97.5 Flips to Sports on Monday

[imhomerjay]

Definitely a gamble and one not worth taking.  Mike & Mike may be the permanent solution, or if the FM begins to take on a more distinct identity, they may not.  The better gamble, if the plan is to replace M&M on that side, is to find its own show, not mess with your most successful station.

[ccuphl]

I first brought up the idea of P&S to 97.5.  I was not suggesting that they do a sports show.  I was suggesting that they do the exact same show they do now, on a different station owned by the same company that owns the station they're on now.

Moving P&S from WMMR to 97.5 is the equivalent of moving Jim Gardner from channel 6 to digital channel 6.2 -- huge gamble, no reward, a huge amount of marketing money, and you're screwing with success and stability (something that's rather rare in radio). 

What makes you think P&S's audience wants to hear in-depth sports talk at 10AM following 4 hours of comedy and entertainment?  What if you move them to 97.5 and 80% of their audience bails everyday at 10AM?

[aindik]

Moving P&S from WMMR to 97.5 is the equivalent of moving Jim Gardner from channel 6 to digital channel 6.2 -- huge gamble, no reward, a huge amount of marketing money, and you're screwing with success and stability (something that's rather rare in radio). 

I disagree.  I think moving them to 950 would fit that analogy well.  I would never suggest moving them to an AM station or an HD-2 station.  Moving them to 97.5 would be like if ABC bought channel 17.

But the analogy still don't fit because TV stations don't have formats like radio stations do.  P&S don't fit the format of WMMR or WNUW.  The question is, which one do they fit better.

What makes you think P&S's audience wants to hear in-depth sports talk at 10AM following 4 hours of comedy and entertainment?  What if you move them to 97.5 and 80% of their audience bails everyday at 10AM?

Nothing makes me think that.  Some of them will stick around and some of them won't, just like any popular morning show.  What makes you think they want to stick around and hear 10 rock records an hour? 

They're not a perfect fit on either station.  But non-sports shows in drive time have worked on sports stations.  Imus in the early years of WFAN is one example.  KHTK in Sacramento carried Don & Mike with number 1 ratings noon-4 for more than 10 years.

If Greater Media is only willing to pay for 2 full staff local morning shows in Philadelphia, I think one of them should be on the station that airs talk shows the rest of the day, even if those shows are about sports and the morning show isn't.

[ixnay]

Hey----------I know there is a WFAN AM in NYC. Is there a WFAN FM?  If not, GRAB EM!!

Ain't gonna happen.  CBS (WFAN) is not about to permit a competitor,
i.e., Greater Media (WNUW), to share the calls.

Don't know if this has been asked on this thread, but can CBS legally prevent GM from grabbing "WFAN-FM", outside of a court case?

ixnay

[aindik]

I think the current users of a set of call letters on one band have the right to control their use on other bands.  (We wouldn't want a system where Greater Media could call their new station at 97.5 "WIP-FM.")

Process-wise, I think the FCC would just deny the call letter change request if there's nothing indicating the consent of the licensee of WFAN (AM), but I'm not an FCC procedure expert.