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What Should They Do?

I don't see Salem doing CCM here... While it would be a big kick to The River (that they have wanted to purchase over the years).. their talk programing does not have clearance in this market and they have wanted a place for their conserve talk... plus syndicated talk would be cheaper to run then a local CCM (which is what they would need to do to battle The River).


I could see 103.9 try another "Jack type format" ... at least now with the ability to build out a better signal 103.9 has a chance.
 
Or one better. Move the Blitz to 103.9 after the upgrade and put Jack on 99.7. Or try that second CHR that the board has been begging for. A locally hosted version of CHR would probably be fun.
 
I, among everyone else, would love a second CHR here in the market. Problem is, I don't think anyone will do it on a rimshot signal going against WNCI. 98.9 is a good enough signal to compete with, but Salem definitely won't do it, but I think Saga would've. As far as NABCO throwing CHR on either 99.7 or 103.9, it would definitely be Hits Now, but that format's only offered as a local option which means DG would evaluate the market with the PD (Hal Fish), and find out what type of CHR is best for the market. Rhythmic, Mainstream, or Adult CHR... then DG would take care of everything including imaging. I wish NABCO would flip it, I know WMNI's not gonna last forever, but I don't think he's gonna get rid of that FM Talk until after the election (especially if Fish is conservative). The best time to flip it would be next month. Stunt with Christmas, then boom the city with a CHR the day after or for New Years.
 
103.9 could become a home for CBS sports radio if he wants it too since he will probably want to keep the Steelers on the air. Of course moving them to 920 wouldn't be bad either if he decided to go after a CHR audience.
 
Nu_Roo_2 said:
There were strong rumors of an imminent sale for 98.9 back when it first switched from Urban AC in September 2011. That sounded feasible given the flip to Adult Hits, but no sale materialized. But if there is indeed a possible sale in the offing at this point, Saga would seem like a likely buyer. It would be a step up for their current cluster, and they recently said they were starting to look at possible acquisitions.

As for CC, if they think 98.9 is a better signal than any other FM they have, they could try to offload one of those to buy it. But with the upgrade of 106.7, that station may have an equal or better signal than 98.9, anyway.
Click to expand...

It's now official:

http://www.bizjournals.com/dayton/prnewswire/press_releases/Ohio/2012/10/23/PH98680

Radio One, Inc. Announces Definitive Agreement to Sell the Assets of WJKR-FM in Columbus

PR Newswire

COLUMBUS, Ohio, Oct. 23, 2012

COLUMBUS, Ohio, Oct. 23, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Radio One, Inc. (Nasdaq: ROIAK; ROIA) today announced it has signed a definitive agreement to sell the assets of one of its Columbus, Ohio radio stations, WJKR-FM (The Jack, 98.9 FM), to Salem Media of Ohio, Inc., a subsidiary of Salem Communications (Nasdaq: SALM). The station is not a core asset for Radio One and Radio One will continue to own and operate two urban format radio stations in the Columbus market: WCKX-FM (107.5 FM), which plays mainstream/urban and WXMG-FM (106.3 FM), which plays R&B and oldies. The closing on the sale of WJKR-FM is subject to customary conditions, prorations and adjustments, including approval from the Federal Communications Commission ("FCC"). Radio One expects the transaction to close shortly after final consent from the FCC. However, under a local marketing agreement, Salem will be providing programming for the station on November 1, 2012.
 
A WRFD-FM returning to the market for the first time since 1967?
 
Salem does Classic Hits and Country in Honolulu.  Maybe 98.9 will do an outlier format for them just like it was for R1.  Of course the chances of that actually happening are essentially zip.

Hey, maybe they could segue 98.9 into the first Christian Adult Hits format -- "98.9, Praying What We Want."
 
Nu_Roo_2 said:
Salem does Classic Hits and Country in Honolulu. Maybe 98.9 will do an outlier format for them just like it was for R1. Of course the chances of that actually happening are essentially zip.

Hey, maybe they could segue 98.9 into the first Christian Adult Hits format -- "98.9, Praying What We Want."
Click to expand...

Country? only if they bring back "Wild Country 98.9" ... Salem's choices in HI is a unique situation I think due to the location.

Christian Adult Hits.. would be an interesting format... Sadly I don't see that happening either.. [ no one wants to really try an unique Christian format outside of CCM, Preaching, Talk ]... (It's hard to support it --- Radio U's the exception to that and one of the few doing something not CCM, Talk, Preaching).

Unless I am really crazy off the wall here I have my bets on seeing them launch a FM Conserve talker... [Since that's what they really wanted to do with 102.5 last Nov] .. which means I wouldn't be too shocked if 103.9 segues back to Classic Hits (resurrect Ted-FM :p) after NABCO builds out that new transmitter location on the west side) leaving the news radio to AM 920 WMNI-AM.
 
xmusicmatt said:
Nu_Roo_2 said:
Salem does Classic Hits and Country in Honolulu. Maybe 98.9 will do an outlier format for them just like it was for R1. Of course the chances of that actually happening are essentially zip.

Hey, maybe they could segue 98.9 into the first Christian Adult Hits format -- "98.9, Praying What We Want."
Click to expand...

Country? only if they bring back "Wild Country 98.9" ... Salem's choices in HI is a unique situation I think due to the location.

Christian Adult Hits.. would be an interesting format... Sadly I don't see that happening either.. [ no one wants to really try an unique Christian format outside of CCM, Preaching, Talk ]... (It's hard to support it --- Radio U's the exception to that and one of the few doing something not CCM, Talk, Preaching).

Unless I am really crazy off the wall here I have my bets on seeing them launch a FM Conserve talker... [Since that's what they really wanted to do with 102.5 last Nov] .. which means I wouldn't be too shocked if 103.9 segues back to Classic Hits (resurrect Ted-FM :p) after NABCO builds out that new transmitter location on the west side) leaving the news radio to AM 920 WMNI-AM.
Click to expand...

Conservative talk is my bet too, for the reason you gave. As for Ted-FM, while most people here don't seem to have very fond memories of it I actually liked it once they finally realized that soft AC pablum like "Wind Beneath My Wings" had no place being in that format -- even in small doses. Ted-FM's best months actually produced better ratings for 103.9 than anything they've tried since. That's true both in terms of peak share and average performance over the life of the format.
 
With this press release, it appears Salem will go with conservative talk on 98.9 and will make
a official announcement on October 26. See below.

http://investor.salem.cc/press-rele...nounces-6-state-9-city-ba-nasdaq-salm-0940323


Salem Communications Announces 6-State, 9-City "Battleground States Talkers' Tour"

CAMARILLO, CA--(Marketwire - Oct 16, 2012) - Salem Communications Corporation (NASDAQ: SALM), a leading U.S. radio broadcaster, Internet content provider, and magazine and book publisher targeting audiences interested in Christian and conservative opinion content, announced today a 6-state, 9-city "Battleground States Talkers' Tour" -- with leading Salem Radio Network talent partnering with acclaimed actor Jon Voight for nine events to be held over a narrow six-day period in the run-up to Election Day.

"Salem serves audiences in a number of the states that will determine the course for our country over the next four years," said David Santrella, president of the radio division at Salem Communications. "We are pleased to create these unique, no-charge events that encourage informed participation in the democratic process," he said.

Headlining the nine events will be Salem Radio Network's (SRN) nationally syndicated hosts Dennis Prager, Michael Medved, Hugh Hewitt and Mike Gallagher. Various combinations of Salem's SRN hosts have teamed up with Jon Voight ("National Treasure," "24") for the Battleground Tour events.

"Each of our SRN hosts has been deeply engaged in this election. From sorting through the polling data to clarifying the real stakes, I am pleased that some of the brightest and the best in the business today are on the SRN team," said Greg Anderson, President of SRN, the division of Salem that syndicates talk and news to over 1,100 stations across the country. "These events will be a terrific complement to the positive impact they have been making day in, day out throughout this cycle," he continued.

The Battleground Tour will commence on October 21 in Philadelphia, continuing to Fairfax, Virginia (Oct. 22), Miami (Oct. 23), Orlando (Oct. 24), Tampa (Oct. 24), Cleveland (Oct. 25), Columbus (Oct. 26), Detroit (Oct. 26) with the tour concluding in Denver on October 27.

Columbus event is here:

http://www.wrfd.com/battleground/
 
EJM said:
Since the AM is a daytimer (with lower critical-hours power), would it make any business sense to move the current WRFD programming over to FM (and run that format full-time), while putting (political) Talk on the AM instead?

There aren't that many markets that I can think of where Salem owns an FM but runs Teaching on an AM. (Going from the corporate site, Atlanta, Cleveland, Sacramento, Nashville, and Omaha fall into that category--but the FMs there are mostly "Fish" stations.) Also, if anything, Salem over the years has been moving its (political) Talk programs to AM: I think that the format aired for a while on FM (or on an AM/FM simulcast) in Honolulu, Portland, and Sacramento; however, it's now on AM only in Honolulu and Sacramento, while Portland has most of SRN's hosts on non-Salem-owned KKOV.
Click to expand...

Salem owns Christian/Teaching Talk KWRD 100.7 The Word in D/FW.
 
It would be tough to do a conservative talk format with half of a morning drive and a third of an afternoon drive 3 months out of the year! I think it would be more likely to see CCM than WRFD-FM.
 
dabeyers said:
It would be tough to do a conservative talk format with half of a morning drive and a third of an afternoon drive 3 months out of the year! I think it would be more likely to see CCM than WRFD-FM.
Click to expand...

As I have said previously .. I expect Conserve talk on 98.9... They won't make changes to WRFD-AM [Those programmers are mostly pay to play] ... it works well for a daytime only signal... and about the only thing they can do with an AM day timer (conserve talk won't work due to the limited day light hours in the winter). We would see CCM on 98.9 before they would move the AM programming to FM.
 
With Jack going bye bye and X106.7's transmitter at a new location it looks as if Clear Channel can fire up a Columbus version of The Lake. They have one that coexists with a classic hits station in Cleveland. So why not here.
 
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