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wlbe 790 leesburg

O

ok walters

Guest
I just took over as the new GM at WLBE 790 in Leesburg. Great signal but bad programming. Station is in the black now but the programming is a hodge podge of paid time and syndicated talk. I have some plans already, but I thought this might be a good place to solicit some suggestions from the crew here on RD. Any suggestions from those of you familiar with the station and the area?

Thanks
 
WVLG is probably your main competitor for local ad dollars, I'd guess. They are an interesting story, being able to pull off a music format on AM, staffed by local residents who are retired from major markets.

Much as it pains me to say this, your worst programming, the brokered shows, are probably your most profitable. I don't know if there's more money to be made by actually trying to attract listeners.

What sort of syndication do you have now? Anything anyone's ever heard of?
 
OK, Congrats on the new job!

As for the programming, being in the black aint bad in this day and age. Keep those current advertisers happy, happy, happy.

Instead of any big changes, maybe you just need to tweak whats there and make it better. You know, tighten up the liners, promos, ect. and do the community radio thing. Anybody doing HS sports? Maybe look for new or fresher programming from the tons of syndicators out there with content to spare. You have a lot of distant, and not so distant signals to compete with. Good luck!
 
When I worked for a small AM station, it was a mix of Contemporary Standards (Neil Diamond-Beatles-Carpenters-Fifth Dimension-Manilow, no Bing Crosby) with brokered shows nights and weekends.

The ratings were good enough and listener loyalty was strong enough that he could sell the music format to retailers in the area. They'd get response from our listeners, who got their favorite, rare-to-hear-on-the-radio music in the morning, middays, afternoons and overnights.

Then in the evening and on weekends, local groups, hospitals, doctors, lawyers, fiancial people could have a 30 or 60 min. radio show done in house, or he'd air the typical infomercial material from Purity and other suppliers.

I always thought he should have kept weekend mornings as all-music, with a parttime host on Saturdays and Sundays to chat, give the weather, sports, community announcements and a few news headlines. When you've hit your 50s and 60s, I think you want that seven mornings a week. Sat. and Sun. mornings are NOT that different than weekday mornings to empty nesters and retirees. Wait till weekend afternoons and evenings for the paid programming. Don't drive your listeners to other stations on weekend mornings and hope they'll be back on Monday morning.

Hope that's good advice.
 
I used to board op there for "Bobbie DePew Show" years ago.
I guess Mr. Mac is no longer there?
I agree with a concept much like WVLG & community radio (Variety programming) for the direction of the station.

Congratulations, Mike's dad!
 
OK, "ok"!

If the signal reached The Villages 24 hours, which it doesn't, I thought maybe Standards would work, since WVLG abandoned that.

But, being an AM, I think that the above post about brokering might be your only choice.

But then again, I am not in the biz---so you can take what I write with a grain of salt.

I *would* say this.....don't try anything 1410 tried lately....you see where that has gone!

cd
 
Congrats, OK...now the hard part, eh? I've never listened to LBE at great length but have met Mary a couple times on a side project...what are YOUR thoughts on the direction the station should take? I don't necessarily agree with those who say AM can't do that and shouldn't try this...AM can do damn near anything FM can do if it's done right (music fidelity notwithstanding...but how many audiophiles listen to ANY radio with the notion of hearing music the way it ought to be heard?) :) Would love to hear your ideas before offering any suggestions....
 
Thanks for the responses - they all help in some way.

The current format is potpourri - second and third tier syndicated talk (Business Talk Radio, Americas Morning News, etc.). The only really well known name we have is Laura Ingraham 4-7 PM - the rest are pretty much unknown. The Americas Morning News would be good if it was actually real news, but it is pretty much only political news from the right. We have Party Line (Swap Shop) on M-F 9-11 AM and it has been on for decades in that time slot - we took 37 calls in two hours today - it is a winner. We then have local block programming from 11A-1P which is bad radio but is a real money generator. There is pretty much all syndicated programming from 1 PM until the next morning at 9 - and it generates very little as you can imagine. We do HS football and will be doing more HS sports in the evening. Weekends are fairly full of church and local block programming - Saturday is the best revenue day of the week.

As you all can see, it is pretty much a mess - but it is marginally profitable even so. Almost no morning revenue before 9 AM, and no afternoon drive revenue, but as EJ204 said, it is an unusual demographic in that way as it is a major retirement area and the commuter traffic just isn't there. The afternoon and overnight programming is all over the place - 10P-Midnight Computer America, Business Talk Radio in the overnight, and Real Estate Today 8P-10P a few nights. Weird program mix and no revenue - anything has to be better than this I would think. The only thing we have is a VERY strong daytime signal and profitability and not much else.

After studying the station for awhile, I am considering a 60's-70's Billboard Top 100 format, much as WVLG used to do. Our signal is great in the day there, and WVLG's lack of a website/streaming content may help our chance in that area. The other surrounding communities average age, the lack of any other station doing anything like that, and the station's fairly stable financial situation give me reason to think it will succeed. We would not be relying on the new format to pay all the bills as the existing programming does that, so the pressure of this decision is likely not make or break. An informal survey of our largest advertisers indicates strong support for this idea, so who knows.

??????
 
Check out these folks.... www.590wmbs.com ....

They are in Uniontown, PA, about 45 miles southeast of Pittsburgh. They are in a town full of older and low-income folks, and you can hear the stations from Pittsburgh as well as Morgantown, WV (which is only 15-20 miles away). They actually show up in the Pittsburgh ratings.

They do very well, with a sort of standards format, local news and talk. They also carry Penn State sports.

Proabably a good model to look at.
 
Parttimer said:
Check out these folks.... www.590wmbs.com ....

They are in Uniontown, PA, about 45 miles southeast of Pittsburgh. They are in a town full of older and low-income folks, and you can hear the stations from Pittsburgh as well as Morgantown, WV (which is only 15-20 miles away). They actually show up in the Pittsburgh ratings.

They do very well, with a sort of standards format, local news and talk. They also carry Penn State sports.

Proabably a good model to look at.
Click to expand...

You transposed the URL. For those interested; http://www.wmbs590.com/
 
Congrats on landing GM at WLBE! Remember that station well from when I lived in the area. If music is still in the desired future, I would take it Classic Hits, True Oldies or Classic Country/Country Gold. I know, what a mess even those choices are... But Classic Hits/True Oldies would work with the current retirees in VLG-land and the Golden Triangle area as well. And Classic Country/Country Gold, that could easily gain the attention of the local listeners too. A little smalltown WSM-sounding 790 would be nice to hear when I'm driving up 75 across and across 441 going to Mount Dora and back!

Before the new owners of 1240 WKIQ took it satellite-fed Classic Country using Jones, we were a Variety Talk station doing okay with syndicated talk and TOH and :30 news updates, and a couple of local shows. Didn't make much a of a dent against WLBE though, whom of which were basically standards during the day and Bruce Williams at night! With a signal you could actually hear outside of Eustis if you wanted. :)

Have fun with it, sir. I wish I was still around there (and had the time) to see it all happening.

All the best!

Byron
 
Swap meets. Use the WJXR model. It just might be crazy enough to work, in this economy.

G
 
^ I keep forgetting about WJXR, and am kinda surprised that more stations haven't given that a try, especially in this economy.

cd
 
If I had a 1000 watt AM station, I'd be doing local morning news, swap meets, CBS/FOX/ABC news ototh, brokered Southern Gospel sermons & bluegrass music overnights & Sundays.

G
 
ok walters said:
I just took over as the new GM at WLBE 790 in Leesburg. Great signal but bad programming. Station is in the black now but the programming is a hodge podge of paid time and syndicated talk. I have some plans already, but I thought this might be a good place to solicit some suggestions from the crew here on RD. Any suggestions from those of you familiar with the station and the area?

Thanks
Click to expand...

BRING BACK EVE THE MYSTIC. SHE WAS ON FOR 16 YEARS. SHE'S A FRIEND OF MINE.
 
I'd listen through the second-adjacent interference (with 810 in Orlando) for a good classic country station! O.K., I wish you the best with 790. The world needs more live, LOCAL radio stations!
 
Check out this stream- a great mix of all songs from the 60's and 70's. Might give you some ideas on some unique programming and you may also consider syndicating. This just launched last week and the music licensing is set up for syndication. www.vinylradionw.com
 
Classic Country in that area and The Villages so close would work really well. I have the format ready to do if your interested. Congratulations on the new GM job.
 
I'd be a bit careful about Classic Country, unless you could be sure that the local audience really prefers Country to standard popular music. 100 miles to the north, Classic Country makes sense, but I don't think that's right for an AM station in the Orlando market.

And I'd be careful about 60s-70s Oldies. CBS's WOCL already covers your region. Yes, they lean more 70s-80s. But I think they still play enough Beatles-Beach Boys-Motown to make a 60s-70s format on your station irrelevent.

I think for an AM station, especially one that's going to interupt the music for Swap Shop and Brokered Programming, you'd better lean softer than WOCL. Maybe Neil Diamond-Dionne Warwick-Carpenters-Manilow isn't your cup of tea. But if your format is too close to WOCL or too uptempo, you're going to miss that segment of the audience that is underserved by FM radio and is looking for a more mature AM sound.

I'd also work hard to keep the non-music programming together in one block that doesn't confuse the listener as to when music will air. My station's owner managed to keep all brokered programming to weeknights after 7pm and weekends. If your brokered time clients have already figured out that you have a reduced signal after sunset, I guess you can't convince them to air their shows after 7. But you could still try to keep the non-music programs in a block, say 10am to 2pm. Keep morning drive, afternoon drive and overnights all-music.
 
I agree about the classic country - too much of a niche and a little too far south.

WOCL does a pretty good job with the 60-70's, but more than half of the playlist is 80's, and that is a problem with the older set. The Villages residents have been complaining that WVLG plays too much 80's and not enough 60's, and they play far more old stuff than WOCL ever will. I understand your point and the concern about WOCL, but we will skew older than them for sure. The current playlist we are developing has NO 80's at all and no metal, so we will see.

The block time has been in the same time slot for years 11A-1P weekdays and on the weekends. Will most likely leave it where it is and try to put any new block time on the weekends.
 
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