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WPFM

WPFM was resurrected in 2004. It was a great sounding radio station. It featured all the top songs of the day and was well on its way to kicking Island's ... Unfortunately multiple changes in personnel have resulted in a series of poor decisions. (Seems history keeps repeating itself at this station) The processing is screwed up and the station sounds terrible. I think they have a new transmitter, but somebody doesn't understand how to set things up or something. It sounds dreadful. They also have a ton of urban, and weekends it sounds like you're stuck in a bad night at LaVela. The non-stop dance club music with very little dj interaction is hideous. It's sad. They were on their way to doing something, but have stubbed their toe again. Everyone I know is listening to Island again. Looks like the Great 108 will have to remain a memory for you all. For those who choose to suffer through the voice-tracked mess, I can only ask...Do you know about the station at 105.9?
 
Shortly after their "resurrection" in 2004, WPFM's stick got slapped hard by one of dem 'canes and they did the fall book with a wire coathanger on top of a rusted-out '53 Buick. Got clobbered and cost Mr. Bond a bundle. Since then they've been trying to run it (and the rest of the cluster) on $1.28 a month. Oh, and nobody's told 'em the whole hip-hop things is over, yet. But, ya know, they really don't sound awful. Just that selling "the other" CHR/Rhythmic station in a town of 37,000 ain't no way to get rich. Though it does seem to be a great way to get poor! Look for a switch to Hot AC (?) or Classic Hits (?) when the spring book hits the beach...
 
I'd consult 'PFM for nada just to get the pure satisfaction that it could be a station that counts on PCB.Better yet, I'd put my own money down. Top 5 in the good demos in two books (as long as the signal's right)with virtually no additional costs...or I'll pay 'em $10,000. Someone tell them the format is right in front oftheir eyes...and the world visits every year to listen to see if they have a station they remembered...alongwith a few locals. Why does everyone dog chase the same car on PCB???....I dare someone from 00 to givesomeone with perspective a chance. Some exec with a sense of pride needs to take a chance. $10,000goes a long way toward profits that aren't happening now....Meanwhile --- back to the deadair and drudgery of a once great station...
 
They really should just leave the thing turned off. This would save money that could be added to the bottom line... which is really all that matters anyway, isn't it? We are talking about Double O Radio aren't we?
 
Free Man said:
They really should just leave the thing turned off. This would save money that could be added to the bottom line... which is really all that matters anyway, isn't it? We are talking about Double O Radio aren't we?[/uote]I'll lease that station for $20,000 a month from Double 00000 and get the numbers and $$$. That station is NOThaunted, but it is possessed by radio business experts...experts at conning investors and banks into believeingthey can do the impossible. With the debt and overhead in PCB it is impossible. There is an easy way to makemoney on that station, if the signal is working. Who is a decision maker at 00 or PFM? This has to stop. Thenagain, passion for that damned place has to stop. Easier said than done.
Click to expand...
 
Tibbs2 writes "I'll lease that station for $20,000 a month from Double 00000 and get the numbers and $$$. That station is NOT haunted, but it is possessed by radio business experts...experts at conning investors and banks into believeing they can do the impossible. With the debt and overhead in PCB it is impossible. There is an easy way to make money on that station, if the signal is working. Who is a decision maker at 00 or PFM? This has to stop. Then again, passion for that damned place has to stop. Easier said than done." Don't know who the GM is, but Double O's CEO is Terry Bond (as is Double-O-Seven). They're actually good broadcasters with lengthy records of success. The challenges of Panama City are just more than they--or most broadcasters--have ever encountered. With WPAP and Sunny churning out money since the day they arrived, Clear Channel has never really had to work at it. Styles figured it out, but it took them many years of sweating bullets before it fell into place. It requires perfect format choices, very prudent budgeting and consistently strong sales effort. And a very long timeline. Styles didn't set the market on fire immediately, but built on their successes slowly but surely.
 
RNR --- thanks for the comments back. No doubt it takes effort. I haven't seen (or listened) to PFM in a while and doubt I'llbe heading back to that part of the world for a few more years. I have a few comments off the top of my head on this...1.) You don't pay stupid prices for tin cans without doing your homework. If Double 0 is so great, then why did theyeven consider this market? Or buying those stations? Or keeping them or not spin them off if they knew they'dbe so much trouble.2.) When you pay those prices and you even take the time to return legendary call letters, you a least ride them for everything you can --- they did nothing to make any listeners feel love, loyalty or nostaligic. They botched this.Why did they not ever once say "The Great 108" --- 3.) They promised a website from day one, I haven't seen it. If it is there, I'd like to know. This is a sign of mgmt notdoing the job the right way. A little thing, but still --- a sign of what has been all to familiar --- settling for little ornothing.4.) They never went after anything or anybody --- they should have had a real game plan, instead of a lets go afterIsland and hope for a share. Instead they put on a faulty product with an average or less sound and got no enthusiasmfrom within or from listeners. They botched it with mediocre crap from day 1.5.) They appear to have zero belief in their own product. It's like, okay, we tried, we failed. So what. It's on auto-pilotand will now go down as another 107.9 misstep -- it should not be allowed to happen.6.) True our good friends at Styles (Kim and husband Tom) have been smart and lean and found their nitches. But, theyfound them and worked a consistent plan --- and yet they are not maybe the most savvy broadcasters, but they've beenin and out of PCB radio for 20 years, in fact, no one else has so much knowledge of a market. I have to give them greathuge props for selling, wheeling and dealing, and getting back in and staying above water and growing in other markets.7.) I don't see any signs of at the top good operations / operators of Double 0. What I am afraid of is that these guys areradio lengends in their own mind who really have no clue of anything except how to look good to bankers and investorsand they spend their time behind the doors of nice offices and play shell games (like 99% of the industry does) andthen shake their heads and roll their eyes that local management...meanwhile they offer local mgmt zero help and would never roll up their sleeves and get down and dirty.8.) Don't settle for average or good. If you have to change the damn format every day, do it until somebody is listening.They should have a crisp signal and bust everybody's ass for not putting a crazy show on that station. The radio gamein PCB is easier now than 15 years ago. The answers are --- effort --- more effort and then you go to work and thenyou sweat, work it, live it and own it. That's what is missing from corporate suit infested radio -- nothing on the inside.A shell. Then again, I'm just a tyrant to work for...right. Results. Easy. Radio Double PFM style --- Ridiculous. And sad.And an insult to all those who went before them.
 
Tibbs2, you're generally right on the mark. But here are a couple thoughts. 1. They didn't really pay much more than "stick" for the foursome, and only one (Arrow) was somewhat developed. The other three weren't much more than blank slates, including PFM. So they started with very little operating income. (Yes, they should have bankrolled it better, and shouldn't have assumed a normal growth track--PC ain't normal). Before the ink was dry, two of the four--if I remember correctly--got nailed by the (August 04??) hurricane that not only crippled 'em for the fall book but also set them back several hundred grand in up-front whip-out cash. (Again, they should've had a pile of money set aside for such a calamity, but in fairness, most people don't). 2. As someone mentioned earlier the published numbers you see in R&R for PC are a two book average. You can figure out the real (12-week) fall numbers by multiplying the published fall share by two and subtracting the spring share. You'll see that Island and PFM are actually only about one share apart. So no one should be shocked if PFM vaults past 105.9 when the spring 06 ratings are released in about a month. Should that indeed happen, the whole conversation about the Great 108 will take on a new twist. 3. Who is insane enough to knowingly launch a 16th commercial FM (Lynn Haven) in that market? I'm sure they think they have The Better Mousetrap! :)
 
Regarding 2 of the OO stations getting "nailed" by a hurricane....that is pure heffer dust (aka BS). I personally know that those 2 transmitters were misused, not maintained, mistuned, etc etc. You can't use that excuse...find something else. I know about this first hand.Charlie Wootenaka CCENG
 
I don't doubt it a bit, Charlie. But most of the misuse & abuse had to pre-date OO; hell, they'd just bought the things. The story I heard was the pair got smacked pretty good, and that it was a budget-buster. Few of us plan on those things happening, and fewer still can dig a couple hundred grand out of our pockets. Like 'em or not, common sense says it set 'em back.
 
Good info. How much did they pay? I never saw or looked into the dollars. I have not beenin the market in so long and I have no info on the hurricane damage you mention. I will interject for the comments Charlie made on the posts below - I'd have to take his wordfor this. He does know the market better than ANYONE. He'd know. Still, the equipmentcan be as bad as WTBB's fiasco year ago??? Maybe!RNR, there is insurance for some equipment situations. And I would say 00 followed the"we can make it happen" pie in the sky formula when they stepped in it in PCB. I have yetto see anyone buy a station for a reasonable price since 1990. Inflated multiples, noconcept of how bad the equipment really is, but yet the prevailing logic is when youmulti-cluster and tighten to save costs it justifies paying more than makes sense.CC tends to just have so many irons in the fires that they cover themselves. Citadel,Cumulus, etc., would scare me to see the truth. Smaller companies like 00 want tobe big fish so badly that they think they can juggle small and medium markets andstep it up. Those are such tough markets. Good companies have emergency fundsand Murphy Money for problems. It's just prudent management. I still contend 00is coming off looking like a bunch of optimists blindly battered by reality radio of thePanhandle. Now they seem to be burying their heads in the sand (beautiful as it is)and are not optimizing their potential and are not meeting their costs. Shoestringingis the kiss of death. They should at least lease the impossible stations out to coverthe debt and stop the bleeding and sinking of anything showing a profit. What arespots selling for? I have heard they are $6 in FWB/Destin. Makes no sense.Damn glad I am not the one responsible for making the PCB decision from step 1.BTW, I still owe you (about a million beers ???) Mr. Charlie Wooten, VIP!!!Charlie --- you talked me out of trying to buy those stations from Jim Martin years ago.Saved my $$$ and a$$. Never will forget it. You're the best and they better be payingyou the big bucks, sir. I am sure they are. Glad to know you are doing well.BTW Charlie --- what would YOU pay for a 100kw signal in PCB if you had a blank check, but had to get a great deal. I know the magic numbers started heading waySouth at $600,000 years ago and that was before all the signals had arrived.Lynn Haven's #16, huh? Hey, look at it this way --- there are fewer signals in NYCthan PCB...but they are the same in population...NYC is about 15 million. There'sabout that many grains of sand on PCB. Big spenders aren't they.
 
"Real Ratings"

If you do the math the real numbers look like this.....PAP - [EDIT]The Beat - [EDIT]Talkradio 101 - [EDIT]Sunny - [EDIT]Island 106 - [EDIT]97X - [EDIT]PFM - [EDIT]Instead of PAPIsland 106Talkradio 10197XThe BeatSunnyPFM Next book could lookmore like this, which would be quite a hit to one company.[EDIT*=Our current TOS prohibits the citation of specific Arbitron numbers in list form because of copyright concerns. We apologize for any inconvenience]
 
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