WTMP to Swtich Formats

[gamefreak]

This thought isn't about WTMP, but it about what radio used to be. Listening to WPCV after midnight. They play the Dirt Band and the guy comes on and says "Good morning from your hometown station". Really takes one back.

WTMP in the end was your standard issue Urban AC with Joyner and Baisden. They weren't exactly John R to say the least. However, if Hall can keep a traditional country station viable in 2011, maybe they could flip 98.3 to live hometown R&B. Just sayin

I like Max 98.3. However I would agree Hall could add personalities like they do with WPCV.

I would miss WTMP however. Liked the music. Only place in Tampa that played Classic Soul and R&B.

 

[jmtillery]

WTMP was a Tampa Bay radio institution...

 

[Frank Ferreri]

How many Spanish stations are there now in this market? Wasn't 96.1 Spanish at some point years ago? La Bahia (The Bay) is "Tropical". Of the present Spanish stations...how is each formatted? My guess is there must be niches as Spanish speaking people come from so many different areas. The Islands, Mexico, South America, Cuba, and others. Just curious as to the market and if they can succeed.

 

[JayR]

I'm in the Tampa area and WTMP is promoting 96.1 FM as the principal station and 1150 AM as the repeater.

Sent from my smartphone.

 

[jmtillery]

How many Spanish stations are there now in this market? Wasn't 96.1 Spanish at some point years ago? La Bahia (The Bay) is "Tropical". Of the present Spanish stations...how is each formatted? My guess is there must be niches as Spanish speaking people come from so many different areas. The Islands, Mexico, South America, Cuba, and others. Just curious as to the market and if they can succeed.

WTMP-FM was, in fact, Spanish formatted WMGG several years ago prior to becoming WTMP-FM. You are also correct that Spanish language formats are fragmented due to the reasons you suggested.

 

[fjstuden]

It is the end of an era. I remember it all the way back to mid 50's when they had a Sunday afternoon show and it was the only station playing those new songs from Little Richard.

Sad they couldn't survive with the live and local format from 60's and 70's, but after the foreclosure, its all about recovering money for creditors, it seems.

An arsonist took out the studio/transmitter building in 1969 and the engineers from WDAE and WFLA helped them get back on from a makeshift mobile home studio in about 2 days using a 1 KW transmitter from somewhere on one of the towers. Not sure how they found a 1150 crystal that fast, think an RF signal generator provided the carrier freq for a while.

 

[anatharadiorefugee]

Maybe a good time for WSJT to make a move to fill the gap ?

CBS already owns Wild 94.1, and with 95.7 The Beat also on the FM dial, a third Urban makes very little sense. Plus WSJT's current numbers are more than double what WTMP had in the last PPM. If WTMP had ever gained a viable FM signal this might have been a different story, but this is happening over and over to standalone Urban outlets.

Your post may stand as I don't believe that 98.7 will go UAC either. However I do argue that it make perfect sense for it to do so. I'd bet that tight UAC programming on 98.7 with a local morning show and active promotion would best 95.7 in both the 6 plus demo and the adult demos. In the PPM world UACs typically have done better than Urban Mainstreams. Thats why Radio One in Philly just booted their Mainstream off of its most powerful frequency in favor of its UAC station. More importantly is where Play 98.7 stands with respect to Hot 101.5's entry on the scene. I can't imagine why management would choose to be the third most listened to Pop station over being the first Urban Choice in the market, that is besides the usual racist explanations. Being the number one urban station on 98.7 is not guaranteed but, it is liekly considering the fact that Clear Channel has The Beat for the most part on auto drive. The other part of your argument that Play had a much larger audience than TMP, well that is true, but I can't imagine that being the case if the two formats were on equal footing considering Plays competion with FLZ and now Hot 101-5. CBS wont do it because they have spent considerable dollars launching Play and I believe they just hired a Morning man, right? I'd too be suprised if they would make another investment in a format change so soon. But who would have called it that TMP would go Spanish? Stranger things have happened...

On the other hand, if clear channel wanted to do something creative, WCTQ covers the southern half of Pinellas reasonably well. Guess it depends how well they do with the current format in Sarasota.

Uh, WLLD isn't an urban, they are a hits-driven, rhythmic with only a few songs that would normally appear on a true urban-formatted radio station. CBS has no intentions of shifting Wild towards urban like its other rhythmic-urban hybrid sister stations in West Palm, Orlando, Washington DC, or Hartford anytime soon. All one would have to look at the playlist of WWLD on either YES.com, All Access, or Radio Time and know this one as a fact. WBTP was the only other urban in the Tampa-St. Petersburg market aside from the now former WTMP-AM/FM. Clear Channel has gutted WBTP with syndication years ago. The ones whom will truly suffer are adults 35+ whom are used to listening to R&B gold and classics on the radio dial in Tampa.

Fine. My original point stands, 98.7 will not go Urban A/C.

 

[Parttimer]

Your post may stand as I don't believe that 98.7 will go UAC either. However I do argue that it make perfect sense for it to do so. I'd bet that tight UAC programming on 98.7 with a local morning show and active promotion would best 95.7 in both the 6 plus demo and the adult demos. In the PPM world UACs typically have done better than Urban Mainstreams. Thats why Radio One in Philly just booted their Mainstream off of its most powerful frequency in favor of its UAC station.

I love when people compare markets like Philly and Atlanta, where the Urban audience is dominant, to places like Tampa and Pittsburgh. Its apples and oranges.

 

[olmjax]

Do you think Clear Channel should change the format of WHNZ 1250 AM to Urban AC to compliment WBTP? This station has been near the bottom of the ratings for years in Tampa Bay.

 

[dwtpa97]

As has been mentioned in other discussions, as long as they can sell air time, CC is apparently not concerned whether or not there are any listeners. It's a pity that this station, one of the area's stronger signals and a classic heritage station (WDAE for decades), is so underutilized. A tragic waste and indicative of what's wrong with the industry.

 

[billalm]

Parttimer has mentioned it and I will agree. Right now you've got a full market AM that you apparently can sell time and or make money with in it's current format. Switching 1250 to a music based format simply because WTMP is gone is pointless. No way does the potential cost involved of a new urban based music AM outweigh the ditching of a talk formatted brokered station. Not good business sense at all. Besides, 1250 is used as a quality backup when scheduling conflicts occur with your cash cows (970 & 620). With the demise of WTMP, CC is better off slightly tweaking 95.7 or not making any changes at all. Not sure the small audience or revenue WTMP had is even worth the risk.

 

[Parttimer]

Do you think Clear Channel should change the format of WHNZ 1250 AM to Urban AC to compliment WBTP? This station has been near the bottom of the ratings for years in Tampa Bay.

1250 is the new business model for AM, it makes lots of money with no overhead and no ratings.

 

[anatharadiorefugee]

Your post may stand as I don't believe that 98.7 will go UAC either. However I do argue that it make perfect sense for it to do so. I'd bet that tight UAC programming on 98.7 with a local morning show and active promotion would best 95.7 in both the 6 plus demo and the adult demos. In the PPM world UACs typically have done better than Urban Mainstreams. Thats why Radio One in Philly just booted their Mainstream off of its most powerful frequency in favor of its UAC station.

I love when people compare markets like Philly and Atlanta, where the Urban audience is dominant, to places like Tampa and Pittsburgh. Its apples and oranges.

I love it when people belittle my comments out of their context. The market size and ethnicity does not matter in my post. The conversation was simply about urban vs urban AC. In fact the only PPM market that I can think of where the UAC offerings don't trounce the mainstream IS Atlanta. Philly, WDAS is king with WUSL/Power 99 and all others in its wake. In DC WHUR and WMMJ (with even a smaller signal than Play 98.7) consistently take all urban (and churban) commers. Yes, those are very urban markets. At least DC used to be before PPM.

If you want to make a sound argument against UAC on 98-7 let that be this: Urbans struggle in the PPM world. I can accept that even though my counter would be that Urbans struggle much more than UACs in PPM. However, if you want to argue 9which you did) that UAC would not do any better in Tampa than it did on 1150 AM, I say puff puff pass! I want to get lifted too LOL! The Beat does not do as well as it does because of the small traditionally urban audience that is in Tampa. There is hugh cross-over appeal too. Though I agree with you that it will not likely happen so this will remain speculation, but UAC on even a signal as challenged as 98.7 would do better than The Beat, WILD, and the current performance of PLAY 98.7. Why? Because the competition for WILD and PLAY is too great with FLZ and Hot. And because the beat remains one of the worst programmed Urbans in the country. It wins because it swims in a pool alone. Get another station in that pool, not an infant like 1150 but a toddler like 98.7 and game over.

 

[kilamanjero]

Maybe a good time for WSJT to make a move to fill the gap ?

CBS already owns Wild 94.1, and with 95.7 The Beat also on the FM dial, a third Urban makes very little sense. Plus WSJT's current numbers are more than double what WTMP had in the last PPM. If WTMP had ever gained a viable FM signal this might have been a different story, but this is happening over and over to standalone Urban outlets.

On the other hand, if clear channel wanted to do something creative, WCTQ covers the southern half of Pinellas reasonably well. Guess it depends how well they do with the current format in Sarasota.

Uh, WLLD isn't an urban, they are a hits-driven, rhythmic with only a few songs that would normally appear on a true urban-formatted radio station. CBS has no intentions of shifting Wild towards urban like its other rhythmic-urban hybrid sister stations in West Palm, Orlando, Washington DC, or Hartford anytime soon. All one would have to look at the playlist of WWLD on either YES.com, All Access, or Radio Time and know this one as a fact. WBTP was the only other urban in the Tampa-St. Petersburg market aside from the now former WTMP-AM/FM. Clear Channel has gutted WBTP with syndication years ago. The ones whom will truly suffer are adults 35+ whom are used to listening to R&B gold and classics on the radio dial in Tampa.

Fine. My original point stands, 98.7 will not go Urban A/C.

I highly doubt anyone would be bothered in Tampa Bay. CBS only has 2 UACs in their portfolio and only one was inherited (WBAV) and the other created (WNEW). They are better at creating and maintaining "Churbans" that target 18-49 year olds.

 

[Parttimer]

And the issue isn't ratings as much as it is a question of being able to sell an Urban AC in a market with 10% African-American population, which is the case in Tampa.

 

[jmtillery]

And the issue isn't ratings as much as it is a question of being able to sell an Urban AC in a market with 10% African-American population, which is the case in Tampa.

If the station in question is the only urban or urban a/c in a market the size of Tampa Bay, then a 10% target demo is all the station needs to succeed. On the other hand, if the market is already oversaturated with a singular format which attracts only 10% of the total market share, then I agree with your implied conclusion that it will be a hard sell because the demo "pie" will be sliced too thin resulting in there not being enough advertising dollars per "in-format" station to support the format.

 

[anatharadiorefugee]

And the issue isn't ratings as much as it is a question of being able to sell an Urban AC in a market with 10% African-American population, which is the case in Tampa.

It is almost silly of me to respond as we actually agree on the ultimate point, which is CBS is very unlikely to flip 98-7 UAC, thus making the point moot. However, I do disagree with you that "the issue is" the ability to sell an UAC in a market with 10% African American population. Sales people sell ratings and demos. If you are top dog in ratings and your demo, how many other stations vying for your slice of the pie is insignigicant. With regard to ratings, UACs tend to out perform Urban Mainstreams in the PPM world. If that market's Urban Mainstream (95-7) had UAC competition, it would be in deep trouble. Ask a sales person which he/she would prefer to sell, a market leading UAC (which I contend would be the case were a decent signal to flip UAC) or a Mainstream that was doing well but was the second highest rated urban in a market with 10% African American population. I know you would he/she would answer UAC everyday and twice on Sunday. Also keep in mind slespeople go gaga over adult numbers. Moreover, more people love and live the urban lifestyle than just African Americans. OK I am done with this exercise. Tampa will remain just as it is: UAC-less so we will never know which of us is right.

 

[smedge2006]

In an interview on WMNF, two former WTMP hosts say Tom Joyner and Michael Baisden are in negotiations with Cox Radio to bring their shows to one of Cox's Tampa stations:

http://www.wmnf.org/news_stories/tampas-urban-radio-station-wtmp-goes-off-air-founder-of-architects-engineers-for-911-truth-says-explosives-brought-down-world-trade-center

 

[dwtpa97]

WTMP was a great radio station, an institution in Tampa-St. Petersburg. During the last couple of hours prior to its mid-day switch to Spanish language, WTMP ran a very classy farewell announcement, which has been posted as an audio clip on Radio Years.com. It is listed as "WTMP - Format flip to Spanish - 2011". You can also find a station bio on the Radio Years website.

Following is a link to the WTMP Farewell Announcement audio clip:

http://www.radioyears.com/other/audio.cfm?pg=18&srch=general&srchfor=&id=13

 

[jmtillery]

WTMP was a great radio station, an institution in Tampa-St. Petersburg. During the last couple of hours prior to its mid-day switch to Spanish language, WTMP ran a very classy farewell announcement, which has been posted as an audio clip on Radio Years.com. It is listed as "WTMP - Format flip to Spanish - 2011". You can also find a station bio on the Radio Years website.

Following is a link to the WTMP Farewell Announcement audio clip:

http://www.radioyears.com/other/audio.cfm?pg=18&srch=general&srchfor=&id=13

The farewell announcement was a very nice touch, and I agree it showed much class...