House Cleaning at WCCC

Unbunch your undies... the station has not been sold. No transfer of control or consummation notice has been filed. It's a LMA.

DavidEduardo said:

Why? Contemporary Christian is a very successful format, with many followers. EMF does a very good job at presenting it.

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I'll agree that K-Love is a great presentation... but how does CCM perform in New England? I just really question the demand for the product in this part of the country. Additionally, in the land of steady habits, can an outside entity like EMF convince enough people to donate? I know they don't care, but I would be surprised if EMF saw some huge influx of donations from the greater Hartford area.

I would note that on a personal level, I'd be really disappointed if someone chose to send their money to some massive media company in California instead of donating their money to one of the "boots on the ground" religious charities that's providing actual service and making an actual difference here in Connecticut.

RonTheEngineer, it's not an LMA. Just because the paperwork isn't online in the FCC database doesn't mean it 1) hasn't been filed or 2) it's not coming tomorrow.

DavidEduardo said:

Why? Contemporary Christian is a very successful format, with many followers. EMF does a very good job at presenting it.

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New England Christians are mainly Roman Catholics or members of more liberal Protestant denominations. A couple of outliers -- Christian Scientists and Unitarian Universalists -- also do well here. And, of course, there are significantly more nonbelievers here than elsewhere. Preachy, naively optimistic music and preachy patter between songs won't win many friends in these parts, stranger. Of course, all EMF needs is a few dozen wealthy old bluehairs with a generous streak in the Hartford market dropping them regular big checks and its "mission" will be realized.

Oh, did I mention that cynicism and skepticism run deep here, too?

Had Connoisseur been successful in their bid, what would they have turned the channel into. Keep it rock and compete with PLR? Would anyone bring back Active Rock? And would they have kept the Hartford studios or moved everyone to Milford?

Don CT said:

Had Connoisseur been successful in their bid, what would they have turned the channel into. Keep it rock and compete with PLR? Would anyone bring back Active Rock? And would they have kept the Hartford studios or moved everyone to Milford?

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Assuming that DRC would have stayed pop-centered classic hits if Connoisseur had won WCCC, they'd probably have fine-tuned CCC to the format they're now running on DRC: mostly big classic rock hits with a sprinkling of pop megahits from the likes of Billy Joel and America, staying away from the newer (post-2000) rock and deeper cuts that WPLR plays. I would say that the targeted listener of DRC-FM now is about 5 to 10 years older than the targeted listener of PLR. Together, they would have been a formidable combo in the 34-55 demo, but alas, it wasn't to be.

>No transfer of control has been filed on either station, no consummation either... its a LMA

Maybe it will stay an LMA.

CCM is popular, but I'm not sure how popular.

Fact 1: About 12 or 13 years ago a group that included a former Channel 3 weather personality wanted to apply for a CP to build a brand new station to play CCM music. There was not a frequency available in Connecticut to achieve this.

Fact 2: About 12 years ago there was a popular brokered CCM show on AM 990 in Southington. Not to say the show would still be on today because today they are a Spanish Station - the reason the host of the show gave it up was because he got a Full Time job.

Fact 3: WIHS 104.9 has a few CCM shows and has for a while.

Fact 4: Y-102.5 a 3 Watt LPFM station from Manchester just signed on earlier this year and they play some CCM Music on their station.

Fact 5: There are 2 LPFM CCM stations in Western Mass in the Agawam area and in the Worcester Area. They are sponsoring a CCM Concert before an upcoming Rockcats Game in New Britain.

There is a difference between CCM music in general, and what the EMF folks do with it in terms of presentation. And I think it's that presentation that makes their stations so popular. I think some traditional radio folks could learn a lot by listening to an EMF station.

I wonder how much of a hit the local Christian music stations take when EMF enters the market. Many of theses stations operate with tight margins and listener support - with the resources of EMF and the caliber of talent, research and production behind them, I could see the local CCM stations really struggling, and I imagine it's put some of them in the position of sell now or be assimilated. They can't benefit from EMF's scale.

While EMF's product is very professional, I have an issue with them operating under tax exemption, doing quite well, and then claiming finances as the reason for a main studio waver in major markets for their full power signals. Can't have it both ways. Or, shouldn't be allowed to, anyhow.

Time to add my 3c to the topic, again. I've seen some interesting posts, for sure!

There is one GROSS ERROR that keeps popping up more than any other, and that is the GROSS ERROR that WCCC is a HARTFORD SIGNAL. Ok, granted, it's location is very close to Htfd, but it's signal covers about NINETY PERCENT of the state of CT! (It also covers about 40% of MA)

So, even if ABSOLUTELY NOBODY AT ALL in Hartford listened to K-Love on this station, it wouldn't make any difference... people from Simsbury to Storrs, from Meriden to Madison, from New Haven to New London, are hearing it LOUD AND CLEAR. Springfield is in the primary coverage area.

Because it is the *ONLY* station playing CCM in MOST of those areas, guess what? People who enjoy that music WILL listen... and some of them WILL support it. Suffice to say, K-Love is here, and it is NOT going away any time soon. Look at it this way... for 9.5 million dollars, they just got a signal that almost completely engulfs an entire state, and about 40% of another... both states have good populations, to boot.

Another ERROR about this area... the types of Christians that are here. Yes, there are a lot of Catholics, but there are also a LOT of Baptists, Evangelical Free, Assembly of God, Church of God, Calvary Chapel, Independent, etc, etc, etc... My own church has a congregation of over 1,000. There's one in Danbury, similar numbers. Another in West Haven over 2,000... and those are just the BIG churches! There are *HUNDREDS* of smaller churches with between 100~500 people in regular attendance! MANY of these people WILL BE THRILLED to have a K-Love station, *FINALLY*!

I have a very extensive background in Christian radio, having worked for WFIF in Milford for 20 years, and now doing Engineering work for WIHS in Middletown. I first started in Christian radio back in 1987, so my roots in, and my knowledge of, the "Christian Subculture" in this area is pretty decent. K-Love *WILL* have a support base. Of that, there is ZERO DOUBT. It is here to stay, and there are a LOT of people that are glad to have it. (Again, because for MANY of them, it is their *ONLY* station for CCM, they will support it.)

Because WIHS is different, I strongly believe that we WILL continue. We appeal to a different demographic than does K-Love, and we also meet different needs in listeners lives. I have a feeling that there will be MANY people switching back and forth between stations.

For one thing, you *NEVER* hear weather forecasts on K-Love. They don't even do time-checks. We do those things on WIHS, LIVE AND IN PERSON, 24/7! We are one of VERY FEW stations with a live, on-site staff, 24/7! We have LOCALISM down to a science. WIHS has been here since 1969, so we are a "Legacy" station. It's really cool to be a part of it. OK, enough of that...

K-Love does have an LMA with the owners of WCCC... because they wanted to just get out of the radio biz ASAP... so K-Love gladly obliged. The paperwork for the purchase has been filed, and it is expected to "go through" sometime in October. Then, K-Love will fully own the 106.9 signal. I strongly suspect a call letter change will come with the official transfer of ownership, and yes, WCCC AM will be up for sale.

(I can't believe this... we can't use more than 4 emoticons in a post?? Why??)

I d0 like a lot of rock and roll music Willie ! but we also could use more praising of Jesus too.WIHS is my favorite in tune with GOD station.Take Care!

Are there any numbers on the train wreck that is CCC now. Since all of the original listeners left have the numbers rebounded or is it just broadcasting out into empty space.

The Hartford numbers aren't out until Friday, but the numbers don't matter to the new owners anyways. They really don't.

Some don't care about ratings and seem to do ok! Maybe if other fm stations did the same you would get a lot more music choices on the FM Dial.

stanleyjohn said:

Some don't care about ratings and seem to do ok! Maybe if other fm stations did the same you would get a lot more music choices on the FM Dial.

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The K-Love stations don't care about ratings because they know that a good number of whatever listeners they have are going to donate money to them because they feel the music and its message are important to their lives -- and afterlives. That's not the kind of devotion an oldies, standards, classical or jazz station can count on.

CTListener said:

The K-Love stations don't care about ratings because they know that a good number of whatever listeners they have are going to donate money to them because they feel the music and its message are important to their lives -- and afterlives. That's not the kind of devotion an oldies, standards, classical or jazz station can count on.

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You never know unless you try!I would rater donate to a station that plays what I want rather then to what ratings say I should listen too.

reelyreal said:

The Hartford numbers aren't out until Friday, but the numbers don't matter to the new owners anyways. They really don't.

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Does EMF even subscribe to the ratings?? I dont think they do (they dont rate in Houston anyway)...I know KSBJ (a locally supported CCHR with two formats, the other being NGEN or New Gen, on HD and translator signals) did not see any hit from Air1 taking over KHJK (a rimshot that Cumulus owned...spent $40+ million on the station...sold it for $5mill to EMF!)