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WDRV, WILV, WTMX Internet Streams Now A True Simulcast?

R

RadioFanBoy

Last month, Hubbard Broadcasting announced it's all-news station in Washington D.C. WTOP, was no longer replacing its on-air commercials with "ad-insertion" material. At the time, Hubbard stated it would be up to each individual stations and markets to keep replacing commercials with filler material or not. So, come a new month and a new year, and this policy may have been quietly implemented company-wide, at least on a trial basis. I've sampled all three Hubbard-owned stations online this week, The Drive in particular. The transitions between spots, and back into the music got a lot tighter online, almost no PSA's and no "Thank You for listening to The Drive online....here's a bonus song."

So if indeed, The Drive, Rewind 100.3, and The Mix have all done away with net stream-only ads, will others soon follow?
 
Surprisingly, when I listen to KAFE 104.1 Bellingham, WA online, it is a raw feed. All the ads from the off-air broadcast are on the stream as well.

-crainbebo
 
I'm glad to hear this. So will be my daughter, who's lived overseas for 11 years and listens to WDRV (and, for that matter, NPR) on a daily basis. She and her husband just flew back to London today from their annual Holiday visit, so I'll make it a point to ask her about it.

I know there were a lot of technical, legal, contractual, or whatever reasons, blah blah blah....but to my ears the "doctored" steams are mostly unlistenable. Hopefully this is just part of a continuing trend.

And yes, "The Drive" is one of the few stations that can occasionally pry my son-in-law away from the BBC! ;D
 
I hope this becomes the norm. With the amount of online listening now, this is an important strategy.

Maybe someone could correct me if I'm wrong, can't the webcast and the OTA be single line in the ratings if the content is identical?

This would be like WDRV/WWDV and WVIX/WVIV are measured as one and not 2 stations. The same is the case with WBBM/WCFS. The content must be identical every hour of the day.
 
Surprisingly, when I listen to KAFE 104.1 Bellingham, WA online, it is a raw feed. All the ads from the off-air broadcast are on the stream as well
Click to expand...

No fluke there...KAFE is owned by Saga Communications. They publicly ended their "ad-sertion" practice in Fall 2012 :)
 
This is potentially a smart move by Hubbard. The only downside is the loss of revenue gained directly from online streaming advertising. That hasn't been a significant part of any station's revenue for a long time and that includes Hubbard/Bonneville stations. What it does do is allow these fully simulcast stations to add online ratings points to their over-the-air shares. In the case of a station like WTMX or WDRV, that could produce a significant boost. Their thinking seems to suggest they feel they can get more money from a total share combining their over-the-air numbers and online figures than they can achieve through selling advertising on their stand-alone online stream as well as selling ads on their over-the-air signal. It will certainly make everything easier for advertisers and more enjoyable for listeners.
 
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