• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

What if....?

MarcB

MarcB

I'm only asking this because I'm bored out of my mind. It's my day off and I've been up with a stomach ache since 4:30AM.

In December 1996 American Radio Systems sold WNEZ AM 910 to Mega Broadcasting. They flipped it to a Spanish Romantica format, which lasted until March 1997 when they flipped it to Urban Contemporary JAMZ 910 (and the rest is history as they say). Prior to the sale of WNEZ, ARS was programming ESPN Radio and CNN Headline News on AM 910.

In January 1997 the parent company of WPOP 1410 (I forget who owned it back then) flipped the station from news/talk to sports talk and went with the One on One Sports Network. In 1998 they flipped to ESPN.

What if ARS had never sold WNEZ 910. Would they have eventually began running ESPN 24/7 ? And if 910 was running ESPN 24/7 what format would WPOP gone with? Surely they wouldn't have flipped to all-sports. There wouldn't be a need for 2 all sports stations in Hartford.

If that situation had happened, there would not have been JAMZ 910. What would Urban Radio be like in Hartford today if JAMZ 910 had never existed. Surely Infinity looked at the success of JAMZ 910 when they made the decision to flip WZMX 93.7 to Hip-Hop and R&B in 2001.
 
I don't believe it... Not a single reference to that AM frequency short of 1000. I'm impressed... ::)

But seriously... You can't say for certain that there is no room for more than one sports radio station in Hartford, even though it has zero major sports franchises. I mean, neither does Atlantic City, and look at them, they've got four sports stations, I believe...

Also, how do you know for a fact that CBS looked at JAMZ 910 and decided to bring the format to a major Hartford station?
 
If my memory serves me correctly, WNEZ was broadcasting ESPN programming (Remember the Fabulous Sports Babe?), along with CNN Headline News. Then WNEZ went to Spanish and WPOP switched from conservatalk to sports and while it gets better ratings than WDRC AM (1.8 to 0.6 in the last book), the ratings aren't all THAT spectacular. Since WPOP was a talker with mediocre ratings, and had lost Rush to WTIC, (although I thought that AJ Austin was not that bad for a conservative), had it not gone to ESPN, it might have been the station to counterprogram WTIC's and WDRC's increasing conservative bent. If the new station that now is in Springfield moves to Hartford, and with FM sports talk becoming more profitable, Clear Channel might move the ESPN programming (and the Yankees) to the new 97.9 and leaving the signal deficient WPOP to search for another source of programming. With WFAN, WVEI and maybe even WBZ-FM listenable to most of Connecticut, there are enough places for sports programming on radio around here. As for rap/hip-hop, it would have found a station to air it in Hartford even without JAMZ 910.
 
Where in most of Connecticut do you hear WBZ-FM? They are gone by Hampton on Route 6 and by Ashford on 84...
 
Indeed, but really, who owns an HD radio these days, in the car, or otherwise?
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom