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Post by David on Jul 27, 2020 17:36:44 GMT -6
I seriously doubt iHeart will ever sell KNRS-AM, for the same reason Bonneville has hung onto 1160 for so long: coverage area. 5,000 watts on a low AM frequency like 570 gives KNRS a signal that covers almost the entire state of Utah for much less than the cost of a 25 or 50 KW flamethrower. With real estate values skyrocketing, I'm sure iHeart and/or Bonneville would have sold off their AM tower sites years ago if they weren't making money. The most likely scenario for a standards or oldies format to succeed in the Salt Lake market on AM would be for someone to buy KMRI or KDYL for cheap and re-build the station from the ground up.
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Post by oldiesfunhouse on Jul 28, 2020 8:53:30 GMT -6
If someone bought 1550 and put standards on it, they wouldn't even have to change the call letters. "You're listening to K-Memories fifteen fifty, KMRI." Maybe Mr. Mueller could buy it, put a simulcast of the Goat on it, and also buy KUAA 99.9 from the Utah Arts Alliance, put the Goat there too and and it would be on 99.9 in Provo and Salt Lake. "99.9 FM, 1550 and 1580 AM, Utah's Goat." … And then I woke up. Does anyone anticipate a format change at all on whatever frequency the KLO calls end up? If they did put the call sign KLO on 97.9 it would still have the same city of license it's always had, and they could do their legal ID even quicker than they do now. "KLO Ogden. You're listening to Now 97 9 Salt Lake City." It is very sad, though. I got to hear the great Len Allen in his final years on KLO when they were playing standards before they flipped to talk. I got to meet Len at a function I was singing at once. I think he called a bingo game too. The very brief afternoon I spent with him, he seemed like a really really nice guy. I was actually a guest on the Walter Platts show on KLO after it had gone to talk. We were promoting some event I was singing at. It's been too long ago for me to remember what. He was a nice guy too. He probably wished he hadn't asked me live on the air what my opinion of gay marriage was. I wish he hadn't either. I answered honestly and then we went directly into the reason I was there. Slightly awkward but Walter handled it well. Does anyone know if Walter is still around somewhere?
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Post by CAwasinNJ on Jul 28, 2020 18:16:20 GMT -6
drpepper, more compatible doesn't necessarily mean "a lot," it just means "bigger."
It makes no sense to me to sell one AM just to buy another, even if the new one is an upgrade. If that were what they were planning it would make more sense to me to add a second southern signal to the one they already have since I would think two non-central signals would probably be noticeably cheaper to own than one big central one. I would also be pretty sure they'd have secured the deal before letting their current signal go. All of this also ignores that the format we're talking about had no measurable ratings anyway.
The reason then-Clear-Channel gave for the original move of KNRS to FM was lack of signal coverage in Utah and Summit Counties. I find that argument dubious but that was the claim at the time. They also had a construction permit to increase daytime power to 50kw which expired unbuilt. It appears to me like they're just maintaining it and waiting for an opportunity. I don't think this is it. Selling the land under than transmitter site isn't a particularly appealing option at the moment either. There isn't much of anything there right now.
David, the purchase agreement only says that the KLO call letters are excluded from the sale and that Capital has the option to transfer them. Anything past that is speculation. Also, the reduction in power at WBBM was made last year and was not due to trying to save money on the electric bill. They moved in with WSCR which has a taller antenna and there was a corresponding lowering of WBBM's power to compensate.
If for some odd reason the KLO calls ended up on 97.9 then I would say the chances of a format flip are still virtually zero. If they end up on 103.1 (again) then I would say the odds are still pretty low but not zero. I don't really see a connection between warehousing the callsign and changing formats. The big broadcasters do it all the time just to keep them out of the hands of competitors.
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Post by seattlefollower on Jul 29, 2020 12:52:55 GMT -6
Who knows where the calls will end up. I can’t blame them for getting rid of that AM. The average person has no idea how much it costs to operate one especially since many people don’t even tune into the AM band anymore. And then with this pandemic, sales tanked everywhere. 1. I hope y'all are doing alright over there at the KSOP-AM/FM cluster. 2. I think this would be a good time to introduce my snapshot of things from another midsize market: (Personal aside, I wondered if we were headed for recession, March rapidly accelerated things...)2019 vs. 2020 January Local revenue 12.5% behind last year National revenue up 27.65 Total rev (incl. digital) down 2.8%
Feb - unavailable
March Local revenue down 34% National revenue down 16% Total rev (incl. digital) down 25%
Q1 for the market Total rev down 11% Local down 19% National up 2% (must have been that Jan lift)
April - unavailable
May Down 53.4% overall Local down 62.5% National down 55.1%
June Down 45.5% overall
Q2 for the market: Down 52%So, yeah, I'm glad I'm not a radio salesperson that works on commission and I'm really glad I don't own an AM radio station, especially as part of only a 3 station cluster.
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Post by David on Aug 7, 2020 20:27:55 GMT -6
It was just announced that the Big Sky Conference has cancelled its football games for this season, so unless something changes in the interim, KLO/Capital Broadcasting may be off the hook as far as Weber State Athletics is concerned. Of course, if they've signed a multi year contract with Learfield IMG College for broadcasting rights to the games, there's still the possibility of a financial penalty being imposed for not honoring the contract.
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Post by drpepper on Aug 8, 2020 16:44:14 GMT -6
Specificly, the Big Sky Conference has postponed Football till the Spring. i'm sure they've setled whatever they needed to with Learfield IMG
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Post by David on Aug 10, 2020 9:49:15 GMT -6
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Post by CAwasinNJ on Aug 21, 2020 1:05:22 GMT -6
There is another change that was filed by KLO, though we don't know for sure what it is yet. What we know is that there was a paper application filed for a modification of the license. Since it's a paper app it's not online. Purely speculating, this might be a change from commercial to non-commercial which might mean a format switch is closer than we might have thought.
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Post by David on Aug 21, 2020 14:11:19 GMT -6
If you look in KLO's correspondence folder, there's a copy of an FCC Form 302-AM that's dated the same day as the request for the modification of license (August 18th). However, the Form 302-AM is for KRPU 1210 AM, which is an El Sembrador station licensed to Rocklin, CA. I have no idea whether the Form 302-AM filed in the correspondence folder has anything to do with KLO being re-classified as a non-commercial station or not. Does a non-profit broadcaster have to file a Form 302-AM for each station it owns, or does a single form cover all the organization's broadcast properties?
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Post by CAwasinNJ on Aug 22, 2020 4:45:18 GMT -6
If you look in KLO's correspondence folder, there's a copy of an FCC Form 302-AM that's dated the same day as the request for the modification of license (August 18th). However, the Form 302-AM is for KRPU 1210 AM, which is an El Sembrador station licensed to Rocklin, CA. I have no idea whether the Form 302-AM filed in the correspondence folder has anything to do with KLO being re-classified as a non-commercial station or not. Does a non-profit broadcaster have to file a Form 302-AM for each station it owns, or does a single form cover all the organization's broadcast properties? Stations can and do file a single application for multiple stations when the applications are true duplicates. (Sales of multiple stations for example.) That 302-AM deals specifically with the technical parameters of KRPU which wouldn't apply to any other station. I'm not sure where you're seeing that El Sembrador has anything to do with KRPU which everything I see says is Radio Punjab. The 302-AM in KLO's file is a mistake.
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Post by tardiscaptain on Sept 1, 2020 16:51:05 GMT -6
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Post by David on Sept 1, 2020 19:41:38 GMT -6
Airing the Weber State games on KSQN seems like an odd fit to me, and I really wonder how well the change is going to go over with their listeners. 103.1 plays music 24/7, and the WSU games are going to interrupt the flow for at least 2-3 hours per game. I figured the Weber football and basketball games would have ended up on KZNS or KALL, or maybe KVNU since they lost the rights to the Aggies games a few years ago. It makes me wonder if Capital is planning on moving the "America's Best Music" format to KSQN along with the Weber State games. The Wave is one of my top 5 most listened to stations, but their ratings have been mostly flat for the last few ratings periods.
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Post by oldiesfunhouse on Sept 2, 2020 8:57:17 GMT -6
Well the Utah Jazz had their games simulcast on KBER 101 for a couple of seasons. Then they moved to Bee 98.7 for a few seasons until the Millers bought the Zone. America's Best Music would probably be cheaper to run on 103.1 than the Wave. "America's best music on Unforgettable 103.1 KLO." I don't know what the satellite services charge to run their formats but you wouldn't have to pay any local talent and you could continue to sell the brokered programming or whatever they call those talk shows/infomercials they have sometimes. This will make Weber State the only major local college team to not have their games on AM. It's interesting that the other teams do have simulcasts on FM except the Utes. I remember when the Utes were with Clear Channel there was an FM simulcast at one point on 94.1 when it was KALL FM before becoming KODJ. Several years later they tried it for a very short time on Rock 99 (now My 995.) Wasn't the original KJQ based in Ogden? The Wave is sort of a spin off of KJQ, right? With that in mind, many their listeners, at least nostalgic ones, will like having the Weber State games on there. KJQ didn't air them but a lot of their listeners back in the 80s might have gone to Weber State … right? Okay. I know I'm really stretching here. I wonder if X96 has ever considered airing their HD2 X96 Classic format on their 95.9 transmitter. That would fill in at least some of the gap left by the Wave if it's going away. Just throwing stuff out there.
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Post by tardiscaptain on Sept 2, 2020 13:56:46 GMT -6
I don't think (and I really hope) that The Wave doesn't go away as it is my favorite radio station. They have been making some changes that I hope will bring some of the numbers up. They have the catch phrase of "Music in the morning, no repeats all day" to focus on music.
Early in this thread, there were posters stating that Weber State athletics would be better on 103.1 The Wave. After re-reading those posts yesterday (after seeing the announcement) I was wondering if they were onto something.
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Post by David on Sept 2, 2020 14:40:51 GMT -6
I really enjoy the music on KLO and would like to see another station in the Salt Lake area pick up the format. Having said that, KSQN is the station I listen to the most after KLO, and not just because I like the music they play. Live, local radio like The Wave is almost becoming an "endangered species" thanks to media conglomerates buying up the local stations and airing the same syndicated programs you can hear on hundreds of other radio stations across the country. I also appreciate The Wave adding Andrea and Mike Summers to their DJ line-up as well. Hopefully the sale of KLO will help keep The Wave on 103.1, although I'll really miss having another music station besides KSOP 1370 on AM.
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