WPEN power question

[amfmsw]

I was just in Mays Landing, NJ Atlantic County. At 5pm, after sundown, WPEN was coming in stronger than 1210, which is IN Jersey. Is 950 at high power at night?

 

[BrandonVegas108]

WPEN is 5,000 watts day non-directional and 21,000 watts at night directional. With the signal blanketing Jersey. So 'PEN is one of the few stations that actually increase power after sundown.

 

[DG02816]

WPEN is also working on a construction permit that will give it 25 kW directional daytime using all 3 towers at its current Overbrook daytime site. The signal will blanket Philly and South Jersey.


Dave Gardiner

WVCH 740/WNWR 1540

Philadelphia

 

[tommygraser]

wpen suck they can get all the power in the world and its not going to help.sports radio is wip!!!wpen should go back to 50's and 60's oldies and do it right this time no info crap djs live 24/7.then they would be # 1 in philly!!!!!!

 

[WTUX]

Billing wise, I would much rather try to sell ads for a sports station with few listeners than an AM music station. Like an AM music station in Philly is going to be number 1 in any demo!

 

[tommygraser]

yea it would be if it had a format that no fm station had!!!it would not be #1 but it would be in the top 10. I would not listen becouse I have sirius and I get all the 50's and 60 music I want!!!.but other people that dont have it would listen.oldies 950 wpen did not do good becouse over 70% of the programing was all info crap!!

 

[MikefromDelaware]

Oldies music on an AM station in a market like Philly might be a tough sell for both gaining listeners and spot revenue. This is especially true when there is an FM oldies station in that market. Granted WOGL is boring as they do play the same music over and over (yet they have great ratings so someone likes it), but it seems any time an AM station runs up against an FM station with a similar format the AM will lose as people prefer to listen to music on FM as it is in Stereo without all the static and the frequency range of sound is broader allowing better highs and lows to come through. Listening to music on AM is similar to listening to music from an old 78 rpm record, scratchy and limited frequency response. So even though I'd personally prefer to hear the old 95 WPEN Oldies again rather than sports talk, I think I'd have to agree with WTUX that the money is in sports talk even with less listeners. It doesn't make sense, but I've had numerous radio people explain this to me and they all say the same thing. Bottomline is how much are they billing. Sports talk apparently does bill quite well as the demo is a very desired one that even with fewer listeners the advertisers will pay to get.

Now in market like Wilmington where WOGL doesn't have that strong of a signal to be able to be heard at work ( you can get it in your car, but quite often not in office bldgs, etc) and WVLT from Vineland has even a weaker signal, (1260 WAMS is even more difficult to hear in office bldgs which is unfortunate as they do have great Oldies music) then maybe a station like AM 1290 that does have a strong daytime signal probably could make a go of airing Oldies if they don't skew too old by playing too many 50's songs. They'd probably have to lean more on 60's and 70's with some late 1950's oh wow songs, sort of like the ABC Unfortgetable format that skewed 45+. They probably could make a go of it, but again from what I've been told by numerous radio people even in Wilmington as AM 1290 is a Fox Sports Radio station with only a few local programs and some U of D sports and Penn State sports, and Wilmington Blue Rocks Minor League Baseball probably would still bill higher than an Oldies AM 1290 that had more listeners. Which is probably why Clear Channel is allowing AM 1290 to remain sports talk and not going Oldies or Standards or Political Talk.

 

[fred flintstone]

AM 1290 is a Fox Sports Radio station with only a few local programs and some U of D sports and Penn State sports, and Wilmington Blue Rocks Minor League Baseball probably would still bill higher than an Oldies AM 1290 that had more listeners. Which is probably why Clear Channel is allowing AM 1290 to remain sports talk and not going Oldies or Standards or Political Talk.

1290 bills better as a sports station which doesn't show up at all in the overall Arbitron ratings than it did as an Adult Standards station with respectable numbers. The correlation between ratings/listeners and sales/billings is weak. Some formats are easy to sell. Others are not.

Same appears true of WPEN. It bills better with fractional numbers doing sports than it did with good numbers (often in or close to the top 10) as "the station of the stars."

It's not just about age (sports = young; oldies/standards = old). News-talk skews old and bills well. And many advertisers do target older consumers. They just don't buy old skewing music formats (oldies, standards, classic country) - or radio at all (look at all the ads targeting the geezer demo on TV).

Why advertisers, local/retail or national/agency, like some formats better than others regardless of audience numbers makes no sense.

And the issue is not just music on AM. AM stations can keep listeners but it is difficult, if not impossible, for AM stations to get new listeners. A start up AM has less than a snow ball's chance - not with music, sports (like WPEN) or even talk (like WNTP). AM radio is like some of those old shopping centers which once were active and now are mostly boarded up with only a few bottom-feeder type stores still in business (Wilmington has more than its share of these).