bugs to work out

[Bar Rat]

I'm listening to the Tri-State's new sports station. The Reds have been off for at least an hour, and yet I just heard a liner saying that I was still listening to a Reds game. I think the Collective's Queen (I never saw a Borg King) has some work to do to get their new toy up to standard... Or is this the new Gold Standard in broadcasting now?

[Mike]

The whole thing is a huge mistake.

WVHU is a huge cash cow for CC and they just took away half their audience and the most lucrative part of the Tri-State. And this is the more conservative side of this market.

Seriously... They'd have been better off leaving WVHU with WIRO and WZZW and giving Fox Sports 800 WKEE-AM (sorry) than what they did.

Indeed, give the sports format 800, and WVHU 1230 WIRO/1420 WVHU/1600 WZZW

Shockingly that would actually have a better overall signal than the former 800/1230/1600 trimulcast 24/7

[Hoosier Daddy]

Don't you mean WTCR-AM 1420?
WVHU is on 800.

[Big Media]

No. Mike is suggesting that 800 is WKEE-AM as it always has been. Changing the calls was a mistake. They should have changed the WTCR-AM calls to WVHU if they must.

The bottom line here is that "sports radio" has been tried and failed several times in the area. Further, who listens to baseball on the radio anymore?

[Ace Purple]

No. Mike is suggesting that 800 is WKEE-AM as it always has been. Changing the calls was a mistake. They should have changed the WTCR-AM calls to WVHU if they must.

In defense of the call letter change, it did help eliminate any diary confusion between 800 AM and 100 KEE FM.

[Hoosier Daddy]

I had to re-read it several times to lock on to what Mike was saying:

... leaving WVHU with WIRO and WZZW and giving Fox Sports 800 WKEE-AM <snip> sports format 800, and WVHU 1230 WIRO/1420 WVHU/1600 WZZW

THAT left my head spinning ...

I do agree that 800 is a better stand-alone signal. As Mike said, 1230/1420/1600 is the better choice for a trimulcast, because it gives a daytime signal from Greenup KY to Hurricane WV. But who am I to say.

[Hoosier Daddy]

No. Mike is suggesting that 800 is WKEE-AM as it always has been. Changing the calls was a mistake. They should have changed the WTCR-AM calls to WVHU if they must.

In defense of the call letter change, it did help eliminate any diary confusion between 800 AM and 100 KEE FM.

I think each separately programmed station should have their own unique callsign.
I would support assigning one callsign to stations that simulcast the same programming.

[Chris Lawrence]

In regard to "Who listens to baseball on the radio anymore." I for one do...and you'll find there are probably more than you think...I can't quantify that on anything other than anectodal evidence---which is gathered everytime lightening knocks WCHS off the air when the Reds are on---the phones light up like it's snowing on a Monday morning

[Big Media]

In regard to "Who listens to baseball on the radio anymore." I for one do...and you'll find there are probably more than you think...I can't quantify that on anything other than anectodal evidence---which is gathered everytime lightening knocks WCHS off the air when the Reds are on---the phones light up like it's snowing on a Monday morning

Are these games also televised?

[Chris Lawrence]

I guess they are...but I don't know for sure. I don't normally watch them on TV unless it's the playoffs. Usually I listen while driving, working in the garage, or sitting on the porch. Hey, it's enjoyable to ME!!!

[Hoosier Daddy]

For me, baseball and radio go together. Must be all those years running the board for the Reds on Radio. Baseball is a slower paced game with fixed player positions, and occasional moments of excitement, making it more of a game the mind can follow along with and draw it's own picture. Baseball is also a summer game, which means you can listen outdoors, away from a television set, while doing other things like fishing, camping out, working on the car, or just laying out in the sun enjoying the day. Basketball moves too fast and football (at least to me) is much better whan you can actually see the gridiron and absorb every little thing that is happening. Basketball and football are also cold-weather sports, meaning I'm more likely to be inside where a television is available. Just my $0.02.

[Arp2]

What-ball??




/younger

[Mike]

In regard to "Who listens to baseball on the radio anymore." I for one do...and you'll find there are probably more than you think...I can't quantify that on anything other than anectodal evidence---which is gathered everytime lightening knocks WCHS off the air when the Reds are on---the phones light up like it's snowing on a Monday morning

Baseball is actually BETTER on radio than TV.

When you have great announcers. And there are none better than Marty. His son's pretty good too But I miss Joe

[Mike]

I had to re-read it several times to lock on to what Mike was saying:

... leaving WVHU with WIRO and WZZW and giving Fox Sports 800 WKEE-AM <snip> sports format 800, and WVHU 1230 WIRO/1420 WVHU/1600 WZZW

THAT left my head spinning ...

I do agree that 800 is a better stand-alone signal. As Mike said, 1230/1420/1600 is the better choice for a trimulcast, because it gives a daytime signal from Greenup KY to Hurricane WV. But who am I to say.

That is exactly what I'm suggesting. 800 is best as a standalone, since it has enough power in the day to cover the whole market. It's nighttime signal covers Huntington well and can kinda sorta be heard in Ashland.

That's the better signal to give to a format that has never pulled above a 1 share in this market, vs a top 5 format (News/Talk) which has been the dominant AM format in this area for years that now can't be heard in morning drive in half this market thanks to 800's 185W signal. If they keep up this insanity by winter Hannity won't even be audible in Ashland/Ironton through his whole show. WIRO is absolutely CRITICAL to the success of any AM format in the Huntington-Ashland market since paired with any of the Huntington AM's that have a nighttime signal it gives you core market coverage 24/7.

The only other station that could do that for you would be WCMI 1340, and indeed, I think that Kindred should maybe look at pairing them and trying to do something other than being the <1 rated sports station or the left wing talk station that no one listens to because there are 2 competitors on FM with 50KW signals not to mention the newspapers, every TV channel except FNC, etc...

CONsultant mode on... If I were Kindred... I'd pair 930/1340 now and start running the best conservative talk programming you can get that WVHU doesn't have... Such as Liddy, Levin, Savage, Ingraham, Bill Bennet, etc.

It's inevitable that CC is going to DUMP the Huntington/Ashland stations, as this is to them an insignificant market revenue wise, and they desperately need cash to pay down their debt. When that happens, Kindred will be in a great position to outbid CC's successor for Rush, Hannity, Beck, etc, which would be a huge irony, since 930/1340 outdoes basically any combo the current CC cluster can offer in terms of signal and market coverage unless they wanted to do a 800/1230/1420/1600 simulcast... And even then they couldn't match the nighttime coverage...

930/1340 would have a "combined" 6kW day and 2kW night spaced over the main desirable advert demos in this market... The CC cluster would be 16kW day (mostly overlapping) and a pathetic 1.7 kW combining FOUR stations and would barely equal in reality what the two Kindred AM's can do.

[Bar Rat]

CONsultant mode on... If I were Kindred... I'd pair 930/1340 now and start running the best conservative talk programming you can get that WVHU doesn't have... Such as Liddy, Levin, Savage, Ingraham, Bill Bennet, etc.

If memory serves me correctly, they had three of those five at one time or another.

[AmpedNow]

It might be time for a large scale move of talk radio to FM. One big stick would solve the whole problem.

It's inevitable anyway, since nobody under 40 listens to AM. In ten more years, the band will have no more desirable demographics left.

[Jay Nunley]

they just took away half their audience and the most lucrative part of the Tri-State. And this is the more conservative side of this market.

Where did this info come from? I would love to get my hands on an updated Income and Revenue report broken down by county (or city) and I've never seen any info on the relative conservative/liberal lean from one area to another. I didn't even know anyone had measured that, but I would love to see the info if you can point me in the right direction.