USF Football: Six weeks till the opener and...

[studiotwenty]

...still no flagship radio station? Are you kidding me?

http://sports.tbo.com/sports/MGB8ULAGOBE.html

Your football and basketball teams are finally exiting the dregs of Conference USA to the Big Time Big East...Your home football field (The Ray Jay) is one of the best home football stadiums in the country...., and you STILL havent bagged a flagship radio station by July?

Oh, congrats. You're on in Orlando. Thats about as good as UCF showing up..occasionally... in Dade City (WDCF) and Zephyrhills (WZHR)

Can't understand why anyone isn't lining up to air these games.....

 

[FloridaBear1776]

> ...still no flagship radio station? Are you kidding me?
>
> http://sports.tbo.com/sports/MGB8ULAGOBE.html
>
> Your football and basketball teams are finally exiting the
> dregs of Conference USA to the Big Time Big East...Your home
> football field (The Ray Jay) is one of the best home
> football stadiums in the country...., and you STILL havent
> bagged a flagship radio station by July?
>
> Oh, congrats. You're on in Orlando. Thats about as good as
> UCF showing up..occasionally... in Dade City (WDCF) and
> Zephyrhills (WZHR)
>
> Can't understand why anyone isn't lining up to air these
> games.....
>

Take a look at the "Orlando" station, WORL 660. It claims an audience of between 75 and 100 thousand according to the St. Petersburg Times. In actuality, WORL DOESN'T SHOW UP IN ARBITRON (and has no web site)!

 

[Part-timer]

> Take a look at the "Orlando" station, WORL 660. It claims an
> audience of between 75 and 100 thousand according to the St.
> Petersburg Times. In actuality, WORL DOESN'T SHOW UP IN
> ARBITRON (and has no web site)!
>

And they're on a little signal that covers about half the market. It's mostly brokered business shows, but may still carry the Dolphins.<P ID="signature">______________
"With God as my witness, I could have sworn turkeys could fly."</P>

 

[CapeFish]

> > Take a look at the "Orlando" station, WORL 660. It claims
> an
> > audience of between 75 and 100 thousand according to the
> St.
> > Petersburg Times. In actuality, WORL DOESN'T SHOW UP IN
> > ARBITRON (and has no web site)!
> >
>
> And they're on a little signal that covers about half the
> market. It's mostly brokered business shows, but may still
> carry the Dolphins.
>

Actually....WORL has a website...here is the direct link http://www.moneywatchradionetwork.com/worl/index4.htm

I listen to the Marlins, Dolphins, NASCAR, and Sporting News Radio on 660 when I am in Orlando. They air as many games/races as possible, are not afraid to join-in-progess, and their signal covers the areas where you are most likely to be well.

 

[FloridaBear1776]

> >
>
> Actually....WORL has a website...here is the direct link
> http://www.moneywatchradionetwork.com/worl/index4.htm

That must have been fixed in the last day or so. Previously all the GIFs came up as X's, and the programming info was all outdated.

>
> I listen to the Marlins, Dolphins, NASCAR, and Sporting News
> Radio on 660 when I am in Orlando. They air as many
> games/races as possible, are not afraid to join-in-progess,
> and their signal covers the areas where you are most likely
> to be well.
>

Judging from their map, the 5 mv/m city-grade barely touches Orlando. Compared to 540, 580 or just about any other AM station in the metro, looks pretty sad.

Quoting from the web site:

"Broadcast Solutions research has shown 80,256 cumulative listeners ages 24 - 54 listen to 660 WORL each week."

"WORL and U.S. Census bureau estimates show 20,081 cumulative listeners ages 54+ listen to 660 WORL each week."

Broadcast Solutions? Is that one of those companies in West Virginia that, if you buy their survey, rates you Number 1? Again... WORL is a NO-SHOW in Arbitron.

"WORL estimates?" Yeah, sounds reliable to me...

So how much is USF paying to be on this dog?

 

[Part-timer]

>>
> Judging from their map, the 5 mv/m city-grade barely touches
> Orlando. Compared to 540, 580 or just about any other AM
> station in the metro, looks pretty sad.
>

However, to cover the target audience in Orlando (english speaking full time residents) you really only need to cover that nothern quadrant that 660 covers. Futrther south and west you have heavily hispanic areas and the attractions.<P ID="signature">______________
"With God as my witness, I could have sworn turkeys could fly."</P>

 

[FloridaBear1776]

>>
> However, to cover the target audience in Orlando (english
> speaking full time residents) you really only need to cover
> that nothern quadrant that 660 covers. Futrther south and
> west you have heavily hispanic areas and the attractions.
>

Maybe Kissimmee is largely Hispanic, but I see a lot of Anglos buying houses in those new developments around Poinciana and Four Corners. Many locals also go to the attraction zone around I-Drive, because that's where many good restaurants are, and because downtown O-Town isn't what it used to be.

 

[zoneguy]

> ...still no flagship radio station? Are you kidding me?
>
> http://sports.tbo.com/sports/MGB8ULAGOBE.html
>
> Your football and basketball teams are finally exiting the
> dregs of Conference USA to the Big Time Big East...Your home
> football field (The Ray Jay) is one of the best home
> football stadiums in the country...., and you STILL havent
> bagged a flagship radio station by July?
>
> Oh, congrats. You're on in Orlando. Thats about as good as
> UCF showing up..occasionally... in Dade City (WDCF) and
> Zephyrhills (WZHR)
>
> Can't understand why anyone isn't lining up to air these
> games.....
>

I know that in the past, there have been some contentious negotiations between Clear Channel and USF. Clear Channel essentially tried to steam roll USF following the Jacor Merger and the dissolving of then USF Flagship 820 WZTM. In Fact, Tom Veit who is now handling those negotiations was in charge of USF sales at WZTM.

So, if they are not going to deal with Clear Channel, it doesn't leave them a whole lot of choices. Yes the Genesis stations or WTBN would probably like to take the games, but USF can't get too excited about either. I can't see Cox putting it on FM and on the Infinity side 1010 is a poor station with a poor signal.

570 is the only decent AM signal not currently in Clear Channel control. Slim pickings when you think about it for the Bulls.

 

[studiotwenty]

I know that in the past, there have been some contentious
> negotiations between Clear Channel and USF. Clear Channel
> essentially tried to steam roll USF following the Jacor
> Merger and the dissolving of then USF Flagship 820 WZTM. In
> Fact, Tom Veit who is now handling those negotiations was
> in charge of USF sales at WZTM.
>
> So, if they are not going to deal with Clear Channel, it
> doesn't leave them a whole lot of choices. Yes the
> Genesis stations or WTBN would probably like to take the
> games, but USF can't get too excited about either.


Maybe if USF made the radio product a little more exciting and drew more attention to them....there might be more interest. Like any other audio entity, if the revenue is there, someone will jump at it.



USF isn't in the Sun Belt anymore.They've got 30,000 students, and alumni all over the Bay Area. This is the big time. USF has upgraded their key athletic programs across the board. Even the mens hoop program showed signs of life last season.

Time to do the same with their radio broadcasts.

 

[CapeFish]

Well, WTBN (http://www.bayword.com/) had the Bulls last year. Is it possible that Salem could do like it did in Miami with 1360 WKAT/FIU Golden Panthers and work out a deal to put the USF Bulls on 860 WNTR (http://www.860wntr.com/) in Tampa Bay? It has a pretty good daytime signal for those football games and a decent nighttime signal for the many basketball games. They could add in WLSS in Sarasota to fill in that southern gap and the WTAN, WDCF, and WZHR trio to fill in those northern gaps.