Merlin shopping itself?

[aindik]

Nobody can beat B101 its been tried so many times

They don't have to beat B-101 to make money. It's not a sport.

 

[rtetro]

New York is not like any other market in this respect. It has 4 50 KW clear channel stations, plus a very strong signal at 1010.

Actually NYC has 3 "clear channel" 50KW non-directional AMs (660, 770, and 880), 5 full-time 50KW directional AMs (710, 1010, 1050, 1130 [non-d days], and 1560). There are also two stations that run 50kw directional days with reduced power at night (970, and 1280).

 

[joshzz]

Aindik wrote: They don't have to beat B-101 to make money. It's not a sport.


It wasn't too long ago that someone did try to take on the B. Who can forget NOW 97.5 FM? It wasn't a bad station. Indeed I listened to it sometimes. From what I recall they could have used a solid jingle package. Every once in a while an announcer would say NOW 97.5 but I felt as though they never fully invested in the station.

Just a thought.

 

[rdcuffpa1]

Honestly talk on FM is a waste remember in NYC with FM News 101.9 that worked out real well

New York is not like any other market in this respect. It has 4 50 KW clear channel stations, plus a very strong signal at 1010. IOW, it still has a robust AM band. It's quickly becoming the only market where that's still true.

That's why talk formats on FM aren't doing well there. Because they have competitors on AM and AM is still very much alive in New York. It has nothing to do with the same format ideas in other markets where AM as dead or close to it.

Chicago has 5 50 kW stations, and I believe 3 or 4 of them are non-directional clear-channel...that's the other similar market that comes to mind.

In Canada, the AM band is withering to irrelevance everywhere but in the densely-populated Hamilton-Toronto corridor; I believe Montreal is only in so-so shape on AM.

In these areas AM is relevant because the FM dial is saturated, and there's enough ears to make it work. However I still believe that even in these cities where AM remains relevant, younger people don't bother much with it. I don't have the data myself...just a supposition.

Richard in Allentown

 

[musichead1029]

though selling it to advertisers is always a challenge.

Musichead, I agree with you. People like Hannity and Limbaugh are a complete turn-off to advertisers.

Advertisers claim that running their ads during "controversial" programming might tarnish the brand. Of course, the programming isn't controversial to the regular and sometimes sizable audience listening to it. The "protests" and boycotts against some programming (usually Conservative talk or religion) are mounted by ideological organizations whose "aggrieved" constituency doesn't listen to the targeted program. So to protect themselves from perceived negative publicity that might spring from manufactured controversies orchestrated by contrary agenda groups, national advertisers forgo a large dedicated audience. Instead, the talk audience knows everything about steel buildings, gold, how to get ripped off more if they have credit card or tax debt, and the claimed wonders of testosterone and boner pills. Break after break. Yet motivated advertisers pay a big premium for live reads on these shows, because they work. Competent sales professionals should be able to point to ad campaigns that have been successful despite the supposedly-controversial show content.

Generally speaking, women, "the gold of ratings" even those that consider themselves conservatives find these two very hard to take. They're not listening to talk radio in general and the type of males that represent the die-hard listeners fit a very small niche.

Josh, you have a bad habit of confusing your personal opinions with actual audience data. What's your source for this? Commercial talk radio's listenership is typically heavily male and older (54+ and 36-54). There are women listeners and they're just as dedicated as their male counterparts. And they all have bucks to spend. Advertise on talk radio and daytime TV (or a package of women's music formats) and you've got the whole pie.

The very thought of advertising on a program like Hannity and Limbaugh would put some business owners in shock. Health food store? No. Amusement Park? No. Family friendly local, Sports Team? A Big No!

They shoot themselves. And they open a golden opportunity for brand managers with fortitude to advertise on shows that get big audiences, and to state that attracting a big audience to the brand is the advertising policy, regardless of content. The regular disclaimer that the programming isn't the opinion of advertisers and management applies. Politics may be controversial, but it's not porn (the salty scripts lighting up daily papers in the late 90s excepted.)

The key point: few who pay any attention to these shows consider them controversial. Conservative talk draws a large dedicated audience which stays tuned in to the entire program and often multiple programs. High TSL for individual stations, high audience numbers nationally. Sounds like a great way to capture some demos by advertising on a single show or station. Should advertisers be worried about a couple of malcontent groups who monitor these shows for people who would never listen anyway? I'd say not. Most of these protests attract little notice without heavy promotion. But the talk consultants apparently say otherwise. And their clients lose an opportunity gladly snapped up by "the three step plan" and "the soft tabs."

Take the over-the-top election year campaign last Spring against Rush Limbaugh over his humorous (to the show's audience) Sandra Fluke comments. Several liberal groups which monitor Limbaugh daily decided that they had finally hit pay dirt and set about promoting full-blown hysteria. Commentators on TV and in print quickly predicted the end of the show or major changes. Some played it straight, others were drawn in by the promotional effort and cited CBS's firing of Don Imus as precedent. An inordinate number of media publication "reporters" went to town, predicting Limbaugh's deserved demise for his assault on a young woman (rarely was mention made of Fluke's history as a contraceptive activist with connections to Democrat party officials who sought a venue for her message in the "War on Women" phase of the election cycle). A few pointed out the absence of controversy over TV commentator/"comedian" Bill Maher's regular graphic vulgarities aimed at women expressing political views foreign to Maher. Even the current President of the United States burnished Limbaugh's reputation by commenting publicly and mentioning that he called Fluke in solidarity. (Not coincidentally, activist Fluke later appeared at several Democrat campaign activities and its convention.)

Limbaugh did apologize on air and explained to his audience, which was likely curious about why an apology was necessary, that some advertisers had pulled ads (the majority returned within a few weeks). Then began the backlash directed at those who pulled ads by Limbaugh and his audience. One advertiser who had bad-mouthed Limbaugh in public tried to return, but was rejected and replaced. Carbonite pulled ads and its President felt compelled to mouth off against Limbaugh on Facebook. The company's stock lost upwards of 12% overnight. (Indeed some controversy does have an effect on some brands. In this case, self-inflicted.) Audience numbers experienced a curiosity bump, then settled back to the same pre-controversy numbers.

The outcome of the most recent "Mother of all manufactured radio controversies"? The show went on. Political agendas harbored by some media writers were outted. (The stories of 2 affiliates with previous plans to drop the Limbaugh show for financial reasons were "repurposed" as part of the "huge backlash" that stubbornly refused to materialize.) The event was then dutifully entered into the radio section of the Journal of Spectacular Political Bombast - Election Year Edition. Nothing changed as a result of one of the grander attempts by professional ideologues and loyal scribes to silence the most successful/"controversial" host, Limbaugh.

In light of this, what would advertisers have to fear from future political posturing against professional talk show hosts who know enough not to say "nappy" beyond nursery walls and "hoe" outside of a farm report? Nothing, it would appear. Support the show's audience and you'll have their attention. Subjugate business priorities to ideological pressures, imagined or real, internal or via e-mail from a highly motivated transcriber sweatshop, and it's an opportunity lost. For naught.

When you advertise on a station, you don't want backlash from the local public.

Local listeners are listening for a reason - they identify with the programming. In my example case, Limbaugh didn't change format when he went after Fluke. As he does most days, Limbaugh was satirizing a political opinion that he and his audience consider stupefyingly ridiculous. His local audience was most likely laughing and scratching its head along with Limbaugh.

National groups with agendas unrelated to local audience concerns start most radio boycotts/protests. And protests unrelated to actual listeners rarely impact audience size long term (if anything audiences bump up for a few weeks due to curiosity).

A much better choice for advertising dollars would be the family friendly, safe for the little ears, Christian Music Station.

That can be part of an advertiser's mix, but it only gets you a small part of a niche audience. Successful national talk shows regularly deliver a lot of older demo listeners who stay tuned through breaks for what's on the other side. And they aren't distracted by manufactured grievance. Rather than controversial pariahs, they should be an advertiser's gold standard.

 

[rob1010]

IQ claims that it covers all the way down to Atlantic City....not quite so...IQ doesnt even make it to Mays Landing...not a very good signal at all

 

[LA_Guy]

IQ claims that it covers all the way down to Atlantic City....not quite so...IQ doesnt even make it to Mays Landing...not a very good signal at all

The main reason is their antenna and transmission line is almost 40 years old.

 

[aindik]

If All Access and Richard Sandomir are right, Merlin just sold 101.9 in NY to CBS.

 

[carolinaradio]

Correct: http://radioinsight.com/blog/headlines/70747/cbs-aquires-101-9-wrxp-new-york-for-wfan/

 

[rdcuffpa1]

Correct: http://radioinsight.com/blog/headlines/70747/cbs-aquires-101-9-wrxp-new-york-for-wfan/

Which means CBS will have to sell something in NYC...

Richard in Allentown

 

[KeithE4]

Chicago has 5 50 kW stations, and I believe 3 or 4 of them are non-directional clear-channel...that's the other similar market that comes to mind.

Chicago has six 50 kW stations: Four Class A non-directional (WSCR/670, WGN/720, WBBM/780, and WLS/890), one Class A directional (WMVP/1000), and one Class B two-site directional (WYLL/1160).

 

[carolinaradio]

Correct: http://radioinsight.com/blog/headlines/70747/cbs-aquires-101-9-wrxp-new-york-for-wfan/

Which means CBS will have to sell something in NYC...

Richard in Allentown

I think it is widely expected to be 1010 WINS, which is probably the least valuable (signal-wise) of all of CBS NY's facilities. 1010 WINS' news programming would have to move to 660 or an FM.

 

[chrocket87]

Well, Merlin CLAIMS the sale will help them to focus on Chicago and Philly, so that would indicate they are looking to stay in Philly. Whether this actually happens or if they are just saying this to look positive will be determined soon enough.

 

[rdcuffpa1]

I think it is widely expected to be 1010 WINS, which is probably the least valuable (signal-wise) of all of CBS NY's facilities. 1010 WINS' news programming would have to move to 660 or an FM.

Don't WINS' ratings actually exceed those of WCBS, even though the WCBS signal is 50 kW ND?

From Radio-Online, the past four months' ratings, June-> Sept (left ->right):

WINS-AM 3.4 3.6 4.1 3.9 All News CBS Radio Inc

WCBS-AM 2.9 3.1 3.1 3.5 All News CBS Radio Stations Inc.

Help me with the logic...

FWIW, the lowest-rated CBS station in NYC is WXRK per the same data.

Richard in Allentown

 

[wprt949]

Well, Merlin CLAIMS the sale will help them to focus on Chicago and Philly, so that would indicate they are looking to stay in Philly. Whether this actually happens or if they are just saying this to look positive will be determined soon enough.

Sure just last week they said the company was not selling any stations but Stranger things have Happend

 

[aindik]

I think it is widely expected to be 1010 WINS, which is probably the least valuable (signal-wise) of all of CBS NY's facilities. 1010 WINS' news programming would have to move to 660 or an FM.

Don't WINS' ratings actually exceed those of WCBS, even though the WCBS signal is 50 kW ND?

From Radio-Online, the past four months' ratings, June-> Sept (left ->right):

WINS-AM 3.4 3.6 4.1 3.9 All News CBS Radio Inc

WCBS-AM 2.9 3.1 3.1 3.5 All News CBS Radio Stations Inc.

Help me with the logic...

FWIW, the lowest-rated CBS station in NYC is WXRK per the same data.

Richard in Allentown

When deciding which signal to unload, you consider the value of the signal itself. Not any associated content.

They're not going to sell 92.3 to acquire 101.9. That makes no sense. If they wanted to only own 3 FMs, with one of them running a sports format, they'd have moved WFAN to 92.3. It's obvious they wanted that 4th FM. Now they have to unload either an AM or their 2nd TV channel. Of the 3 AMs, based on stick value alone, the weakest is 1010.

 

[rdcuffpa1]

They're not going to sell 92.3 to acquire 101.9. That makes no sense. If they wanted to only own 3 FMs, with one of them running a sports format, they'd have moved WFAN to 92.3. It's obvious they wanted that 4th FM. Now they have to unload either an AM or their 2nd TV channel. Of the 3 AMs, based on stick value alone, the weakest is 1010.

But is "stick value" measured on its own the best arbiter? If WINS beats WCBS even with an inferior stick, doesn't that suggest that WCBS might be the service to go? Or are the listener demographics for WCBS superior?

Shoot, I was surprised when CBS and Group W merged...and both all-news stations survived...but they have...

Richard in Allentown

 

[nd2023]

I'd guess the second TV channel goes. Unless they find a way to move it across the Long Island Sound into Connecticut, therefore making it a part of the Hartford market but still serve Long Island.

 

[Bill790]

I'd guess the second TV channel goes. Unless they find a way to move it across the Long Island Sound into Connecticut, therefore making it a part of the Hartford market but still serve Long Island.

I doubt they'd do that. The point of having the TV stick on Long Island is that cable companies in the NYC metro are forced to carry it. CBS would lose that value if it could be moved to CT (which might not even be possible).

 

[aindik]

They're not going to sell 92.3 to acquire 101.9. That makes no sense. If they wanted to only own 3 FMs, with one of them running a sports format, they'd have moved WFAN to 92.3. It's obvious they wanted that 4th FM. Now they have to unload either an AM or their 2nd TV channel. Of the 3 AMs, based on stick value alone, the weakest is 1010.

But is "stick value" measured on its own the best arbiter? If WINS beats WCBS even with an inferior stick, doesn't that suggest that WCBS might be the service to go? Or are the listener demographics for WCBS superior?

Shoot, I was surprised when CBS and Group W merged...and both all-news stations survived...but they have...

Richard in Allentown

We're not talking about which service goes. We're talking about which signal gets sold off.

They can keep the WINS content and put it on 660 (or even on 880) if they want.