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620 has a booming signal, even at night in the north part of DFW.
Not the case in DFW, but since ESPN is a member of the Disney family, might a number of these stations flip to sports?
Not the case in DFW, but since ESPN is a member of the Disney family, might a number of these stations flip to sports?
No. Disney said that unless a deal with an LMA was in effect, they would shut the stations down at the end of September until such time that a deal was reached.
Cumulus would do a straight swap of 1310 for 620 in a heartbeat. I looked at the map and 620's contour over DFW is actually better at night than it is in daytime.
Daytime, 1310 has 6.4 million persons in the 5 mV/m countour, while KMKI has only 3.4 million, a quarter of which are not in the Dallas MSA and not of any use for sales.
So, in the daytime, where nearly all the revenue is derived, KTCK covers about three times as many people in the Dallas metro.
If you go with a more realistic 10 mV/m, which is about the minimum for noisy metros, KMKI is down to only about 2 million people, and about half are not in the MSA.
It would be very damaging to The Ticket to change to the inferior 620 facility.
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rbrucecarter5
Guest
I don't know who draws the maps you are talking about, but 620 is a monster! They are so strong, Radio Disney did at least two remotes in Abilene, and I met listeners in Lubbock! They were strong in Oklahoma City, and strong out to the East. About the only direction they are weak is South so they protect KILT and KSKY. 1310, on the other hand, being higher on the dial, is very hard to get even in West parts of Ft. Worth. I don't know about 1310 at night, but KMKI's night signal is really strong as well. The Radio-locator maps bear this out. 620 is a far superior signal in every way. Building penetration in Dallas for 620 is bound to be better. About the only Dallas stations with better coverage during the day would be WBAP or KLIF - possibly KSKY. And I'm not that sure of KLIF except South.
The maps come from the same company generally used for maps that demonstrate market cap issues before the FCC. And it is not "for entertainment purposes only" radio-locator.
KMKI does not have even a 6 mV/m over the cities of Ft Worth or Dallas themselves. And in urban areas, 5 mV/m is not enough to get good listening.
Remember, this is a rimshot move-in from Wichita Falls, not a native Dallas or Ft Worth station. In fact, it has a null right towards Dallas!
Studies of millions of diaries in multiple markets, including Dallas, showed that 90% of AM listening in metros came from inside the 10 mV/m contour. Speaking of which, the KTCK daytime 25 kw signal covers about 90% of the territory and more than 95% of the people in the market.
There are plenty of places where stations can be heard. It requires a much stronger signal to actually get listening.
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Disney was advertising for a new CE for 620 just a few months ago...considered it but was sick at the time and by the time I was better, they had talked to someone else....I bet whoever did get it (if someone DID take the job) is kicking themselves now...some preacher or similar will probably buy it and Dr Jack's wonderful work on the site will go to hell (Pun intended!)
So I guess by the same token, it wouldn't be a solution for 660 KSKY and its interference problems at night?
DavidEduardo -- another slave to the contour maps. We advertised on 1310 when it KAAM. And resumed when Hue Beavers got the format and calls moved to 620. We got more calls from within DFW than before, and calls from Weatherford, Abilene, Gainesville, Waco -- that we NEVER heard from. After the move to 620, the remarks made by our customers in the DFW area were 100% favorable. (In Haltom City, we had about 50/50 Tarrant and Dallas county customers) Comes in much stronger than ever before - Day and night! Doesn't become unlistenable at night! Doesn't fade out when we drive under an overpass! Comes in on the shower radio! Never before could get it on the bedside clock radio! Before we could only listen on the car radio! When it was on 1310 when drove under power lines it just became just a roar!
I have a Pioneer supertuner car radio (not HD) that has an option to scan the dial and set the presets in descending order of signal strength. Anywhere in the metroplex (do they still use that word?) The sort order is always 820/570/620 or 820/620/570
When you have an exclusive format that appeals to a group that nobody else wants to serve, there will be some listening outside the "normal" usable contours.
However, as the person who constructed a project to look at at-home and at-work listening in 10 of the top 20 markets, using Arbitron's MapMaker and Maximi$er data plotted against 5, 10 and 15 mV/m contours it was found that 90% of AM listening took place inside the 10 mV/m contour for stations with a 1 share or more. As the sample was literally millions of individual listening incidents over a mult-year period, I'm quite confident in the findings.
Reality, though, is a slavemaster.
Today, a station that does not cover the majority of the population on a band that has very limited appeal save for sports among people under 60, can not be a viable business.
By the way, wasn't 1310 only 5 kw days back before it went all sports? It's 25 kw now, and still has some coverage issues... thus the FM simulcasts.
As a former resident of DFW (and a former ABC/RD employee) I know how well 620 covers....it was great in the metro area but south of Dallas, the signal did not travel far beyond Corsicana if it got that far (at night it sure didnt!)..Of course most of the patterns of 620 looks NW but still plenty of signal over the DFW metro to be very usable...(Dr Jack Sellmeyer does not build crap!)....
As to 1310, yes it had coverage issues thanks to its directional signal (which I think was changed after a tornado took out two of the towers...but I cant be sure on that)....it does not cover north side of FTW well...the signal WAS on 104.1 Sanger but Cumulus turned that license in to the FCC to be cancelled....NOW it is on the 96.7 2000 ft rimshot from Wise County and that covers a LOT of the NW/N area 1310 does not (in fact 96.7 was simulcasting 820 WBAP but they flipped 96.7 to KTCK's signal because WBAP AM already covered the same area 96.7 did and what increase in listenership via the FM was not making that much difference in WBAP's total #s...so the Ticket (who is closer to Dallas than FTW) got the monster FM signal...(it can be heard on table tops in Dallas on the north side..my apartment north of the Galleria, I could hear 96.7 easily when it 1st signed on as 'Memories' KEMO).
As to 1310, yes it had coverage issues thanks to its directional signal (which I think was changed after a tornado took out two of the towers...but I cant be sure on that)....it does not cover north side of FTW well...the signal WAS on 104.1 Sanger but Cumulus turned that license in to the FCC to be cancelled....NOW it is on the 96.7 2000 ft rimshot from Wise County and that covers a LOT of the NW/N area 1310 does not (in fact 96.7 was simulcasting 820 WBAP but they flipped 96.7 to KTCK's signal because WBAP AM already covered the same area 96.7 did and what increase in listenership via the FM was not making that much difference in WBAP's total #s...so the Ticket (who is closer to Dallas than FTW) got the monster FM signal...(it can be heard on table tops in Dallas on the north side..my apartment north of the Galleria, I could hear 96.7 easily when it 1st signed on as 'Memories' KEMO).
Only a week until KMKI supposedly goes dark, along with all the other remaining RD stations (except KDIS.) Any rumbling on a new owner for KMKI? Haven't heard a thing about the fate of KMIC in Houston.
Last I heard from a soon to be ex coworker there, all of the Dallas staff gets furloughed Friday...no word on any buyers (yet)..Houston is the same way...no word of anyone talking about buying it...wonder if maybe there is someone talking to Disney about buying the big markets...1590 in Houston does cover the city better than most other 5KWs
I am suspecting that all the Radio Disney stations may be keep on the air with the network feed (same as on satellite) with no local operations other than an engineer and a public file location. That would put the licenses in the least amount of jeopardy and reduce costs significantly.
There is likely to be interest in many of the stations from companies like Salem, Multicultural, etc.
1590 might attract some interest, even if the daytime 10 mV/m does not even cover 50% of the radio market. To a nichecaster, to whom ratings are not important, partial coverage of a market is not a great impediment.
"The wireless music box has no imaginable commercial value....Who would pay for a message to be sent to no one in particular??" Associates of David Sarnoff responding to the latter's call for investment in the new medium of radio in 1921
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purpledevil
Guest
I'd like to think 1590 & 620 WOULD remain on the air after Friday, but hasn't WGFY already gone silent? I know I read that around here. Also San Antonio's KRDY 1160 went silent as Disney put it up for sale, and did not return to the air until Salem had control of it. I hope David's train of thought is correct, but right now I expect to no longer hear anything 1590 in Houston at some point on Friday.
I'd like to think that as of now there's a 50-50 chance it could go either way after Friday, I'm thinking of the RD 1450 in New Orleans that AFAIK has yet to be unloaded and that was taken dark sometime in 2012; but that's just one scenario........still recall listening to that outlet with RD programming
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