Countdown to 92.3 going KA-BOOM!

[Bugsy]

Start the clock.....How long before 92.3 WFAN hits the air?!!

[MarcB]

Could be a few years. It took a few years before CBS threw WIP onto FM in Philly after GM added an FM simulcast of WPEN 950.

[WNTIRadio]

Could be a few weeks.  Look at the success of WBZ-FM in Boston.  If I worked at 92.3 I would be freshening up my resume and aircheck.

They could do it tomorrow and beat ESPN to the punch.  They own both properties, so it would be as simple as routing the audio to 92.3.

[whdh1920]

you would think by now they would have at least one FM sports station in the number 1 best city in the world!!!  even here in Boston we have 2!

[raccoonradio]

Monday at 12:01a is launch time for ESPN on FM.

In Boston Sports Hub debuted in August of 2009 (CBS, 98.5). Entercom could have scooped them by simulcasting WEEI 850 on 93.7--they had several weeks advance notice. Instead
it took just over 2 years; by September of 2011, right in time for Red Sox collapse, Ent.
finally decided to make 93.7 pretty much the new home of WEEI (in other words while they're
still on 850, they primarily identify as "93.7 WEEI". Entercom had a money making variety
hits station with "Mike 93.7" but had to sacrifice it to shore up their sports franchise.

[d21ofnj]

Based on what I read here it seems that 92.3 may not jump the gun just yet.

[Steve Green NEPA]

Doing a little Thursday-morning quarterbacking here,   I say that 92.3 Now switches sooner than later.     The non-music madness to FM is becoming the norm.   Two fewer music stations on FM in NYC.     

(Not just that,   but if anyone gives a flying one,   these maneuvres send non-music WEMP back to summer school for at least the third time.)   

There can't be too many people who deduced 98.7 as being the one.    That was a surprise.    We've been reading both major radio boards here -- like reading the NY Daily News and the NY Post,  lol -- and I don't recall anyone mentioning 98.7

[dhoule]

I think so too.  92.3 becomes Fan FM, New York's New FM Home for Sports.

[TimeIsTight]

There can't be too many people who deduced 98.7 as being the one.    That was a surprise.    We've been reading both major radio boards here -- like reading the NY Daily News and the NY Post,  lol -- and I don't recall anyone mentioning 98.7

The reason none of us saw this coming was that we were all thinking about radio format's, ratings, cume numbers, traditions etc.

But, this decision was about.....Money, and, possibly, desperation !!!!  Apparently, it happened as a result of a financial squeeze that Emmis finds itself in.  They just blew up the number-6 station in the 6+ PPMs and the top urban format in the top radio market.  A station with a cume of 2-million listeners.

We first were focused on WFME which was supposed to be "for sale" and now we get a comment from Merlin CEO Randy Michaels, who just purchased WFME's sister-station in Philly, that  WFME is not on the market yet.  Michaels likely would know.  Then we went looking for stations with poor ratings, assuming nobody would want to blow up a top-10 format.  So you never know.

And, it will be interesting to see what happens to 92.3?  If I worked there I wouldn't be making any long-term financial commitments or plans.  I wouldn't be buying a new condo in Manhattan, and taking on a new mortgage.

CBS probably will wait to see how the new ESPN FM catches on, but with both baseball team radio contracts coming up next year, CBS may be forced to do some things differently.  It still has the advantage of clear channel AMs that carry Yankees and Mets games to fans far out of the NY market, and while that doesn't matter much for ad sales, it does help the team image and help it keep a big fan base.  That extra coverage would be lost with FM only, but again we are talking radio signals, and what will really make the deals happen is....Money.  CBS vs. Disney and ESPN.  Get your calculators out, as with some TV Olympics coverage, it will be interesting to see who is willing to pay the most, and possibly lose the most, to have the "prestige" of carrying Yankees or Mets baseball starting next year.

[Nick]

Thing is, will a 660/92.3 simulcast make more money than WFAN + 92.3 Now combined? Or perhaps they could move WFAN to 92.3, WINS to 660, and sell 1010. The New York sports teams have fans who live further than the 40 dBu contour of the FM stations. The Yankees have fans all over, and WCBS's skywave reaches those fans (at least for the night games)