WRZQ-FM & Weakened Signal -- What Was The Strategy Behind This Move?

[Bomba]

Hello, colleagues:

Several years ago, Paul Kenny was the PD at WRZQ and I believe he orchestrated, co-orchestrated, or had a hand in the strategy that weakened WRZQ's signal, fairly dramatically. I believe it may have been sometime on or around 1998. I was curious to know if anyone knew more specifics on the thinking behind this move.

Thanks.

--Bomba

 

[gr8oldies]

Lower power and taller tower maybe?

 

[VTKmonkey]

> Lower power and taller tower maybe?
>


As "Doctor Evil" once said...One Milllllllion Dohllars!

I believe it was Clear Channel Cincy and Kiss 107.1 that paid Reising Radio Partners a cool million bucks to drop their power from 25,000 to 10,500. For the love of money....

 

[gr8oldies]

A million bucks is a million bucks! As long as WRZQ is serving the area it wants to serve (Columbus more than Greensburg), they should still be doing alright. (I get WRZQ in Dayton, OH frequently). This is certainly not the first time someone has done something like this. Cecil Heftel paid Vern kaspar to move the former WILO-FM in Frankfort about 15 miles north of town, even paid for them to go 50,000 watts to move what is now WZPL into Indianapolis.

 

[regionear]

> A million bucks is a million bucks! As long as WRZQ is
> serving the area it wants to serve (Columbus more than
> Greensburg), they should still be doing alright. (I get WRZQ
> in Dayton, OH frequently). This is certainly not the first
> time someone has done something like this. Cecil Heftel paid
> Vern kaspar to move the former WILO-FM in Frankfort about 15
> miles north of town, even paid for them to go 50,000 watts
> to move what is now WZPL into Indianapolis.
>
OMG

Vern Kaspar (chills just went up and down my spine)

Does he still do those commentaries?

 

[jimbo700]

> I believe it was Clear Channel Cincy and Kiss 107.1 that
> paid Reising Radio Partners a cool million bucks to drop
> their power from 25,000 to 10,500. For the love of
> money....
>

I don't know about the million bucks (but that IS the rumor) but Paul Kenny had nothing to do with it. This deal was done before he arrived.
The guys at Danville's 107.1 had been trying for years to get WRZQ to downgrade from a class B to a B1 (so Danville could go from 3KW to 6KW), but they didn't want to pony-up the $$$.
Rumor also has it that Randy Michaels himself orchestrated the move. Jacor (now Clear Channel Cincinnati) purchased a 3KW class A in Milford Ohio on 107.1 and wanted to upgrade it to a class B1 and move it to Cincy. WRZQ's class B protection prohibited this move, so they offered Reising Radio Partners an undisclosed amount of money to downgrade from a class B to a class B1 and move the stick to Newbern (from Letts).
It was actually a pretty good deal for everyone.... except Greensburg and listeners in Southwestern Ohio and Northcentral Kentucky, where WRZQ regularly showed up county-by-county ratings (but it didn't help sales if WRZQ was the #1 station in Bedford Kentucky). Jacor got Milford's 107.1 moved to Cincy with a power increase form 3KW to 25KW. This station went on to become KISS 107.1 and knocked out Q102 in one book. Jacor purchased the Milford station for less than $1 million (MUCH less) and it is now worth well over $15 million). WRZQ, because the tower was moved closer to Columbus, actually put more signal into Columbus in spite of the power decrease, giving it better coverage in the market they were trying to serve. WRZQ is a class B1 (25KW at 330', but the tower is 550', thus the lower power). Although billing was OK, they never had real ratings success in Columbus prior to the downgrade, but the move gave them money to get it off the satellite evenings and overnights, plus they upgraded a bunch of the station's facilities and made a real run at WKKG. I believe WRZQ beat WKKG for the first time when WYGB signed on in Oct. 2000 as KORN Country 102.9, diluting enough of WKKG's audience to give WRZQ a fighting chance. WKKG regained the lead but they don't have the 25-30 share they once had in Bartholomew County.
Ironically, the Danville station on 107.1 got their power increase as a result of WRZQ's downgrade and it didn't cot them a penny... It was courtesy of Jacor.
Apologies for the long post...

 

[IndyDan]

> A million bucks is a million bucks! As long as WRZQ is
> serving the area it wants to serve (Columbus more than
> Greensburg), they should still be doing alright. (I get WRZQ
> in Dayton, OH frequently). This is certainly not the first
> time someone has done something like this. Cecil Heftel paid
> Vern kaspar to move the former WILO-FM in Frankfort about 15
>

And more recently with the WKLU move and power increase. They picked up the tab for the changes required at 101.7 in Elwood to get better Indy coverage.
I was working at WGRT in Danville back in the days when WRZQ (then WTRE) was running at full blast in Greensburg and Danville was wanting to move their stick closer to Indy. The folks at TRE were not interested, thank you.
But the previous poster was correct. The Jacor deal In Cincinnati let Danville get their 6KW. They put up a nice new tower north of Danville and run something like 1.8Kw output at 500 feet. Still not the best signal, but at least you can hear it over much of Indy now. Funny how from the mid 80's on they always tried becoming an Indy station and went through a bunch of format changes. Lord knows how much money was spent on studio moves, equipment, etc., none of which ever seemed to work. Seems like the hispanic programming is doing better for them than anything else they've ever tried.