WRZN GOES TALK - ADDS OCALA TRANSLATOR

[jmtillery]

I had hinted towards a format change a few weeks ago. Now it's official WRZN-AM 720 Hernando / Ocala will drop adult standards in favor of becomming talk beginning October 30th. Additionally, WRZN will simulcast the new talk format over Gainesville's WDVH-AM 980 with WDVH dropping its current classic country format. WRZN will also add an Ocala translator, giving Ocala 24 / 7 FM talk coverage.

 

[cd637299]

Hey maybe WRZN can relay WGN, so the night signal would match....



cd

 

[Nostalgia]

What about WDVH-FM in Trenton???

 

[Jeff2]

Good luck with that. Gainesville already has three FM news/talk stations and I'm sure Marion county has multiple choices as well. I would think an updated adult standards format on WDVH/WRZN would make more sense or even going back to a locally-produced Country Legends on WDVH A/F and WRZN. I guess talk is cheap! I wonder if Jim Brand is retiring—he has pretty much single-handedly kept 980 going all these years.

 

[WBGR FM 93.1]

hate tp hear about WRZN dropping the nostalgia format and WDVH dropping the country legends (even if WDVH is mostly satellite fed). WDVH truly is a dying breed of AM heritage classic country stations.

-Travis

 

[jmtillery]

What about WDVH-FM in Trenton???

I have no official word on the future of WDVH-FM. While on the surface it makes sense to also simulcast talk on 101.7 giving Gainesville an FM talk outlet, the reality is WDVH-FM does not have a marketable signal over Metro Gainesville, and furthermore under current FCC FM minimum spacing rules, the signal cannot be improved East towards Gainesville. The signal is as good as it gets as far as Gainesville is concerned. The best that can done with WDVH-FM is to leave it as is and become an aggressive player over Levy and Gilchrist Counties with is current classic county programming.

 

[jmtillery]

Good luck with that. I wonder if Jim Brand is retiring—he has pretty much single-handedly kept 980 going all these years.

I believe the change is a smart move for WRZN and the new talk programming will do well for AM 720 long term. As for Jim Brand, if WDVH-FM remains as is with its classic country targeted towards Chiefland, if it were up to me, I'd leave Jim in place to take care of business on the FM side.

 

[jmtillery]

Hey maybe WRZN can relay WGN, so the night signal would match....



cd

Good idea. Maybe MARC Radio will implement your idea and enter into a WGN simulcast agreement with the Tribune Company.

 

[jmtillery]

hate tp hear about WRZN dropping the nostalgia format and WDVH dropping the country legends (even if WDVH is mostly satellite fed). WDVH truly is a dying breed of AM heritage classic country stations.

-Travis

As with anything, after years of the same thing, it becomes dated and change is needed to keep up with the 21 century. The adult standards programming was not producing what it should have been producing in terms of ad revenue. Also, the target demo was well past 60 which is an undesirable demo among the big ad agencies and even, to a lesser extent, to local retail advertisers. Talk programing will attract a younger demo, especially with the FM translator simulcast in Ocala, most notably in the 35 - 55 age range. By adding WDVH-AM, the format has full market coverage.

 

[smedge2006]

If they're going straight political talk, this is a mistake.

The star conservative hosts (Rush, Hannity, Beck) are taken by other stations in and around the market. They'll be stuck with third-and-fourth rate syndication, perhaps spiced with local cranks such as Bobby D from Ocala or Burnie Thompson's attempt at syndicating from Panama City.

Here's a theory. Maybe they're going talk so they can sell more brokered shows offering annuities and colon cleansers to the Villages and other senior hotspots. These are already a presence on 720. In that case, syndication is an afterthought.

Putting the same kind of talk on 720 and 980 doesn't make much sense. Ocala and Gainesville may be the same Arbitron market, but they're two very different communities. Especially at election time. There isn't enough talk audience left on the AM band in G-ville (thanks to 850's withering on the vine) to support a second- or third-tier conservative talker. Given Gainesville's lean, they ought to consider a progressive talk format on 980, especially since that format has found some traction in college towns such as Madison, WI.

 

[jmtillery]

Given Gainesville's lean, they ought to consider a progressive talk format on 980, especially since that format has found some traction in college towns such as Madison, WI.

Many broadcasters have found that progressive talk does not work well as a commercial format regardless of the location; hence the demise of Air America and other progressive talk attempts on a commercial basis. WINZ-AM 940 Miami attempted progressive talk and failed even though South Florida residents are mostly comprised of progressive thinkers and who are politically liberal. Non-conservative talk radio formats work best as a non-commercial format using venues such as NPR affiliates in academic communities. This explains why WUFT-FM combined with NPR work very well in Gainesville.

Several years ago I was market manager of a Top 100 multi-station cluster. We had two full-time AM signals within our cluster. As an experiment, we attempted conservative talk on one signal and progressive talk on the other AM signal. The conservative talk format was a huge success beating the Rush affiliate, while progressive talk failed miserably. As a result we flipped the progressive talk station to a format we called Impact Radio which was basically "pay-for-play" radio mixed with local health talk, financial talk and some national syndication. This proved to be a success and was profitable within 90-days of implementing Impact Radio.

 

[smedge2006]

WINZ actually drew better ratings than the sports format that replaced it. Shame you don't have your facts straight. If you helped a company junk any legitimate talk format - left or right -- in favor of infomercials, you deserve the disrespect of all listeners.

Madison's progressive talker has survived despite numerous attempts by its owner to kill it off. THAT is the real reason the format has had trouble -- sabotage from within.

 

[jmtillery]

WINZ actually drew better ratings than the sports format that replaced it. Shame you don't have your facts straight. If you helped a company junk any legitimate talk format - left or right -- in favor of infomercials, you deserve the disrespect of all listeners.

Madison's progressive talker has survived despite numerous attempts by its owner to kill it off. THAT is the real reason the format has had trouble -- sabotage from within.

I do have my facts very straight and also very accurate.

Ratings mean absolutely nothing if the market isn't buying the format. This was the case with WINZ and Air America. Otherwise management will not trash a profitable format in favor of a less profitable one. In the case of WINZ, if progressive talk was, in fact, more profitable than sports, why hasn’t WINZ reverted back to progressive talk (rhetorical).

As for informercials, these programs do, in fact, benefit the listeners who buy the products being sold. If this were not the case, the program producers would not continue to spend money buying the air-time.

The bottom line is radio, as with any legitimate business enterprise, is to turn a reasonable profit for the owner(s). Otherwise, the station will not survive the economic demands, forcing management to turn off the lights, lock the doors and simply go home. If you have ever managed a radio station (or any business) and have been responsible for meeting the monthly expenses, including payroll, in addition to turning a profit for the owners, you would already know all the details of what I am explaining and it would not be necessary for me to outline it for you here. I’m a little perplexed that you apparently do not understand that basic business principle.

As I have already stated, NPR does an excellent job on FM filling the progressive talk void which brings me to a rather interesting observation.

In previous post and comments, you seem to think placing conservative talk as a second tier format is a mistake, yet you appear to have no problem placing second tier progressive talk on an AM station where the market already has a 100kw full market NPR affiliate. This appears to be a double standard or double speak. However, if you can make second tier progressive talk on a small AM signal profitable against an established 100kw NPR FM, then I wish you the best, especially considering historically progressive talk has been proven to work best as a non-commercial format where it has failed as a commercial enterprise.

Lastly, I was very cordial, as I am now this time, with my first response to your comment. And, although you have the opinion that I deserve the disrespect from the radio listeners, I would never say you deserve disrespect from anyone.

 

[jmtillery]

WINZ actually drew better ratings than the sports format that replaced it. Shame you don't have your facts straight. If you helped a company junk any legitimate talk format - left or right -- in favor of infomercials, you deserve the disrespect of all listeners.

Madison's progressive talker has survived despite numerous attempts by its owner to kill it off. THAT is the real reason the format has had trouble -- sabotage from within.

As I had previously stated, I do, in fact, have my "... facts straight..."

You may want to go back and re-read my original statement. Although I did make a comment about the ratings in response to your implied assumption, no where did I give a reason for the format's failure. I simply said it failed. Your implied thought is that you assumed I was referring to poor ratings as the reason for Air America and other attempts at implementing a viable commercial progressive talk format demise. Your own admission is that the format was a result of "... sabatoge from within... " Regardelss of the reason behind the failure, it still failed which is a factual statement.

 

[Kmagrill]

The plain fact is that liberal talk radio struggles almost everwhere it is tried. I personally know someone that tried it on a powerful Orlando AM station a few years back and he nearly went broke doing it. For some reason, the format does not attract listeners or ad money. No normal owner sabotages their own station. That's not necessary. If they don't like a format, even one that is profitable, they can simply change it.


As for WRZN, adult standards listeners are not getting any younger. They're at the age now where they're dying off faster than the format can attract new ones. In Marion County, WVLG also plays a similar format. Personally, I'd have gone oldies to try to capture the disenfranchised WMFQ former listeners. The playlist can be adjusted to always target 35-54 and the format would have worked in Gainesville, too on WDVH. I think WSKY has the talk format pretty much locked up, but putting any format on both WRZN and WDVH makes an attractive agency buy.

 

[smedge2006]

The plain fact is that liberal talk radio struggles almost everwhere it is tried. I personally know someone that tried it on a powerful Orlando AM station a few years back and he nearly went broke doing it.

This is a provably false statement. There has NEVER been a progressive talk station in Orlando. The nearest is in Daytona Beach, and it has a very small signal.

 

[jmtillery]

The plain fact is that liberal talk radio struggles almost everwhere it is tried. I personally know someone that tried it on a powerful Orlando AM station a few years back and he nearly went broke doing it.

This is a provably false statement. There has NEVER been a progressive talk station in Orlando. The nearest is in Daytona Beach, and it has a very small signal.

It's no false statement. There HAS been a short-lived progressive talk AM station in Orlando. Carl Como-Tutera's [former co-owner of WNFI "I 100" Daytona Beach] WEUS-AM 810 was, in fact, an Air America affiliate when AM 810 first began broadcast service. Today it is a profitable conservative talk station airing mostly local content with limited syndication from TRN. And, unless you are referring to WELE-AM 1380, there is no real progressive talk station in Daytona Beach.

 

[smedge2006]

WINZ actually drew better ratings than the sports format that replaced it. Shame you don't have your facts straight. If you helped a company junk any legitimate talk format - left or right -- in favor of infomercials, you deserve the disrespect of all listeners.

Ratings mean absolutely nothing if the market isn't buying the format. This was the case with WINZ and Air America.

If you knew that of which you spoke, you would know that for most of WINZ's history, most of the programming was not provided by "Air America." You simply use "Air America" as a synonym for progressive talk, probably out of a wish to hang all of it as a failure because Air America, thanks more to bad business decisions and undercapitalization than a bad idea, went under. The truth is, Dial Global ran with the ball and is obviously quite successful with progressive talk shows, otherwise they would not be syndicating Stephanie Miller, Ed Schultz, et. al. The very fact that you refer to any progressive talk station as "Air America" shows you have no more than a superficial knowledge of the format, just enough to reinforce your prejudices.

You'd also know that the programming executive at that particular cluster of stations is a right-winger who doesn't like progressive talk. Many of the corporate executives in radio fit that same mold. So since someone up the food chain crammed the format down on them, they do everything they can to keep it from working and then say, "See! It's a failure!" As was documented in San Diego, the sales staff of KLSD told a potential client that inquired about that station to forget about it and buy the conservative station instead.

From reading your posts in the past, it's easy to see that you are a fountainhead of conventional wisdom. Thank goodness radio has people like you to direct clients to the same well-plowed, played-out furrows. In other lines of business, they realize that an idea that was half-tried and didn't entirely work out may just need some tweaking to be a success. But in risk-averse radio, it becomes a reason to never try again.

Otherwise management will not trash a profitable format in favor of a less profitable one. In the case of WINZ, if progressive talk was, in fact, more profitable than sports, why hasn’t WINZ reverted back to progressive talk (rhetorical).

See above.

As for informercials, these programs do, in fact, benefit the listeners who buy the products being sold. If this were not the case, the program producers would not continue to spend money buying the air-time.

Again, a total misunderstanding of how these pill-peddlers and annuity-peddlers work. Most people never bother with the money back guarantee, because by the time they get around to it, the business is often out of business. The peddlers ply their trade until the audience is played out, making misleading claims, then pay whatever fines are the cost of doing business, reorganize under another name, and the cycle starts all over again. Bottom line is, many of these infomercials exploit the elderly. I guess the unlicensed contractor who knocks on the 85-year-old's door and says "your roof needs work" is also benefiting his "customers", eh?

The bottom line is radio, as with any legitimate business enterprise, is to turn a reasonable profit for the owner(s). Otherwise, the station will not survive the economic demands, forcing management to turn off the lights, lock the doors and simply go home.

There are many stations that should do just that. Especially if they're simply a computer spewing out infomercials on a rusted-out tower exploiting the few elderly people who still listen to

As I have already stated, NPR does an excellent job on FM filling the progressive talk void which brings me to a rather interesting observation.

In previous post and comments, you seem to think placing conservative talk as a second tier format is a mistake, yet you appear to have no problem placing second tier progressive talk on an AM station where the market already has a 100kw full market NPR affiliate. This appears to be a double standard or double speak. However, if you can make second tier progressive talk on a small AM signal profitable against an established 100kw NPR FM, then I wish you the best, especially considering historically progressive talk has been proven to work best as a non-commercial format where it has failed as a commercial enterprise.

First, an AM doing conservative talk with two FM's already in the format in Gainesville would be third-tier, not second-tier. Roughly comparable to WLTG in Panama City, battling it out with two FM talkers. NPR is not "progressive talk", although many progressives listen to it. To call it that is to slander the people who produce it, most of whom bend over backwards to have conservative guests on when the topic is political. It doesn't motivate people to support a particular candidate or go to the polls. In fact, it probably depresses the liberal turnout more than it encourages it. To say that WUFT is doing "progressive talk" is to simply be clueless about what WUFT actually does, and again indicates that you're just conforming your "advice" to your own prejudices. Actually, where NPR is strong, progressive talk is usually stronger. As in Seattle, where KUOW-FM has a 3.5 share 12+ and KPTK has a 1.0 -- which is not bad for an all-syndicated lineup in a market with several talkers. 1.0 is probably better than 980 could hope for with a third-tier conservative lineup.

Lastly, I was very cordial, as I am now this time, with my first response to your comment. And, although you have the opinion that I deserve the disrespect from the radio listeners, I would never say you deserve disrespect from anyone.

You might view it differently if you turned on your favorite talk station to hear the gardening show, only to hear some quacking "naturopath" talk about the 40 pounds of impacted #@$!@%^ found in John Wayne's colon when he died. (An urban legend, but facts never stopped a radio infomercial.)

A final question: progressive talk works in places like Madison, Portland and Seattle. If we were to break out Gainesville (980) from Ocala (720), would you say it's more like Ocala or more like Madison?

 

[smedge2006]

It's no false statement. There HAS been a short-lived progressive talk AM station in Orlando. Carl Como-Tutera's [former co-owner of WNFI "I 100" Daytona Beach] WEUS-AM 810 was, in fact, an Air America affiliate when AM 810 first began broadcast service. Today it is a profitable conservative talk station airing mostly local content with limited syndication from TRN. And, unless you are referring to WELE-AM 1380, there is no real progressive talk station in Daytona Beach.

That is NOT correct. 810 never consummated the affiliation and never ran progressive talk programming. It signed on in 2006 as an oldies station.

http://boards.radio-info.com/smf/index.php?topic=25632.0

http://boards.radio-info.com/smf/index.php?action=printpage;topic=26475.0

As for there not being a progressive talker in Daytona... check out WPUL 1590... admittedly on a small, hobbled signal, but there... at least when this web site was put together and when I heard it last spring.

http://www.flcourier.com/wpul-am

 

[Jeff2]

I saw a little blurb that Cigar Dave is going to be on the new WRZN. I didn't know that guy was still around.