Alert Confessor James reports in a comment to the prior article that on this very day, WBAP News/Talk 820 AM has begun simulcasting on 96.7 FM, the signal formerly occupied by KPMZ, the Ron Chapman-programmed "Platinum" 60s-70s station licensed to Flower Mound. Citadel Broadcasting just up and freakin' gave it to 'em.
I don't know the ins and outs of why Citadel Broadcasting gave WBAP the FM signal. Doubt that it was signal-related. (820AM is 50,000 watts, clear-channel omnidirectional at night. 96.7 FM is 90,000 watts, not too shabby.) Whatever the reason, it unquestionably made WBAP, which has a strong local news and Limbaugh/Hannity/Ingraham lineup, stronger still.
But when The Ticket arises from its Cumulus-induced slumber and fills the ether with a fresh new 93.3 FM signal, the airwaves will sizzle with the exodus of ideology-exhausted WBAP listeners to The Little One.
Or some other overblown, mixed, and inappropriate metaphor.
Showing posts with label Competitors. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Competitors. Show all posts
Monday, March 15, 2010
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
I'm Shocked -- Shocked, I Tell You . . .
. . . to discover that The Ticket and its dad Cumulus actually do not need my advice on how to be a successful radio station. The Little One continues to kick broadcast toches in the latest Arbitron book for men 25-54. Incredibly, the Cowboys had a better season but their radio ratings went down after moving from the signal-challenged Ticket to 105.3 The Fan.
One of these days I’m going to get around to trying to dissect whether The Ticket is ascendant because of the quality of its presentation, or because its competition is so abysmal. Sometimes when I’ve overdosed on The Ticket I’ll switch to another channel. I ask myself if it’s possible that the dreary stuff I hear out of the other sports talkers only seems dreary because I don’t listen enough to “get” whatever schtick the program is offering. I haven’t answered that question yet. Someone is listening to these stations. Someone likes these stations better than The Ticket.
And if it is true that The Ticket is truly a superior content provider, why has its formula been (apparently) impossible to duplicate? It’s not like the format has any intellectual property protection; when a format is successful, imitators spring up all over the place. Can it be the case that of the tens of thousands of people wanting to get into broadcasting, the only talent for The Ticket broadcast strategy ends up only at The Ticket?
When I figure it out, I’ll let you know. Station managers and program directors, stay tuned for the kind of valuable advice that, as noted, is worth every penny you pay to visit this site.
In the meantime, I welcome the thoughts of all faithful Confessors.
One of these days I’m going to get around to trying to dissect whether The Ticket is ascendant because of the quality of its presentation, or because its competition is so abysmal. Sometimes when I’ve overdosed on The Ticket I’ll switch to another channel. I ask myself if it’s possible that the dreary stuff I hear out of the other sports talkers only seems dreary because I don’t listen enough to “get” whatever schtick the program is offering. I haven’t answered that question yet. Someone is listening to these stations. Someone likes these stations better than The Ticket.
And if it is true that The Ticket is truly a superior content provider, why has its formula been (apparently) impossible to duplicate? It’s not like the format has any intellectual property protection; when a format is successful, imitators spring up all over the place. Can it be the case that of the tens of thousands of people wanting to get into broadcasting, the only talent for The Ticket broadcast strategy ends up only at The Ticket?
When I figure it out, I’ll let you know. Station managers and program directors, stay tuned for the kind of valuable advice that, as noted, is worth every penny you pay to visit this site.
In the meantime, I welcome the thoughts of all faithful Confessors.
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Did The Ticket Have to Be AWOL on the Night of the Viking Game?
So here we have the biggest Cowboy game in years.
And over here we have the most popular and famous sports radio station in DFW that prides itself on providing local programming, as opposed to competitors who offer a lot of network or syndicated nonlocal programming.
So why, after Norm and Donovan's two-hour post-game show (which is outstanding), does The Ticket shut down Cowboy coverage and go to a broadcast of a college basketball game – Wake Forest v. Duke, a game of no local interest?
There's a contract in this somewhere, some legal reason The Ticket had to broadcast that game. The advertising already sold, some kind of syndication deal to fill in content. But even though The Ticket might not have had foreknowledge that the Cowboys would be playing today – although the possibility could not have been all that remote – it was a certainty that the weekend would have featured the four playoff games, which would have been of considerable interest to the The Ticket demo.
So the Cowboy game might have taken Ticket programmers by surprise. But what would it have taken to pre-empt that worthless game for the sake of serving the faithful P1's who, I suspect, tuned in to The Ticket's two local competitors' football talk show in droves (like I did)? Local stations pre-empt network programming all the time for matters of intense local interest. There is unquestionably a financial hit in doing so, but that begs the question of where management's/ownership's priorities lie. Maybe it would have been economically irrational to absorb the financial penalty from pre-empting that who-cares basketball game, but to the almighty demo, the effect was unmistakable: In the P1 Nation's hour of need, The Ticket was, in effect, off the air.
On Sunday, The Ticket didn't seem like the premier sports-talk station in Dallas.
And over here we have the most popular and famous sports radio station in DFW that prides itself on providing local programming, as opposed to competitors who offer a lot of network or syndicated nonlocal programming.
So why, after Norm and Donovan's two-hour post-game show (which is outstanding), does The Ticket shut down Cowboy coverage and go to a broadcast of a college basketball game – Wake Forest v. Duke, a game of no local interest?
There's a contract in this somewhere, some legal reason The Ticket had to broadcast that game. The advertising already sold, some kind of syndication deal to fill in content. But even though The Ticket might not have had foreknowledge that the Cowboys would be playing today – although the possibility could not have been all that remote – it was a certainty that the weekend would have featured the four playoff games, which would have been of considerable interest to the The Ticket demo.
So the Cowboy game might have taken Ticket programmers by surprise. But what would it have taken to pre-empt that worthless game for the sake of serving the faithful P1's who, I suspect, tuned in to The Ticket's two local competitors' football talk show in droves (like I did)? Local stations pre-empt network programming all the time for matters of intense local interest. There is unquestionably a financial hit in doing so, but that begs the question of where management's/ownership's priorities lie. Maybe it would have been economically irrational to absorb the financial penalty from pre-empting that who-cares basketball game, but to the almighty demo, the effect was unmistakable: In the P1 Nation's hour of need, The Ticket was, in effect, off the air.
On Sunday, The Ticket didn't seem like the premier sports-talk station in Dallas.
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