There is hardly any talk about radio in south Georgia, especially Albany and Valdosta, so let's talk about it.
Albany: Although this area has been an Arbitron-rated market for a long time, it has fallen behind Valdosta in the market rankings. And this despite the fact Valdosta only had its first book back in February. Also, Albany is a market dominated by Clear Channel, Cumulus, and everybody else. Urban WJIZ-96.3 has dominated the ratings for years, but their fellow sister stations in the CC Albany cluster struggle to keep up at times. As far as Cumulus goes, their news/talk station, WALG-1590, is by far their weakest link, and not just because of the weak signal. It's also because it's all syndication, all the time, 24/7. In fact, the only local news that's available on the radio is the news briefs from a local TV station, which are carried during morning and afternoon drives, usually airing on the six Cumulus FM stations in the area. The strongest station in the group, by far, is WKAK-K Country 104.5, with its powerful 100,000 watts, and its connections with ABC News and the Weather Channel. It seems as if Cumulus, at least the Albany management, doesn't care about WALG, or even its sister AM, WGPC-1450 The Fan, for that matter. The latter station, by the way, has been sports since last September. It seems like they make a few bucks running both stations on a computer and satellite dish, with hardly any local programming at all, if ever. The same thing applies to WEGC-Mix 107, which is also all satellite except for the live broadcast of a Sunday morning service from a local church.
Valdosta: As mentioned above, this market had its first book back in February, with the ratings surveyed being for the Fall of 2004. WAAC-92.9, was the big dog in that market, finishing first in the overall ratings. However, the top cluster in the area is R.T.G. Media, which owns six FM's and one AM. The news/talk station there is 105.9, which has a full fledged local morning talk show, some sports play-by-play, and even a local ESPN Radio outlet in WVLD-1450. If Valdosta can have a news/talk FM, why can't Albany? It seems as if Cumulus could move either the news/talk or sports formats, or maybe both onto the FM dial, but it's not likely to happen anytime soon.
Sorry for the long stay on the soapbox. Aside from that, any thoughts?<P ID="edit"><FONT class="small">Edited by radionut987 on 06/09/05 05:49 PM.</FONT></P>
Albany: Although this area has been an Arbitron-rated market for a long time, it has fallen behind Valdosta in the market rankings. And this despite the fact Valdosta only had its first book back in February. Also, Albany is a market dominated by Clear Channel, Cumulus, and everybody else. Urban WJIZ-96.3 has dominated the ratings for years, but their fellow sister stations in the CC Albany cluster struggle to keep up at times. As far as Cumulus goes, their news/talk station, WALG-1590, is by far their weakest link, and not just because of the weak signal. It's also because it's all syndication, all the time, 24/7. In fact, the only local news that's available on the radio is the news briefs from a local TV station, which are carried during morning and afternoon drives, usually airing on the six Cumulus FM stations in the area. The strongest station in the group, by far, is WKAK-K Country 104.5, with its powerful 100,000 watts, and its connections with ABC News and the Weather Channel. It seems as if Cumulus, at least the Albany management, doesn't care about WALG, or even its sister AM, WGPC-1450 The Fan, for that matter. The latter station, by the way, has been sports since last September. It seems like they make a few bucks running both stations on a computer and satellite dish, with hardly any local programming at all, if ever. The same thing applies to WEGC-Mix 107, which is also all satellite except for the live broadcast of a Sunday morning service from a local church.
Valdosta: As mentioned above, this market had its first book back in February, with the ratings surveyed being for the Fall of 2004. WAAC-92.9, was the big dog in that market, finishing first in the overall ratings. However, the top cluster in the area is R.T.G. Media, which owns six FM's and one AM. The news/talk station there is 105.9, which has a full fledged local morning talk show, some sports play-by-play, and even a local ESPN Radio outlet in WVLD-1450. If Valdosta can have a news/talk FM, why can't Albany? It seems as if Cumulus could move either the news/talk or sports formats, or maybe both onto the FM dial, but it's not likely to happen anytime soon.
Sorry for the long stay on the soapbox. Aside from that, any thoughts?<P ID="edit"><FONT class="small">Edited by radionut987 on 06/09/05 05:49 PM.</FONT></P>
60). The local news gave tv and the newspaper a run for their money. I may not be unbiased since I was the local news director from 1981-83 and again from 1985-90. I joined the stations in 1979. We had two full time news people and did 17 newscasts a day between the 2 stations and they were sold out. I feel Albany could handle a true news/talk station with local news and at least one local show. It would work on either AM or FM.