Re: Baltimore Maybe No My Network
> Given how close together Washington and Baltimore are, is it
> technically feisable for Fox to change the city of license
> for O&O WTTG-5 from Washington, D.C. to Laurel, Maryland
> (halfway between Washington and Baltimore) and build a new
> transmitting tower for the station in or close to Laurel??
Washington is a pretty extensive DMA. While most of it subscribes to cable/satellite, there's enough people out there that don't to put 5 at a serious disadvantage if they move 20 miles up the road. In DC itself and the outer suburbs, if Fox didn't have as strong a signal as NBC or ABC, you can imagine they'd see a bit of a ratings drop. In the northern and eastern reaches of the Baltimore market, you'd see WPMT 43/York and WTXF 29/Philadelphia become a factor as well.
You'd also have a local news problem. WTTG is one of the top Fox stations in local news in the entire country, maybe THE top station. It's not odd to see them beat out the bigger networks at 5PM or in the morning. Becoming a Baltimore station as well would dilute their Washington news content. Alternatively, they could simply ignore Baltimore on their local news, but then why bother moving the station in the first place? Media that focuses on both Washington and Baltimore is a rarity. They are two different cities, with two entirely different personalities. On the radio side, WHFS failed in its attempt to get listeners in both markets on 99.1, and it's hard to say if the Junkies (current WJFK/WHFS morning team) will do any better. Washington is a cosmopolitan city with residents from around the world, Baltimore is a blue-collar town with residents who have mostly lived there all their lives.
> Given how close together Washington and Baltimore are, is it
> technically feisable for Fox to change the city of license
> for O&O WTTG-5 from Washington, D.C. to Laurel, Maryland
> (halfway between Washington and Baltimore) and build a new
> transmitting tower for the station in or close to Laurel??
Washington is a pretty extensive DMA. While most of it subscribes to cable/satellite, there's enough people out there that don't to put 5 at a serious disadvantage if they move 20 miles up the road. In DC itself and the outer suburbs, if Fox didn't have as strong a signal as NBC or ABC, you can imagine they'd see a bit of a ratings drop. In the northern and eastern reaches of the Baltimore market, you'd see WPMT 43/York and WTXF 29/Philadelphia become a factor as well.
You'd also have a local news problem. WTTG is one of the top Fox stations in local news in the entire country, maybe THE top station. It's not odd to see them beat out the bigger networks at 5PM or in the morning. Becoming a Baltimore station as well would dilute their Washington news content. Alternatively, they could simply ignore Baltimore on their local news, but then why bother moving the station in the first place? Media that focuses on both Washington and Baltimore is a rarity. They are two different cities, with two entirely different personalities. On the radio side, WHFS failed in its attempt to get listeners in both markets on 99.1, and it's hard to say if the Junkies (current WJFK/WHFS morning team) will do any better. Washington is a cosmopolitan city with residents from around the world, Baltimore is a blue-collar town with residents who have mostly lived there all their lives.
).