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WLLR impossible to beat I guess??

E

EnergyDeKalb2

Guest
I wondered when they would stop trying with country. They tried K-BOB on 99.7 a long time ago, and that didn't work. So they moved Bob down to 104.9, that didn't work...so they dumped it and went to a classic country format, which obviously didn't sell. Then, they switched to The River 104.9 with all new country. Now that appears to be going down the tubes.

No one who has ever competed againt WLLR on the FM dial has ever done anything ratings wise. So, is there any chance that WLLR will EVER be knocked down at least some? Obviously Cumulus is not going to try anymore, they gave up. They are the only two owners in the QC basically, so I guess WLLR will never be not #1 country huh?

I think this latest inception of country by Cumulus was their best effort, a fresh new way of presenting this format. It just was never meant to be.

Will Clear Channel cut their own throat at some point and mess up WLLR? Would Cumulus ever consider trying again down the line? I don't forsee anything ever happening again with this format unless someone new moves to town ownership wise.

Thoughts?
 
I don't believe Clear Channel will "let" another station in their cluster beat WLLR. I recall a little over 5 years ago, 98.9 just about beat WLLR in the 12+ ratings. We're talking tenths of a share from beating them. The next ratings period 98.9 lost about 25% of its audience. B100 wasn't a factor because they hadn't existed yet. Q106 couldn't do it in their 10+ years with Dwyer and Michaels. If WLLR continues to get double-digit shares and the others in their cluster get a 5 to 10 share, Clear Channel is happy. In that case, Clear Channel has a great situation. Not saying they do it, but they could set up a situation where if a business wants to advertise on clearly the #1 station in the market, they have to advertise on the other stations in the cluster as well.

If 97X can't make it to #1 with Dwyer and Michaels, I don't see it happening. The problem 97X has though is the same thing Q-106 ran into. When Dwyer and Michaels goes off the air at 10a.m. that listenership starts to splinter. Some will continue to listen to 97X, but others will change their radios to 101.3, WLLR, 106.5, etc. WLLR doesn't have that problem. The listenership from morning through afternoon stays constant (there's not much of a dropoff). No other station in the market has that luxury. That's why WLLR has been able to stay on top. What is it now? If I'm not mistaken, it's been close to 20 years that WLLR has been #1. A person would be hard-pressed to find another station in the U.S. that has controlled a market for so long.
 
If I'm not mistaken, it's been close to 20 years that WLLR has been #1. A person would be hard-pressed to find another station in the U.S. that has controlled a market for so long.
Click to expand...

Oh, definitely there are plenty of stations in large and small market that are country giants. Just in Illinois you've got WAAG Galesburg, WBWN Bloomington, WFMB Springfield, WIXY Champaign, WXXQ Rockford (Although not always #1 but does really well).

Country listeners are extremely loyal, and it would take a something significant for them to move to another station. That's why no other country station will ever have a chance to really do anything in that market. You're never going to get better than a 3 share. Same goes for the other markets I mentioned. Honestly, WLLR really isn't the best station in the world. But it's got a monster signal and a lot of heritage. It will always do very well.
 
Ownership

>>I don't believe Clear Channel will "let" another station in their cluster beat WLLR. I recall a little over 5 years ago, 98.9


They never owned 98.9 - it was in a JSA (otherwise it would still be CHR today)
 
***They never owned 98.9 - it was in a JSA (otherwise it would still be CHR today)***
pbf1

FCC now considers a JSA part ownership, that's why 98.9 is not a CHR. If you said "they never owned 98.9 then why the sale? It was owned by Mercury Broadcasting which is in the same city with CC, ironic huh? It Was a shell company for CC and that's why their was a sale!
 
I remember talking with a DJ from 98.9 when they were still on, and what happened is they told the 98.9 people that since that station is only in a LMA they would never be number one, or even in the top 5 in the market, ever.
Once the ratings came out and they were near the top, all of the ads on tv and everywhere stopped, funding for the station dropped considerably, no more on-air contests, and if I remember right they tweaked the format a bit in the key dayparts so they could drop some audience for the next book.
CC is always out to make the most money, for themselves.
They sold 98.9 to EMF, and yet I know that someone else offered them a heck of a lot more money for it, that was not in town yet, but the CC turned it down so they could turn it into a non-comm.
I wonder if CC is still in charge of EMF's tower for 98.9 and keeping the transmitter going. I know they are non-comm. However, if they are keeping the transmitter up and going, doesn't that mean it kind of is still under CC's controls to a much lower extent now? Just curious
 
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