Looking through this board, it seems that there is a lot of negativity about WEMP. Driving through the city recently, I thought the station sounded good. It was very professional-sounding. The transitions seemed smooth. They did not delve into stories all that deeply, but that is par for the course. Does anyone agree that the station sounds pretty good?
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I Think FM News 101.9 Sounds Good
- Thread starter ScottBurns
- Start date
Although I haven't listened to them, just going by what I've read, leads me to assume that most of the people on this board are expecting some type of "worse to first in 74 days".ScottBurns said:
If that is true, then they will be disappointed either way. The news stations in New York are already heavily embedded into the minds of the radio listeners inside the New York City ADI so that no matter what the station sounded like, it would be an uphill battle.
If they are commuters that drive into The City, then they are probably listening to the blasters long before they pick up the FM's.
I'm glad to see someone give a more objective opinion, for a change.
Jeff in Sa-ra-so-ta!
The last time I did any considerable listening was in February. I thought the product was alright, not bad at all. However, I didn't find anything on WEMP that I couldn't get, or get better, on WCBS or WINS. For me, and many in the land of steady habits, I need a reason to switch. Frequency modulation vs. amplitude modulation isn't enough. While the product is good, I haven't found a reason to switch.
I would bet that is the case with a lot of listeners. Since they are happy with WINS and WCBS, as creatures of habit, it will take something like a Power Outage in The City. When that happens, 101.9 will be dead in the water, anyway. Since 1010's transmitter is in New Jersey and 880's is in The Bronx with a generator, they will still be the stations to go to, either way.reelyreal said:
Now, as long as neither does anything to rock the boat, 101.9 will have to settle for #3 for some time to come.
OTOH, I am seeing more radios come over with FM only. Kinda hard to tune into your AM station on an armband, or car radio, that has no AM.
I would bet that the only reason AM is still in cars, is for the New York area. It is the only place where it still has any listeners in high places (no pun intended).
Jeff in Sa-ra-so-ta!
badjef said:
Eh, that's kind of a stretch. I love AM and I also know its time is not unlimited... However, I also know that there are still a lot of AM listeners out there, and there are still a lot of stations getting the ratings and getting the advertising dollars outside of New York. KFI Los Angeles, KYW Philadelphia, WBZ Boston, WTIC Hartford, and KOA Denver are the stations just off the top of my head that are still consistently in the top 5 or better in their markets and pull in some serious cash.
AM will eventually disappear, but I don't think it's coming as fast as some would speculate.
FM News does sound fine. And while some news pros will find some things wrong with its news coverage, to the "average" listener it sounds like a good news station, with better than average traffic reports. The ten minutes of uninterrupted news works, although the top-of-the-hour VO guy top story countdown might be a bit too dramatic, but that is just a matter of taste.
The one format-clock surprise is the short commentary from Lionel at the bottom of the hour. It doesn't seem to fit, but I like it, and have found myself sitting in the car, after parking, just to hear what Lionel has to say.
Merlin doesn't appear to be advertising, or promoting the format strongly enough. Apparently, average listeners don't explore, or scan, the FM band looking for something new to listen to as often as we might assume. It's still got to find the younger FM listeners who never switch over to AM, or older all-news listeners who don't want to bother switching when they are on FM, or like the better FM clarity.
In the event of a power outage in NYC, doesn't Emmis have backup transmitters in West Orange? And wouldn't you think an all-news operation like Merlin would keep that backup when it bought the station? In a power outage, FM News would be a go-to discovery for a lot of FM-only listeners.
And don't forget, with the exception of far out Suffolk County, any commuters who live too far out to pick up the FM News signal from home don't live in the NY Radio market, won't be given a NY PPM device, don't count in the ratings, and mean almost nothing to the stations. The bigger area AM all-newsers have no ratings advantage from signal coverage except in far Suffolk. FM News does have an advantage in that a high percentage of radio listeners never go to AM for anything. That is especially true for younger women.
The one format-clock surprise is the short commentary from Lionel at the bottom of the hour. It doesn't seem to fit, but I like it, and have found myself sitting in the car, after parking, just to hear what Lionel has to say.
Merlin doesn't appear to be advertising, or promoting the format strongly enough. Apparently, average listeners don't explore, or scan, the FM band looking for something new to listen to as often as we might assume. It's still got to find the younger FM listeners who never switch over to AM, or older all-news listeners who don't want to bother switching when they are on FM, or like the better FM clarity.
In the event of a power outage in NYC, doesn't Emmis have backup transmitters in West Orange? And wouldn't you think an all-news operation like Merlin would keep that backup when it bought the station? In a power outage, FM News would be a go-to discovery for a lot of FM-only listeners.
And don't forget, with the exception of far out Suffolk County, any commuters who live too far out to pick up the FM News signal from home don't live in the NY Radio market, won't be given a NY PPM device, don't count in the ratings, and mean almost nothing to the stations. The bigger area AM all-newsers have no ratings advantage from signal coverage except in far Suffolk. FM News does have an advantage in that a high percentage of radio listeners never go to AM for anything. That is especially true for younger women.
I also think that a lot of people on these boards get a little punchy with the "AM is dead" theory. If you look at LA, Chicago, San Fran, Philly and a lot of other markets, there's an AM or two in the top 5. Many of those markets, the AM station is the #1 station in the city.
Is AM vibrant as it was 25 years ago? No. But it can still serve an audience, albeit a different one. I see AMs, at least the non-50kW ones, doing what a lot of them are already doing in NYC: Serving a segment of the population that normally isn't served by radio. Look at Multicultural Broadcasting as an example. A bunch of 5kW/10kW AMs, serving different ethnic populations and all making money. And when the audience you're targeting can only get it's information in one place, you will have people both pay for the airtime and advertise to reach that specific audience.
Is AM vibrant as it was 25 years ago? No. But it can still serve an audience, albeit a different one. I see AMs, at least the non-50kW ones, doing what a lot of them are already doing in NYC: Serving a segment of the population that normally isn't served by radio. Look at Multicultural Broadcasting as an example. A bunch of 5kW/10kW AMs, serving different ethnic populations and all making money. And when the audience you're targeting can only get it's information in one place, you will have people both pay for the airtime and advertise to reach that specific audience.
...As for WEMP, if you listen to it on its own, it doesn't sound terrible. But when you A/B it with either 880 or 1010, the difference is quite apparent. They don't have the same rhythm to the presentation and the coverage of stories with reporters in the field isn't nearly as good.
And the Lionel thing doesn't fit at all. It would make sense on a news/talk station, but not on an all news station. Since they don't air his show, it's just this nasal guy complaining about things in the middle of a news segment. There's no tie-in, or promotional reason to air it. For the record, I feel the same way about Charles Grodin on 880. He's just a cranky old man complaining at the world in the middle of news.
And the Lionel thing doesn't fit at all. It would make sense on a news/talk station, but not on an all news station. Since they don't air his show, it's just this nasal guy complaining about things in the middle of a news segment. There's no tie-in, or promotional reason to air it. For the record, I feel the same way about Charles Grodin on 880. He's just a cranky old man complaining at the world in the middle of news.
Maybe, I shouldn't bring this up, but I wonder how much is "borrowed" from the other two news stations.TimeIsTight said:
I'm sure he will be really pleased to read that
They may be very selective in their billboarding, if they have the budget for it. And if they are, it would be even more telling of where they are and who owns the billboard.
Yeah, I forgot about the backup and we just brought it up on another thread, just last week. But, if the STL or studio loses power, they are dead in the water, anyway.
The biggest advantage FM News has is building penetration inside the City. That technical advantage is how they will eventually be competitive.
Jeff in Sa-ra-so-ta!
For what it is worth, and future reference, I know you are in the Sunshine State, but I have yet to see a WEMP billboard, they did have lots of spots running mostly on local TV news shows right after Christmas and continuing for several weeks.
Let's hope anybody who goes to all the expense of providing a full alternate transmitting site powered by a entirely different state grid system, also has plans for studio and link UPS emergency systems. At the very least, battery operated boards, lighting and computers to keep things running, and an outside generator with plenty of fuel to keep all those batteries charged. But I suspect Merlin has planned far better than that. After all, its reputation would be at stake in an emergency.
While AM, and especially big city legacy 50-kw stations on clear channels, is far from dead, it is doing a slow fade that is, apparently, following population demographics.
What we are hearing from very reliable sources, who get to see all the data, is that up to 80% of radio listeners NEVER listen to the AM band.
We are also hearing that most people under 45 NEVER listen to AM. So in most places, most AM listeners will be out of the demographics that advertisers want in a few years, if that hasn't happened already.
If these trends weren't true, we wouldn't be seeing big players like Greater Media or CBS simulcasting sports talk, or all-news on FM.
Other than the 50-kw stations, most AMs have very small audiences compared with FMs, and it was surprising last week to find out how few AMs in NYC actually pay for Arbitron's rating services. It's only WFAN, WOR, WABC, WCBS, WINS, WEPN. The other stations aren't players and aren't in the same game.
For the most part, AM stations are declining assets that will be worth less next year than they are now, as the audience ages.
In many cases, the transmitter sites are worth more as real estate than as radio stations and that may prove to be the ultimate end of many multiple tower directionals on lots of land. All things must pass, and like the typewriter, the 45-rpm, and the dial phone, AM radio's best days are probably behind it.
I find that 80% number hard to believe.
What you're going to see is AM's serving specific needs for smaller groups of people. I contract for a couple of religious AM stations that do quite well. Ethnic AM stations don't need to subscribe to PPM data to be a player in the sense that they make money for the owners. At the end of the day, if I were an AM owner, I would rather have a .2 and be profitable quarter after quarter than a 3.0 and be struggling.
There's only so much room at the inn on the FM side; these niche formats will continue to use AM and make it work.
To the statement of "would 880 be as successful without the Yankees", it's kind of a silly statement. They have them, and it's been factored into the equation since they landed on 880. It's part of the regular programming, same as the Fan or any other station that has sports teams every season. It's like saying that CBS-FM wouldn't bill as well if it were playing polka records.
What you're going to see is AM's serving specific needs for smaller groups of people. I contract for a couple of religious AM stations that do quite well. Ethnic AM stations don't need to subscribe to PPM data to be a player in the sense that they make money for the owners. At the end of the day, if I were an AM owner, I would rather have a .2 and be profitable quarter after quarter than a 3.0 and be struggling.
There's only so much room at the inn on the FM side; these niche formats will continue to use AM and make it work.
To the statement of "would 880 be as successful without the Yankees", it's kind of a silly statement. They have them, and it's been factored into the equation since they landed on 880. It's part of the regular programming, same as the Fan or any other station that has sports teams every season. It's like saying that CBS-FM wouldn't bill as well if it were playing polka records.
When you look at the amount of blasters New York City has as compared with everyplace else, coupled by the fact that the FM's don't have near the range of the blasters, especially for those who commute into The City, daily, (you run out of FM long before you run out of Market) it only stands to reason, the car companies can't get rid of AM, yet. But with the increasing amount of noise being generated by the electronics inside of the car, along with under the street on which the car travels, even these blasters are not going to stay put.
Migration to FM is easier in markets where there are only one or two AMs that are profitable.
In New York City? Well, that's a horse of a different color. There are only 20 potential full power commercial allocations. If you look at the AM blasters, you can't put them all on FM and still serve the public with the musical variety with the current technology.
AM will stay for the foreseeable future, if only in the New York ADI.
Jeff in Sa-ra-so-ta!
Migration to FM is easier in markets where there are only one or two AMs that are profitable.
In New York City? Well, that's a horse of a different color. There are only 20 potential full power commercial allocations. If you look at the AM blasters, you can't put them all on FM and still serve the public with the musical variety with the current technology.
AM will stay for the foreseeable future, if only in the New York ADI.
Jeff in Sa-ra-so-ta!
WNTIRadio said:
That is among under-55's. And the figure is actually 75%, and it varies by market... it is high for some markets with good AMs and good AM signals, and it is low in markets where AM shares in under-55 are as low as 5%.
badjef said:
ADI is a TV market term, and a Nielsen one. In the PPM era, there is only the Metro Survey Area. In Diary markets, meaning metros outside the top 50, there is an MSA and a Total Survey Area. But for most purposes, only the MSA is really used for ad sales.
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