What is the strategy to monetize this? A competitor has just taken the STAR name on 96.1. Listeners won't miss commercials, but Audacy Buffalo will miss the revenue...
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The latest on 102.5
- Thread starter ckg279
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If they show up in the ratings Audacy, can monetize it by bundling STAR with KISS. They'll simply insert commercials into the stream. Local commercials are no problem. National commercials may a problem because of rights issues. STAR will also have to pay music royalties, so some income will be required if the stream is to survive.
IMO, the whole situation has been handled badly. It feels like Tim Holley simply didn't have a handle on this or didn't care because he was deserting the sinking ship. It will be interesting to see what happens with KISS, STAR 96.1, and STAR 102.5 on HD2 and the stream over the next several books.
STAR had a 4.4 in the last book. An HD stream will be lucky to get a 0.1.
What's the point of keeping Audacy's version of STAR alive when Townsquare is now using that name? This is just a jumbled mess. Holly had no power over any of this. He just does what Corporate says and it won't be his problem anymore...
The HD broadcast is immaterial. The online stream has been unchanged for those people listening on the app or via smart speaker. With smart speaker penetration at nearly 40% of the listening audience, they could get a 2-share if people aren't paying attention.
Is anyone paying attention? Maybe you're right. The water is muddy with these formats. It seems that if someone's first.choice is streaming, they have unlimited options. Why would they pick Audacy's STAR? It's not like it's a niche format like Blues or Jazz. If the HD or stream were of any significance, I expect that Audacy would have fought Townsquare over the name STAR. I'm sure Audacy can stream Christmas tunes any day now if they want...
If you Google Star 102.5 you get to a very bare webpage. If you click on "Listen Live" you get to the same page that they've always used for streaming. Anybody who had a shortcut to the streaming page will find it still works. Ditto anybody with smart speakers.
Maybe an engineer has gone rogue and is keeping STAR alive on the stream. The disconnect you mentioned is common. Corporate just wants to make sure the check from EMF doesn't bounce. No refunds at a Fire Sale...
Really? No engineer "goes rogue." They'd never add an extra headache to their never-ending to-do list. And nobody writes checks for millions these days. Money like that is transferred electronically and there's no waiting for a check to clear.
I have no inside information, just a lot of informed speculation, and here's what I think may have happened. While Audacy had planned from the beginning to retain the FM100 brand as a stream in Memphis, I don't think there was any such initial plan in Buffalo.
But as soon as Townsquare lit up "Star" on 96.1 and applied for the WTSS calls, someone must have rethought whether it was a good idea to just completely walk away from the brand - hence the return of Audacy's Star to the stream (which had been simulcasting WKSE for the week that 102.5 on the air was also simulcasting WKSE) and the addition of WLKK-HD2.
I would not be surprised if there are emails flying back and forth between Audacy and Townsquare lawyers to sort out who actually has the rights to be "Star" in Buffalo. I'm sure Audacy will assert that it's continuing its longstanding use of the mark, while Townsquare will make the claim that the gap in use, even if it was just a few days, was enough to allow 96.1 to claim its own usage prevails. And I am very much not an intellectual property lawyer.
But as soon as Townsquare lit up "Star" on 96.1 and applied for the WTSS calls, someone must have rethought whether it was a good idea to just completely walk away from the brand - hence the return of Audacy's Star to the stream (which had been simulcasting WKSE for the week that 102.5 on the air was also simulcasting WKSE) and the addition of WLKK-HD2.
I would not be surprised if there are emails flying back and forth between Audacy and Townsquare lawyers to sort out who actually has the rights to be "Star" in Buffalo. I'm sure Audacy will assert that it's continuing its longstanding use of the mark, while Townsquare will make the claim that the gap in use, even if it was just a few days, was enough to allow 96.1 to claim its own usage prevails. And I am very much not an intellectual property lawyer.
Townsquare will look really inept if they have to stop using the STAR name.
They certainly would have consulted lawyers before they used it. Audacy also looks foolish for creating the opportunity if they wanted to keep the name. Ultimately, few people will care about any of this...
No, they won't. In about 24 hours, nobody will care. And, among the only important group, ad buyers, they will neither have known about the incident or care at all about its demise.
And they may have gotten a "there is no reason not to try. There is no case law specific to this. If they protest, you have lost essentially nothing".
We see name conflicts all the time. Nobody looks foolish for trying. OK, it was a failed pass. Next?
And that is why it does not matter. In the meantime, Townsquare, which has the best business model in the industry, will giggle a bit over it and move on.
The internet Star102 feed would eventually need a music director. Otherwise, it's just an infinite loop of the same music over and over. People will grow sick of the same songs over and over, declaring this stream useless.
Didn't Townsquare already claim the WTSS call letters? Even doing that is pointless because it's not the brand identity. The station is called STAR 96.1. They didn't need to change the call letters at all.
Townsquare once had a "legacy" station in JOY. They flushed that and now are trying to cash in on the name STAR as some heritage brand. Seems like an exercise in futility...
Why? Because I like that TSS can now stand for “Town Square’s Star”…
There‘s no material reason TO change them…and there’s no material reason NOT to change them.
You bash everything we do…and everything we don’t do. If we didn’t claim them, I'm pretty sure that would likely have called us morons for not getting them.
If we didn’t change to Star, you would have expounded about how it was a “missed opportunity” to grab a legendary brand that was going out of business.
Exercise in futility? Maybe in your eyes. At least I’m still in the game—and we’re making moves instead of barking from the sidelines.
I love to watch the commentary from all the wannabe experts on the speculation committee. The accuracy % is shockingly very low.
Good luck. If you're going to use that in station IDs, it makes sense.
Others are also wondering why Audacy is still using the STAR name. No malice directed at you, so no reason for you to lash out. The ratings will give you the chance to prove you're right. Cheers...
Actually, it seems to me (not an attorney) that this is the type of issue that first goes to mediation, if it moves at all. If mediation doesn't work, litigation follows. Clearly, a value to the name "Star" has been established. If there was no value to the name, why would Townsquare latch on to it, especially as quickly as it did.
Now... what's the monetary value of the name "Star?" Can that be quantified? Most likely, yes.
As an avid observer of issues like this over the years (remember when battles between competitors years ago sometimes clashed and went to court over the use of "Z", "Q", "Hot", "Magic", "Wild," as well as slogans, etc.)
There may be no case law immediately associated with this issue as it applies to radio, but very likely there is case law associated with other products and businesses which by extension, can establish precedent and be applied to this situation.
An important variable here, that Audacy willingly discontinued ("abandoned") the use of Star in Buffalo, (1) on the air as well as, (2) on its stream. The abandonment was short lived, and Audacy decided to resume using the Star name on its stream. But the fact is, Audacy did abandon the name.
It's not difficult to see a mediator finding that Audacy, by willingly abandoning the use of the Star mark, has released its claim to the name, but to what extent? OTA only? OTA and Internet stream? Is there any delineation between Townsquare's right to use Star on the air vs. Audacy also using Star on a web stream.
Here we go with the ongoing debate of what radio is these days. Is it solely towers and transmitters, or is it OTA and on-line/streaming?
Funny, isn't it ... while some people were playing Boston and Led Zeppelin, or Madonna and Tears For Fears, others were sitting in classes or libraries at a law schools, studying and researching the law for three years. They then sat for a 16 hour Bar exam over two days.
Now... what's the monetary value of the name "Star?" Can that be quantified? Most likely, yes.
As an avid observer of issues like this over the years (remember when battles between competitors years ago sometimes clashed and went to court over the use of "Z", "Q", "Hot", "Magic", "Wild," as well as slogans, etc.)
There may be no case law immediately associated with this issue as it applies to radio, but very likely there is case law associated with other products and businesses which by extension, can establish precedent and be applied to this situation.
An important variable here, that Audacy willingly discontinued ("abandoned") the use of Star in Buffalo, (1) on the air as well as, (2) on its stream. The abandonment was short lived, and Audacy decided to resume using the Star name on its stream. But the fact is, Audacy did abandon the name.
It's not difficult to see a mediator finding that Audacy, by willingly abandoning the use of the Star mark, has released its claim to the name, but to what extent? OTA only? OTA and Internet stream? Is there any delineation between Townsquare's right to use Star on the air vs. Audacy also using Star on a web stream.
Here we go with the ongoing debate of what radio is these days. Is it solely towers and transmitters, or is it OTA and on-line/streaming?
Funny, isn't it ... while some people were playing Boston and Led Zeppelin, or Madonna and Tears For Fears, others were sitting in classes or libraries at a law schools, studying and researching the law for three years. They then sat for a 16 hour Bar exam over two days.
Does anyone really care what it's called? Sun, wind, star, breeze, if the music is good, I'll listen to it, like Drive Time Polkas.
That's the part I don't understand. Abandon is the key word. They had a valuable brand, and we all know how much these companies value brands, because they name their top content person a brand manager. That they just walk away from this one makes no sense to me.
I'm still interested in how Nielsen will resolve this mess.
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