What could SAVE WEMP

[TonySantiago]

I can't believe I am saying this, especially that I want an CHR/EDM station here so bad!

This is just an opinion. If WEMP has a chance of trying to get some sort of positive numbers by staying on the course they are in, then they need to drop the news altogether and keep it to traffic and weather only. Granted, as New Yorkers we're already "built" into that mentality of going to WINS on the 1's, WCBS on the 8's and Bloomberg on the 5's. So, how about going full time traffic and weather. For a station like this you could get MORE detailed in terms of the region since you're kinda restricted to 2 minutes on a traffic report. Of course, you can go more on the weather aspect of things.

Granted at the late hours, where there isn't much current traffic to report, you could go more detailed in terms of near future construction plans the MTA and NJ TRANSIT are doing as well as weather that could cause travel delays for those leaving the region and taking a flight out.

Like I said, just an opinion. I can talk matters outside of dance music too!

 

[recto101]

Look at other threads on WEMP lots of people suggested Local Talk like Old KGO was.

 

[reelyreal]

Both Vancouver and Montreal do have all-traffic stations...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CKAC

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CHMJ

... On an AM Band that's even more dead in Canada than it is here.

As a stand-alone station, I don't think it's an option. KHJ tried it in the early 80's, "Car Radio." If L.A. can't support a traffic station, I don't know about anyone else's chances.

 

[XCountry285]

I can't believe I am saying this, especially that I want an CHR/EDM station here so bad!

This is just an opinion. If WEMP has a chance of trying to get some sort of positive numbers by staying on the course they are in, then they need to drop the news altogether and keep it to traffic and weather only. Granted, as New Yorkers we're already "built" into that mentality of going to WINS on the 1's, WCBS on the 8's and Bloomberg on the 5's. So, how about going full time traffic and weather. For a station like this you could get MORE detailed in terms of the region since you're kinda restricted to 2 minutes on a traffic report. Of course, you can go more on the weather aspect of things.

Granted at the late hours, where there isn't much current traffic to report, you could go more detailed in terms of near future construction plans the MTA and NJ TRANSIT are doing as well as weather that could cause travel delays for those leaving the region and taking a flight out.

Like I said, just an opinion. I can talk matters outside of dance music too!

As I said before KTU will need to shift to Dance from Rhythmic CHR in order to fill in the Dance void in NYC. Again for the 90th Time I kid you not WE NEED AN ALTERNATIVE ROCK STATION AND A COUNTRY STATION in which both 101.9 and 94.7 will fill that void for both of those formats nicely. We DO NOT NEED ANYMORE STATIONS targeting female listeners. The male listeners are somewhat underrepresented here in the NYC Metro Area, they make up fractions of stations such as Hot 97, Power 105.1, z100, ktu, q 104.3.

 

[Zackster]

As a stand-alone station, I don't think it's an option. KHJ tried it in the early 80's, "Car Radio." If L.A. can't support a traffic station, I don't know about anyone else's chances.

Another Walter Sabo failure!

 

[reelyreal]

I can't believe I am saying this, especially that I want an CHR/EDM station here so bad!

This is just an opinion. If WEMP has a chance of trying to get some sort of positive numbers by staying on the course they are in, then they need to drop the news altogether and keep it to traffic and weather only. Granted, as New Yorkers we're already "built" into that mentality of going to WINS on the 1's, WCBS on the 8's and Bloomberg on the 5's. So, how about going full time traffic and weather. For a station like this you could get MORE detailed in terms of the region since you're kinda restricted to 2 minutes on a traffic report. Of course, you can go more on the weather aspect of things.

Granted at the late hours, where there isn't much current traffic to report, you could go more detailed in terms of near future construction plans the MTA and NJ TRANSIT are doing as well as weather that could cause travel delays for those leaving the region and taking a flight out.

Like I said, just an opinion. I can talk matters outside of dance music too!

As I said before KTU will need to shift to Dance from Rhythmic CHR in order to fill in the Dance void in NYC. Again for the 90th Time I kid you not WE NEED AN ALTERNATIVE ROCK STATION AND A COUNTRY STATION in which both 101.9 and 94.7 will fill that void for both of those formats nicely. We DO NOT NEED ANYMORE STATIONS targeting female listeners. The male listeners are somewhat underrepresented here in the NYC Metro Area, they make up fractions of stations such as Hot 97, Power 105.1, z100, ktu, q 104.3.

... And how is a traffic station as proposed by the OP in any way female oriented? Or was this just another chance for you to state your personal opinion, something every one of us can recite in our sleep?

 

[XCountry285]

I'm sure I can recite your opinions in my sleep as well.

 

[nd2023]

The Weather Channel is pretty successful. Perhaps 101.9 could air 7 minutes of traffic, 1 minute of weather, and 2 minutes of commercials in AM and PM drives, detailing every single traffic incident within 50 miles, including such detail like "Quaker Road in Princeton New Jersey is closed between Parkside Drive and Route 206 for construction" (it's a minor residential street). Outside of rush hour, devote more time to the weather "today will be very sunny, right now Doppler 1019 is tracking absolutely nothing, there currently is a cloud in the sky over Brooklyn". And in the off hours, air some highlights like the Weather Channel's Storm Stories. "Relive the Blizzard of 2010 that shut down the city for a week" or "A Brief History of Car Fires inside the Lincoln Tunnel and its Effect on Traffic". Oh, and 101.9 could also pioneer the 5-day traffic forecast, they can predict the weather 5 days in advance, so why can't they predict the traffic 5 days in advance!

As absurd as that sounds, it will do better than FM News 101.9

 

[TonySantiago]

As I said before KTU will need to shift to Dance from Rhythmic CHR in order to fill in the Dance void in NYC. Again for the 90th Time I kid you not WE NEED AN ALTERNATIVE ROCK STATION AND A COUNTRY STATION in which both 101.9 and 94.7 will fill that void for both of those formats nicely. We DO NOT NEED ANYMORE STATIONS targeting female listeners. The male listeners are somewhat underrepresented here in the NYC Metro Area, they make up fractions of stations such as Hot 97, Power 105.1, z100, ktu, q 104.3.

'KTU will NEVER do that. They are happy with their numbers and they bill well. They serve their target audience perfectly so there's no way in hell or high water that they will bolt from that to go towards what I am seeking. I know, NEVER say NEVER but with 'KTU I feel confident it's NEVER. I have a better chance of trying to push for Club Phusion (their dance/EDM music offering on iHeart Radio) to go on 103.5 HD.3 than 'KTU going back pre-2006.

But I am also seeing the "writing on the wall" with music formats for those under 30 disappearing from the FM dial (any format). While I AM trying for a CHR/EDM station, I also know that if we do become successful at getting one, it will be the very last dance station on the FM dial in New York. Once that goes, that is it. The same could be said for alternative and, depending where they would lean the demographics, country music. It is what it is unfortunately and I hate being a naysayer, but the radio industry is making me think that way.

By the end of the decade if ANY music remains on the FM dial, it won't be for those under 30 except for Hot 97 and Z-100. My prediction

92.3 = WFAN-FM (Sports)
93.1 = Spanish Talk
93.9 = Classical
94.7 = Hot Talk
95.5 = WABC-FM (Talk Radio)
96.3 = X 96.3
97.1 = Hot 97
97.9 = La Mega
98.7 = ESPN
99.5 = WBAI
100.3 = Z-100
101.1 = CBS-FM as oldies (unless they want Newsradio 880 here)
101.9 = WEMP (they won't give this up)
102.7 = 1010 WINS
103.5 = Talk radio geared to women
104.3 = Sports (maybe FOX?)
105.1 = Urban talk radio
105.9 = WQXR
106.7 = Lite FM
107.5 = WBLS

 

[jhguthlac]

There is an all-traffic station in Delaware, owned by the state department of transportation. All recorded and useless. But it is one way to use an AM frequency.

 

[wadio]

Both Vancouver and Montreal do have all-traffic stations...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CKAC

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CHMJ

... On an AM Band that's even more dead in Canada than it is here.

As a stand-alone station, I don't think it's an option. KHJ tried it in the early 80's, "Car Radio." If L.A. can't support a traffic station, I don't know about anyone else's chances.

And that was before GPS and smartphones! Hmmm ... my variety store isn't doing very well, maybe this is a good time to get into the video rental business.

 

[MedianJ]

As a stand-alone station, I don't think it's an option. KHJ tried it in the early 80's, "Car Radio." If L.A. can't support a traffic station, I don't know about anyone else's chances.

Another Walter Sabo failure!

Walter Sabo had a sound plan of action. Unfortunately, it appears Mr. Sabo was not granted neither the time nor adequate resources to allow Merlin to realize the maximum potential of their objective. Mr. Sabo may have left Merlin to expand and pursue more lucrative endeavors more compatable with his intelligence and expertise.

The word failure should never be used when it's in the same sentence with who many regard as the father of modern day talk radio, Walter Sabo.

Radio is a business, not a hobby.

 

[SoulCrusher]

As a stand-alone station, I don't think it's an option. KHJ tried it in the early 80's, "Car Radio." If L.A. can't support a traffic station, I don't know about anyone else's chances.

Another Walter Sabo failure!

Walter Sabo had a sound plan of action. Unfortunately, it appears Mr. Sabo was not granted neither the time nor adequate resources to allow Merlin to realize the maximum potential of their objective. Mr. Sabo may have left Merlin to expand and pursue more lucrative endeavors more compatable with his intelligence and expertise.

The word failure should never be used when it's in the same sentence with who many regard as the father of modern day talk radio, Walter Sabo.

Radio is a business, not a hobby.

Why don't you tell us your plan, Walter? I know that you are Walter, because every single one of your posts is about how great he is. And Walter, you are guaranteed to pop up whenever your name is mentioned. Take note, area broadcasters: "MedianJ" (a.k.a. Walter Sabo) is looking for a job! If it wasn't for him, WKXW in Trenton & WEMP in New York would have never gotten off the ground! Don't miss out on your opportunity to hire the god of all things radio, Walter Sabo!

 

[chrocket87]

Radio is a business, not a hobby.

If you've listened to WEMP, you'd understand that Merlin must think radio is a hobby.

 

[TonySantiago]

Why don't you tell us your plan, Walter? I know that you are Walter, because every single one of your posts is about how great he is. And Walter, you are guaranteed to pop up whenever your name is mentioned. Take note, area broadcasters: "MedianJ" (a.k.a. Walter Sabo) is looking for a job! If it wasn't for him, WKXW in Trenton & WEMP in New York would have never gotten off the ground! Don't miss out on your opportunity to hire the god of all things radio, Walter Sabo!

I was thinking the same thing!

 

[R.F. Burns]

As a stand-alone station, I don't think it's an option. KHJ tried it in the early 80's, "Car Radio." If L.A. can't support a traffic station, I don't know about anyone else's chances.

Another Walter Sabo failure!

Walter Sabo had a sound plan of action. Unfortunately, it appears Mr. Sabo was not granted neither the time nor adequate resources to allow Merlin to realize the maximum potential of their objective. Mr. Sabo may have left Merlin to expand and pursue more lucrative endeavors more compatable with his intelligence and expertise.

The word failure should never be used when it's in the same sentence with who many regard as the father of modern day talk radio, Walter Sabo.

Radio is a business, not a hobby.

As the great Bob Marvin once said, Selling radio is an art, not a science. The must not ever be forgotten!

 

[TimeIsTight]

I know that you are Walter, because every single one of your posts is about how great he is.

Unfortunately, we've been down this road before, and before others start to assume MedianJ is really Walt Sabo let's put that rumor to rest again. I don't know either Walt Sabo or MedianJ, but I am sure they are not the same person for all kinds of reasons. (over the years, Walt Sabo and I have had mutual friends, so I know his reputation, but I have never met him)

Walt Sabo has a super impressive radio industry track record going back forty-years, check out his bio:

http://www.sabomedia.com/bios/sabo.shtml.

Also, look at his business associates and their backgrounds, this is not a guy who markets his consulting services with clandestine posts on radio boards. He does post, occasionally, in his own name, on Allan Sniffen's board and his writing style is very different from MedianJ.

I should also say that I have had many long discussions with MedianJ, on the NJ Board on this site, about marketing, programming and business concepts that Walt Sabo knew in 1970 and MedianJ was, apparently, still learning recently.

I think MedianJ is a younger "Super Sabo Fan," who would like to follow in his footsteps. That's the reason for the strong defense. Sabo is his hero. If Sabo thought it worth his time he, certainly, could do a bang up job defending himself under his own name on boards like this.

 

[jmtillery]

While Walter Sabo has had impressive success stories with his innovative and cutting edge strategy relating to talk-radio WKXW Trenton, New Jersey and other stations, with all due respect, I believe Mr. Sabo and Merlin Media “missed the mark” when it came to attempting to create an “all-news for women” radio outlet with WEMP. While I am intrigued and would be very interested in knowing more about his “sound plan of action” and even impressed with the idea of the possibility of creating such an innovative new format – news for women, I don’t see how it is possible to target any particular demographic or gender with an objective format. To better understand, we need to clearly define “what is” all-news radio as opposed to talk-radio or even news-talk radio.

Although all-news, news-talk and talk are closely related in that each are spoken word formats, this is where the similarities begin and end. All-news, talk and news-talk are not the same format. All-news or simply “news” content is fact reporting. News is news, and news affects all of us, male, female, adult, child, old or young. There is no opinion in news, and real news is objective reporting. News editorials often found in news radio, news television and newspapers is not news but rather opinions regarding news of the day.

News doesn’t target any particular demographic. It does, however, appeal to anyone who is interested in gaining knowledge of the day’s events that affect everyday people in their everyday lives. News radio listeners want up-to-the-minute news content, weather reports, traffic and business news. It is not a long form listening format as music and talk radio. News radio has a very high cume but tends to have a lower than average AQH and TSL. This is because listeners are only listening long enough to get the news that matters most to them; however, these same listeners tend to tune back often throughout the day to get updated news and information which is why all-news radio has a higher than average cume.

To say all-news is going to appeal to a certain gender – in the case of WEMP: female – would mean the format will need to consist of opinion and entertainment based features that appeal to female listeners. However, features and opinion is not news although it can be argued that said features are providing a service by informing and providing listeners with information not found anywhere else, hence, it’s news. Anyone who understands the basic elements of journalism understands that in reality features, editorials and general talk is not news as these elements are very subjective and opinion based. In contrast news is fact-finding and reporting said facts which are totally and completely the opposite of standard opinion based talk radio.

Talk radio, on the other hand, is entertainment as well as informative. However, talk is not news. And while a talk host may be discussing a factual topic of the day, the reality is the host and callers are giving their own opinions regarding said factual events which make talk radio subjective and not completely fact-finding and reporting. In certain respects talk radio can be considered to be a form of editorializing.

In the beginning WEMP can be better described as a news-talk radio station disguised or camouflaged as an all-news radio station but not an actual all-news radio outlet. In New York CBS owned WINS is an excellent example of a well programmed All-News radio station.

My own subjective opinion is this: If Merlin Media wants to be the “big dog” news radio station in The Apple; WEMP would be well advised to take a valuable lesson from WINS, learn from the best by understanding what contributes to WINS’ overall success and do it better!

 

[badjef]

Mark:

Do you think it be better to label the "News/Talk" stations to an "Caller Oriented Editorial/Discussion" format?

Jeff in Sa-ra-so-ta!

 

[jmtillery]

Mark:

Do you think it be better to label the "News/Talk" stations to an "Caller Oriented Editorial/Discussion" format?

Jeff in Sa-ra-so-ta!

You can label anything whatever you like whether it is successful or isnt successful. However, the fact remains that something is what it is.