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Merlin Media sold news-talk 106.9

To Mr. Pab, you've given us another reason why we need more localism in radio broadcasting. Thanks for the educational post. Plan on going local with my LPFM, once I'm able to turn it on. Still working on getting it established, as I post this.

To everyone else reading, if WWIQ couldn't sell Limbaugh and his ilk, then I'm almost certain that no one else in Philly will give that presentation another run. If that presentation was so successful, then why is Merlin selling off that station, to EMF? Just saying.

Now for a shocker, Rush is on here in Selma Alabama. My hometown has a heavy tilt towards the democrat party. I'm surprised his program still has a home here, with that factor in place. I know Mr. Josh might scratch his head and wonder about this. ??? You're not alone sir. I'm wondering how Rush can still make it in heavy democrat leaning Selma Alabama. ??? If anyone wants to explain the wondering part to me, feel free to do it.

Another amazing fact is this, with that tilt in place, I'm fixing to take a huge risk and bring a locally based and produced presentation of Contemporary Christian Music to the airwaves. I know some will say that the money is being wasted but I see this as an opportunity to help revive a dead community and bring new life to it.

...And to Mr. Josh, thanks for all the talks we've had over the past few months. Learned so much from your discussions with me. I appreciate it.

Dan <><
 
I was on the cusp of the end of local broadcasting, getting into the business in early 1987. I'm still an advocate for it, and wrote extensively on how to save music radio back when WYSP died. (The essay can be found at http://cnx.com/?p=1504 for the curious.) Local is key.

Rush Limbaugh became successful not because of his ideology but because his show was entertaining and he gave it away for barter, which made it an attractive option for stations looking to cut costs. Neither of the two things that put him on top is true any longer, so it's not surprising that the show is in decline.

Some people try to cite the backlash and "boycotts" of sponsors as the reason the show is declining, but that's not true. I did traffic for a local Rush affiliate in the mid 1990's, and can tell you that those "no Limbaugh" orders from most national accounts were in existence even then. It's not pressure that's making the show harder to sell, it's the lack of quality in the program and the desires of most advertisers to avoid a show that has become radioactive. The same thing is killing the Glenn Beck show, and it's fallout from those two that are taking down Hannity.

Talk radio, even political talk, existed before Rush Limbaugh and will outlive his show if innovative programmers act to salvage the format. That means local shows, local hosts, and local issues. Nowadays they can be done cheaper than the syndicated shows and provide more compelling listening than more of the same.

Merlin's best option for WWIQ would have been FM News taking on KYW. More of an audience to split than the already-saturated conservative talk format, and one they probably could have done cheaper. But they learned the wrong lessons from New York and Chicago, abandoning the concept instead of fine-tuning it.
 
WIP AM has no ratings,whatsoever, but CBS needs an outlet for their Sports network. A shame. What a great signal. Too bad it is being wasted and CBS couldn't put their network on a lesser frequency.

560,610 and 950 have good signals with a very small audience,but that's the norm in Philly and every market. If they make money, fine. Having any listenership is secondary.
 
Pab Sungenis said:
Talk radio, even political talk, existed before Rush Limbaugh and will outlive his show if innovative programmers act to salvage the format. That means local shows, local hosts, and local issues.
Click to expand...

The audience for it is declining, aging, and dying. Investing lots of money in local talk isn't going to revive the format.

What is working is gossip. You hear it all over morning drive. But it's not local gossip. It's talking about Beyoncé's new hairdo or the latest big movie. Just take a traditional morning show and do it all day.
 
Here's another possiblity for Rush, 560 WFIL. They can break for a few hours off their religion. I couldn't see CC messing with 104.5, that station is a huge sucess, I can't believe their numbers. 106.1 has been doing well too lately. I still surprised at Religious music getting more popular, there's a Democrat in the White House for two terms, young people are moving left, churches are closing all over, if the church hasn't closed there are very few people in it.
 
BobSmolarek said:
I still surprised at Religious music getting more popular, there's a Democrat in the White House for two terms, young people are moving left, churches are closing all over, if the church hasn't closed there are very few people in it.
Click to expand...

That's because they're at home getting their religion from the radio. K-Love isn't traditional religion. It's light rock with a message. Women love this stuff because it promotes traditional values of raising kids and loving everyone.
 
I think the bottom line here is that Merlin Media just doesn't know how to manage radio stations. 106.9 was supposed to be the biggest thing to happen to radio since radio was invented and what is it..a place for syndicated radio showzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!
 
BobSmolarek said:
I still surprised at Religious music getting more popular,
Click to expand...
It isn't, at least not in the Northeast. NYC has two rimshot CCM stations, 99.1 WAWZ and 96.7 WKLV, and neither shows up in the ratings. Maybe that's just because they're not Arbitron subscribers, but either way, the last time I remember seeing them in the NYC ratings, neither was ever above a 1.0.
 
You nailed it, Merlin Media was a total flop! FM news in New York was one of the biggest bombs in modern radio history. I thought WWIQ would do well but it didn't. Chicago didn't work either. So much for the small radio companies!
 
Answer to two comments:

1) Marc wrote he would like to see Rush on 860AM.

In reply, it's not about the ratings in this case as brokered programming with good clientele is always a winner.

2) Regarding Contemporary Christian Music Radio also known as CCM is huge and with a signal like WWIQ their ratings will be significant. If the station was local in the sense the programming originated from SOuth Jersey they would have at least a 4 share. Our station reaches only a small portion of the Atlantic City market and we have almost a one share. The stations mentioned in NY only cover a fair portion of the market. In Baltimore the local Contemporary Christian Station has a 4.2 rating. K-Love won't do as well because nothing they offer is local but they'll do ok. On the Philly side, local Christian Station, WORD FM will beat K-Love by a lot.
 
MB1370 said:
I'm surprised 950am isn't part of the discussion, since its known Family Radio might be looking to unload the rest of its "major" (if not all) portfolio.
Click to expand...

Family Radio has been selling its more powerful FM stations (especially those in the commercial band) and replacing them with AMs. In Philly, they sold WKDN / 106.9, then bought 950 from Greater Media to replace the lost signal. Their strategy is that people who want their kind of religious programming will listen to it on AM.

They won't sell 950 unless they liquidate everything.
 
Does anyone else find it ironic that IQ 106.9 is running positioners calling themselves "The New IQ 106.9" even as they are about to become "The Late IQ 106.9" ?

Bill
 
It's probably a staffer that put together the spots to show a little humor. They know they are getting the axed for the most part so just having a little fun.
 
yes they sure do.
WWIQ just probably turned off the stereo swich at the transmitter, since WKDN was in stereo.
My guess is that 89.5 will pick up the Air1 fformat.
if 106.9 broadcast in HD, will the classical network be on 106.9HD2?
or will they use the HD2 for something else?
or wil they say "Screw it, we dont need Hd."
i dunno how many of the EMF stations broadcast in HD but dont think many do.
 
As a fan of IQ and one not in the radio business, I have a couple of questions:

1) Is there any news and/or information where the shows might end up in Philly at this point. (I don't want to get into the argument as whether they 'should' be on the air in Philly or not or anything about demos/ratings. I just want to know if I am limited to the use of apps and satellite only now. It has been nice to just simply hit the 'on' button on my radio since last year at home.)

2) How much does a 'cheap' AM station cost to buy at this point cause all of these station shifts since 1210 replaced Beck and Hannity over 2 years ago is a bit tiring. (Ok, this is a little facetious, but I am curious as well). If I hit the lottery, I might as well just buy an AM station and start a new 'IQ'.

3) As an aside, what happens to the WWIQ call letters? IQ was a good brand name.

4) Is anyone taping the bumpers before the station goes off the air? I thought Rush's IQ bumpers were a little clever. I also enjoyed the humerous clips played during commercial breaks as well as the old Reagan speeches; it just added something a little extra. (Again, I am not here to discuss politics).

Thanks,
 
There is no news yet. Lots of speculation, as you can see throughout this thread. But there are very few places they could land.

There are no cheap AM's in this market. There are websites for radio brokers with stations for sale. You can Google them. But here in Philly pretty much everyone who owns an AM is holding onto it and even the worst rimshot would go for mid to high six figures at the very least.

The call letters will go with the station, and EMF can sell, move, park, keep, or abandon them.

I'm sure there will be airchecks showing up online as time goes on.
 
If you are truly interested in an AM, I can get you an AM station just a rim shot from Philly for about $ 500,000.

Are you interested?
 
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