Waiting to see - WABC, WNBM and W232AL-FM.

So we know what's going to go on with WNSH, WPLJ. We're all waiting on the next shoe to drop on WABC and WNBM. (WNBM can't be worth much.)

But Cumulus also has a 94.3 licensed to Pomona NY.
Not sure what programming is on that now. For a while it was airing the HD-3 of WPLJ, airing 'FAS-FM, trying to bring WFAS back to Westchester County. Radio-locator shows it's running WNSH up in Westchester/Rockland.
It also shows a construction permit to move it closer to NYC.

Anyone know details (at least) as to what's currently airing on 94.3?

It's running a canned hot AC format with little or no local inventory. You can hear it for yourself online or on WPLJ-HD3 if you are out of range of 94.3. It still calls itself "94.3 WFAS" and the translator is located on the WFAS tower in Hartsdale, NY.

Have a feeling WBAI is in this mix somehow. Would they trade 99.5 and their tower rent for WABC. In their 1960's minds, it would seem a no brainer.

ThePowerCow said:

Have a feeling WBAI is in this mix somehow. Would they trade 99.5 and their tower rent for WABC. In their 1960's minds, it would seem a no brainer.

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They've been offered better deals than that and have turned them down. Pacifica proved last year that when push comes to shove and they're in danger of losing a station, they can somehow come up with money to meet their obligations.

ThePowerCow said:

Have a feeling WBAI is in this mix somehow. Would they trade 99.5 and their tower rent for WABC. In their 1960's minds, it would seem a no brainer.

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Under that supposition, WABC would be Pacifica's only owned or affiliated AM station.

Even Pacifica is not that crazy. Would you trade a full power FM in NYC for an AM? They would want the station plus multi-millions.

I might have a feeling that if Radio 103.9 continues to receive low ratings, then expect Cumulus to move Radio 103.9's transmitter back to White Plains and to relaunch it as the new 103.9 WFAS. I'm just guessing

I might have a feeling that if Radio 103.9 continues to receive low ratings, then expect Cumulus to move Radio 103.9's transmitter back to White Plains and to relaunch it as the new 103.9 WFAS. I'm just guessing!

Here's the thing: Cumulus needs a New York office. At the bare minimum for national sales and for news. Their CEO is based in NYC. So there will be a NYC presence. Might as well have a station there too. They've obviously cut the costs of WABC to something workable. They have lots of infomercials in the wknds paying for it. So there's really no rush to get rid of the station. They might shrink the square footage, or move into cheaper digs. But it's tough to run a public company without a presence of some sort in NY. Same thing in DC. They moved their national news office in with WMAL. They sold off the transmitter site land, and moved to a cheaper site. So there's no rush to sell anything there either.

Wait a minute, can Disney buy back WABC 770 from Cumulus so that it can be used as the new home of ESPN Radio! But what will happen to it's current home at 98.7! Would 98.7 be sold as well

madooputtus said:

Wait a minute, can Disney buy back WABC 770 from Cumulus so that it can be used as the new home of ESPN Radio! But what will happen to it's current home at 98.7! Would 98.7 be sold as well

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Disney doesn't own WEPN. It has an LMA with Emmis. It's a long term LMA. They won't be moving to AM. That would be stupid.

Would you sell your car and buy a horse? Would you?

WABC is staying right where it is so their CEO has a nice office.

TheBigA said:

Here's the thing: Cumulus needs a New York office. At the bare minimum for national sales and for news. Their CEO is based in NYC. So there will be a NYC presence. Might as well have a station there too. They've obviously cut the costs of WABC to something workable. They have lots of infomercials in the wknds paying for it. So there's really no rush to get rid of the station. They might shrink the square footage, or move into cheaper digs. But it's tough to run a public company without a presence of some sort in NY. Same thing in DC. They moved their national news office in with WMAL. They sold off the transmitter site land, and moved to a cheaper site. So there's no rush to sell anything there either.

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What kind of revenue are these crappy infomercials even bringing in? Lederman, after all, is only a doctor with limited funds, not a Fortune 500 Corporation. Same with the plastic surgeons, diet doctors, podiatrists etc. Balance of Nature is a small operation peddling supplements. How many bottles of their snakeoil can they possibly sell? Why not have quality programming, build a quality audience and sell damn time to quality, national advertisers who represent sizable billings? To borrow from Tony Soprano, the infomercial route is “shortsighted”

Lee Linwood said:

What kind of revenue are these crappy infomercials even bringing in?

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Enough to make it worthwhile to pre-empt regular programming on the weekends. Which says to me they make more money from infomercials than they'd get from airing spots during that same time. Nobody likes breaking format. Imagine a huge argument in the GM's office with the PD and the sales exec, money vs. audience. Money wins. Couple that with the fact that the weekly programming simply isn't attracting enough audience. If more people listened during the week, they wouldn't need the infomercials on the wknds.

Quality programming? You think this is PBS? You want to get rid of infomercials? Make WABC a better deal. Buy airtime, and give them quality programming.

gr8oldies said:

What news is Cumulus originating? "Westwood One News" is private label CNN.

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Some of the audio comes from CNN, but the anchors are all based in the WMAL studios in DC. They also have a handful of their own reporters.

CNN really has little to do with Westwood One News, other than the WWI staff pulls clips off CNN coverage and CNN gets a fee for it. I wouldn't be surprised if most CNN correspondents don't even realize their work is getting heard on the radio network. I don't think CNN reporters ever do a report just for radio.

As for WABC and WNBM, I thought it would be odd for these two stations to go it alone, with no full power FM in the cluster. But in LA, Cumulus owns only KABC and KLOS, nothing else. It has stand-alone stations in White Plains NY (WFAS 1230) and Bridgeport CT (WICC 600). And as someone above mentioned, there's that translator station at 94.3 in Rockland County NY calling itself WFAS-FM (even though its not). It is currently fed by WPLJ HD3 but it could also be fed by an HD subchannel from WNBM.

So with corporate HQ in NYC, maybe WABC and WNBM will stay under Cumulus ownership.

And as someone above mentioned, there's that translator station at 94.3 in Rockland County NY calling itself WFAS-FM (even though its not). It is currently fed by WPLJ HD3 but it could also be fed by an HD subchannel from WNBM.

Which would complete the circle as WNBM was WFAS FM.

RadioGuy1864 said:

And as someone above mentioned, there's that translator station at 94.3 in Rockland County NY calling itself WFAS-FM (even though its not). It is currently fed by WPLJ HD3 but it could also be fed by an HD subchannel from WNBM.

Which would complete the circle as WNBM was WFAS FM.

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According to Radio-Locator (if the information is current & accurate), it seems as though this translator will be picking up WNSH either as the primary offering OR via one of its HD channels which I believe they currently have an HD-2 and HD-3 vacant with a religious group on the HD-4... Could this be an indication of what is to come of 94.3 with the official end of WFAS too??

https://radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/finder?call=w232AL&sr=Y&s=C&x=0&y=0

Lee Linwood said:

Why not have quality programming, build a quality audience and sell damn time to quality, national advertisers who represent sizable billings? To borrow from Tony Soprano, the infomercial route is “shortsighted”

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There are not enough spot sales to fund a station with "quality programming" 24/7. There just aren't enough spots bring sold for 168 hours of programming each week.

Given that, there are going to be hours and hours of programming with NO spots at all (Mostly nights and weekends), there just isn't the demand.

So...that leaves you running (and paying for) "quality programming" with no spots.

Understandably, they have turned some of the least listened to and least sponsor interest hours into programming that is free...and actually puts money into the till.

Then there is the spot rate. Talk stations today are selling a lot of spots already at bargain-basement prices.

What do you do with hours (let's say Saturday nights) on a talk station, when you can't even interest anyone to spend $25 for a spot? You don't spend money/resources on programming that has no sponsors. You turn it into free programming that brings in more dollars than you could do with spot sales.

And, yes, you have to be conscious that the "paid programming" doesn't overwhelm your station, and use it for truly non-prime hours.,