• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

Standards in danger in Scranton/W-B or Binghamton?

I

ixnay

On a recent trip to Cooperstown, I had the pleasure of partaking the standards formats of 730 am Nanticoke, PA (Scranton/Wilkes-Barre market, which has an FM simulcast in Carbondale, PA) and 680 am (Clear Channel owned) Binghamton, NY. (And I'm only 44 years old. :)).

Are these stations getting ready to flip anytime soon?

ixnay
 
WNAK (the station on 730 AM that has the FM simulcast that you were referring to) has been doing very well in the ratings and has had a number of recognitions in recent years. The company who owns it is locally-based and seems very committed to the format. And they seem to do ok with advertisements. Not to mention, the Scranton market tends to lean old demographically. For all those reasons, I think Scranton's standards station is in it for awhile. Not to mention, it is live and local. No satellite format. Good for them.

I can't give much of an opinion on the Binghamton, NY one, however. I assume it is a satellite format from WW1 or Stardust or one of those?

P.S. - And don't feel bad about being 44. I am 29 and love the format. :)
 
> On a recent trip to Cooperstown, I had the pleasure of
> partaking the standards formats of 730 am Nanticoke, PA
> (Scranton/Wilkes-Barre market, which has an FM simulcast in
> Carbondale, PA) and 680 am (Clear Channel owned) Binghamton,
> NY. (And I'm only 44 years old. :)).
>
> Are these stations getting ready to flip anytime soon?
>
> ixnay
>
WLAN 1390am Lancaster, Pa flipped back to Standards last spring after a stint with all sports.
I am also only 44 and love the format!
 
It's a gift. What do you say?

Standards (and Oldies) are on safer ground in smaller markets in which stations are more dependent on local advertising. Local business people are more likely to buy based on their relationship with the sales person who calls on them, and their own impression of the station (plus word of mouth about the station from friends and customers). Local advertisers are not looking at audience demographics and customer tracking studies (and the station in all likelihood doesn't have them to show any way).

That said, WNAK is a Route 81 station. Route 81 has new management and lately they have been edging away from local talk and music programs on several of their stations. Where they have had music programming (full time or part time) it was often a mix of standards plus cross-over oldies and classic country. WNAK is probably Route 81's most successful operation and to muck with it now would be dumb. However, broadcast managers often do something dumb.

Part of the problem for Standards stations, especially in markets like Wilkes Barre-Scranton and Lancaster, is people who like Standards become vocal when the music goes away. If you like the music, make a point to give as much business to local advertisers on the station as you can, and let them know you are responding to their ads on WNAK (or whatever the station is you listen to Standards on). Advertisers are paying for the music. If they stop paying, then you have to pay (by subscribing to XM Radio or Sirius or by building your own collection of recordings).



> On a recent trip to Cooperstown, I had the pleasure of
> partaking the standards formats of 730 am Nanticoke, PA
> (Scranton/Wilkes-Barre market, which has an FM simulcast in
> Carbondale, PA) and 680 am (Clear Channel owned) Binghamton,
> NY. (And I'm only 44 years old. :)).
>
> Are these stations getting ready to flip anytime soon?
>
> ixnay
>
 
> WNAK (the station on 730 AM that has the FM simulcast that
> you were referring to) has been doing very well in the
> ratings and has had a number of recognitions in recent
> years. The company who owns it is locally-based and seems
> very committed to the format. And they seem to do ok with
> advertisements. Not to mention, the Scranton market tends to
> lean old demographically. For all those reasons, I think
> Scranton's standards station is in it for awhile. Not to
> mention, it is live and local. No satellite format. Good for
> them.

I imagine the "old" demographics in NEPA are due largely to the relatively depressed economy that was tied to coal for so long.

> I can't give much of an opinion on the Binghamton, NY one,
> however. I assume it is a satellite format from WW1 or
> Stardust or one of those?

It sounded like that when I went through there.

> P.S. - And don't feel bad about being 44. I am 29 and love
> the format. :)
>

Thanks.

As for the future of standards, who believes the format will outlive the last member of the generation weaned on that music, somewhere, somehow?

ixnay
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.
Back
Top Bottom