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Same market, same format, same owner. Why do they exist?

T

Tomgsinger

Frequent Participant
Why would stations like WCKT and WIKX (along with WZJZ and WBCG?) (Fort Myers) and WKSS and WKCI (technically different markets, but TONS of signal overlap, licensed and transmitting from the same market), among others, be owned by the same company despite tons of signal overlap? Their main competitors are themselves (save for WZJZ/WBCG, WZJZ has a MUCH larger signal)!
 
Tomgsinger said:
Why would stations like WCKT and WIKX (along with WZJZ and WBCG?) (Fort Myers) and WKSS and WKCI (technically different markets, but TONS of signal overlap, licensed and transmitting from the same market), among others, be owned by the same company despite tons of signal overlap? Their main competitors are themselves (save for WZJZ/WBCG, WZJZ has a MUCH larger signal)!
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WCKT/WIKX- Signal location. They both cover Cape Coral/Fort Myers, but those to the north have trouble hearing WCKT and south with WIKX.

WBCG/WZJZ- Looks like a slight format difference. WBCG seems more mainstream AC vs. WZJZ being more Hot AC. (I know. Not much of a difference these days, but I don't know spin totals etc. to get a better idea.)

WKSS/WKCI- You answered your own question. Plus in this case, both stations were long-entrenched and doing well with their CHR formats when both came under iHeart ownership. Both print money, so why change that?
 
atthestars said:
WCKT/WIKX- Signal location. They both cover Cape Coral/Fort Myers, but those to the north have trouble hearing WCKT and south with WIKX.
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The 60 dbu of WIKX does not get out of Lee County, and the 70 dbu barely reaches Ft Myers. It is really a Pt Charlotte station, and Charlotte County is not even part of the Ft Myers MSA. WCKT just barely gets a 70 dbu up to Ft Myers, so the two are highly complimentary and make up for each other's deficiencies.

WBCG/WZJZ- Looks like a slight format difference. WBCG seems more mainstream AC vs. WZJZ being more Hot AC. (I know. Not much of a difference these days, but I don't know spin totals etc. to get a better idea.)
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Yes, there are some small playlist differences and bigger rotation differences. One is Hot AC, the other is AC. The logic is in the revenue potential of these two very salable formats.

WKSS/WKCI- You answered your own question. Plus in this case, both stations were long-entrenched and doing well with their CHR formats when both came under iHeart ownership. Both print money, so why change that?
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Yes, they are both successful. And neither puts a 70 dbu signal over the core... and largest city... of the other market, although there is overlap.
 
WIKX also overlaps with its country sister station in Sarasota/Venice (different market), WCTQ. In fact, most of WCTQ's 60 dbu signal is inside of WIKX's 60 dbu signal
 
We just got an AM sports station here in Jackson, even though the company that owns them also has a separate FM sports station.
 
This is far more common that the few examples in this thread. WCBS & WINS in New York is a good example. Both make tons of money. KPLX and KSCS in Dallas. Both make tons of money. Another reason: They keep out competitors from other companies.
 
golden eagles97 said:
We just got an AM sports station here in Jackson, even though the company that owns them also has a separate FM sports station.
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There are quite a few examples of one company running two all-sports stations in a market. Often they'll simulcast most of the day, but one station is affiliated with Alabama football play-by-play and one is affiliated with Auburn's network. Its a way to efficiently gather all of the sports revenue in a market and not let revenue from Auburn fans go to your competitor.
 
With the AM Sports station, the logic in that is likely revenue for clearing a national format in the market. Presuming the signal was otherwise significantly underperforming, it would be a way to get some cash flow for an asset without having to do much locally.
 
WBAP/KLIF. Both News Talk stations, WBAP has been solidly kicking KLIF's butt from the get-go. I have no fathomable idea of WHY they keep KLIF, unless they think its their answer to KRLD. (Far from it, KLIF is pulling a 0.4). Dallas actually has several examples mostly thanks to Cumulus. KLIF/WBAP(Talk), KTCK/KESN/KTCK-FM (Sports), KPLX/KSCS(Country). All duplicates of each other but I guess different enough to not cannibalize.
 
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Sometimes it's to lock someone out of the format totally. For example, for several years in Atlanta, the same company owned both country stations. The idea was that it would prevent anyone else from getting into the battle. It worked for a while. Plus, the company can combine the ratings and sell the advertising.
 
umfan said:
With the AM Sports station, the logic in that is likely revenue for clearing a national format in the market. Presuming the signal was otherwise significantly underperforming, it would be a way to get some cash flow for an asset without having to do much locally.
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This is actually pretty common among the spoken word formats. Put all your contracts on the AM and have the FM simulcast and have flexibility with programming (meaning if you have a game broadcast, put it on the FM and the contract for regular programming is fulfilled by being on the AM). It also helps with overflow situations if you have multiple sports contracts of teams who's seasons overlap) Previous owner at the stations I'm employed at did that with 2 AM news/talkers. If he couldn't clear it on one, it went on the other.
 
In Houston the Classic Rocker is on two FM signals with a chunk of the metro able to hear both stations easily. That move effectively wiped out their competitor leaving the 2 signal classic rocker the lone wolf in the market. The combination of the signals gives them a combined audience that puts them near the top of the ratings, commanding a better position than either frequency had on its own.
 
This will soon be true in Miami, due to the Entercom merger, with WQAM and WAXY AM being Sports-formatted and both owned by Entercom.
 
LibertyNT said:
WBAP/KLIF. Both News Talk stations, WBAP has been solidly kicking KLIF's butt from the get-go. I have no fathomable idea of WHY they keep KLIF, unless they think its their answer to KRLD. (Far from it, KLIF is pulling a 0.4). Dallas actually has several examples mostly thanks to Cumulus. KLIF/WBAP(Talk), KTCK/KESN/KTCK-FM (Sports), KPLX/KSCS(Country). All duplicates of each other but I guess different enough to not cannibalize.
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and don't forget IHeartMedia has a monopoly on Rock music in the market with Classic Rock 92.5 KZPS (Lone Star 92.5) and hard rock (and now that 102.1 is no longer modern rock, its also modern rock/alternative as well) 97.1 KEGL (97.1 The Eagle) and before it flipped back in November to AC, Modern/Alternative 102.1 KDGE (formerly 102.1 The Edge, now Star 102.1)
 
Cumulus has 2 talk stations KGO-AM and KSFO-AM but its aimed for different audiences in the Bay Area. However they are not that relevant in the Bay Area Market. But Cumulus has two sports talkers on 680AM and 1050AM and thats more relevant to Bay Area Audiences due to how the Warriors are doing to the spring training of the San Francisco Giants.
 
Jonathan7157 said:
This will soon be true in Miami, due to the Entercom merger, with WQAM and WAXY AM being Sports-formatted and both owned by Entercom.
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It will be interesting to see how it all turns out too. While WQAM is a legacy station that has major history and great programing, WAXY is also one of the best formatted sports stations in the market. My guess (and it's just a guess) is WQAM will be more local while WAXY goes more ESPN.
 
atthestars said:
WCKT/WIKX- Signal location. They both cover Cape Coral/Fort Myers, but those to the north have trouble hearing WCKT and south with WIKX.

WBCG/WZJZ- Looks like a slight format difference. WBCG seems more mainstream AC vs. WZJZ being more Hot AC. (I know. Not much of a difference these days, but I don't know spin totals etc. to get a better idea.)

WKSS/WKCI- You answered your own question. Plus in this case, both stations were long-entrenched and doing well with their CHR formats when both came under iHeart ownership. Both print money, so why change that?
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If it isn't broken then why fix it.
 
I can't believe I forgot to mention WKDD and WAKS. While they serve two different areas, in reality their towers are less than 10 miles away from one another. 'KDD covers 70 DBU over Cleveland and 'AKS covers Cleveland and Akron equally well. They could simulcast one another if they wanted to. "96-5 and 98-1 KISS-FM, Northeast Ohio's Hit Music Leader!"
 
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