Yes then again I must have gotten the statement that WCBS got the suburbs and WINS got the city from the time the New York Radio market was transitioning from diary to ppm. The PPM showed WINS edge out WCBS for all news and Audacy putting WINS-FM on the air says it all and it's market wide
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I hope WBZ survives beyond our generation, WCBS Newsradio 88 going ESPN
- Thread starter BostonRadioListener
- Start date
Audacy signaled that WINS would be the survivor when they started the simulcast on FM and it worked.
https://radioinsight.com/ratings/new-york/
The day is going to come when iHeart starts a simulcast of WBZ 1030 on FM
WCBS-AM went out with class
https://radioinsight.com/ratings/new-york/
The day is going to come when iHeart starts a simulcast of WBZ 1030 on FM
WCBS-AM went out with class
You should’ve heard it when it transmitted A.M. stereo!!!
iHeart doesn't have a Boston FM that's doing poorly enough to flip to news/talk. In New York, Audacy had one. 'BZ will go down with the AM ship and eventually sink without a trace. Its listeners are aging and not being replaced as they die and younger news seekers turn to the internet for news.
Audacy seems to have paired many of their all-news stations with FM frequencies in major markets: NY, Phi, SF, and LA. Aside from the lack of an available frequency, WBZ's signal probably makes the immediate need for an FM frequency less compelling for now. On the subject of WINS, there was a stylistic difference between WCBS and WINS. WINS had a dryer presentation while WCBS was more in-depth and personality driven. Then there was the CBS network news update on the hour on WCBS. Also I read observations that WCBS had more suburban news and WINS was more oriented toward the 5 burroughs of New York City. The smart people on this Board also pointed out that WCBS's signal had a greater reach. I suspect that many listeners in the New York area will not consider WINS an adequate replacement.
In LA and SF they have 50 kw non directional AMs; neither has any signficant missing area in the metro it does not cover (nobody, AM or FM really covers well the High Desert part of the LA metro around Lancaster and Palmdale). In Philadelphia, they have a directional but still 50 kw AM and the FM is just an inner area supplement.
As others have said, in Boston they don't have an underperforming FM they would want to sacrifice. And WBZ is not a 24/7 news station anyway.
WCBS (AM) is non-directional. It covers the market in all directions. WINS is directional to the east, and misses some of the western and southwestern areas of the market, but has a much stronger signal over Manhattan and most of the boroughs. That is why one focused on the suburbs and the other on the hard to penetrate high-density noisy city area.
And, except for Eastern Long Island, none of those locations is in the New York Metro Survey Area. There is no money to be made from out of market coverage.
KCBS is directional day and night, but yes, the signal is solid over the relevant market area.
And it's not like WCBS devoted much air time to news from New Haven and Danbury anyway.
Their traffic reports definitely included large parts of Connecticut. Certainly Danbury and New Haven when there was a significant traffic issue on an interstate. They certainly had listeners further out from the City than WINS can reach via over-the-air broadcast.
May not have mattered with revenue, but still they had listeners.
Yes - WBZ and pretty much any AM in stereo sounded great. In Boston WJIB (which still is in stereo) and WILD really took advantage with their music formats but BZ had tons of stereo content - bumpers, liners, commercial which would pop in stereo. Some music at times during the talk shows. I have a recording of WBZ in 1993 playing Christmas Music in stereo recorded by skyway from about 400 miles away that is amazing.
That's why if an AM has transmitter with stereo built in (like many of the Nautel's) they should run it. There are receivers out there - they still go for decent money on eBay so people are looking for them. John Garabedian said he was surprised how many people listen to WJIB in AM stereo so when it moved to 720 he will keep it.
Bringing it back to WCBS - they were in stereo as was WINS for many years.
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For all the things iHeart does that I'm not thrilled with - they are probably the best of the big station groups at running their AMs. Many of the groups act like they don't want their AMs but iHeart works to keep them viable. If you don't believe in your own product than who else will?
Audacy can barely run their FMs let alone the AMs. So sad since CBS Radio did a great job with their stations that most of them ended up in that mess.
Examples:
WRKO was sinking but after iHeart took over it rebounded nicely 12+ anyway
WBZ has remained pretty consistent. I don't like the loss of the live overnight show but the younger reporters they added could appear to a new generation.
WEEI - Entercom/Audacy had the market locked up but as soon as there was competition from WBZ-FM it sank like the titanic. Not just because of the delay moving to FM but the programming. They nuked a popular morning show which really sent it spiraling.
WINS on 92.3 - this is more about Audacy not knowing what else to do with 92.3 than it was about WINS.
In Buffalo 102.5 FM was sold off to k-love - this is a grandfathered super power FM sold for a quick few bucks. Compared to Auday's revenue not much was gained. WBEN-AM is a consistent performer in that market and if it needed a path to FM 102.5 could have been it (originally it was WBEN-FM).
The CBS/Westinghouse AMs that Audacy picked up with CBS radio were given a lot of resources to allow them to thrive. Lack of investment and constant cutbacks will not be good for them.
As Howie Carr used to say "Entercom happens" and boy was he right.
I am just an old person listening to WBZ because that is what I have always done, but I also understand the station efforts to reach out to younger consumers on different platforms. Many do not have radios in their homes anymore. My car does not have HD radio and most people I know do not either. Even if they did it is easier to use a streaming service or just listen over the air on AM. How many young people do you know that know what AM is?
The Instagram and TikToks the anchors talk about are hopefully helping bring younger people to the brand. I see the content from public radio too. Especially WGBH which makes very interesting content. The story choice on WBZ is leaning younger and less serious too which I do not completely fault them for. I know it is a numbers battle from reading about it on this forum which has been rather interesting. It is helpful when some anchors mention the important stories instead of celebrity gossip. Taylor Swift. The best part about news radio is the personalities. Without them what is the point of listening.
People may complain about all the talk about the app and streaming. For many it may be the only way they can get people to listen.
The Instagram and TikToks the anchors talk about are hopefully helping bring younger people to the brand. I see the content from public radio too. Especially WGBH which makes very interesting content. The story choice on WBZ is leaning younger and less serious too which I do not completely fault them for. I know it is a numbers battle from reading about it on this forum which has been rather interesting. It is helpful when some anchors mention the important stories instead of celebrity gossip. Taylor Swift. The best part about news radio is the personalities. Without them what is the point of listening.
People may complain about all the talk about the app and streaming. For many it may be the only way they can get people to listen.
That's interesting about WCBS being in stereo. What was the time frame on WCBS in stereo? I remember WINS being in stereo and wondering "Why" because it did not have music, although hearing the background teletype was nice. We're way off from Boston/ WBZ, but in the NY area the only Pop or AC stations with good signals I remember were 66 WNNNBC and WICC in Connecticut.
From "CentralFL" posted today: WCBS had great coverage in areas where 92.3 is absent. Danbury, New Haven, Eastern Long Island, Poughkeepsie, etc. They are all now without an all-news station.
Reply to CentralFL From D Eduardo: And, except for Eastern Long Island, none of those locations is in the New York Metro Survey Area. There is no money to be made from out of market coverage.
My (BLA) reply to DE: The listeners of those communities lost a good signaled OTA, WCBS, CentralFL's main observation, I think. A minor thing for those listeners in the grand scheme, but it was nice.
Sorry, was thinking of another station. In fact, KCBS has a really weak signal towards the norther part of the market up to Santa Rosa.
Let me stress I hope my gut is wrong.
The iHeart bean counters will look at how WINS ratings exploded with the move to FM. I fear WZLX is vulnerable.
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