-
Get involved.
We want your input!
Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.
After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.
After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/
Thanks in advance and have fun!
RadioDiscussions Administrators
Paul Finebaum and new sports station rumor
- Thread starter passtheword
- Start date
R.D.P. said:Great move Cox.
But is it such a great move sacrificing the #8 station in the market to move it to probably the second or third worst signal in the market? Assuming, of course, that 97.3 will become the new home of the Eagle? Seems to me that if that's indeed what happens, Cox has just thrown the biggest lifeline they could have to Rock 99. And to a lesser extent, I would think that moving the Eagle to 97.3 would also be a boon to Magic and maybe even the Peach, wouldn't it?
If this new station carries Atlanta Braves Baseball, then I know it'll be a great move indeed.
I realize that 97.3 may be a weaker signal but if Cox thinks they can sell Sports on the better 106.9 FM spot, then go for it.
You'll have one person rooting for your success with this move.
R.D.P. <><
P.S. The Peach is still a favorite of mine too. Still love their presentation and hope they'll have continued success with it.
I realize that 97.3 may be a weaker signal but if Cox thinks they can sell Sports on the better 106.9 FM spot, then go for it.
You'll have one person rooting for your success with this move.
R.D.P. <><
P.S. The Peach is still a favorite of mine too. Still love their presentation and hope they'll have continued success with it.
So, the question begs answering: is listening to the radio for music going the way of the dodo bird? Apparently Birmingham is about to have five, count 'em five, talk stations on commercial FM. For a market no bigger than Birmingham is (#57), that seems rather disproportionate. Still, given the success of WERC, WJOX and WAPI, talk on FM seems the way to go (there's that one station that's been WYDE-ly panned on this board, but we won't talk about them now). Obviously, satellite radio has played somewhat of a role in the decline of music on FM, as has the iPod and its plug in connectors. My 14-year-old daughter says that she rarely listens to radio for music unless she's in the car.
I guess I'm wondering if in the next 10 years, radio as we know it will have totally changed to the point that we won't recognize it?
I guess I'm wondering if in the next 10 years, radio as we know it will have totally changed to the point that we won't recognize it?
Charles, that certainly seems to be the way many people are thinking radio will wind up. Speech will migrate to FM to replace dwindling music audiences. Where does that put AM? It may well live on serving up super-niche formats like ethnic radio and overflow for religious programming that can't fit on the noncomm FM band.
Mass appeal music formats will likely not disappear. Things like CHR, country and urban (and Spanish in appropriate markets) will continue to be money makers unless royalties get really out of hand. I think more than anything, the 1-2 punch of portable music devices (including smartphone streaming) and royalties are eating FM music's profits up and that's why we're seeing stations that do "well" but not "well enough" go away.
Right now Birmingham is not only leading the way towards speech radio on FM but also the shuffling of lesser music formats to cheaper to operate signals, like 97.3 and translators. Birmingham probably is the smartphone/tech epicenter of the state and 3G penetration is high there. Add it being a long-consolidated megacorp-dominated market and the cost-cutting has always been ahead of the curve, it makes sense why it's pioneering this change.
But it's happening more and more in other markets, too. I think Mobile had FM talk before just about anyone else except WYDE. They definitely had FM sports talk first in WNSP and Andalusia's "The Ticket" may have been one of if not THE first sports FM in the nation. Montgomery has embraced translators and although only one talker is on FM, both WLWI and WMSP have recently picked up HD-2 relays, which opens the door for a translator at some point. Mississippi has long had a nearly-statewide FM network called Supertalk and Memphis' Rock 103 is flipping to a talk relay of WREC if I heard correctly. They already have talk on 98.9 and again via 87.7 through a LPTV signal.
The real bellwether moment for FM talk, in my opinion, happened recently when Chicago of all places got a new all news FM via the Merlin Media acquisition of WLUP, which in turn caused CBS to flip Fresh 105.9 to a WBBM simulcast. Once THAT city gets used to FM speech radio, it's really arrived as reality.
Mass appeal music formats will likely not disappear. Things like CHR, country and urban (and Spanish in appropriate markets) will continue to be money makers unless royalties get really out of hand. I think more than anything, the 1-2 punch of portable music devices (including smartphone streaming) and royalties are eating FM music's profits up and that's why we're seeing stations that do "well" but not "well enough" go away.
Right now Birmingham is not only leading the way towards speech radio on FM but also the shuffling of lesser music formats to cheaper to operate signals, like 97.3 and translators. Birmingham probably is the smartphone/tech epicenter of the state and 3G penetration is high there. Add it being a long-consolidated megacorp-dominated market and the cost-cutting has always been ahead of the curve, it makes sense why it's pioneering this change.
But it's happening more and more in other markets, too. I think Mobile had FM talk before just about anyone else except WYDE. They definitely had FM sports talk first in WNSP and Andalusia's "The Ticket" may have been one of if not THE first sports FM in the nation. Montgomery has embraced translators and although only one talker is on FM, both WLWI and WMSP have recently picked up HD-2 relays, which opens the door for a translator at some point. Mississippi has long had a nearly-statewide FM network called Supertalk and Memphis' Rock 103 is flipping to a talk relay of WREC if I heard correctly. They already have talk on 98.9 and again via 87.7 through a LPTV signal.
The real bellwether moment for FM talk, in my opinion, happened recently when Chicago of all places got a new all news FM via the Merlin Media acquisition of WLUP, which in turn caused CBS to flip Fresh 105.9 to a WBBM simulcast. Once THAT city gets used to FM speech radio, it's really arrived as reality.
Zach said:
I can't help but wonder if someday, demand will sink so low for AM that it will become affordable for (and the FCC would accommodate) hyper-local, amateur broadcasters to freely set up shop and serve communities, schools and churches at pennies on the dollar of current operating costs.
R.D.P. said:
If any station in Birmingham will carry Braves baseball, it will be JOX. Cumulus (who will own JOX soon) owns the rights to the Braves Network right now and are pushing it on all their sports radio stations in the South. I programmed The UMP in Huntsville from 2005-10, and was not given the choice to run the Braves. It was forced upon me by corporate. I imagine the same thing will happen to a Cumulus-owned sports station in Birmingham.
Sports or news/talk is certainly the hot format to do. Almost every market in South Carolina has at least one FM sports station. Charleston has Fox Sports on a FM translator of an AM, which actually carries Finebaum, Columbia (a market much smaller than Birmingham but home of a major university) has two on FM (107.5 and 93.1), WCCP rimshots Greenville (has been sports for a long time), and Myrtle Beach has one.
Savannah has a 100kw sports station. With Birmingham only having two sports stations, there is probably room for a third. 97.3 should try to grab rights for one of the smaller teams in the area like Samford. SNR is open, and you could easily grab other teams as their rights go out.
All SEC teams have followings in the Birmingham area, and Cox could put Georgia football on 97.3 because WSB has the rights (a Cox station).
Savannah has a 100kw sports station. With Birmingham only having two sports stations, there is probably room for a third. 97.3 should try to grab rights for one of the smaller teams in the area like Samford. SNR is open, and you could easily grab other teams as their rights go out.
All SEC teams have followings in the Birmingham area, and Cox could put Georgia football on 97.3 because WSB has the rights (a Cox station).
Georgia football in Birmingham would probably go over like a lead balloon.
Also if you mean Sporting News Radio, it's now Yahoo! Sports Radio and is definitely ripe for the picking in B'ham. I think some of the scuttlebutt about 97.3 mentioned YSR as the network of choice for them, but who knows if that'll pan out or not.
Also if you mean Sporting News Radio, it's now Yahoo! Sports Radio and is definitely ripe for the picking in B'ham. I think some of the scuttlebutt about 97.3 mentioned YSR as the network of choice for them, but who knows if that'll pan out or not.
AL.com article today:
http://www.al.com/sports/index.ssf/2011/08/sadly_finebaum_sweepstakes_win.html
http://www.al.com/sports/index.ssf/2011/08/sadly_finebaum_sweepstakes_win.html
Charles1 said:R.D.P. said:Great move Cox.
But is it such a great move sacrificing the #8 station in the market to move it to probably the second or third worst signal in the market? Assuming, of course, that 97.3 will become the new home of the Eagle? Seems to me that if that's indeed what happens, Cox has just thrown the biggest lifeline they could have to Rock 99. And to a lesser extent, I would think that moving the Eagle to 97.3 would also be a boon to Magic and maybe even the Peach, wouldn't it?
Seems like it would make more sense to keep the Zone on 97.3 for a while to determine how it will fare going up against 'Jox before moving the sports format permanently to the stronger 106.9 signal. If the Zone winds up being placed on 106.9, and it bombs, then Cox will have two signals that it will have to "fix"...the Zone at 106.9 and what is left remaining of the Eagle at 97.3. Every format that lands on 97.3 is a disaster...even after the station was upgraded to a C2 several years ago. The WODL audience didn't transition that well to the new 97.3 frequency, so history may repeat itself if/when the Eagle is moved to the weaker 97.3 signal. Given how every format fails on 97.3, Cox should just change the permanent name of 97.3 to the "Kiss of Death" to match their "Kiss" station at 98.7.
Zach said:
You're probably right, but I'd be tempted to make due with any SEC football affiliation until you can make a bid for Tide or Tigers' rights.
The Zone's only other choices for college football would be the Compass Media Networks national package or one from Sports USA Radio. Both have five games of SEC/regional interest, but I wonder if an exclusivity clause with the Citadel contracts would prevent Alabama or Auburn games from being cleared on 97.3.
There was a time though when either WBRC (now WERC) or WAPI---I can't remember which---would air an out of market football game on Saturdays. If Alabama (WBRC) or Auburn (WAPI) was playing a day game, they would air a game at night. They packaged it under the title "Pick of Dixie". Of course, this was back in the day when there was no more than one or two televised games each week on ABC.
Given that each SEC has 11 of their 12 games shown on TV each season, how valuable would holding the rights to another SEC team's radio coverage be?
Given that each SEC has 11 of their 12 games shown on TV each season, how valuable would holding the rights to another SEC team's radio coverage be?
Charles1 said:
But even the Tide or Tiger fan could eschew radio for TV. I'll put it to you this way: Would you bet on more of Birmingham Radioland being interested in the what the Saturday hosts on Yahoo Sports Radio have to say, or might more casually tune in for "SEC Football on 97-3 The Zone, brought to you by Golden Flake and Limbaugh Toyota"?
What I'm talking about isn't unprecedented; Atlanta's 680 The Fan, the best rated of two metro sports stations, once made due with Auburn affiliation. The station is still shut out of both Georgia and GaTech rights--now they're the 'home' of the Florida Gators.
Thinking about it further, The Zone would ideally pick another SEC West school instead of Georgia. You wouldn't clear LSU, MissState, Ole Miss, or Arkansas broadcasts because they'll be ratings winners or that the station 'likes' them better. You'd clear them because that's the next best sports content available that might sell a few ads and sponsorships. 97.3 is gonna get drilled opposite of Tide/Tiger broadcasts anyway, so it might as well counter-program with something of marginal appeal.
- Status