Actually what is part of the Boston MSA is Hillsborough County, NH.
It is counties, or portions of counties, that make up a Metro Survey Area, not cities.
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WAAF sold to EMF....
- Thread starter Time Traveler
- Start date
Actually what is part of the Boston MSA is Hillsborough County, NH.
It is counties, or portions of counties, that make up a Metro Survey Area, not cities.
I forgot that EMF is only leasing WUBG. It's daytime AM signal is pretty much redundant inside of 107.3's broadcast area, and it has to go down to low power at night. The directional FM translator in Medford is only good for pretty much in between the Mystic River Valley (along Route 16) northward to Route 128/95 north of Boston, all covered by 107.3. The translator doesn't reach Boston proper listenably.
What will WUBG do if EMF pulls out? They're still streaming the Westwood One network oldies format that they aired before as "Big 105.3" online. Maybe back to that? Don't know if Costa-Eagle made any money on it before, I heard they flipped to it when a Portuguese network that was buying their time dropped out a couple of years ago, but at age 63, I wouldn't mind the oldies coming back even if not locally programmed!
The WAAF studio was crowded with fans and one of the disc jockeys were tearing up. They thanked everyone for all the support over the years and encouraged everyone to turn them up and roll down their windows for their last song.
Their last song was the first song they played when they first went on air 50 years ago. It was Black Sabbath's self titled track.
K-Love 93.7? One tweet I saw by
@bobbyneil79:
"So word I got is EMF wanted the 93.7 stick first. Red Sox stopped that move. A new Morning show was hired for AAF as well as a major updated format but this came up quickly."
@bobbyneil79:
"So word I got is EMF wanted the 93.7 stick first. Red Sox stopped that move. A new Morning show was hired for AAF as well as a major updated format but this came up quickly."
If WEEI-FM were to wind up on 107.3 after the sale, I could definitely understand the Red Sox' objections. But Entercom could have sold 93.7 to EMF, left 107.3 alone and killed off Amp and put WEEI-FM on 103.3, couldn't it? Is low-rated Amp such a ridiculous overperformer when it comes to billing that it must remain untouched in the face of logic? Or is it important above all else for a radio group to have at least a few hundred thousand 25-44 or 18-34 women listening to one of its stations so as not to concede the female demo completely to the competition?
I was thinking same thing; moving WEEI-FM to 103.3 had 93.7 been dealt.Perhaps the female demo desirable enough to keep WODS as is--or they could have shifted WODS to 107.3 and kept that.
Having 97.7 simulcast WAAF has been said to not make much of a difference in ratings, but it was swapped to iHR in any case.
Having 97.7 simulcast WAAF has been said to not make much of a difference in ratings, but it was swapped to iHR in any case.
After thanking everyone for their support, Mike Hsu and Mistress Carrie fired up their audience for the final song.
Mistress Carrie:
One last time, baby! Wherever you are, roll your windows down!
Mike Hsu:
Crank it up!
Both:
AAF! AAF! AAF! AAF! AAF! AAF!
Then, they played "Black Sabbath" in its entirety. When the song ended, that was it.
I thought "Black Sabbath" was a great choice. With the song, WAAF went out with a bang.
Mistress Carrie:
One last time, baby! Wherever you are, roll your windows down!
Mike Hsu:
Crank it up!
Both:
AAF! AAF! AAF! AAF! AAF! AAF!
Then, they played "Black Sabbath" in its entirety. When the song ended, that was it.
I thought "Black Sabbath" was a great choice. With the song, WAAF went out with a bang.
Entercom must still be operating WAAF for K-Love as the RDS is still rock music that is on their HD signal.
Yes, it's now under an L.M.A.
Absolutely absurd!!! I suspect there is zero validity to that rumor.
May they have preferred a station whose tower was smack dab in the center of the metro? Sure. The folks at EMF are smart enough to know which stations are high billers and are off limits. To suggest (a) they approached Entercom with an offer to purchase 93.7 and (b) Entercom took the offer seriously enough to approach the Red Sox about it doesn't at all pass the sniff test for me.
We all need to look at radio formats impersonally.
I don't like rock formats, and I don't care at all for the EMF formats. So I see this as a transaction, not as an art exhibit.
But because I am, at best, neutral on the two formats I can say that we have to look at the fact that different people like different kinds of music.
To call the EMF formats "crap" is unfair. Many people love it. Many don't. Just as many people don't care for rock and listen to AC or rap or country or one of many other kinds of music that attract listeners.
And you have to admit that it wasn't as thought WAAF was a hugely popular station with a lot of fan support. The listeners made their decision a long time ago about WAAF, and it wasn't a positive one.
Of course, your comment will trigger those "if they had only played more of xxx and less of yyy and zzz, they would have won big".
Except for classic rock, the various rock genres are actually somewhat like European politics: to reach a majority, a bunch of opponents have to come together and forget that they hate each other.
As I have mentioned before, I have been in a variety of rock research projects, and what you find is that there are significant subdivisions who dislike some of the music that other subdivisions love, and are sort of neutral on even more music. There are few common denominator songs, so every tune you play is hated or just tolerated by much of the audience.
This is why rock is the ideal streaming on-demand format where listeners can customize the blend.
I'd say what you just wrote is largely on target, David, especially in a fairly upscale & highly college educated metropolitan area such as Boston.
What is the great equalizer? Great AIR TALENT you cannot hear elsewhere, especially a high cume generating morning show, and solid all-around stationality. Who fits such a profile? Well, I'd certainly nominate 93.3 WMMR in Philly.
Entercom has invested little in WAAF's air talent in recent years, the stationality was mostly "meh," and we all know about the terrible signal. Add to all of that the fact that the two All Sports FM's grab massive chunks of male listenership, plus the relative success Rock 92.9 has seen so far (which undoubtedly has siphoned share from WAAF), and you have a recipe for disaster.
This is why I suggested many weeks ago that Entercom should consider selling WAAF! The decision makers at Entercom evidently reached that same conclusion. Any "hail mary" to save WAAF as a viable FM rock brand would have necessitated a move to a much better in-metro signal (such as 103.3).
What is the great equalizer? Great AIR TALENT you cannot hear elsewhere, especially a high cume generating morning show, and solid all-around stationality. Who fits such a profile? Well, I'd certainly nominate 93.3 WMMR in Philly.
Entercom has invested little in WAAF's air talent in recent years, the stationality was mostly "meh," and we all know about the terrible signal. Add to all of that the fact that the two All Sports FM's grab massive chunks of male listenership, plus the relative success Rock 92.9 has seen so far (which undoubtedly has siphoned share from WAAF), and you have a recipe for disaster.
This is why I suggested many weeks ago that Entercom should consider selling WAAF! The decision makers at Entercom evidently reached that same conclusion. Any "hail mary" to save WAAF as a viable FM rock brand would have necessitated a move to a much better in-metro signal (such as 103.3).
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Very difficult to come by. Especially in heritage markets like Boston. Just read this board and all the comments about DJs from 50 years ago. Listeners won't accept new talent because they're still holding on to the past. Bring in someone new, and they get immediately compared to some long-dead legend. You want your talent to stand out, but that cuts both ways. What's creative to some is annoying to others. Then the talent's agent gets involved. You want to know why it takes so long? That's why.
And that is why I think where radio is headed is towards national formats with star talent that may be on several hundred owned or affiliated stations.
We'll have the equivalent of the late night TV shows, but with the hosts / jocks delivered in pieces to integrate with the commercials and other elements, such as news, weather, traffic, sports, etc., at each local station.
So, just like Ryan Seacrest, and a host of other national personalities...
Yes, but each specific to a narrow format range... Just as Seacrest is on CHR and Hot AC stations primarily.
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