One Audacy host left

[MarkW]

100.3 is owned by Hubbard; AM 1000 is owned by Good Karma Broadcasting.

 

[Loverofradio]

100.3 is owned by Hubbard; AM 1000 is owned by Good Karma Broadcasting.

Guess where you can hear espn 1000 on fm via hd radio

 

[101tm]

100.3 is owned by Hubbard; AM 1000 is owned by Good Karma Broadcasting.

I think the poster may be referring to, if this pans out, 100.3 being LMA’ed or sold to Good Karma for a MVP simulcast since GLB already leases 100.3 HD2. Hubbard isn’t desperate to unload stations and isn’t in a horrible financial state, so I’m not sure if they’d sell an FM in market #3, but then again 100.3 has been a hot mess for over 2 decades with the constant call letter, branding, and format tweaks. With WLIT doing well, they’d be giving up their flanker for WTMX.

Honestly, don’t see it happening.

 

[Loverofradio]

I think the poster may be referring to, if this pans out, 100.3 being LMA’ed or sold to Good Karma for a MVP simulcast since GLB already leases 100.3 HD2. Hubbard isn’t desperate to unload stations and isn’t in a horrible financial state, so I’m not sure if they’d sell an FM in market #3, but then again 100.3 has been a hot mess for over 2 decades with the constant call letter, branding, and format tweaks. With WLIT doing well, they’d be giving up their flanker for WTMX.

Honestly, don’t see it happening.

who saw espn/Disney LMA’ing 98.7 in New York?

 

[101tm]

who saw espn/Disney LMA’ing 98.7 in New York?

Well there was a little more desperation on that end with WRKS. Emmis had been struggling and getting rid of properties, and Good Karma probably approached them with a decent wad of cash to take their weakest performer off their hands, or at least the operation or the station since it’s still under an LMA.

 

[AceBiscuits]

Well there was a little more desperation on that end with WRKS. Emmis had been struggling and getting rid of properties, and Good Karma probably approached them with a decent wad of cash to take their weakest performer off their hands, or at least the operation or the station since it’s still under an LMA.

That was Disney back then. I’m sure they saw it as a way to give WEPN an upper hand against WFAN, which didn’t last very long once Merlin bailed on NYC (ironically 101.9 was a former Emmis property).

 

[asugeorge1]

I doubt they'll take them silent, but as we've seen with Cumulus, any changing of transmitter sites usually leads to a decrease in signal. Since WSCR and WBBM share a transmitter site, and WBBM already has an FM simulcast, they might want to do something for WSCR before making any changes.

Well dang, if Audacity is thinking of taking WSCR and WBBM silent, then KNX AM can’t be far behind considering they have an FM simulcast now. Audacity should just get out of the radio business because they are destroying several heritage stations at this point to save a buck.

 

[CTListener]

Well dang, if Audacity is thinking of taking WSCR and WBBM silent, then KNX AM can’t be far behind considering they have an FM simulcast now. Audacity should just get out of the radio business because they are destroying several heritage stations at this point to save a buck.

What does AM "heritage" mean when more than 80 percent of a given station's potential audience is not listening to AM anymore? It's a business, not a museum.

 

[JeremyAndrews]

What does AM "heritage" mean when more than 80 percent of a given station's potential audience is not listening to AM anymore? It's a business, not a museum.

Fewer under 40 are listening to radio to begin with. News and Sports radio is a 45-54 format. Upper end of that is more likely to be willing to listen to AM. They also have to consider the signals. I can barely hear WCFS without static up here in Kenosha County for example. For whatever reason, Kenosha County is still in the Chicago radio market for Nielsen (TV for Milwaukee) so if WBBM wants listeners up here, they'll be listening on the AM. Same goes for other areas where the AM has more coverage than the FM in the market.

They do take time to think about this. Their Sports station WSSP in Milwaukee had an FM translator relayed by an HD2. Because of that, they were able to figure out if the AM had more listeners than the FM did. Turns out it did. So they flipped the FM. They have since canned the entire local staff in their budget cuts.

As far as heritage, Audacy could care less.

 

[TheBigA]

Audacity should just get out of the radio business because they are destroying several heritage stations at this point to save a buck.

A realistic question to ask is who would want to own heritage radio stations that fewer people are able to hear because there are fewer devices that can receive AM? The American system of broadcasting was built on profit-making companies wanting to own these radio stations, and that basis has changed. The for-profit model no longer works. If you want to blame someone for destroying radio, how about the consumer electronics industry? Don't they have some responsibility?

But as I said, I don't expect Audacy to simply shut these stations down. There's no money in doing that. They will first sell the tower land and move the towers someplace cheaper. Then they will sell the stations themselves.

 

[Rusty Muck]

I think the poster may be referring to, if this pans out, 100.3 being LMA’ed or sold to Good Karma for a MVP simulcast since GLB already leases 100.3 HD2. Hubbard isn’t desperate to unload stations and isn’t in a horrible financial state, so I’m not sure if they’d sell an FM in market #3, but then again 100.3 has been a hot mess for over 2 decades with the constant call letter, branding, and format tweaks. With WLIT doing well, they’d be giving up their flanker for WTMX.

Honestly, don’t see it happening.

EMF has a surplus of FM signals in Chicago; Good Karma might be better off overpaying for a 103.9 or a 92.5 as a rimshot simulcast for WMVP than throwing money at Hubbard for a station that isn’t for sale. Or even inquiring with Alpha about taking one of their suburban FMs out of their hands.

However, WSCR would—if true—remain an AM/FM simulcast like WFAN in New York, there’s not the immediate pressure for Good Karma to make a panic purchase that they’ll likely regret. It probably WILL happen in due time. But not now.

 

[Rusty Muck]

But as I said, I don't expect Audacy to simply shut these stations down. There's no money in doing that. They will first sell the tower land and move the towers someplace cheaper. Then they will sell the stations themselves.

It feels like a misinterpretation of what happened with KDWN and KXST, and even then, the licenses for both stations still exist and can be reused at any point within the perimeters of the STAs filed.

Maybe Audacy is planning on using the STA windows to see if anyone wants to buy the licenses for startups; even if they sell for one penny each (which I doubt would be THAT low a valuation) it’s two cents they wouldn’t have otherwise.

 

[JeremyAndrews]

EMF has a surplus of FM signals in Chicago; Good Karma might be better off overpaying for a 103.9 or a 92.5 as a rimshot simulcast for WMVP than throwing money at Hubbard for a station that isn’t for sale. Or even inquiring with Alpha about taking one of their suburban FMs out of their hands.

However, WSCR would—if true—remain an AM/FM simulcast like WFAN in New York, there’s not the immediate pressure for Good Karma to make a panic purchase that they’ll likely regret. It probably WILL happen in due time. But not now.

EMF is not going to sell 103.9 or 92.5. They are there for a specific reason. They want coverage everywhere possible. They are all very specific. 103.9 fills 94.3's void. Similar coverage area to 94.3's old signal. NW Suburbs.

 

[Rusty Muck]

EMF is not going to sell 103.9 or 92.5. They are there for a specific reason. They want coverage everywhere possible. They are all very specific. 103.9 fills 94.3's void. Similar coverage area to 94.3's old signal. NW Suburbs.

I was largely saying that as a theoretical, and apologize for not framing it as such. Point being, there’s literally no available stand-alone FM signals in the entire market and haven’t been for years. (Merlin coughing up 97.9 to EMF was an almost fluke event.)

 

[JeremyAndrews]

There's plenty of translators if Good Karma wants one. The downtown 95.1 has an app to change to 107.1 with a bigger pattern

 

[AceBiscuits]

Not sure when this change will happen but I would have expected some stunting or an announcement by this point.

 

[Loverofradio]

With the dozens of media writers in Chicago, not one peep on this?

 

[CTListener]

With the dozens of media writers in Chicago, not one peep on this?

They're all waiting for a press release, probably. Either that or they've tried squeezing info out of Audacy's suits and have been stonewalled.

 

[jlalande]

They're all waiting for a press release, probably. Either that or they've tried squeezing info out of Audacy's suits and have been stonewalled.

I just assumed by the "dozens" that this was sarcasm. Not that long ago, the Chicago Tribune and Sun-Times both had columnists assigned to cover the local media scene, and there was decent coverage in the Reader, Chicago Business Journal and the Daily Herald, too. That's all gone.

Robert Feder was just about the last regular media columnist left in Chicago and he retired last year.

The only media columnist left in Chicago (that I'm aware of) is Rick Kaempfer, who writes for Illinois Entertainer and self-publishes a blog (Rick Kaempfer) with weekly updates.

There are some business reporters who may occasionally cover media-related stories, like the Trib's Robert Channick and Axios' Justin Kaufman, but, not surprisingly given the decline of both print and broadcast media, print coverage of the local media beat is minimal.

 

[TheBigA]

I just assumed by the "dozens" that this was sarcasm. Not that long ago, the Chicago Tribune and Sun-Times both had columnists assigned to cover the local media scene, and there was decent coverage in the Reader, Chicago Business Journal and the Daily Herald, too. That's all gone.

Here's the story that started this conversation:

Rumor Mill: Chicago Changes Coming This Week?

Image by Jennifer LaRueRadioInsight has learned that a pair of changes are likely to take place this week in Chicago.

radioinsight.com

Sometimes the reporters don't actually live in Chicago.