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Julius May's Thoughts on WPHT

In my view, here's what's going to happen with 1210 AM

Greater Media buys it, changes the format to ESPN Radio, CBS in turn will buy another FM, maybe 106.9 and probably put a simulcast of KYW on it. CBS need 4 stations to air all of their play by play, Eagles, Phillies, Temple, St joes, and Nova. The Temple and Villanova play by play will be on the FM station I think, 1060 will remain all news. BTW If this were to happen, KYW would have to change its entire broadcast schedule to include the TOH and :31 past CBS News, as well as finally airing 60 Minutes. This also means that the Phillies games will be on 94.1 FM only. I know that's going to upset folks that rely on the 1210 signal.
 
I really don't see changes at 1210 till after the current Phillies season but we are all speculating. But like all the great AM stations most have gone to that great microphone in the sky. Just their history can't support them. AM HD was hopeful but instead made matters worse. There are far too many better sources for quality audio programming. If you have a complicated pattern you need several towers and lots of land and upkeep. Almost impossible to make a profit. AM radio will soon be a thing of the past. RIP AM I will miss you!
 
Re: In my view, here's what's going to happen with 1210 AM

Julius May said:
BTW If this were to happen, KYW would have to change its entire broadcast schedule to include the TOH and :31 past CBS News, as well as finally airing 60 Minutes. This also means that the Phillies games will be on 94.1 FM only. I know that's going to upset folks that rely on the 1210 signal.
Click to expand...

Why would KYW have to begin airing the CBS updates or 60 Minutes? Those are available elsewhere.
 
athegymtday said:
I really don't see changes at 1210 till after the current Phillies season but we are all speculating. But like all the great AM stations most have gone to that great microphone in the sky. Just their history can't support them. AM HD was hopeful but instead made matters worse. There are far too many better sources for quality audio programming. If you have a complicated pattern you need several towers and lots of land and upkeep. Almost impossible to make a profit. AM radio will soon be a thing of the past. RIP AM I will miss you!
Click to expand...
You never know. WCAU went off the air in 1990 during the Phillies season, 1210 switched back to talk in 1996, during the Phillies season.
 
Re: In my view, here's what's going to happen with 1210 AM

Julius May said:
Greater Media buys it, changes the format to ESPN Radio, CBS in turn will buy another FM, maybe 106.9 and probably put a simulcast of KYW on it. CBS need 4 stations to air all of their play by play, Eagles, Phillies, Temple, St joes, and Nova. The Temple and Villanova play by play will be on the FM station I think, 1060 will remain all news. BTW If this were to happen, KYW would have to change its entire broadcast schedule to include the TOH and :31 past CBS News, as well as finally airing 60 Minutes. This also means that the Phillies games will be on 94.1 FM only. I know that's going to upset folks that rely on the 1210 signal.
Click to expand...

CBS is not going to sell a station in Philadelphia to anyone who is going to put a sports format on it.
 
Re: In my view, here's what's going to happen with 1210 AM

aindik said:
CBS is not going to sell a station in Philadelphia to anyone who is going to put a sports format on it.
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You are right about that. But I still think CBS will sell the station to someone else, other than GM or cease operations. They are not happy the overall format and the ratings of the station in my view.
 
cease operations? I think that's a bit of a stretch.
IF the current format doesn't bill well maybe a format flip or sell, but cease operations? Nah. I dont think so. Not with that flaim thrower signal.
 
The knee-jerk reactionaries on this thread aren't thinking clearly. WPHT is not a solitary radio station operating in a vacuum. It's owned by the large conglomerate of CBS and they have the ability to fold whatever losses are incurred on WPHT into their big bottom line. If Philly's CBS cluster is making money with WOGL, WIP-FM, and KYW leading the way, and WIP-AM and WPHT are not, it may just be that the big three are enough to carry the two that are under-performing.

Even with the lower ratings, WPHT might be making some money through whatever sales effort they do have, plus whatever they're hauling in from infomercials on the weekend, sales to the Phillies for their airtime, etc., not to mention not having to pay Smerconish in the near future.

My guess is that the executives at CBS are NOT making the knee-jerk reactions that are prevalent in this thread and nothing will happen in the near term.
 
Why would Greater Media unload an AM station and turn around a buy one CBS (supposedly) wants to unload?

It makes sense for Family Radio to sell an FM and buy an AM (and keep the difference in cash). Greater Media would likely have to pay more for 1210 than they got for 950 and to do what? Run the ESPN Radio network feed again?

What might make sense is for Disney to put ESPN Deportes on 640.

Right now, all four major TV network broadcasters are running radio sports networks (Disney-ABC, Comcast-NBC, CBS, Fox-Premiere). Ain't room for everybody in any market.

Don't assume that CBS can stop a buyer from putting sports on a station after CBS sold it, or that they would even care much.
 
i hope that CBS doesn't blow up WPHT on labor day. That would be shocking.
 
FredLeonard said:
Why would Greater Media unload an AM station and turn around a buy one CBS (supposedly) wants to unload?
Click to expand...
Because of 2 things. the signal and then I think that GM wants 97.5 to be all local to fully compete with WIP-FM and at the same time keep the ESPN radio affiliation.
 
Julius May said:
1210 switched back to talk in 1996, during the Phillies season.
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The day before the ASG at the Vet, IIRC. That despite a springtime of Charlie Van Dyke's voice (counting down to station IDs) saying "This is the home of the 1996 All Star Game at the Vet! The Game! 1210 am!"

Partly because 610 was and is blotted out where I live by splatter from 600 am in Baltimore (I have a tortoise-like net connection so web listening [with the attendant buffering] is out), partly because 1210 carried the Phightin's, I'm probably the only RD-er with fond memories of "Double-U-G-M-********... Phila-del-phe-UHHH!"

ixnay
 
Julius May said:
i hope that CBS doesn't blow up WPHT on labor day. That would be shocking.
Click to expand...
it would be stunning if that were to happen
 
Julius, remember one thing. All the doom and gloom about radio on this board is unwarranted. People will find the content they want, whether it's on AM/ FM/XM/ internet, etc. No one is selling 1210, and no one is blowing it up in favor of another format.
 
Does anyone think that 1210 is rolling the dice with this new lineup, including Dick Morris, starting Monday?
 
Julius May said:
Does anyone think that 1210 is rolling the dice with this new lineup, including Dick Morris, starting Monday?
Click to expand...

Of course. All of radio is a crap shoot. Despite how consultants claim to be experts, there is no such thing in radio as a "winning formula." There is no predicting what will work, when it will work or where it will work. Once in a great while, lightning strikes.

The difference between farmers and program directors is farmers know it's a crap shoot. They make their best guess and hope to make money this year. Program directors think they know something.

The real question is: Is it too late? CBS has tried to reinvent 1210 half a dozen times in the past 20 years. Each time this means they throw away the audience they've got and try to build a new audience - a new audience on AM radio, a medium now in intensive care awaiting the last rites. Even worse, they have to build a new audience in the money demos, which means to get people to listen to AM radio who did not grow up listening to AM radio. So, no matter who they hire and no matter how they tweak the format, it's probably too late to save the patient - even if they guess right.
 
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