WEPN's Cume Already Higher Than WFAN's

[TheBigA]

Would you really expect big-time rivals WFAN and WEPN to be willing to "share" the Yankees coverage? 

Somehow, big time rivals ESPN, NBC Sports, and CBS Sports share football.  It's business.  There's an easy way to handle sales that works for everyone.  And "exclusive" doesn't matter when you don't actually OWN the team.  The team has the exclusive.  That's the situation with all rights holders, including music, sports, and other major events. 

By the way, I believe the Yankees already get a certain number of spots to sell in the current WCBS broadcasts, and they also own and produce the broadcasts, so what you're talking about is already happening.  That's why ratings matter to the Yankees. 

I'm not saying this WILL happen, but I'm saying it's a good possibility.  Especially if the teams want more money.  Which they do.  Radio can't afford status quo any more. 

[WNTIRadio]

It's different on the radio.  What good is it to me (a potential affiliate) if I can't sell season long packages and only select games?  What good is it to me branding wise if half the time the fans are listening to the competition for the game?

Football is different in that every game is pretty much a national game on TV.  Baseball on the radio is local to mainly the home market.  Yes, I know the Yanks are in Florida too, but with their training camp in Tampa and so many ex-New Yorkers, it's the same as a home market.

[ansky212]

Baseball on the radio is local to mainly the home market.  Yes, I know the Yanks are in Florida too, but with their training camp in Tampa and so many ex-New Yorkers, it's the same as a home market.

Not to veer too much off topic, but the Yankees' radio network is quite extensive, and stretches well beyond just Florida.  They have affiliates in Las Vegas, Mass, NH, NC, RI, VT, and even NM.

http://newyork.yankees.mlb.com/nyy/schedule/radio_affiliates.jsp

[TimeIsTight]

Yankees' radio network is quite extensive

The Yankees fan diaspora is far and wide, with ex-pat New Yorkers all over the place, a kind of "America's top team" appeal for many other baseball fans.  That allows the Yankees to have this radio network that stretches all the way to Alaska, and some Yankees affiliates are well within the regular signal area for WCBS.

The one thing that should be remembered when comparing this arrangement for Yankees baseball with Giant's and Jet's football coverage on TV is that the NFL makes the comprehensive league wide TV deals with ESPN, NBC, CBS and Fox NOT the local teams, and the commercial TV spots are mostly sold to big national and regional advertisers with a few local avails plugged in.

On the other hand, the radio deals are made by the individual teams and are local, as are the spot sales.  This particular Yankees network is put together by the team.  It's cheap to do, and promotes the Yankees brand outside the immediate NYC area, and also provides revenue.  Local radio spots can easily be inserted on each affiliate, and its a much different business and advertising model than the major TV networks have with the NFL.  The difference is more than Apples and Oranges, its Apples and Hot Dogs.

By the way, some of these radio affiliates, in Connecticut and New York, are well within the WCBS-AM signal area.  The list also needs editing since it shows the FM station in Belvidere, NJ that serves the Easton, Pennsylvania market as being in New York.

[Bob1370]

"They would if they could trade old Betsy in for a set of shiney wheels on the FM dial "

Not going to happen, first because the ratings and revenue numbers for WFAN show it ain't broke, therefore don't need fixing; and second, because the CBS cluster of FMs appears to be profitable to the point that shaking up the programming mix may cost a lot more than it'll gain them.

Besides, the wheels on FM may not be so shiny as they seem. Leaving aside the more limited range of a class B FM (there are no class C signals in New York, which would be a more equivalent signal to a 50 KW AM clear if one existed in the tri-state area) the sound from a Walkman, car radio, desktop radio or portable radio is equally tinny on either band. So why change for a perceived benefit that isn't really there? 

[TimeIsTight]

"They would if they could trade old Betsy in for a set of shiney wheels on the FM dial "

Not going to happen, first because the ratings and revenue numbers for WFAN show it ain't broke, therefore don't need fixing

Unfortunately for WFAN-AM, it may be just days away from being defined as "in need of an FM upgrade."  That will come when the May PPM numbers come out if they show the new ESPN Sports Talk FM with a much bigger cume, better younger demos or ratings trending higher than WFAN.  The free market competition will really decide.

That said, CBS will probably think long and hard before it trades the superior AM signals on 660 or 880 for an FM, because those non-directional powerhouses may someday become very valuable again, if and when, the AM medium wave band is converted to full power digital, and they will likely stay among the most valuable and useful AM signals in the meantime.  But, with ownership caps and shorter term competitive considerations in mind, if CBS needs to move its news or sports talk to FM it, will.  It has already done that in places like Philadelphia where the competition moved Sports Talk to FM first, and in Chicago, when a new all news FM was seen threatening WBBM's ratings leadership position.

[Bob1370]

The situations in Chicago and Philly are different. In Philly WIP was coming up against the limits of its 5 kW power authorization and its directional pattern. In Chicago CBS had an FM property that was basically out of gas in ratings and revenue potential, so they had little to lose. In both cases the expected return in increased audience has yet to materialize...like a lot of AM heritage stations which have opened up FM simulcasts and so far haven't significantly budged the ratings needle in either 6+ or the prime demos.

In New York CBS has nothng but profitable properties without significant signal issues on both AM and FM, so there's a high cost in terms of flipping a profitable separately programmed FM with younger demos to a simulcast of an AM just to get a small slice of those demos (while the rest of them move off to a competing music station, or wind up cannibalized by one of your own cluster's other stations). What's more, it's highly likely that the total audience for ESPN will rise very little as a result of the simulcast on 98.7. Only when AMs face big signal pattern problems within their market area, do they gain by either a flip to FM or a simulcast, and not always even then--the experience of WTOP hasn't been repeated often, not even by WMAL in the same market with its own simulcast.

[TheBigA]

In New York CBS has nothng but profitable properties without significant signal issues on both AM and FM,

But the trend is downward for WCBS and WFAN right now.  They can wait until the bottom completely falls out, which will be soon, or start making adjustments now.

[DavidEduardo]

In Philly WIP was coming up against the limits of its 5 kW power authorization and its directional pattern.

WIP has more people in its 5 mV/m contour than either KYW or WPHT. It's directional pattern actually is a nice fit for the dimensions of the market. Its problem is being AM, not coverage.

Only when AMs face big signal pattern problems within their market area, do they gain by either a flip to FM or a simulcast, and not always even then--the experience of WTOP hasn't been repeated often, not even by WMAL in the same market with its own simulcast.

Successful AMs that move to FM or add FM simulcasts are almost universally successful when doing so. The success lies not with coverage issues, but with being FM; many people will not listen to AM even if they like the programming because it is noisy, has low quality audio, and has an image of being your grandfather's band.

WMAL was not a particularly successful AM. It added FM, but without programming that was compelling. WSB did the same thing, with compelling programming... and even thought they added an FM with lesser coverage than the AM, they shot up in 25-54... just as stations as diverse as WOKV and KSL have done with FM additions.