I'm thinking that WXKS 1200 will switch over to Fox Sports Radio full time with Bloomberg Radio moving to 1330/106.1. 1430 AM currently broadcasts Fox Sports Radio from 1 AM to 9 AM on weekdays. Moving Fox Sports Radio to WXKS 1200 would allow iHeartMedia to move Coast to Coast A.M. from rival WRKO 680 to WKOX 1430.
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What will be the new format for WRCA?
- Thread starter Tomgsinger
- Start date
Someone mentioned to me today that something may be going on with 1200, but your guess is as good as mine, but as to Bloomberg on 106.1, talk about a waste of a translator with a damn good coverage area north of Boston.
Fox Sports Radio? ESPN Radio is pulling in zero ratings, Fox is not going to do any better competing against local sports outlets WEEI-FM or WBZ-FM
Entercom will have to divest one of the sports stations along with another FM in Boston. So I'm thinking if Entercom pulls off a swap with iHeartMedia, iHeartMedia would receive 2 FMs in Boston from Entercom (which would likely include The Sports Hub), and iHeartMedia would give Entercom some of their stations in other markets.
Some people, like yourself, repeat this line as if it were handed down on stone tablets on Mount Sinai. Others say the government (FCC or SEC) never involves itself with formats, just with numbers of allowable signals in a given market. So which is the truth?
OY! The government DOJ does not decide "they have to divest one sports station".
Yes they can. With the two sports stations alone taking about 24% of the market revenue, there have to be certain concerns there.
The same criteria was involved in requiring somewhat recent spins in Denver and Houston: the DOJ decided there was too much revenue concentration and examined exclusivity of formats.
However, that does not mean that the revenue control objectives can't be met by spinning other stations.
The DOJ looks at percentages of audience and local revenue. With the two sports stations taking nearly 100% of the sports dollars and around 24% of market revenue, as well as controlling all major sport play by play, it is a concern. That is why Entercom offered to put so many stations in a blind trust just in case the DoJ does something draconian.
So no Espanol station... that's a shame.
That seemed like an ideal use for the facilities. However, like Philadelphia, Hartford and Providence, the Hispanic population in a large percentage is Puerto Rican. Most of the Boricuas migrated in the 50's and 60's, so they are well into the 55+ demo. Even most second generation descendants are now not in attractive sales demos and likely don't use Spanish language radio much. So, while it appears that there is a significant Hispanic population, much of it is not going to be an audience for Spanish language radio or will be so old as to prevent any national buys from being placed.
I guess we'll just have to see. I still can't see why any government branch should be concerned about control of sports play-by-play or sports advertising. Would the DOJ force, under similar circumstances, a chain that winds up owning the market's only two CHR stations to spin off one of them because they would be getting 100 percent of all CHR ad spending? And since when is 24 percent of market revenue considered monopolistic?
You're the guy with the deep radio background, but I'm still not seeing even the possibility of something "draconian" coming down from DC.
But the two FMs still control nearly all the radio sports market and nearly a quarter of all market revenue. DOJ looks less at station count and more at monopolistic practices: revenue and audience share and control of specific market segments.
OK, here's a hypothetical in my own area. Suppose iHeart were buying the CBS Radio Hartford cluster and had room to keep all but one of the stations. Acquiring WTIC(AM) would give iHeart UConn sports, Giants and Patriots football, and Yankees and Red Sox baseball. It would also give iHeart both of the market's ACs and both of its CHRs. Would the DOJ force iHeart to spin off either WUCS or WTIC, or are the rules different in smaller markets?
My point is that it is based on revenue...not formats.
I read the DOJ order and it did not mention "sports".
Exactly my point
Well it looks like my source was right, Bloomberg Business on WRCA and the 106.1 Translator...
https://www.bloombergmedia.com/press/bloomberg-radio-expands-in-boston
Well Wimmmmex, Beasley is certainly not thinking like a listener with such a typical gutless corporate move.
It's a shame they're wasting a top class translator with a Business format that is already on a 50,000 watt WXKS 1200 AM station. (I hear not for long.)
I'd much rather think like a listener. And I'm glad that I have an HD radio. I'd rather listen to Irish.
They could have at least tried Mainstream Urban with an inner city signal like that.
Beasley owned WRCA before the GM purchase, and the translator purchase from Radio One was done before the Beasley closed on the Greater Media properties.
Many of us assumed when WRCA went dark, that it was to move the studios over the the Morrissey Blvd GM studio complex.
I am told that WRCA has not been given studio space yet, so that would be a good reason they ran jukebox Irish for so long after they came back on, and now Bloomberg which is network fed requiring no more than a rack in a closet to feed the transmitters.
For a company that has a reputation for being frugal, they laid out probably 500K all in for the translator acquisition, and Bloomberg is how they choose to make it profitable?
I don't get it.
If either WRCA or the 106.1 pulls a .1 in the 6+ PPM's I'll be amazed.
No, because the FCC ownership rules only allow Entercom to own up to 5 FM stations in Boston. Also, the DOJ has concerns about market revenue concentration and Entercom owning the broadcasts rights to EVERY major professional sports team in the Boston area if they keep both sports stations. This is why the DOJ made a second request to Entercom for additional information regarding the merger.
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