WLIB - Wikipedia
Here's one to consider as ESPN New York moves to 880 am. Can WLIB be on 98.7 FM at some point.
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No Sale Looming, ESPN 98.7 expected to pivot to Music
- Thread starter exdjted
- Start date
Here's one to consider as ESPN New York moves to 880 am. Can WLIB be on 98.7 FM at some point.
Not happening.
It sounds like public radio to me. Hubbard spent millions of dollars trying to bring a commercial AAA format to Seattle and it failed in a spectacular way. They hired well known, articulate heritage talent, played well researched music, did lots of contests and outreach with area music venues, hired a consultant with deep roots in the format, and couldn't break a 1 share in a market where the format had a much better chance than an ethnic city like NY.
K.M. Richards
Program Director, The Eighties Channel™
I think there are many potentials for leaning an all-80s format in a particular direction. For example, I include five hour blocks on Friday and Saturday night of "MTV classics" that are all New Wave and Modern Rock. In my research for that, I have found that a lot of Triple A stations have a decent percentage of those songs in their mix (certainly more than the typical Classic Hits station). At the same time, what I am doing on KRKE includes not only CHR but some of the early hip-hop crossovers (think Tone Loc or Rob Base), a fair amount of R&B crossover (Gap Band, Shalamar, Klymaxx), and I go much deeper into Classic Rock than most.
And there is a lot of Triple A "spirit" in the concept of my hourly "Forgotten 45s" feature.
For the format to be done right, though, its music mix must reflect its community's demographics and preferences. The reason you do not see a syndicated version of the format is that some genres will play well in one area but be the kiss of death in another. I think the real dilemma in suggesting that for 98.7 is that you would need a PD who really knows NYC that intimately and thoroughly.
I actually was describing a version of commercial AAA. It’s found in Chicago at WXRT and Denver at KBCO among others.
I’ve noticed that the classic rock station in NYC, WAXQ, does quite well. It has an 80’s focused playlist though it runs 70’s and 90’s rock music as well. A good number of their songs cross over with what “world class rock”-style AAAs like WXRT and KBCO play. I’ve been pondering whether a AAA that can position itself as a P2 to WAXQ has a chance at building an audience and eventually succeed on its own merits. I don’t think it’s a ridiculous idea, not to the same extent as Alternative or Country would be. Plus a AAA can play some types of Alternative or Country tracks if the market wants it anyway.
That’s why I was picking Mr Richards’ brain over whether an 80’s-oriented AAA had any sort of realistic shot as well. It would almost certainly have to be oriented towards NYC and the PD would need to specialize in NYC and not be an outsider like what happened with WNYL. It would also need to pick its currents very, very carefully because NYC isn’t like anywhere else in the country. Following the AAA chart would not work, but going totally freeform like KEXP wouldn’t work either in all likelihood.
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You sound like you have an interesting all-80’s station with a good variety of blocks and features. I will try to sample a stream of that when I have some time to kill away from my job, ahaha.
I have always dreamed of being a temporary stunt DJ, since I always enjoy reading & even giving my 2-cents on what the next format will be of a radio station that is rumored to flip. My show, "DJ Mo Radio", is a part "mix show", leans Rhythmic Variety, but also includes Rock, Indie, Alternative, Pop, lost classics that corporate radio used to play, underground music that never made it to the mainstream. I sometimes break format like a College radio DJ, so if an owner wants to do a fancy "wheel of formats" stunt, but with an actual radio personality, this would be an interesting approach. I have hours of archived shows I can send that are FCC compliant for both commercial & non-commercial radio stations to provide, if this is even possible, to anyone who needs a placeholder format that will keep the audience guessing & generate more buzz for an upcoming format/brand. Just an idea, if anyone from Mediaco or any station getting ready to flip or switch owners, is reading this. I wonder if I need some kind of signed contract, or can do this voluntarily, as I have been doing since 2005? When you hear DJ Mo on-air, then you know that station is stunting. Anyone can enjoy the show at any given point until the permanent format is finally revealed. It's not just for a particular audience, although I already do have a cult following in the Orlando market after 19+ years on-air. "When you think of garbage, think of Akeem." (Kudos if you know the reference.) 😁
Back to the main topic, I think it would be awesome if they played old mix shows from 98.7 Kiss FM back in the day, or classic shows of Kool DJ Red Alert when that station was still in existence. I know he's on 107.5 WBLS, but aren't they technically under the same company? It would be nice if the surprise was that 98.7 Kiss FM would be back, though, & that will probably explain all the secrecy. Super NYC style Classic Hip Hop, like the classic "Yo! MTV Raps" with Ed Lover. This would give 94.7 The Block some competition.
Another idea is an all-Dance format with some classic Freestyle mixed in to take some listeners from 103.5 KTU. Bring back the stuff that Hot 97 used to play in the 80s to early 90s, before they flipped to all Hip Hop. I would definitely tune into this format from afar, & every time I visit my family here in NYC, which is every couple years.
Something like "Channel Q" or "Pride Radio" might have a shot in NYC, but both Audacy & iHeart are already capped, so a different brand of it.
They can actually make use of this 98.7 frequency to put something exciting & different, instead of selling or leasing it. Look at all of the ideas thrown around in this thread.
I haven't gotten a single paid radio job after almost a couple decades of trying, so I have nothing to lose giving out these ideas for free. Maybe this will help me land something soon, but that's just wishful thinking, like the formats that I have suggested. 😅
Back to the main topic, I think it would be awesome if they played old mix shows from 98.7 Kiss FM back in the day, or classic shows of Kool DJ Red Alert when that station was still in existence. I know he's on 107.5 WBLS, but aren't they technically under the same company? It would be nice if the surprise was that 98.7 Kiss FM would be back, though, & that will probably explain all the secrecy. Super NYC style Classic Hip Hop, like the classic "Yo! MTV Raps" with Ed Lover. This would give 94.7 The Block some competition.
Another idea is an all-Dance format with some classic Freestyle mixed in to take some listeners from 103.5 KTU. Bring back the stuff that Hot 97 used to play in the 80s to early 90s, before they flipped to all Hip Hop. I would definitely tune into this format from afar, & every time I visit my family here in NYC, which is every couple years.
Something like "Channel Q" or "Pride Radio" might have a shot in NYC, but both Audacy & iHeart are already capped, so a different brand of it.
They can actually make use of this 98.7 frequency to put something exciting & different, instead of selling or leasing it. Look at all of the ideas thrown around in this thread.
I haven't gotten a single paid radio job after almost a couple decades of trying, so I have nothing to lose giving out these ideas for free. Maybe this will help me land something soon, but that's just wishful thinking, like the formats that I have suggested. 😅
While it's rhythmic, EDM is far too niche, and not at all ethnic, which would doom it as a full-time format even in a rhythm-obsessed market like NYC.
Maybe David can answer this: Is there an equivalent of alternative in the musical genres popular with New York's Latino listeners? Or is everyone on the same mainstream page with reggaeton, bachata, etc.? Come to think of it, in Argentina, where rock is fairly popular, is there an "alt" subgenre or is the music all mass-appeal?
No. The biggest "hole" is regional Mexican but the Nielsen sample is overloaded with Dominicans so that is a tough choice.
There is really no well defined group of subsets in Spanish language rock. And most rock played in Latin America is in English and the listeners are mostly A and B socioeconomic levels (out of A, B, C, D and E groups) which are the highest income groups and those are people who don't migrate to a lower standard of living in the US than what they have at home.
Reggaetón is now international and popular with youth everywhere. It is the "Top 40" of this era and generation.
Bachata is the country music of the Dominican Republic. Elsewhere it is of limited appeal or no appéal at all.
Argentina is not in Latin America. It is the southernmost country in Europe. The largest heritage group there is Italian, but it is full of later generation Germans, Russians, British, French, Spaniards, Poles, etc.
But rock there is only slightly divided into distinct genres. There are flavors, but not separate listener groups. And only one station (and its network) plays all Spanish language rock. Others, and there are many, play English language rock. And most of the Argentine Spanish language rock is unknown in most of the rest of Latin America as very few stations ever played a lot of Spanish language rock.
And, as I have mentioned, I was the consultant who created and programmed the only Spanish language rock station in Argentina so I am very familiar with the genre, the country and the psychographics.
Emmis only has New York left. The sales situation for stand-alone FMs is bleak. You have to have a cluster to offer group sales to get on buys.
The Emmis folks are totally committed to getting out of terrestrial radio. They are not going to keep the station and that has been publicly stated.
Good luck trying to get ahold of Smulyan in Indy to convince him to change his mind.
Yes I know. As I've said in the past, they are two heritage stations that have built there audience over decades. New York has no real history with the format other than non-commercial WFUV of Fordham University. If iHeart thought they could duplicate KBCO somewhere, they'd start with some of their low-rated alternative stations. iHeart owns WAXQ and it does very well in demo because it sticks to what it does. It takes lots of time and lots of money to start this format, and the result is an audience that is mainly over 55.
But the real fundamental question is who would pay $50 million to do this format on 98.7. The only companies that could are already maxed out in the market because of FCC ownership rules. Anyone else would be coming into the market as a single station owner, and doing an older skewing white male format in an ethnic city would be financial suicide.
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The 98.7 signal is pretty well known as far as coverage. Would it make sense for Emmis to run their place holder format and turn off the transmitter after 10pm and back on at 6am. Save a little money on the power bill? If they already have a buyer/LMA maybe reduce broadcast hours till the new owners take over. Simple programming on the Burk would accomplish this. Just run political adds and easy national buys for advertising.
If they already have a buyer, they do an LMA starting 9/1. No need to wait. Once they file the paperwork, we will all know.
In fact, they don't need to have a buyer to do an LMA. Anyone can rent the signal for a fee. Just as GKB did.
The power bill for a roughly 6 KW ERP station is less than that for a residential home's central air conditioning in the summer. The saving would be less than $1000 a month, if that.
Nobody, not political, not agencies will buy a brand new format with no ratings. That is not how the business works.
As I said earlier, they just file an STA to go silent until they have a buyer. That's what they did in Indianapolis.
The fact is Jeff Smulyan knows what to do. He's owned radio stations for 40 years. He doesn't need advice.
Actually, he is one of the most accessible CEOs in radio. Ask anyone who has worked for Emmis. Obviously, he does not likely take calls from unidentified callers but neither do most of us. My point is that he has good people he can consult and has likely examined all the alternatives already and has a plan for each situation, whether there is an immediate buyer or not.
They did that because the highly directional AM's transmitter site land had been sold, and no prospective "approvable" site had been found. This is not that kind of situation.
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