Re: WRNB
The biggest problem with that Bobby, is that those call letters are already in use on an R&B station in
Pennsauken, NJ. WRNB 107.9 FM. So first they would have to get permission to use the call letters, and
it would have to be on AM, unless they were to make a deal with the station and "buy" the call letters,
to use them on FM. This has been done before, one example being, WMVP AM 1000, which under ownership
of Evergreen media, payed a Milwaukee station for those call letters when they switched from WLUP AM, to
an all sports format.
I personally wouldn't mind a station like this in Chicago, but, in reality, I don't see it happening. I don't
see any station here trying it.
The only way I would see anything close to this happening is if Clear Channel, or anyone else for that
matter decided to flip a full powered FM to Gospel. Then there might be a chance of WGRB 1390, reverting
back to a "Dusty" format on 1390, which was actually was a good station, and did decent in the ratings.
That was years ago though, who knows how that would play out today.
At the time that they flipped 1390 to Gospel, it wasn't due to poor ratings, it was due to the fact they were
getting ready to launch 103.5 The Beat, and although the formats were not exactly the same, they would
have lost some listeners on the AM side. They actually were worried at first because The Beat, did put a
little dent into V103's ratings.
With all that said WGRB AM 1390 does pretty well for a rather signal challenged, highly directional AM. However
they do have a great signal on the southside of Chicago, which is the area the station targets most. The one big
problem for them is their poor signal in the south suburbs at night, where a great deal of their audience is also.
Have a great day Bobby!