WLUP Sold To EMF

Link in the OP says the new format debuts this Saturday.

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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As another poster points out, Catholics will consume Christian radio. St. Louis is a very heavily Catholic city, and KLJY 99.1 is usually a top-5 performer there. If K-Love fails in Chicago, that won't be the reason why.

Another poster also points out that previous attempts at CCM have not done well in the market. Granted, those attempts weren't on signals on the Sears (Willis) like 97.9. If EMF can't succeed in Chicago with K-Love at 97.9, CCM probably just isn't viable there.

Kent said:

If EMF can't succeed in Chicago with K-Love at 97.9, CCM probably just isn't viable there.

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Once again, measuring success for EMF is different from measuring success for WBBM. Just being on the air in Chicago, and getting the message out, is a success.

In my area, EMF [K-Love or Air 1 format] is on a translator [102.5] and bills itself as being licensed to a former city I lived in. My problem with that is the fact that the translator is over 15 miles away from that city; matter of fact there are two other cities between the translator and the supposed COL. I'm sure that this is probably true of other EMF translators. No one I know of even listens to it and it sorta irks me that it's on that frequency because I used to be able to pick up WDVE out of Pittsburgh every once in a while and now I can't. I can dial around all over the place on the radio and hear about 6-10 translators of K-Love/Air 1 formats in my area. What a waste of frequencies.

This deal is all about getting a better signal into downtown Chicago, the near north side, Lincoln Park, etc. for K-Love. Added coverage in outlying areas (Lake & McHenry Counties, for example) will be a bonus.

The current signal at 94.3 MHz does a fine job hitting many of the zip codes where K-Love's target listener is most likely to reside. That said, the folks who listen at home and in the car while running errands probably don't listen at work if they work downtown. (In the car, 94.3's signal is often usable but indoor reception is a different story.)

WJKL-FM, the current home of K-Love for much of Chicagoland, usually scores in the low 1's. My guess is the "new" K-Love will garner closer to a 2.0 share.

I suspect Educational Media Foundation is flush with cash. The problem is - they are generally interested in single-station acquisitions (exclusively on FM to boot), and there aren't too many sellers out there only looking to move a single station. As soon as those opportunities arise, they pounce.

Hubbard would have been ideal.

They are flushed with cash...From God fearing donors.

Hubbard can buy the station outright if K-Love isn't a fit. But K-Love will stay there regardless.

Rock music was never satanic. Perverted toxic people are.

If they are a "non-profit", they need to change their extension from .com to .org.

BJSteigner said:

Hubbard can buy the station outright if K-Love isn't a fit. But K-Love will stay there regardless.

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Hubbard had their chance and missed it. Obviously decided it wasn't worth it to buy a station and then blow it up and rebuild.

I can't wait for this...I will be listening. K-Love is going to be a train wreck. We must see what happens.

What about Steve Miller Band "Take The Money And Run"...<Good track as well. What about tracks by Led Zepplin?

Exactly, BigA.

This, frankly, is a win-win for Hubbard. The Drive now has the classic rock lane pretty much to itself, and Hubbard didn't have to spend a dime out of its own pocket to eliminate WDRV's biggest foe.

In theory, someone could always flip an underperforming signal to classic rock - such as iHeart's 95.5 FM - but I simply cannot see that happening. There is not enough money in it. As I noted earlier, WLUP was a mediocre biller. Being the #2 classic rock station in town is not going to rake in a whole lot of revenue.

Maybe WLS-FM makes a tweak to feature a little more classic rock product and less in the way of cheesy stuff that chases away male listeners. Maybe 93XRT will elect to play one or two more classic rock tracks an hour. That's about the full extent of the changes I can envision arising from The Loop's demise.

MarkW said:

There is not enough money in it. As I noted earlier, WLUP was a mediocre biller. Being the #2 classic rock station in town is not going to rake in a whole lot of revenue.

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Exactly. The top story at RadioInk is "Why Did WLUP Fail?" The answer is because of mediocre billings. Why did it get mediocre billings? Because it targets an aging demo. Any prospective owner was either going to have to change formats, or run it as a non-profit. EMF chose to do the latter.

BJSteigner said:

Rock music was never satanic. Perverted toxic people are.

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Satan is a fairy tale character.

BJSteigner said:

Hubbard can buy the station outright if K-Love isn't a fit. But K-Love will stay there regardless.

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I'm sure K-Love isn't going to go anywhere, but it has happened before. In my home market (Mobile, Alabama) K-Love was part of a switch-a-roo with the market's heritage Top 40 station, 97.5 WABB.

The way it was told to me, the estate of the legendary Bernie Dittman was selling the station to anyone EXCEPT Cumulus, who they knew would ruin it. (Whether that's actually true or not, I have no idea, but it wouldn't surprise me.) So along comes K-Love to buy the 100 kW stick for a big chunk of change. They changed the calls to WLVM.

They let the station personnel have their goodbyes and all that, then the K-Love satellite feed was potted up and that was the end of an era.

Meanwhile, Cumulus flipped one of their big market FMs to CHR as "WABD" with virtually the same logo and marketing fluff.

Fast-foward a few days, and it comes out that EMF was selling the 97.5 stick to Cumulus for cash and acquisition of a smaller Mobile-centric signal on 98.3. WLVM moved to 98.3 and Cumulus got their hands on 97.5 (which became WADB) after all.

I don't see this kind of silliness happening in Chicago, but it's an interesting insight into the willingness of EMF to make deals.

BJSteigner said:

I can't wait for this...I will be listening. K-Love is going to be a train wreck. We must see what happens.

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Have you heard K-Love before? It's exceptionally professional. Good sound, and I don't even like CCM. If you're not listening to the words, it could be any other slick contemporary station in America.

tomservo said:

The way it was told to me, the estate of the legendary Bernie Dittman was selling the station to anyone EXCEPT Cumulus, who they knew would ruin it. (Whether that's actually true or not, I have no idea, but it wouldn't surprise me.)

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I heard a similar story, too. Dittman always hated Cumulus. I'd heard WABB 97.5 was to be sold to anyone but Cumulus out of spite. When Cumulus stock tanked around 2000, WABB gave it’s stock away in a contest.

Fast-foward a few days, and it comes out that EMF was selling the 97.5 stick to Cumulus for cash and acquisition of a smaller Mobile-centric signal on 98.3. WLVM moved to 98.3 and Cumulus got their hands on 97.5 (which became WADB) after all.
I don't see this kind of silliness happening in Chicago, but it's an interesting insight into the willingness of EMF to make deals.

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In the case of WABB, Cumulus also traded a Nashville stick that it had to get rid of to EMF. I suppose an operator like Univision might try to trade 106.7 and cash to EMF for 97.9, but that still seems pretty unlikely.