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WGTK, Earth FM sold to EMF
- Thread starter passtheword
- Start date
There's a petition to save the station
Earth FM. 🌎 I signed it and hope you will too.
Maybe the station's resources or DJs / intellectual property will move on to a new home.
www.savewrth.com
I know that the owner of Kool FM Greenville (WZWK) 101.5 / 107.7 is working to fill the void Earth FM may leave behind. Check the Earthlings Facebook Group Page as well. Now there is a new FB group as well, Earthlings Castaways.
Earth FM. 🌎 I signed it and hope you will too.
Maybe the station's resources or DJs / intellectual property will move on to a new home.
Help save radio station Earth-FM WRTH Greenville.
Earth FM brings live, local content to Upstate South Carolina. A pending sale will eliminate all local programs.
www.savewrth.com
I know that the owner of Kool FM Greenville (WZWK) 101.5 / 107.7 is working to fill the void Earth FM may leave behind. Check the Earthlings Facebook Group Page as well. Now there is a new FB group as well, Earthlings Castaways.
That petition, while well intended, will do nothing. The sale’s already been filed, and EMF will assume control via LMA soon.There's a petition to save the station
Earth FM. 🌎 I signed it and hope you will too.
Maybe the station's resources or DJs / intellectual property will move on to a new home.
Help save radio station Earth-FM WRTH Greenville.
Earth FM brings live, local content to Upstate South Carolina. A pending sale will eliminate all local programs.
I know that the owner of Kool FM Greenville (WZWK) 101.5 / 107.7 is working to fill the void Earth FM may leave behind. Check the Earthlings Facebook Group Page as well. Now there is a new FB group as well, Earthlings Castaways.
And they’re trying to petition the FCC to block the sale due to it not being in public interest. I’m sure that was tried with WPLJ and every other station of any importance that’s been sold by a larger operator to EMF or any non-commercial broadcaster in years past. The FCC does not see these sales as being against the public interest.
I agree that fans of Earth FM should support Kool FM and if the demand and ability to do so are there see about expanding their coverage. 94.5, 95.5, and 103.3 are going to EMF and trying to block the sale is a waste of time and effort.
I think 94.5 is enough for EMF, but 95.5 and 103.3 for Air 1 I think is too much. 88.3 in Boiling Springs already has K-Love, with great signal west of Gastonia all the way to Spartanburg and fringe coverage in Greenville. WLXK 88.3 could change to Air 1 if/when 94.5 goes to K-Love, which is enough of a complement there.
Air 1 is already available on 96.1 WHQC HD 2 in Charlotte as well as WRCM 91.9-2 and WWLV 94.1-2 in the same area, plus a 100.3 translator serving most of Mecklenburg County. That can work here too on 94.5-2 or 94.5-3, and perhaps a Greenville Translator for Air-1.
Hopefully Earth FM Finds a new home or at least maintain online streaming/app if they arent able to maintain the current facility... (maybe 105.7 Spartanburg / 102.9 Greenville) if those translators are easily accessible and if they don't also find their way to EMF...So far as mentioned earlier, WZWK-LP in Greenville (KOOL FM) is ready to fill in the displaced loyal Earthling Audience, with special new liners already recorded I heard, check it out:
www.facebook.com
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Kool is an absolute total non factor in this market and always will be. It's nice that they think they'll pick up some of Earth's listeners, but the reality is their two signals suck. Big time. They don't have a stream, either. I'm sure that's by de$ign. And, since they are a low power station there is no real way to get "advertisers."
The petition to stop the sale? Also a waste of time. The only possibility...and it's a VERY slight possibility...is to go after the stations at license renewal time to claim they don't serve the community.
The petition to stop the sale? Also a waste of time. The only possibility...and it's a VERY slight possibility...is to go after the stations at license renewal time to claim they don't serve the community.
By the time the licenses for 94.5, 95.5, and 103.3 are (I believe) up for renewal, this will be long forgotten. And even then, a claim they don’t “serve the community” is going to be BS to the Commission.
EMF wants ear$ and buys signals based on population. Same with other religious broadcasters. 88.3 is a bit redundant but they may feel it reaches areas more solidly than 94.5, or who knows; they may eventually unload it. The misunderstanding here seems to be the fact is forgotten that Salem sold these stations because it was a non-core cluster to them and they’re staring at bankruptcy. They are selling other assets as well. What else are they supposed to do? Lose money out of the goodwill to the community? They’re a business. I don’t think they have the cash on hand to keep these stations going as they currently are if a sale was blocked (which again, isn’t happening). They’d attempt to sell them to another buyer such as WAY-FM or another religious broadcaster most likely since thats all that’s buying. EMF is the innocent party here. Yes, it sucks to lose a second talk station (if that’s your thing) and a music station. I don’t like it either. But the reality is the market is over-radioed, the stations have underperformed, especially in recent years, and this is just the radio business. The Earth FM simulcast has great people behind it. But sadly at the end of the day great people can’t save something they have no control over.
I would be genuinely curious how Earth FM would continue running if in some alternate reality the sale was blocked. They’re running out of money and are using this cluster to salvage the company for now. How would they operate the stations when most of the staff behind the day to day operations has already been let go? How would they pay the air staff? The ratings obviously aren’t there and the revenue doesn’t seem to be either. I would love for someone that really thinks this is a possibility to correct me if I’m wrong.
It's not your money. EMF will decide if 94.5 is enough. When Clear Channel went private and sold off some of its smaller markets, EMF did actually turn around and sell at least one of the stations it acquired from Clear Channel. While I suppose it wouldn't be completely outside of the realm of possibility, I wouldn't expect a divestiture to happen. Air 1 isn't currently airing on any major station in the Upstate, and it's a top-100 (almost top-50) market. It didn't likely buy those stations with the expectation of selling them.
EMF isn't likely running Air 1 on HD2 and translators in Charlotte because it doesn't want or need a full-power station. If it could find a full-power station at a price it was willing to pay, you'd almost definitely see the situation there change. I doubt there's some five dimensional chess game happening here that's going to result in it getting a few translators in the Upstate in exchange for 95.5, 103.3, and a station or two in another market.
I agree it would be nice if it could. I wouldn't expect it to happen, though.
The Beat
Banned
Turning on a stream is easy and will come soon. Also, a good HD2 will fix signal issues.
You're right that the petition will not have much effect. We all get that, but if nothing else, it's a show of support.
But let's be real and not fool ourselves: EMF does NOT serve the community. Rebroadcasting some satellite feed with zero local presence is ruining radio and contributing to local media deserts. At one time, license holders had to be accountable to the communities they served. Now, it seems anything goes. If people complained enough to legislators, maybe eventually the FCC would be held to task. The deregulation in the ’80s and ’90s was the beginning of the end. EMF is going around like a wolf, eating anything tasty in sight. Good for them that they have all that money — and they have a ton of it. But they and others like them are doing more harm than good to local communities. (And, for the record, if someone wants their programming — that's fine. But stream it on your computer or phone!)
People feel smart and informed, having 50 TV news channels: Plenty of choices to feed anyone’s political and social persuasions. But meanwhile, what's happening in city hall? No one knows anymore. Yesterday, during his midday show, Lee Alexander kept listeners up to date about some bizarre wrecks on I-85, and storms passing through some of the listening area. Did my phone have that stuff? Maybe. But likely not the backstory. And better yet, I didn't have to check.
But let's be real and not fool ourselves: EMF does NOT serve the community. Rebroadcasting some satellite feed with zero local presence is ruining radio and contributing to local media deserts. At one time, license holders had to be accountable to the communities they served. Now, it seems anything goes. If people complained enough to legislators, maybe eventually the FCC would be held to task. The deregulation in the ’80s and ’90s was the beginning of the end. EMF is going around like a wolf, eating anything tasty in sight. Good for them that they have all that money — and they have a ton of it. But they and others like them are doing more harm than good to local communities. (And, for the record, if someone wants their programming — that's fine. But stream it on your computer or phone!)
People feel smart and informed, having 50 TV news channels: Plenty of choices to feed anyone’s political and social persuasions. But meanwhile, what's happening in city hall? No one knows anymore. Yesterday, during his midday show, Lee Alexander kept listeners up to date about some bizarre wrecks on I-85, and storms passing through some of the listening area. Did my phone have that stuff? Maybe. But likely not the backstory. And better yet, I didn't have to check.
EMF is not ruining radio. Their network is not my cup of tea either but they happen to be one of the few companies still interested in investing in an aging and declining medium and keeping over the air signals broadcasting. Phones and streaming are the present and will be the future unless something better comes along. It is a shame localism has gone away but so have the mom and pop businesses that used to support AM and FM stations by paying for advertising. That's why more and more signals (primarily AM) are now going silent.
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Sure it does. Okay, it does not do traffic updates and local weather. Lots of other stations do that. What EMF does... and what I am sure its listeners would agree on is provide music programming of a kind that is better matched to their taste and values than any other.
EMF serves the community with those preferences and values better than any other station.
And that was done only because some denizens of the zone inside the Beltway had decided that people "needed" to have such "service" even if they did not want it.
In the 30's and 40's when radio voices were limited to far fewer stations, some regulation may have been in order. I was not in radio then, and can't rationalize that on a personal basis. But today we don't need every station doing news on the hour and community discussion shows on the weekend.
When I became involved, we did everything we could to bury the excessive news requirements in overnights, even using supermarket gossip rags as "news sources". We hid the Public Affairs and Other stuff on Sunday morning. We knew our listeners did not want that, and our music stations provided an alternative... a true service to those who wanted entertaining programming from at least one radio station.
You are forgetting that listeners vote with their phone or radio dial. If they don't want interruptions about school menus and things like that, they are being served by stations that do pure music and entertainment formats.
But first reason stations have cut local programming is the FCC's Docket 80--90 which brought huge numbers of new stations, move-ins and higher power operations in the early 90's. That policy was so damaging that markets that had a local image and involvement found themselves with double the number of competitors and revenue so reduced that they had to cut local news coverage, the broadcast of the high school games and those remotes from the local fund raisers.
And now, people vote with their ears. Radio listening at any given time is around 5% of all people on average. It used to be... abut 20 years ago... around 20%. Where did they go? Streams... with no local news, no weather, no traffic and none of all the other things local radio did when it was much more profitable.
And few markets have the revenue base to even support live talent most of the day any longer. Less revenue, many more stations.
And I wonder how much of letting the jocks have long talk breaks like “the old days” affected Earth FM’s in demo ratings. Despite having a musical lean newer and more aggressive than most classic hits stations in the country, a large share of the station’s ratings were coming from 55+, so I highly doubt it was the music. Today’s 35-54 listeners don’t want as much of the DJ chatter like the older folks and many radio geeks. They’re great at what they do, and wonderful people, but I don’t know if the average 45 year old female wants to hear so much talking.
"Your friends on the radio" is a dead concept. In the period between the 50's and up to, even, the 90's, there was no Internet, phone calls outside your town were expensive, no email and no personal contact outside of your own home or workplace most of the time.
Today, we can call, text, post and Tweet (or "X") any time to anywhere. Why would our friends be people who talk on the radio?
The Beat
Banned
I think the Earth-FM talent were pros and perfect for what they did. They were entertaining. Entertainment works with the right talent. For instance, there are good comedians and there are bad. But no comedian is funny to everyone. I think the gang at Earth were good for their target demo. The demo who uses FM more than any other and enjoys entertaining air talent; the same they have spent many years of their life listening to on the radio. But I think they'd be great in other formats, depending on daypart, as well. I hope they each land fast on their feet.
I agree that they are all pros and great at what they do. But as mentioned a couple pages back, Earth was/is heavily 55+ despite moving the music focus from the mid-80s through 2000s. I believe the presentation and the DJ presentation may have been the reason the station didn’t do well 25-54 or 35-54. I doubt they were aiming for 55+.
I don’t like turning on FM radio and hearing satellite programming either. When I want that, SiriusXM does it better and has no commercials. Having said that, plenty of people do seem to like EMF's programming and what it provides. It wouldn’t seem to work everywhere, but it has its share of successes. I’m not sure how you define serving the community, but I don’t think what stations aired for community service in the 70’s and 80’s was it. I lived in Dallas in 1996 and worked a rotating shift at a credit card processing center with a workweek of Thursday through Monday. I was always either at work or commuting to/from work between 5:00 and 8:00 AM. Sunday mornings, when every station aired “public affairs” programming, were a snooze fest. Even in a major market, the public affairs programming was outright terrible, and working during that programming, when a headset was my only option for entertainment, felt like torture. A few years later, I worked at a small market cluster that aired an approximately two minute piece on Sunday mornings called “At Issue.” It wasn’t particularly exciting nor informative, but it was at least short and to the point.
That is a legitimate problem. I never knew radio as making much of an effort to solve it, though. The newspaper was always who took city hall to task and followed up with what was going on in local government. The decline of the local newspaper is the problem. I don’t know how we solve that problem, but putting the responsibility on radio isn’t the answer. If radio stations thought they could make a living doing that, they’d already be doing it.
I was guessing the stream was a cost prohibited thing for the station. Same with leasing an HD -2. I hope I'm wrong. 🙂
Bill Love announced this morning that he is retiring and the upcoming week will be his last:
The word is 9/29 is going to be Earth FM’s last day overall. I wonder if EMF is going to LMA 103.3/95.5 in advance of K-LOVE starting on 94.5 which is supposedly running The Answer through the end of October? The sale had a provision for LMA so it sounds like the plan is for EMF to take over operations before the sale closes anyway.
The word is 9/29 is going to be Earth FM’s last day overall. I wonder if EMF is going to LMA 103.3/95.5 in advance of K-LOVE starting on 94.5 which is supposedly running The Answer through the end of October? The sale had a provision for LMA so it sounds like the plan is for EMF to take over operations before the sale closes anyway.
A great idea to fill this void (doubt it but hopeful).
A new station just debuted in nearby Knoxville TN. "104.9 KVL - 90's and 2000's Throwbacks."
A great match to that would be to take over the 104.9 signal in Greenville. Currently almost useless, and make it "104.9 GVL" and use the WGVL call letters, already used by iHeart in Greenville on 1440 AM.
Similar to Earth FM's "80s and 90s Throwbacks," while the new 104.9 (WKVL) has a wide variety playlist featuring many forgotten songs from the last 25 years. "90s and 2000s Throwbacks" is similar but with less 80s titles, but maybe something like it maybe soon. 104.9 in Greenville would be better off filling the Earth FM void, but that would kinda compete directly with sister station WMYI.
A new station just debuted in nearby Knoxville TN. "104.9 KVL - 90's and 2000's Throwbacks."
A great match to that would be to take over the 104.9 signal in Greenville. Currently almost useless, and make it "104.9 GVL" and use the WGVL call letters, already used by iHeart in Greenville on 1440 AM.
Similar to Earth FM's "80s and 90s Throwbacks," while the new 104.9 (WKVL) has a wide variety playlist featuring many forgotten songs from the last 25 years. "90s and 2000s Throwbacks" is similar but with less 80s titles, but maybe something like it maybe soon. 104.9 in Greenville would be better off filling the Earth FM void, but that would kinda compete directly with sister station WMYI.
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