So when is 640 Flipping to Sports?

[HadYourPhil]

Geez... Are there really that many 'sportsholes' to support so many sports AM's??

 

[thebeach33445]

Hey Guys and GALS:

INFO FOR YOU:

Two New Sports Stations Set For South Florida
JAMES CRYSTAL RADIO will debut not one, but two new all-sports stations in SOUTH FLORIDA on MONDAY, MARCH 3rd, with Talk WMEN-A/WEST PALM BEACH-FT. LAUDERDALE flipping to Sports as "WFTL, 640 FOX SPORTS," [EDIT]

In addition, Caribbean WFFL-A will also flip to Sports as "WFTL, 1400 ESPN," [EDIT]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Whats the deal with the WFTL calls on both 640 and 1400!! Didn't 1400 have espn radio before???


T.J.


[EDIT-post truncated because originating material is copyrighted by All Access.]

 

[raydioaydio]

And isn't 850 still WFTL? WTF? ???

 

[flaradiofan]

It doesn't matter what the call letters are. As long as these stations are under the James Crystal corporate flag and being managed by losers like Steve Lapa, George Johns and Ken Pauli (aka the Three Stooges), they will continue to gather no ratings and no listeners. In the case of 640, it seems every twelve to eighteen months they do something to the format. I guess they theorize "if you keep throwing **** against the wall, something has got to stick". But the problem is that by the time this management bunch (and I use the term loosely) throws any ****, its usually diarreah and runs down the wall resulting in a useless puddle on the floor. Mantalk 640 was a loser from the day it was launched in October, 2006. It took seventeen months for a brick building to fall on the James Crystal management pack of pirates to realize nobody was listening. Anybody want to make bets on how long it will take for sports on 640 will succumb to WQAM? What's going to be the next format at 640....all dead air, all the time....hmmm, come to think of it that would be an improvement over all of the hair-brained ideas there. Summation.....what a waste of a good signal!!!

 

[livingfruitvirus]

And isn't 850 still WFTL? WTF? ???

All Access may have mistyped, but technically you can brand them with different calls as long as you identify properly. Look at how many stations around Florida are called WFLA.

 

[SportsDotCom]

Here's the deal. Miami-Fort Lauderdale is getting TWO new sports stations that will be on the air by Monday. 1st will flip over the weekend. The other, Monday morning.

Still that rumor going around that Lincoln Financial will be getting out of the sports biz on 790?

AM Rocks loves to post about how 790 is going belly up. I've been hearing that for 3 and a half years. I heard several of their hosts mentioning on the air today about the station going 24/7 local during the week. Looks like the boys at LF are willing to spend some cash. Word on the street from a sales-hole friend of mine is that the LF's GM sent out a letter to all of QAM's clients stating that the station is not going away and more importantly is keeping its local products on.

LF-Miami is the most lucrative of all the LF clusters. Now that 790 is under their umbrella and have LF sales people. They're going to make money. The word on the strett on Feinburg, was he couldn't break even b/c of the Dolphins (early on) & the LMA (recently). The stations other operating costs were at a break even point when he balked. Plus, you add in the guys legal issues & he had to get out.

You are right. LF didn't want to be in the radio biz anymore. That's why they tried to sell as much as they could. Problem is, no one is buying. Even Clear Channel is having issues on the stuff they sold more than a year ago. LF seemed to have dumped the underachieveing clusters & are left with the profitable ones. Which is about a handful.

AM ROCKS you also always seems to post subtle yet positive comments in regards to James Crystal or syndication. I smell a rat. Who are you Ken Pauli? Steve Lapa? Or just some lackey. For God's sake everything James Crystal has touched turns in garbage. You had posted that another station would be flipping to sports over a month ago? Hmmm wonder how you knew that?

Either way, it'll just be the same ole, same ole for James Crystal... both stations will have different formats in less than 15 months.

I love what 790 has done for this market it reminds me what WIOD used to be in its hey day. Granted not a sports station, but just a variety of talk personalities. Every show was different. In this market local is better & Beasley & LF have figured that out which is why all their stations are staffed 24/7. Unlike, Clear Channel & the travesty its created in this market particularly at WIOD with automation.

Anyhow, stop being such a James Crystal slappy. Let the stations do what they need to do & let us enjoy the local programming on all the stations. That's what a major metropolitan city should sound like.

 

[flaradiofan]

SportsDotCom....I agree with you that we should all "enjoy the local programming on all the stations. That's what a major metropolitan city should sound like." Problem is 640 (Fox Sports) & 1400 (ESPN Radio) are NOT going to be live & local. James Crystal is way too cheap and so out of money that they could never think of a concept like "live & local" 24/7. And you're right...everything they have ever done has tanked badly. So let's all just sit back and watch another James Crystal poorly managed decision implode. It's not "if"..."its when".

 

[john david clover]

If Jim Rome is already on 640 from noon-3, isn't the question kind of rhetorical?
Rome's a winner. They're halfway there.

JD

 

[SportsDotCom]

If Jim Rome is already on 640 from noon-3, isn't the question kind of rhetorical?
Rome's a winner. They're halfway there.

JD

When Rome was on a Clear Channel Station he peaked at 1.5 share in his hey day years ago. He can't even get half that now in this market & has been on that station for 16 months. People here tune out when he's talking to, "random player X," who plays for some team no one here cares about. No dice. I'd rather listen to a combo of Neil & 790's midday than Rome anyway and jusdging by his poor performance in a year and a half I would guess that's the consensus.

 

[jbrasco951]

I want to put in my two cents on Mantalk.

As for the lineup, I didn't really think it was that bad, but more average.

I will definitely say that my favorite show was Tom Leykis and that's I will miss from this station ( I'm a huge fan of Neil, so yes I support both.) Mantalk's lineup was for an FM Frequency. The Imaging was lame, I'll admit that. Mancow was listenable, and Don and Mike was funny once in a while, and Dennis Miller is a flop for talk radio.

James Crystal used the station because they had the WW1 rights.

So, with the new sports station, working with Defo and Rome, that'll be cool. At least there are two shows I will listen to. What would do really good for them is if they would image themselves as the flagship for FAU sports and really do something with that. Really standing out for local college sports will definitely give them an identity.

Personally, I will take Ethan Skolnick and Troy Stradford over Fox Sports. I'll give this station a listen for sure. But they just can't go with the exact same sportstalk as the other 3. Just Push FAU !!!!

For the football games, put aside 2 hours of pregame and 1 hour of postgame.

 

[otherradioboy]

The ONLY reason 790 is going all local is because they HAVE to. WQAM & WFLL (1400) are ESPN. WMEN (640) now as the rights to Fox, which 790 was using overnight. I'm sure Fox pulled the plug on LF since 640 was going to clear more product.

As far as JCR, remember, unlike Beasley, LF, Clear Channel and nearly EVERYONE else in the market:
1) they dont have an FM to suck money out of to pay for local AM talent and
2) they are independently owned. I highly doubt the owner, (Mr. Crystal?) has money anywhere near what the big corporations have.

So, "if you keep throwing **** against the wall, something has got to stick" is the way the little guy needs to do it, so be it.

Mantalk was pretty lame, but at least it was the only thing like it on the dial. The closest thing was Paul & Young Ron, but that was only morning Drive. Mantalk eventually got a .4 in West Palm and a 0 in Miami. Yikes! #3 & #4 sports? I dont think so.

Bottom line: their stations are WPB stations with good (but not great) signals in Miami. They'll never get ratings just because of that. But they keep trying. Gotta give them a B+ for that! LOL

 

[flaradiofan]

Otherradioboy, I will always respect another poster's point of view, however, you are living in la-la land judging by your comments on James Crystal. The owner's name is not Mr. Crystal and he doesn't even live in Florida. The reason James Crystal will have two sports stations is simple....the GM, Steve Lapa has always dreamed of having a sports station. Now he's got his wish and two ways to suck what little money James Crystal has in its coffers that will never be replenished to break even, no less make a profit (unless you consider feeding Mr. Lapa's ego a form of business compensation). And when you note that the Mantalk travesty only managed to garner ratings of .4 in West Palm Beach and 0 in Miami, believe me, they are going to look like huge numbers compared to this fiasco they are entering into. And when you say "if you keep throwing **** against the wall, something has got to stick is the way the little guy needs to do it, so be it", you are wrong. In fact, the little guy cannot afford to be going off in all kinds of hair-brained directions every 12 to 18 months....they need to find something STABLE and STICK to it so that it has time to saturate the listening public and thus yield sales. Mantalk was a disaster.....two additional sports stations in a market already served by three sports stations (560/WQAM & 790/WAXY in Miami-Ft, Lauderdale and 760/WEFL in West Palm Beach) is radio business suicide. The only intriguing thing to me about James Crystal is not listening to their programming (I can get sports programming from multiple sources), but what format will they flip to 12 to 18 months from now? Anybody care to make early book on what that will be?????? How about an all Hungarian station....at least it would be something unique and let's face it....South Florida's "enormous" Hungarian population is not being currently served by the public airwaves...lot's of shows on how to prepare Goulash....of course I'm just kidding here but given James Crystal's penchant for changing to non-listenable formats every 12 to 18 months, maybe this isn't so far-fetched!!!!

 

[IRISHBLAZE]

I ALREADY LOVE 640 FOX SPORTS RADIO AND I AM A WQAM SUPPORTER SO THAT SAYING ALOT AND 640 DEFINATLY NEEDS TO IMPROVE SIGNAL STRENGTH IF THEY WANNA SURVIVE IN THE 305 786 954 754

 

[flaradiofan]

So you are the one and only listener 640 was trying to get....congratulations!!! But don't sneeze because you might miss their next change of fiasco, uh I mean format. Oh and by the way....lose the caps....I can "hear" you just fine.

 

[IRISHBLAZE]

its ok ive been with 560 all this time so if 640 folds its really no big deal i still have the # 1 sports station and who is your sports information source? i survived 940 fox sports and the dolphins coverage on 790. just imagining the dreary marlins games coming from that station

 

[costelloradio]

Well I for one am grateful for 640 and 1400 flipping. Face it 560 QAM is either Neil not discussing sports, or sports host in other day parts trying to be like Neil. And all they talk about is our local sports teams...mostly the Dolphins. The station has no balance. 790 is a brokered outlet and is Dolphin fanatical. Thanks to JCR, I was able to flip over to Jim Rome for informative, educated and sensible sports talk, and listen to a live press conference regarding Brett Farve's retirement. Meanwhile on 560 it was Neil kvetching, and Jorge not keeping silent when pushing his buttons and 790 was on Dolphin overload. And from what I hear, 640, because its licensed to Palm Beach County, it got around MLB rules and can carry New York Yankee games in South Florida, regardless of the Marlins having a Dade broadcast outlet. all in all, it does bring something to the market. At least James Crystal is TRYING, and not punking out with some bogus brokered outlet with a bunch of radio star wanna be's, who boo-hoo at the end of the month when the brokering fees are due.

 

[flaradiofan]

Hey Costello....Judging from the comical nature of your posted response, you must be Lou Costello. But where's Bud Abbott? Are you kidding????? Fox Sports failed miserably a few years ago on 940-AM (and they had Jim Rome as part of their lineup) and at least that was on a station that doesn't go off the air every other day (did you notice 640 was off the air for over 24 hours commencing on Tuesday?) And for James Crystal to have TWO sports stations (1400 on a signal that you can hear more clearly if they were feeding it by yelling out of the window through a megaphone) is a double play for radio disaster. Most folks in South Florida want to be served by local programming (wow, what a concept!) that focuses on local sports info with national sports sprinkled in for additional flavor. Simple fact is JCR is running these stations on the cheap and they will flip format in less than 12 months or when the GM commits suicide (I'm surprised that didn't happen after the Mantalk 640 bomb which was allowed to die its long overdue death last week)....whichever comes first. I am sure that you have at least 5 or 10 other folks listening along with you and when the next ratings book and subsequent trends come out, you'll see that JCR's listenership is about where it was with Mantalk......NON-EXISTENT!!!!!!! But, hey, I say go on and enjoy it while its here...but don't blink because you could miss it before their next idea to ruin their stations comes along.

 

[Mike Sheridan]

Let me weigh in on this with a little history. James Crystal LLC is owned by James Hilliard the company is named after his two children. Hilliard was the mastermind behind KVIL Dalls and WFIL Philadelphia back in WFIL's top 40 days.

Hilliard became the national orogram director for Fairbanks which tried in vein to make WRMF a force in Dade and Broward. Hilliard is trying to do the same thing with 640 and 850 which are both licensed to serve Palm Beach County. The stations might be more successful if they just concentraited on super serving Palm Beach county. Forget about Dade and Broward Mr Hilliard, it's not going to happen.

 

[SportsDotCom]

Well I for one am grateful for 640 and 1400 flipping. Face it 560 QAM is either Neil not discussing sports, or sports host in other day parts trying to be like Neil. And all they talk about is our local sports teams...mostly the Dolphins. The station has no balance. 790 is a brokered outlet and is Dolphin fanatical. Thanks to JCR, I was able to flip over to Jim Rome for informative, educated and sensible sports talk, and listen to a live press conference regarding Brett Farve's retirement. Meanwhile on 560 it was Neil kvetching, and Jorge not keeping silent when pushing his buttons and 790 was on Dolphin overload. And from what I hear, 640, because its licensed to Palm Beach County, it got around MLB rules and can carry New York Yankee games in South Florida, regardless of the Marlins having a Dade broadcast outlet. all in all, it does bring something to the market. At least James Crystal is TRYING, and not punking out with some bogus brokered outlet with a bunch of radio star wanna be's, who boo-hoo at the end of the month when the brokering fees are due.

Costelloradio is probably some other JCR lackey. As previously stated by myself & several others. Jim Rome doesn't work here. He was on WINZ before, then the station flipped sports & he was still there (940 Fox Sports) and never did anything on a station you can hear past Ft. Pierce during the daylight hours. Not only that, but maybe you should get educated. 790 is not brokered out LMA'ed anymore. Lincoln Financial took over the station. Their lineup includes a bunch of guys who have done radio for a long time at a high level. As far as your QAM complaint about Neil. He's GOD til proven otherwise. Nuff said.

Can we move on & discuss something of more relevance now?

 

[flaradiofan]

Let me weigh in on this with a little history. James Crystal LLC is owned by James Hilliard the company is named after his two children. Hilliard was the mastermind behind KVIL Dalls and WFIL Philadelphia back in WFIL's top 40 days.

Hilliard became the national orogram director for Fairbanks which tried in vein to make WRMF a force in Dade and Broward. Hilliard is trying to do the same thing with 640 and 850 which are both licensed to serve Palm Beach County. The stations might be more successful if they just concentraited on super serving Palm Beach county. Forget about Dade and Broward Mr Hilliard, it's not going to happen.

Mike you are sooooo right. If JCR had concentrated on serving the local community with live & local programming instead of going off on ridiculous tangents (i.e. Mantalk 640 and Fox Sports 640 and lord knows what the next evolution will be) then they would have been successful. Hilliard was a smart guy once upon a time and then he left his stations in the hands of Steve Lapa who has never brought in a winner.


Costelloradio is probably some other JCR lackey. As previously stated by myself & several others. Jim Rome doesn't work here. He was on WINZ before, then the station flipped sports & he was still there (940 Fox Sports) and never did anything on a station you can hear past Ft. Pierce during the daylight hours. Not only that, but maybe you should get educated. 790 is not brokered out LMA'ed anymore. Lincoln Financial took over the station. Their lineup includes a bunch of guys who have done radio for a long time at a high level. As far as your QAM complaint about Neil. He's GOD til proven otherwise. Nuff said.

Can we move on & discuss something of more relevance now?

And SportsDotCom....you are sooooo right as well. Costello is probably an entry level board operator at JCR. Neil has owned middays for 32 years and will continue to do so on whatever station he ends up on until he retires. If Neil's "kvetching" isn't his cup of tea, maybe he ought to get satellite radio, but you can't knock the success of Neil whether you like him or not....his numbers both ratings and revenue-wise speak for themselves.