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Miami/Fort Lauderdale WIOD and FM....will it ever happen?

johntherogger

johntherogger

I know most stations nationwide are jumping their AM talkers to FM, but here in Miami that's not the case. They had a translator at one point but that's long gone.

So, when will/or will iheart ever add an FM to WIOD? I'm surprised they haven't done that with their two translators, 104.7 and 105.5.

Or would it be WINZ before WIOD? Like WQAM just did for 104.3? Two FM Sports stations and no talk on FM? Even Salem's stations have translators....

Just thinking out loud and looking for your thoughts....
 
johntherogger said:
I know most stations nationwide are jumping their AM talkers to FM, but here in Miami that's not the case.
Click to expand...

It's not something iHeart does. Consider all their big AM talkers: WOR NY, KFI LA, WRKO Boston, WLW Cincy, WTAM Cleveland, KOA Denver don't have FM simulcasts, and most don't even have FM translators (WLW, KOA, and WFLA does). So given that WIOD is owned by iHeart, and mainly runs its syndicated hosts, I don't expect them blowing up an FM for that. There's more money using the translators for HD-2s.
 
If an operator is going to kill off an FM format -- and its revenue -- to relay an AM, the equation is: does the talk AM/FM combo create enough new listeners to exceed the revenue of the talk AM and the current FM?
 
If/when the ownership caps and companies consolidate further it will happen. But right now iHeart has five successful FM brands and none worth sacrificing.

It would take something like iHeart acquiring Cox's cluster and wanting to remove the competition between WEDR and WMIB to make a signal open for a flip to something like that.
 
TheBigA said:
It's not something iHeart does. Consider all their big AM talkers: WOR NY, KFI LA, WRKO Boston, WLW Cincy, WTAM Cleveland, KOA Denver don't have FM simulcasts, and most don't even have FM translators (WLW, KOA, and WFLA does). So given that WIOD is owned by iHeart, and mainly runs its syndicated hosts, I don't expect them blowing up an FM for that. There's more money using the translators for HD-2s.
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They put some of those AMs on FM HDs, KFI is on 103.5 HD2, WOR has been on 104.3 HD2 since 2016. WTAM is on FM translator W295DE.
 
txchipk said:
If an operator is going to kill off an FM format -- and its revenue -- to relay an AM, the equation is: does the talk AM/FM combo create enough new listeners to exceed the revenue of the talk AM and the current FM?
Click to expand...
Do we know how much 104.7 and 105.5 are making? I can see 105.5 being a success...but that is being challenged by full power Power 96......and 104.7 has to be even lower, when compared to Kiss 99.9

Just seemed like those two would be candidates for 940 and 610 easily...
 
lanceventa said:
If/when the ownership caps and companies consolidate further it will happen. But right now iHeart has five successful FM brands and none worth sacrificing.

It would take something like iHeart acquiring Cox's cluster and wanting to remove the competition between WEDR and WMIB to make a signal open for a flip to something like that.
Click to expand...
I was gearing more towards their 2 translators than destroying a full FM...their FMs are pretty set.
 
It's obviously the difference between the audiences for talk versus sports. Talk skews older, so I guess IHeart nowadays is content with keeping it on AM (with HD2 or translator for FM). The listeners are of a generation that knows what AM is. Sports, on the other hand, does attract younger listeners. Plus, advertisers like the format, as it attracts a wide spectrum of male listeners. Talk radio, particularly the conservative kind, is not so hot for sponsors. The content is typically too polarizing, the listeners are too old, and have low cume and high TSL. Plus, the bigger sports stations carry play-by-play of local teams, which prefer FM if available (NFL teams in particular).

IHeart did run quite a few FM talk stations a couple decades ago, such as in Pittsburgh and Minneapolis/St. Paul, but those are long gone. In the Twin Cities, they swapped the FM talker and the AM sports station (KFAN), and now, KFAN is consistently #1 in the market. The now-AM conservotalk station is still in the 2-3 range overall, so not much listener loss.

Apparently, IHeart realized that their AM talkers are still doing fine, and their FMs make more money with other formats. They probably don't see the point of losing one of those just to simulcast an AM station that's already doing adequately for them. An FM simulcast probably won't add much more for them. WISN Milwaukee, for example, is one of the top stations in the market, with only AM and an HD2.
 
johntherogger said:
I know most stations nationwide are jumping their AM talkers to FM, but here in Miami that's not the case. They had a translator at one point but that's long gone.
Click to expand...

Not true. For example, here in Phoenix, AZ, the only commercial FM talker is Bonbille's KTAR-FM (which switched to talk in 2005 after Bonville purchased KKFR, the callsign on 92.3 before then). IHeart's KFYI can only be heard on KYOT's HD2 channel, and Salem's KPXQ has no FM presence at all.

And Tucson, just two hours southeast of me, has no FM talkers whatsoever. (IHeart's KNST may be on an IHeart HD2 channel but I don't believe it has an FM translator for that, either.)
 
WIOD recently built a really nice new transmitter facility on Tamiami Trail with an increase to 50 kW. Good coverage in Broward County as well as Dade. Technically, they sound better than AM ought to. While sports may benefit from stereo, talk radio doesn't. Other than the stigma of being AM, I can't see a reason to move them to FM. People who listen to right-wing and hate talk will find them.
 
ted chittenden said:
Not true. For example, here in Phoenix, AZ, the only commercial FM talker is Bonneville's KTAR-FM (which switched to talk in 2005 after Bonneville purchased KKFR, the call sign on 92.3 before then). IHeart's KFYI can only be heard on KYOT's HD2 channel, and Salem's KPXQ has no FM presence at all.

And Tucson, just two hours southeast of me, has no FM talkers whatsoever. (IHeart's KNST may be on an IHeart HD2 channel but I don't believe it has an FM translator for that, either.)
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Actually, KNST Tucson did have an FM simulcast from Nov. 2011 to Feb. 2013. It was 97.1 KNST-FM. But iHeart didn't see much of a ratings boost so the FM went back to music as Country. Now it's Latin Contemporary KMMA. KNST 790 continues as an AM-only talk station.

It seems iHeart does talk on FM on a market-by-market basis. There doesn't seem to be a pattern. Some markets have iHeart talk stations on FM, either as a simulcast or exclusively on FM: St. Louis, Salt Lake City, Raleigh, Greensboro, New Orleans, Fresno, Birmingham, Albany, Syracuse. Some once had them but no more: Minneapolis, Tucson, San Diego, Columbia.

Audacy is more intent on giving its successful spoken word stations, All News, Sports and Talk, an FM simulcast. It's willing to blow up a not-so-great FM station for a spoken word simulcast.
 


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