Peoria Matt wrote:
CH, what's the eventual frequency landing spot for this station?
I don't know, but we can do a little deductive reasoning and come up with some frequencies that might be in play. The ones I've narrowed it down to are 94.3, 94.7, 95.5, and 100.3.
WLS-FM might be a redundancy for Cumulus now that they have the Loop and KQX. They're not willing to commit to a real oldies format, and they can't seem to figure out that trying to out-Drive the Drive is inherently doomed. Payroll is high, billing isn't. Decent chance they divest; five stations are a lot to own, especially when your big one (WLS-AM) is shedding listeners and billing like a retriever sheds fur.
EDIT: from Feder, billing for WLS-FM last year was $7,900,000, down from $10,571,000. Yep, there's your clubhouse leader.100.3
is a redundancy for Hubbard, who have decided that they wish to own two stations that target the exact same adult female demographic, but don't wish for the adult female demographic to listen to the one that isn't the Mix. This was most evident when they hired Robert Murphy to do the morning show, then fired him because he was siphoning listeners from Eric and Kathy. Their format seems to be adult contemporary with workplace-friendly XRT-ish stuff mixed in -- so Anna Kendrick, Fleetwood Mac, and the Goo Goo Dolls. Station just kind of is. They're also competing with 93.9, who gave up on the Lite FM thing. I could see it sold for the right price. This and 94.7 have both been hot potatoes over the years.
94.3 is a Christian station owned by something called the "Educational Media Foundation," which does satellite formats of Christian music, and boy does it take some balls to call yourself that to do
that. Maybe they need the money and are willing to sell. Evangelical stations tend to do poorly in this Catholic market. (Remember 106.7 The Fish?) Still a longshot, though, because the overhead for the station must be ridiculously low.
95.5 has had trouble competing in the Spanish market. I think they're running a Norteño format, which is that Mexican polka music that painters and landscapers seem to like so much. It's actually because the Poles and Czechs settled northern Mexico and brought their accordions with. But the point is their ratings suck.
So those are the four I'd keep an eye out for. CBS stations are obviously out of play, as are all the rimshots.
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