WRBP 101.9 sold in Youngstown

[swfl]

Both Z107.9 and Kiss 96.1 (if you're willing to put up with hearing Carly Rae Jepsen or Gotye 20 times in order to hear Drake or Nicki Minaj) are just a bit too far for Youngstown, I think... could the Urban continue on one of the AMs maybe with a translator in the future, anyone think of that?

I did, three messages above yours. 

Don't know if Tim Martz would be interested, and don't know if anyone else could pull off the FM translator combo. I wouldn't be surprised to, say, hear 1500 put in more music...but it's an AM daytimer.  (I don't know what their music mix is now, if any...last I kept track, they were running the Syndication One urban talkers for the most part.)  And Bernard is not going to go after a companion translator while they're just keeping the transmitter warm.

Z gets well into the northern part of the market...remember, it's Way Out East of Cleveland in Newbury, a relatively short run down U.S. 422 (off Ohio 87) from Warren. Not so much in Mahoning County.

Kiss 96.1 barely makes it to New Castle.  Of course, 95.9 is the local Kiss for the market, but I have no idea how urban they lean.

Many years ago I was able to listen to 107.9 clear to New Castle before it dropped.  But that was in the days before "I-Block".  I even got WMMS in a Mc Donald's parking lot off the 422 bypass on the south side of New Castle.  Again that too was before "HD" Radio.

Back in the 60's & 70's 107.9 in it's WNOB/WELW/WDMT years operated with 70,000 watts and it did indeed cover a lot of ground back then. It's coverage ran from Erie and New Castle in the east to around Sandusky in the west, down to Mansfield and north into Ontario. I am not sure just when they reduced the power (I believe it was sometime in the 80's) on that station but I believed it had something to do with issues with 107.3. Hopefully someone here will remember just what happened to cause that. 

[IT_Guru]

Is Youngstown close enough to Cleveland or Pittsburgh to get an urban station?

As OMW stated, their transmitter is East of Cleveland and in Niles 107.9 comes in very well ... so well in fact that I can get them on any radio in my house including my clock radio that uses the power cord as an FM antenna.

Downtown Youngstown and south is a different story. Where I work in Boardman and depending on atmospheric conditions, sometimes you get 107.9 from Cleveland and at other times it's 107.9 in Pittsburgh. When your going down the road and trying to listen in the car, the two stations either cancel each other out or keep swapping between the two.

[danikayser84]

Two years ago, Syracuse lost their Urban (owned by Clear Channel) and it moved to AM 620 in favor of a news/talk format on 106.9 and AM 570 (Hot 108 is a sister station that is Rhythmic that I believe is urban-leaning...)

Here in Albany, NY there are two Urbans (99.1/105.7 HD2 and 96.3), yet Urban AC failed when it was attempted here (on 104.9 as Love FM back in 2004) not due to demographics, but due to poor programming. Interesting how a mid-size market like Albany, NY manages to support at least one urban, yet larger markets like Boston and Pittsburgh have lost their Urban stations... I wouldn't be surprised if some station tried to pick up an Urban or Rhythmic format in Youngstown

[Tim]

Even if a you own a small radio station...a low-powered AM, be the best station you can be, whatever you choose to do with it format-wise. But, don't forget to stream your station.

Sooner or later what happened to TV (basically now TV is cable delivered with very, very, very few viewing it off the air)....this will happen to radio stations: streaming will be the delivery system.

This is closer than most people realize. That will be a great leveler.

[OhioMediaWatch]

Without a major rule change and window opening, the chances of getting another FM translator moved into that market are slim.  There is one, not owned by the Christian broadcasters, but the owner wants to hang on to it. 

Youngstown has, of course, the major problem of being literally surrounded by other markets, with their own signal needs.

[pkffrom724]

When will this format flip take place?

[xmusicmatt]

When will this format flip take place?

Couple months I am guessing... the transfer to EMF was filed on 06/13/12.. usually takes those a few months to push thru.. then EMF will take over..

[mavtv]

When will this format flip take place?

Couple months I am guessing... the transfer to EMF was filed on 06/13/12.. usually takes those a few months to push thru.. then EMF will take over..

From what I have heard, no earlier than OCTOBER as that is when the License goes up for renewal and their are objections to the sale which the FCC is looking in to. In  addition to a lawsuit from one of the former owners as they feel that the license was not transferred properly. Bernard is expecting the sale to close in January 2013.

I am also hearing that a urban music format in some form will continue OTA in the Youngstown area and their are a few options being looked at.

[IT_Guru]

From what I have heard, no earlier than OCTOBER as that is when the License goes up for renewal and their are objections to the sale which the FCC is looking in to. In  addition to a lawsuit from one of the former owners as they feel that the license was not transferred properly. Bernard is expecting the sale to close in January 2013.

I am also hearing that a urban music format in some form will continue OTA in the Youngstown area and their are a few options being looked at.

Hopefully one of the country stations. As long as it's not WBBG or WMYX I'll be happy.

[HHH]

Back in the 60's & 70's 107.9 in it's WNOB/WELW/WDMT years operated with 70,000 watts and it did indeed cover a lot of ground back then. It's coverage ran from Erie and New Castle in the east to around Sandusky in the west, down to Mansfield and north into Ontario. I am not sure just when they reduced the power (I believe it was sometime in the 80's) on that station but I believed it had something to do with issues with 107.3. Hopefully someone here will remember just what happened to cause that. 
[/quote]


The power reduction was based on 107.9's need for more height in order to try to cover the Cleveland metro better from their way-out transmitter site.  Their high-power transmitter site covered a lot of ground, but (especially when you got into parts of the congested metro of Cleveland) it was extremely spotty and full of multipath.  The antenna was just not high enough.  So they had to take the power cut in exchange for building up the tower.  The original antenna was (as I recall) only 400-something feet AAT.  The new one is almost 900 feet AAT.  But they had to drop to 16KW. 

But the strange thing is that the signal in the nooks and crannies of much of the Cleveland metro is still spotty.  Since they are short spaced to 107.3 to the west, they can't move to the Cleveland antenna farm (right in the middle of the metro from the highest spot in the region) so they are stuck way out east in Newberry. 

Radio One made a good move when they bought it.  The Cleveland HDBAs are generally east of the city and fall within the better coverage area of 107.9.  So they made it work through geographic targeting and a unique format while others failed with it.