WWMI AM-1380 Radio Disney

[Louis_009]

We allready hread about some Radio Disney stations to pare back on its collection of small and medium market AM’s like in Jacksonville's AM 600 WBWL will go dark on Sept. 30th 2010 what about Tampa's WWMI-AM 1380 will they go dark too or flip to someting else before the deadline?

 

[drt]

Hi Louis,

It looks as though the Radio Disney stations in Miami (990), Orlando (also 990) and St. Petersburg (1380) are safe for now.

The Tampa/St. Petersburg market is considered one of the bigger markets (As is Miami/Ft. Lauderdale), so they would be safe and even though Orlando is a medium market, I doubt they would drop Radio Disney there, being that Disney World is in their backyard.

About 3 months ago, ABC/Citadel did sell off the Disney station at 1600 in the West Palm Beach area and they were silent about a month and are now ethnic programming.

Here is a quote that might help clarify, just a little, about what is going on:

"The Walt Disney Company continues to pare back on its collection of small and medium market AM’s. Scott Fybush at Northeast Radio Watch tweeted today that four Radio Disney outlets will go dark at 12am on September 30. 550 WDDZ Pawtucket/Providence, RI, 580 WDRD Newburg/Louisville, KY, 600 WBWL Jacksonville, FL, and 1550 WDZK Bloomfield/Hartford, CT will all cease broadcasting until the stations are sold. Disney shut down similar stations in Tulsa, Norfolk, Greensboro, and Wichita earlier this year."

drt

 

[badjef]

Hi Louis,

It looks as though the Radio Disney stations in Miami (990), Orlando (also 990) and St. Petersburg (1380) are safe for now.

The Tampa/St. Petersburg market is considered one of the bigger markets (As is Miami/Ft. Lauderdale), so they would be safe and even though Orlando is a medium market, I doubt they would drop Radio Disney there, being that Disney World is in their backyard.

About 3 months ago, ABC/Citadel did sell off the Disney station at 1600 in the West Palm Beach area and they were silent about a month and are now ethnic programming.

Here is a quote that might help clarify, just a little, about what is going on:

"The Walt Disney Company continues to pare back on its collection of small and medium market AM’s. Scott Fybush at Northeast Radio Watch tweeted today that four Radio Disney outlets will go dark at 12am on September 30. 550 WDDZ Pawtucket/Providence, RI, 580 WDRD Newburg/Louisville, KY, 600 WBWL Jacksonville, FL, and 1550 WDZK Bloomfield/Hartford, CT will all cease broadcasting until the stations are sold. Disney shut down similar stations in Tulsa, Norfolk, Greensboro, and Wichita earlier this year."

drt

Who’s quote was that?

Jeff in Sa-ra-so-ta!

 

[MRW]

Pat George left Radio Disney AM 1380, allegedly retired, last Friday
after 11+ years as Promotions Manager. Pat brought much "life"
to the station. As the late Drew Rashbaum used to say, "its
people like Pat (personality) that makes a radio station a radio station.
Since Drew's passing (over two years ago) WWMI/Radio Disney AM1380
advertising revenues have plunged over 80%. The station once billed over $1M annually, now bills around $250K annually. An alarming loss since the station is managed from Orlando as a cluster market.Advertisers can expect very little, if any, ROI.
And in the present, "Great Recession" daze, ad budgets
have drastically shrunk or disappeared. "Branding" alone is no longer
an option for success. Watch for more RD's nationwide becoming ESPN
affiliates (in Markets where no ESPN station exist). These
ESPN stations are profitable. Radio Disney concept was beloved
by Michael Eisner, not by current Disney/ABC executives. As
national advertising has also dried up, watch for more small market
RD's going dark prior to sale. Podcasting is the future for Radio Disney, and the future is now!

 

[drt]

Hi Jeff,

Sorry I did not include the link/url with the original post.

the url is:

http://radioinsight.com/

then scroll down to 24 September for the quote.

drt,
st. petersburg,fl

 

[MsMusicRadio]

5:30-------Mickey and Minnie wake up show with 138 minutes of commercial free bubblegum rock at 8:30 every morning.
10:00------Your workday starts with Peter and Tinkerbell with the "Up in the air cafe" where everybody gets elfed.
3:00-------Your ride home with Goofy and the Top 5 goofiest hits at 5
7:00-------Love songs with Daisy Duck
12:00------Overnights Ogre show with Shreck with an open line.


HD2

6AM------Bert and Ernie" get out of bed and wake-up show' with 138 minutes of Queen and the Pet Shop Boys every morning at 9
10-AM----Miss Piggy and Big Snout Cafe at Noon
3:00------Your ride home with Cookie and Elmo. Top bluegrass hits plus Oscar on traffic
7:00------Kermit plays cool jazz
12:00-------Overnights with Katy Perry

 

[Parttimer]

Pat George left Radio Disney AM 1380, allegedly retired, last Friday
after 11+ years as Promotions Manager. Pat brought much "life"
to the station. As the late Drew Rashbaum used to say, "its
people like Pat (personality) that makes a radio station a radio station.
Since Drew's passing (over two years ago) WWMI/Radio Disney AM1380
advertising revenues have plunged over 80%. The station once billed over $1M annually, now bills around $250K annually. An alarming loss since the station is managed from Orlando as a cluster market.Advertisers can expect very little, if any, ROI.
And in the present, "Great Recession" daze, ad budgets
have drastically shrunk or disappeared. "Branding" alone is no longer
an option for success. Watch for more RD's nationwide becoming ESPN
affiliates (in Markets where no ESPN station exist). These
ESPN stations are profitable. Radio Disney concept was beloved
by Michael Eisner, not by current Disney/ABC executives. As
national advertising has also dried up, watch for more small market
RD's going dark prior to sale. Podcasting is the future for Radio Disney, and the future is now!

In Pittsburgh they just blew up the ESPN station and are flipping it to Radio Mickey.

 

[DToTheJ]

HD2

6AM------Bert and Ernie" get out of bed and wake-up show' with 138 minutes of Queen and the Pet Shop Boys every morning at 9
10AM----Miss Piggy and Big Snout Cafe at Noon
3:00------Your ride home with Cookie and Elmo. Top bluegrass hits plus Oscar on traffic
7:00------Kermit plays cool jazz
12:00-------Overnights with Katy Perry

I would much rather prefer "Big Bird After Dark." ;D

 

[Unregistered]

WWMI might go off the air, FOREVER after 60 years on the air. Unless...

Hi Louis,

It looks as though the Radio Disney stations in Miami (990), Orlando (also 990) and St. Petersburg (1380) are safe for now.

The Tampa/St. Petersburg market is considered one of the bigger markets (As is Miami/Ft. Lauderdale), so they would be safe and even though Orlando is a medium market, I doubt they would drop Radio Disney there, being that Disney World is in their backyard.

About 3 months ago, ABC/Citadel did sell off the Disney station at 1600 in the West Palm Beach area and they were silent about a month and are now ethnic programming.

Here is a quote that might help clarify, just a little, about what is going on:

"The Walt Disney Company continues to pare back on its collection of small and medium market AM’s. Scott Fybush at Northeast Radio Watch tweeted today that four Radio Disney outlets will go dark at 12am on September 30. 550 WDDZ Pawtucket/Providence, RI, 580 WDRD Newburg/Louisville, KY, 600 WBWL Jacksonville, FL, and 1550 WDZK Bloomfield/Hartford, CT will all cease broadcasting until the stations are sold. Disney shut down similar stations in Tulsa, Norfolk, Greensboro, and Wichita earlier this year."

drt

Not anymore, drt. Now Radio Disney will sell all their assets but their station in L.A. KDIS-AM will remain as Radio Disney. If this continues to happen, then R.I.P (Rest in Peace) to Radio Disney 1996-2014/2015. WWMI/St. Petersburg 1380 is currently being sold off. As so is WDYZ/Orlando/990 and WMYM/Miami/990. So you can say they are not safe anymore and are in danger of signing-off the air for the final time, despite their historic frequencies. So sad, for Tampa Radio Historians, because this will determine the fate of WWMI. Probably it might come back as a News/Talk station, called, yes it's back "NewsRadio 1380 WLCY-AM" Those call letters will be brought back to Tampa Bay, and we don't know who might own WWMI/WLCY. Probably CBS Radio? It has no news stations and probably might bring good competition to sister duo WFLA 970/WHNZ 1250 and WWBA 820 AM. It might broadcast News from former sister station WTSP-TV Channel 10 and also weather reports from them. They might leave WWBA for another person, probably WTVT-TV or WFTS-TV for it's audio simulcast of it's morning news. If it does go with WTVT-TV it's news audio-only simulcast will extend it's news hours from 5AM-10AM. But it might also switch to ESPN Deportes 1380 and might bring back Spanish Sports Radio to Tampa Bay! It might also bring competition to WGES 680 and will soon broadcast some of the most important sports in Spanish, making (Spring only) Tampa-based New York Yankees Radio Network come back to Tampa Bay. Either way, we want to save WWMI from going silent and getting it's license cancelled. A first for Tampa Bay, as it may be the first historic station to sign-off the air forever on the AM dial with no replacement. That we don't want it to happen. Or it may be owned by Clear Channel, thus making WFLZ-FM 93.3/WMTX-FM 100.7/WBTP 95.7/Thunder Tampa Bay 94.5 / 105.9/ WFUS-FM 103.5/WXTB-FM 97.9/WHNZ 1250/WFLA 970, and WDAE 620 sister stations to WWMI/WLCY and make Nick Radio for the first time, a network of terrestrial stations all across the USA. This may be an advantage to Nick Radio, as Radio Disney might go "almost" digital-only, only have KDIS in L.A. to support them, and Clear Channel/Nickelodeon may make this station from WWMI to either WLCY or WNKT-AM and NO WAY related to 107.5 in Columbia, SC with those same call letters. All 3 ways News/Talk, ESPN Deportes, or Nick Radio by Clear Channel and Nickelodeon might make WWMI/WLCY/WNKT-AM be put into good use, and also if WWMI goes Nick Radio 1380, it will be streamed on iHeartRadio. Sorry if Radio Disney is taking away all but 1 station. We will forever miss you here in Tampa Bay.

Here is my proof:
www.radioinsight.com/blog/headlines/89717/radio-disney-to-sell-all-but-one-station/

 

[byron]

Disney selling 1380? Hmm, what's really next? Spanish, brokered talk, spanish brokered talk?

Byron

 

[dwtpa97]

Apparently Disney is selling 23 out of 24 stations, keeping only an LA station.
http://www.radioink.com/Article.asp?id=2827141&spid=24698

 

[Unregistered]

Disney selling 1380? Hmm, what's really next? Spanish, brokered talk, spanish brokered talk?

Byron

For you, Byron, I kind of go for Spanish Talk as possibly Entravision could acquire it, making the first TV-Radio partnership in Tampa Bay besides WUSF, since the glory days of radio when WTSP-10-ABC (now CBS) owned this station and 94.9 (now WWRM/Magic 94.9/Soft Rock) , WFLA-8-NBC owned 970 and 93.3 (now Pop/Top 40 93.3 FLZ), WTVT-13-CBS (now FOX) owned 1110 WALT-AM, WSUN-38-Ind-went dark and turned into WTTA-MyTV "Great 38" owned 620 (now WDAE/Sports) and WQXM 97.9 now WXTB/98 Rock, and WTOG-44-Ind (now CW) owned WGTO 540 now WFLF. Possibly Univision AMerica 1380AM Tampa Bay from Univision making this station have Spanish Talk, or competing with Super Q 1300 WQBN and turning into Salsa 1380 like sister station 98.1 in Orlando, or maybe Tricolor or Jose FM.

 

[billalm]

AM 1380 is a good signal. I would expect someone already in the market to either upgrade an existing property or add to their cluster (Genesis or Salem). Maybe CBS would pick it up for CBS Sports Radio and dump 1010.... or in the event of 98.7 going a different direction having the superior 1380 to dump the important network shows. I just don't see 1010 ever being relevant. I also don't see CBS investing in a news operation here. FYI... Cox and Clear Channel are at the market cap.

 

[jmtillery]

That 1380 signal is impressive, especially for a high dial position AM. Of course it helps being near Tampa Bay which carries the signal even further than it would if the transmitter/tower site was not so close to salt water. Whomever gets that frequency will have a prize of a signal.

 

[davideduardo]

I kind of go for Spanish Talk as possibly Entravision could acquire it, Possibly Univision AMerica 1380AM Tampa Bay from Univision making this station have Spanish Talk, or competing with Super Q 1300 WQBN and turning into Salsa 1380 like sister station 98.1 in Orlando, or maybe Tricolor or Jose FM.

Check the Spanish language talk numbers in other markets. Nobody is going to do a startup with talk in Spanish unless, perhaps, it is ESPN Deportes en Español.

 

[Unregistered]

1380 is lucky, for now. RD (Radio Disney) just said that they will keep the station until they find an owner.

 

[ChocoMingo]

WWMI has been safe for 1 year, but it will be sold, to IDK? iHeart, no way! Cox and Beasley could be good contenders for 1 more station. Salem has most former Radio Disney stations, so they could be possible too. The rest, well, I don't know. It could even be Cumulus's entrance to the Tampa Bay Market...

 

[Kent]

Salem is acquiring the remaining Radio Disney station as announced today. That includes 1380.

 

[ChocoMingo]

Radio Insight talked about changes at Salem at 3 markets, is Tampa one of them, as WWMI is sold? I don't have any money to find out. Only premium members can find out.

 

[ChocoMingo]

You played well WWMI-AM as Radio Disney 1380.

R.I.P. 1999-2015 (2016?)
Anybody know what the new format may be? I thinking it something Christian-related as it's now owned by Salem. What was the changes for Salem RadioInsight talked about that was for premium members only? I think Tampa could be one of them. IDK.