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WHIO-AM "demoted"?

T

TANKSBACK

From our "stirring the pot" department: Now that WHIO has decided to emphasize the FM over the AM in their on-air liners, and have completely dropped the AM side in the audio of their TV spots, should we expect something new on the AM sometime in the future? Or is this just a new programming angle? Is anyone else around the country that simulcasts doing this kind of promotional flip with their liners?
 
WSB has billboards which only mention the FM, according to the Atlanta board. That being said, WHIO needs both transmitters to cover the market with the FM being so far north. I can't imagine what the AM would do as a separate entity....there's already one to may sports stations.
 
IIRC, they started saying 95.7 FM and AM 1290 News Talk Radio WHIO during the farm market reports at Noon on NewsCenter 7 with Jim Barrett about a week or two ago. WHIO-AM isn't going anywhere. However, perhaps they're doing this to emphasize the FM and trying to get folks to flip the FM on and not the AM. I'm in my mid 30s and I NEVER listen to AM radio anymore(It still shocks me that Cheap Channel hasn't plugged in WLW on the FM somewhere. Unreal. WLW's signal is quite strong, but Antique Radio is dying more and more every day, especially with most AMs going to an FM simulcast of some sort).
Also, they have the stereo pilot turned off on 95.7 FM, so that should help a little with the static issue. I'm still kind of shocked they put the kibosh on moving the transmitter to Sharonville. If they wanted to kill the AM, they could always just flip 95.3 The Eagle to a simulcast of 95.7 and go that direction, since 95.7/95.3 have simulcast each other for several years back from the mid 90s as Cool 95/Oldies 95 to 2002 when they were The Point, until September 27, 2002, when they split and The Point went exclusively to 95.7 and Cox launched Classic Rock 95.3 ZLR, and then three years later flipped the format to Classic Hits as 95.3 The Eagle, and then in '10 flipped to 80s Classic Hits. Sure, the 95.3 signal is spotty, but at least it could cover the area that 95.7 struggles with. Could be a decent idea, however they would lose a revenue stream by killing The Eagle. :-\
 
I think a part of using FM is to have a clearer signal in those areas that are unable to pick up the AM signal - such as during night time hours. In the case of WHIO, it is very difficult to hear AM-1290 in most locations in the Greater Cincinnati area after dark. In such cases, an ability to switch to 95.7 during that time would allow potential listeners to hear its programming.

WLW's powerful signal on 700-AM both day and night makes it a different story. Some years ago, I heard that WLW considered having an FM outlet at 90.9 mc. That was the frequency later taken by WGUC.
 
I don't know what the situation was with the Sharonville move other than the FM would have been sold, probably to First Broadcasting. 95.3 would have moved closer to Dayton if that had happened. Even with 95.3 added to 95.7 as a simulcast, there would still be no downtown building penetration.
 
Cincinnati Kid said:
I think a part of using FM is to have a clearer signal in those areas that are unable to pick up the AM signal - such as during night time hours. In the case of WHIO, it is very difficult to hear AM-1290 in most locations in the Greater Cincinnati area after dark. In such cases, an ability to switch to 95.7 during that time would allow potential listeners to hear its programming.

WLW's powerful signal on 700-AM both day and night makes it a different story. Some years ago, I heard that WLW considered having an FM outlet at 90.9 mc. That was the frequency later taken by WGUC.
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I agree with the simulcast reasoning, even I though I hated when the Point was flipped. And it's long, long overdue that the liner was changed.
Odd thing is 95.7's transmitter is directly in the heart of 1290's major nighttime lobe, but it's not exactly as if 1290 has a powerhouse signal in Shelby County at night (though a listenable one). I know my uncle, who lives between St. Marys and Wapakoneta and is a part-time truck driver in his retirement, picked up listening to 95.7 after it flipped and now he can hear Neal Boortz, Rush and Hannity while he's driving all the way from Columbus to practically Fort Wayne and down into Cincinnati. I don't think he listened to WHIO when it was only on 1290, and the programming on 95.7 is a better talk format than anything in Lima, with apologies to WIMA.
Back in March during primary election coverage, I listened to 95.7 all the way to I-270 coming back to Columbus from Springfield. 1290 got buried a little east of the Springfield city limits.
As for WLW, I just don't see it being put on a Dayton FM. Why bother to waste a frequency for one city that covers another and doesn't really care all that much about Dayton? Signal's fine where it is. If anything, put it on an FM station that's not too strong but is good enough to penetrate downtown Cincinnati office buildings. Not being from there, I don't know what that would be or if it exists.
 
Clear Channel had to get rid of 92.5 and 94.1; 94.1 might have been a great place for WLW-FM. Now it would have to be WEBN or Kiss that would have to be flipped. WHIO's coverage, with the FM, comes close to the Dayton market's TV footprint. WHIO's AM has signal problems as close in as Xenia on night pattern.

Mikestandards, none of Dayton's FM could be moved into Cincinnati logistically or legally (as they'd be above caps).
 
I know this thread is about WHIO, but I question the need of WLW Radio having a local FM outlet just to be able to be heard in downtown Cincinnati office buildings. For almost 15 years, I worked in a building at Eigth & Broadway in downtown Cincinnati and was able to receive WLW fine - both on a portable radio and also on a plug-in model that was placed on a window sill. Although that building was built in the 1930's, it had computer lines running through it along with florescent lights, micro-wave ovens and the other types of equipment known to cause interference. I think most of the other downtown buildings would be quite similar.
 
Cincinnati Kid said:
I know this thread is about WHIO, but I question the need of WLW Radio having a local FM outlet just to be able to be heard in downtown Cincinnati office buildings. For almost 15 years, I worked in a building at Eigth & Broadway in downtown Cincinnati and was able to receive WLW fine - both on a portable radio and also on a plug-in model that was placed on a window sill. Although that building was built in the 1930's, it had computer lines running through it along with florescent lights, micro-wave ovens and the other types of equipment known to cause interference. I think most of the other downtown buildings would be quite similar.
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I remember back when I was a kid and had a walkman, once we got past Wilmington driving to Cincinnati I could have the radio sitting in the middle of the car and it would pick up WLW crystal clear. Any farther than that and I'd have to have it sitting in the back window to get better AM reception.
 
im not saying move a dayton FM to the Cincy Market. i was saying other than Kiss and WEBN. the closet FM's to the Cincy Market that would possible overlap into Cincy would be the dayton CC FM's
 
They did the same thing on 570 WKYX Paducah,KY...mentions of the FM simulcast with no mention of the well-signaled AM. But it was mixed both ways...there were/still are mentions of the AM with no FM mention. Hopefully there are still plenty of 1290 mentions airing as well.
 
I listened to 1290 and indeed the AM is mentioned, but as Greg noted, 95.7 is mentioned first. At 98 air miles, WHIO owns the frequency but WIRL's classic country from Peoria,IL is audible in the background.
 
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