KLove expands in NH-ME seacoast

[Least]

Why is providing programming that a significant number of listeners like bad for listeners?

I'm not trying to be sarcastic or facetious with the following questions, yet I am asking rhetorically.

What defines a significant number?
If radio is considered a public service, do the numbers of K-Love and Air1 listeners in each market truly make it a reasonable service? Kind of like the tree in the forest falling rhetorical question.

I'm not debating Boston specifically, and am thinking more of a station like WPLJ or the frequency that The Loop used to be on in Chicago. In market like New York or Chicago, are there enough listeners to declare the specific population of listeners as "significant?"

At the end of the day, it is a buisness. And I'm not calling out your post at all. I can equally ask these questions in a discussion about NPR. So please don't take it as disdain towards EMF or your point. Regarding Boston, I take it as a kick in the groin when seeing a station and format I enjoy go away. But they could have flipped WAAF to a country station, I would have equally had the same outlook. So that's where I become subjective, thus need to identify my being so.

What I do debate (cordially) is our heated exchange back in 2020 about the listeners' "rights (for lack of a better term)." I do believe that listeners do have the right to openly express their displeasure to the rise of EMF. It's the same as EMF having the right to continue their buisness model. I should respect it, while still not personally having to subjectively enjoy or supoort it. It's the same as not liking sea food and voicing that preference, yet still respecting the right for a Lobster restaurant to exist. (Just for full disclosure, I love sea food. I just needed a good analogy.)

My theory is if EMF made market specific programming, I would not question the company's national growth as much. There are national programming on all radio formats, yet most mix in local programming. The only other brands I can think as being comparable to K-Love is ESPN Radio and FOX Sports Radio in specific markets, where it's all the national programming lineup. I have an equal subjective displeasure towards those stations as well. Again, for full disclosure, I subscribe to SiriusXM and listen to their continental programming. So, perhaps I'm off on my stance.

 

[Joseph_Gallant]

I fully expect that EMF will soon acquire a second Boston area signal for their Air 1 network.

The "likely suspects" in my opinion:

1. WEEI-93.7, with the WEEI call letters, format, programming, and staff moving to 103.3 to replace the automated WBGB.

2. WXRV-92.5. If my memory serves me correct, the station's principal owner passed away a couple of years ago. Two former satellite stations that used to rebroadcast WXRV were sold to EMF and now carry it's K-Love format.

3. If Emerson College ever decides to sell WERS-88.9, it could become an Air 1 affiliate.

Speaking about K-Love, could EMF be interested in Plymouth's WPLM-99.1 to bring a strong K-Love signal to Boston's Southern suburbs and especially coastal southeastern Massachusetts and Cape Cod?

BTW, if EMF now has some 1,000 stations, I believe it would now make them the largest radio group in terms of number of stations owned. I know that at one time, I-Heart (then known as Clear Channel) owned some 1,200 stations, but I thought that number has shrunk to under 1,000.

 

[jlehmann]

I fully expect that EMF will soon acquire a second Boston area signal for their Air 1 network.

The "likely suspects" in my opinion:

1. WEEI-93.7, with the WEEI call letters, format, programming, and staff moving to 103.3 to replace the automated WBGB.

2. WXRV-92.5. If my memory serves me correct, the station's principal owner passed away a couple of years ago. Two former satellite stations that used to rebroadcast WXRV were sold to EMF and now carry it's K-Love format.

3. If Emerson College ever decides to sell WERS-88.9, it could become an Air 1 affiliate.

Speaking about K-Love, could EMF be interested in Plymouth's WPLM-99.1 to bring a strong K-Love signal to Boston's Southern suburbs and especially coastal southeastern Massachusetts and Cape Cod?

BTW, if EMF now has some 1,000 stations, I believe it would now make them the largest radio group in terms of number of stations owned. I know that at one time, I-Heart (then known as Clear Channel) owned some 1,200 stations, but I thought that number has shrunk to under 1,000.

If EMF buys another station here, they’re going to want a full Pru or Newton/Needham signal. K Love would go on that signal and Air 1 on 107.3.

The south coast already has K Love on 91.1 WTKL North Dartmouth and the completely overlapping 95.5 WLVO Providence.

 

[Least]

I fully expect that EMF will soon acquire a second Boston area signal for their Air 1 network.

The "likely suspects" in my opinion:

1. WEEI-93.7, with the WEEI call letters, format, programming, and staff moving to 103.3 to replace the automated WBGB.

2. WXRV-92.5. If my memory serves me correct, the station's principal owner passed away a couple of years ago. Two former satellite stations that used to rebroadcast WXRV were sold to EMF and now carry it's K-Love format.

3. If Emerson College ever decides to sell WERS-88.9, it could become an Air 1 affiliate.

Speaking about K-Love, could EMF be interested in Plymouth's WPLM-99.1 to bring a strong K-Love signal to Boston's Southern suburbs and especially coastal southeastern Massachusetts and Cape Cod?

BTW, if EMF now has some 1,000 stations, I believe it would now make them the largest radio group in terms of number of stations owned. I know that at one time, I-Heart (then known as Clear Channel) owned some 1,200 stations, but I thought that number has shrunk to under 1,000.

I sure hope that it's not WERS. As for all these options, the only one that allows for no damage to local programming would be to either outright sell 103.3 or move a format to 103.3. Personally, I enjoy Big, and rather see the bloated Sports Talk market go down. But that's just me. I take issue with how Greg Hill took his golden parachute and left both Mike Hsu and LB to wither on WAAF. He took Danielle Murr and left the former to ride the Titanic to the floor. The fact that Audacy didn't even program morning radio on WAAF left the writing on the wall as clear as day. So, I'd like to see Greg Hill have to endure what Mike and Carrie had to endure. But I'm with you in logic. If they sell WEEI-FM, it's just the frequency, and the format and calls will move to 103.3. My lingering question is what about WEEI-AM? Could they just sell that?

 

[FerriteFred]

I fully expect that EMF will soon acquire a second Boston area signal for their Air 1 network.

The "likely suspects" in my opinion:

1. WEEI-93.7, with the WEEI call letters, format, programming, and staff moving to 103.3 to replace the automated WBGB.

2. WXRV-92.5. If my memory serves me correct, the station's principal owner passed away a couple of years ago. Two former satellite stations that used to rebroadcast WXRV were sold to EMF and now carry it's K-Love format.

3. If Emerson College ever decides to sell WERS-88.9, it could become an Air 1 affiliate.

Speaking about K-Love, could EMF be interested in Plymouth's WPLM-99.1 to bring a strong K-Love signal to Boston's Southern suburbs and especially coastal southeastern Massachusetts and Cape Cod?

BTW, if EMF now has some 1,000 stations, I believe it would now make them the largest radio group in terms of number of stations owned. I know that at one time, I-Heart (then known as Clear Channel) owned some 1,200 stations, but I thought that number has shrunk to under 1,000.

I would not want to lose what I consider to to be one of the only good FM stations in the area that is independent. If Easy 99.1 sold out to K Love than I have Sirius XM to fall back on. Of course I would still listen to 1030 WBZ and 1200 WXKS. And I may be young for AM, 44, but to everyone's surprise, I listened to local and national AM talk shows and news since I got my first radio at age 8. That was also before the big media companies came in and destroyed most of great the independent FM music stations.

 

[Joseph_Gallant]

(W)hat about WEEI-AM? Could they (Audacy) just sell that?

WEEI-850 is currently being used as the Boston outlet for the Audacy-owned Bet QL network, so I don't think Audacy would sell it, as they'd want a Bet QL affiliate in Boston.....at least for now.

Besides, I doubt EMF would even want an AM station. But if 850 does go up for sale, there would be several buyers, given that it has the second best AM signal in the market.

 

[nowradioguy]

850 ... has the second best AM signal in the market.

Really? Better than WRKO's? At one point when they were both Entercom-owned and were negotiating with the Sox, there was some discussion over which of the two had "the second best AM signal in the market."

One thing's certain: AM 1200 is NOT considered a contender for "the second best AM signal in the market."

And, of course, we all KNOW who has THE BEST AM signal in the market!

 

[ssetta]

Where I live, 890 comes in better than 850, 1060 comes in better than 1030, and back when it was in the air, 650 came in better than 680.

 

[Fenway1912]

Emerson will not sell WERS

Let's see what Audacy does with WVEI-FM 103.7.

 

[CTListener]

Emerson will not sell WERS

Let's see what Audacy does with WVEI-FM 103.7.

Doesn't WLVO 95.5 cover that area? Or are you thinking EMF might want a frequency for Air 1?

 

[Least]

Listeners seem to love K-love. They don’t care if it’s local or not. They love the personalities and the music. It’s more engaging than you might think.

I would guess that k-love has more listeners than 107.3 did in the end.

Have to agree, and I still theorize that Audacy was ready to sunset WAAF. They moved Hill over to WEEI-FM, without even brining in a morning show for 107.3. To me, the writing was on the wall at that point. I saw it as sacrificing WAAF in an attempt to bring as many ears to WEEI to compete with The Sports Hub. Problem is, where Sports Talk and Rock formatted stations target much of the same group, it isn't automatic that the listeners of either enjoy the opposite format.

But yes, (much to my dismay) K-Love has an audience, nationally. I honestly don't like having numerous frequencies running the same programming, but they are separated enough. I just happen to live in an area where several of these signals overlap.

 

[raccoonradio]

EMF wanted 93.7 but Audacy wouldn't deal it away--had WAAF not been around to deal away, a 93.7 to K-Love with sports/talk WEEI-FM going to 103.3 (return to old freq) could have happened. Despite taking their lumps it's quite valuable.
WKVB 107.3 covers a lot of people.
93.7's Peabody stick is a lot closer to downtown Boston.

2020 post on this board:
>>
K-Love 93.7? One tweet I saw by
@bobbyneil79:
"So word I got is EMF wanted the 93.7 stick first. Red Sox stopped that move. A new Morning show was hired for AAF as well as a major updated format but this came up quickly."

The thought of "if EMF got 93.7, EEI could go to 103.3" was expressed then too

 

[CTListener]

Have to agree, and I still theorize that Audacy was ready to sunset WAAF. They moved Hill over to WEEI-FM, without even brining in a morning show for 107.3. To me, the writing was on the wall at that point. I saw it as sacrificing WAAF in an attempt to bring as many ears to WEEI to compete with The Sports Hub. Problem is, where Sports Talk and Rock formatted stations target much of the same group, it isn't automatic that the listeners of either enjoy the opposite format.

But yes, (much to my dismay) K-Love has an audience, nationally. I honestly don't like having numerous frequencies running the same programming, but they are separated enough. I just happen to live in an area where several of these signals overlap.

Here in the VT/NH Upper Valley, I get THREE signals all simulcasting WEEI-FM -- 93.5 Keene, 94.3 Claremont and 94.5 White River Junction -- but only one EMF, 103.1 Royalton.

 

[JackindaBox]

Tbh ALL K-LOVE stations play the exact same songs at the exact same times. Same with the personalities exact same personalities exact same time. The times may be different just cause of the different time zones though even for the songs. The local thing they do for each station is use station identification saying the market name, frequency number and call letters.

 

[SomeRadioGuy]

Tbh ALL K-LOVE stations play the exact same songs at the exact same times. Same with the personalities exact same personalities exact same time. The times may be different just cause of the different time zones though even for the songs. The local thing they do for each station is use station identification saying the market name, frequency number and call letters.

Uh, yeah.. its the same feed, across the country.. not adjusted for time zones

I have heard Klove news staff break into the program feed on particular individual stations when there was a life threatening emergency like wildfires.

 

[CTListener]

Uh, yeah.. its the same feed, across the country.. not adjusted for time zones

I have heard Klove news staff break into the program feed on particular individual stations when there was a life threatening emergency like wildfires.

News staff? As in local, flesh-and-blood journalists? Or just an on-duty engineer opening a mic and reading an advisory from some civil or governmental authority?

 

[SomeRadioGuy]

News staff? As in local, flesh-and-blood journalists? Or just an on-duty engineer opening a mic and reading an advisory from some civil or governmental authority?

News staff in Sacramento who were able to interupt the sattelite feed of a local station

 

[SomeRadioGuy]

My theory is if EMF made market specific programming, I would not question the company's national growth as much. There are national programming on all radio formats, yet most mix in local programming. The only other brands I can think as being comparable to K-Love is ESPN Radio and FOX Sports Radio in specific markets, where it's all the national programming lineup. I have an equal subjective displeasure towards those stations as well. Again, for full disclosure, I subscribe to SiriusXM and listen to their continental programming. So, perhaps I'm off on my stance.

The only "market specific" programming EMF has is a public affairs program.. and its usually regional.. the same one aired in SE WY on KLWV 90.9 Laramie, Western NE on KLJV 88.3 Scottsbluff and Northern CO on KLDV 91.1.

They have people whos sole job is to do the regional public affairs programming and at least a few times a year, these people actually go out to the regions they are responsible for.

 

[CTListener]

News staff in Sacramento who were able to interupt the sattelite feed of a local station

So does that mean that all K-Love stations in areas affected by forest fires get these updates from Sacramento? How about K-Love stations in communities affected by earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, blizzards? What is the chain of command at K-Love's "newsroom"? How many people are involved? Did Sacramento interrupt a station's satellite feed with fire info because that's the one of the two kinds of emergencies that most Californians are familiar with and care about?

Forgive the skepticism, but I find it hard to believe that EMF would have a full-blown news staff. Informing listeners is not its primary mission.

 

[SomeRadioGuy]

So does that mean that all K-Love stations in areas affected by forest fires get these updates from Sacramento? How about K-Love stations in communities affected by earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, blizzards? What is the chain of command at K-Love's "newsroom"? How many people are involved? Did Sacramento interrupt a station's satellite feed with fire info because that's the one of the two kinds of emergencies that most Californians are familiar with and care about?

Forgive the skepticism, but I find it hard to believe that EMF would have a full-blown news staff. Informing listeners is not its primary mission.

They do have news staff, ive heard the cut ins personally

They can interrupt a stations feed ... they can do coverage for whatever wherever but i dont know how they decide what gets covered. I just know they have an actual news staff who does it.. and ive been told who does it and how its done.

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