Renda gives away 1360

[Boss Radio]

I love Alan Serena, truly do. Heck of a guy and radio man. But they gave up to easily on 1360. There were several formats they could have done and possibly made them successful.

The big mistake is having the same salespeople doing this and WSHH. If someone can write a $10k order for WSHH, they are not going to spend one second trying to sell 1360.

Small stations need to be run and sold as small stations, where someone goes out and finds small business advertisers and that's all they do. If you can find a kid that can write $20k per month at 15% commission that's a decent living.

Yeah, but 1360 doesn't have a local "neighborhood" the way WJPA and WBVP do.

 

[Mike Sheridan]

The single thing that drives me crazier than anything else is when an owner puts crap on the air and then is mystified when they can't sell it.


The lack of creativity in this business anymore is just mind-boggling.

AM will die on its own, but the fact that too many stations are owned by idiots is accelerating the demise.

I agree, and will add I never thought AM radio would have made it this long (maybe it really hasn't). All this talk is a bit like fighting over small table scraps long after the feast is over. FM is on life support, AM is dead.

 

[Mike Sheridan]

Can anyone think of an AM station start up that has been really successful in the past 20 years. If you have an AM station and it's not established regardless of signal it's not going to work.

I'm sure Renda got a big tax break and there was nothing else involved.

 

[retrodc]

A charitable contribution of a under performing radio property such as WMNY to a religious group is probably a financial divesting of the station assets in order to raise some capital. By a charitable contribution donation of WMNY verses selling, TBA brokering or LMA, saves months, time and money of trying to sell a under performing station to a new owner, operating with shrinking profit level, dried up ratings, operating 1 tower in the day, 4 towers in the evening, with a somewhat limited unlimited day time signal pattern and a complex and very limited directional night time signal pattern, and to top it off with 2 separate transmitter sites. Unfortunately stations like WMNY become more of a financial drain and liability than an asset, from a financial point it is was probably easier to unload the station and divest as a charitable contribution, from a business tax sense in order to re-coop some cash return due to increasing operational losses over a along period of time.

AM stations like WMNY due to hampered signal patterns are hard to sell open rate air time in order to reach a return on investment and reach a reasonable profit level. Without a niche format, it is a financial gamble to LMA, TBA, and just as hard to get some one to buy the station license or get the asking selling price these days. Let alone revamping and rebuilding to a local format, setting up sales and TBA airtime agreements, in order to reach a return on investment to meet and reach reasonable profit levels. As far as a format change from a competitive point of view 1320 and 1360 frequencies are nearly on top of each other with the same owner, selling WMNY to a new competitive owner would have probably possibly pulled some listeners away from WJAS. The 2nd possible gamble option due to the poor evening signal, besides revamping the current format is developing to a local niche format that would sell air time and not compete with WJAS and combine combo some sales revenues with WJAS. 3rd Possibly find a 24 hour LMA, or TBA agreements of airtime, something like KHB is doing. Reverting back to a WIXZ classic country and local full service format, or just simulcasting WJAS as a one station 2 location stations with WMNY. Any way it is looked at it , a gamble costing time and money to rebuild the station that is not selling air time or meeting profit levels.

 

[kenhawk1160]

It was fun, I'm sure...but the run is done for 1360.

McKeesport, like many communities too close to Pittsburgh, has not had a need for a radio station of its own for quite some time...namely, since WIXZ packed up and moved to Greentree. The internet and today's hi-tech way of doing radio has enabled long-established Pittsburgh stations to serve McKeesport quite nicely.

And after Judy Barron has passed on, WEDO will likely be next.

Television has learned this lesson. With microwave trucks, lower-cost satellite uplinks and choppers, major news stories in outlying markets are being covered by Pittsburgh TV, and this practice has in some cases, very effectively supplanted the local radio stations.

And for those who are hinting at a 'shutdown' of 1160, that's not going to happen. That's the flagship station of the four in that market. Killing it would be a mistake. All four of those stations are profitable...VERY profitable. It's a very solid radio-driven market.

 

[cingram]

The only thing that's going to happen here is (presumably) WGBN moving to 1360. 1150 may simulcast, it may do
something different, or it may go dark. Everything else is idle speculation.

C.

 

[PHIL Z]

1150 and 1360 Should Build Studio's in the Plum Boro Area . Around Saltsburg Universal road Area. Both Nighttime Signals are good Their .

 

[cingram]

The real question here is whether the George Almasi Polka Review (which has outlived six or seven format changes
at 1360) will remain on the air.

C.

 

[Boss Radio]

1150 and 1360 Should Build Studio's in the Plum Boro Area . Around Saltsburg Universal road Area. Both Nighttime Signals are good Their .

Phil, I love your loyalty to the AM band, but be realistic. Pumping money into AM operations makes as much sense as opening a store to sell pagers.

 

[sparks]

Phil, I love your loyalty to the AM band, but be realistic. Pumping money into AM operations makes as much sense as opening a store to sell pagers.

Hey Phil, I'm glad you are a fan of the AM band!

AM isn't dead. Maybe too close to the edge but it isn't over the edge. There are good deals on AM stations so you really don't need to pump a lot of money into an AM operation. The good news is a segment of the population who grew up listening to AM radio can be dragged back to it if you program something they like. I loved the KQV, WIXZ, and WZUM rock days. I found it very easy to listen to music on AM again after many years of being away from both AM and FM. Judging by the response to WZUM, there are a lot of people willing to program an AM station on their car radio station buttons. I'm lovin' AM and having fun with it.

As for 1360, the price of the station can't be beat so spending money to fix up a night site isn't unreasonable. The new owner is a 501(c)(3) non-profit so maybe they will find a few big-time donations to help their cause.

Unfortunately too many AM stations have gone dark and their license deleted. To me, that is a waste. Find programming people like and an AM will serve the community.

 

[cingram]

AM isn't dead. Maybe too close to the edge but it isn't over the edge. There are good deals on AM stations so you really don't need to pump a lot of money into an AM operation. The good news is a segment of the population who grew up listening to AM radio can be dragged back to it if you program something they like. I loved the KQV, WIXZ, and WZUM rock days. I found it very easy to listen to music on AM again after many years of being away from both AM and FM. Judging by the response to WZUM, there are a lot of people willing to program an AM station on their car radio station buttons. I'm lovin' AM and having fun with it.

As for 1360, the price of the station can't be beat so spending money to fix up a night site isn't unreasonable. The new owner is a 501(c)(3) non-profit so maybe they will find a few big-time donations to help their cause.

Unfortunately too many AM stations have gone dark and their license deleted. To me, that is a waste. Find programming people like and an AM will serve the community.

I agree wholeheartedly. You get out of any station, AM or FM, what you put into it. Now it may be true that you
have to put six times the effort into an AM station to get a result, and certain people just won't listen to AM radio,
but that's no reason not to try.

WZUM serves a musical need in the market that isn't being filled by any other station. It's not easy to start up a
"new" AM station but I think it's the best possible use of 1550 (which has been almost invisible for 30 years) and
hopefully, listeners will agree!

C.

 

[Whiplash]

Boss Radio. I'll be sure to tell my accountant your feelings on AM radio. We actually did quite well when my accountant released my tax records last year, with our AM's.

Its what you put into it folks!

 

[Boss Radio]

Boss Radio. I'll be sure to tell my accountant your feelings on AM radio. We actually did quite well when my accountant released my tax records last year, with our AM's.

Its what you put into it folks!

Good for you.

I'm sure there are AMs that make money just by selling brokered programming and keeping overhead at a minimum. The Pennysaver probably makes money because people are always trafficking in free kittens. Good for them.

Credit to WZUM for trying to do something different. But in 2013, with much better alternatives easily available, I'm not going to twist the dial to pull in a static-filled signal from the wrong end of the dial -- and I'm one of the people who should be embracing what they're trying to do. I don't want to listen to music on AM radio any more than I want to watch kinescope-quality television.

 

[secondchoice]

I don't want to listen to music on AM radio any more than I want to watch kinescope-quality television.

I drove a car with satellite radio last week, IMHO the audio is not much better (due to digital compression) than good AM.* Lost signal under overpasses too.

*My personal version of good AM radio: At least 8.5 K audio band pass and not near a station running IBOC. A friend has IBOC AM in his car. When it works the results are surprisingly good. If IBOC AM's did not take out 2 adjacent channels and regular radios AM radios did not suffer IBOC AM could have been a good thing.

IMHO If all AM stations have the technical audio quality of WSM AM 650, music would still be a viable option on AM.

 

[cingram]

Credit to WZUM for trying to do something different. But in 2013, with much better alternatives easily available, I'm not going to twist the dial to pull in a static-filled signal from the wrong end of the dial -- and I'm one of the people who should be embracing what they're trying to do. I don't want to listen to music on AM radio any more than I want to watch kinescope-quality television.

Nobody runs kinescopes any more, but I'll watch one if the content is good. The Honeymooners "Lost Episodes" are
a good example. And I have a shelf full of shows like "Studio One" and "Playhouse 90."

The problem with AM radio's sound quality is the receivers. Listen to WZUM on a GE Superadio and it sounds pretty
good in wideband (although in mono). I also have an AM stereo receiver (in mono) with a high-end Onkyo cassette
deck (yes - I said CASSETTES!) and the resulting tapes sound like FM, with a little electrical noise because the 1550
signal isn't perfect here. The stronger signals playing music (620, 1250, 1320) are fully quiet and sound great.

So I guess listeners also get out of AM radio what they put into it.

C.

 

[Boss Radio]

Again, you're preaching to the choir of radio geeks. Most people aren't going to seek out something like a GE Super Radio (which I own and love) or a Crane model. They'll get something mass market, and the AM circuitry has been lousy in mass market receivers for a long time. And why is that? Because most people don't care. They're not going to fine tune dodgy AM signals.

This board is actually the perfect place to discuss all this, because it's populated by the last 200 people under 75 who care about what's on the AM band.

 

[KeyTimes950]

Again, you're preaching to the choir of radio geeks. Most people aren't going to seek out something like a GE Super Radio (which I own and love) or a Crane model. They'll get something mass market, and the AM circuitry has been lousy in mass market receivers for a long time. And why is that? Because most people don't care. They're not going to fine tune dodgy AM signals.
This board is actually the perfect place to discuss all this, because it's populated by the last 200 people under 75 who care about what's on the AM band.

I suspect the total number of people under 75 who care about what's on the AM band is larger than 200 just in Pittsburgh. Still, I understand your point ... and admit I have trouble at times thinking there are enough AM stations just to populate the six pre-sets for that band on my car radio.

My list right now consists of
KDKA 1020 (CBS) for local news and information.
WMBS 590 (CBS) for weather and programming in areas I cover.
WPIT 730 (Salem) for talk shows I find interesting.
WAVL 910 (???) out of professional curiosity about its new owners.
WJAS 1320 (NBC) for music I find interesting.
KQV 1410 (ABC) also for local news and information.

I'll probably reset WZUM 1550 at some point.

 

[cingram]

Again, you're preaching to the choir of radio geeks.
(edit)
This board is actually the perfect place to discuss all this, because it's populated by the last 200 people under 75 who care about what's on the AM band.

Not quite. If you consider the listed, rated AM stations (KDKA, for example), and the ones that are rated but not
listed because they don't subscribe (WJAS, KQV), and add in the suburban stations that are either unencoded for
PPM or fractional in the ratings (WMBS, WKFB), and then allow for cume duplication, there are between a quarter
of a million and half a million people who care about what's on the AM band. And not all of them are over 75.

WZUM is a baby radio station (on the air 33 days as of this writing) and while it's a 1000-watt near-daytimer, it's
not dodgy everywhere; in fact, the signal is pretty good in some of the neighborhoods that really count. Short of
WAMO (which is youth-oriented) and WGBN, the black population is being served by no one. Neither is the white
audience that enjoys classic R&B. Until now.

My point being, if you put something unique and compelling enough on AM radio, perhaps someone will go a little
out of their way to listen. We'll see.

C.

 

[Parttimer]

Again, you're preaching to the choir of radio geeks.
(edit)
This board is actually the perfect place to discuss all this, because it's populated by the last 200 people under 75 who care about what's on the AM band.

Not quite. If you consider the listed, rated AM stations (KDKA, for example), and the ones that are rated but not
listed because they don't subscribe (WJAS, KQV), and add in the suburban stations that are either unencoded for
PPM or fractional in the ratings (WMBS, WKFB), and then allow for cume duplication, there are between a quarter
of a million and half a million people who care about what's on the AM band. And not all of them are over 75.

WZUM is a baby radio station (on the air 33 days as of this writing) and while it's a 1000-watt near-daytimer, it's
not dodgy everywhere; in fact, the signal is pretty good in some of the neighborhoods that really count. Short of
WAMO (which is youth-oriented) and WGBN, the black population is being served by no one. Neither is the white
audience that enjoys classic R&B. Until now.

My point being, if you put something unique and compelling enough on AM radio, perhaps someone will go a little
out of their way to listen. We'll see.

C.

Mike Payne did a good job with WCKG on 1550 when it was co-owned with Y97, but it never made any money. To be fair, WAMO was still around but it just never worked.

The other Urban broadcaster (I thought it was Inner City, someone corrected me earlier but I forget who it was) lasted just a few months. And again, WAMO was still around.

I am rooting for you guys but unless you can get a translator, I think your best bet would be to find some ministries that want to buy some blocks of time.

The new WAMO proves what can be done with the right translator, as the rules allow them to be a virtual Class "A" if maximized.

 

[cingram]

Mike Payne did a good job with WCKG on 1550 when it was co-owned with Y97, but it never made any money. To be fair, WAMO was still around but it just never worked.

The other Urban broadcaster (I thought it was Inner City, someone corrected me earlier but I forget who it was) lasted just a few months. And again, WAMO was still around.

I am rooting for you guys but unless you can get a translator, I think your best bet would be to find some ministries that want to buy some blocks of time.

The new WAMO proves what can be done with the right translator, as the rules allow them to be a virtual Class "A" if maximized.

A 1 kw daytimer was never going to make a dent in a full-powered FM. Things are different now. The full-powered
FM is gone, and no other radio station in town is playing the music 1550 is playing.

Selling blocks of time isn't the mission statement right now. If, in a year or two, no one is listening and the station
isn't profitable, perhaps that will change ... but the dial is full of brokered stations.

It would be nice to have an FM translator or to be 5,000 or 10,000 or 50,000 watts, but it is what it is, and it has a
double advantage: low overhead and no debt service. We've gotten a lot of early attention and we are going to try
to make it a player. At 33 days, we've barely begun.

C.