Relaxed cross-ownership: Boston Globe Radio 92.9?

[raccoonradio]

If newspaper/radio-TV cross ownership rules are relaxed:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/18/b...=2&hp=&oref=slogin&pagewanted=all&oref=slogin

picture:

Live from Morrissey Blvd.-- A Partnership between the NY Times (Boston Division) and Greater Media:

BOSTON GLOBE RADIO
92.9 FM (what? Washington Post Radio didn't work? That's D.C., not here, pal)

Featuring your favorite Globe writers/sportswriters doing talk shows. Bob Ryan and Dan Shaughessy
talk sports (NESN RADIO)! The columnist roundtable with Jacoby, Jackson, Lehigh, and Vennochi!

News, sports, features/living and more! Live from Morrissey Blvd., home of the Globe/Greater Media
mediaplex!

Who knows.

 

[radiodouble]

If newspaper/radio-TV cross ownership rules are relaxed:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/18/b...=2&hp=&oref=slogin&pagewanted=all&oref=slogin

picture:

Live from Morrissey Blvd.-- A Partnership between the NY Times (Boston Division) and Greater Media:

BOSTON GLOBE RADIO
92.9 FM (what? Washington Post Radio didn't work? That's D.C., not here, pal)

Featuring your favorite Globe writers/sportswriters doing talk shows. Bob Ryan and Dan Shaughessy
talk sports (NESN RADIO)! The columnist roundtable with Jacoby, Jackson, Lehigh, and Vennochi!

News, sports, features/living and more! Live from Morrissey Blvd., home of the Globe/Greater Media
mediaplex!

Who knows.

you must've been out of the country for a while. the newspaper business is in need of a good casket, tombstone and flowers, not a radio station.

 

[raccoonradio]

No, this is where they can make some money (maybe). or by running ads on their website.

 

[dumber than a box of hair]

you must've been out of the country for a while. the newspaper business is in need of a good casket, tombstone and flowers, not a radio station.

Out of touch with reality is more like it. If this proposal makes it all the way through rule-making and into the Federal Register, it will be essentially meaningless. Newspapers, as you've noted, are in serious financial trouble and don't have the liquid capital available to buy radio or TV stations, and no broadcast owner with any brains will invest in a dying business like newspapers. Why the FCC is even bothering with this is puzzling.

 

[raccoonradio]

Well the article named Samuel Zell and Rupert Murdoch as two investors who want to be able
to cross-own papers and TV/radio. Maybe you're right about papers not being able to afford
stations, but maybe they could in smaller markets.

 

[JustinT]

With the failure of Washington Post Radio on WTWP 1500/WTWP-FM 107.7 in DC, I'm pretty sure any chance of this happening is gone.

Something's got to give with 92.9, though. The Red Sox rumors last year, now the 92.9 The Ticket business... it's pretty clear that Greater Media isn't too invested in the future of WBOS as an AAA station.

 

[raccoonradio]

Even if it wouldn't be truly "Boston Globe Radio", a 92.9 doing sports talk, etc. (but...with what
teams for play by play?) could still draw upon their sportswriters. They could wrest ESPN away
from 890/1400 for some national shows.

 

[dumber than a box of hair]

Well the article named Samuel Zell and Rupert Murdoch as two investors who want to be able
to cross-own papers and TV/radio. Maybe you're right about papers not being able to afford
stations, but maybe they could in smaller markets.

Why would either of those men invest in peanut whistles? They didn't get where they are by doing small-potato deals. Small markets are not where the money is, nor the power that men like Zell and Murdoch crave.

 

[radiotony]

I like the idea of newspapers owning radio stations. I think there is a lot of synergy. The Boston Phoenix seems to work and have good synergy with WFNX. If you owned a news/talk stations, there would seem to be even more connectivity between the two models. That is why some newspapers - like the San Diego Union-Tribune - are starting their own online radio stations, as noted here:
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003658926

In my mind, there are a number of reasons the Washington Post radio station didn't work.
First, they never owned the station. They had this strange leasing-like arrangement with Bonneville. It probably would have been better for the Post to have figured out a way to line up a better working relationship deal. While they win a slew of awards for community service, Bonneville has a spotty reputation on the content and profit level. They are all about profit and not much about content. They would not sustain millions in loses for long.
As well, The Post's news station was competing with WTOP, Bonneville's other news station in the market. How can a serious news station compete with another news station run by the same corporate entity?
And then there is the other competition: A total of five news/talk stations in the market, not including NPR or C-SPAN radio. There are only two talk stations in Boston as well as NPR and Boston is a similar sized market. That seemed like a recipe for disaster.

On projects like this, it would be smart to start slow. Maybe you have some syndicated content and then move into local stuff during the drive times to peel away the audience from other stations. You might want to have four talk hosts constantly interacting with beat reporters. The talk hosts would make a bit more than DJs, but it would flow well. Both entities are already paying for the employees. Why not have them working together to break news and deliver it faster than just being separate?

 

[raccoonradio]

Good points.

btw technically there are 3 1/2 talk stations in town: WRKO, WTKK, WTTT, and (part of) WBZ