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Should WBZ consider doing their News on FM?
- Thread starter recto101
- Start date
Well, I wasn't aware that Merlin Media nor Cumulus Radio actually OWNS any signals in the Boston market...? Still, for CBS it's an idea not without merit. But there's four factors mitigating against it:
As always, if folks are privy to more recent and/or accurate knowledge than my own, then I shall gladly defer to your judgment.
- WBZ has the only real full-service/full-market AM signal in Boston. It's huge. It's powerful. It comes in solidly pretty much everywhere, day or night. I'm exaggerating a little, of course...but it's not like WRKO or WEEI, which are decent signals but have real issues after dark in significant areas of the market.
- What would CBS have to nuke to put WBZ(AM) on an FM? They've got 104.1, 100.7, 103.3 and 98.5 to choose. All are solid signals, so you can't discount any on coverage. However, I would assume that 98.5's success means it's not an option. It's been a while since I've really looked, but I've been under the impression that 100.7 and 103.3 are still solid performers. Possibly 104.1 is not, and I say that ONLY because they were "bumped" to a new freq with the demise of WBCN and rise of the SportsHub. (I move I readily acknowledge there were multiple reasons for) But if the Mix format was really doing all that poorly I would assume that CBS would've already nuked it and put WBZ(AM) on there. Assumption is the mother of f**kups, I know...but the logic seems clean to me. (shrug)
- If you put WBZ NewsRadio on FM, what do you do with the AM? Just keep simulcasting? That's kind of a waste since all of CBS's FM properties are hefty, market-covering signals.
- AFAIK, WBZ(AM) is still doing really well in the ratings...isn't it? Why blow up a potentially lucrative FM product to fix something that, as far as this quarter's earning report is concerned, still isn't broken?
As always, if folks are privy to more recent and/or accurate knowledge than my own, then I shall gladly defer to your judgment.
Remember, unless we have CBS Radio insiders among us, we are only privy to the relatively useless 12+ numbers. WBZ's number is outwardly impressive, but if it starts to trend too strongly 55+ and ad agencies start to advise their clients to spend elsewhere, then CBS will have to think seriously about an FM simulcast, probably on the oldest-skewing of its FM signals, meaning WODS. If people in the sellable demos aren't listening to AM anymore, as seems to be conventional wisdom these days, you've got to follow them to FM.
In many cases simulcasting or moving to FM is a good move but WBZ indeed has a killer signal, as is. I suppose
they could put it on 104.1 but may do half decently with Mix; and, unlikely, but say GM sold them 96.9 or 92.9.
Again, unlikely but they could do that, put it on there.
And for the few who have HD radios, WBZ IS on FM. "WBZ-FM HD-3"
The audio quality would be good, kind of how their stream sounds. Once I recorded Scott Fybush's appearance on WBZ (AM) and was a bit surprised to hear it back on my mp3 player--hey, that's the Steve Leveille theme in STEREO! Ah. because I'd gotten it from the stream.
they could put it on 104.1 but may do half decently with Mix; and, unlikely, but say GM sold them 96.9 or 92.9.
Again, unlikely but they could do that, put it on there.
And for the few who have HD radios, WBZ IS on FM. "WBZ-FM HD-3"
The audio quality would be good, kind of how their stream sounds. Once I recorded Scott Fybush's appearance on WBZ (AM) and was a bit surprised to hear it back on my mp3 player--hey, that's the Steve Leveille theme in STEREO! Ah. because I'd gotten it from the stream.
There are a lot of good thoughtful responses to this query here. My short answer would be "not yet". I think if we see a significant drop in 25-54 numbers (perhaps folks going in droves to 'BUR) then it's time for BZ to consider. Unless that happens, I'd say "why sacrifice the signal". It's an interesting question though. Thanks for posting!!!
In places where CBS decided to simulcast one of its AM stations, it had an underperforming FM to sacrifice. In Chicago, the AC station it killed had poor ratings. In San Francisco, CBS got rid of a poorly-rated Oldies station.
CBS has LOTS of well-performing AM stations. It owns nearly all the nation's All-News stations and all but the ones in Chicago and San Francisco are on AM. (WTOP in Washington, on FM, is owned by Hubbard, even though it runs CBS News on The Hour.) CBS also owns big AM News-Talk stations such as WCCO Minneapolis, KDKA Pittsburgh, KMOX St. Louis and WTIC Hartford.
Someday it's going to have to figure out what it does with these AM money-makers. They bring in plenty of cash but I suppose their days on the AM dial are numbered. I'm sure the radio execs at CBS are glad the process is gradual.
Here's what I don't understand. Young people are adept at operating all sorts of electronic gadgets that baffle their parents. So why can't they figure out how to flip the "AM-FM" switch on their radios if they want formats that don't need FM's fidelity... News, Talk and Sports?
Gregg
[email protected]
CBS has LOTS of well-performing AM stations. It owns nearly all the nation's All-News stations and all but the ones in Chicago and San Francisco are on AM. (WTOP in Washington, on FM, is owned by Hubbard, even though it runs CBS News on The Hour.) CBS also owns big AM News-Talk stations such as WCCO Minneapolis, KDKA Pittsburgh, KMOX St. Louis and WTIC Hartford.
Someday it's going to have to figure out what it does with these AM money-makers. They bring in plenty of cash but I suppose their days on the AM dial are numbered. I'm sure the radio execs at CBS are glad the process is gradual.
Here's what I don't understand. Young people are adept at operating all sorts of electronic gadgets that baffle their parents. So why can't they figure out how to flip the "AM-FM" switch on their radios if they want formats that don't need FM's fidelity... News, Talk and Sports?
Gregg
[email protected]
Gregg said:
Chicago and San Francisco are AM/FM simulcasts. All of CBS's news stations are available on AM.
How well do those stations bill outside of whatever sports they carry? And do they get listeners younger than 60?
Not as gradual as even a couple of years ago.
Most modern portable devices don't include AM tuners since it's impossible to include a built-in loop antenna in a very thin (1/8" to 1/4" thick) device. My smartphone is about the same height and width of my 1960-vintage AM pocket radio, but the radio is 3/4" thick and can hold an efficient loop antenna. No way a smartphone can hold one.
Gregg said:
It's not that they "can't figure it out." They want everything in the same place, with no band-switching necessary. They also like the way FM sounds.
If you're, say, a 22-year-old suburban white male, your FM presets might be WXKS-FM, WFNX, WBOS, WAAF, WEEI-FM (for Red Sox and Celtics games) and WBZ-FM (for the Pats and Bruins). What is there for you on AM? WBZ and what else? Chances are you forget about that news/talk station entirely (and talk is for old fogeys anyway, right?) and make your listening FM only. News? Traffic? You can get that on the computer or smart phone. Maybe if 'BZ puts a simulcast on what's now WODS you might listen to it again.
And we old fogeys (I'm 50 in Feb.) can hear talk on WRKO, at least till sunset when the signal
pushes north-south and many can't hear it; or easy listening on WJIB, at least till sunset when
they have to turn down to flea power. WXKS AM has problems too.
And quite a bit of music can be found on AM...but not necessarily in English
Example: http://power800am.com/ (But they // on 102.9!)
pushes north-south and many can't hear it; or easy listening on WJIB, at least till sunset when
they have to turn down to flea power. WXKS AM has problems too.
And quite a bit of music can be found on AM...but not necessarily in English
Example: http://power800am.com/ (But they // on 102.9!)
Gregg said:
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Here's what I don't understand. Young people are adept at operating all sorts of electronic gadgets that baffle their parents. So why can't they figure out how to flip the "AM-FM" switch on their radios if they want formats that don't need FM's fidelity... News, Talk and Sports?
===================================================================================
This sounds like the period in time where UHF was starting to show up in areas where that had been no UHF before. I recall my dad going to Radio Shack and getting a UHF converter to get the one extra UHF channel(WIHS, now WSBK-38 in Boston). The fact that we had to turn a switch to go to the UHF area didn't seem to be rocket science. Then again, I guess I can understand how some people want everything altogether, in one place. I'm just sayin'...
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Here's what I don't understand. Young people are adept at operating all sorts of electronic gadgets that baffle their parents. So why can't they figure out how to flip the "AM-FM" switch on their radios if they want formats that don't need FM's fidelity... News, Talk and Sports?
===================================================================================
This sounds like the period in time where UHF was starting to show up in areas where that had been no UHF before. I recall my dad going to Radio Shack and getting a UHF converter to get the one extra UHF channel(WIHS, now WSBK-38 in Boston). The fact that we had to turn a switch to go to the UHF area didn't seem to be rocket science. Then again, I guess I can understand how some people want everything altogether, in one place. I'm just sayin'...
38 (Red Sox, B's, Hogan's Heroes, Stooges) knew people had trouble picking them up on the loop antennae some TVs had. On Ask the Manager they recommended a double bow tie antenna..two bow tie shaped metal pieces on one side and a "grille" on the other
http://ts4.mm.bing.net/images/thumbnail.aspx?q=1445933681395&id=831047c182926aa596a5fa61c8ed059d
http://ts4.mm.bing.net/images/thumbnail.aspx?q=1445933681395&id=831047c182926aa596a5fa61c8ed059d
recto101 said:
I know Merlin bought a Boston-related domain name (FMNewsBoston.com or something like that), but in terms of FM properties, is there really anything for them to buy? I'd imagine that 92.5, 95.3, and 99.1 could be available for the right price, but none could give full-market coverage.
Merlin's prime time for a Boston buy would have been when 102.5 was for sale in '06, or 99.5 in '09.
encarta95 said:
You're kidding, right? The sale of 102.5 took place at just about the absolute top of the market for radio stations. It was a GREAT time to sell but an absolutely horrible time to buy. Since then, station prices have declined by as much as 90%. When 'GBH bought 99.5, prices had come down quite a bit (maybe 75% or 80% from their peak--on average), but my impression is that, on average, they are still lower now than they were in '09. BTW, IIRC, 102.5 sold for just about $102.5 million in 2006. 99.5 sold for a below-market price even for 2009--$10.5 million, IIRC. 99.5, not being a full-market signal because of its Merrimack Valley transmitter location, is inherently worth less than 102.5. Guesses at the time of the 102.5 sale were that 99.5 was worth maybe $40 million at a time when 102.5 was worth more than $100 million. So 'GBH bought 99.5 for about 25% of what its value had been just three years earlier. As I've already said, the $10.5 million price was probably less than fair-market value in 2009.
Some interesting very recent prices for what might be considered comparable properties (if stations in different markets can really be considered comparable to each other) were the $8.5 million that CBS just paid for a full Class B that rimshots both the DC and Baltimore markets but does not deliver 60 dBu to all of either market--a similar situation locally would be WPLM. The $8.5 million price is widely considered to have been a steal but I guess it might be thought of as a distress sale. The other is the $22.5 million that Merlin is paying for full-B 106.9 in Camden NJ (Philadelphia), which delivers a full-market signal to market #7 (Boston is #10).
encarta95 said:
I very much doubt that Harvard wants to sell their college station that they have had for well over 50 years. Since it's a commercial allocation with a transmitter centrally located in a major market, I have heard that they have been fending off lucrative offers from corporations for many years.
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