Christmas on 104.7

[RoddyFreeman]

Premiere is getting a much better rate with WSB and its huge audience than it would with WGST, which, despite a good daytime signal, is AM only and not a real factor.

Premiere makes most of its money from barter, not any fees a station might pay.

That's all certainly true. And then there's the little matter of contracts. I suspect WSB did not take the shows without written assurance that Premiere could not just pull them away at their whim. And the contracts probably include a right of first refusal.

 

[DavidEduardo]

IMHO: WGST really does not have as good of a signal in reality as the FCC charts show. I have not done any signal strength studies but just driving around the north end of the Atlanta market it not as good as 680 or 750. WGST was viable when it was on 105.7. Not to get political but Rush does better outside and north of Atlanta. I get 95.5's the move ITP increased the number of listeners (and value) in the 60 db but I doubt the improved signal added that many P1 folks. I guess the next ratings with in town tower will tell if it really helped. It should help the building penetration in office buildings.

There is reliable talk that around 80% of the WSB listening is now on FM.

My point about WSB vs WGST and the Rush show was mostly focused on the fact that WGST is an AM station while WSB is also, and principally, an FM operation.

 

[DavidEduardo]

That's all certainly true. And then there's the little matter of contracts. I suspect WSB did not take the shows without written assurance that Premiere could not just pull them away at their whim. And the contracts probably include a right of first refusal.

Excellent point. And Cox has always been a good operator, and likely was very conscious of the downside of losing that show.

When WSB AM was extremely dominant, they had a good bargaining position and likely got very favorable terms for placing the show on one of America's best performing AM stations.

 

[Gregg.]

Back to Delilah not having an Atlanta affiliate. She could go on WSB-FM if Cox wanted. On two of Cox-owned stations, WDUV Tampa and WFEZ Miami, Delilah is heard five nights a week. But those are Soft AC stations. So I guess WSB-FM thinks she is not a good fit in Atlanta.

It's true that many Delilah stations are owned by iHeart since she is syndicated by a subsidiary, Premiere Networks. But thanks to the expanding number of Soft AC stations, Delilah is on some of them regardless of whether they are iHeart operations.

 

[secondchoice]

Back to Delilah not having an Atlanta affiliate. She could go on WSB-FM if Cox wanted. On two of Cox-owned stations, WDUV Tampa and WFEZ Miami, Delilah is heard five nights a week. But those are Soft AC stations. So I guess WSB-FM thinks she is not a good fit in Atlanta.

It's true that many Delilah stations are owned by iHeart since she is syndicated by a subsidiary, Premiere Networks. But thanks to the expanding number of Soft AC stations, Delilah is on some of them regardless of whether they are iHeart operations.

Delilah was on 98.5. For some reason it just didn't work or she would be on now. Should 94.1 end up going with a "lighter" format, she could end up there.