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What A Shame

H

HHH

What a shame it is that Entercom didn't get 102.5

According to published reports, they would have moved WAAF to 102.5 and devoted 107.3 to classical music under the call letters "WCRB".

This would have not only shaken up the rock picture in Boston with WAAF finally getting a full-market signal (and one of the best as well!) but would have placed Classical on a strong regional transmitter (Paxton) which would have put the almost impossible-to-support but culturally necessary commercial Classical format not only into most of metro Boston (with a reasonable signal in the city) but into lots of underserved Classical regions like Providence, Springfield, and parts of Conn, VT and N.H. If they secured WFCC as well, they could have had a simulcast right next to themselves on the dial (107.5) for Cape Cod.

What a shame.

Now we get Country on 102.5 and who knows what on 99.5.
 
> What a shame it is that Entercom didn't get 102.5
>
> According to published reports, they would have moved WAAF
> to 102.5 and devoted 107.3 to classical music under the call
> letters "WCRB".
>
> This would have not only shaken up the rock picture in
> Boston with WAAF finally getting a full-market signal (and
> one of the best as well!) but would have placed Classical on
> a strong regional transmitter (Paxton) which would have put
> the almost impossible-to-support but culturally necessary
> commercial Classical format not only into most of metro
> Boston (with a reasonable signal in the city) but into lots
> of underserved Classical regions like Providence,
> Springfield, and parts of Conn, VT and N.H. If they secured
> WFCC as well, they could have had a simulcast right next to
> themselves on the dial (107.5) for Cape Cod.
>
> What a shame.
>
> Now we get Country on 102.5 and who knows what on 99.5.

But, we'll never know whether the other potential bidders planned to keep the classical format as well. Infinity would have likely created 102.5 Free FM. The Red Sox would have gone sports talk. Clear Channel could have gone FM Talk or Smooth Jazz. Yet it would seem that there would be a small chance in each case to retain the format; perhaps we would have heard "...on Classical 1200, 1430, and 102.5 HD-2, WCRB".

Yes, classical will almost certainly be lost if country moves to 102.5, but I'd guess that the intellectual property of WCRB will move to 99.5, even if it only pushes the burden away from Greater Media (which clearly had publicity problems in dealing with its other two deceased classical outlets) to the next 99.5 owner, to remove such a local institution from the airwaves.

If there is enough local anger, as in Philadelphia and Detroit, Boston will likely mirror the scenarios where classical afficionados attempted to acquire a station to return the classical format. Maybe this time, it could actually happen on 99.5.
 
> > What a shame it is that Entercom didn't get 102.5
> >
> > According to published reports, they would have moved WAAF
>
> > to 102.5 and devoted 107.3 to classical music under the
> call
> > letters "WCRB".
> >
> > This would have not only shaken up the rock picture in
> > Boston with WAAF finally getting a full-market signal (and
>
> > one of the best as well!) but would have placed Classical
> on
> > a strong regional transmitter (Paxton) which would have
> put
> > the almost impossible-to-support but culturally necessary
> > commercial Classical format not only into most of metro
> > Boston (with a reasonable signal in the city) but into
> lots
> > of underserved Classical regions like Providence,
> > Springfield, and parts of Conn, VT and N.H. If they
> secured
> > WFCC as well, they could have had a simulcast right next
> to
> > themselves on the dial (107.5) for Cape Cod.
> >
> > What a shame.
> >
> > Now we get Country on 102.5 and who knows what on 99.5.
>
> But, we'll never know whether the other potential bidders
> planned to keep the classical format as well. Infinity would
> have likely created 102.5 Free FM. The Red Sox would have
> gone sports talk. Clear Channel could have gone FM Talk or
> Smooth Jazz. Yet it would seem that there would be a small
> chance in each case to retain the format; perhaps we would
> have heard "...on Classical 1200, 1430, and 102.5 HD-2,
> WCRB".
>
> Yes, classical will almost certainly be lost if country
> moves to 102.5, but I'd guess that the intellectual property
> of WCRB will move to 99.5, even if it only pushes the burden
> away from Greater Media (which clearly had publicity
> problems in dealing with its other two deceased classical
> outlets) to the next 99.5 owner, to remove such a local
> institution from the airwaves.
>
> If there is enough local anger, as in Philadelphia and
> Detroit, Boston will likely mirror the scenarios where
> classical afficionados attempted to acquire a station to
> return the classical format. Maybe this time, it could
> actually happen on 99.5.
>

THE FASTEST WAY TO ELIMINATE ANY FORMAT...IS TO STOP SUPPORTING THE ADVERTISERS WHO SPONSOR IT! IT DOESN'T MATTER HOW MUCH MONEY HAS BEEN SPENT TO ACQUIRE ANY RADIO STATION. IF THERE AREN'T ENOUGH LISTENERS AROUND TO SUPPORT THE ADVERTISERS, YOU CAN "SCHEDULE FUNERAL SERVICES" AFTER ONE OR TWO RATING BOOKS!

argytunes
 
> > > What a shame it is that Entercom didn't get 102.5
> > >
> > > According to published reports, they would have moved WAAF
> > > to 102.5 and devoted 107.3 to classical music under the call
> > > letters "WCRB".
> > >
> > > This would have not only shaken up the rock picture in
> > > Boston with WAAF finally getting a full-market signal (and
> > > one of the best as well!) but would have placed Classical on
> > > a strong regional transmitter (Paxton) which would have put
> > > the almost impossible-to-support but culturally necessary
> > > commercial Classical format not only into most of metro
> > > Boston (with a reasonable signal in the city) but into lots
> > > of underserved Classical regions like Providence,
> > > Springfield, and parts of Conn, VT and N.H. If they secured
> > > WFCC as well, they could have had a simulcast right next to
> > > themselves on the dial (107.5) for Cape Cod.
> > >
> > > What a shame.
> > >
> > > Now we get Country on 102.5 and who knows what on 99.5.
> >
> >
> > Yes, classical will almost certainly be lost if country
> > moves to 102.5, but I'd guess that the intellectual property
> > of WCRB will move to 99.5, even if it only pushes the burden
> > away from Greater Media (which clearly had publicity
> > problems in dealing with its other two deceased classical
> > outlets) to the next 99.5 owner, to remove such a local
> > institution from the airwaves.
> >
> > If there is enough local anger, as in Philadelphia and
> > Detroit, Boston will likely mirror the scenarios where
> > classical afficionados attempted to acquire a station to
> > return the classical format. Maybe this time, it could
> > actually happen on 99.5.
> >
>
> THE FASTEST WAY TO ELIMINATE ANY FORMAT...IS TO STOP
> SUPPORTING THE ADVERTISERS WHO SPONSOR IT! IT DOESN'T
> MATTER HOW MUCH MONEY HAS BEEN SPENT TO ACQUIRE ANY RADIO
> STATION. IF THERE AREN'T ENOUGH LISTENERS AROUND TO SUPPORT
> THE ADVERTISERS, YOU CAN "SCHEDULE FUNERAL SERVICES" AFTER
> ONE OR TWO RATING BOOKS!

WCRB has always done fairly well in the Boston market ratings. Why do you call the classical format "almost impossible to support"? It's numbers have always appeared to be pretty good.
 
> WCRB has always done fairly well in the Boston market
> ratings. Why do you call the classical format "almost
> impossible to support"? It's numbers have always appeared to
> be pretty good.
>

I said "almost impossible to support" for the very reason of what is happening
now with WCRB and what happened to commercial classical stations in LA, Detroit and Philly. A big conglomorate, determined to get another big signal in an important market, waves a fantastic amount of money in front of the current licensee and--presto--station gone.

The sad thing here is that Boston is one of the few markets where commercial classical actually does pretty well in the overall ratings. The downside is that the demos are pretty old, the upside is they are pretty well off.
 
It IS a shame. (was Re: What A Shame)

Greater Media has a dubious reputation of buying some very well-established, well-reknowned and profitable Classical formatted stations only to scrap the existing format for a yet another more "mainstream" format. The Classical libraries of former Classical stations always wind up at some NPR affiliate or non-commercial station. It's the nature of the beast. The former WFLN/95.7 in Philadelphia (a historical Classical station) has been through countless formats until they finally settled on "BEN-FM", another "Variety Hits" station (a-la "JACK"). WCRB has had tremendous ratings, considering the fact that Classical is a hard format to program and maintain. But rating book to rating book, it always seemed to be very healthy. If I were Greater Media, I would sell 99.5 to a "non-profit" organization like WGBH or some Classical music organization like the BSO, who in turn could operate it commercially (much like WFMT/98.7 in Chicago is owned by pub-caster WTTW/11 but is operating it commercially). Greater Media could get a sizeable tax-break while STILL getting enough of a profit from the sale. It's a "win-win" situation. The WCRB call-letters and intellectual property could go to 99.5 and WKLB could move to 102.5.

Lets face it..... even if WCRB moves to an HD2 slot, the audience will not be there as the radios are too expensive for one, and ...secondly there are few too radios out there to make it all worthwhile. Most Classical listeners have already invested in some very expensive ANALOG audio equipment to listen to WCRB. The quality on HD2 is NOT the full-quality of analog FM. As a Sirius subscriber, I know that it is NOT as clean as analog FM. There will always be some artifacts in a digital signal, especially one that is so highly compressed as both Sirius and XM are. WCRB has been very careful about its' audio chain. It is the cleanest in the market. Taking into account that WCRB also maintains subcarriers on both 67 and 92 kHz with their foreground and background music services. You cannot notice the SCA's on WCRB, compared to other stations in the market.

I am NOT a Classical music listener. WCRB is NOT a preset of mine. I'm more of an oldies/rocker person myself. (But my wife enjoys 'CRB.) But I know when something WORKS, you stay with it. Destroying such a long standing institition such as WCRB would be stupid. The last thing we need is yet another mainstream format on an already over-burdened FM band. I hope Greater Media will learn from their past experiences with the late WFLN and WQRS and do something right (for a change) and make sure there IS a spot for Classical music in Boston for future generations of listeners.

73 for now.


>
> WCRB has always done fairly well in the Boston market
> ratings. Why do you call the classical format "almost
> impossible to support"? It's numbers have always appeared to
> be pretty good.
> <P ID="signature">______________
Peter Q. George (K1XRB)
Whitman, Massachusetts</P>
 
It's not about the ratings, it's the revenue. WCRB only billed 8 million dollars last year. Once WCRB paid all of their operating expenses, there couldn't have been that much left in profit. Those numbers will only go down in future years as the classical audience ages out of the 25-54 money demos. Charles River isn't stupid. They're getting out at the right time.

I can't blame Greater Media, or any other operator, for changing the format. GM won't see a return on the $100 million or so they will pay for WCRB if they continue to run a format that only bills several million a year. It's not good business. If the classical format was billing 20-25 million, changing formats would be a mistake. However, that's not the case here.

It's not that the market can't support a classical station. It's that the advertising community is unwilling to support it, which is why WCRB will eventually change to a more profitable format.

Mike Thomas


> I said "almost impossible to support" for the very reason of what is >happening now with WCRB and what happened to commercial classical
> stations in LA, Detroit and Philly. A big conglomorate,
> determined to get another big signal in an important market,
> waves a fantastic amount of money in front of the current
> licensee and--presto--station gone.
>
> The sad thing here is that Boston is one of the few markets
> where commercial classical actually does pretty well in the
> overall ratings. The downside is that the demos are pretty
> old, the upside is they are pretty well off.
>
 
Maybe a non-com station will buy WCRB's music library. It happened in Philly. Temple Univeristy bought WFLN's music library after GM blew it up.
 
> Maybe a non-com station will buy WCRB's music library. It
> happened in Philly. Temple Univeristy bought WFLN's music
> library after GM blew it up.

Actually, it was donated following the format change.

According to the format change "script" of WQRS, which flipped to rock in 1998, Greater Media Detroit intended to keep the majority of the classical library so that another station could utilize it at a later date. Does anyone know if it's still there?
 
> Maybe a non-com station will buy WCRB's music library. It
> happened in Philly. Temple Univeristy bought WFLN's music
> library after GM blew it up.

The only non-comm's here I could see possibly doing that (assuming 99.5 doesn't go classical) would be if WGBH (PBS) or WHRB (Harvard) decide to expand upon their classical programming to fill the format hole.

Actually, WHRB is a commercial college station, but it programs like a non-comm.

Emerson's communications school is heavily involved in determining the programming on WERS, but I doubt they would change the student variety programming that they have, which gives their communications students experience and exposure in a wide range of formats. I could see them perhaps adding a classical show.

WMBR (MIT), WZBC (B.C.), WMFO (Tufts) and WBRS (Brandeis) would not go classical. Beyond making sure that there is a certain minimum of college students vs. community volunteers on staff and on-air, those colleges have a hands-off policy regarding programming on their stations. They let the student managements determine the programming, and they're not interested in their stations programming drawing revenue for their institutions (beyond what the stations collect in annual fundraisers just to cover maintenance and operating costs).

Also, WMFO, WBRS and Northeastern's WRBB don't have signals that cover enough of the market.

WBUR wouldn't change their very successful NPR news/talk format.

I doubt that UMB (U. Mass Boston) would blow up the professional contemporary folk-based AAA style format that they've been developing for over twenty years, though I would think that becoming the only full-time classical in the market could be more profitable. Their signal would not be great for classical in many parts of the urban metro though, despite their repeater stations in outlying areas.

There are another couple of dozen non-comm's that ring around outlying areas of greater Boston, but those are the only ones that get into the downtown area proper at all.
 
> It's not about the ratings, it's the revenue. WCRB only
> billed 8 million dollars last year. Once WCRB paid all of
> their operating expenses, there couldn't have been that much
> left in profit.

Well, stop to think about this: WCRB had no debt service, the station has been mortgage-free for many years. They have a pretty small staff, with no big morning star(s) to pay for. No huge promotional campaigns. I'll bet they kept 3 or 4 mil pure profit. When do you think that Greater Media will pay down the debt and actually show a profit with 102.5? Not for many years, I suspect.<P ID="edit"><FONT class="small">Edited by HHH on 12/29/05 02:12 AM.</FONT></P>
 
Re: It IS a shame. (was Re: What A Shame)

> If I were
> Greater Media, I would sell 99.5 to a "non-profit"
> organization like WGBH or some Classical music organization
> like the BSO, who in turn could operate it commercially
> (much like WFMT/98.7 in Chicago is owned by pub-caster
> WTTW/11 but is operating it commercially). Greater Media
> could get a sizeable tax-break while STILL getting enough of
> a profit from the sale. It's a "win-win" situation.

Peter: Best proposal I've seen--but I doubt whether it would be good enough for GM's green-eye-shade guys. Suppose GM buys WCRB for a nice round $100 million, retains the WKLB intellectual property (which for the sake of argument, we value at $10 million), and donates WKLB plus the WCRB IP to WGBH. On its tax returns for 2006--assuming the deals close in 2006--GM claims it made a charitable donation of $70 million ($60 million for WKLB; $10 million for the WCRB IP). Do you know the corporate tax rate (Federal AND Mass--assuming GM is a Mass corporation; just because GM's coporate headquarters are here doesn't make GM a Mass entity)? For the sake of argument, suppose the tax rates add up to 33-1/3%, which I suspect is high. GM would reduce its taxes for 2006 by $10 million. So at the end of 2006, GM will have added $40 million to the property side of its balance sheet, reduced its cash or increased its borrowings by $100 million, and saved $10 million in taxes. That's assuming that GM had a zero cost basis in WKLB. Too many things I don't know! What did GM pay for 99.5 and when did GM acquire the station? How much of the acquisition cost has been written down (depreciated) over the period that GM has owned the station?

Now compare this to what would happen if, instead of donating WKLB and the WCRB IP to WGBH, GM sold WKLB outright for $60 million but retained the WKLB IP. (In such a deal, the WCRB IP might pass to the new owner of 99.5, who would write off the WCRB IP or GM might retain the WCRB IP and take the writeoff itself. Presumably, the treatment of the WCRB IP would affect the price GM would receive were it to sell "99.5.") Without more info, I can't do the math. I think I've demonstrated one thing, though--you really need to be a tax attorney or at least a CPA to figure out whether such a deal could be attractive enough to GM for them to pursue it. Since I am neither, I am over my head, but my gut feel is that GM is looking for more than it can get by donating 99.5 to a nonprofit that would operate 99.5 as a commercial classical station.
 
Re: It IS a shame. (was Re: What A Shame)

> What did GM pay for 99.5 and when did
> GM acquire the station? How much of the acquisition cost has
> been written down (depreciated) over the period that GM has
> owned the station?

Actually, we don't even know what GM paid. Greater Media acquired WKLB, WBOS, and Philly's WMMR as the result of a trade with Westinghouse, which got Greater Media's KRLA (which I believe is the flagship of Radio Disney these days) and KLSX (now LA's Free FM), which also explains Greater Los Angeles Radio as the licensee of the GM's acquisitions. The trade occured in in 1997, 8 years ago. The problem is that there have been so few station sales that it is hard to estimate what the real price of any of these stations should be.
 
> What a shame it is that Entercom didn't get 102.5
> According to published reports, they would have moved WAAF
> to 102.5 and devoted 107.3 to classical music under the call
> letters "WCRB".

I think it's GREAT that WAAF didn't get a bettter signal than they deserve.

> This would have not only shaken up the rock picture in
> Boston with WAAF finally getting a full-market signal (and
> one of the best as well!) but would have placed Classical on
> a strong regional transmitter (Paxton) which would have put
> the almost impossible-to-support but culturally necessary
> commercial Classical format not only into most of metro
> Boston (with a reasonable signal in the city) but into lots
> of underserved Classical regions like Providence,
> Springfield, and parts of Conn, VT and N.H.

Too bad Entercom was too cheap to pony up the necessary dough.

> Now we get Country on 102.5 and who knows what on 99.5.

Country has been doing better than WAAF in attracting listeners....even with it's inferior signal....so they deserve the better signal.

And Classical will probably end up on 99.5.....making So. NH and the Seacoast Classical fans very happy.
 
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