Is the Allaince's only major market stand-alone bailing out?

[radioskeptic]

The Philadelphia message board has an interesting thread: "B101 HD No More?"

A friend wrote me to ask, "Is there some significance to B101, versus other stations?"

Here's the reply I sent him:

Yes, absolutely! WBEB ("B101") is the the only member of the "HD Radio Alliance" that isn't one of the consolidators that have ruined radio in other ways. Jerry Lee is a legend in the business. His station, originally "Beautiful Music" WDVR, was the first FM station ever to bill over $1 million in a year back around 1966 or '67. Jerry took enormous risks in morphing it into a BM-MOR hybrid as WEAZ ("Eazy 101") and later to "B101" -- a straight AC with a smiling bee as its mascot -- but he was ahead of the curve both times, and his hunches (and his audience research) paid off both times.

Despite its slightly compromised signal (it's short-spaced to co-channel WCBS-FM in NYC), it's a ratings powerhouse. It's been among the top five stations in the market for decades, occasionaly even No. 1 -- and it's usually No. 1 with women 25-54 (a prime demo)! Jerry has successfully fended off two earlier competitive assauts by Clear Channel and a recent one by Greater Media.

He reportedly turned down offers as high as $125 million at the height of the consolidation frenzy (1997-2004). He was invited to join the NAB's radio board. That might have been just because they thought they needed his prestige -- or it might have been because the consolidators who control that board wanted to lobby him in favor of IBOC. If so, it worked.

And if, indeed, he's bailing on them -- and this isn't just a problem with his "HD" transmitter -- I'm sure there's a lot of wailing and gnashing of teeth going on in Strubleville about now!

 

[Play Freebird]

B101 is in the process of relocating to new studios, so HD may have been turned off for the duration of the project -- or else, the digital exciter or STL has crashed again (why am I not surprised?) but the engineering staff needs to concentrate on more important tasks. WBEB's HD was still down today; I'm not sure if it will return or not, but obviously it's a low priority for Jerry Lee and his crew. He has been known to put his money and attention toward more profitable investments.

And he must realize by now that WBEB isn't likely to obtain approval for a 10 db digital power increase with short-spaced WROZ operating on his first-adjacent channel in nearby Lancaster with a nondirectional antenna. For two Class B FMs , the rules would normally require a 105 mile separation, but the actual distance between this pair of stations is only 73 miles. As a result, the "protected" contours of WBEB and WROZ overlap several miles in the vicinity of Morgantown, PA. WBEB is also short-spaced to six other stations.