Hate to break it to ya...it hasn't worked out that way in every market. If simulcasting really works, then why bother with AM at all? Why waste the electricity?
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Poll: WKQX or WLUP... Which Gets Blown Up First?
- Thread starter DToTheJ
- Start date
stereolane said:
Because on an FM, it's " How big are ya in the market ".
On an AM like WBBM , instead it's "Just how big IS your market?
Many people who know the calls WBBM have no idea that there is a music station on FM using them also.
They don't live anywhere in the market but still know WBBM.
At least that's the nature of the Chicago market.
It is very common to hear people in this large region say they are from Chicago.
When asked to be specific, you find out they are really from Woodstock, Naperville, Wonder Lake or some other place 50 miles out.
And thery ARE listening to WBBM still at 80 and 90 miles, so in this case this is to allow people downtown to
hear their news in buildings where badly engineered technology has impacted the usefulness of MW.
I'm not worried,
we will learn to make enough rf noise one day that FM won't work downtown, either.stereolane said:
FM is the future. AM loses more shares everyday as people who once were regular listeners of AM age.
stereolane said:
OK, please cite an example of where an FM simulcast did NOT result in improved ratings and demos. I can't think of one.
There are many markets where the simulcast is on class A FMs that do not have full-market signals. Examples of this include Atlanta (WSB), Dallas/Ft. Worth (WBAP), and Albany/Schenectady/Troy (WGY). Even in these places, ratings have improved by adding the FM signal. Mind you, each of these is a talker and not an all-news format. The improvement for all-news formatted stations is more significant (again, KCBS and WTOP are two examples of this).
Here's something to keep in mind with all-newsers: people tend to "check in" on them periodically during the day. They do so for news and weather updates and for traffic reports. If there's something going on, they then leave it there. Listening patterns being what they are, it's just easier (psychologically) for someone to 'tune in' from whatever music station they're listening to on FM than it is to switch over to an AM. Some do this, to be sure. But increasingly, younger demos (and by "younger", I mean under 35) are not apt to listen to AM. Adding an FM simulcast increases the pool of potential listeners significantly. That's very necessary because all-news is the most expensive format there is. You need a lot of revenue coming in. To get that, you need to demonstrate that you've got the listeners and that you have the 'right' listeners. Putting the format on FM seems to solve that problem.
Corrections: WSBB/Doraville (95.5) in the Atlanta market is a Class C1, WBAP-FM/Flower Mound, TX (106.7) in the Dallas market is a full C. WGY-FM/Albany (103.1) IS a Class A. All three signals, however, are fairly market-inclusive in their coverage areas for their respective markets.
Your point is taken, however.
TDO
Your point is taken, however.
TDO
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