-
Get involved.
We want your input!
Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.
After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.
After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/
Thanks in advance and have fun!
RadioDiscussions Administrators
SALE OF WRXP: FINALLY IN THE WORKS?
- Thread starter WRXPinsider
- Start date
Mike said:
Clear Channel controling two rock stations would be easier to sell. Don't think CBS wants to touch 92.3 and Im sure they don't wanna flip 102.7 as Fresh is doing well.
I think that a currents-based rock station would work in NYC as long as it is done right. WRXP should have stuck with either a AAA or alternative format without mixing in the Van Halen/GNR/AC/DC stuff. RXP also doesn't need to be an active rock station. That doesn't work in the city itself, and there's already several suburban rimshots (WRAT, WDHA, WPDH, etc.) that already cater to the suburban rock fan who likes Nickelback and Shinedown. I think that they attempted witht the concept and it may have worked in a medium-sized market where there may not be any other rocks station, but in NY, you have to be ahead of the trend, play what's new and beat the others to it. I personally think RXP should have modeled itself after WRNR/Baltimore if they were sticking to a truer AAA sound but with an alternative/indie flair. Modeling themselves after WFNX/Boston or WEQX/Manchester, VT wouldn't have been a bad idea either.
Jacko
Jacko
At least two of those other stations you named are colossal losers in their respective markets & operate on a shoestring.
AAA is too niche and the true diehards already listen to WFUV.
An adult-friendly Modern Rock format similar to Radio 92-9 in Boston or Radio 104-5 in Philly would probably work best.
A well-programmed hard rock station -- unlike the relaunch of K-Rock -- might also work. K-Rock's problem is that it refused to play the biggest names in hard rock today. No Disturbed, Godsmack or Slipknot. WAAF and WCCC do it the right way. Then, toward the end, K-Rock basically became a white trash version of Q104 by playing heaping loads of butt rock from the 70s & 80s.
What about a fairly soft AAA approach, such as that offered by KINK FM, in Portland, OR. The format, which they have had for a long time, would not directly compete with WFUV, as it is more focused and hit oriented. KINK's selections avoid the sort of hard rock stuff that does not seem too popular in New York. KINK's format seems suitable for at-work listening.
Attempts at hard/active rock have not done well here. It was tried a number of times with the various flavors of K Rock. 104.3 was also hard rock for a while, before changing to its current successful classic rock format.
Recent KINK playlist:http://www.tunegenie.com/onair/kink/
Attempts at hard/active rock have not done well here. It was tried a number of times with the various flavors of K Rock. 104.3 was also hard rock for a while, before changing to its current successful classic rock format.
Recent KINK playlist:http://www.tunegenie.com/onair/kink/
Jacko said:
This is a $100 million guess. Are you willing to risk that kind of money on a format that MIGHT work? Especially knowing the mathematics of the situation, that don't favor such a suburban format. This isn't only a musical decision. It's recognizing that the demographics of the 5 boroughs is such that any rock format won't do much better than RXP is now.
TheBigA said:
Power's 3 share is taking enough audience away from Hot to keep Lite-FM in first place. That's why CC runs 105.1 as an urban station. No rock format will get a 3 share in NY.
From the posts, there seems to be some clamor for more AIC tribute bands. True, "nu-metal" did get airplay in the late 90's and the early 00's...right around the time rock ratings started slipping.
To be completely honest, I think that an station targeting suburban males 18-34 ought to include a mix of rap, not alternative and metal. Along with Godsmack, Nickelback, Puddle of Mudd, Drowning Pool, a Perfect Circle, etc artists like Eminiem, Beastie Boys, Cypress Hill, and Outkast (Stankonia onward) got airplay on "modern stations," practically every song from the Elephant in the late 90's room, Limp Bizkit, was either a full on rap song with artists like Method Man and DMX, Rage Against the Machine was always straight rap, and even Linkin Park and Papa Roach started off as a rap-metal acts. When rock radio inexplicably decided to favor metal over rap/rap-metal, the listeners flead to urban radio and ratings tanked.
Now there is a suburban audience out there that has been listening to rap and rap metal since the mid 90s and there is literally no station serving them. The very thought of it is stupifying.
To be completely honest, I think that an station targeting suburban males 18-34 ought to include a mix of rap, not alternative and metal. Along with Godsmack, Nickelback, Puddle of Mudd, Drowning Pool, a Perfect Circle, etc artists like Eminiem, Beastie Boys, Cypress Hill, and Outkast (Stankonia onward) got airplay on "modern stations," practically every song from the Elephant in the late 90's room, Limp Bizkit, was either a full on rap song with artists like Method Man and DMX, Rage Against the Machine was always straight rap, and even Linkin Park and Papa Roach started off as a rap-metal acts. When rock radio inexplicably decided to favor metal over rap/rap-metal, the listeners flead to urban radio and ratings tanked.
Now there is a suburban audience out there that has been listening to rap and rap metal since the mid 90s and there is literally no station serving them. The very thought of it is stupifying.
B
butchfm
Guest
HOW BOUT' WE BRING BACK "THE PIX PENTHOUSE".....
TheBigA said:
Top Tier customers:
McDonalds, Coke, ImBev, Ford,
Second Tier customers:
Blockbuster Video, Viacom,
The real answer to your question is anyone wishing to reach anyone who was a teenager in the Clinton or Bush Adminsitrations. From a brand association management perspective, music is lower risk than talk. And most rap/metal has been time tested by this point.
But certainly some boomer relics who didn't experience the 90's or the Bush years would not get it and couldn't sell it. Luckily, the millenials are nearing 30 now and can easily sell it.
BobSmolarek said:
But you can count on any rock station such as WAXQ's "Q104.3", it does very well ratings wise, but in the Hudson Valley outside of NYC, WBPM is doing badly as a "Classic Hits/Rock" station with some edgy rock music in it. I listened to the station during my ride to work to see what the station sounded a lot like "Q104.3" and WRXP. WBPM is not bad as a Classic Hits station in the Hudson Valley which is tackling WPDH as a main rocker. WBPM plays the music from U2, Bon Jovi, Rush, Hootie & the Blowfish, Elton John, Billy Joel, Toto, Rolling Stones, No Doubt and a few others. Robinson & Shannon has a new morning show last week, but it went off to an decent start and they should blame Randy Turner for that. He also did afternoon drive with his "Rollin' Home Show" along with "Road Block Live" with songs performed live in concert. To get out of the WBPM landscape, WRXP is doing poorly in the ratings as WBPM did. RXP sounded a lot like WDST "Radio Woodstock".
I hope ESPN is getting ready for 101.9 to get younger listeners. 1050 is not place to be on the dial. Let Emmis do it and put it on 101.9.
What's the point of putting Talk on FM or even sports? I don't get it. It's a waste of airspace. You could be broadcasting music what people have radio in the cars for. It's a form of entertainment. I personally don't wanna hear people talk. I just want my music. I want my rock. Yea I have an Mp3 Player but sometimes I want to hear new music! I have the internet but sometimes I'm too lazy to plug in my mp3 player.
XCountry285 said:
There is some theory that's been floating around that younger demos won't listen to AM radio. Personally I don't buy into it. Look at what happened to 102.7 when they went to talk - the station failed. So why people think it will work now I don't know. I just can't see ESPN's ratings skyrocket because they move from AM to FM. If people want to hear the programming a station has to offer they will tune to AM or FM, it's really not that big of a deal. I would like to see an example of a station that moved from AM to FM and had a massive ratings increase.
ansky212 said:
WTOP in Washington, DC, the Capital's long-time all-news outlet, was on 1500 AM with a drectional 50 kW signal. It could be received at night up the I-95 corridor, but not in many DC suburbs. Bonneville purchased the station, moved it to 103.5 FM and WTOP has had a dramatic increase in both ratings and ad revenue. WTOP is the highest billing station not in NY, Chicago or LA. I'd call that a successful migration from AM to FM!
radioguy39nj said:WTOP in Washington, DC, the Capital's long-time all-news outlet, was on 1500 AM with a drectional 50 kW signal. It could be received at night up the I-95 corridor, but not in many DC suburbs. Bonneville purchased the station, moved it to 103.5 FM and WTOP has had a dramatic increase in both ratings and ad revenue. WTOP is the highest billing station not in NY, Chicago or LA. I'd call that a successful migration from AM to FM!
WTOP is one of very few stations that increased revenue between 2002/03 and 2009... fairly dramatically, too, in the range of over 50% . In 2009, it was the second highest billing radio station in America.
The change is totally correlated with the move from AM to FM. The station had previously been mostly 45+ and predominantly 55+ within that group. Yet now it is #2 in the market 35-44 (Oct/Nov/Dec average of 3 books) and also #2 in 25-54. The explanation is that the 35-54 group, which does care about the format, does not customarily listen to AM for a variety of reasons. Moving the product to FM made it more accessable, and the results are very clear...
Just as they are for many other AM to FM moves or simulcasts in SLC, PHX, Jacksonville, Atlanta, Dayton, Indianapolis, etc., etc., etc.
ansky212 said:
That's hardly a theory... it's a proven fact in perhaps 100 markets now. This week we saw heritage WOOD in Grand Rapids take to the FM band to improve its demos as well as coverage... we are talking about a station that has been in the top tier for four decades or so, too.
102.7 did not succeed because it was not a good format. It was a startup, not an AM with successful but old or ageing listeners. It's the already successful stations that benefit from moving to FM the most.
While the WTOP example already given is perhpas the best, in sports look at the WXYT move from AM to FM in Detroit, and from also-ran to often being #1 in the market. Same format, added FM. It was about a 0.8 station on AM, now it averages about a 6 share and is #1 in every male demo and spread in men except 18-24 and teens.
Let's assume, for the sake of discussion, that New York is temporarily exempt from the idea that young people won't listen to AM. Certainly WCBS has no problem getting young people to listen to Yankee games. But the problem is the WEPN 1050 signal, which has certain reception restrictions based on signal path. If ESPN could own one of the major AMs, like WOR, WCBS, WFAN, or WABC, this conversation wouldn't happen. What we are seeing in most cities is that the success of AM is limited to a handful of full-power AM signals. WEPN isn't one of those, so it would benefit from moving to FM.
- Status