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WFTL getting lots of press

Still can't get above a .4 in the Miami-Ft. Laud book though! And the "lots of press" seems to all be in West Palm. They should just go after that market and forget the Ft. lauderdale push.
 
Hey, even in its home market, 'FTL gets beaten by the station they claim only serves Miami, WIOD. Not to mention getting killed by a station with 1/50th the signal - WJNO. But I agree, they'd have a better chance at succeeding in West Palm. Still, "other", nice promotion and good luck. You'll need it.
 
This isn't the first time FTL has tried to gin up interest. Remember what's her name's cracks about the Katrina survivors in New Orleans? The "race card" and the "immigration card" don't work well in the market that spawned Randi Rhodes and Neil Rogers, where a large percentage of the population is Hispanic of various nationalities, and where conservative talk historically underperforms. As a local company, James Crystal ought to have its ears closer to the ground than a consolidated conglomerate and have a better idea of what works in SoFla. Instead, it recycles the tired cliches that have kept third-rate talk hosts employed from Bangor to Boise devouring Rush's dittohead entrails. Maybe they'll start mailing in teabags too! ;)
 
I really wish they wouldn't use those call letters. WFTL was WFTL 1400 Fort Lauderdale. It served Fort Lauderdale for many years as a local station with a news department second to none.

850 was WEAT West Palm Beach.

I agree serve your own market and forget about the grass being greener elsewhere.

This all comes from the same people who tried to make WRMF a Miami station. That didn't work either.
 
Mike Sheridan said:
This all comes from the same people who tried to make WRMF a Miami station. That didn't work either.
Click to expand...

I think it's different with FM. WMEN and WFTL's AM signals are so shaky in parts of Miami and Ft. Lauderdale, and at nighttime you may as well not even bother tuning in. WRMF has a class C FM signal with its stick in Wellington. It probably could take Miami-Ft. Lauderdale if it pushed hard enough and re-branded, as the signal does cover both cities, but it does great in West Palm so it just shouldn't bother. Another example is WPCV in Winter Haven. Class C signal that can be heard in Sebring, Orlando, the space coast, and Tampa Bay, but it stays in its home of Lakeland-Winter Haven because it can pull a 16 share there.

Now a case that breaks that is WTKS-FM. Its home market is the space coast, but its signal covers Orlando, Daytona, Sebring, and the treasure coast, and it serves the Orlando market, and does well there. I don't know its history so I have no idea whether or not it was a huge Melbourne-Cocoa-Titusville station at first.
 
First, a tip of the hat to Joyce Kaufman and WFTL for this unorthdox method of staging a protest and getting attention, bravo. You hear of too many people moaning and complaining about the problems we have; they're TRYING to do something.

THIS is a step in the right direction if you want to draw attention to yourself in a positive fashion to accomplish something. Thoughts, anyone?



On a side note, 640 and 850 come in as local during the day in Broward, and and ditto at night.

If you look at the RECNET.com database for WRMF, their city grade reaches to just south of I-595, ditto for 104.3FM.
 
Yes, but WRMF is receivable with a decent signal into most parts of Dade as well. They have a massive signal, and listenership from all over South Florida to match it. That's not to say they should attempt to advertise to all of them and lose their Palm Beach local focus (because as it's been said, they tried it once before and failed), but they do have the ability to cover the area quite well.
 
WRFM used to promote very heavily in Broward County. Anyone remember their direct mail pieces that would go out with either the spring or fall books in Broward. That was 15 - 20 years ago. More recently, I've seen bus benches in central Broward. They tried real hard. And, no doubt, they were a great sounding station that boomed into Broward. But, at least from a ratings standpoint, it didn't really work. It's interesting today, Miami stations have a bigger impact in PB County than vice versa. I think that may because from Delray south, people think of themselves as from Ft Lauderdale than WPB.

So if a great sounding station, which tried with big bucks to promote in Broward, with little impact, what kind of success should J-C expect being that are neither.
 
RadioGuy2004 said:
On a side note, 640 and 850 come in as local during the day in Broward, and and ditto at night.
Click to expand...

When I lived in Broward, my area was very static for both stations, and they came in like crap at night. However, 640 has since moved its sticks out to the glades since I lived there, so for all I know if I was still there it would come in clearer.

Faraway said:
It's interesting today, Miami stations have a bigger impact in PB County than vice versa. I think that may because from Delray south, people think of themselves as from Ft Lauderdale than WPB.
Click to expand...

I figured it was because there are people in Palm Beach County who commute to Broward and Dade for their jobs, so when it's drive time, they listen to the stations in the cities where they work. However, if you look at the Arbitrends for this recent phase, none of the Miami-FTL stations achieve a 3 share, and there are nine local WPB stations that achieve shares in the 3s, 4s, 5s, and 6s.
 
640 has NOT yet moved the tower site. There is an application to move to Belle Glade and go 50kw with it.
 
How do you think JC is funding all of these upgrades? When all is said and done, they'll have two big boomers covering a lot of South Florida (although 850 has some serious problems in eastern Broward at night). But what's the end game? They've proven they can't program anything that wll get ratings - really, it's shocking they haven't been able to make an impact with 850 in Palm Beach County, especially since their N/T competitior has a comparatively tiny signal - with a giant null in all important South PB County (obviiously I am talking about WJNO, not WIOD which mistakenly WFTL thinks is their competitior). So they finish the upgrades? Then what? Sell? To whom? Or does JC think when the signals improve, audience will come?
 
Faraway said:
How do you think JC is funding all of these upgrades? When all is said and done, they'll have two big boomers covering a lot of South Florida (although 850 has some serious problems in eastern Broward at night). But what's the end game? They've proven they can't program anything that wll get ratings - really, it's shocking they haven't been able to make an impact with 850 in Palm Beach County, especially since their N/T competitior has a comparatively tiny signal - with a giant null in all important South PB County (obviiously I am talking about WJNO, not WIOD which mistakenly WFTL thinks is their competitior). So they finish the upgrades? Then what? Sell? To whom? Or does JC think when the signals improve, audience will come?
Click to expand...

I'm starting to wonder if a sale IS the plan. WMEN is wall-to-wall syndication with zero local appeal, so it's cheap to run while having an appealing signal for a buyer. WFTL at least has some local hosts, but its overall lineup doesn't make a lot of impact. You can compare WJNO's signal, and even though it's much smaller, it does cover the market adequately.
 
Isn't that the bottom line of all smaller owners? Sell....once you get the best signal possible and making the most money possible?
 
I guess, but they'd do a lot better if they actually had some worthwhile "intellectual property" (programming with ratings). Otherwise, someone is just buying a big stick, and as J-C and countless others (small AND BIG!) are learning, big sticks don't necessarily equate big ratings. Especially in South Florida, a market that has no reason to be kind to AM signals big or small. For this reason, J-C might not get the payday they're dreaming about.
 
otherradioboy said:
Isn't that the bottom line of all smaller owners? Sell....once you get the best signal possible and making the most money possible?
Click to expand...

Not necessarily. There's still a lot of local clusters that plan to hang on to their signals for a long time.
 
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