That's a good point. I'm not saying Classical 24 is a good idea, but if they are just going to sell WRR off and it won't stay Classical, go ahead and cut the cost as far is possible while fulfilling the obligations of the license.Going on the hole another 100-500,000, when the inevitable is looming at close is not a good use of taxpayer money.If the music library is on hard drive, they could simply put everything on shuffle and sprinkle in legal IDs every hour.No need to pay for Classical 24.
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KERA To Manage WRR
- Thread starter TheBigA
- Start date
I've previously said that I like that classical is available on the radio dial in DFW and that hasn't changed, but I do believe the City owning and running a commercial standalone classical station is the worst of all worlds. Further, I don't think the City has any kind of social responsibility to its own residents or the metro area to continue losing money on a relatively unpopular radio operation. WRR has a small audience considering its pop count and is apparently losing money. Only a very very small percentage of Dallas' population cares about or listens to WRR.
Maybe, maybe not. Perhaps KNTU would add some classical hours. Or NTPB can acquire a rimshot or translator(s) if their heart is really in the format and they believe it is viable.
You think KNTU has that kind of money lying around to buy another signal?
Let's be clear: none of the current non-commerical, non-religious operators in the DFW area have the money to out bid the big radio groups for WRR if it goes up for sale. If the city decides to sell WRR, I'm sure NTPB would put in a bid for around the $13.5 million it's worth, but they will be outbid by many other commercial or religious operators. When that happens, the classical format goes away quickly. The deal for KERA to run it and program it as a classical station is the only way that format stays around. It's unlikely the city wants to keep running the station at a loss. The city could consider new management to try to fix the financial problems, but I think if they wanted to do that, they would have done so years ago.
My sense is they wanted to get the station employees off the city payroll to save them on benefits packages.
What’s next for WRR?
The plan goes to the city council for approval.
Are they going to change formats?
have you not read a single thing in this thread or any details on the deal between KERA and WRR?
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AnyHuman
Guest
Public radio is the biggest Classical supporter there is. Many of those people in public radio probably listen to it on a regular basis. The classical station in my area is run together with the public radio station.
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AnyHuman
Guest
An editorial dated 7 June in The Dallas Morning News:
Dallas, let WRR radio stay classical
The city should allow Dallas' radio station WRR-FM (101.1) to stay classical
www.dallasnews.com
Done Deal.....
KERA to take over management of WRR, Dallas’ classical music station
The Dallas City Council voted unanimously to the management deal on Wednesday.
www.dallasnews.com
Now we get to see if this new arrangement works out, or if it become a financial albatross for KERA/NTPB. Guess I am cautiously pessimistic, given changing demographics and listener tastes. Which will last longer, Classical on WRR, or the current musical incarnation of KKXT?
I just think that more money can be made for NTPB if they swap signals by putting KKXT on 101.1 and WRR on 91.7. KKXT is a more commercially viable format IMO. But then we dont know how much cash NTPB has to operate 3 radio stations and 2 TV stations and the extra digital TV stations as well. The Friends may pump more money into NTPB now that it will manage WRR-FM. Maybe NTPB can market WRR-FM more. I say good luck.
That's not happening.
If the CoD is forcing them to stay in separate studios for seven years they are not going to even consider a signal shuffle, especially when there is so much consternation about keeping classical on 101.1 while the citizens of Dallas are subsidizing it.
I've worked for a cluster that had a AAA. It’s not that commercially viable, and it’s getting less so by the day. It might well be more commercially viable than classical, but that’s not saying a lot.
When I started at that cluster, I was just shy of 27 and among the youngest listeners to that AAA. I still listen to it today and am still one of the youngest listeners, but I'm 47. The AAA audience isn’t young and is rapidly aging out of sellable demos. Despite a somewhat youthful image, AAA isn't youthful and doesn’t seem to have a path for getting there. Even the heritage AAA's like 93 XRT in Chicago and KBCO in Boulder/Denver skew older.
The DMN story says the station will switch from commercial to non-commercial. So being "commercially viable" is no longer important. It's a function of attracting memberships and building the relationship with Friends of WRR.
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