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Possible Post-CBS Radio-Entercom merger format changes

M

miketheradioguy

Leading Participant
When CBS announced its plan to merge their radio division with Entercom in February, I've had many concerns about what would happen to CBS' stations once they're turned over to Entercom, and what format changes would Entercom bring to those stations. Another reason why I should be concerned about this merger is because CBS owns radio stations in my area (These stations include 94.7, 95.5, 99.1, 101.9, 105.7, and 106.5), and will be part of Entercom, so I thought that this merger would lead to a format shakeup on radio stations serving my area.

A good example of a format change that may happen would be Entercom flipping one of their newly acquired stations to Top 40, serving Washington D.C.. If Entercom chose a station to blow up, I would predict El Zol 107.9 would be the perfect choice since the station has a 1 share, which was the lowest in the April PPM ratings. iHeartMedia's Hot 99.5 hasn't seen a Top 40 competitor in the Washington D.C. market for over 15 years, and CBS Radio has had a history of flipping stations in major markets to Top 40 to compete with iHeartMedia's CHR stations. Therefore, I think Entercom should continue this tradition CBS had since 2009, and bring a competing Top 40 station to Washington D.C.
 
Keep in mind that ANY format change will be based on potential revenue, not on music. If they make a lot with El Zol, it won't change, especially given the signal issues. WPGC is a heritage station that typically makes a lot, so I wouldn't expect a change there. Same with WJFK.
 
I thought it would be nice to see Entercom bring a 2nd Top 40 to D.C., but if Entercom isn't planning format changes for stations in that market, then I'm fine with that. Besides, there are many other markets that could see possible format changes as Entercom comes close to closing on their merger with CBS Radio.

In San Diego, there are two AC's in the market. Entercom's KXSN Sunny 98.1 and CBS' KYXY 96.5. Since both stations will be owned by Entercom, I predict that the AC formats may merge on a single frequency, which would pave way for a new format to enter the San Diego market.
 
I realized that both Sunny and KYXY are doing pretty good in the ratings, so it's unlikely either one will get blown up. I can conclude that Entercom may blow up Energy 103.7 since they're the lowest rated Top 40 in San Diego. The big question would be if Energy will shift into a Rhythmic direction, or get blown up completely and change to a new format.
 
miketheradioguy said:
If Entercom chose a station to blow up, I would predict El Zol 107.9 would be the perfect choice since the station has a 1 share, which was the lowest in the April PPM ratings.
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WLZL can not compete as a CHR as it is a true rimshot. It's rightfully an Annapolis station, and just barely touches the District with a 70 dbu signal. In fact, it has more of a 70 dbu signal over Baltimore City than DC.

It bills nicely in Spanish, but would do poorly on higher expenses were it to try to compete with WIHT. In fact, WIHT bills less than 20% more than WLZL, and switching the format would just fragment the CHR dollars in a market where WTOP takes more revenue than the next 5 stations combined.
 
miketheradioguy said:
I realized that both Sunny and KYXY are doing pretty good in the ratings, so it's unlikely either one will get blown up. I can conclude that Entercom may blow up Energy 103.7 since they're the lowest rated Top 40 in San Diego. The big question would be if Energy will shift into a Rhythmic direction, or get blown up completely and change to a new format.
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Entercom's first step is to integrate their own culture with the CBS culture. All kinds of things, from back-room systems and staff to standardization of accounting, traffic and digital storage software and hardware will likely have to be done before any significant format changes are made. Only in the case of a station that is bleeding badly will anything be done right out of the gate.
 
DavidEduardo said:


WLZL can not compete as a CHR as it is a true rimshot. It's rightfully an Annapolis station, and just barely touches the District with a 70 dbu signal. In fact, it has more of a 70 dbu signal over Baltimore City than DC.

It bills nicely in Spanish, but would do poorly on higher expenses were it to try to compete with WIHT. In fact, WIHT bills less than 20% more than WLZL, and switching the format would just fragment the CHR dollars in a market where WTOP takes more revenue than the next 5 stations combined.
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WLZL's City of License was originally in Annapolis on both 99.1 and 107.9, which is part of the Baltimore market. Some time after CBS bought 107.9, El Zol's format was moved to 107.9, 99.1 flipped to news, and both 99.1 and 107.9's COLs were changed from Annapolis to Bowie and College Park, respectively, which makes both stations now serve the Washington market. The "true" Baltimore stations are 1300, 101.9, 105.7, and 106.5, while the "true" Washington stations are 1580, 106.7, 94.7, and 95.5. This makes things unclear where Entercom is at max capacity in either market, even though I know what the ownership limits are in each market. I believe the radio ownership cap in Baltimore is 4 FMs and 2 AMs (which was different for CBS because they own WJZ 13 in Baltimore), while Washington's ownership cap is 5 FMs and 2 AMs. If this is true, I think Entercom may move the weaker 107.9 signal's City of License back to Annapolis (targeting the Baltimore market), move the stronger 99.1's City of License to College Park while still providing College Park its local transmission service (targeting the Washington market), acquire Hubbard's WTOP's repeater at 107.7 (as part of a potential swap for Entercom's required divestitures, depending which radio stations Hubbard will give Entercom), and move its transmitter somewhere closer to D.C. for full coverage of the Washington market.
 
DavidEduardo said:


Entercom's first step is to integrate their own culture with the CBS culture. All kinds of things, from back-room systems and staff to standardization of accounting, traffic and digital storage software and hardware will likely have to be done before any significant format changes are made. Only in the case of a station that is bleeding badly will anything be done right out of the gate.
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At least I don't have to worry about Entercom blowing up a station just yet, as Entercom's culture integration must happen. I'm just thinking ahead about what format changes could happen with CBS' radio stations under Entercom's ownership. There are certainly format holes in some markets where Entercom will soon operate, and I believe Entercom has the potential to fill in certain format holes.
 
Here's a rundown of possible format changes in the Dallas-Fort Worth market

105.3 The Fan and 98.7 KLUV are both doing fine as they are, so I won't expect either to change formats. Although I supported the idea of 100.3 Jack FM and AMP 103.7 swapping frequencies with 100.3 becoming "AMP 100.3" and 103.7 becoming "103.7 Jack FM", such frequency swap may not happen since there wouldn't be much of a gain for either station as both stations are doing fine as well.

I would likely see Entercom flip La Grande 107.5 to either to some form of Rock to fill in the format hole left by KDGE or Urban AC to bring the format on a full-market signal as Service Broadcasting's Smooth R&B 105.7 is on a rimshot signal.
 
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/cbs-news-radio-announces-new-agreement-with-skyview-networks/

http://www.insideradio.com/inside-t...cle_6a1f2580-781f-11e7-9c05-af4e2fba0f01.html

http://www.radiodiscussions.com/showthread.php?703885-Skyview-Networks-Inks-Deal-with-CBS-News-Radio

Here's a new development CBS News Radio changing their distribution service to Skyview. The unknown for now is Entercom's soon to be All News stations like KYW, KCBS, WCBS, KNX and WBBM All news going to sign with Skyview to keep the affiliation or is this going to have the same fallout as Cumulus when they dropped the ABC Radio agreement to skyview for their Cumulus O&O's like KGO, KABC and WABC.
 
miketheradioguy said:
WLZL's City of License was originally in Annapolis on both 99.1 and 107.9, which is part of the Baltimore market. Some time after CBS bought 107.9, El Zol's format was moved to 107.9, 99.1 flipped to news, and both 99.1 and 107.9's COLs were changed from Annapolis to Bowie and College Park, respectively, which makes both stations now serve the Washington market. The "true" Baltimore stations are 1300, 101.9, 105.7, and 106.5, while the "true" Washington stations are 1580, 106.7, 94.7, and 95.5. This makes things unclear where Entercom is at max capacity in either market, even though I know what the ownership limits are in each market. I believe the radio ownership cap in Baltimore is 4 FMs and 2 AMs (which was different for CBS because they own WJZ 13 in Baltimore), while Washington's ownership cap is 5 FMs and 2 AMs. If this is true, I think Entercom may move the weaker 107.9 signal's City of License back to Annapolis (targeting the Baltimore market), move the stronger 99.1's City of License to College Park while still providing College Park its local transmission service (targeting the Washington market), acquire Hubbard's WTOP's repeater at 107.7 (as part of a potential swap for Entercom's required divestitures, depending which radio stations Hubbard will give Entercom), and move its transmitter somewhere closer to D.C. for full coverage of the Washington market.
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You are assuming that changing city of license has something to do with coverage. It may not even, given the proximity of the two markets, affect attribution as in cases of proximity the FCC has been known to look at actual market coverage as opposed to the city of license.

Moving transmitters in the Northeast Corredor is extremely difficult. In any case, WLZL is locked into a couple-of-mile radius unless it lowers height or directionalizes. It's a marginal facility for whichever market it picks, and thus is a great option for a niche format like the current Latin CHR offering.

The Washington cap is 8 stations (of which no more than 5 may be in one service). Baltimore, with 39 stations home to the market, qualifies for a 7 station cap, with a maximum of 4 in either service.

The real issue in Baltimore is that there are fewer "prime" signals than in most comparably sized markets, so the significant players have tended to have fewer FMs than the cap. There are only 11 B's in the market, and one of them is WLZL which has "chosen" to be attributed to the DC market ( a practice not totally sanctioned but not yet challenged at the FCC). A couple of the Baltimore B's do not cover the entire market, either... WJZ and WZBA being examples.
 
The WJZ and WQXA situation is crazy. They are only 50 miles apart, both on 105.7 and both are class B's! Was that an FCC goof up or what? I don't think that there are any stations on the same frequency that close together in any other part of the country. 100.3 and 101.1 in Philly and NYC are at least 80 miles apart, and yet that is still a big mess for a good 20 miles on the Turnpike where they switch back and forth till one wins out.
 
http://news.radio-online.com/cgi-bin/rol.exe/headline_id=b15168

Here is an Update

CBS Corp. has begun its separation from CBS Radio with an exchange offer that will ultimately allow the CBS radio group to become a major component in publicly traded Entercom Communications Corp. Under the exchange offer, holders will receive the right to exchange all or a portion of shares of outstanding CBS Class B common stock, par value $0.001, for shares of Radio Common Stock. In the Merger, each outstanding share of Radio Common Stock will be converted into the right to receive an equal number of shares of Entercom Class A common stock.

In a filing with the SEC, CBS said it had decided to pursue the exchange offer in order to facilitate the separation of CBS's radio business from CBS's other mass media businesses in a tax-efficient manner, that better positions CBS to focus on its core remaining businesses.
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