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What will be the new format for WRCA?

Anything new on the WRCA front? Still Irish? How long would you give this apparent stunt before starting to believe that it may be the actual format?
 
If it is, how do they make money? It's commercial free, as in a simulcast of 96.9's HD2 which is ad-free.If they think all Irish could sell, then maybe..otherwise it becomes a loss leader.The other Beasley properties make a profit for them.Go back to brokered? As it is, the oldies guys (Jimmy Jay, Jim Callahan & DJ Porter, Dennis DeNapoli) are buying time, apparently, on WMEX instead of 1330. What kind of brokered lineup would arise--religion, progressive talk, ethnic..it could be like 1510 was (don't forget Brother Stair!)
What possible format could they do? Did New 97.7 beat them to the punch, and now they're thinking of something else?
What else..
All comedy? Classic country?
 
raccoonradio said:
If it is, how do they make money? It's commercial free, as in a simulcast of 96.9's HD2 which is ad-free.
Click to expand...

HD2 and HD3 subchannels do not legally HAVE to be commercial free. If the parent station is commercial, the subchannels can also be. 96.9 HD2, 1330 and 106.1 (as the translator of a commercial parent station) can all air commercials.

There are very few commercials on HD subchannels because so few people are listening to that mode of broadcasting that advertisers don't want to spend money buying ads on them.
 
Agreed about ads; certainly HD2 and HD3 signals feature the likes of WRKO, WBZ 1030, WXKS, WKAF, and WEEI-FM. No ads yet on 96.9 HD2.
Some stations are even on an HD4 as I noted on a Pittsburgh rental car's stereo.If they can get money for ads they will.I mean that if 106.1 and 1330 can, they could run ads, being on terrestrial radio that all can get, and at least pay for expenses.

Bittner's translator for WJIB could run ads but like the AM parent it will choose not to do so.And LPFMs differ as they cannot run ads.
Here, they could but won't.Irish 96.9 is a standalone station, not something like a WRKO that can go onto an HD2.
If Entercom, say, were to have a translator for WRKO they could, and run ads.WGAN Portland does..as does WFEA Manchester NH
 
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raccoonradio said:
Some stations are even on an HD4 as I noted on a Pittsburgh rental car's stereo.
Click to expand...

There was only one HD4 ever on the air in the Boston area briefly a few years ago, 104.1 WBMX HD4. It ran CBS owned "new age" talk networks, first "The Psychic Network" ("We know you're listening"), then "The Sky Radio".

The bandwidth seemed so poor on the HD4 that even around metro Boston my portable usually received it either all broken up or all chopped up.
 
Yes--I'd mentioned Pittsburgh. There they have WLTJ 92.9 "Q" adult contemporary; HD2 "Q in the City"; HD3 "Rockin Q" and HD4 is soft rock. CBS's the Fan 93.7 (KDKA-FM) has KDKA 1020 news talk on the HD2 and CBS Sports Radio on the HD3.

WRRK 96.9 there does have 4--Bob FM on the main, then, Bob's B Sides (adult hits), "Bob's Malt Shop" and then "Stay Tuned Movie and TV Themes". That's right, the HD4 is only that. This info via the HD radio site.
Is it worth it to have an HD4 if signal's choppy?

Scanned through my tabletop/portable Insignia last night and yup. WMJX still has all Holiday on the HD2. Who's listening to that at other times of year?
 
The HD site doesn't list it but Wikipedia etc does
Wiki:
FM/HD1: Hot adult contemporary
HD2: 80s hits
HD3: Christian rock "Mercy Rock"
HD4: Talk "New Sky Radio"...
WBMX-HD4
WBMX-HD4 airs CBS's "Sky Talk", a new-age talk format featuring psychics, life coaches et al.

Other CBS stations seem to have it, like in Detroit:
http://womc.cbslocal.com/new-sky-radio/
>>Listen to your favorite New Sky Radio Programs with award winning hosts in Detroit on WOMC HD3, in Boston on WBMX HD3 (sic) , in Seattle on KJAQ HD3 and in Pittsburgh on WDSY and WZPT HD3.

--------
Just tried it here in Beverly; got the main signal and the HD2 but that was it
 
raccoonradio said:
The HD site doesn't list it but Wikipedia etc does
Wiki:
FM/HD1: Hot adult contemporary
HD2: 80s hits
HD3: Christian rock "Mercy Rock"
HD4: Talk "New Sky Radio"...
WBMX-HD4
WBMX-HD4 airs CBS's "Sky Talk", a new-age talk format featuring psychics, life coaches et al.

Just tried it here in Beverly; got the main signal and the HD2 but that was it
Click to expand...

I don't believe WBMX HD4 is still on the air. I get WBMX HD1 (Hot AC), HD2 ('80s), and HD3 ("Mercy Rock", Christian) here in Somerville and around the Boston area, but I no longer get a trace of the HD4 on any of my HD radios.

When WBMX HD4 was on a few years ago, the bandwidth seemed so poor that even around metro Boston my portable usually received it all broken up or all chopped up (or maybe both). They may have given up on it.
 
Eli hit it on the head, to use a HD4 you have to give up something on your HD1,2, or 3 and by the time you get to what you have clawed out for a HD4, not only have you compromised the others, but you have so little bandwidth there is no way you are going to get anything out of it, outside of spoken word.... forget music....
 
Not to mention if you're running Artist Experience (album art for radios so equipped) or traffic data for Garmin and some car manufacturer's in-dash gear, you're really squeezed for bandwidth. Given that a lot of new in-dash systems today support HD, you want to make your HD1 pop as much as possible (because that's what people actually listen to), so there's no rational reason to take bandwidth away from there, especially for some slapdash HD4 silliness.
 
The_Raven said:
Not to mention if you're running Artist Experience (album art for radios so equipped) or traffic data for Garmin and some car manufacturer's in-dash gear, you're really squeezed for bandwidth. Given that a lot of new in-dash systems today support HD, you want to make your HD1 pop as much as possible (because that's what people actually listen to), so there's no rational reason to take bandwidth away from there, especially for some slapdash HD4 silliness.
Click to expand...

My 2016 Rav4 has HD derived traffic, I think the weather is also HD fed, and I use many HD1 and HD2's ..... and occasionally the HD3 from 93.7 to get WRKO static free.

RDS also gets figured in here somewhere as something that takes a small bit of allocation.
 
MRBIboredop said:
My 2016 Rav4 has HD derived traffic, I think the weather is also HD fed, and I use many HD1 and HD2's ..... and occasionally the HD3 from 93.7 to get WRKO static free.
Click to expand...

I have an HD radio in my 2017, be damned if I can figure out how it works. Maybe some day I'll read the manual.
 
Methuselah said:
I have an HD radio in my 2017, be damned if I can figure out how it works. Maybe some day I'll read the manual.
Click to expand...

The manual for my "radio" runs 400 pages. Short of making coffee, or having a CD player, it does quite a bit.
Anyone else p*ssed off that they go into their favorite music story, buy the 50th Anniversary Sgt. Pepper CD, and can't run out to the car and play it because the manufacturers have declared CD's dead?

I have to rip it to MP3, store it on my phone or a thumb drive to listen to it ... Grrrr

Apparently the slapdash silliness isn't restricted to HD4s...
Click to expand...

A valid point... the Kuhner Man sounds even worse on FM... I'll hold my tongue on the rest of the lineup
 
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