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WSNI COL change

N

NHRadio

For those who follow these things, Saga's WSNI 97.7 is on air from West Hill, diplexing with WINQ 98.7. SNI's new COL changes from Winchendon MA to Swanzey NH.
Both stations will be in HD shortly, joining 103.7 WKNE and 1220 WZBK.
 
Swanzey must have grown so much to need two stations licensed to the town to provide the 'local service'.. 97.7 WSNI and when 93.5 WTSM returns to the air.. Good for Saga, they seem to do a good job in Keene and in the other markets they operate... I have never seen any posts whatsover ripping them on this board.
 
According to the CDBS License to cover, both stations are also now in HD...
 
NHRadio said:
Both stations will be in HD shortly, joining 103.7 WKNE and 1220 WZBK.
Click to expand...

That is excellent news. The only news that could be better is that if Saga flipped one of its FMs to News/Talk as WKBK FM and flipped the old WKBK AM transmitter to a sports talk format.
 
I highly doubt that will happen. Besides, they all ready have talk on the 1290 signal, and that's fine enough.
I suppose you could ask them to throw it on the 97.7 HD2. But FM talk , blech.

Besides when 93.5 or 101.9 signs in the market, there is a chance one of them could be yappers.
 
What exactly is wrong with putting talk on FM? It would be a smart move for Saga.

1. It would expand the reach of their existing talk product as more women and younger listeners would tune in.
2. They could beat Great Eastern Radio to the punch and be first to the market with commercial talk on FM.
3. By splitting off the Red Sox to a sports station they will no longer risk hemorrhaging talk listeners (over to Great Eastern's talker) when games come on.
 
What about sports on 1220 AM in Keene ? The Keene area seems far enough away to pick up any all sports signals from the Boston area and beyond. I was cruising thru Keene the other day, how is "Sunny" doing ? Which format has been better received the soft AC on Sunny, or the Oldies from before ? Seems that no one in that area is cranking out any oldies.. Maybe 96.3 in Walpole NH may almost rimshot Keene ?
 
I don't really follow the theory that women and young people are more likely to tune into FM talk than AM talk. Sure, I work in the biz, but even when I was young and dreaming of being an astronaut, I was aware that you listened to music on FM and talk on AM. I'm pretty sure most women and young people know where to find talk radio...and would find it if they wanted it.

For example, in Portland, WLOB is FM talk and they're not exactly breaking the top five.

rt!
 
Too quick case studies involving both women and young people:

  • My 22 year old girlfriend can't stand listening to talk on AM if there's any static at all. Quality is an issue for younger consumers.

  • The mid to late 40s lady I met on a car dealership courtesy ride didn't even know WKBK existed. She listens to talk on the FM band... NPR.


From my own experience, my radio show got far more calls from females in our local days when we were on FM.
 
I know 1220 WZBK's has a very token nighttime signal, though the daytime signal is good, and in some cases gets out better than 1290's directional signal, especially down route 12 heading south from Keene. Overall there are not too many small town/city AM's in northern New England that have night signals that get out there.

Keene seems like a great city with lots going on.. Had a nice woof at Uno's there the other night, little did I know that the Olive Garden just opened.. Love that WKBK sign on route 12.
 
FTL_Ian said:
The mid to late 40s lady I met on a car dealership courtesy ride didn't even know WKBK existed. She listens to talk on the FM band... NPR.
Click to expand...

That could, however, be due to programming. Even in this highly "red" state (Tennessee) NPR talk programs have a significant audience, (especially among middle-aged and older listeners) and they don't consider the programming interchangable with the commercial talkers. (of which we have one on a big FM stick, as well as two FM sports-talk outlets)
 
My point was, there are a significant number of listeners to just will not venture outside of the FM band. They are likely to listen to talk if they encounter it when they're scanning FM but will never bother with AM.
 
And one of my original points is, if it belongs anywhere, it belongs on either one of the move ins (93.5, or 101.9) or on an HD2 of one of the existing stations. (Not WKNE, with the mighty signal, I'd like to see the HD2 put to good use, and not wasted on talk, maybe do an HD3 on talk though as an option).
 
Based on your posts, it seems you have something against talk radio. Despite your opinion it remains the number 2 radio format in America and talk stations are frequently the number one billers in any given market.

Talk radio market share inevitably will continue to increase as iPods and other new media continue to chip away at music radio listening and radio owners begin to figure out that future profits lie in original talk programming that cannot be found anywhere but their station.

Saga should flip format to talk on whatever music FM is the least profitable.

necrat123 said:
And one of my original points is, if it belongs anywhere, it belongs on either one of the move ins (93.5, or 101.9) or on an HD2 of one of the existing stations. (Not WKNE, with the mighty signal, I'd like to see the HD2 put to good use, and not wasted on talk, maybe do an HD3 on talk though as an option).
Click to expand...

Talk "belongs" wherever the companies want to put it. 93.5 and 101.9 are both owned by Great Eastern Radio. The other stations in the market are owned by Saga. It is pretty much guaranteed that one of Great Eastern's stations will be talk, so Saga should beat them to the punch and get WKBK on FM ASAP.
 
No, I do like Talk radio, just not on FM. I think there are so many wasted good AM stations on the air and talk doesn't need to be in place of any FM stations which can play music. But hey, you know it's just my opinion, right or wrong, I am entitled to it, just like you are yours.

OK Saga could put WKBK on FM, on an HD2, and the music format stays on the main channel, problem solved.
 
Compelling talk, or sports talk, or all news radio sounds good on either band. "FM talk" tanked in NYC, Philly, and some other large markets. Putting WKBK or even WZBK on one of the HD-2 signals would work out fine I'm sure. My question was which format was better received on 97.7 ? The A/C or the Oldies ? It seems to me that the AC format canabalizes the HOT AC on WKNE ?
 
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