WRKO going HD?

[4CX1000A]

Why wasn't a portion of the old TV band used to create an expanded FM, that AM licensees could have moved to? That would have leveled the playing field and even allowed more stations on the air.

There are too many radio stations as it is. One can only split the advertising pie so many ways.

 

[Smoke]

TV is having little trouble with hundreds on channels. Why not tens of radio stations?

 

[Deleted User]

Broadcast TV is having trouble selling spots, Cable networks have revenue from ad sales PLUS they charge a hefty fee to the cable and satellite companies to carry them.

Disney ABC are one of the biggest extortionists when it comes to making the cable companies pay, and that is passed straight through to the consumer.

Cable TV is no different than Sirius/XM , it is subscriber funded.

ESPN charges over 4 bucks a month per subscriber ( watched or not)

here is a estimated cost per cable channel to the cable company from a couple of years ago
http://techblog.dallasnews.com/assets_c/2010/09/subscriberfees-91236.html

 

[thirdendorsed]

Personally, I hope they go to the highest HD that money can buy.

I want my colonic cleanser informercials in impeccable quality.

Maybe they could go quad.

 

[raccoonradio]

The good news at least for listeners is I haven't heard those "35 pounds of fat stuck to the
colon walls like spackle or paste" spots for awhile

 

[Schuyler]

Personally, I think it's paste. People who say it's spackle have their heads up their butts.

 

[raccoonradio]

WGY now doing a simulcast on FM in Albany; wonder when or if WRKO, WBZ, or WEEI would
do same thing. In case of Entercom as said before Mike doing well and I might expect a //
of EEI more than one of RKO; _IF_ it happened it could be EEI to 93.7, Mike moved to 97.7 or
107.3 or who knows. But Entercom doesn't seem to want to take music away from any of
its FMs at this point. _If_ they did it, again, I'd expect them to do EEI on FM in Boston rather
than RKO, but if the latter happened...welcome to Howie Radio 93.7

Now if Entercom were to acquire another FM in town--very doubtful--maybe. They have MKK,
KAF, and AAF and could fit another in; suppose--and again, DOUBTful--they got 92.9 or
something, that could be a talk or sports talk simulcast. But again, not likely...

BZ's signal doing very well at the powerful 1030 so I don't think they would (and tech they are
on HD radio on WBZ-FM HD3, just as E-com has WEEI on WMKK HD3, for the few people who
actually do have HD receivers).

 

[DanStrassberg]

WGY now doing a simulcast on FM in Albany; wonder when or if WRKO, WBZ, or WEEI would
do same thing.

Nobody can say that WGY has signal problems. It is 50 kW-U ND-U--a Class A (former IB) AM. Having spent my college years in Troy, however, I can say that WGY was not as loud in my dorm rooms as what were then WPTR (now WDCD) and WTRY (now WOFX). The 1540 station, though 50 kW-U, like WGY, has major coverage problems because of its DA-1 pattern (which protects KXEL and ZNS-1), in the Hudson Valley south of Albany and in the Mohawk Valley west of Albany as well as (as a result of some freakish soil-conductivity problems) in downtown Albany itself. But to the northeast of its transmitter site (in the town of Colonie, I believe--right near Albany Airport) and centrally located within the Capital district, 1540 is king of the AM signals. WGY suffers a bit in Troy because its transmitter is west of Schenectady, but the signal is still plenty strong in Troy.

Anyhow, an FM simulcast of WGY can be done for only one major reason--demographics. And maybe the FM was languishing. Really sad when a huge AM signal like WGY needs help from a puny FM to attract decent audience numbers.

 

[WLYNWAZNgm]

A ship sinks. You have a lifeboat that can realistically support
10 people, for a certain time period. If 20 people try to crowd onto
that same lifeboat, there is a good chance that most (if not, all)
will perish. The same holds true for radio stations. If you have
a certain number of stations that are not profitable, or barley
hanging on to survive, adding more stations is not the answer
to a healthy business climate. You can only split the pie into so
many pieces, before your piece of the pie consists only of crumbs.
If you add HD signals to an existing station - how much are you
then cannibalizing/fragmenting that station. As a whole, have you
increased your market share? While HD is technically possible,
as a business model, I think, it is doomed to fail in the long
run. Time will tell, but I would not invest any of my money/resources
based on its continued future...

 

[raccoonradio]

They say as much in their announcement about the simulcast on FM--that WGY is powerful and
successful, I think, and they're trying to expand even more. It's not like 810 is weak, etc.

>>Really sad when a huge AM signal like WGY needs help from a puny FM to attract decent audience numbers.

Probably was--get rid of modern rock and put a WGY simulcast on there.

The interference prob. on AM can be exasperating-- I mentioned how on 128 nr Centennial
drive WRKO gets wiped out by it (and really I'm not all that far from their sticks in Burlington).
I told a co-worker, devout Catholic, about WQOM and he mentioned how tough it was to pick up.
Even if they do improve their power they still could face powerline interference, etc. depending on where one is.

 

[Don Juannn]

You can only split the pie into so
many pieces, before your piece of the pie consists only of crumbs.
If you add HD signals to an existing station - how much are you
then cannibalizing/fragmenting that station.

I've heard that comment when it came to AM/FM combos. Westinghouse didn't think they needed any FM's because they were an "AM company" and wanted to place all their efforts and all their listeners at 1030.

I heard that same comment when duopoly started...that companies would start cannibalizing their stations if they owned 2 FM's.

This was not the case. It's not the case when WBZ-TV owns TV38. Nor is it the case when WGBH-TV runs WGBX-TV...or when WGBH-FM owns and runs WCRB 99.5.

As long as the audience is staying in house, then you are executing another way to service your listeners....and offering them an added choice/feature.

 

[KB1OKL]

You can only split the pie into so
many pieces, before your piece of the pie consists only of crumbs.
If you add HD signals to an existing station - how much are you
then cannibalizing/fragmenting that station.

As long as the audience is staying in house, then you are executing another way to service your listeners....and offering them an added choice/feature.

Listeners to HD??

 

[Don Juannn]

You can only split the pie into so
many pieces, before your piece of the pie consists only of crumbs.
If you add HD signals to an existing station - how much are you
then cannibalizing/fragmenting that station.

As long as the audience is staying in house, then you are executing another way to service your listeners....and offering them an added choice/feature.

Listeners to HD??

2010: "Listeners to HD??"

1965: "Listeners to FM??"

 

[WLYNWAZNgm]

You obviously have some form of investment in HD.
Either you work for Ibiquity in some capacity,
or have some type of financial interest.
Good for you! I have no dog in this fight -
I have no stake in the eventual outcome, either
way. I am not a gambler, but if I were to make
any wagers, I would bet on HD slowly fading away,
with not so much as a whimper...

 

[Don Juannn]

You obviously have some form of investment in HD.
Either you work for Ibiquity in some capacity,
or have some type of financial interest.
Good for you! I have no dog in this fight -
I have no stake in the eventual outcome, either
way.

Nope! None at all.

I'm just one of the few thats willing the let the technology play out.

I have no stake in the outcome of HD. (I DO like the potential for having added choices on FM.)

But the HD Haterz are usually hobbyists, DX-ers, or people who run small little AM's and are afraid of it.

I am not a gambler, but if I were to make
any wagers, I would bet on HD slowly fading away,
with not so much as a whimper...

If I were to wager, I would bet on AM slowly fading away, with not so much as a whimper.

Hey, look, it's already happening!

 

[WLYNWAZNgm]

Quite the contrary. I am not an HD hater,
I just don't see much of a future for it,
that's all. As for AM fading away - in general,
yea, it is. Here, however, we are just fine -
that's for your concern, though! ;D

 

[Don Juannn]

Quite the contrary. I am not an HD hater,
I just don't see much of a future for it,
that's all.

Personally, I have no predictions. I just think the over the top alarmist criticism has no basis in reality.

As for AM fading away - in general,
yea, it is. Here, however, we are just fine -
that's for your concern, though! ;D

You keep responding that you are currently doing fine with your AM operation.

The question is, what is the future for your (and other) AM operations.

Right now I am alive, but if I am dying of cancer, you probably wouldn't choose me for anything that involved long term planning or performance.

 

[Deleted User]

Nobody can predict the future for any station, but WLYN and WAZN have a pretty stable base of paying customers, and we have weathered the storm known as the depression pretty well.

Is billing off, yes, have we lost clients, sure we have but so hasn't everyone else.

One thing we have in our favor is our costs are stable and under control, and we are owned by a fairly large company with not a lot of debt.

So far the paychecks have not bounced, and the lights are still on, and we are in a good position to ride out the storm.

 

[Don Juannn]

Nobody can predict the future for any station, but WLYN and WAZN have a pretty stable base of paying customers, and we have weathered the storm known as the depression pretty well.
Is billing off, yes, have we lost clients, sure we have but so hasn't everyone else.

You keep talking about how things are now, or how things have been.

When we talk about investments....we talk about future performance.

 

[Deleted User]

Things are good, we are keeping our head above water, I have seen nothing that would lead me to believe things are going to change for the worse, and I have been there 6 years now.

As long as people are willing to pay to get their message out, we're good.