CBS Radio To Purchase 107.9 FM, Challenge WTOP

[DToTheJ]

As previously speculated, CBS Radio will purchase 107.9 FM from Family Radio.

As also speculated, an all-news format will debut in the market to take on ratings and billing leader WTOP - but it will be at the expense of El Zol, whose 99.1 format moves to the weaker 107.9 signal.

http://www.cbsradio.com/press_center/releases/pressrelease145027-11-16-2011.html
http://www.radio-info.com/news/official-cbs-buying-dc-baltimore-wfsi-1079-will-debut-all-news-on-991

[Gregg]

Wow... a couple of quick thoughts...

In the 70s, Washington had TWO All-News stations:  1500 WTOP and WAVA-AM-FM, also a 24 hour news station.  WAVA was on 730, at the time a day-only signal.  And WAVA-FM ran 24 hours on 105.1, which still has the same call letters today but as a Salem Religion station.  The station was given a waiver by the FCC to run simulcast, just like WGMS-AM-FM, due to the nature of its format, needing both stations to provide service in an era when not all radios had FM.  I don't know how long the All-News format lasted... maybe a few years.  The idea of All-News on FM was far ahead of its time.

Also 99.1 may be a better signal than 107.9 but not by much.  It's still an Annapolis licensed station stuck tightly between 98.7 WMZQ and 99.5 WIHT.  You might have trouble getting it on a clock radio or inside an office building in downtown Washington or to the west of the city.  With such an expensive format to operate, having to compete with full-signal WTOP, why isn't All-News going on underperforming 94.7 WIAD, which has a full Washington signal?  Maybe put WIAD on 99.1 or 107.9.


Gregg
nh153@mail.com

[MarkW]

I cannot believe CBS would be stupid enough to put the All-News format on 99.1 FM instead of a more formidable DC Metro signal such as 94.7 FM!!!

Not only will this new station have the disadvantageous on being the "new guy on the block" against a mammoth powerhouse, but now they're going to have signal issues to boot.   Dumb, dumb, dumb!

[Mike]

cbs should have relaunched WHFS on 99.1

[klutch00]

cbs should have relaunched WHFS on 99.1

Hate to have to say it, but I can't see WHFS coming back unless it's on an out of the way signal like maybe like 104.1, 106.7; and those are long shots!

[klutch00]

Wow... a couple of quick thoughts...

In the 70s, Washington had TWO All-News stations:  1500 WTOP and WAVA-AM-FM, also a 24 hour news station.  WAVA was on 730, at the time a day-only signal.  And WAVA-FM ran 24 hours on 105.1, which still has the same call letters today but as a Salem Religion station.  The station was given a waiver by the FCC to run simulcast, just like WGMS-AM-FM, due to the nature of its format, needing both stations to provide service in an era when not all radios had FM.  I don't know how long the All-News format lasted... maybe a few years.  The idea of All-News on FM was far ahead of its time.

Don't forget that WRC was also all-news from 1975 to about 1978. From what I understand, they were little more than a flash-in-the-pan, though. Also from what I was once told, WAVA was all-news form about 1965 until 1978 or '79. The stations were then bought up by two different owners with the FM going rock and the AM going religious as WABS.

Radio-One made a big mistake by not hopping on this opportunity! They could've moved Praise to 107.9 and could've blanketed Baltimore and Washington and parts of southern Maryland and the eastern shore with a decent signal and could've forced Heaven 600 to go to another format.

Also 99.1 may be a better signal than 107.9 but not by much.  It's still an Annapolis licensed station stuck tightly between 98.7 WMZQ and 99.5 WIHT.  You might have trouble getting it on a clock radio or inside an office building in downtown Washington or to the west of the city.  With such an expensive format to operate, having to compete with full-signal WTOP, why isn't All-News going on underperforming 94.7 WIAD, which has a full Washington signal?  Maybe put WIAD on 99.1 or 107.9.


Gregg
nh153@mail.com

If you want to hear one of my wild ideas, CBS could move 106.7 to 94.7 and put the new all-news format on 106.7 as well. Another option might be to make a deal with Hubbard and swap 94.7 for 103.5. One problem you have with 94.7 is that it's impossible to receive east of the Patapsco River crossing on I-95 as WDSD out of Dover DE interferes.

[radiodxrichmond]

If you want to hear one of my wild ideas, CBS could move 106.7 to 94.7 and put the new all-news format on 106.7 as well. Another option might be to make a deal with Hubbard and swap 94.7 for 103.5. One problem you have with 94.7 is that it's impossible to receive east of the Patapsco River crossing on I-95 as WDSD out of Dover DE interferes.

I'm guessing CBS wants to cover the Baltimore market as well, which is why 106.7 or 94.7 won't do. DC is quite a large market, but so is Ball'mer! If they turn the stereo off it will do a very good job of covering most of Baltimore and a good chunk of the DC market.

I think of it this way: CBS probably wants this new 99.1 to be Maryland's news station, and it will probably be more Maryland-centric, much like WTOP has long geared programming toward the commuters down in VA. So, there is a market untapped...but the thing that got me was the sheer lack of staff that will be working there. WTOP will still have 3 times the staff! If all you're doing is throwing the Sports Junkies from the sister station to chat with the announcer and kill time, or you're just playing a whole lot of national news...this station will sink further than the news FM in NYC

Wow... a couple of quick thoughts...

In the 70s, Washington had TWO All-News stations:  1500 WTOP and WAVA-AM-FM, also a 24 hour news station.  WAVA was on 730, at the time a day-only signal.  And WAVA-FM ran 24 hours on 105.1, which still has the same call letters today but as a Salem Religion station.  The station was given a waiver by the FCC to run simulcast, just like WGMS-AM-FM, due to the nature of its format, needing both stations to provide service in an era when not all radios had FM.  I don't know how long the All-News format lasted... maybe a few years.  The idea of All-News on FM was far ahead of its time.

Don't forget that WRC was also all-news from 1975 to about 1978. From what I understand, they were little more than a flash-in-the-pan, though. Also from what I was once told, WAVA was all-news form about 1965 until 1978 or '79. The stations were then bought up by two different owners with the FM going rock and the AM going religious as WABS.

I know WRC was part of the ill-fated NBC "News and Information Service" which was national, with local opt-outs. Although it was a 3 year run, they did sort of invent news on-FM in a large scale as many of the affiliates were unprofitable FM's.

I know WTOP has had locally-run news since they started the format. But how about WAVA? Was that a 24/7 live and local news deal? And even though it's over 30 years ago, why did they switch formats? Will CBS learn from previous news station's mistakes?

Radio-X

[DToTheJ]

Agreed with @radiodxrichmond that the likely reason CBS is choosing to put all-news on 99.1, as opposed to 94.7 or the 106.9 stick that they are buying, is because 99.1 dually serves the Baltimore and Washington markets. That being said, I think all of the predictions that this new yet-to-launch news format on 99.1 is going to fail are unfair, partly because CBS has the wherewithal to operate a news format. This isn't, say, Merlin launching an all-news station.

Will it ever beat WTOP? Probably not. But could it make an impact on WTOP's ratings? I have reason to believe CBS can make it happen. We'll see.

By the by... I reckon those WIAD calls are going to be moving to 99.1 FM in due time.

Edited to add: Recall a poster on a previous thread noting that the 107.9 signal is impacted partially due to IBOC on 107.7.

[Gregg]

More about 780-105.1 WAVA-AM-FM.  WAVA-FM was All-News around the clock and WAVA-AM simulcast from sunrise to sunset.  They used the same sounders and program elements that WCBS New York had used to introduce weather, sports, etc.  I believe they also had helicopter traffic. 

Like many All-News stations of their day, they used tele-type sound effects in the background of their audio, just as WCBS had in those days. WINS NYC and KYW Philadelphia still have those sound effects to this day. 

I don't have any info on WAVA's ratings but I was surprised to see klutch00 tell us the station lasted from 1965 to 1978 or '79.  Then if you add NBC-owned 980 WRC running its NIS syndicated All-News service from '75 to '78 and 97.9 WBAL-FM doing the same in nearby Baltimore, that's a lot of All-News on both AM and FM!

I can understand the theory that 99.1 hits both DC and Baltimore.  But WLZL currently doesn't even rate a one-share in Baltimore, even though Arbitron says the market is 4.7% Hispanic.  Are there signal problems there, too?  I seem to remember Alternative 99.1 WHFS didn't do well in the Baltimore ratings either.  And will DC listeners to 99.1 want to sit through Baltimore news and traffic?  Baltimore is Market #21.  Do you dilute your coverage of Washington and its suburbs for more Baltimore info, hoping to get revenue from that smaller market?

Someone from CBS should go around Washington and Baltimore with a cheap radio, into office buildings and apartment house basements, to see how that 99.1 signal works.  You can't just count that it comes in OK on expensive car radios.  And they also better hire enough staff to compete equally with WTOP or this will be a bad experiment.

I also wonder if WTOP will now drop CBS News on The Hour, if they know CBS is introducing its own competitor?  Just use some audio clips and run the required spots till the contract runs out?  Although I guess it's really Dial Global who owns distribution of CBS Radio News, and they're not involved in this fight.


Gregg
nh153@mail.com

[ka3kza]

Yes WIAD does have interference problems to the east because of WDSD in Dover. If the stations were proposed today, they could not exist together, since the distance between them is less than that required for Class A's, however they are grandfather in along with the 94.7 in Newark, New Jersey and two other stations from the early 60's before the FCC instituted the rules requiring minimum distances. One advantage that 94.7 in Bethesda has is antenna height, they are at 235 meters, while WDSD is at 115 meters. As for the signal to the east, that shouldn't really matter for a station that is targeted to the Washington Metro. WTOP FM has signal issues up I-95 because of adjacent WXCY in Havre De Grace. By the way, WFSI was one time owned by the late owner of WANN. Like may AM Daytimers of the 50's and early 60's, the FCC wanted FM to grown, and one way was to convince the daytimes to add an FM, this is one of the reasons FM became popular early in areas like the Eastern Shore, where station at sign off would tell listeners to tune into their FM frequency. I hear a rumor once that when Rau Radio was selling WWDC in Washington, that at the settlement, they buyer asked about WWDC-FM, and that Mr. Rau said they could have it for $1. I don't know if the story is true, but it's a great story.