BROADCAST RADIO: continuing to suck wind
David Eduardo wrote:
"dxAce" wrote in message
...
Radio Station WIBC is going off AM and moving to FM. A totally new
station
will take its place.
Not what the article says!
Yes, it does. The article says "WIBC to Make Switch to FM " and describes,
vaguely as it will not come until January, a new sports talk format for the
AM channel. WIBC, with its news talk format will be on FM only.
Here is what Tom Taylor said today: (note the comments on "AM becoming less
a draw")
"Another 50-kw AM shares its format with a sister FM, then goes sports -
WIBC, Indianapolis.
Those solid-sounding rumors are borne out, as Emmis announces #1, a "93 days
of Christmas" stunt for the FM that's been CHR WNOU (93.1). And #2, the
impending birth of news/talk WIBC-FM on January 7, 2008. Where does that
leave 50-kw WIBC at 1070? Doing sports full-time, building on its current
agreements to carry Peyton Manning and the NFL Indianapolis Colts, plus the
NBA Indiana Pacers, Indiana University football, plus various racing
franchises like the IRL and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Yep, sounds like it will be WIBC-AM!
(Some of that
will continue to be shared with sister "Hank FM.") The strategy mirrors what
Bonneville did in Phoenix with KTAR - it lifted the news/talk programming
(and the KTAR image) from 620 over to the FM dial. Then it created "Sports
620" on the original KTAR frequency. Operators are busy looking for unique
local content for their FMs and this is one answer - though long-term, there's
the prospect of the AM dial becoming less of a draw. And perhaps worth less
as an asset when the lenders get out their pencils. Is anybody thinking
about that? Emmis will keep the WNOU CHR format going on HD-2 and on the
Internet"
|