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Is iHeart planning for a WBZ simulcast on FM?

D

DavidZ

Star Participant
I’ve noticed recently that WBZ has stopped using 1030 in almost all of their promos. They mention 1030 in their top of the hour ID but have just about dropped it completely during their all news shifts. The weather and news reporters are just stating News Radio.

Could they be planning for a FM simulcast so they’re downplaying the 1030 AM dial position?
 
Interesting if so; their properties here on FM (the AMs are 680, 1030, 1200 with 1430 in a trust)
WJMN 94.5 hip hop and R&B
WKAF 97.7 R&B
WZLX 100.7 Classic rock
WBWL 101.7 Country
WXKS-FM 107.9 Top 40 and Pop

Which of these would be sacrificed? ZLX and Kiss may do the best...ratings/money earnings to be considered. Any simulcast would have to be 100 per cent on AM and FM for ratings I think.
If a _move_ to FM, what do they do with the AM? Would it be: National talk (Rush, Sean) on 680, local talk (Kuhner, Carr, Rea) on 1030, Fox Sports on 1200? Not so sure they'd do it.

Note that a simulcast would eliminate a revenue stream. Imagine: WBZ AM 1030 and also on FM 94.5 (the WBZ-FM calls of course are on a Beasley station!)
Jamn moves to 97.7 or gets eliminated. One less revenue stream... to shore up WBZ.

2011--Entercom moves WEEI to 93.7, what had been "Mike" variety hits. They had to, to compete with CBS' Sports Hub. After a year or so, the AM 850 went to all ESPN.
So Ent. gets their sports talk local/Red Sox on FM, but in doing so they lost the revenue stream of "Mike"...and I don't think AM 850 is earning them much money...
So...NewsRadio 94.5 FM ---can't use WBZ-FM calls--and, what, brokered time on 1030? Or a simulcast?

Or they ditch country to put News Radio on 101.7...not that the signal would cover everyone, but many...
https://radio-locator.com/pats/WBWL_FM_LU.gif
 
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With younger listeners having started to desert rock for less melodic, more rhythmic alternatives beginning in the '90s, it could be nearing time for classic rock to go the way of oldies. WZLX would make the most sense to me, but really, it's hard to imagine any station in iHeart's Boston FM cluster going news/talk just to get the format on a band that people still listen to. "Not everyone, but many" coverage in the form of WBWL would be pointless; WBZ has to be city-grade or near city-grade in all parts of the market.

So 'ZLX is my guess -- abandoning one geezer-leaning format for another, but at least there'll always be someone out there who'll want to know what's going on in the city, state, nation and world, while the rock fans will just continue to age and eventually pass on.

My guess also is that 1030 and 100.7(?) would be a 100 percent simulcast until such time as the Nielsens show that nearly all in-market listeners are using FM or streaming. Third-tier ultra-right talk or leased-time, I'm afraid, for the 50,000-watt rotary phone/VCR/buggy whip that the once-mighty 1030 will have become.
 
Who around Boston can't get WBZ AM ?

Oh they can get it. But do virgin ears want to listen to Am EVER? I've thought
about it as a concept since the two NYC news stations started it 10 years ago.
 
DavidZ said:
Could they be planning for a FM simulcast so they’re downplaying the 1030 AM dial position?
Click to expand...

That's an interesting question...not aware that iHeart is doing simulcasts for any of their big AMs anywhere in the country right now.

Entercom has an FM simulcast of WBBM Chicago, but it uses different letters because WBBM has another format. Similar situation with KCBS in SF.
 
>>do virgin ears ever want to listen to AM, ever?

Not many other than ethnic or religious fans (young people).Some only dimly aware of AM. (Bittner's WJIB does have a high school age listener.)

Jay Severin some years back on Facebook:"So check my new show out on Rush Radio 1200"
Severin fan: "Oh, is that, like, on AM?"
 
Now, I really do not think that IheartRadio will pull the plug on WZLX. At least two of their stations have much lower ratings.
 
TheBigA said:
That's an interesting question...not aware that iHeart is doing simulcasts for any of their big AMs anywhere in the country right now.

Entercom has an FM simulcast of WBBM Chicago, but it uses different letters because WBBM has another format. Similar situation with KCBS in SF.
Click to expand...

Also WFAN New York, which now gives the FM frequency first at the top of the hour. It would be interesting to know the AM/FM split of their ratings. If AM is being deserted, could 660 soon drop local content and go to a satellite lineup, like WEEI(AM) has? Or would there be problems with the pro sports teams whose play-by-play is currently on both signals? I'd imagine those teams would have to build out their networks significantly should their games go FM only on the flagship.
 
CTListener said:
Also WFAN New York, which now gives the FM frequency first at the top of the hour. It would be interesting to know the AM/FM split of their ratings. If AM is being deserted, could 660 soon drop local content and go to a satellite lineup, like WEEI(AM) has? Or would there be problems with the pro sports teams whose play-by-play is currently on both signals? I'd imagine those teams would have to build out their networks significantly should their games go FM only on the flagship.
Click to expand...

We won't know the split, but I would guess that it is at least 60/40 for the FM by now. The AM still has the better signal in some far parts of the MSA, particularly eastern Suffolk County, so it contributes a lot to the total in all likelihood. In this way the NYC MSA is somewhat different from the Boston situation, where a decent FM facility "covers the market" and an AM does not add anything (WFAN in NY is a great signal while 850 in Boston is limited, particularly at night).

Splitting the simulcast is not a good idea, as even if it is for some games and the like, Nielsen no longer combines the two as a "simulcast" (there is a complicated exception to Nielsen rules, but probably it's the team contracts that have the real weight here).
 
TheBigA said:
That's an interesting question...not aware that iHeart is doing simulcasts for any of their big AMs anywhere in the country right now.
Click to expand...

In fact, an FM simulcast of KOGO in San Diego was abandoned.
 
CTListener said:
So 'ZLX is my guess -- abandoning one geezer-leaning format for another, but at least there'll always be someone out there who'll want to know what's going on in the city, state, nation and world, while the rock fans will just continue to age and eventually pass on.
Click to expand...

WZLX averages 4th in 25-54. That puts it up for almost every agency buy in or around that demo. It's tied for 6th in revenue with WROR, with only two music stations billing any higher.
 
DavidEduardo said:


We won't know the split, but I would guess that it is at least 60/40 for the FM by now. The AM still has the better signal in some far parts of the MSA, particularly eastern Suffolk County, so it contributes a lot to the total in all likelihood.
Click to expand...

Wouldn't 600 WICC Bridgeport cover eastern Suffolk, too?
 
Cheap Channel dropped the Newsradio 1030 , and changed it to WBZ Newsradio, because it is widely used, and is their brand.
By the way, WTAM newsradio, WLW Newsradio, and WWVA Newsradio, aren't NEWSRADIO.
We should be very wary of Cheap Channel's intentions in this regard.
Because god forbid they drop the daytime news format, and drop what's left of WZLX'S format, Boston commercial radio would be that much more unlistenable
 
WBZ 1030 is half news, half talk with AM Drive, PM drive and middays as news.One could say the talk shows are about news events, but it's not strictly newscasts.

For several years talk station WHJJ in Providence, another iHeart, has called itself NewsRadio even though it's just top of hour headlines. The website says "NewsRadio R.I." but there's a local talk show or two and then Beck, Rush, Hannity. At least the site has news headlines.
https://newsradiori.iheart.com
 
CTListener said:
107.9 and 106.7 would be my guess. I'd also be curious how much of a gap there is between the top 3 and WZLX.
Click to expand...

Your gess is correct.

Top 3 are WXKS, WBZ and WEEI-FM. WZLX is about 50% below WEEI, but that one is ahead of everyone by a considerable margin.

Of course, those are last year numbers, and with the many changes in ownership and elements of programming, the revenue rankers are quite possibly going to change.
 
DavidEduardo said:


Your gess is correct.

Top 3 are WXKS, WBZ and WEEI-FM. WZLX is about 50% below WEEI, but that one is ahead of everyone by a considerable margin.
Click to expand...

Do advertisers looking to reach men generally buy WZLX, WBZ and both sports stations? I'd imagine there are far fewer slices to the male listening pie than there are for the female, which you'd think would work to the advantage of rock, sports and news in billing. Advertisers need to cover all shades of CHR, AC, country and rhythmic/urban to lasso the soccer moms and their wide open pocketbooks.
 
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