Entercom and CBS Radio merging

[Red(s)HawksFan]

Chad Finn @GlobeChadFinn
Entercom and CBS Radio announce merger. Working on what that means for Sports Hub and WEEI.


Because of FCC rules, media companies are limited to owning only 5 FM stations per market, so this merger is likely going to be accompanied by selling off or shuttering some of the involved stations. Would they keep two sports stations or might they merge them?

 

[NortheasternPJ]

Well this is going to get interesting. Entercom merging with CBS Radio, which means WEEI and 98.5 are now owned by the same company.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/cbs-corporation-entercom-announce-merger-120000094.html

So now one company controls all 4 major sports teams contracts as well.

 

[the1andonly3003]

so start putting together our fantasy radio lineup?

morning drive time: Callahan, Minihane, T&R shouting matches from 6-10
midday: Ordway, Beetle & Zo
afternoon drive time: Felger, Dale & Holley (or Felger & Minihane)
night time: Adam Jones/Celtics/Bruins/Red Sox

1 station with pbp for all Boston area sports

time to cut the fat

hmmm

 

[jsinger121]

I bet they keep both stations. The city can obviously support both stations plus they get the 4 major sports contracts. They probably spin off some of the crappy music FM stations to other companies.

 

[jsinger121]

 

[shaggydog2000]

so start putting together our fantasy radio lineup?

morning drive time: Callahan, Minihane, T&R shouting matches from 6-10
midday: Ordway, Beetle & Zo
afternoon drive time: Felger, Dale & Holley (or Felger & Minihane)
night time: Adam Jones/Celtics/Bruins/Red Sox

1 station with pbp for all Boston area sports

time to cut the fat

hmmm

Morning Drive: T&R and Trenni
Midday: Felger, Beetle, Zo (Because I don't listen mid-day and you know they're keeping Felger)
Afternoon: Holley, Keefe, and......Mazz? (He'd probably be tolerable with those two)
Night Time: Jones and all the actual games

 

[the1andonly3003]

they always say this immediately post-merger...give it a few months

 

[Rusty13]

Yeah, I don't see how long term this is going to work for the umbrella company to keep both stations afloat as is. There are definitely going to be some pink slips. In the near term, that might mean alot of behind the scenes people and producers are wished well on their future endeavors.

 

[John Marzano Olympic Hero]

Maybe one station will "invade" the other. And there can be drafts. And maybe Felger can power bomb Callahan through a table. It'll be wonderful, just like when WWE bought WCW in the early 00s.

 

[Rusty13]

Maybe one station will "invade" the other. And there can be drafts. And maybe Felger can power bomb Callahan through a table. It'll be wonderful, just like when WWE bought WCW in the early 00s.

Excellent idea. They can re-hash the Bash at the Beach '96 angle and take the "best 3" from each station take each other on with 98.5 having a "mystery" 3rd man who can turn heel on EEI. My vote for that would be for Holley.

 

[joe dokes]

so start putting together our fantasy radio lineup?

 

[Vinho Tinto]

Maybe one station will "invade" the other. And there can be drafts. And maybe Felger can power bomb Callahan through a table. It'll be wonderful, just like when WWE bought WCW in the early 00s.

It will get surreal when John Dennis appears on Toucher and Rich and "calls" into Kirk and Callahan.

.

The two stations are getting insane ratings. I can't imagine they will mess too much with what they are doing until the Patriots stop providing them such a financial windfall.

 

[Winger 03]

Maybe move the good talent to the better signal, the second string guys to the other signal, get rid of the rest. On the second signal put the second stringers and back fill with CBS Sports or ESPN and the lesser of 2 team's games when they conflict. That is pretty much what they do in DC with the main signal being 980 and the lesser one being 570.

 

[timlinin8th]

Because of FCC rules, media companies are limited to owning only 5 FM stations per market, so this merger is likely going to be accompanied by selling off or shuttering some of the involved stations.

I bet they keep both stations. The city can obviously support both stations plus they get the 4 major sports contracts.

For clarity, here are the FM stations that are considered part of the "Boston market":
CBS

• WBMX - 104.1 - (Hot AC)
• WBZ-FM - 98.5 - (Sports)
• WODS - 103.3 - (CHR)
• WZLX - 100.7 - (Classic Rock)

Entercom

• WEEI-FM 93.7 FM — All Sports
• WKAF 97.7 FM — Urban AC
• WAAF 107.3 FM — Active Rock

There are a handful of AM stations involved as well, and the FCC limitation is for FM broadcasts. Could they move WEEI back to an AM-only broadcast and keep both?

 

[jsinger121]

For clarity, here are the FM stations that are considered part of the "Boston market":
CBS

• 
  
  
  • WBMX - 104.1 - (Hot AC)
  • WBZ-FM - 98.5 - (Sports)
  • WODS - 103.3 - (CHR)
  • WZLX - 100.7 - (Classic Rock)

Entercom

• WEEI-FM 93.7 FM — All Sports
• WKAF 97.7 FM — Urban AC
• WAAF 107.3 FM — Active Rock

There are a handful of AM stations involved as well, and the FCC limitation is for FM broadcasts. Could they move WEEI back to an AM-only broadcast and keep both?

I could easily see them spinning off 97.7 and 103.3

 

[John Marzano Olympic Hero]

It will get surreal when John Dennis appears on Toucher and Rich and "calls" into Kirk and Callahan.

MY GAWD! THAT'S TED SARANDIS' MUSIC! WHAT THE HELL IS HE DOING HERE?

 

[timlinin8th]

I could easily see them spinning off 97.7 and 103.3

I thought the same but they JUST started with the new 97.7 broadcast earlier this month (granted that could have been to make it more palatable to a buyer). I did some further Googling (would've done it earlier but on mobile): here is the actual FCC rule:
In a radio market with 45 or more stations, an entity may own up to eight radio stations, no more than five of which may be in the same service (AM or FM)

So including the AM broadcasts of

• WBZ - 1030 - (News/Talk) - CBS
• WRKO 680 AM — Talk/Personality - Entercom
• WEEI 850 AM — All Sports - Entercom

...they would be at ten total, so two have to go in some way, shape or form. Seems the best allocation of assets and take advantage of the FCC rule allowing up to 8 networks would be to eliminate the 'EEI FM broadcast and kill off one of WODS or 97.7. Another longshot move would be to shift both sports talk stations to AM only, get rid of one of the WBZ or WRKO broadcasts, and keep FM for music stations.

 

[Joe D Reid]

EDIT: never mind--the very good FCC clarification above mooted my post.

 

[GreenMonster49]

In a radio market with 45 or more stations, an entity may own up to eight radio stations, no more than five of which may be in the same service (AM or FM).

The FCC rule mentions commercial radio stations. How many commercial stations are in the Boston market? From what I read, the market is defined as the Arbitron market, which includes part of New Hampshire but excludes Providence, New Bedford, and Worcester. If the number is between 30 and 44 inclusive, the limits are 7 overall and 4 on any one dial, and 6 overall and 4 on any one dial for 15 to 29 inclusive. http://www.arbitron.com/downloads/Arb_US_Metro_Map_12.pdf

[Edit: the current rules include all stations, commercial and noncommercial]

 

[dhappy42]

Chad Finn @GlobeChadFinn
Entercom and CBS Radio announce merger. Working on what that means for Sports Hub and WEEI.


Because of FCC rules, media companies are limited to owning only 5 FM stations per market, so this merger is likely going to be accompanied by selling off or shuttering some of the involved stations. Would they keep two sports stations or might they merge them?

That explains the layoffs and buyouts a few weeks ago.

 

[Lose Remerswaal]

Would anyone be surprised if the limits on ownership went away?

 

[Jordu]

"Active Rock"?

 

[Chad Finn]

Sources at both companies are expected the FCC regulation to be amended.

 

[Mueller's Twin Grannies]

If I had to pick an obvious firing squad choice, WODS seems like the Syxx of this group. "Oldies" these days are starting to be among the same songs you hear on major market rock radio stations (at least in New England) and even on some pop stations. With that much overlap, killing that station off seems like the obvious decision and it's not like what dedicated listeners it has couldn't find a reasonable proxy a few clicks away on the dial.

 

[Quiddity]

...they would be at ten total, so two have to go in some way, shape or form. Seems the best allocation of assets and take advantage of the FCC rule allowing up to 8 networks would be to eliminate the 'EEI FM broadcast and kill off one of WODS or 97.7. Another longshot move would be to shift both sports talk stations to AM only, get rid of one of the WBZ or WRKO broadcasts, and keep FM for music stations.

Given the success 98.5 is in the ratings, it wouldn't make sense to switch that station to a weaker AM signal though. I'd see moving EEI to AM as a small possibility, but the Sports Hub being an impossibility.

Anyway, as with any merger, probably not good news for anyone outside of the shareholders. Being the only game in town brought EEI to an absurd excess and a total crash in its quality not fixed until CBS entered the market with the Sports Hub. Two legitimate sports stations with good signals in this market has been a good thing and probably can be supported here. And it wouldn't really make sense to have all 4 sports teams on the same station; you could possibly have the Bruins, Celtics and Sox all playing on the same night at certain parts of the year. Hopefully for reasons like that they keep both stations around.

 

[JimD]

Crazy to think that John Henry could buy WEEI and bring the Sox radio broadcasts in-house?

 

[Lose Remerswaal]

If I had to pick an obvious firing squad choice, WODS seems like the Syxx of this group. "Oldies" these days are starting to be among the same songs you hear on major market rock radio stations (at least in New England) and even on some pop stations. With that much overlap, killing that station off seems like the obvious decision and it's not like what dedicated listeners it has couldn't find a reasonable proxy a few clicks away on the dial.

WODS hasn't been an oldies station in quite some time.

It could still go away, but not due to an archaic format.

 

[Mueller's Twin Grannies]

Oh, I was unaware of the format change. What are they now? If they're another mix type station, then there's even more reason.

 

[section15]

CBS is getting out of the radio business. So this is basically Entercomm expanding its scope.

Yes they will have to off-spin two stations - but - they could do so in a station swap. Flip two , to another broadcast entity in exchange to other properties in other markets... or -- sell them to some billionaire who always wanted to own a radio station, just for fun.

What may govern this, too - is if the ban on non-U.S. ownership of stations is lifted, or eased....

 

[Lose Remerswaal]

WODS plays the same stuff KISS 108 plays (what used to be called disco) but without on air personalities. Easy to change formats there quickly.

 

[Mueller's Twin Grannies]

KISS 108 plays disco? I thought it was the Top 40 Pop Chart station, as it was in my youth. JAMN 94.5 was the other hot station that the cool kids (not me, in other words) listened to, but that was heavy on rap (where pretty much every few seconds there was a brief, sudden silence during the verses because of the swears). Is that no longer the case?

 

[snowmanny]

Kiss 108 played disco in 1978 when it became Kiss 108.

 

[SumnerH]

KISS 108 plays disco? I thought it was the Top 40 Pop Chart station, as it was in my youth. JAMN 94.5 was the other hot station that the cool kids (not me, in other words) listened to, but that was heavy on rap (where pretty much every few seconds there was a brief, sudden silence during the verses because of the swears). Is that no longer the case?

Lose doesn't know what disco is. Somewhat amusingly the last song they played under the old (oldies rock) format before switching to modern pop was Donna Summers' Last Dance, which actually is disco.

 

[Lose Remerswaal]

I know, what KISS 108 plays is Contemporary Hit Radio. I know this because a coworker has the station on all day at her desk and that means I know ten current hit songs REALLY well.

 

[IpswichSox]

I don't know how typical of a radio listener I am, but when I'm commuting (about two hours a day), the only time I listen to terrestrial radio is as needed for weather or traffic. Otherwise it's XM and/or podcasts (including podcasts for WEEI and to a lesser extent 98.5) or returning work-related calls. Maybe my listening patterns would be different if I still lived in Mass. and would just hop back and forth between WEEI and 98.5. But radio as we've known it is if not dying at least fundamentally changing, and I wonder if Entercom's move to double-down on radio will be seen in hindsight like the NYT buying the Globe. There will always be radio, like there will always be newspapers, but at vastly different valuations than we've seen.