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PLJ SOLD

Big A said:

” If that's true, why is EMF so successful? Why are people so willing to send them money. How many people would have sent WPLJ money to hear their favorite music?

That's really the question you need to ask. It's not because K-Love's playlists are so huge. It's not because they have entertaining live & local talent. But yet they have an audience for what they do, and they attract dollars in ways that allow them to spend $100 million in cash for a handful of FM radio stations. Anyone else could do it. There are lots of rich people in the tri-state area, but not many who are willing to spend their own money on buying radio stations…..”

Read Sinclair Lewis’ novel Elmer Gantry. Dozens of these hucksters manage to build mega operations based on ancient superstitions.

“The people who listened to WPLJ wanted to hear their favorites for free. They feel they're entitled to it. Now it's gone. Over the next few years, they'll discover that the music they used to get for free from OTA radio will require a subscription. Will they be willing to pay?”

This statement tells me you don’t understand the reality of this particular operation, nor the market it tried to cater to.
WPLJ was always a runner-up in the CHR race but the pot was big enough for them to get a decent serving.

Try this: take a break from commenting on every topic and discussion and actually talk to young people, those in their teens-twenties.

Find out how many listen to OTA or for that matter any other “curated” source.

Do it.

We are well into the era of custom media and music radio, as we know it, has a big problem looming.

Don’t bank that a rise in subscription-based streaming will drive listeners back to traditional radio, IMO it won’t. There are just too many free sources for stream or downloading available.

LCG
 
DavidEduardo said:


Actually it was a victim of things like mismanagement, the Dickeys, better competitors and changes in music.



You are mistaking a traditional radio receiver for "radio" in general. To the current generation, a cellphone is, among other things, a radio. Spotify is a radio station. So is Pandora. And so are the streams of traditional broadcasters.

"Everyone" has a smartphone.



That is your opinion. They actually run very well programmed stations, even though they borrowed the "one station - many transmitters" concept from Latin America and Europe.
Click to expand...

David, you took the words right out from under my keyboard.

However, I stand behind the "bilge" remark. This operation and several others try a stealth approach to their proffering of superstition. They use a sound-alike approach to ALA K-tel make these fables seem contemporary. It works. It sells. They get rich with their "non profit" operation. The slow but now obvious rise of this stuff is an indication of an industry sector in decline.

It is analogous to what has happened to short wave and domestic AM. Once major sources of news and entertainment taken over by the likes of Gene Scott and other hucksters who pump cash from deluded listeners.

I've never been a listener to WPLJ, but it's loss to an operator like "emf" saddens me.

LCG
 
L Chanon Gade said:
Try this: take a break from commenting on every topic and discussion and actually talk to young people, those in their teens-twenties.

Find out how many listen to OTA or for that matter any other “curated” source.
Click to expand...

Me talking to young people is not a scientific study. It would induce a bias into the study. However there are lots of highly respected research companies that ask this question all the time. The question is phrased in a way to get an unbiased answer. Such a study was released by Edison Research yesterday. It was commissioned by the music industry, not someone in radio. Here's the result that answers your question:

"According to EDISON's industry-leading "Share Of Ear" study, AM/FM radio remains the top platform for teens, with 63% of 13-19-year-olds listening to radio every day."

Now you can dispute the study if you want with your personal anecdotal experience. But just because it isn't the answer you want doesn't mean it's not the truth.

Radio is not one thing. It's about a hundred different stations that play different music, aimed at different people. The loss of one station that aimed mainly at people in their 40s will have no impact on people in their 20s. If they're not listening to that particular station, they don't care. If Z-100 went away, that would be different. And you might be surprised how many young people will be happy to finally have a Christian music station in New York. Although they don't target young people. But we might see more teens and 20s listening to 95.5 now than when it was playing "adult contemporary" music.

Lastly, if you're going to view radio as a single thing, it doesn't matter if the stations are religious or secular. The stations are being used. That's what's happening here. There are lots of products on the market. Not everyone uses every product. But those products exist for a reason. So if radio is now being used by people who prefer contemporary Christian music, that is a net gain for radio.
 
That last sentiment is exactly the reason I find this knee-jerk reaction to the purchaser. If Cumulus sold to someone else, just non-religious, and the format changes to something else secular, that's OK? Or at least not as "horrific" as going to EMF?

Look, if religion isn't your thing, great. Lots of formats aren't my thing, and I don't listen, nor begrudge those who do.
 
L Chanon Gade said:
It is analogous to what has happened to short wave and domestic AM. Once major sources of news and entertainment taken over by the likes of Gene Scott and other hucksters who pump cash from deluded listeners.

I've never been a listener to WPLJ, but it's loss to an operator like "emf" saddens me.

LCG
Click to expand...

Shortwave stations were taken over by religious broadcasters and programmers because virtually everyone else gave up on the medium. The religious broadcasters did not start the decline of SW -- technology started the decline of SW. The medium was already on the way out when we saw the dial taken up by more and more religion and less and less BBC, VOA, AFRTS, DW, Radio Moscow, and other news oriented broadcasters. Religious broadcasters saw an increasing opportunity to use the medium and did. Now they are using other media increasingly -- satellite and internet -- to get to various areas of the world instead.
 
L Chanon Gade said:
TheBigA said:
If that's true, why is EMF so successful? Why are people so willing to send them money. How many people would have sent WPLJ money to hear their favorite music?

That's really the question you need to ask. It's not because K-Love's playlists are so huge. It's not because they have entertaining live & local talent. But yet they have an audience for what they do, and they attract dollars in ways that allow them to spend $100 million in cash for a handful of FM radio stations. Anyone else could do it. There are lots of rich people in the tri-state area, but not many who are willing to spend their own money on buying radio stations.
Click to expand...

Read Sinclair Lewis’ novel Elmer Gantry. Dozens of these hucksters manage to build mega operations based on ancient superstitions.
Click to expand...
So you're admitting that you don't have even the beginning of a clue as to why EMF's business plan is so successful. (Hint: it's about supporting people's faith. Ya either get it or you don't, but at least recognize it when you don't.)

L Chanon Gade said:
Try this: take a break from commenting on every topic and discussion and actually talk to... (EMF station listeners).
Click to expand...
Sage advice.
 
L Chanon Gade said:
However, I stand behind the "bilge" remark. This operation and several others try a stealth approach to their proffering of superstition. They use a sound-alike approach to ALA K-tel make these fables seem contemporary. It works. It sells. They get rich with their "non profit" operation. The slow but now obvious rise of this stuff is an indication of an industry sector in decline.
Click to expand...

I don't see anyone getting rich. The financials are available online, and the pay scales are what I would consider, personally, low. The COO of Entravision, a much smaller company, makes more than Mike Novak, the CEO of EMF does.

Any "riches" accumulated have gone to building out the network. I don't see anything in their operation that is self-enriching for the managers and staff and nothing that is out of line for an immense listener supported organization.
 
boombox4 said:
Shortwave stations were taken over by religious broadcasters and programmers because virtually everyone else gave up on the medium. The religious broadcasters did not start the decline of SW -- technology started the decline of SW. The medium was already on the way out when we saw the dial taken up by more and more religion and less and less BBC, VOA, AFRTS, DW, Radio Moscow, and other news oriented broadcasters. Religious broadcasters saw an increasing opportunity to use the medium and did. Now they are using other media increasingly -- satellite and internet -- to get to various areas of the world instead.
Click to expand...

SW declined due to the proliferation in local, independent radio starting as far back as the late 50's in many underdeveloped nations. As smaller towns got radio stations, the need for the fading and static on SW was reduced, and eventually eliminated.

I once owned a commercial SW station that came with a rural AM that I bought to move in to a larger market. That was in the mid-60's. I saw how SW was beginning to decline, and I turned in the license and sent the transmitter to the dump.

Even "biggies" like The Voice of the Andes, HCJB, reduced operations and finally just closed shop when the transmitter site was needed to build a new airport. They first looked at moving, and then decided that resources were best placed in helping to build community stations all over the world. The SW operation began in 1933. Many other international SW religious broadcasters are gone or have scaled back or moved to local operations on AM and FM.

Technology did not start the decline of SW. The decline started when there were better options with better, cleaner signals locally around much of the world. It's not that religious broadcasting has increased... it is just that on SW it has decreased at a slower rate than government international broadcasts... but it is declining too. Big religious broadcaster TWR does not even list frequencies on its website... it send people to local stations or to podcasts!

Bet you can not name any true religious organization that has expanded SW broadcasting in the last 40 years. I can name many that have reduced or eliminated such efforts.
 
"Like WABC New York it is hard to see Cumulus remaining in Washington with just Conservative Talk 630 WMAL"

What Lance ignores is the fact that Cumulus will remain in New York because of their CEO and other senior execs are based there, plus they have a major NY-based sales office. So if they're going to have all those bodies occupying real estate, they might as well have a radio station there as well. They've cut the expenses of WABC pretty low, they have a bunch of info-mercials on the wknds to pay the costs, and they're not going to get much money from selling it. So they might as well hang on.

In DC, they just moved all of the company's national news operations into the WMAL building. There will be some extra square footage when WRQX moves out. So once again, why sell the station when they need an office in DC anyway?
 
L Chanon Gade said:
However, I stand behind the "bilge" remark. This operation and several others try a stealth approach to their proffering of superstition. They use a sound-alike approach to ALA K-tel make these fables seem contemporary.
Click to expand...

1.) What is so "stealth" about it. It's right there in the open. Nothing stealth about it.

2.) Do you have to put much effort into being obnoxious and offensive...or does it come naturally to you?
 
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94.7 Going Back To A Christian Format?

TheBigA said:
But that's not likely.
Click to expand...

we'll see - stranger things have happened in NY radio - I would not necessarily rule out a return to Christian radio for 94.7 :D
 
DavidEduardo said:


I'm rather surprised at the large number of notes praising WPLJ and lamenting its format flip.

The fact is that the station was the lowest rated full signal FM in the market, its billing has been falling for a decade, and nothing that they have done has made any difference.

The things that the station did that were great... the genius of PD Larry Berger and the great morning show that Scott Shannon created... are ancient history and recalled and remembered by few today.

The new format will likely get better numbers, and is highly sustainable because it is fervently listener supported.

Move on. Nothing to see.
Click to expand...

David, even though I agree with you - i am still stunned - the end of a NY radio legacy on FM..... :(
 
andreajesus said:
we'll see - stranger things have happened in NY radio - I would not necessarily rule out a return to Christian radio for 94.7 :D
Click to expand...

Maybe you missed the story. Entercom now owns 94.7. They don't program Christian radio. They have lots of uses for additional FMs in NYC. None of them are Christian. If EMF was interested in owning two Christian stations in NYC, they could have bought both 95.5 AND 94.7 at the same time. They didn't.
 
ksradiogeek said:
Tell that to the fans of WLUP. They sympathize with you. Truth is, billing was wayyyy down on both stations and the value on the signals sagged. EMF wants a bigger footprint in the bigger markets and they were the highest bidder. Cox wants out, i<3’s debt riddled, E-com is doing its thing (and probably can’t upgrade in certain spots without the DOJ getting involved) and Beasley’s not all that interested in upgrading beyond Boston. Other than that, there aren’t a lot of major and/or mom and pop owners that can grab something like that.

It’s the radio business in 2019. You don’t have to embrace it, but that’s the corporate game.
Click to expand...

"It" has become the broadcasting equivalent of ebola.
 
DavidEduardo said:

Even "biggies" like The Voice of the Andes, HCJB, reduced operations and finally just closed shop when the transmitter site was needed to build a new airport. They first looked at moving, and then decided that resources were best placed in helping to build community stations all over the world. The SW operation began in 1933.
Click to expand...

Although HCJB Global in Ecuador (now known as Reach Beyond) has reduced its shortwave presence in that country to a single 1kw transmitter, the organization launched a new SW operation in Kunanurra, Australia about 15 years ago. Three 100kw transmitters target Asia in a number of languages.

BTW the HCJB Ecuador SW operation began in 1931.

Bet you can not name any true religious organization that has expanded SW broadcasting in the last 40 years. [/SIZE]
Click to expand...

And I will name Madagascar World Voice, operated by World Christian Broadcasting, which went on the air in 2016 from Mahajanga on the NW coast of Madagascar. Two 100kw transmitters targeting Africa and Asia that, on certain transmissions, put in a decent signal into North America. Just this week news got out that the station is cutting several hours of programming due to the high cost of diesel fuel for the generators that power the operation.

Madagascar World Voice is a sibling of KNLS, a religious shortwave station in Alaska that targets Asia.

But David, you are right, religious organizations have been cutting or eliminating shortwave since the early 1990's.
 
Mediafrog+ said:
Although HCJB Global in Ecuador (now known as Reach Beyond) has reduced its shortwave presence in that country to a single 1kw transmitter, the organization launched a new SW operation in Kunanurra, Australia about 15 years ago. Three 100kw transmitters target Asia in a number of languages.
Click to expand...

Mostly Chinese dialects and langauges spoken in China where missionary work is "discouraged". One of the few frontiers only SW can vanquish.

BTW the HCJB Ecuador SW operation began in 1931.
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While Clarence Jones' 1946 book put forth 1931 as the date for broadcast, the people I knew at HCJB (they helped me design my first FM transmitters) insisted that was incorrect and that it was indeed 1933. The reasoning is that the 1931 presidential election was annulled by congress, as the elected president was not a born Ecuadorian. This provoked, in 1932, an armed military rebellion and things did not settle down until 1933.

My oldest daughter's grandparents were there at the time, and I heard many stories about the politics and about the first HCJB broadcasts "after the problem".

And I will name Madagascar World Voice, operated by World Christian Broadcasting, which went on the air in 2016 from Mahajanga on the NW coast of Madagascar. Two 100kw transmitters targeting Africa and Asia that, on certain transmissions, put in a decent signal into North America. Just this week news got out that the station is cutting several hours of programming due to the high cost of diesel fuel for the generators that power the operation.
Click to expand...

But that is just one operation with just two relatively low power transmitters. Compared to the operations like TWR with SW in multiple nations, or HCJB with six or seven high power transmitters on the air at the same time, relatively small... and it sure did not last long.

Madagascar World Voice is a sibling of KNLS, a religious shortwave station in Alaska that targets Asia.
Click to expand...

Again, with very low power.

But David, you are right, religious organizations have been cutting or eliminating shortwave since the early 1990's.
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And it has been nearly three decades since then.

I watched tropical band SW nearly disappear in Ecuador (mine was in the 90 meter band) as the need for such stations disappeared.

Anecdotally, such stations made much of their income sending "messages" and "musical messages". You could go to a station and pay for a message such as "Attention at the "El Porvenir" Hacienda in the Suasti Parrish of Amaguaña County in the Province of Cotopaxi: send a donkey to town at noon tomorrow, the boss arrives on the Lightening Bus Line from Quito". Or, on a person's saint day, you could pay to send a greeting and a song! I had one AM that did that, and we made more money that way than by selling ads.
 
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TheBigA said:
Cumulus will remain in New York because of their CEO and other senior execs are based there, plus they have a major NY-based sales office. So if they're going to have all those bodies occupying real estate, they might as well have a radio station there as well.
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Don't disagree, but for what it's worth, Entercom pre CBS was run out of Philly (Bala Cynwyd) with no local station, if I recall correctly. And that in itself is a dubious proposition most days. 😀
 
AbrahamJSimpson said:
Don't disagree, but for what it's worth, Entercom pre CBS was run out of Philly (Bala Cynwyd) with no local station, if I recall correctly. And that in itself is a dubious proposition most days. ��
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Agreed. Just to add to that: Hearst's television empire does not include any stations in New York, the city in which it is headquartered.
 
AbrahamJSimpson said:
Don't disagree, but for what it's worth, Entercom pre CBS was run out of Philly (Bala Cynwyd) with no local station, if I recall correctly. And that in itself is a dubious proposition most days.
Click to expand...

I get that, but that's a different situation. Cumulus owns a station there already, and their CEO's office is shared with that station's studio. The benefit to keeping the station is strictly for accounting, not operations. Plus, as I said, the amount of money they'd make by selling would be negligible. They'd love to get rid of all the ABC AMs, but no one would buy them. Look how much trouble Disney went through getting rid of the Radio Disney AMs.
 
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