I was asking if wendy wiild was still on ktu and just giving the full station information so people know what I am talking about.
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WPLJ says farewell New York. Any thoughts on final day/shows?
- Thread starter Syfy
- Start date
I dont have a problem with the religious aspect at all in fact I believe in the bible fully what i am saying is that k love taking advantage of its tax exempt status and trying to create this KLOVE monopoly is what I dont like And they also screwed radio disney over as well when they bought up most of their am stations which also angered me.
The purchase of the Disney properties, which is one of THE most profitable corporations in America, is solely based on the smart business model of divestment of radio by an entity that no longer believes the medium is an asset to help to drive business to the company. I agree with you on not having an issue with EMF on their religious nature, but have questioned their non-commercial status and ability to just capture the limited number of local licenses. I have always contended that the radio dial past 91.9 should be for commercial businesses that pay taxes and compete. I also have expressed my concern that more and more frequencies devoted to non-music stations on FM tends to actually hurt everyone on the local radio dial. If you take four or five stations out of play, then the local listener literally has a small number of options and then they seek their choices elsewhere. While one may consider the Cumulus sell off to be a smart solution to short term debt reduction, which is totally true, the long term demise of the radio industry is going to cost them far more in the long term. Eventually, there well may so few listenable options that people have no choice but to find other options.
Two things I'd like to say about that: First, if the music industry is going to make it so there are no distinguishable characteristics among the various genres of music, then why do we need dozens of radio stations dedicated to the broadcast if music? You just need a handful of stations that will focus on the most commercial music being recorded.
Secondly, radio stations don't own the music they play. Between the 1920s and 1980s, the record labels were owned by the same companies that owned broadcast networks. That's no longer the case. Radio companies primarily create non-music content. That content includes, but is not limited to, news, talk, sports, traffic, and interview material. So why shouldn't radio stations focus more on presenting the content they own, rather than publicize content owned by foreign record labels?
We have to consider what the word "broadcast" means. It means to reach many from a single source. But if consumption becomes more individualized than it was in the 20th century, the very concept of broadcasting might be obsolete.
But in the most recent case of the EMF purchases in NY, DC, Atlanta, LA, San Jose, Chicago and the like, the only change was to listener support. Those markets now have a good signal offering a format that was either not served or underserved in most cases.
Considering how well commercial CC stations do in Dallas and Atlanta and other markets, one could say that the EMF stations actually keep people using radio because they are bringing a well done format to a good signal.
Yes see you understand that what k love is doing is taking advantage of their tax exempt status I don’t care if they say there doing it in gods name they are still taking advantage to make extreme amounts of money which equates to greed which is one of the worst of the deadly sins in my opinion. And they are putting people out of work because what other company has over a hundred million dollars to buy up radio stations?
I dont care if this is unpopular opinion on here but most people do not even care about the Christian music format so when you say its an underserved format that is just plain not true.
The average share of the top 10 stations in NYC is about 4.5. The lowest of the top 10 gets around (depending on the book) a 3.3 share. So if WPLJ gets a 2.5 share, it will be within the top 10 stations in the market, and will do better than the country station, the alternative rock station, one of the full signal Spanish language station and the classical station.
So which of those format are you going to say is under-served were the format to go away?
Most people don't care about alternative. Most don't care about classical, or country. Most people don't even care for AC, Urban, Tropical, Classic Hits, CHR, all news or sports. But in each case, there are enough listeners to sustain one or more stations in each format.
No station serves "most people". Stations serve, actually, relatively small slices of the audience. K-Love will serve its own slice, just as Z-100 or WLTW or WINS or WNSH or WNYC each do. It will have more audience than most stations in the market, but likely not as much as the top dozen or so.
So with that in mind, up to this month, the Contemporary Christian audience was served by a rimshot FM way to the southwest of Manhattan and only covering about a quarter of the market. Yet that station, in its home markets of Middlesex/Union and Sussex averages about a 3 share of audience in each.
The bulk of the New York metro was not served at all by a CC station. It was underserved.
A non-profit does not "make money" as any surplus can only be used to further the work of that organization or be given to another non-profit.
In fact, EMF bought all its recent stations at very low prices. For example, about two decades ago, an FM in LA sold for more than $400 million. EMF bought that same facility last year for about $50 million. So $100 million for a bunch of major market stations is very cheap. But nobody else wanted them, as they were all stand-alones.
Were another company to have bough WPLJ, for sure they would have made significant staff changes, as the station was doing poorly. That often happens when a poor performer is sold.
And EMF will be adding staff to handle listener services due to hundreds of thousands of new listeners to the stations they have bought.
It's OK if you do not like the format and don't listen. But stick to the facts when you criticize the organization. They are providing a service that many want to have on the NYC radio dial.
Very interesting interview with radio personality Jim Kerr, who was on the air at WPLJ during its early days. Besides 'PLJ, there is also some discussion of WPIX and WLIR.
https://www.billboard.com/articles/business/radio/8513702/wplj-radio-ending-interview
https://www.billboard.com/articles/business/radio/8513702/wplj-radio-ending-interview
Really? Christian rock? This isn't Texas.
CTListener
Walk of Fame Participant
Nor is it Nebraska, Missouri, West Virginia or South Carolina, but there are plenty of people from all those places who now live and work in the NYC metro area. I don't think K-Love will struggle to find an audience as much as you think it will -- and as has been said before, it doesn't need to draw as many listeners as the secular AC of WPLJ did just as long as the people who do listen wind up donating regularly.
K-Love is Christian AC. Air-1 is Christian pop/rock.
As an example, the LA station has now been on the air a number of months, and even though it is prohibited from advertising the K-love brand in the market, it has a cume of about a half million in the Southland. Not a bad start in a place one would think it would not do so well.
Oh, and take a look at how the Pillar of Fire station does down in its Middlesex/Ocean market... as high as a 4 share in one recent book.
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kevtronics
Star Participant
That's the Middlesex/Somerset/Union market. (Maybe you confused it with Monmouth/Ocean.)
And WAWZ is still trying to be a rimshot NYC station -- they have jingles singing "Star 99.1 New York", even though they're 35 miles away. I wonder if they'll refocus on serving central NJ now that K-Love has arrived.
And WKLV 96.7 is one of the higher rated suburban signals in New York, along with the other local Christian music FM station, WAWZ 99.1.
It would not surprise me if WPLJ's ratings with its new CCM programming will be comparable to or even surpass those of the former Hot A/C format, even though ratings are not the main criteria for a successful nonprofit station.
Secular stations can only wish for the level of engagement from listeners of K-Love and WAWZ-sending in donations on a regular basis, and sporting their bumper stickers on their cars
It would not surprise me if WPLJ's ratings with its new CCM programming will be comparable to or even surpass those of the former Hot A/C format, even though ratings are not the main criteria for a successful nonprofit station.
Secular stations can only wish for the level of engagement from listeners of K-Love and WAWZ-sending in donations on a regular basis, and sporting their bumper stickers on their cars
MarcB
Walk of Fame Participant
Yes. Yesterday in the parking lot of my work there was a van with a bumper sticker for both 106.9 K-LOVE and "Good News" WIHS 104.9 FM. WIHS being a long time teaching and preaching station in Middletown, Connecticut.
Air1 recently switched to "worship music"
AbrahamJSimpson
Walk of Fame Participant
Ridiculous stereotype much?
I forgot that they switched in January to a "worship" format.
Not knowing any of the artists on either the old Air-1 or on K-love or the new Air-1 format, I wonder what the difference in Air-1 is from what they used to play. And was the change based on the appeal of the music or the new target group being more likely to donate and become members?
Air 1 used to be the younger end of the CCM audience, think soccer moms in their 20s as opposed to K-Love being soccer moms in their 30s and 40s. The current Air 1 music is what the praise band plays at an evangelical mega-church on Sunday morning. The current Air 1 "preachers to the choir" and thus the donor base, as opposed to the previous format. I'm thinking the rise of the "nones" (younger people who claim no religious affiliation) was a significant factor.
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