What About Emmis' WQHT?

[Jeffrey]

Why aren't they calling it 107.5 Kiss FM?

WBLS is a heritage station in New York and with Inner City was much more influencial and active in the community than WRKS was.
There are few in New York that do not know WBLS.

While I'm sad to see KISS go, WBLS in terms of a heritage station would have been a bigger loss.

[radioguy39nj]

Hot 97 may not be around much longer given Emmis' financial situation.  We all know CC and CBS are maxed and cannot acquire 97.1.  Is Cumulus (perish that thought!) in a position to purchase?  How about Entercom?

[wdb2003]

Cumulus is still trying to sell some its stations from the preivous owners. Entercom could be a possible buyer after they just purchased KBLX in SF.

[DToTheJ]

... If Hot 97 wants to survive, they need to change the sound up a bit. They sound like they are stuck in the year 1997. Get with the times; it's 2012.

Likewise, if when WFAN moves to FM, they too need to change their sound up - their imaging sounds like they're stuck in the year 1987!

[ansky212]

Back in the 90's WBLS used to be called "Power 107.5 WBLS", although I don't recall exactly when they dropped the "Power" moniker.  Obviously that is no longer an option as we have Power 105.  With the acquisition of the Kiss talent, I think they should use it as an opportunity to create new imaging, while still keeping the WBLS calls.  "107.5 WBLS" sounds so mundane.  Maybe something like "Magiq 107.5" similar to Atlanta.

[bringbackradio]

Hot 97 may not be around much longer given Emmis' financial situation.  We all know CC and CBS are maxed and cannot acquire 97.1.  Is Cumulus (perish that thought!) in a position to purchase?  How about Entercom?

WQHT is now a standalone property in NY under Emmis, but the same can be said for its west coast counterpart KPWR in LA in a matter of time.  Emmis is set to sell KXOS there for that reason, so basically while the owners are going from clusters to standalones in the two big radio markets (while keeping clusters in Indy and Austin), it seems like Emmis wanted to hold on to its flagship rhythmic stations as much as possible due to their heritage.

[scripps]

Emmis, as far as compelling/winning content goes---they put out pretty good magazines.

[WNTIRadio]

If I worked at any Emmis station right now I would be keeping my options open... and getting my resume and air check in shape.

Kiss is no real loss, so much of it was syndicated fare.  When you syndicate AM and PM drive on a music station in NYC, you've given up anyway.  The ratings loss isn't PPM's fault, it's the lack of good programming on Kiss' fault. 

The "new" WBLS will be more local than either station was before, so really, it's a win for local programming.

[Jeffrey]

Back in the 90's WBLS used to be called "Power 107.5 WBLS", although I don't recall exactly when they dropped the "Power" moniker.  Obviously that is no longer an option as we have Power 105.  With the acquisition of the Kiss talent, I think they should use it as an opportunity to create new imaging, while still keeping the WBLS calls.  "107.5 WBLS" sounds so mundane.  Maybe something like "Magiq 107.5" similar to Atlanta.

although I lived in Europe through most of the 90's I don't remember WBLS ever being Power 107.5 WBLS and I followed urban radio in NY pretty closely. Do you remember what years they might have used that moniker? I tried to find it online but couldn't find anything.
I know PLJ used to use the Power 95.5 moniker back in the late 80's when they were more top 40 and competing with Z100 but obviously they dropped that a long time ago.
Other than that I don't think Power has ever been used in NYC.

In this day and age using call letters as a moniker for a station is rather lame but rebranding WBLS might be a risk. Everybody in New York has heard of WBLS since it's such a heritage station and the last thing you want to do when trying to gain listeners from another heritage station like KISS is rebrand into something unknown especially for the age group that fits their demographic.

[Jeffrey]

If I worked at any Emmis station right now I would be keeping my options open... and getting my resume and air check in shape.

Kiss is no real loss, so much of it was syndicated fare.  When you syndicate AM and PM drive on a music station in NYC, you've given up anyway.  The ratings loss isn't PPM's fault, it's the lack of good programming on Kiss' fault. 

The "new" WBLS will be more local than either station was before, so really, it's a win for local programming.

welll actually in the last few books WRKS did better than BLS so I'm not sure syndication is the actual reason. Nonetheless you can't beat local programming which is a dying breed. Hopefully BLS will introduce more community based programming with local talent.