jonblaze said:
As for WPUP... I think I heard some talk that maybe a flip to a FM talk station and have it compete with WDUN in Gainesville. With the power of Cox (WSB-AJC-Channel 2), they could give WDUN a run in Gainesville, and be the new home of Boortz and Clark. With that said, they could also build up WGAU in Athens, getting a bigger news department.
Now, here is the $64,000 question... what will happen to WXKT? The new "Bulldog 100.1"? or "K-100, Athens NEW home for today's Hit Music" (playing of the over-use of NEW... and taking 95.5's old liner)
Remember, at Cox a station is "new" for at least 2-3 years, if not longer (see The River).
Does WXKT reach Athens that well? Radio-Locator.com doesn't show them doing so...
http://www.radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/pat?call=WXKT&service=FM&status=L&hours=U
...otherwise moving active rock to WXKT is a great idea if they want to do something else with WPUP.
I'm not sure of the advantages of flipping WPUP to talk, when you have WGAU (not to mention WRFC) at your disposal. I'd leave WPUP as some music format. Cox could also re-swap WGAU 1340 and WRFC 960 if they get something going good on WGAU.
If they REALLY wanted to give WDUN a run for its money, they would definitely need the 960 signal. That would be more effective than either WPUP or 1340.
But here's a question: Do people really choose a talk station on the basis of anything other than its programming and a reasonably clear signal? I think that the people who like Zoller/Rush/Hannity over Boortz/Clark won't switch, and vice-versa.
Lastly, and this gets back to the whole duplication of programming question I originally raised with UGA coverage, would Cox really cotton to a sister station duplicating 6-9 hours of programming (Boortz, Hannity, maybe Clark) of their AM flagship? Or would they just tell the loyal listeners to tune to WSB and put something else on 1340? How well does Rush do on WGAU against WDUN? What about some second-tier talent like Ramsey, Beck, Ingraham, Reagan, Savage? Heck-maybe throw in Randi Rhodes for the campus liberals :

?