If they would only can that absolutely horrible morning show, life would be better.
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iHeart worries were overblown?
- Thread starter Wimmmex
- Start date
If they would only can that absolutely horrible morning show, life would be better.
LOL!
What you're missing is that it's not just iHeart. There are just a handful of all news stations in the country. Most of them are former CBS stations. Now CBS is out of radio. So moving forward, how many of the former CBS stations will stay all news? This was going to be a problem for whoever bought WBZ.
The expense isn't the issue. As we've demonstrated, iHeart spends a lot of money on content, whether with talk show hosts, entertainment shows, or even its iHeart Festival. The issue is if the expense results in profits.
Local isn't the issue. iHeart owns several all-local talk stations. They've moved their syndicated talk off their primary talk stations in markets like Los Angeles, San Francisco, Denver, and Cincinnati. That's also the case in Boston, where most of the syndicated talk is on the smaller AM station.
So as I've said before, this POV is premature. At some point, Boston radio listeners will be unwilling to sit through news on AM any longer. The audio quality is simply unlistenable for most. Unless iHeart moves the content to FM somehow, it's likely the revenue for these stations will begin to drop. Once that happens, the format as it's being done will become unsustainable. But that same problem is facing Entercom with KYW in Philadelphia. We're already seeing the ratings dropping there. So how much longer can companies support expensive formats on AM? That's part of the question facing the FCC with regards to AM revitalization.
If you think THAT"s too expensive...think about how much money they would lose if they stopped.
Unless listeners advertisers want suddenly have an epiphany and decide they can't get enough radio news, moving WBZ's content to FM looks like a nonstarter. Of the full-market signals, 94.5 and 107.9 hit the demographic sweet spot, and 101.7 successfully chases a moving target by adding newer classic rock tracks and eliminating older ones periodically. News would kill those stations' revenue. Ditch country on 101.7 or R&B on 97.7? It would be hard, if not impossible, to generate enough revenue with those limited signals to support the staff needed for the format.
Good analysis. This brings us to the current ownership limits debate. iHeart has said it doesn't support loosening ownership limits because it would devalue AM properties. Owners with expense formats would desert the band and move the format to FM if they could buy more stations. Otherwise, as you say, they're stuck.
Just noticed an error on my original post. Should be 100.7 (WZLX) for the classic rock station. 101.7 is, correctly, WBWL, the signal-challenged country station.
Since IHrt down graded their RI station in order to let their Boston 101.7 upgrade theirs, they are not as "signal challenged" as they were back in the days of Mindich ownership, and the ratings seem to support that they are covering a good bit of the listening area
Do you still shop at Jordan Marsh?
To be fair to iHeart, layoffs during the holiday season are standard procedure in corporate America, as budgets for the following year are usually set in November. The practice certainly conjures images of Ebeneezer Scrooge, but it's not unique to the much-maligned "iHateRadio" (the former "Cheap Channel").
>>At some point, Boston radio listeners will be unwilling to sit through news on AM any longer. The audio quality is simply unlistenable for most. Unless iHeart moves the content to FM somehow
Regarding news but mostly talk:
Only a few have HD radio but RKO is on 100.7 HD2, Talk1200 on 94.5 HD2, and WBZ newsradio on 107.9 HD2.
Many more listeners have smartphones and bluetooth to get streams of these stations and quality may sound better than AM.
"You can't get RKO at night west of Kenmore Sq", Howie used to complain (he has other affiliates though). But there are the streams.
Some talkers or news stations do have FM translators--limited range, though-- places like Worc (for WTAG--still, right?), Manchester, Portland.
And we do have a couple powerful FMs with lots of news and talk and they get good ratings--GBH and BUR.
Yes all news stations get more rare whether AM or FM.Some could be talk at night like WBZ 1030.We did have WTKK but Greater/Beasley gave up on that.
Regarding news but mostly talk:
Only a few have HD radio but RKO is on 100.7 HD2, Talk1200 on 94.5 HD2, and WBZ newsradio on 107.9 HD2.
Many more listeners have smartphones and bluetooth to get streams of these stations and quality may sound better than AM.
"You can't get RKO at night west of Kenmore Sq", Howie used to complain (he has other affiliates though). But there are the streams.
Some talkers or news stations do have FM translators--limited range, though-- places like Worc (for WTAG--still, right?), Manchester, Portland.
And we do have a couple powerful FMs with lots of news and talk and they get good ratings--GBH and BUR.
Yes all news stations get more rare whether AM or FM.Some could be talk at night like WBZ 1030.We did have WTKK but Greater/Beasley gave up on that.
If the age of the average news listener remains north of 55, the format could disappear from commercial radio.
When people had a choice between music on AM or music on FM, they chose FM. Same is inevitable for news & talk.
True though news listening can peak at times like the Marathon bombings and the Lawrence gas explosion.(Not always, though; the demo can still be older.Am 56 myself...)
In Apr of '13 WRKO and WTKK did expanded coverage of the bombings and of course we had 'BZ.CBS FM music stations simulcast 1030 for a time. But again that was a crisis, much like 9/11. FM news and talk may be a tougher sell due to the demo otherwise. (iHeart Pittsburgh changed 104.7 from conservative talk to country, and got a small AM to pick up Rush etc; while WJAS 1320 isn't owned by them I'm sure that station's studios are hosted in the iHeart bldg!) Here, iHeart had to do 1200, then 1430, then 1200 again to be able to clear their syndie talk.RKO stayed local with Kuhner...now iHeart owns them too.)
In Apr of '13 WRKO and WTKK did expanded coverage of the bombings and of course we had 'BZ.CBS FM music stations simulcast 1030 for a time. But again that was a crisis, much like 9/11. FM news and talk may be a tougher sell due to the demo otherwise. (iHeart Pittsburgh changed 104.7 from conservative talk to country, and got a small AM to pick up Rush etc; while WJAS 1320 isn't owned by them I'm sure that station's studios are hosted in the iHeart bldg!) Here, iHeart had to do 1200, then 1430, then 1200 again to be able to clear their syndie talk.RKO stayed local with Kuhner...now iHeart owns them too.)
This NEVER gets old, even though the cuts are now made in the early fall
https://www.indymedia.org/media/2005/12//830350.mp3
My song parody of Weird Al's Christmas at Ground Zero:
It's Christmas at Clear Channel, there's layoffs on the way
Now we gotta tell Bob he lost his job and all his take home pay
(Bridge)
Everywhere the ratings shares are droppin'
It's the end of old C.C....
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