What happens to WCBS 880 now?

[AMRadioGuy]

Most of us drive with no assistance from our phones or GPS. A trip you take day after day, you don't program into your phone. Then as you're driving, you start to see delays. If you're a listener to a station with frequent traffic reports, you'd know the problem before you run into it.

If it's someplace you rarely go, you might program Waze or Google Maps before you start driving. But human nature is not going to have you do it with a frequent route.

Maybe someday, you can ask your device why you are hitting traffic and it will know an alternate route. But that's not today, not if you didn't program your route ahead of time. And once you see delays ahead, you SHOULDN'T be fumbling with your device while driving.

This is a good point that I did not consider - I personally don't do a lot of city driving (I do but only for "pleasure" - I don't work in the city, so I'm not on a time crunch heading there), so it is extremely rare that there's something that causes me to need to re-route when I'm on my way to work or wherever.

That said... when I'm with people who have Apple CarPlay, if they're on their usual commute, their phone will automatically suggest routes. Mine does this - it knows when I'm heading to work and around 5 minutes before I leave, a notification comes up saying "Take *this road* to *this location*. Traffic is light." Unless something happens while I'm already on the way, I'd likely know about it from my phone. So there's that, too.

 

[fybush]

Same thing for me on Google Maps via Android Auto - even if I don't punch in a destination, it knows the places I go most often and will pop up directions and traffic updates as I start heading toward them. We don't have an all-news station in Rochester and radio traffic updates aren't on any sort of predictable schedule that I know of, so I am much more likely to get useful information quickly this way than on the radio. That's especially true here in a small city where the commute is sometimes only a song or two long - not even enough time to wait around for a traffic report.

 

[K.M. Richards]

With their numbers at an all time low (I don't know what they are billing) and with WINS-FM being the third highest biller in the country, according to info found in another post, what does Audacy do? Should they find a FM for 880 or just say WINS is it and switch to brokered programming?

Let me say this again: The goal for radio stations is not great 6+ ratings.

The goal is to make money. WCBS is making money. Lots of it.

As once again the myth of making predictions based on the meaningless 6+ numbers is busted (as Jamie Hyneman and Adam Savage would have said).

 

[TheBigA]

As once again the myth of making predictions based on the meaningless 6+ numbers is busted (as Jamie Hyneman and Adam Savage would have said).

All of this hand-wringing about WCBS ignores one big fact: $30 million.

With $225 Million In Combined Revenue, Top Billers Show Staying Power Of Strong AM Radio Brands.

As broadcasters fight to keep AM radio in vehicle dashboards, BIA shines on a light on the strength of the legacy band with a breakout chart of the top AM

www.insideradio.com

Chicago’s “News Radio 780” WBBM-AM tops the list with $30 million in 2023 over the air revenue (up from No. 2 among AM stations in 2022), followed by “NewsRadio 880” WCBS-AM New York in second place (up from fourth) with $29.7 million.

The combination of news and sports is a winner.

 

[Loverofradio]

All of this hand-wringing about WCBS ignores one big fact: $30 million.

With $225 Million In Combined Revenue, Top Billers Show Staying Power Of Strong AM Radio Brands.

As broadcasters fight to keep AM radio in vehicle dashboards, BIA shines on a light on the strength of the legacy band with a breakout chart of the top AM

www.insideradio.com

The combination of news and sports is a winner.

Maybe KNX will see that. Also looking at that article (different subject, sorry), what was the point or mentioning the decline in revenue for a Houston alt rock station when writing an article on top billing AMs? 😂

 

[TheBigA]

Maybe KNX will see that

You think they don't know?

 

[TheBigA]

what was the point or mentioning the decline in revenue for a Houston alt rock station when writing an article on top billing AMs? 😂

To explain how KTRH jumped from #14 to #6:

BIA’s Nicole Ovadia said KTRH reported the revenue jump to BIA, along with a corresponding decline in revenues for alternative rock sister “94.5 FM The Buzz” KTBZ-FM.

 

[Loverofradio]

You think they don't know?

It’s not too late to move the Rams to 97.1

 

[TheBigA]

It’s not too late to move the Rams to 97.1

The NFL likes having its teams on rock stations. For example, the Jets are now on WAXQ.

 

[chrocket87]

All of this hand-wringing about WCBS ignores one big fact: $30 million.

With $225 Million In Combined Revenue, Top Billers Show Staying Power Of Strong AM Radio Brands.

As broadcasters fight to keep AM radio in vehicle dashboards, BIA shines on a light on the strength of the legacy band with a breakout chart of the top AM

www.insideradio.com

The combination of news and sports is a winner.

Pretty surprised that KCBS and KYW are so far down the list. I expected both to be billing in the $25-30 million range.

What the hell has happened to WBZ? There’s another one that used to pretty high up the list.

 

[CTListener]

Pretty surprised that KCBS and KYW are so far down the list. I expected both to be billing in the $25-30 million range.

What the hell has happened to WBZ? There’s another one that used to pretty high up the list.

Stuck on AM, aging audience.

 

[MassMusicMan]

The NFL likes having its teams on rock stations. For example, the Jets are now on WAXQ.

In that case, the NFL should be clamoring for Pats games to air on ROCK 92.9 instead of 98.5 the Sports Hub.

Which, of course, would be an absolute farce, and, in the real world outside of unsourced message board posts, isn't happening.

 

[TheBigA]

In that case, the NFL should be clamoring for Pats games to air on ROCK 92.9 instead of 98.5 the Sports Hub.

I was responding to a post about putting the Rams on KNX in LA. They've very happy on KCBS-FM. No reason to change.

There were discussions when Rich moved to iHeart's WZLX that they might make a play for the Patriots, as they have in several other markets. But Beasley quickly countered by making a long-term deal with the Patriots.

 

[CTListener]

I was responding to a post about putting the Rams on KNX in LA. They've very happy on KCBS-FM. No reason to change.

There were discussions when Rich moved to iHeart's WZLX that they might make a play for the Patriots, as they have in several other markets. But Beasley quickly countered by making a long-term deal with the Patriots.

The Pats were on WBCN before Sports Hub launched and 104.1 ditched rock for Hot AC.

 

[Always interested]

With their numbers at an all time low (I don't know what they are billing) and with WINS-FM being the third highest biller in the country, according to info found in another post, what does Audacy do? Should they find a FM for 880 or just say WINS is it and switch to brokered programming? Your thoughts?

I think we know now answer now

With their numbers at an all time low (I don't know what they are billing) and with WINS-FM being the third highest biller in the country, according to info found in another post, what does Audacy do? Should they find a FM for 880 or just say WINS is it and switch to brokered programming? Your thoughts?

We Know now what will happen to WCBS 880. Never thought Audacy would lease the Station To ESPN. And Audacy is only giving them 3 hours to reflect on What the last 57 years was like.

 

[K.M. Richards]

Never thought Audacy would lease the Station To ESPN. And Audacy is only giving them 3 hours to reflect on What the last 57 years was like.

Let's be factually accurate, please.

Audacy is not leasing 880 to ESPN. They are LMAing it to Good Karma Brands, who is moving their ESPN affiliation from 98.7 to 880.

 

[salemjedi54]

The NFL likes having its teams on rock stations. For example, the Jets are now on WAXQ.

So why are the Dallas Cowboys and Kansas City Chiefs are on Audacy FM sports stations?

 

[K.M. Richards]

So why are the Dallas Cowboys and Kansas City Chiefs are on Audacy FM sports stations?

Individual team owners' decisions. Or the market rocker didn't bid enough. What A is saying is that the league sees the demographics of rock station listeners as matching those who have an affinity for football.

 

[TheBigA]

So why are the Dallas Cowboys and Kansas City Chiefs are on Audacy FM sports stations?

Correction: The NFL wants its games on FM. That's why WEPN lost the Jets. iHeart has been putting the NFL on classic rock stations because it doesn't own FM sports stations in those markets. In the case of Kansas City, Audacy had the Chiefs on WDAF, an FM country station. But last week, the company blew up an alternative rock station and moved its AM sports station to FM.

 

[salemjedi54]

Correction: The NFL wants its games on FM. That's why WEPN lost the Jets. iHeart has been putting the NFL on classic rock stations because it doesn't own FM sports stations in those markets. In the case of Kansas City, Audacy had the Chiefs on WDAF, an FM country station. But last week, the company blew up an alternative rock station and moved its AM sports station to FM.

Plus the Houston Texans are on an Audacy Country radio station. But I hear ya. Not too many sports teams are exclusive to AM signal like they were 30 years ago.