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Youngstown-Warren ratings

W

Whiplash

I don't have any horse in the race, but found the latest book for Youngstown-Warren to be interesting. B106.1 has a really strong book. Bernard's urban FM is now gone. Who will fill thehuge hole? ESPN 1240 has a 1.9 and is now gone from WBBW. MIX and Y103 have bad books.

The Bernard AM's are now dark. And their former GM has a translator, and is asking $3,500 a month to lease it.
 
1250WTAE said:
I don't have any horse in the race, but found the latest book for Youngstown-Warren to be interesting. B106.1 has a really strong book. Bernard's urban FM is now gone. Who will fill thehuge hole? ESPN 1240 has a 1.9 and is now gone from WBBW. MIX and Y103 have bad books.

The Bernard AM's are now dark. And their former GM has a translator, and is asking $3,500 a month to lease it.
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Unless things have changed again both AM's should still be on as they were to go off on the 28 when the left 20 Federal plaza as that is when the lease is up.

As for the lease of the FM translator, the last time I talked to Skip he had someone who was going to take the FM and pair it with one of the AM's but he stated that the prospective buyers were "too low" and he was disappointed (not hard to to do to Skip). Unless the license for 1330 and 1500 was turned in, it could be temporary until a buyer has been found as that was the plan leave the downtown studios, and shut them off until a buyer can be found. I have last heard that a very prominent African-American business man was going to buy them all and bring the jamz brand back to life like WAMO 660/100.1. Also I have heard that former owner Atty Percey Squire,and a group of investors was also going to attempt to buy them as they wanted to get back into radio.

Can anyone confirm that 1330 and 1500 are dark as I have heard 101.9 is again off the air as EMF has not closed on it.

I have also heard 1570 is not flipping to urban oldies as of yet as they are having "issues" and the current owner is trying to do it right as he does not know urban formats just Spanish formats.

I have also heard that Clear channel and cumulus was interested in leasing 1330 and 1500 as clear channel wanted to move fox sports to on of the AM's and pick up ESPN for 1390 and I heard that Cumulus wanted them for a similar setup.
 
1570 is going urban R&B soon. 1330 is going to cost $75 to 125K just to get it legal. 1500 WASN is for sale too, and they would take 25 to 35K for it. The FM translator owned by Skip, is priced at $3,500 a month to lease it.
 
1250WTAE said:
1570 is going urban R&B soon. 1330 is going to cost $75 to 125K just to get it legal. 1500 WASN is for sale too, and they would take 25 to 35K for it. The FM translator owned by Skip, is priced at $3,500 a month to lease it.
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As for WGFT I heard Skip and Christine (Bernard CEO) was able to find the cheapest was $35,000 to $75,000. For it to be done at $35,000 it would barely make it legal as they at one point had Wes "the mess' Boyd from cumulus in there to make it legal as he used to back in the day be the CE. The whole problem with WGFT is the fact the antenna system is out of phase and the signal no longer goes in the correct pattern. Also there is no more ground system as someone stole the copper system as the old studio is in a bad part of town and besides the station at least from a technical standpoint was left to die.

WASN despite having critical hours, has a good transmitter site and is legal and would pass an FCC inspection as WGFT would not.

The plan at least until it changed was that Skip was going to own the FM translator,someone else was going to buy the AM's and Skip and the partner was going to bring Jamz back on 1500 AM and 94.3 FM. Then when Skip retired from Bernard he was going to take more of an active role in the stations. Since jamz was high in the ratings and had good billing, Skip wanted to fill the void and have a set up similar to WAMO 660/100.1 and own the urban market.

The offers were not to Skip and Christine's liking. I have heard that a deal may be close as Christine has held discussions with a few people on the AM's and despite not getting the amount they would like they are willing to settle for what they can get as they want to make something off of them as if they turn the license in to the FCC they will loose money as there is interest just not the number they want.

Among the prospective bidders are a prominent Youngstown African-American businessman, former owner Atty Percey Squire, a former Youngstown urban DJ, a Cleveland broadcaster who has dealt with Skip in the past, a local broadcaster, and a member of Youngstown legal dynasty all have kicked the tires and have offered less.

They as of today are still on the air as the lease at 20 federal plaza is up on the 28 and from what I am hearing a deal may be announced as soon as this week.
 
Don't know about any specific Youngstown AM's technical woes, but I do know this: there are many, many, many AM stations in the US who's ground systems are in so-so to poor condition and licensed powers and actual technical performances are, shall we say...substandard and not what their license claims.

Why? Ground systems are typically made of hundreds of feet of thick copper wire buried beneath the stations' towers as part of an antenna system...and the price of copper has exploded in the past 5 or ten years causing many station owners to put off repairing their ground systems due to extreme cost. Bare wire buried underground is over time going to erode naturally.

Whole lot of fudging going on all over America. Everybody on the engineering side of the business knows about it. Nobody talks about it openly/in public. Besides, most radio owners think much less of their AMs than FMs or even digital products.
 
Tim said:
Don't know about any specific Youngstown AM's technical woes, but I do know this: there are many, many, many AM stations in the US who's ground systems are in so-so to poor condition and licensed powers and actual technical performances are, shall we say...substandard and not what their license claims.

Why? Ground systems are typically made of hundreds of feet of thick copper wire buried beneath the stations' towers as part of an antenna system...and the price of copper has exploded in the past 5 or ten years causing many station owners to put off repairing their ground systems due to extreme cost. Bare wire buried underground is over time going to erode naturally.

Whole lot of fudging going on all over America. Everybody on the engineering side of the business knows about it. Nobody talks about it openly/in public. Besides, most radio owners think much less of their AMs than FMs or even digital products.
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True but that in the FCC is a big no-no and if caught, the FCC would shut them down as if an inspector showed up, they would be required by law to turn off the transmitter.

The funny thing is the FCC renewed both WASN 1500 and WGFT 1330 and with a license renewal I am hearing both stations may have a new owner as now they have a valid license it will be easier to seal the deal on the people looking at 1500 and 1330.
 
Sounds like WHTX 1570 AM has flipped to all R & B today-I don't know if this is also simulcasting on their sister station WYCL 1540 AM.
 
It amazes me how many people in 2013 are falling all over each other to get their hands on low-powered, highly-directional, in poor technical condition, mediocre-coverage AMs...on the radio band that less than 20% of radio listeners even tune to.

Even with great programming...unless there's enough advertising dollars every month and a minimal weekly cume audience that shops those advertisers (so they keep advertising!)...most of these AMs won't earn enough money to pay the electricity, bank payment, and rent on the studios...not to mention any employees salaries.

And, no...no matter how great the station sounds...these type of AMs rarely get any kind of ratings. Ratings in smaller markets don't drive significant ad revenues anyway.

Sorry to be depressing...but, my opinion is don't waste your money on a terrestrial radio station..especially an AM, unless you are wealthy and can afford to operate with a total lack of any income for several years...or you plan to run the station as a non-commercial, no-profit/hobby.

Why not create an internet/streaming radio station as a test? Doing so costs a tiny fraction of even buying a small AM station.

Try to build an audience by promoting locally through social media (mostly free) and other free or bartered sources...and after website analytics proves your web station has an audience in your area...hire a couple sales people to generate some income (or sell ads on your station yourself).
 
Tim said:
It amazes me how many people in 2013 are falling all over each other to get their hands on low-powered, highly-directional, in poor technical condition, mediocre-coverage AMs...on the radio band that less than 20% of radio listeners even tune to.

Even with great programming...unless there's enough advertising dollars every month and a minimal weekly cume audience that shops those advertisers (so they keep advertising!)...most of these AMs won't earn enough money to pay the electricity, bank payment, and rent on the studios...not to mention any employees salaries.

And, no...no matter how great the station sounds...these type of AMs rarely get any kind of ratings. Ratings in smaller markets don't drive significant ad revenues anyway.

Sorry to be depressing...but, my opinion is don't waste your money on a terrestrial radio station..especially an AM, unless you are wealthy and can afford to operate with a total lack of any income for several years...or you plan to run the station as a non-commercial, no-profit/hobby.

Why not create an internet/streaming radio station as a test? Doing so costs a tiny fraction of even buying a small AM station.

Try to build an audience by promoting locally through social media (mostly free) and other free or bartered sources...and after website analytics proves your web station has an audience in your area...hire a couple sales people to generate some income (or sell ads on your station yourself).
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Very sad and true as more and more AM radio stations are becoming too much to operate and very few make money but in many ways it is good to have anyone come in and give it a shot as if no one does, then many stations will gone dark forever and that is not good.
 
Heard from 3 sources that 1500 am has been sold to a local businessman who is going to lease 94.3 from Skip bednzyrk and is going to bring back the jamz format. The businessman owns various fast food resturants and is involved in sports.
 
Copper thieves struck 1540 WYCL today, and its off the air. They also cut the audio coax for 1570 WHTX. Its been returned to the air with its urban format.
 
1250WTAE said:
Copper thieves struck 1540 WYCL today, and its off the air. They also cut the audio coax for 1570 WHTX. Its been returned to the air with its urban format.
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How was someone able to get the copper from 1540 since the studio is at the transmitter site? Unless someone was not there that seems a bit stupid as they could get caught. Are the two crimes related?
 
This was in the middle of the night at 3 or 4 am. Cut out 9 copper coils and more. WYCL is back on the air at 125 watts on one tower. STA with the FCC on Monday.

Whoever stole the copper, also cut 1570's audio lines.
 
Ohio Media Watch says WASN and WGFT Youngstown is off the air since 2-12-13 i check the FCC website no STA has been Filed.
 
I agree---Its nice to see the Classic Country format back on 1540 WYCL-great songs- and also Adult Soft Favorites back on 1570 WHTX.
 
aguyinradio said:
I noticed this week 1540 is back to classic country and 1570 is back to adult standards
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On friday night. 1540 was adult standards and some classic country mixed in. Could it be automation problems as i know 1570 is or was known as hot Jamz 1570 and I heard Phillip Cato who used to lease 1540 is involved with former jamz 101.9 DJ "sugar bear" greg andrews in day to day operations.
 
JNight said:
I agree---Its nice to see the Classic Country format back on 1540 WYCL-great songs- and also Adult Soft Favorites back on 1570 WHTX.
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Here is the WHTX 1570 facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HotJamz1570


Also I noticed that the Youngstown's country legends site is back up and running as for a while it was gone and pointed to another site. Maybe 1250WTAE can fill us in to what is going on.
 
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