As 2023 comes to a close, there will be many experts giving their predictions on things that broadcasters should do in the coming year. This is one of those columns, but without the expectation that most of these suggestions will happen. Instead I merely hope that we as an industry continues to innovate and take risks to serve our audiences. These are some of the format changes that I believe would do that.
New York
We know 98.7 WEPN-FM will be sold in 2024 with Good Karma Brands lease of the station ending. As I wrote following the announcement, it is possible the sale of the station will indicate a lot about the future of the industry. But since this column is “what I’d like to see” and not what I expect to happen…
A new version of Talk. If you want to get a new Talk format off the ground it needs to be in a place like New York or Los Angeles to make the advertising community get on board. We saw it in New York alone with the debuts of WFAN and Howard Stern. Get away from politics that already divides half of your potential audience. As the world gets even more divided as the internet carves audiences into their specific niches, radio needs to be the place for the masses to unite. Find hosts that can do that in a way that reaches audiences that have departed the medium. Use social media and podcasts to bring them back to the longform content. It will need a deep-pocketed investor to purchase the station, hire the right staff, and give it time to build. Be local, but with a global reach and exclusive content there is still an ability to revitalize a format for a more mass-appeal approach.
San Francisco
The demographics of the Bay Area are rapidly changing due to many of the tech businesses in the city abandoning their real estate for virtual offices. Audacy Classic Hip Hop “102.1 Jams” KRBQ currently is at a 1.3 share. San Francisco itself is 37% Asian. While there’s a lot of cultural differences between the different nations, could a format that includes more K-Pop, Bollywood, J-Pop and others along with other CHR and Hip Hop artists create a new mass-appeal brand while featuring hosts from the local communities?
Dallas/Fort Worth
Hip Hop formats in general have been hurt the most in major markets due to audience splintering to streaming or too much competition. Radio One Hip Hop “97.9 The Beat” KBFB is down to a 1.7 share, while rimshot Adult R&B “Majic 94.5” WZMJ is at a 2.1 share. Both stations trail the direct format competitor in Service Broadcasting’s Hip Hop “K104” KKDA-FM at a 2.5 share and rimshot Adult R&B “105.7 Smooth R&B” KRNB at a 3.7. So let’s swap frequencies moving KZMJ to the better in-market signal and KBFB to the north suburban move-in. Give the format with the stronger demographic reach and sales potential the better signal.
Philadelphia
Here’s another suggestion for Radio One. 100.3 WRNB has bounced between multiple frequencies, back and forth from Hip Hop to Adult R&B to a mix of both over the years and has been hovering mostly around a 2 share or below for years. While iHeart’s competing Adult R&B 105.3 WDAS-FM leads the market overall, it ranks lower in prime demos. So let’s flip it to 90s/2000s based Rock to split right in between Beasley Rock 93.3 WMMR and Classic Rock 102.9 WMGK. You even have your choice of two heritage brands to choose in “Y100” that was on that frequency from 1993 to 2005 or the former Rock WYSP branding. WMMR in particular has been #1 in 25-54 every month since January.
Washington DC
I’ve heard rumblings for months that Salem Media Group would move any of their radio stations “for the right price”. So here’s a fantasy sale. 105.1 WAVA-FM to Hubbard. Hubbard, which has a suite of some of the top Hot AC’s in the country in WTMX Chicago, KSTP-FM Minneapolis, and WRMF West Palm Beach, among others. With nobody in the format in Washington, you can create a strong station to create another sales combo for News 103.5 WTOP, the #1 biller in the country.
Boston
2023 was the year of the revitalization of heritage Alternative brands with both “99X” Atlanta and “Live 105” San Francisco setting ratings share records for their frequencies since coming back this year. Following iHearMedia’s 2012 purchase of 101.7 WFNX, that station bounced through Variety Hits and Dance identities before settling in as Country “101.7 The Bull” WBWL in 2014. While it has settled into that format, it serves as just a flanker to chip away at Beasley’s 102.5 WKLB. In the meantime Boston has a heritage brand and lack of an Alternative station that could help the station once again rise like a Phoenix.
Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh is one of the oldest skewing metros in the market. With iHeartMedia’s combo of Classic Hits “94.5 3WS” WWSW and Classic Rock 102.5 WDVE combining for over a 21 share, there is an opportunity for a full-market signal to chip away at the older end. Would a 60s/70s based format on Steel City Media Hot AC “Q92.9” WLTJ be a good flanker to their Variety Hits “96.9 Bob-FM” WRRK?
Las Vegas
Las Vegas has too many FM signals for the market to support. When there are two stations running brokered Dance formats in a market, that’s usually a sign there isn’t much in the market left to be done. However, based on the artists regularly performing on the Strip how is there no Indie Alternative in the non-commercial space? If KEXP is looking for further expansion beyond San Francisco, Las Vegas would be a perfect next step. If not for their current financial issues (and the amount of tourism between the two markets) KCRW would also make sense to market and get the financial boost from being in Las Vegas.
Norfolk
iHeartMedia has four FMs in the market. Three of the four are on signals they shouldn’t be on. After a series of unsuccessful music formats (moving from Adult R&B to Classic Hits to CHR to Alternative), 105.3 WNOH became one of the launch affiliates of the Black Information Network in 2020. It also happens to be one of only two stations in the cluster along with Hip Hop “103 Jamz” WOWI that covers the entire market, yet is a non-factor with a 0.4 share. Rhythmic Hot AC “Movin 107.7” WMOV-FM is at a 1.4 share, while Classic Hip Hop “92.1 The Beat” WHBT-FM is on the worst signal with a 1.3 share. Time to start from scratch. Let’s move BIN to the 92.1 Class C3 rimshot signal to keep that clearance alive. Then let’s take 107.7 WMOV-FM to pair up with the large amount of military transplants in the region and give the market its first FM Conservative Talker. Let’s then combine the remnants of WHBT-FM and WMOV-FM’s current formats on 105.3 and combine them as a 90s/2000s station playing much of the Rhythmic hits broken in the market in the 90s and 2000s by WOWI and Audacy CHR “Z104” WNVZ.
Memphis
Following its purchase of Audacy’s 94.1 earlier this year, Educational Media Foundation currently has its “K-Love” network on both 94.1 (now WMLE) and 94.9 WKVF, which both cover the entire market, while “Air 1” is on a rimshot and translator. The dominoes created by the 94.1 sale left Memphis without any gold based format on FM. So lets get 94.9 into the hands of Cumulus or Flinn to bring Classic Hits or Variety Hits to the market.
Those are mine, what are yours?
LOL, WFNX will rise like a “Phoenix”. I saw what you did there (previously owned by The Boston Phoenix newspaper). I think that would be a wise format flip!
Did they make any money with WFNX or was it sold in combo with the newspaper?
Having worked in Pittsburgh I agree on your assessment of a 60s 70s based format. Q 92.9 would be a good station to try it on. Not making any inroads against WSSH or the two CHR stations. 3WS and the Pickle classic hits stations live in the 80s and 90s at this point.
Nice article! Nashville, TN is my pick. I’m partial because I grew up listening during the glory days of the 103 KDF. Late 70’s through the 80’s. Country 103 WKDF is no doubt a flanker for Nash ICON 95.5. Is that really the best Cumulus can do with that frequency? The old ‘KDF was a beloved rock station to many, many people in Middle Tennessee. Still is. You should see the Facebook groups about it. Flip it back to “AOR”. A classic based rock & roll station. Play currents that make sense. Make it a true “Nashville rock” station. The playlist to the industry would make very little sense. It couldn’t be a exercise in pure nostalgia. Remembering the good ol’ days only goes so far. It would eventually falter. I do think you could honor the history of KDF while being a 2024 radio station. 50ish people would love it. Men AND women. Won’t happen, but it’s fun to prognosticate. 🙂
Transmitter is in Eagleville, and it’s the only station in the format. Another format not well represented and on even poorer signals is classic hits. Nashville is lacking adequate representation with both. It won’t happen, but change The River back to Y107 with an 80s/90s focus and the original upbeat presentation.
The U.S. is the most diverse country on the planet. In MANY markets, there are diverse populations with no format on the radio (ie: your comment about S.F.).
Guess who else knows about these diverse audiences in all these markets? Local advertisers. They know “who” is coming into their businesses. And, in many markets, no one is serving that audience or that group of advertisers.
Since this is a “what I’d like to see” kind of thread, I’ll go way out here: a true all-news station for Denver, likely on the 94.7 signal owned by Salem, which could be acquired for the right price. Audacy can’t do that, unfortunately, due to its current financial position. Considering what Bonneville does with KSL in Salt Lake City, that might be the best option.
Denver, and urban Colorado generally, are bluer and bluer with each passing year. Yet local talk stations are overwhelmingly right-wing, running the broad spectrum from right-wing to very right-wing to extremely right-wing. KOA should be the heritage station here, but its news coverage seems half-hearted (sometimes it’s OK, sometimes it’s bare-bones), its talk show hosts have a definite right-wing bias which hurts the credibility of its news operation, and the only relief from that is relentless sports coverage in a market that has an unusually high number of sports stations as it is. Moreover, KOA is an iHeart station, and iHeart is not known for its commitment to news or to higher-expense formats. So one would have to look elsewhere.
What about the left side of the FM dial, you might ask? Colorado Public Radio doesn’t do spot news coverage – most public radio stations don’t – and tends toward long features. Either it’s interesting or incredibly tedious – there’s no in-between. It also seems to focus more on Colorado Springs (thanks to the KRCC acquisition) than on Denver. Greeley’s KUNC doesn’t seem to have that much of a news 0peration.
This is, I know, a huge wish list. There’s no station in Denver with the credibility, quality, or heritage of San Francisco’s KCBS, Chicago’s WBBM, or Los Angeles’ KNX. I think it would take a miracle for that to Denver. But since you asked….
All of the successful all-News stations have been around for decades. Look at the batch that launched in the early 2010’s. The Merlin Media ones in New York and Chicago, Cumulus’ 106.7 Atlanta, Radio One’s 92.1 Houston, CBS’ 99.1 Washington DC. All were not given time or resources to grow. And those are all top 10 markets. Denver is likely too small of a market for it to succeed.
Denver is one of the markets that I thought could’ve supported the launch of at least a News-focused Talk station (i.e., a direct KOA competitor) a decade or so ago–especially in the immediate wake of the Rocky Mountain News closing. However, like in many other markets, local TV news has since grown considerably–with three full English-language duopolies where both stations air at least some newscasts (KWGN and KDVR/KFCT; KUSA and KTVD; and, most recently, KMGH and KCDO), plus standalone KCNC.
The only owner that I could see trying that now in Denver is KSE–and only if it decided to do it as essentially a prestige/flagship format to take on iHeart’s entrenched Talk trifecta. KSL wouldn’t be my template here, since that’s largely an appendage of the TV side (and perhaps also of the Deseret News).
Chicago needs a Mainstream Adult Contemporary station or an 80’s to now or 90’s to now station. They’re the largest market without one.
93.9 Lite FM plays all the softer hits while SHE 100.3 plays 90’s and 2000’s. The only ones that have a true AC format is 107.1 near Aurora and 107.1 in Northwest Indiana.
SHE 100.3 should really rebrand to a Mainstream AC station. They’re pretty much struggling in ratings because when they rebranded to The New 100.3, ratings started to decline and now they’re pretty much on the bottom five for a full market station.
I find that unless EMF needs to get rid of it, I think they may keep both signals in Memphis, but I’d guess not knowing the Demo 100% if they would let Radio Nueva Life lease it for Hispanic populace, move AIR 1 and lease the smaller rimshot or outright sell that one, or best bet a good test bed for one of their Gold formats or even a God and country country/southern gospel hybrid like the Sunday morning inspirational program I hear in very protestant areas.
In my area 104.1 list it self in Baton Rouge market but still broadcasting in New Orleans using a short spaced STA currently. Word is they want to put news on in BR when its moved and put current spot format on new 103.7 (move in from Hattiesburg market), but surprised they don’t put a Alternative or alt leaning Rocker in a big college town that Baton Rouge is on 104.1. With the cookie cutter staff they use else where in nation, shouldn’t be hard to put on 104.1 or at least a local translator like 97.7
I would love for Oklahoma City to have a Classic Christian music station (think KOMA with a Gospel message) to fill the gap that national programmers KLOVE/Air-1 and regional station “House-FM” KJTH and “House of Praise” KLVV have left for the older demographic (45-54)
@Robert Keil – Sounds like a cool idea! Reminds me of a streaming station “Legacy of Faith – wlgw.fm’ that has a format similar to what you’re proposing. They primarily feature late 80s to late 2ks with a few recurrents mixed in, along with some talk programming. Not much in the way of social media presence yet unfortunately.
Regarding my Denver comments –
Lance wrote of other recent failed all-news attempts: “All were not given time or resources to grow.” – That’s a key factor (and I admit it). It takes an amount of capital and commitment that we’re not likely to see in radio in 2023 or 2024..
As for Merlin Media – Randy Michaels didn’t know what he was doing. That was evident when he was trying to run the Chicago Tribune. His antics might have be a minor factor in music radio in the 1990’s, but times changed….but he didn’t.
As for KROI – it was on a crippled signal.
Another factor is that iHeart is so dominant here. iHeart doesn’t know or understand news. (KTRH in Houston is pretty much Exhibit A – if KROI had picked up the all-news baton when iHeart dropped it, it might have had a better chance of success, though it still would’ve been tough. But too much time elapsed for it to succeed.
But this is a thread about an idealized future, isn’t it?
Denver as a market is showing steady growth.
KROI, though, wasn’t even the first attempt to do a commercial News-focused format on FM in Houston in the 2000s: The first format on 97.5 under the KFNC calls was News-focused Talk (as “FM News Channel”); the overall Talk format may have lasted a couple of years (from 2005 to 2007), but most of the News elements (not to mention the branding) may not have lasted more than a year or so. Granted, as a move-in, that station also continues to have signal issues (which may have similarly hindered 97.1’s attempt at Talk in the ’90s, as KKTL).
I really would like to see more attempts at News-heavy formats. However, especially in hindsight, Houston might not be a market that could support one. Even places that I thought could’ve handled such a launch a decade or two ago (like the Twin Cities, Phoenix, San Diego, or Portland) probably can’t now.
NYC needs a Spanish Adult Contemporary radio station by 2024. It’s going to be 2 years on January 20th, since WQBU changed its format to Christian after Family Radio bought it. WPAT-FM’s (93.1 Amor) started playing Latin pop songs in January but, it is not good enough! They only play the same and only selected songs, at every 20-30 minutes in the hour. I’ve expected them to play more latin pop songs from the 70s, 80s, 90s, 2000s and today.
By the way, another Spanish radio station debuted in Suffolk County, NY. It is licensed to the town of Medford, and the radio is WLIM. It also plays Spanish Latin pop songs from all the decades, but the reception only reaches until the limits of Suffolk and Nassau counties, and southern CT too. New York City truly needs to have a Spanish AC radio station back. For those Latinos living in the NYC area that are fans of romantic songs, it would be a benefit to listen to those songs by José José, Luis Miguel, Julio Iglesias, Cristian Castro, Marco Antonio Solis, Laura Pausini, Emmanuel, Thalia, etc.
QUICK UPDATE (01/07/2024):
Unfortunately, WPAT-FM (93,1 Amor) has officially ceased the romantic songs, and shifted their format back to a full Spanish Tropical radio station.
Ever since the conclusion of the Spanish Christmas songs on Thursday, January 4th, 93.1 Amor no longer broadcasts the segments such as “Libreria Mas Extensa” and “Exitos de Todos los Tiempos” every 30-minute at each hour block. The following songs included from the late-80s to the early 2010s were: “Simplemente Amigos” by Ana Gabriel, “Nunca Voy a Olvidarte” by Cristian Castro, “Usted Se Me Llevo la Vida” by Alexandre Pires, “Corre” by Jesse & Joy, etc. Nevertheless, the radio has never included artists like “Que Buena 92.7” (formerly WQBU-FM/currently WFME-FM) such as Emmanuel, José José, Camilo Sesto, Julio Iglesias, David Bisbal, Mocedades, etc.
Now once again, the City that never sleeps/the Capital of the World/the Big Apple is once again, Spanish Adult Contemporary-LESS! Cities like Miami, Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas, and San Antonio all have at least ONE, Spanish AC radio station. How come NYC does not have one anymore? Why did 93.1 Amor gave up on the romantic music format? Why was WQBU chosen to be purchased by Family Radio in December 2021?
My only prediction is that EMF will continue to buy up stations from clusters owned by the big operators who have multiple FM signals in the same city. This will allow them to raise cash and eliminate a commercial competitor.