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New ALL News station in Atlantic City Market

josh said:
WONZ, 1580, Hammonton

Is that station running at full power? I thought there were issues with it.
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There's an STA on their FCC record; a letter associated with it allowed them to use their 6 watt night power during the day for six months ending in October '09. Last time I tuned it in was early this year; the signal made it to Mays Landing and they seemed to have resolved their horrible modulation problem.
 
Pab Sungenis said:
1580 has gone back to being the write-off. It got next to no attention during the rest of my time there, and I can't see that Atlantic has any intentions of doing anything with it.

But they will never sell it, because the new owner would need to invest in new studios, a new ground system for the antenna, and a lot of other expenditures that would make the frequency even more of a money pit.
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Access.1 is still listed as the owner on the FCC records--maybe Atlantic never bought it.

On the other hand, it's the only frequency allotted to Hammonton, so maybe some locals with more money and courage than brains could make a good community station out of it.
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This is the kind of facility that screams for an FM translator--but can you shoehorn one into the FM dial at Hammonton?
 
Actually, checking, it looks like there is a proposal for a new FM in Hammonton on 92.9, licensed to "EDWARD A. SCHOBER." But otherwise it looks like every third adjacent is filled.
 
Unfortunately, 1580 AM, Hammonton has struggled for many years. According to my friend who has been in radio sales for years and is also a station owner, Hammonton is a very difficult market.
 
Pab Sungenis said:
Josh, you have no clue about the format, no clue about the market, and probably no clue about the business in general.

All-News is one of the most expensive formats to pull off. You not only need anchors but you need field reporters, feature writers, producers, etc. And the one time all-news was tried in South Jersey, it flopped miserably. There just isn't that much news nine months out of the year, and not even really during the summer tourist season.

Also, all-news is one of the worst formats for the kinds of ratings advertisers want in South Jersey. All-news is designed for people to tune in for short bursts throughout the day. It's repetitive; listen to KYW and except for updated headline stories everything repeats after about 60 minutes. The sports reports repeat when a game isn't on. The lifestyle reports repeat constantly throughout the day. South Jersey advertisers want people who listen for longer stretches, because it means they hear their spots more often and are more likely to respond to them, and that does not happen with all-news.

No one is going to invest the huge amount of money needed to build an all-news station in South Jersey because it will end up failing.
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You are right, Pat, all news can be expensive but it doesn't have to be. NBC, CNN and AP Radio have all tried programming for all news stations with national feeds and opportunities for local inserts. Local stations could be as ambitious (and expensive) as they wanted in doing local news coverage. It was affordable for smaller markets but expense wasn't the big problem. As you point out, people listen in short bursts and in a smaller market short-bursts of listening can't add up to much. Even in larger markets, all news stations are dropping all news (KFWB, Los Angeles) or cutting back in favor of content that keeps people tuned in long - doing talk, old time radio or play by play sports in off-hours. Inertia is also a factor. The successful all news stations go back 40 years (give or take). Heritage all news stations keep listeners, getting new listeners to a new station is a different ball game. Besides you can get "news when you want it" or scores, stock prices, weather or traffic anytime on your computer or smartphone. So where's the need for people reading news on the radio in a constantly repeating cycle?
 
MattParker wrote " "news when you want it," so true. I was watching a television show this evening, during a break they were teasing a compelling news story for their 11 PM newscast. I didn't want to wait until 11 so I picked up my iphone and found the news item instantaneously.

Moral of the story, in the digital age radio must continue to supply this type of information immediately to survive. Foregoing immediacy will risk listener’s flight to online information sites with the accelerated growth of smartphones and ipad like devices.

Radio is business, not a hobby.
 
MedianJ said:
Moral of the story, in the digital age radio must continue to supply this type of information immediately to survive.
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The fact is that radio can't keep up with everything that everyone might be interested in.

All radio can do is pick the highlights.

But yes, only a portion of the audience watches TV in real time. So a promo for a story in the 11PM news will be dated when the viewer actually watches the show.
 
TheBigA said:
MedianJ said:
Moral of the story, in the digital age radio must continue to supply this type of information immediately to survive.
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The fact is that radio can't keep up with everything that everyone might be interested in.

All radio can do is pick the highlights.
Click to expand...

That's why I used the word "compelling" in my first sentence.
 
MedianJ said:
That's why I used the word "compelling" in my first sentence.
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"Compelling" is subjective. A lot of people seemed very interested in the Chilean miners story. Not me. So I wouldn't find that very compelling.

But I'll play along with you here. You see a promo on TV about a compelling story. Instead of checking the internet, you turn on your radio. But the station just told the story two minutes before you tuned in. It might not come around again on their cycle for 20 minutes. In the meantime, you've checked your iPhone, and found the story immediately.

Moral of the story: In the digital age, radio can't do what the internet does. They are two very different devices.
 
TheBigA said:
MedianJ said:
That's why I used the word "compelling" in my first sentence.
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"Compelling" is subjective. A lot of people seemed very interested in the Chilean miners story. Not me. So I wouldn't find that very compelling.
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A news editor who was correct in finding the miners story compelling are good at reading the public's interest and deserve every penny they're paid. That's what separates the good news editors from the bad ones. A station's success or failure will depend on how good these news editors are.
 
WGYM 1580 is still owned and operated by access.1 Communications. It, and the related real estate were not included in the WOND /WMGM purchase. But it is amazing, when modulated, the amount of geography it covers at night on what isn't much more power than an underdash CB Radio.
 
Television has one advantage...they can run a crawl during regular programming with either a tease...headline or a good part of a breaking story. Doesn't quite work for non news radio stations.
 
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