PLJ SOLD

[gr8oldies]

HCJB gave a lot of attention to North America, with both morning and evening/late night blocks of mostly American evangelical programming, mixed with some in-house presentations. One wonders what size audience they had even in their heyday, other than shortwave hobbyists. Credit where credit is due: HCJB gave me exposure to the early "Jesus rock" (Larry Norman et al) and I can imagine they took some brickbats for that. On the other hand, once with a schedule or QSL mailing, they sent a David Wilkerson-penned "rock and roll is of Satan" tract.

Even "biggies" like The Voice of the Andes, HCJB, reduced operations and finally just closed shop when the transmitter site was needed to build a new airport. They first looked at moving, and then decided that resources were best placed in helping to build community stations all over the world. The SW operation began in 1933. Many other international SW religious broadcasters are gone or have scaled back or moved to local operations on AM and FM.

Technology did not start the decline of SW. The decline started when there were better options with better, cleaner signals locally around much of the world. It's not that religious broadcasting has increased... it is just that on SW it has decreased at a slower rate than government international broadcasts... but it is declining too. Big religious broadcaster TWR does not even list frequencies on its website... it send people to local stations or to podcasts!

Bet you can not name any true religious organization that has expanded SW broadcasting in the last 40 years. I can name many that have reduced or eliminated such efforts.

 

[Barry]

With regard to WNBM 103.9, if Cumulus decides to keep it, perhaps they could try soft A/C. The station has such low ratings with urban A/C, they would not be risking very much. Instead of being an extremely distant #2 to WBLS, they would have a potentially viable format to themselves. Maybe Cumulus/Westwood One already operates a national soft/ac channel they could use WNBM to clear in New York.

 

[CTListener]

With regard to WNBM 103.9, if Cumulus decides to keep it, perhaps they could try soft A/C. The station has such low ratings with urban A/C, they would not be risking very much. Instead of being an extremely distant #2 to WBLS, they would have a potentially viable format to themselves. Maybe Cumulus/Westwood One already operates a national soft/ac channel they could use WNBM to clear in New York.

If the signal covers an area with a large black/Latino population, soft AC won't find many fans in a population that craves rhythmic genres.

 

[davideduardo]

If the signal covers an area with a large black/Latino population, soft AC won't find many fans in a population that craves rhythmic genres.

Not necessarily. The success of EZ 93 in Miami has been in getting fully 60% of its cume from Hispanics.

 

[TheBigA]

Maybe Cumulus/Westwood One already operates a national soft/ac channel they could use WNBM to clear in New York.

That's a good question. From what I can see, they do:

https://www.westwoodone.com/programming/formats/ac/lite-ac/

Cumulus generally prefers not to use those formats because there is no net gain in revenue. However, now that they're downsizing their NYC presence, it might make more sense. However, that same service offers a light urban format they call The Touch.

 

[JBraddock]

Cumulus will remain in New York because of their CEO and other senior execs are based there, plus they have a major NY-based sales office. So if they're going to have all those bodies occupying real estate, they might as well have a radio station there as well. They've cut the expenses of WABC pretty low, they have a bunch of info-mercials on the wknds to pay the costs, and they're not going to get much money from selling it. So they might as well hang on.

In DC, they just moved all of the company's national news operations into the WMAL building. There will be some extra square footage when WRQX moves out. So once again, why sell the station when they need an office in DC anyway?

Both WABC and WMAL clear Cumulus syndicated talk programming (Levin, Batchelor, Shapiro and whoever else they might be developing) in Markets 1 and 7. They could conceivably sell those stations to someone with a contract to carry Cumulus programming for X years, but how much will WABC bring if WPLJ barely cleared $20M (albeit, cash)? WMAL, on the other hand, is one of Cumulus's rare news-talk success stories - a well-run, healthy-billing facility, so they might be able to sell it to Hubbard or another operator for enough debt-reducing cash to make a sale worthwhile.

As has been noted elsewhere, radio groups have had headquarters in locations where they had no stations, Entercom in Philadelphia pre-CBS radio purchase being a prime example.

 

[TheBigA]

As has been noted elsewhere, radio groups have had headquarters in locations where they had no stations, Entercom in Philadelphia pre-CBS radio purchase being a prime example.

There's a difference between not having stations in NY, and having one and selling it. My point is there's no motivation to sell it if the best they can get is maybe $10 million. They might as well hang on, clear the spots & programming, and share the space with corporate offices. If they can keep the costs down, it's worth it. The point they made about WPLJ and WNSH is they were going to cost too much to fix for the revenues they produced. There is no fix for WABC. It is what it is. They already sucked all the value out of WMAL by selling the transmitter property. By holding on to those stations, sharing the space with corporate offices, it'll all very efficient, even if it's only a two station cluster. Don't just think of them as stand-alone stations. The stations and the offices are a package that make them more cost-efficient than stand alone stations.

The CEO stated very clearly that they're not looking to exit major markets, and they're not selling for the sake of selling. The EMF deal made sense for several reasons and they took it.

 

[cyber]

I would hate to see the station go down in flames. I realize no business can live long on legacy but there's so much tradition involved with WinePortandLemonJuice that maybe a revamp is in order. They have a mostly great staff. The major problem is they're stuck with the lamest morning show in this market and for that matter,any other market. Keep the format but ditch the morning sludge and keep the rest of the staff.

 

[TheBigA]

Keep the format but ditch the morning sludge and keep the rest of the staff.

Too late, dude. They've been sold to a religious broadcaster. Format (along with all the talent) will be gone in a few months.

 

[Tibbs4]

If you had excess cash, would you buy a BMW or a used Yugo?

103.9 is a Yugo with bald tires!

Good analogy, David!


Cumulus and iHeart should have stuck with the Yugo's because they could not afford the BMWs. The BMWs they have may be on their way to becoming a Pinto or Edsel. LOL.

 

[semoochie]

I would hate to see the station go down in flames. I realize no business can live long on legacy but there's so much tradition involved with WinePortandLemonJuice that maybe a revamp is in order. They have a mostly great staff. The major problem is they're stuck with the lamest morning show in this market and for that matter,any other market. Keep the format but ditch the morning sludge and keep the rest of the staff.

I always remembered them as W President Lyndon Johnson.

 

[thataveragejoe]

Jesus is coming in May, to PLJ...

 

[kevtronics]

Even as they're getting ready to turn off the lights and hand over the keys to EMF, WPLJ has seen fit to tweak their format one more time. Their new slogan is "The Station That Makes You Feel Gool" and they now sound more like Lite FM than ever before. They're even now playing some 1970s music, like Billy Joel's "Piano Man"! They also brought back jingles that they last used in the 1990s.

It's not quite the Soft AC format that everyone expected WPLJ to flip to, but it'll be interesting to see how their new mainstream AC format does in the time they have left...

 

[CurtisNEPA]

Even as they're getting ready to turn off the lights and hand over the keys to EMF, WPLJ has seen fit to tweak their format one more time. Their new slogan is "The Station That Makes You Feel Gool" and they now sound more like Lite FM than ever before. They're even now playing some 1970s music, like Billy Joel's "Piano Man"! They also brought back jingles that they last used in the 1990s.

It's not quite the Soft AC format that everyone expected WPLJ to flip to, but it'll be interesting to see how their new mainstream AC format does in the time they have left...

Wow! WPLJ is in desperate times now. This is the millionth time they have tweaked the format. If they now include some '70s music into the playlist, aren't they going after both the Lite FM and CBS-FM crowds?

It's also noteworthy that their call letters could stand for We PLay the hits for Jersey! since the station is now geared towards the NJ suburbs and have a bit decent ratings on the NJ side than in Manhattan. Maybe after 95.5 flips to K-Love, I think WPLJ would eventually end up on another frequency somewhere, be it owned by Cumulus or someone else, because of the heritage of the historic call letters.

The farewell songs that should be played on 'PLJ before the flip would be Never Gonna Say Goodbye by either Jackson 5 or Gloria Gaynor, Bye, Bye Bye by N'Sync or Gone Gone Gone by Phillip Phillips.

Maybe Todd would announce the PLJ Farewell Party during his morning show soon...

 

[andreajesus]

Wow! WPLJ is in desperate times now. This is the millionth time they have tweaked the format. If they now include some '70s music into the playlist, aren't they going after both the Lite FM and CBS-FM crowds?

Not necessarily, at least as far as CBS-FM is concerned - that station basically stopped playing 70's music a while back. Their primary focus is 80's and 90's (and some 2000's) - UGH!

#CBSFMYesterday101Today

 

[madooputtus]

I have a feeling about what will look like after March 1st for people who have HD Radio receiverrs.

Before March 1st, 2019:

--WPLJ--

95.5-HD1 Main signal
95.5 HD2 Radio Russkaya reklama
95.5 HD3 94.3 WFAS

--WKLV--

96.7 HD1 Main signal
96.7 HD2 Air1
96.7 HD3 K-Love Classics

After March 1, 2019

--WPLJ--

95.5 HD1 K-Love

--WKLV--

96.7 HD1 Air1
96.7 HD2 K-Love Classics

 

[madooputtus]

But my question is, will 103.9 WNBM add 94.3 WFAS on its HD2 channel? I understand that WNBM isn't broadcasting in HD Radio at that moment.

 

[Radi0411]

It's not quite the Soft AC format that everyone expected WPLJ to flip to, but it'll be interesting to see how their new mainstream AC format does in the time they have left...

I'm not exactly sure who "everyone" is that you are referring to because most people that understand the fact that radio is more than just a format du jour of what we think it should do or operate as... it has to make money. One of the unfortunate elements of being in the BIG City are the BIG expenses that go along with it. I think we saw with WBAI what rents go for at Empire and thats just one of the many substantial expenses to factor in as well as studio leases, salaries, music licensing and so much more. Suburban stations have the expenses too but not nearly as hearty. So while it would be nice to have a new and uncharted format in place to bring some excitement back to not only radio itself, but in NYC Metro, Soft AC wasn't going to happen simply based on demos. Time will tell in Philly to see what their version can yield long term as its still in its infancy gaining it legs. Even then its apples and oranges to compare the 2 markets which are vastly different.

Shame it took a pending sale to truly revitalize 'PLJ to a point where it may have found its groove albeit for a short-lived period of time. Taking a chunk of Lite could have been a good angle to pursue but nothing to really worry about at this point... They may as well have fun with it while its still alive.

 

[Radi0411]

But my question is, will 103.9 WNBM add 94.3 WFAS on its HD2 channel? I understand that WNBM isn't broadcasting in HD Radio at that moment.

I would think there would be some sort of negotiating that took place between Cumulus and EMF regarding the HD clients, one of which is a Cumulus entity and the other an ethnic client. I'm sure there are agreements in place between Cumulus and the Ethnic broadcaster so how that plays out will be interesting. It's not like Cumulus has another Class B FM in the city to relocate the HD2 client to. I wouldn't think the investment for WNBM would be worth it unless it would strictly be to keep the 94.3 translator alive. Some folks on this board have stated there is next to ZERO local content when it comes to inventory/sales so is it really worth it? They could probably make some coin by leasing it or selling it maybe they could put WABC on it, not that it would really accomplish anything. Maybe Entercom is involved here as there are vacant HD channels on WNSH except for the religious client on their HD-4 I believe??

 

[davideduardo]

Not necessarily, at least as far as CBS-FM is concerned - that station basically stopped playing 70's music a while back. Their primary focus is 80's and 90's (and some 2000's) - UGH!

#CBSFMYesterday101Today

Not quite all the 70's are gone. Of a playlist of about 550 songs, in the last 7 days they played 133 different 70's songs. There were 93 songs from the 90's. And 9 songs from 2000-2002.