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Vandy To WLAC

Been waiting patiently to comment on this one. There is absolutely NO WAY Vandy will ever get the value of a clear channel AM signal that UT had several years ago. Not only did UT have a much larger fan base to tune in, the audience for AM was much larger then. With this move Vandy is getting even further away from people who would casually tune into their games. Wow.
 
jetfli - could not disagree more. This is good for Vandy and for WLAC. Vandy fans will find the station that broadcasts their games, period. The 50,000 watt blowtorch burns on! Go Dores!
 
Tarpon123 said:
jetfli - could not disagree more. This is good for Vandy and for WLAC. Vandy fans will find the station that broadcasts their games, period. The 50,000 watt blowtorch burns on! Go Dores!
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You mean both of them will tune in? WLAC will love that bump...

Apparently Vandy couldn't get a check large enough to get on one of the FMs
 
Tarpon123 said:
Vandy fans will find the station that broadcasts their games, period.
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I think this is very true… Vanderbilt will be able to reach distant alums and fans with the WLAC signal that WRQQ couldn't, considering that its network isn't as well-affiliated as the Vol Network. AM is without question on the decline, but it wasn't as though Vandy sports were on the top-rated FM in town.
 
Tarpon123 said:
jetfli - could not disagree more. This is good for Vandy and for WLAC. Vandy fans will find the station that broadcasts their games, period. The 50,000 watt blowtorch burns on! Go Dores!
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I didn't say Vandy fans couldn't find the station carrying their games. I suspect that they can. I said "Vandy is getting even further away from people who would casually tune into their games". Vandy got far more non-Vandy Fan interest in its sports programs when they were heard on a sports station. These were people who were sports fans, not necessarily Vandy fans, who took interest in the games because they were on the sports station they followed. When Vandy switched away from a sports station a couple of years ago, the residual interest that had been building began to wain among area sports fans who had not been hard-core Vandy fans, even with James Franklin's becoming a talking point and the men's basketball catching fire for a while. So much of the time Vanderbilt acts like it is embarrassed to be in Nashville, the home of *shudder* country music (which everyone knows is beneath the educated), that it needs to do more to develop community interest — and moving to an AM, even a powerful one, won't help that.

And by the way, CC Nashville did all it could a few short years ago to divest WLAC of sports programming. What changed? A new need for the $$$ sports brings in?
 
jetfli said:
And by the way, CC Nashville did all it could a few short years ago to divest WLAC of sports programming. What changed? A new need for the $$$ sports brings in?
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Strong rumors out there that Vandy is having to buy the time.
 
Does anyone know the real story on this? Word is the WRQQ salespeople were out on the street with sponsorships for the Vandy football package just a day or two before the swap was announced. Cumulus obviously couldn't have transferred the contract to a non-commercial license with EMF. It seems unlikely that Cumulus had an "out" clause in the contract with IMG in the event of a station swap. Did Cumulus blindside Vandy less than 2 months before the start of the season? Did Vandy reject moving the contract to one of the other 100kw Cumulus FMs, or did Cumulus refuse to do so? Why would Cumulus take the money for sponsorships they had already sold off the books, when they are struggling for revenue? Did Clear Channel approach Vandy, or was Vandy scrambling to get away from Cumulus?

By the way, Vandy football and basketball was on WLAC-AM in the 80s & 90s. The story at the time was they wanted to move to an FM because so many portable radios were FM-only (even more so now) and because having the big AM signal was hampering them in getting network affiliates to get on board. So no matter what David Williams says about the "big signal", AM was not likely to be Vandy's first choice.
 
BRice16 said:
jetfli said:
And by the way, CC Nashville did all it could a few short years ago to divest WLAC of sports programming. What changed? A new need for the $$$ sports brings in?
Click to expand...

Strong rumors out there that Vandy is having to buy the time.
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I can see that. They couldn't sell UT Football on WLAC AND The Rock - can't imagine they'd fare any better with Vandy.
 
jetfli said:
Been waiting patiently to comment on this one. There is absolutely NO WAY Vandy will ever get the value of a clear channel AM signal that UT had several years ago. Not only did UT have a much larger fan base to tune in, the audience for AM was much larger then. With this move Vandy is getting even further away from people who would casually tune into their games. Wow.
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UT (at least football, anyway) was also simulcast over 105.9 the Rock at the time.
 
And by the way, CC Nashville did all it could a few short years ago to divest WLAC of sports programming. What changed? A new need for the $$$ sports brings in?
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If I were a betting man I'd say the difference between Vandy and UT is simple. Vanderbilt is probably buying their way onto radio...$$$'s coming in. I believe that's their history.

As a UT affiliate, you have $$$'s going out. Same for sports programming. $$$'s going out on talent.

Bottom line...$$$'s. Looks like a win/win for WLAC.
 
Rocky2539 said:
Does anyone know the real story on this? Word is the WRQQ salespeople were out on the street with sponsorships for the Vandy football package just a day or two before the swap was announced. Cumulus obviously couldn't have transferred the contract to a non-commercial license with EMF. It seems unlikely that Cumulus had an "out" clause in the contract with IMG in the event of a station swap. Did Cumulus blindside Vandy less than 2 months before the start of the season? Did Vandy reject moving the contract to one of the other 100kw Cumulus FMs, or did Cumulus refuse to do so? Why would Cumulus take the money for sponsorships they had already sold off the books, when they are struggling for revenue? Did Clear Channel approach Vandy, or was Vandy scrambling to get away from Cumulus?
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As I understand it, the contract Vandy had was with the station, not with Cumulus as a cluster. When the station was sold, the contract dissolved. Cumulus said the programming didn't fit any of their other stations.

Cumulus Nashville isn't really struggling for revenue. This was always a profitable market for Citadel, and those were rare for that company.
 
I know 100% for sure that the sales team was specifically selling the Vandy package the week before they we're called into a meeting on Friday before the flip on Saturday night/Sunday AM. While there were written comments on here and elsewhere, the sales team were all used to rumors of flips and were pretty much blindsided. I know of at least one defection. I would just suggest that what ever "trust" RQQ was under, right, the same of Crums Method of Misoperation happened. Vandy had to do some serious scrambling. It amazes me that this doesn't catch up with Cruds, but govt sanctioned virtual monopolies play by a different set of rules than REAL businesses that don't buy off the government play by. Vandy did not know. You have to wonder what legal issues will happen. It's a disadvantage to go from RQQ to WLAC signal wise to a great extent. The fact that WLAC will have to really step up the marketing and sales calls will quite a hustle job. Maybe basketball season will better for them since the games are when the signal is better. What a joke.
 
Tibbs2 said:
I know 100% for sure that the sales team was specifically selling the Vandy package the week before they we're called into a meeting on Friday before the flip on Saturday night/Sunday AM. While there were written comments on here and elsewhere, the sales team were all used to rumors of flips and were pretty much blindsided. I know of at least one defection. I would just suggest that what ever "trust" RQQ was under, right, the same of Crums Method of Misoperation happened. Vandy had to do some serious scrambling. It amazes me that this doesn't catch up with Cruds, but govt sanctioned virtual monopolies play by a different set of rules than REAL businesses that don't buy off the government play by. Vandy did not know. You have to wonder what legal issues will happen. It's a disadvantage to go from RQQ to WLAC signal wise to a great extent. The fact that WLAC will have to really step up the marketing and sales calls will quite a hustle job. Maybe basketball season will better for them since the games are when the signal is better. What a joke.
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It's my understanding that Vandy's marketing arm will be selling ads and buying the time on WLAC.
 
They should have been on FM. And don't tell me they couldn't afford it. For what they charge in medical bills they could buy all of Nashville.

Anywho...I still say they should have been on an FM station.
 
bigmikegh said:
They should have been on FM. And don't tell me they couldn't afford it. For what they charge in medical bills they could buy all of Nashville.

Anywho...I still say they should have been on an FM station.
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The athletic department and the School should be legally separate organizations (they are on almost every college campus). All medical bills are astronomical not just Vandy's. How many "locals" (in this case a Nashville FM signal) attend or root for Vanderbilt? Apparently not enough to financially support a "FM" signal. Where as being on 1510 with a good night time signal East of the Mississippi River, the Alumni can at least hear the night games. Sports is still a place where 50KW AM signals can still do well. Example WFAN survived ESPN getting a FM signal and IIRC ESPN actually "lost" a .2 (6+) going on a FM signal. Sorry I can not find the link to Arbitron's 6+ in the new site.
 
WLAC's audio was recently moved to the WNRQ-HD2 channel from the HD-3. Several reasons for this, including upgrades to the importing/exporting equipment. it provides a better sounding, more robust HD channel than the HD-3 could. Just FYI if anyone cares :)
 
Nashsound said:
WLAC's audio was recently moved to the WNRQ-HD2 channel from the HD-3. Several reasons for this, including upgrades to the importing/exporting equipment. it provides a better sounding, more robust HD channel than the HD-3 could. Just FYI if anyone cares :)
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But how many have a HD receiver? I personally don't know of anyone that has a HD Radio, either at home or in their car. Everyone that I know either have just a regular AM/FM radio or Satelite radio.
 
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