Cox has moved all its AM Talk stations to simulcasts.
WSB Atlanta
KRMG Tulsa
WHIO Dayton
WOKV Jacksonville
WDBO Orlando
WOKV, WSB and KRMG are 50,000 watt stations. WHIO is 5000 watts up the dial at 1290. WDBO is also 5000 watts but low on the dial, at 580, so it has a good signal. The only Talk station Cox didn't give an FM simulcast, WSTC-WNLK Stamford-Norwalk CT, they sold to a local NPR station.
Only WDBO has gone the ESPN route on its AM side, leaving the Talk format by itself on FM in Orlando. Bonneville did the same thing in Seattle and Phoenix, moving the Talk format to FM and putting ESPN on the AM stations. But they didn't do it in Salt Lake City, where 50,000 watt KSL continues to simulcast on both AM and FM.
Although these days, you'd think the better move would be to leave the aging-demo Talk format on AM and put Sports on FM, to catch young men who may only listen to the FM dial.
All-News would be great on 690 but it's too costly for a market the size of Jacksonville. To do it right costs a lot and the ratings grow very slowly. Using ARN isn't much of an option. Ratings on the ARN station in Tampa are very low, even though they're trying to blend the network with local news.
As for 106.5, I doubt it will go Spanish. Cox has no Spanish-language stations. And Jacksonville is divided between Spanish-speaking immigrants from the Caribbean who want Tropical music, and from Mexico who want Regional Mexican. One station won't really serve them all. That's the same reason why ESPN Deportes makes no sense for 690. It's aimed at Mexican-American sports fans with tons of coverage of Soccer and Mexican beisbol leagues, of little interest to sports fans from the Caribbean. That's why there are so few Deportes affilates in the East, and the handful there are do poorly in the ratings.
WSB Atlanta
KRMG Tulsa
WHIO Dayton
WOKV Jacksonville
WDBO Orlando
WOKV, WSB and KRMG are 50,000 watt stations. WHIO is 5000 watts up the dial at 1290. WDBO is also 5000 watts but low on the dial, at 580, so it has a good signal. The only Talk station Cox didn't give an FM simulcast, WSTC-WNLK Stamford-Norwalk CT, they sold to a local NPR station.
Only WDBO has gone the ESPN route on its AM side, leaving the Talk format by itself on FM in Orlando. Bonneville did the same thing in Seattle and Phoenix, moving the Talk format to FM and putting ESPN on the AM stations. But they didn't do it in Salt Lake City, where 50,000 watt KSL continues to simulcast on both AM and FM.
Although these days, you'd think the better move would be to leave the aging-demo Talk format on AM and put Sports on FM, to catch young men who may only listen to the FM dial.
All-News would be great on 690 but it's too costly for a market the size of Jacksonville. To do it right costs a lot and the ratings grow very slowly. Using ARN isn't much of an option. Ratings on the ARN station in Tampa are very low, even though they're trying to blend the network with local news.
As for 106.5, I doubt it will go Spanish. Cox has no Spanish-language stations. And Jacksonville is divided between Spanish-speaking immigrants from the Caribbean who want Tropical music, and from Mexico who want Regional Mexican. One station won't really serve them all. That's the same reason why ESPN Deportes makes no sense for 690. It's aimed at Mexican-American sports fans with tons of coverage of Soccer and Mexican beisbol leagues, of little interest to sports fans from the Caribbean. That's why there are so few Deportes affilates in the East, and the handful there are do poorly in the ratings.
