If CBS-FM Would Flip to a Simulcast of Newsradio 880...

[disney fanatic]

Take a look at KFRC out in San Francisco, they blew up the greatest hits format after they got laid off before a simulcast of KCBS-AM as a all-news station starting this Monday. KIRO in Seattle at 710 did have a simulcast on 97.3 after they also blew out the oldies station when it was KBSG back in August, but I don't see CBS-FM changing its format, like just when it flipped to "Jack" back in 2005, but I don't see a simulcast of an all-news station "Newsradio 880" on 101.1 anytime soon.

Any thoughts, rumors, etc.

 

[neo11]

Not happening.

 

[BruceS8852]

WCBS 880 AM is being re-broadcast on 101.1-HD3. WINS is rebroadcast on 102.7-HD3. I wonder if the news or the Yankees will be broadcast on 101.1-HD3 next season.

Bruce

 

[AnimatronicAbeLincoln]

The question is, which one will they put on 92.3 - WFAN, WINS, or WCBS-AM?

My vote goes to WFAN, but it's gotta be a tough call.

 

[scooty430]

Right.

Get rid of the #3 station in the city.

Makes total sense. ???

 

[Big Jay]

I wanna say 1010 WINS...due to their lousy signal in NJ...but they're still the CITY station, while WCBS-AM 880 is the suburb station...so let me rethink this.

WFAN has the best AM signal in NY in my estimation, especially here at the shore in Jersey....WOR is next (though not a night as a CUBAN station is blocking it)WABC third (but HERE at least there is a lot of noise on 770 now as well...unlike the old days.

BUT...WFAN does NOT penetrate the concrete canyons of Mid-Town...nor does 880 for that matter, both on the same tower...hmm....

So...let's review...THIS IS a tough call. But the clincher... Is ANYone listening to HD?

Only ONE radio guy I know has it. Not ONE other person I KNOW does, or even grasps what it IS yet. These are the same people who think Satellite Radio is for getting better reception of WJRZ (the one down the shore) in Manhattan.

So my answer leans back to which one stands to make more MONEY by being on 92.3?

WFAN.

Or maybe WCBS-AM....wait...WINS....oh forget it.

No...FAN...and I'm stickin' to it. To be heard IN the buildings of Manhattan.

BE BIG

PS...then where to Opie & Anthony go? Back to 102.7? No...that ain't happening. The girls would have a stroke.

Too many questions.

Jay

 

[cawasinnj]

The question is, which one will they put on 92.3 - WFAN, WINS, or WCBS-AM?

My vote goes to WFAN, but it's gotta be a tough call.

It was announced a couple of weeks ago that WFAN will be on WXRK-HD3. Might already be there.

 

[neo11]

It's pretty ironic that CBS is so worried about the declining listening to AM, especially amongst younger demos, and is attempting to combat this problem by placing the AM stations on HD. Yep, that'll bring in those younger listeners and get those HD receivers off the shelves in stores, simulcasting AM radio stations.

 

[nd2023]

There was an uproar when CBS-FM got jacked, there will be another uproar if it flips to a more useless format than Jack. Yes, a simulcast with WCBS-AM is useless because the AM can be heard in half the country at night and everywhere in the NYC metro 24/7, and it streams online for the people listening at work.

 

[radioguybroadcasting]

There was an uproar when CBS-FM got jacked, there will be another uproar if it flips to a more useless format than Jack. Yes, a simulcast with WCBS-AM is useless because the AM can be heard in half the country at night and everywhere in the NYC metro 24/7, and it streams online for the people listening at work.

There was an uproar when CBS-FM got jacked, there will be another uproar if it flips to a more useless format than Jack. Yes, a simulcast with WCBS-AM is useless because the AM can be heard in half the country at night and everywhere in the NYC metro 24/7, and it streams online for the people listening at work.

Its been proven there are folks who simply WONT LISTEN TO AM just because it's AM.. I know a few of those folks.. moving a news talk AM to an FM simulcaster will give them a more younger, more contemporary listeners they didnt have before JUST BECAUSE IT'S FM.

PLUS, the FM signal, while it may suffer from multipath or whatever, it does penetrate steel and concrete office buildings better then AM radio does.

And it doesnt matter that the AM covers half the country at night... they're more concerned with the local audience and signal.. DX'ers dont matter to sales staff and advertisers mostly.

 

[BruceS8852]

It was announced a couple of weeks ago that WFAN will be on WXRK-HD3. Might already be there.

WFAN is already being rebroadcast on 92.3-HD3.

 

[neo11]

There was an uproar when CBS-FM got jacked, there will be another uproar if it flips to a more useless format than Jack. Yes, a simulcast with WCBS-AM is useless because the AM can be heard in half the country at night and everywhere in the NYC metro 24/7, and it streams online for the people listening at work.

There was an uproar when CBS-FM got jacked, there will be another uproar if it flips to a more useless format than Jack. Yes, a simulcast with WCBS-AM is useless because the AM can be heard in half the country at night and everywhere in the NYC metro 24/7, and it streams online for the people listening at work.

Its been proven there are folks who simply WONT LISTEN TO AM just because it's AM.. I know a few of those folks.. moving a news talk AM to an FM simulcaster will give them a more younger, more contemporary listeners they didnt have before JUST BECAUSE IT'S FM.

PLUS, the FM signal, while it may suffer from multipath or whatever, it does penetrate steel and concrete office buildings better then AM radio does.

And it doesnt matter that the AM covers half the country at night... they're more concerned with the local audience and signal.. DX'ers dont matter to sales staff and advertisers mostly.

I personally think that those who aren't listening to AM won't listen to those stations even if they were on FM. It's not the medium, it's the formats. A lot of those younger listeners aren't interested in the all-news or conservative talk formats that dominate the AM dial. Many of them get their traffic info from FM stations, and many of them either don't care about the news while a smaller number might turn to NPR.

And putting AM stations on FM is one thing....but putting them on HD is useless. First off, almost no one has an HD radio. Second, HD reception is probably even more fickle than AM, even inside buildings. The reception reports for HD stations have not been encouraging thus far. Third, HD is not going to draw new listeners if it doesn't offer something really compelling, and a simulcast of existing stations just isn't going to cut it. CBS isn't fooling anyone but itself with these moves.

 

[AnimatronicAbeLincoln]

I personally think that those who aren't listening to AM won't listen to those stations even if they were on FM.

It worked in quite a few places - DC, Phoenix, Salt Lake City... Trying to think of the others but, actually, they have found that yes, indeed, if you simulcast an AM station on FM, people who otherwise would not have listened will actually listen.

Younger people are less likely to push the AM button, it turns out, even if there are stations on the AM band they would like.

 

[davideduardo]

I personally think that those who aren't listening to AM won't listen to those stations even if they were on FM.

It worked in quite a few places - DC, Phoenix, Salt Lake City... Trying to think of the others but, actually, they have found that yes, indeed, if you simulcast an AM station on FM, people who otherwise would not have listened will actually listen.

Younger people are less likely to push the AM button, it turns out, even if there are stations on the AM band they would like.

Jacksonville, Orlando, Akron, Central NJ, Tallahassee, Indianapolis, New Orleans, Pittsburgh, SLc, Seattle, Phoenix. DC, Charleston, SC, and quite a few others have shown that moving to Fm or simulcasting an ageing trandition news talk or news AM there revitalizes the listenership in the sales demos.

 

[radioguybroadcasting]

I personally think that those who aren't listening to AM won't listen to those stations even if they were on FM.

It worked in quite a few places - DC, Phoenix, Salt Lake City... Trying to think of the others but, actually, they have found that yes, indeed, if you simulcast an AM station on FM, people who otherwise would not have listened will actually listen.

Younger people are less likely to push the AM button, it turns out, even if there are stations on the AM band they would like.

Jacksonville, Orlando, Akron, Central NJ, Tallahassee, Indianapolis, New Orleans, Pittsburgh, SLc, Seattle, Phoenix. DC, Charleston, SC, and quite a few others have shown that moving to Fm or simulcasting an ageing trandition news talk or news AM there revitalizes the listenership in the sales demos.

Who did it in Orlando and Central NJ? I'm drawing a blank.

 

[davideduardo]

I personally think that those who aren't listening to AM won't listen to those stations even if they were on FM.

It worked in quite a few places - DC, Phoenix, Salt Lake City... Trying to think of the others but, actually, they have found that yes, indeed, if you simulcast an AM station on FM, people who otherwise would not have listened will actually listen.

Younger people are less likely to push the AM button, it turns out, even if there are stations on the AM band they would like.

Jacksonville, Orlando, Akron, Central NJ, Tallahassee, Indianapolis, New Orleans, Pittsburgh, SLc, Seattle, Phoenix. DC, Charleston, SC, and quite a few others have shown that moving to Fm or simulcasting an ageing trandition news talk or news AM there revitalizes the listenership in the sales demos.

Who did it in Orlando and Central NJ? I'm drawing a blank.

Orlando, NJ, Akron, Pittsburgh, Orlando and a couple of others are true traditional talk startups.

 

[CrankyYankee]

Regarding neo11's statement of a few posts ago: " It's not the medium, it's the formats."

Yeah, I'll go along with that statement to a certain degree. However, add to that comment about some(many) people just will not listen to AM radio. Unless they are seeking out sports...and by that I mean baseball for the most part. While there are a few FM stations that carry games, baseball is found pretty much only on AM stations.
Plus, with most games played at night, signals are generally at lower power.

In a situation where a team that you may not always follow unless they start to show some promise(The Red Sox, for example), seeking out a game with them, unless you subscribe to XM, the logical place you'll find it is on AM. Once again I'm going to offer my two cents that having sports on FM would not be a bad idea. Put the games on with a stereo feed from the park. Play-by-play announcer on one channel, color on the other with mikes picking up crowd noise from left, center and right. (I'd think a hockey game in stereo would be interesting with the announcer centered and mikes picking up the action from each end of the rink) The same thing with football, the sound follows the action from one end of the field to the other.
However, in the end, people will seek out the programming they want wherever it may be. I have to think that in light of the world financial crisis, more people are tuning into Bloomberg at AM1130 nowadays than ever before. With the advent of the internet, you can listen to almost any kind of programming from anywhere in the world. HD has huge potential but it seems to be suffering from an identify crisis like such that befell AM stereo.

 

[adma]

And, look at it this way: if the concern were about "aging demos", AM outlets wouldn't have switched from Top 40 to news/talk in the first place.

Sometimes, one has to bite the bullet: if the younger-demo ball is no longer foreseeably in the FM music radio court...

 

[radioguybroadcasting]

Just my two cents, but I think WINS and WFAN will be the first AMs to go to FM.....

 

[DToTheJ]

Jacksonville, Orlando, Akron, Central NJ, Tallahassee, Indianapolis, New Orleans, Pittsburgh, SLc, Seattle, Phoenix. DC, Charleston, SC, and quite a few others have shown that moving to Fm or simulcasting an ageing trandition news talk or news AM there revitalizes the listenership in the sales demos.

Who did it in Orlando and Central NJ? I'm drawing a blank.
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WDBO simulcasts on WHTQ 96.5's HD2 channel.
NJ 101.5/WKXW simulcasts on 97.3 FM in Southern New Jersey.