Duly noted, but as I said at the outset it took Memphis much LESS time to shake up the radio dial when THEIR Audacy Atlas station was sold to EMF.
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The latest on 102.5
- Thread starter ckg279
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Memphis is a very different market and about half their stations are under a 2 share. There are more owners competing in a very different mix of formats. They may feel more urgency to carve out a piece of the audience they perceive as being ready to move. It also may have to do with how quickly the process is proceeding through the FCC. More of the owners in Buffalo may feel like they're already positioned to pick up the 4 shares that are likely to be available without making wholesale changes. The most likely group to seek that audience is Townsquare, and they're the ones who have made some moves that may indicate their pursuit of that audience. I don't see Cumulus blowing up one of their big FMs to reach for the Star audience.
Townsquare has two FM's that are, shall we say, under-performing? There's your answer.
Jumping before she gets pushed out?
AUDACY BUFFALO SVP/MARKET MANAGER TIM HOLLY TO RETIRE...
"Audacy Buffalo SVP/Market Manager Tim Holly will retire from the company in July.
Holly told the Buffalo News, “I have been planning for this. Sixth grandchild is on the way and I look forward to enjoying my family and friends. Audacy Buffalo is in great shape and remains the leader in this area. My replacement will hopefully be named soon and will deserve the opportunity to continue leading this excellent broadcast team.”
AUDACY BUFFALO SVP/MARKET MANAGER TIM HOLLY TO RETIRE...
"Audacy Buffalo SVP/Market Manager Tim Holly will retire from the company in July.
Holly told the Buffalo News, “I have been planning for this. Sixth grandchild is on the way and I look forward to enjoying my family and friends. Audacy Buffalo is in great shape and remains the leader in this area. My replacement will hopefully be named soon and will deserve the opportunity to continue leading this excellent broadcast team.”
She?
Perhaps Holly's statement should be amended to say "what's left of this broadcast team." My guess is that he's deserting the sinking ship while he's still got a retirement package. Let's hope it's not heavily invested in Audacy. Word is that he also won't be missed over on Corporate Parkway.
"Looking forward to spending more time with my family" seems to be the stock maxim for those of a certain age who retire from the business. A friend years ago "retired" from broadcasting. A few months later, I called to say hello and his wife answered the phone. He wasn't home. I asked how he was doing. His wife answered, "Well ... I haven't killed him, yet." Funny, but probably some truth to it. You sometimes wonder if the families of the people "leaving to spend more time with my family" want to spend more time with them.
I’m in WNY for a few days listening to 102.5. Heavy rotation of spots voiced by Sue Oneil to make the switch to Kiss 98.5, “star 102.5 is going away soon so join me at my new home Kiss 98.5 with the same great music”, “when a star burns out wake up with a kiss at 98.5” etc. So star as a format is done, not moving to 107.7 or elsewhere.
And it would not surprise me one bit to see Townsquare pull the trigger on switching the format at one of their two underperforming stations once Star goes night-night. They've registered the domains already, per Lance Venta's report recently.
Seems to be the case.
Let's roll back the tape ... 96.1 has been Joy, Mix and now the Breeze. Will Star become its new moniker? It's hard to imagine that Townsquare would put a Hot AC format on 92.9 that would compete with the AC format already in place on 96.1 ... then again, anything is possible. It's radio. It's Buffalo. Down the dial, Classic Rock and Classic Hits are cross pollinating as both WHTT and 97 Rock can be heard playing Layla, Start Me Up and AC/DC these days.
Townsquare has a HUGE opportunity with Star 102.5 going off of the air
You probably know this, but Audacy controls the Star brand name. They retain the Star intellectual property for Buffalo. Unless they make a deal with TS (not out of the question), then Star can't become the name of a TS station.
There are numerous examples of operators having AC and Hot AC stations in the same market. All they do when they don't also have a CHR is make the Hot AC closer to CHR than to pure AC. Both are very saleable formats with local businesses.
It's all about what each station plays that the other does not include. I have 60 years of big-cluster experience going back to a 5-station local group in 1963, and one pair of stations back then overlapped on half the playlist; they did not take audience from each other, though.
Correct, and aware. Hence, "...anything is possible," as noted.
Indeed. We've heard this in a number of markets over the years, as we're now hearing it at 97 and 104 with some variation. There's a differentiation between "Rock" and "Hits." As long as the revenue goes into the same bank account, life's good for the cluster.
Entercom Buffalo (Audacy) had that situation with KISS and STAR. They both played some of the same music. Now that they have sold STAR, the cluster sales revenue will certainly decline. The Wolf is a worthless format and the General Manager is leaving in July. The Titanic didn't have enough lifeboats for everyone on board...
I wonder if audacy will sell any stations in their larger markets
I’ve been keeping an eye on Austin, where Audacy has two FMs and one AM.
It had appeared that one of the Audacy FMs in DFW was headed to EMF, but apparently the new EMF CEO got cold feet. Could possibly eventually happen.
And Audacy still has a silly 250 watt true daytimer AM in Houston that only serves to clear BetQL in the market, this in a state that does not have legalized sports gambling.
I doubt audacy will sell any of the large market stations that they have inherited from the merger of CBS radio. I actually hate what EMF is currently doing but that is the only company able to actually by radio stations right now
A guess is that there may be either sales or exchanges in markets where they don't have 4 or 5 FM.
One thing they can do is find other owners who have small clusters and do trades so each exchanges so that both end up with strong clusters in a single market.
I think this will be the end of Rob Lucas decades long career in radio
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