WPFB-AM off the air

[del_griffith]

Sometimes it's just hard to walk away from buying a double-wide.

 

[XtraXtra]

Would buying a stand-alone AM in Middletown really be an investment? The best possible scenario would be an owner gets in, does a Classic Country format with local news and high school sports. You get an upper demo audience that still will listen to AM (probably well over 50...and those who remember the WPFB of the 1960s and 70s are even older. So they work their tail off, get some respectable billing. Meanwhile even WLW starts simulcasting on FM within10 years. What is WPFB going to be worth in 10 years? Are you buying an appreciating house or a depreciating trailer with a $200.000 note?

A good model might be what they're doing with WLOH in Lancaster. Some network talk radio, some local shows and local presence, sports. Be out there as a member of the community. But Lancaster is still its own little enclave. Does Middletown still qualify as being in an enclave, or is it lost in the shuffle as development closes in on Butler County?

(What do I know, I'm just a hobbyist!) But I do know marketing and markets - I'm guessing that's going to be an important distinction on whether the station can be successful or not. Agree or not?

 

[stereolane]

I heard the asking price was $600,000.. The station is not worth it when you consider there is now no billing on the books, no audience and no staff in place.

Can the station come back? Yes it can as I said before you have to have the right management in place who understands the market and understands what AM radio is all about.

The problem we seem to have today is for someone be willing to invest in radio. The big boys don't want the WPFB's of today.

By the way for the fun of it - if you had the station what format would you go with?

Right number, wrong source... I believe that I said in an earlier thread that it's likely worth around 600,000. NKU wants $1.5 million.

 

[knowbetter]

A good model might be what they're doing with WLOH in Lancaster. Some network talk radio, some local shows and local presence, sports. Be out there as a member of the community. But Lancaster is still its own little enclave. Does Middletown still qualify as being in an enclave, or is it lost in the shuffle as development closes in on Butler County?

(What do I know, I'm just a hobbyist!) But I do know marketing and markets - I'm guessing that's going to be an important distinction on whether the station can be successful or not. Agree or not?

I really depends on who and what takes on the challenge of fixing it....

Middletown, Franklin, Lebanon, Springboro, Trenton, and some of the surrounding areas that the station serves, should keep the station working well, and fine tuning to that area is what the station needs to be. Again, I have not looked at those areas lately, but I would guess that they still are likely to be fairly vibrant, still.

Actually, IMHO, the PFB heyday started to decline, when Paul Braden turn the station over to his son, (I think it was his son), and the son was more interested in becoming a Dayton station with the FM, and really abandoned the localism on the AM.

One of the true values of WPFB-FM was the Musicplex (Subcarrier) revenue, since that revenue stream brought in money from both Cincinnati & Dayton. The station was running three subcarriers, (26, 42, and 67 khz), and the station was mono during the day, running only stereo at night.

To be a Dayton station, they had to be stereo all day, so (short story)they began to alter parts of that revenue stream, which didn't help.

Also, many of the attitudes about taking on Dayton & Cincinnati Radio, also meant that you had to be a lot more than a group of local broadcasters, who never had any real competition. They were fine in their own local pond, swimming into the bigger ponds on both sides of them only brought in the bigger fish, who were more experienced overall, at munching the little guy, who didn't know how to play!

Can the AM stand alone again, probably...

 

[XtraXtra]

I really depends on who and what takes on the challenge of fixing it....

Middletown, Franklin, Lebanon, Springboro, Trenton, and some of the surrounding areas that the station serves, should keep the station working well, and fine tuning to that area is what the station needs to be. Again, I have not looked at those areas lately, but I would guess that they still are likely to be fairly vibrant, still.

...

Can the AM stand alone again, probably...

I think we're saying the same thing. If Middletown, Franklin, Lebanon, Springboro, Trenton has a sense that it is a separate community, I think the AM can stand alone. If it's just part of the Dayton-Cincinnati jumble, then I would think its just another graveyard signal among many.

 

[borderblaster]

The situation in Springfield with WULM and it's predecessors is instructive. The more Springfield became just another bedroom community of Dayton the less anyone cared about a Springfield radio station. People in Springfield drive to Fairfield Commons to see a movie and eat out while leaving Upper Valley Mall empty. Where do people in Middletown shop and work, or go out for an evening? Darn easy to get to the Dayton Mall. Towns like Trenton and Westchester are prety much just Cincinnati suburbs. No rah-rah we love Trenton vibe.

250k tops for the 910 signal and that's pushing it.

 

[nmoore6676]

Probably only someone like Joe Mullins would be able to make a go of it. It would fit nicely into his little network of Classic Country stations and with his Dad's long association with WPFB it would be a fitting tribute to Moon if his son owned it.

Failing that it might go like WBLY-WULM and now WOSU-AM into a Catholic radio voice as that seems to be the hot trend now in the area.

 

[XtraXtra]

People in Springfield drive to Fairfield Commons to see a movie and eat out while leaving Upper Valley Mall empty.

In addition to the rah rah aspect (which is important), I think another issue is whether or not there is a separate marketplace. If the biggest advertisers also have a presence in Springfield and Middletown, then I think you're hosed. But if Springfield and Middletown have their own business communities that are separate and distinct from Dayton and Cincinnati then you might have the chance to be viable. Whenever I listen to the Lancaster station, I hear ads for the local jeweler, the local hardware store, the local furnace guy, the local insurance agency, the local locksmith, the local car repair guy, etc. I rarely hear ads for the big Columbus jewelers and furnace companies. I think that's what's going to drive your success.

Interestingly, I hear a lot of Menards ads on WLOH, so I think you can also sell to the big guys if they have the small-market mindset like Menards has. And there is a Menards in Fairfield.

 

[XtraXtra]

Failing that it might go like WBLY-WULM and now WOSU-AM into a Catholic radio voice as that seems to be the hot trend now in the area.

I used to laugh at all those idiots driving around town with those Catholic Radio bumper stickers (mind you, I'm Catholic), but much to my own shock and dismay I found myself listening to one of their shows one Saturday afternoon in the car. Maybe I'm getting old, or just bored of network talk, but the guy who was on the air that particular afternoon actually sounded pretty good. As opposed to the evangelical Christian stations, it seems to be more talk instead of preaching. Maybe there's something to this trend.

 

[BobOnTheJob]

People in Springfield drive to Fairfield Commons to see a movie and eat out while leaving Upper Valley Mall empty.

In addition to the rah rah aspect (which is important), I think another issue is whether or not there is a separate marketplace. If the biggest advertisers also have a presence in Springfield and Middletown, then I think you're hosed. But if Springfield and Middletown have their own business communities that are separate and distinct from Dayton and Cincinnati then you might have the chance to be viable. Whenever I listen to the Lancaster station, I hear ads for the local jeweler, the local hardware store, the local furnace guy, the local insurance agency, the local locksmith, the local car repair guy, etc. I rarely hear ads for the big Columbus jewelers and furnace companies. I think that's what's going to drive your success.

Interestingly, I hear a lot of Menards ads on WLOH, so I think you can also sell to the big guys if they have the small-market mindset like Menards has. And there is a Menards in Fairfield.

Any chance the Menards ad is a network spot that's carried in exchange for programming that may or may not be aired on that station and/or at that time? I hear Home Depot spots on stations that don't have local Home Depots...makes a person wonder.

 

[XtraXtra]

Any chance the Menards ad is a network spot that's carried in exchange for programming that may or may not be aired on that station and/or at that time? I hear Home Depot spots on stations that don't have local Home Depots...makes a person wonder.

Nope. It's an ad specifically for the Lancaster Menards. I've also heard Elder-Beerman ads in the past as there is a store in Lancaster and I think Meijer ads (but don't quote me on the last one). I think what they do is a good model for a community-focused AM station.

 

[markbohach]

Any chance the Menards ad is a network spot that's carried in exchange for programming that may or may not be aired on that station and/or at that time? I hear Home Depot spots on stations that don't have local Home Depots...makes a person wonder.

Nope. It's an ad specifically for the Lancaster Menards. I've also heard Elder-Beerman ads in the past as there is a store in Lancaster and I think Meijer ads (but don't quote me on the last one). I think what they do is a good model for a community-focused AM station.

Menards and Meijer are local buys- as is time Warner Cable. These companies still see the value of local media. We also get a fair share of Ag related national buys like Monsanto and Syngenta. But the core of our business is local and regional advertisers.

FWIW- we just finished our best year in a decade or more. It all starts with good community service.

mb

 

[pioneer71]

I think it is great about the year WHLO had. It is another example of how AM radio can still be successful.

I looked at your website and I was wondering why you air Bill Bennett 6 to 9 and you're not local with a morning host ?

 

[BobOnTheJob]

Any chance the Menards ad is a network spot that's carried in exchange for programming that may or may not be aired on that station and/or at that time? I hear Home Depot spots on stations that don't have local Home Depots...makes a person wonder.

Nope. It's an ad specifically for the Lancaster Menards. I've also heard Elder-Beerman ads in the past as there is a store in Lancaster and I think Meijer ads (but don't quote me on the last one). I think what they do is a good model for a community-focused AM station.

Menards and Meijer are local buys- as is time Warner Cable. These companies still see the value of local media.

My next question about Menards (we do have a Menards in our county of 60,000 population)...about three years ago, Menards always had Oldies playing in their store mixed with local Menards promos. Yet they refused to buy spots on the local FM Oldies station (who's tower sat within a mile of the store). I never quite understood why Oldies was the format of choice for in-store listening, but all of their radio ad budget went to the local country & A/C stations.

 

[markbohach]

I think it is great about the year WHLO had. It is another example of how AM radio can still be successful.

I looked at your website and I was wondering why you air Bill Bennett 6 to 9 and you're not local with a morning host ?

We have chosen to put our local programming from Noon to 3PM. (and 6-7PM).
This is because our main talk competitor from Columbus has Rush in that time slot. Anything
syndicated we would put there would be considered by most listeners as second tier programming.
Having our local hosts gives us a unique product focused on local issues.
So we zig when they are zagging and it has worked well for us.

Bennett has done well for us in AM Drive as we augment it with
local news, sports, etc.

I should also note that adding the two full-power
FM translators has given us a great footing as well.

mb


would put up against

 

[XtraXtra]

I think it is great about the year WHLO had. It is another example of how AM radio can still be successful.

I looked at your website and I was wondering why you air Bill Bennett 6 to 9 and you're not local with a morning host ?

We have chosen to put our local programming from Noon to 3PM. (and 6-7PM).
This is because our main talk competitor from Columbus has Rush in that time slot. Anything
syndicated we would put there would be considered by most listeners as second tier programming.
Having our local hosts gives us a unique product focused on local issues.
So we zig when they are zagging and it has worked well for us.

Bennett has done well for us in AM Drive as we augment it with
local news, sports, etc.

I should also note that adding the two full-power
FM translators has given us a great footing as well.

mb

I have two questions for you:

1. I was curious why you downgraded the AM signal to 500 watts. I kind of enjoyed your station while tooling around the east side (I kind of like Dave Ramsey every now and then). Not to be nosy, but did someone pay you to do this?

2. Your translators sound great. I was wondering how you get the sound to sound so good. Are you using the over the air signal (I thought you had to do this), or are you feeding it directly to the FM transmitters?

 

[XtraXtra]

So we zig when they are zagging and it has worked well for us.

I should also note that adding the two full-power
FM translators has given us a great footing as well.

I think it also helps that even though Lancaster is part of metro Columbus, it is also has its own distinct trade area. Lancaster and Parkersburg are the two main places to shop along that Route 33 corridor. Not much else in between other than your garden variety Walmart and Kroger stores. Many who live in Pickerington won't go to the Eastland area anymore because they think it's in the 'hood, so they shop in Lancaster or at Easton. I think this phenomenon gives advertisers incentive to reach the Lancaster customer. You may disagree and I defer to your expertise (like I said, I'm not a radio guy), but I don't think WLOH works as a Dublin or New Albany station. It only works in Lancaster because Lancaster has a separate identity and trade area. (Maybe it would, who knows?)

 

[pioneer71]

If Bill Bennett is working for I think that's great. What makes AM such fun is the cookie cutter approach should never apply to everyone.

I prefer local radio in morning drive. I do believe whatever format an AM has that must have local news and sports . I have said before if you do it right you can make a great deal of money off local sports programming as well as seling your news elements.

I think it is great you have your local talk programming on in the middle of the day.
The best of luck on a sucessful 2012.

 

[markbohach]

I have two questions for you:

1. I was curious why you downgraded the AM signal to 500 watts. I kind of enjoyed your station while tooling around the east side (I kind of like Dave Ramsey every now and then). Not to be nosy, but did someone pay you to do this?

2. Your translators sound great. I was wondering how you get the sound to sound so good. Are you using the over the air signal (I thought you had to do this), or are you feeding it directly to the FM transmitters?
[/quote]

The AM at 500 Watts is a long story going back to our 1998 purchase from Jacor Communications. We bought the license and equipment but not the tower land- which was sitting on lucrative land in what had become the thriving business district.

As part of our agreement, we were required to move the WLOH transmitter site within one year
after the sale closed. To do this quickly, we needed to two-step the application. First, move it at 500 Watts, get it built and then run field measurements and apply for more power.

During this process, we received an unsolicited buyout offer from Frontier Broadcasting which we took. We finished the new transmitter site and handed over the paperwork to the new owners to finish the process.

The signal at 500 Watts covers the Fairfield County area pretty well. (We have a full power pre-sunrise authority so we power up at 6AM all year) and the new site turned out to be very efficient cost-wise. There are no tower lights and the solid state transmitter is very efficient.

Fast-forward to 2005- We receive a phone call from Frontier asking if we want to take the station back. I won't go into the details on this but the station was dying financially. We inspect the place to find that nothing had happened with the process in the previous five years. Except that by now, WJAS in Pittsburgh had changed sites and raised power so basically, WLOH became land-locked at 500 Watts.

Since our goal all along was to serve Fairfield County, this has not really been an issue. Any Columbus listenership is gravy but doesn't really help us with local business- since people are not going to Lancaster from Columbus to get their car repaired or buy insurance.

And that's how we operated from 2005 to 2010. And yes, a standalone AM can make money and do well. We did it for five years before the first translator signed on in 2010.

Regarding the translators- there is no requirement to feed them with an over the air signal. We can feed them any way that works best.

In our case, the W283BO (104.5FM) station is co-located at the 1320 AM transmitter site. From the technical perspective, we treated this like it was a full power station. This means the best antenna, feedline, audio processing and transmitter. It also means an RDS encoder with station and show information.

We added twenty additional feet of tower to accomodate a new half-wave ERI antenna. We installed a T1 line and Tieline Tecnhologies Digital Codecs from the studio to transmitter site. (an upgrade from the 8khz line we had for just the AM) The station feed is split to separate AM and FM digital Optimods and on to the BE (AM) and PTek (FM) transmitters.

When W257EQ (99.3) in Logan came along in 2011, the simplest and easiest way to feed it was to rebroadcast the 104.5 signal using a high gain directional receive antenna and a precision rebroadcast receiver. This way, 99.3 sounds exactly like 104.5 processing-wise. We also use a PTek transmitter here as well.

We use FSK (carrier shift) ID's on the translators. This is inaudible on most FM radios. This way, we don't need to have call letter alphabet soup on the air. It's all just WLOH.

mb

 

[markbohach]

I think it also helps that even though Lancaster is part of metro Columbus, it is also has its own distinct trade area. Lancaster and Parkersburg are the two main places to shop along that Route 33 corridor. Not much else in between other than your garden variety Walmart and Kroger stores. Many who live in Pickerington won't go to the Eastland area anymore because they think it's in the 'hood, so they shop in Lancaster or at Easton. I think this phenomenon gives advertisers incentive to reach the Lancaster customer. You may disagree and I defer to your expertise (like I said, I'm not a radio guy), but I don't think WLOH works as a Dublin or New Albany station. It only works in Lancaster because Lancaster has a separate identity and trade area. (Maybe it would, who knows?)
[/quote]

I agree. What you are describing is the difference between an suburb and a bedroom community.

Suburbs like Reynoldsburg, Dublin and New Albany in the Columbus Area and Norwood, Sharonville and Mason in the Cincinnati area are too closely identified with their big city neighbors.

However, bedroom communities like Lancaster, Delaware and Marysville (Central Ohio) and Hamilton, Middletown and possibly even Lebanon (SW Ohio) are viable standalone radio markets.

The ideal situation is a community like Marion, Mount Vernon or Zanesville where you are far enough away to carve out your own market uninfluenced by the big city. I have enjoyed watching the success of WNKR down in Dry Ridge KY. Just far enough outside of Cincy to carve out their own market but they can still attract some Metro business.

Being inside the Columbus Metro is actually a detriment to WLOH. We will never be big enough to be considered for the big agency buys. If I could seceed from the Metro I would.

mb