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WKNR On FM?
- Thread starter DToTheJ
- Start date
I was just getting ready to post on another one of the other FM Sports threads when I spotted this new thread.
What happens to WKNR in the next year or two if KNR doesn't manage to acquire a full signal FM sports station in Cleveland? Can they survive on AM
given CBS experience in programing Sports stations around the country? At least CBS said they know what they are doing in their press release.
It appears KNR has to major strikes against them. Will they reinvent themselves and/or change formats?
What happens to WKNR in the next year or two if KNR doesn't manage to acquire a full signal FM sports station in Cleveland? Can they survive on AM
given CBS experience in programing Sports stations around the country? At least CBS said they know what they are doing in their press release.
It appears KNR has to major strikes against them. Will they reinvent themselves and/or change formats?
Minimal to nonexistent. Not much in the way of existing translators or easy move-ins. The only likely candidate is Clear Channel's 100.3 Lorain, and CC has no incentive to sell or lease that one, even if it could be moved into the city quickly enough to beat the Aug. 29 launch of CBS's 92.3.
Cleveland's not a market that lends itself to a translator, anyway...too sprawling and no towers tall and central enough to make an Atlanta-style 250-watt "supertranslator" possible.
Cleveland's not a market that lends itself to a translator, anyway...too sprawling and no towers tall and central enough to make an Atlanta-style 250-watt "supertranslator" possible.
gabigley1 said:
Let me answer those questions in order:
1) WKNR will still be around, but largely irrelevant in comparison to 92.3 - and 92.3's signal, quite frankly, sucks in comparison to 98.5. But 92.3 is still receivable at night in comparison to 850's putrid night pattern, built to 1959 specs.
2) WKNR will survive because of the ESPN name and brand, and access to ESPN's play-by-play. Plus they (for now) still have Ohio State football PBP. Local programming output, who knows? But part-owner Rizzo and owner's pet Goldhammer are safe regardless.
3) The same can't be said for KNR2. Total waste of electricity that gets zero ratings. Best for Craig K. to broker that miserable signal out for what he can, or just unload it to someone that want to aim the East Side with a gospel format.
And no, Craig K. won't get an FM. He should, but he won't. That station is, in effect, seriously screwed.
The only FM stick that is even possible for KNR to pick up is 107.3
CC ain't selling any of their FMs to GKB.
CBS SURE AS HELL ain't selling to them.
Radio One's 2 best assets in town are on the FM side, so that ain't happening.
Salem could part with the Fish, but they may want more than Big Daddy Mel and Poppa Goldhammer are willing to dish out.
Ideastream ain't cutting loose 90.3 or 104.9 (which they just bought)
Moody won't sell 103.3
And a translator is just a band-aid on a gunshot wound.
ELB would be the one party willing to talk to GKB and come up with something reasonable.
ELB is a small fish in a big pond and may want to get out of Cleveland to concentrate on WEOL and their Sandusky cluster.
Other then that, GKB is going down a rather brownish, foul smelling stream without a paddle.
CC ain't selling any of their FMs to GKB.
CBS SURE AS HELL ain't selling to them.
Radio One's 2 best assets in town are on the FM side, so that ain't happening.
Salem could part with the Fish, but they may want more than Big Daddy Mel and Poppa Goldhammer are willing to dish out.
Ideastream ain't cutting loose 90.3 or 104.9 (which they just bought)
Moody won't sell 103.3
And a translator is just a band-aid on a gunshot wound.
ELB would be the one party willing to talk to GKB and come up with something reasonable.
ELB is a small fish in a big pond and may want to get out of Cleveland to concentrate on WEOL and their Sandusky cluster.
Other then that, GKB is going down a rather brownish, foul smelling stream without a paddle.
vjm said:
If ELB unloads 107.3, it's so they can get out of the business entirely.
Outside of sports PBP, WEOL literally can't draw any advertisers. Or listeners, for that matter. Cut 107.3, and WEOL goes from little money - to no money at all. (Of course, that's what you get when said station has ZERO full-time employees, no news department, and makeshift imaging reusing five-year-old Carter Davis cuts. It's a damn shame.)
The Sandusky cluster could make a nice penny, however.
Scott Fybush said:
Remember, tho, that 100.3 is heading for 99.1, and is actually licensed still (as an intermediate step only) at 99.7!
I generally agree with all of the above, though. 99.1 seems destined to be an Asterisk Translator simulcasting WTAM, a la Miami and Portland ("NewsRadio WTAM 1100, now on 99.1!").
It really can't do much except give WTAM a minor presence on the FM dial in Cuyahoga County.
And no, CC won't put FSR or whatever on it (FSR may be destined for "The Fan's" overnights, at least until CBS gets an "Overnight America"-style in-house show up). That's not even worth wasting the electricity or putting up an antenna on the WMJI tower (where 99.1 is headed, whenever the snag in engineering gets unsnagged).
CC won't just put up a 24/7 satellite sports talker to mess with CBS' heads. It's not what they do. And they certainly aren't going to sublease it to Craig.
I think more than likely 'KNR will follow the CBS model with low-rated sports stations and go all brokered shows. Rizzo, Munch et al will no longer get a salary, but will instead get a much larger chunk of ad revenue, but they will also have to sell the ad time on their own.
FM 100 Means Music said:
Basing on your theory (and Munch has double-dipped in WKNR's sales department ever since he joined 850 in 2007) I don't consider it far-fetched for KNR to dismiss "R&R" and scoot tRBS over to 3pm-6pm, and scoot Munch to the 10am-12pm slot. Which gives them the excuse to give Rome's third hour back. "GameNight/Midnight at the Oasis" will likely disappear, but "Xs and Os" has always been heavily sponsored but not brokered per se. So that will likely make the cut.
WWGK is a dead station walking. It will be LMAed or sold for pennies on the dollar in less than a year. Craig K. is no longer able to protect that money-bleeder under the guise of "a two-for-one buy on the ONLY source for all-sports in Cleveland."
Scott Fybush said:
What is on 100.3 in Lorain? The only thing I have ever received on 100.3 in Lorain was WNIC/Detroit and occasionally WCLT/Newark.
Buckeyes2001 said:
The translator never signed on over there (if what is to believed, it was supposed to be on or near the WDLW/1380 tower in Sheffield Village). It's always been in construction permit status. Radio One tried to move the transmitter over to North Ridgeville to relay WZAK/93.1, but the Klaus family successfully made them back off over concerns about interference with WNIR/100.1 Kent.
Clear Channel bought the permit, and was intending to scoot it to 99.7 in North Ridgeville as a pseuo-booster for WGAR/99.5... as a test run to move it to 99.1 on the WMJI tower. Allegedly to translate WGAR, but could either translate WTAM or an HD2 sub-channel of choice (heck, look at CC's Birmingham, AL cluster!).
Outside of that, there are some small boosters or mini-translators, but all are 15 watts or less, mainly relaying a religious format like "K-Love."
gabigley1 said:
You've clearly never tried to listen at night.
Their 5,000 watt nighttime pattern is practically inaudible throughout a good chunk of the Cleveland metropolitan area, especially the suburbs. The 50,000 watt daytime pattern is compromised to the east in order to protect the 850 facility in Johnstown, PA... as a result, it has clear weak points in Akron and Youngstown.
WKNR will not "die," but if it is clearly and massively impacted in a ratings/revenue standpoint, I wouldn't be shocked to see a significant chunk of their local programming go bye-bye in favor of ESPN Radio. KNR2 will be expendable, provided anyone wants to buy/lease it.
Nathan Obral said:
Of course, Radio One - original would-be purchaser of 100.3/Lorain - didn't want the thing to relay WZAK. My best semi-educated guess is that they wanted to move it into Cleveland, too, to relay the gospel music of WJMO/1300 (probably via a subchannel on 93.1). WZAK's signal needs no help in Cleveland, or even North Ridgeville, for that matter.
The would-be 99.1 translator is actually licensed, per the FCC right now, to 99.7 in North Ridgeville. They actually filed a license to cover on it, then immediately filed a silent STA, stating their intent to get a new CP for 99.1 right there on the STA.
Then, CC got a CP for 99.1, which was pulled back almost as soon as it was issued for technical issues.
What does this have to do with the topic? Well, WKNR will not be heard on this translator at all, unless CC executives go insane.
It's always been my educated guess that 99.1 is intended to give an FM signal to WTAM, as CC was making similar moves in Portland OR and Miami around the same time (KEX and WIOD, respectively). Now, who knows? They've launched some other formats...
And their talker in Minneapolis, KTLK-FM, is swapping with KFAN/1130, and in the move to AM, KTLK gets KFAN's current in-city FM translator (and there's supposedly talk of adding one or two more).
The Kossanyi family can't afford to buy baklava. Besides, since the old man died, they've been trying to sell kotex. They're delusional about it's value, though, which is why no one is buying.HHH said:
OhioMediaWatch said:
Self-correction here: I meant location...W259BI has a Lorain COL still, at the North Ridgeville temporary TX location.
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