WLUP Sold To EMF

Annual ad revenue was probably somewhere in the ballpark of $6 million. They've been an underwhelming biller for many years, dating back to at least Bonneville's ownership of the station - probably further back than that.

Still plenty of options in the area for classic rock, even if there aren't that many choices in the heart of the city.

Most large & major markets only have 1 classic rock station on a powerful, full market signal. The Loop honestly did not deserve to survive nearly as long as it did. To this day, I feel Emmis (when it owned WLUP) missed a golden opportunity to re-position the station. When Q101 went in its "Everything Alternative" direction, Mancow (who was #1 in Men 25-54 on WKQX at the time but was fired) should've been moved to The Loop and the playlist should've shifted to a current & recurrent friendly Mainstream Rock position. How ironic that he would land on WLUP many years later once his morning show and the station itself were way beyond their respective primes.

gr8oldies said:

People are willing to write checks to K-Love. They aren't always willing to write checks for rock (as witness the former WNKU, Cincinnati.)

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They'll write checks for rock on satellite radio, apparently, as rock (a many-splintered thing) is easily the largest musical category offered by SiriusXM. But then, all that rock -- from mellow to classic, metal to alternative -- is commercial free. Christian music has three channels: CCM, black gospel and Southern gospel.

MarkW said:

Annual ad revenue was probably somewhere in the ballpark of $6 million. They've been an underwhelming biller for many years, dating back to at least Bonneville's ownership of the station - probably further back than that.

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Wow, that's all? No wonder Cumulus wanted to renegotiate.

TheBigA said:

Once again, in the free marketplace, that license was available for anyone who had the money to buy it. You'd think someone in Chicago would have the money for such a thing. But those who do aren't necessarily interested in owning radio stations any more. So when people complain about the choices on OTA radio, and why isn't there more rock radio or things like that, the answer is because no one is willing to spend the money to keep it on the radio. Whereas there are lots of religious folks who can and will find the money to keep what they want on the radio. I constantly read people say if the Pacifica folks would sell WBAI, that license would be put to better use. That pre-supposes that the new owner is interested in commercial musical formats, and you can't make that assumption any more.

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No doubt. There's plenty of money out there and I would love to put together a business plan that made sense, pitch it to co-investors and buy a heritage station like that. The problem is I can't come up with a rationale to offer the price it would take to close such a deal.

I didn't mean that it is not a success or viable format. My wording is always questionable as I race through here. My apologies. My point is this - in Nashville - we have nine (9) FM stations with some form of Christian music/formatting above 92.1. We also have four sports talk stations. Those formats are ALL VALID. But they cut into more of the mainstream formats. As cities change and grow, radio options do as well. My concern is if you take away the array and selection of even similar mass formats, you turn off more and more long term listeners to local radio and let them connect with online options that hurt the profits of ALL radio stations. Including CCM. Hope that makes sense. Just my take on it. Means nada in reality.

DavidEduardo said:

So Contemporary Christian is not a music option? It's a very successful format, both for EMF and other broadcasters.

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But will it work in Chicago, especially in the city and inner suburbs (inside the Tri-State) where the White (both Hispanic and non-Hispanic) population is overwhelmingly Roman Catholic? Does EMF target Black audiences? Blacks make up about 1/3 of the city and southern suburbs.

They have suburban stations already. How well do they do? And with a full-market signal, how well will they compete with the Moody (WMBI) and Salem (WYLL) stations?

KeithE4 said:

They have suburban stations already. How well do they do? And with a full-market signal, how well will they compete with the Moody (WMBI) and Salem (WYLL) stations?

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We'll never really know, since it's non-profit. What we know is they have deep enough pockets to cover a few loss leaders in major cities in order to serve the mission.

Sure admire the deep pockets of EMF. Between the Entercom purchases (el Lay, Escondido & Wilkes Barre) and da Loop, they've shelled out close to 80 million dollars in the past six months. YIKES! Well, there was some cost savings in Chicago as no broker participated in that deal.

DrAkbar said:

Well, there was some cost savings in Chicago as no broker participated in that deal.

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Wow...how'd that one sneak by? Missed a nice commission. Randy himself is licensed in many things.

K-Love is perfectly mainstream. There are lots of markets where it shown in the Nielsens as a top 10 station 12+. Probably lots more markets where they do not subscribe but garner a large share. Also mainstream are their competitors in Nashville, The Fish and Way-FM.

I do understand why commercial broadcasters would dislike K-Love. If K-Love has 4 or 6 or 8 shares in the market, that should diminish radio revenue because fewer listener hours are being spent with commercial radio. Whether that really happens, I don't know.

A fair number of the K-LOVE stations I know of in the smaller markets where I work would probably not be on the air any longer if EMF had not purchased them. I'm not sure what is worse, a station owned by EMF drawing a 6 share, or a station whose license is turned in.

KeithE4 said:

But will it work in Chicago, especially in the city and inner suburbs (inside the Tri-State) where the White (both Hispanic and non-Hispanic) population is overwhelmingly Roman Catholic? Does EMF target Black audiences? Blacks make up about 1/3 of the city and southern suburbs.

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I find, anecdotally, that Catholic usage of K-LOVE is second only to evangelicals, grouping things by denomination. The Catholic alternatives, EWTN and Relevant Radio, are largely focused on preaching and teaching rather than music - and have small listenership in comparison.
I can't speak to African-American usage of K-LOVE.

gr8oldies said:

K-Love is the Gospel for suburban soccer moms, and shares audience more with the A/C station than with talk/teaching outlets.

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And if you don't listen too carefully to the lyrics, it can sound a lot like commercial non-religious music. Then you realize....

RIP 97.9 ‘the loop’ Chicago’s classic rock. In a world where airwaves are dominated by horrid pop music, this is devastating. Rock stations are too few in number, and the loop was always a place where classic rock was still alive

DavidEduardo said:

In the case of the EMF formats, the difference is the business model. Both formats are simply part of the kinds of formats that people want to hear, and they are well done.

Look at The Fish in Atlanta, generally in the top 4 to 5 stations in the market, particularly in the key demos. Contemporary Christian is a format a large group of listeners want, so the spectrum is not wasted.

EMF does their formats well, and they have, perhaps smartly, chosen a listener support model rather than selling advertising. While that lets them use non-commercial frequencies, it is also a strategy that makes the listening experience very positive for listeners.

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I'll give you that, K-Love does a great job with the presentation. And from what I hear they take care of their physical properties, too. No old decrepit transmitters struggling to stay on air. They spend money for quality.

For the record, I feel the same way about CCM invading FM radio as I do country — I know everybody loves it, but it reminds me that radio isn't for me anymore because I am not in the mainstream. Out of 50+ signals in my neck of the woods, I have a variety hits, a classic hits and a classic rock to choose from. Not as bad as it could be but not much reason to turn on the radio when AccuRadio plays the same music but has 0.1% of the commercial load for free.

KeithE4 said:

But will it work in Chicago, especially in the city and inner suburbs (inside the Tri-State) where the White (both Hispanic and non-Hispanic) population is overwhelmingly Roman Catholic? Does EMF target Black audiences? Blacks make up about 1/3 of the city and southern suburbs.

They have suburban stations already. How well do they do? And with a full-market signal, how well will they compete with the Moody (WMBI) and Salem (WYLL) stations?

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WYLL originally was on FM with CCM, not preachers, and it didn't do too well. This was before it was owned by Salem. Salem also tried their FISH CCM format in Chicago on FM, and it didn't last. They swaped it for 560/WIND and a pile of cash.

But the non-commercial approach to CCM seems to get higher ratings than Salem's commercial Fish format.

Online stream still active at this time with classic rock. Drop-Ins redirect listeners to the new home of The Loop WKQX HD2 and for WKQX itself.