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If WHAT change format, what would it change to?

R

radiophiler

The new owner of WHAT could continue to run it as it currently is. But are there other options out there? Here are some ideas:

1. Progressive talk. Create a live, local morning program and hand pick the best of the various syndicators for the rest of the day, NOT relying too much on Air America. Let's say, local in morning drive, Stephanie Miller in late morning, Tom Hartman in early afternoon, Ed Schultz in afternoon drive and Randi Rhodes in early evening.
2. A talk station that is advice oriented instead of political talk oriented. There are enough health, consumer and pyschology syndicated talk shows to fill 18 hours a day with repeats in overnights.
3. Early rock/pop oldies of the 50s and 60s. Yeah, I know, WPEN tried it and didn't make it, plus the demos would make it a challenge for sales. But the new owner is a music researcher who has helped B-101 stay at the top of the Philly market. Well researched music to fit a niche not being served by WOGL might work.
4. A possible long-shot: Lifestyle talk a la New Jersey 101.5. Very, very little politics. More "water cooler" stories. Talk that isn't necessarily based on what's in the news. A station devoted to two-person talk teams that sounds like a couple of friends shooting the breeze on bar stools.

Here's what isn't needed or wouldn't work for one reason or another.:
1. Another sports station. Enough of those already.
2. Another conservative talk station. There are already two, and the second one gets negligible ratings.
3. It'd be great to have a news station competitor, but the start-up costs would be too high and WHAT's signal wouldn't compare to KYW's.
4. Women-oriented talk. I just don't see it working on a 1,000 watt AM on 1340.

Any other ideas? What do people think about the above mentioned formats?
 
Very Few Options For WHAT

I appreciate the thought you've put into this, but none of your options would be likely to bring a new owner any success. I'm afraid the station just doesn't have the signal to make those things happen.

The target listeners for Liberal Talk are in the suburbs, where WHAT is pretty unlistenable. However, the station could launch the format anyway and just hope to get some agency buys based on the national clearances.

I do think there is a tremendous market for a well-operated, intelligent talk station aimed at a black audience. But WHAT I still don't think has the signal to make itself viable, especially considering such a station would have to be able to serve the more affluent African-American audience in the outlying counties.

Advice Talk as a format is almost as dead as the listeners it appeals to. There are a few shows here and there (like Dave Ramsey) that can deliver younger listeners, but those mostly rely on "badass" or "in your face" kind of "advice" as opposed to the gentle "I'm your friend and I'm truly trying to help" style of Bruce Williams.

Mass appeal music on AM is even less viable, especially on a signal like that one.

What would I do with WHAT? (One thing I would NOT have done was spend five million on it.) I have two ideas. The easier (and probably more profitable) of the two-- STRAIGHT BROKERED.
 
George,

I'm afraid you are right. There are so few options for such a small signal that brokered seems to be one of the few options. And $5M? There is no way the new owner can see a profit on that investment anytime soon.
 
Re: Very Few Options For WHAT

I do think there is a tremendous market for a well-operated, intelligent talk station aimed at a black audience. But WHAT I still don't think has the signal to make itself viable, especially considering such a station would have to be able to serve the more affluent African-American audience in the outlying counties.

Yeh right, lets cater to the Black or Hispanic audiance once again, why is it you never hear the phrase; lets create a well-operated, intelligent talk station aimed at a pure white audience, with topics that our children and ourselves need to know about our race. Or would that be considered racist, and don't give me 1210, which has to walk a thin line. What I am saying is, a reverse of WURD, white topics and discussions on how we can continue to survive before we are all displaced. Other races have their full timers what about the white race. I am waiting for an intelligent answer, not the same crapola like, we have a million of them, bull, I never heard one.
 
Paying $5 million for WHAT sounds just as silly as Clear Channel paying $4 million for WILM. I can't believe WHAT is really worth $5 million!
 
Paying $5 million for WHAT sounds just as silly as Clear Channel paying $4 million for WILM. I can't believe WHAT is really worth $5 million!
Click to expand...

I thought the exact same thing when I heard the $5M number; WILM's 2004 sale immediately came to mind.

Actually, I would probably sooner have paid five million for WILM (Market #74-ish) than I would have for WHAT for a variety of reasons (none of which I have the time to detail right now, unfortunately)...
 
W-H-A-T Call Letters

I'll leave the office today with this question:

If the new owner plans to completely scrap the current format, should he dump the heritage call letters?
 
Despite the WHAT call sign being associated with a Anti-Whitey, racist talk format, I wouldn't change the call letters. Folks associate WHAT with 1340. Why change? If it ain't broke, don't fix it. However, if the new owner wants to disassociate (if that's the correct word to use) those call letters from the station (due to the reputation the current format has), I wouldn't argue with that decision. I hope what I wrote makes sense! :D
 
The answer is easy. Classic soul...just like WHAT was once upon a time. There's NO full time outlet for this music.
 
It is a niche, albeit music on AM. Still, I think there would be a draw, myself included.

"Classic Soul 1340 - The Old School Channel". Take Jammin' Oldies, expand the playlist to include the 80's, maybe some of the 90's, focus on the 60's and 70's. Throw in some "blue eyed soul" (Hall and Oates, Robert Palmer solo, Michael Bolton (in small doses). Don't just rely on the R&B charts, take some from the pop charts for mass appeal. I think it would draw.

(and now, I will contradict myself...)

Music on AM? When Art Bell interviewed Pat Murphy of the ACE in 1997 on the pirate radio broadcast, Murphy stated "if the programming is unique enough, people will listen through the static".
 
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