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New Commercial on KYW demonstrates concern About WKDN Newsradio

A

athegymtday

I think it's crazy! KYW has a new commercial reminding there listeners to "purchase a new car with an HD radio" so they can get KYW on FM @ 94.1 HD2.

So lets see you want your listeners to buy new cars to tune in KYW on FM? Spend 30K plus for a new car. Why not just push a smart phone App. Or push for listeners to purchase a new radio for their older cars. They are stessing so you can hear KYW on FM. But wait anyone with a car radio can just tune into 106.9.
 
Can't everyone with a car radio still tune to 1060? Isn't most-everyone who is hearing that spot already tuned to 1060?
 
If FM News 101.9 in NYC is anything close to what Merlin is planning for 106.9, then KYW has nothing to worry about for the time being.
 
While I agree that, having listened to Merlin's New York City station, KYW probably doesn't have a lot to worry about content-wise, I suppose there are some concerns.
106.9's traffic and weather will most likely be coming from the exact same services (the Clear Channel traffic monopoly and AccuWeather) as those used on KYW.
I know I get really frustrated when trying to tune to 1060 to only have the signal become 100% static because of a bridge, overhead power lines or tall buildings in Center City Philadelphia. Or, just because I'm in the wrong section of Bucks County.
If I can get a crystal clear traffic and weather report on the 5s (that's what Merlin is doing it Chicago and Philadelphia), I'd tune to 106.9 for that, even if the news coverage isn't as good.
Coincidentally, I'm picking up a new car tomorrow (nothing fancy) which will have HD radio in it. I have to say that, to get XM and HD, I had to take the premium radio which added more money to the cost than I really liked, but I'm a radio geek, so I shelled out the extra bucks. HD was NOT available on the base radio, nor the middle-line radio. Frankly, I was more interested in getting the XM than the HD.
Now, here's the other question: How far does that HD signal travel? From what I've read on the HD board on this web site, not that far. Believe me, beginning tomorrow when I pick up the car, I'll be testing it.
 
@aindik: Newer car models may not have AM radio capability, and could (could) have HD radio capability. I suppose KYW's approach is less convoluted than asking listeners to just go buy new cars.
 
radiophiler said:
While I agree that, having listened to Merlin's New York City station, KYW probably doesn't have a lot to worry about content-wise, I suppose there are some concerns.
106.9's traffic and weather will most likely be coming from the exact same services (the Clear Channel traffic monopoly and AccuWeather) as those used on KYW.
I know I get really frustrated when trying to tune to 1060 to only have the signal become 100% static because of a bridge, overhead power lines or tall buildings in Center City Philadelphia. Or, just because I'm in the wrong section of Bucks County.
If I can get a crystal clear traffic and weather report on the 5s (that's what Merlin is doing it Chicago and Philadelphia), I'd tune to 106.9 for that, even if the news coverage isn't as good.
Coincidentally, I'm picking up a new car tomorrow (nothing fancy) which will have HD radio in it. I have to say that, to get XM and HD, I had to take the premium radio which added more money to the cost than I really liked, but I'm a radio geek, so I shelled out the extra bucks. HD was NOT available on the base radio, nor the middle-line radio. Frankly, I was more interested in getting the XM than the HD.
Now, here's the other question: How far does that HD signal travel? From what I've read on the HD board on this web site, not that far. Believe me, beginning tomorrow when I pick up the car, I'll be testing it.
Click to expand...

XM radio has bad sound quality due to low bitrate.
HD radio is amazing, to be honest.
 
Is KYW telling people to buy cars or are they saying, by the way, if you're buying a new car, make sure it has HD radio in it?
 
I have an HD radio in My 2004 Nissan (Original died last year), I paid around $100 for it installed it myself. KYW's signal was upgraded last year. I have picked it up as far away as Millville NJ. But it does cut out on Richardson Rd in Colmar but good in most of Bucks county. Not so good fo WOGL (Having 4 HD's can't help). I personally think they need to turn off all AM HD's it is a waist of time plus the narrowing of the bandwidth in not worth it for broadcasters because on an analog radio it sounds like crap.

I have a HD radio on my 1992 Camry and in my 2002 Hundai I use a portable HD radio (Looks like an old walkman paid aroun $50 for it 2 years ago and it actually works well).

I like HD radio but I don't love it.
 
DToTheJ said:
@aindik: Newer car models may not have AM radio capability, and could (could) have HD radio capability. I suppose KYW's approach is less convoluted than asking listeners to just go buy new cars.
Click to expand...

That's what I'm asking. Are they really selling standard car radios without AM, today in 2012? Or are we talking about what might happen?
 
I bought an aftermarket HD Radio. KYW on WIP-FM HD2 comes in great, and I no longer depend on the AM signal when I'm around Philly.

Many new cars come with an HD Radio as standard equipment. The ad is a smart move.

Full discosure, I work for one of the sister stations, CBS 3.
 
Get a grip. KYW is not telling anyone to buy a new car simply because it will have an HD radio. But the newer car radios have really bad AM sections. KYW is remeinding us that if we get a new car with an HD radio, check them out on 94.1-HD2.
 
I still haven't heard the HD promo, but I heard another one yesterday that I thought might be an early pre-emptive strike against the way Merlin is marketing its two other all newsers.
The KYW promo said something along the lines of, "You only need a few minutes to get updated on KYW. We'll update you quickly, etc."
Of course, KYW's decades old slogan has been, "You give us 22 minutes, we'll give you the world."
Merlin in NYC and Chicago is touting ten-minute updates with no commercials three times per hour. I think they actually take a poke at the CBS stations in the respective markets that use the 22 minutes slogan.

So, my assumption is that KYW wants to promote its own "quick updates" before 106.9 launches, possibly using the same "ten minutes of news commercial free" tactic.
 
And did we expect they'd ignore a prospective competitor?

So they do some shoring up in their marketing...isn't that what one would expect of a business?
 
imhomerjay said:
And did we expect they'd ignore a prospective competitor?

So they do some shoring up in their marketing...isn't that what one would expect of a business?
Click to expand...

Sure. But what specific things they do are still potentially interesting.
 
LibertyNT said:
spm1036 said:
Is the WKDN signal competitive from Camden?
Click to expand...
It's a Full Market Signal Class B.
Click to expand...

Shall I assume you're an out-of-towner who's never *heard* this signal, relying on phony-baloney freebie Internet-distributed coverage maps?

Full market? Not quite. It's not even close. Can't be clearly heard on an ordinary clock radio in the heart of the Philadelphia market. Won't "stop on seek" in the car throughout large parts of the metro. Squawk! I'll keep repeating this like a parrot every six to eight weeks.

Hopefully Merlin has already investigated cleaning up (or moving) the signal. If it's able to make the station competitive with the stick problem, well, it'll truly be "magic." Or an indicator that Dinosaur Media delivery platforms (like towers and transmitters) are becoming less and less relevant every day.

Or even a demonstration of how inferior KYW really is.

Regardless, it'll be one of the few things this decade worth talking about with regard to Philadelphia radio.

Happy Friday.
 
When I heard Merlin bought 106.9, I sampled the signal in parts of Montgomery and Chester Counties. I had no problem receiving the signal. Sounded clear as any other Philly FM to me.
 
@jhguthlac: it's NOT the AM recieving sections, it the sh8tty antenna they put on the vehicles! they're sometimes rubber duck 12", 8", 6" or 3" tall, built for satellite, aesthetics and anti-theft, ANYTHING but AM reception. rarely are they the good old steel vertical rods of 24 to 33".
 
amfmsw: Good point about the antenna. The newer cars barely have one.
 
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