HEADS ROLLING NOW AT LOCAL SUSQUEHANNA

[Frank Provasek]

Who gives a flying crap if the 12+ ratings suck?  It's all about the ability to get ratings and SELL those ratings.  For the first couple of years, The Ticket got worse ratings than KAAM.  But consistently OUTBILLED what KAAM could do. 

My point was that the Susquehanna was mismanaged.  The Ticket has beat570 for at least 7 or 8 years.  Smart group owners put their best rated formaton their best signal.  570 has a city grade daytime signal covering over 40,000 square miles...1310 about 10,000 square miles.  At night 570 puts out a city gradesignal from Wichita Falls to Tyler to Waco to nearly Abilene.  1310 covers FOUR COUNTIES.

[Kent]

My point was that the Susquehanna was mismanaged.  The Ticket has beat570 for at least 7 or 8 years.  Smart group owners put their best rated formaton their best signal.  570 has a city grade daytime signal covering over 40,000 square miles...1310 about 10,000 square miles.  At night 570 puts out a city gradesignal from Wichita Falls to Tyler to Waco to nearly Abilene.  1310 covers FOUR COUNTIES.

I, too, have wondered why Susquehanna let KLIF flounder on one of the best sticks in the market while having such a successful station, at least for billing purposes, on 1310.  However, someone once pointed out to me that The Ticket is successful with that poor signal.  What else could you do on that stick that would make money like The Ticket?  The answer is nothing.  Also, how much more money could The Ticket make if it were at 570?  The ratings probably wouldn't go up much. 

[SmokeRing]

Kendrick sold out to Susquehanna about 18 months later, just coincidentally a few weeks after the 1996 Act kicked in. 

I'm pretty sure The Ticket exchanged hands at least two times between Kendrick and Susquehanna.  Didn't Tom and Stephen Hicks buy it when they owned and ran SFX and Chancellor?

[Frank Provasek]

Also, how much more money could The Ticket make if it were at 570?  The ratings probably wouldn't go up much. 

Ask Collin County at night...http://www.radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/pat?call=KTCK&service=AM&status=L&hours=NOf course, Susq bought and upgraded 104.1 FM in Sanger and simulcasts the Ticketto fill in the coverge gap...but....http://www.radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/pat?call=KTDK&service=FM&status=L&hours=UBut wait, they also bought 950 AM in Sherman so they could build out theirexpanded band AM station on 1700.  And they did simulcast the Ticket there for a while, but it still didn't cover Collin County well at night.  So...petition the FCC to move 1700's city of License to Richardson (because the poor city has no local radio service)  Put up a new tower on some of that cheap land between McKinney and Plano.  Now this looks more like it...http://www.radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/pat?call=KKLF&service=AM&status=L&hours=NBut then...that's such a great signal in a great demo... they decide to use the 1700 frequency to simulcast 570 !!!  Like  570's problem is that people just can't FIND it on the dial...If it's on BOTH ends of the dial, the ratings for KLIF will double, right...

[Kent]

But then...that's such a great signal in a great demo... they decide to use the 1700 frequency to simulcast 570 !!!  Like  570's problem is that people just can't FIND it on the dial...If it's on BOTH ends of the dial, the ratings for KLIF will double, right...

This pretty much proves my point on The Ticket.  Even adding a decent Collin County signal to the coverage area didn't help much, if at all.  Certainly, I agree that it's a stupid move putting a KLIF simulcast at 1700 and that Susquehanna botched that part of the operation pretty badly. 

[Eye Lipson]

  The early ratings for the Ticket absolutely did not suck.  After one year on the air the Ticket was #1 in 18-35 men and #2 in 18-49 men. The station kicked some serious booty, which caused big interest from KRLD's owners, who bought the station & then flipped it to Susquehanna.   

[Kent]

  The early ratings for the Ticket absolutely did not suck.  After one year on the air the Ticket was #1 in 18-35 men and #2 in 18-49 men. The station kicked some serious booty, which caused big interest from KRLD's owners, who bought the station & then flipped it to Susquehanna.

Did that happen at about the same time KRLD was sold to CBS?  I lived in Dallas when all of that was going on, and I remember going to the Mavericks' draft party in 1996 when both KLIF and KTCK were there and looking as though they were one.  It seems like someone said something to the effect of, "The ink isn't dry on the deal, but we're brothers."  And, yes, you're correct about the early ratings for the Ticket.  It did very well in demo, and, from what I hear, it still does.  Sports radio tends to get mediocre to poor 12+ ratings while doing very well in demo.

[little1]

Who gives a flying crap if the 12+ ratings suck?  It's all about the ability to get ratings and SELL those ratings.  For the first couple of years, The Ticket got worse ratings than KAAM.  But consistently OUTBILLED what KAAM could do. 

My point was that the Susquehanna was mismanaged.  The Ticket has beat570 for at least 7 or 8 years.  Smart group owners put their best rated formaton their best signal.  570 has a city grade daytime signal covering over 40,000 square miles...1310 about 10,000 square miles.  At night 570 puts out a city gradesignal from Wichita Falls to Tyler to Waco to nearly Abilene.  1310 covers FOUR COUNTIES.

Mismanaged?  The way I understand it, being a mom&pop (basically), they had to do more with less...And you may be an enginner, but I think this post proves you don't know much about programming.  So if they put the Ticket on 570, they could get a good signal from Wichita Falls to Waco.  Of course, most sports fans are watching (or attending) games at night, or watching regular TV, or just having an actual life.  Have you seen what happens to radio listening habits at night?  Sure there's some peeps out there listening.  And there's some stations out there that  ratings & audience actually go UP at night (Hello Teenyboopers!!!), but Sports?  Please.  And even if they did get that great signal, so what?  Do you really think people are going to drive from Hillsboro or Waco to Plano to buy a car?   Like I said before, it's not all about ratings.  It's about getting advertisers, and being able to deliver buyers to that advertisers door...

[Frank Provasek]

And you may be an enginner, but I think this post proves you don't know much about programming.  So if they put the Ticket on 570, they could get a good signal from Wichita Falls to Waco.  Of course, most sports fans are watching (or attending) games at night, or watching regular TV, or just having an actual life.  Have you seen what happens to radio listening habits at night? 

I just thought it would be kind of nice not to go to night time pattern at 5:30 pmduring football season when lots of commuters are on the road until 7 pm.

[trying2getn]

Well they'll have to do something with thier signal at night before the Cowboys season. Cowboys will play several games @ 3:00 so those games will end somewhere @ 6-6:30 and then they are planning to have a two hour post game show. Not to mention the Sunday and Monday night games. So I can see the Ticket moving to 570, unless they are expecting all the listeners along the outer cities to listen to 93.3? It only makes sence to put the Ticket on 570 and KLIF on 1310 & 1700.