other cities, I've made the statement in here that Boston's black community is dominated by Caribbean immigrants. Which Radio One couldn't figure out and probably is one reason of many for their failure.

As for the commercial stations, yes they are broadcasting. Key word broad, I'll give you that. But they take Boston signals and proceed to ignore Boston. If they want to target the likes of Natick and ignore Boston, then do it on a non-Boston signal. I love how suburbanites like to latch on to Boston yet have nothing to do with our city.

And BTW, looking at the ratings for WWZN, so much for their 'broad'casting. That's more like narrowcasting.

I'd suggest writing a letter to Arbitron and telling that you are upset about the DMA because suburbanites like to "latch on to Boston." While you're at it, write to all the radio stations and explain to them the money spent by businesses outside of the city limits should be turned away because of those pesky suburbanites.

Why not TV, too? How about sports? I guess the only people that'll be able to enjoy the Red Sox, C's & B's are Boston residents! Thank god that the Patriots are from "New England."

 

[nd2023]

If WFNX keeps declining, maybe Big City could eventually buy 101.7 and move the station up there. They must be making a lot of money from the commercials they're selling on their pirate station. It seems like this pirate station could be getting better ratings than some licensed stations if Arbitron rated pirates. I'm sure some people must be writing "Big City 101.3" in their diaries.

 

[chrish]

Nick sorry to burst your bubble.....WFNX from a sales standpoint is having one
of its best years in a long time.
I'll give it to you in a nutshell, there is no way so called "Big City" FM and very few single station operators could ever afford the stick value of this or any other major market FM...even with stick values taking a hit these days IE: the Radio One fire
sale to Bonneville in LA.

The Phoenix acquired WLYN-FM in late 1982 for $1,100,00 long before the FCC
lifted the 7-7-7 rule and industry consolidation became a license to print money
resulting in stations being sold for far more than their actual value.

A good example of this was when John Kluge sold the Metromedia stations at
such a high price that the buyers had to sell off the stations one by one to just meet the monthly payments.

The WFNX purchase was paid off long ago and has no heavy debt service that hampers most station operators so it is able to operate in a different manner than most.

 

[ciao99]

If WFNX keeps declining, maybe Big City could eventually buy 101.7 and move the station up there. They must be making a lot of money from the commercials they're selling on their pirate station. It seems like this pirate station could be getting better ratings than some licensed stations if Arbitron rated pirates. I'm sure some people must be writing "Big City 101.3" in their diaries.

How is the WFNX signal in Lawrence, or it's city of license, Lynn?
I ask because I think if WFNX reaches these cities, in addition to Boston, it would do well to switch to a Latin-Tropical format.

Of course I'd love to see Big City 101.3 move to 101.7.
But as someone else pointed out on the board, pirate radio is very common among certain cultures, particularly Caribbeans. In their home countries, licensed radio stations are nothing but a mouthpiece for the government. Credibility is actually gained by going pirate.

I think Haiti, a country of 8 million, has 250 + radio stations. I also noticed pirates in London, UK, when I was visiting. Regga-FM was the name of the station. I'd be curious to see if it's still up and running.

 

[spilot113]

What I can't figure out is how broadcast groups can spend truckloads of money on research to try to find a niche for themselves. Yet when a station like Big City 101.3 comes on, and is so completely plugged into the community, why not then is a commercial station not considering the fact that Big City just did all of their "dirty work" for them and delivered an authentic format and an approach right to them on a silver platter..

Well, it's easy to "plug in to the community" when the community is very small.

Most commercial stations are BROADcasting....trying to reach the most people possible.

What makes you think the Caribbean community is that small?

What makes you think it's big?

If the Carribbean community is say, 5% of the market...that would be the equivalent of one of the BROADcasters targeting only the age group of 46-49 year olds. Much too small a group to make it viable.

A couple of thoughts....

1.) Why is it that the black or Carribbean community wants to keep splintering themselves from the rest of the population? Why is it they expect to have stations programmed just to them? Isn't BROADcasting supposed to be for everyone? Why keep ourselves out of the mainstream and only part of our little group? Part of this hallabaloo with barack Obama recently is that people keep themselves segregated in their own churches and only listen to words that they want to hear.

2.) I grew up in a French neighborhood went to a French church, French school...and thought the whole world was French! It wasn't until I moved out of my area and realized that the whole world was NOT French. It was time to be part of the wider world! I would never expect a radio station to broadcast to our select little community.

Do we expect stations to cater only to the gay community? ...or any other subset of the population?

We have to stop sealing ourselves off from each other.

That's my rant. ;-)

And BTW, looking at the ratings for WWZN, so much for their 'broad'casting. That's more like narrowcasting.

WWZN? A resounding failure by any stretch of the imagination!

Let's not repeat it!

 

[ciao99]

What I can't figure out is how broadcast groups can spend truckloads of money on research to try to find a niche for themselves. Yet when a station like Big City 101.3 comes on, and is so completely plugged into the community, why not then is a commercial station not considering the fact that Big City just did all of their "dirty work" for them and delivered an authentic format and an approach right to them on a silver platter..

Well, it's easy to "plug in to the community" when the community is very small.

Most commercial stations are BROADcasting....trying to reach the most people possible.

What makes you think the Caribbean community is that small?

What makes you think it's big?

If the Carribbean community is say, 5% of the market...that would be the equivalent of one of the BROADcasters targeting only the age group of 46-49 year olds. Much too small a group to make it viable.

A couple of thoughts....

1.) Why is it that the black or Carribbean community wants to keep splintering themselves from the rest of the population? Why is it they expect to have stations programmed just to them? Isn't BROADcasting supposed to be for everyone? Why keep ourselves out of the mainstream and only part of our little group? Part of this hallabaloo with barack Obama recently is that people keep themselves segregated in their own churches and only listen to words that they want to hear.

2.) I grew up in a French neighborhood went to a French church, French school...and thought the whole world was French! It wasn't until I moved out of my area and realized that the whole world was NOT French. It was time to be part of the wider world! I would never expect a radio station to broadcast to our select little community.

Do we expect stations to cater only to the gay community? ...or any other subset of the population?

We have to stop sealing ourselves off from each other.

That's my rant. ;-)

And BTW, looking at the ratings for WWZN, so much for their 'broad'casting. That's more like narrowcasting.

WWZN? A resounding failure by any stretch of the imagination!

Let's not repeat it!

I mentioned the Caribbean community, as Boston is not a homogenous black community, and I found it ironic that Radio One of all companies couldn't figure it out. Who knows how things would have turned out had Radio One recognized the diversity in Boston's black community, instead of programming like this was Baltimore or Cincinnati.

Secondly, how is the Caribbean population splintering themselves? Reggae is a music, enjoyed by people of all races. Lord knows Radio 92.9, WFNX, even Magic 106.7 pride themselves on throwing in a Bob Marley song, albeit ancient, in their playlists.

This forum is about radio, so I'll try to keep my response as relevant to radio as possible. But I find it humorous how white suburbanites always view themselves as the norm, to them it's other people who are "different". Newsflash: few people in the world would consider the Beach Boys or the silly YMCA dance "normal", I dare say most people would find reggae to be more 'normal' than typical white wedding songs.

I also have to point out the WTKK has an Irish HD channel, are Irish-Americans "Splintering" themselves?

We have what, 40+ stations in the market. Are you suggesting that every station be everything to everyone? Stations have formats. That's why people listen to different stations. That's also the beauty of a healthy radio dial.

Is it really so important for Euro-American males to dominate every station in the market? What bothers you about having one station on the dial that isn't about you? It's like you even need to dominate frequencies that no one is even listening to, WWZN being the prime example.

Lastly, in New York, Philly and lots of other markets, the top stations are Urban AC, Hip Hop, and Latin. Are Caucasian men in these cities 'sealing' themselves off by listening to alternative rock? No, of course not, and no one would ever accuse them of such. So why are you suggesting the same of audiences in Boston that don't want to listen to the Beach Boys?

 

[SonicOverload]

I think it's fine that certain stations cater to certain audiences. People have specific interests, like certain types of music and there's a place for those kinds of programs. That's why college or community radio is cool--programming can run the gamut of musical styles and have different types of public affairs programming as well.

 

[NSPUNX]

Unfortunatelty I think that some radio companies feel that the white suburbanite male generally has more disposable income that can be spent on sponsors wether it is true or not, I dont know. Unfortunately you could have a #1 station according to Arbitron but if the audience of that station does not have money to spend advertisers wont buy adds. Like say WFNX for example It may not have huge ratings but it is geared towards a demo of young adults and college students who are more likely to spend what money they have more freely on electronics, clothes, sporting goods etc... advertisers know this and buy adds even though they may not have the best ratings in the market.

 

[ciao99]

Unfortunatelty I think that some radio companies feel that the white suburbanite male generally has more disposable income that can be spent on sponsors wether it is true or not, I dont know. Unfortunately you could have a #1 station according to Arbitron but if the audience of that station does not have money to spend advertisers wont buy adds. Like say WFNX for example It may not have huge ratings but it is geared towards a demo of young adults and college students who are more likely to spend what money they have more freely on electronics, clothes, sporting goods etc... advertisers know this and buy adds even though they may not have the best ratings in the market.

Question, what rates does radio command from companies soliciting sperm samples?

But more seriously, there's room to make money on a vast array of advertisers (sperm sample commercials being the prime example).

A company selling black hair care products probably doesn't want to advertise on the Jay Severin show, nor would that be an efficient buy. Christian Summmer camps will do well on Salem stations, versus Opie and Anthony. Beers and "male enhancement" ads probably wouldn't do well on Magic 106.7, instead gravitating towards WBCN.

The beauty of radio is you can effectively target your customers. Yet the naysayers are going against the very premise of radio's competitive advantage, insisting there's no room for anything but broad formats and broad advertisers.

 

[NSPUNX]

I hope your talking about the company and not the city because i am not sure how well those adds would go over in "The Witch City" ;D

 

[Eli Polonsky]

Reggae is a music, enjoyed by people of all races. Lord knows Radio 92.9, WFNX, even Magic 106.7 pride themselves on throwing in a Bob Marley song, albeit ancient, in their playlists.

Listening to the mainstream commercial stations, you'd think that Bob Marley was the ONLY Reggae artist who had ever existed, and you wouldn't even know that the genre continued to thrive after his death. He's the ONLY one played, unless you go to non-comm stations or certain stations on satellite radio, or internet radio.

 

[raccoonradio]

with poss exception of:
Jimmy Cliff (stuff from Harder They Come)
ska-related stuff like Madness
80s stations might play Musical Youth Pass the Dutchie

but yup mostly Marley (whose Buffalo Soldier seemed to borrow the "tra-la-la" from
the Banana Splits theme!)

anyone remember when those two guys from the Turtles did a reggae album included
a reggae-fied version of "Happy Together"? Yup, it's ROCK STEADY WITH FLO AND EDDIE!
(I remember when that came out)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock_Steady_with_Flo_&_Eddie

 

[Keith321]

Newsflash: few people in the world would consider the Beach Boys or the silly YMCA dance "normal", I dare say most people would find reggae to be more 'normal' than typical white wedding songs.

I would guess that YMCA is played at more weddings around the world than reggae....but I could be wrong. ;-)

I also have to point out the WTKK has an Irish HD channel, are Irish-Americans "Splintering" themselves?

I would guess thats where splinter formats belong......on HD2 channels...where people who WANT to listen can.

Is it really so important for Euro-American males to dominate every station in the market? What bothers you about having one station on the dial that isn't about you?

I'm sorry....is WBUR targeting "Euro-American Males"

How about Kiss 108, WROR, WMJX, WODS, WCRB, WEEI, WBOS, WGBH?

It's more about getting the most people to listen...not picking one ethnic group over another.

 

[HHH]

I am a white male and I like what I hear on Big City 101.3. Interesting and vibrant. But I am a music freak, so I probably don't represent the mainstream person of my type.

When I said that this may be a viable format for a commercial station, I ma certainly not suggesting one of the full class B FMs!

I am simply saying that I can hear this format on a signal like 740, 1090, 1150, 1260, 1330, 1430, 1550 or 1600. I mean that in terms of signal coverage....that is to say, these stations can never be ratings smashes, so they have to do a niche or brokered thing.

WWZN 1510 would be great, but too expensive an overhead, plus--I still think--properly run, the station has a big enough signal to do a "semi-niche" like Spanish, since they reach into Lawrence and other outlying areas. If they can only do something about that Waltham lease.

WROL 950, I always felt, had great potential to do something semi-commercial as well, since that Saugus transmitter site puts out a great signal, at least in the day.

But the other frequencies that I mentioned are pretty limited in coverage, so why not? I know that most are making $ with time brokerage right now, but I'm talking more about limited coverage than anything else and limited programming options.

 

[NHRadio]

That's very interesting... Lynn, Salem, and Lawrence have large Hispanic populations and Lowell, Salem NH, Haverhill, and of course Boston represent many more. FNX's signal is perfect to reach those folks. It could put a huge dent in Costa-Eagle's Tropical WNNW (800) which is doing rather well for an AM with a night signal that barely reaches outside its Lawrence COL. BTW, the HD feed sounds great.
I'd actually consider moving the stick back out of Boston to better cover the North Shore/Merrimack Valley if I was to take it Spanish. Maybe the WMKK Peabody site?
Of course, the million dollar question is, could they bill more "en espanol" or with the current format...especially with PPM being so kind to Rock formats?

How is the WFNX signal in Lawrence, or it's city of license, Lynn?
I ask because I think if WFNX reaches these cities, in addition to Boston, it would do well to switch to a Latin-Tropical format.

 

[spilot113]

I am simply saying that I can hear this format on a signal like 740, 1090, 1150, 1260, 1330, 1430, 1550 or 1600.

Then the Big City people should do what it takes to get the format on those stations.

Buy the time...it's for sale...or buy the station...they're for sale too!

If they can make money with the format, then it's a great idea, go for it!

However, I don't think this is a feasable enough format.

People who want formats on the air need a business plan to get their format on, pay the bills, and pay staff.

Instead what they want to do is get it for free. Whereas others have gone thru the hoops to do it legally.

 

[raccoonradio]

>>Lynn, Salem, and Lawrence have large Hispanic populations

WMWM has several shows to serve the Hispanic community