The Cumulus divesture just got weirder!

[RockofHBG]

According to Tom Taylor's newsletter, Cumulus must not only divest 92.1 and 102.3, but also the intellectual property of WTPA. That means very soon WTPA moves to 92.1 and will be sold, while WWKL moves to 93.5. Ain't that weird?

 

[Seltzer]

According to Tom Taylor's newsletter, Cumulus must not only divest 92.1 and 102.3, but also the intellectual property of WTPA. That means very soon WTPA moves to 92.1 and will be sold, while WWKL moves to 93.5. Ain't that weird?

Very weird indeed. If I'm the new owner eventually, what says that I keep 92.1 a rock station?
Cumulus wanted to keep a CHR so Hot 92 is now on a better signal (I think that's right)
Looks like 1057 the X will be the only rock station in the bunch.
What to do with 1067 or does Cumulus have another interesting move planned?

We'll know soon.

 

[Kent]

Nothing says the new owner has to keep 92.1 a rock station. The DOJ just says Cumulus has to get rid of the WTPA intellectual property to go below 40% of the market revenue.

Putting CHR on a better stick wasn't really what Cumulus wanted. They wanted to keep WTPA, but getting rid of it was the most palatable option the DOJ gave them.

 

[PCRadio]

Long time reader, first time poster!

I think this is the dumbest thing I ever heard. As long as I've been alive, 93.5 has always been a rock station. Now, they want to move Hot 92 over and make it a piece of shit. I've got a new slogan for them if they need one. "Hot 93. The shit of Harrisburg."

As for 93.5 moving to 92.1, why? You take a station with a strong signal and make it weaker? What, do you want the new 92.7 to beat you out? Maybe someone can enlighten us on how strong the signals are, but I have a feeling 92.7 is stronger then 92.1. If that's the case, I can see 92.7 winning in the ratings big time on this one.

 

[Kent]

I think this is the dumbest thing I ever heard. As long as I've been alive, 93.5 has always been a rock station. Now, they want to move Hot 92 over and make it a piece of shit. I've got a new slogan for them if they need one. "Hot 93. The shit of Harrisburg."

Cumulus probably doesn't want to move WTPA. Cumulus made it clear months ago that they wanted to unload Hot 92.1. The Justice Department probably gave them several options, and moving WTPA while holding onto Hot and putting it on a better stick was probably the best of the bad options they were presented.

As for 93.5 moving to 92.1, why? You take a station with a strong signal and make it weaker? What, do you want the new 92.7 to beat you out? Maybe someone can enlighten us on how strong the signals are, but I have a feeling 92.7 is stronger then 92.1. If that's the case, I can see 92.7 winning in the ratings big time on this one.

Again, the government determined Cumulus, with its purchase of Citadel, would control more than 40% of the revenue in the Harrisburg market. Buying a cluster so you can control more than 40% of the market revenue has been a no-no for the past 15 years. Moving WTPA to 92.1 and putting the CHR format on 93.5 will get them below that 40% mark while giving them the best opportunity to grow the CHR format. Cumulus probably doesn't care if WTPA succeeds at 92.1; they won't be owning it much longer.

 

[Alan Criswell]

Again, the government determined Cumulus, with its purchase of Citadel, would control more than 40% of the revenue in the Harrisburg market. Buying a cluster so you can control more than 40% of the market revenue has been a no-no for the past 15 years. Moving WTPA to 92.1 and putting the CHR format on 93.5 will get them below that 40% mark while giving them the best opportunity to grow the CHR format. Cumulus probably doesn't care if WTPA succeeds at 92.1; they won't be owning it much longer.

Damn, that's a raw deal for the staff and heritage of WTPA. After the shuffle to 92.1, one could assume that a lot of WTPA's York and Lancaster audience will migrate to WKZF. It'd be interesting if Clear Channel flipped WRBT or WRVV to a contemporary Rock format...

 

[clangham]

Sad day for TPA!
I can remember when they were just as good as DVE use to be. (Ahem, back in the 80s-90s)

 

[RockMustLive]

I don't know why the government even cares about who owns what anymore. It's not like there's room for an independent voice in this medium. Whatever one corporation doesn't own, another one will.

 

[Dan Shoe]

there's no way CC is moving either WRBT or WRVW to contemporary rock. Both of those stations are solid and locked into their respective formats. It feels like River has gone ever more classic since Chris Tyler exited. The modern rock format is absolutely a graveyard right now. Can you even name 5 current core artists for Modern Rock stations? Here's Metallica, and a bunch of bands you haven't heard of. 105.7 is probably going to lean a little more mainstream and classic rock, like 'TPA, and try to occupy that hole in the market.

 

[bossjock 56]

The bottom line is that Cumulus now has a CHR signal that is comparable to Clear Channel's KISS 99-3. That gives them a Hot AC (WNNK) Rhythmic CHR (HOT), and an Active Rock (WQXA)....a pretty good cluster of formats for Harrisburg.

 

[RockofHBG]

How about this: Hall purchasing 92.1 and simulcasting 92.7 WTPA on both frequencies? 92.1 covers Harrisburg and Lebanon, 92.7 York and Lancaster. Not a bad simulcast pairing! The New 92, WTPA!!!! Plus a side benefit: it puts heritage rock calls on another heritage rock frequency, the very call letters that forced Starview out of rock the first time in 1981. Kinds like the lion laying down with the lamb.

 

[Rick_E]

How many frequencies has WWKL been on?

I remember 94.9 & 99.3 as Kool, 92.1 and now tentatively 93.5 as Hot. That will be 4, any others prior to 94.9 ?

Have any other set of calls been on more frequencies than WWKL?

 

[PCRadio]

Here's a strange one. 93.5 doesn't seem to want to post the news on their Facebook page, and when I did, they just removed it. But, Hot 92 is all over it. In fact, they posted that the change happens this Friday.

 

[sprtschick]

A non radio friend of mine just posted his displeasure of this on FB....by putting it on the Hot 92.1 FB page, it opened a whole can of worms and now has alot of regular listeners really pissed off.

 

[Alan Criswell]

there's no way CC is moving either WRBT or WRVW to contemporary rock. Both of those stations are solid and locked into their respective formats. It feels like River has gone ever more classic since Chris Tyler exited. The modern rock format is absolutely a graveyard right now.

To clarify, I meant a Mainstream Rock / Heritage Rock format, much like WTPA.

 

[John-Summers]

How many frequencies has WWKL been on?

I remember 94.9 & 99.3 as Kool, 92.1 and now tentatively 93.5 as Hot. That will be 4, any others prior to 94.9 ?

Have any other set of calls been on more frequencies than WWKL?

There's one you missed. 1460AM was WWKL during the simulcast with KOOL 99.3, and 99.3 was WWKL-FM.

 

[sprtschick]

I heard the 93.5 and 92.1 flip at midnite. After a station promo for WTPA touting its Penn State and Steelers football coverage, its award winning traffic reports and its morning show then going into a "classic" rock song, the song became a complete different song with a Hot 92.1 feel. It was very sloppy. I get that it was all handled by automation, but seriously...it couldn't have been timed out so that it was a clean switch and not mid-song?

 

[PCRadio]

Looks like I may be right about my earlier post. This change is really going to hurt TPA. Tons of people are on their Facebook page complaining about reception problems now. There's even some on Hot's page as well, but nowhere near the amount on TPA's. Why are the Hot people complaining? Unless they had to minimize the amount of watts each station would have. TPA had no reception problems on there.

Also, TPA's online stream is suddenly twice aslous as it used to be. Now, if a DJ is talking or a commercial is playing, it sounds distorted, like they're screaming at you.

 

[JSM]

Yep, disappointing for sure. I am in Lancaster, and can hardly get TPA at work or in the car now. Now a huge deal to me, since I have been listening to 92.7 more lately (and liking it). However, it is sad that I won't be able to catch the Steelers games on Sunday and Monday nights. I did let them know about the problems of reception in the Lanc area.

Is it possible for them to jack the signal up a bit?

 

[paradioguy]

So, how did it all go down? Did the staff both switch studios, or just frequencies?