[IRCA] WNBL-1200

[David Faulkner <drdsfaulkner@xxxxxxxxx>]

Hey All:

I was running a quick bandscan this afternoon & came across a very good signal on 1200, playing MOYL and ID'ing as, "WNBL, Your better life station."  1300 TOH ID as "WNBL, Huntington, West Virginia, your better life station"  Sounds like at least 5 kw and maybe more as it's the best signal I get out of Huntington/Ashland/Ironton.  Maybe somebody who can afford 100000watts.com can tell us more.

Let's see, that gives that economically depressed area (in patrticularly Ashland and Ironton are in real trouble) with 12 AM stations and at least that many FMs.  AMs are 800, 930, 1040, (Canonsburg, KY) 1080, 1200, 1230, 1340, 1370, (Grayson, KY) 1420, 1470, 1520 (Greenup, KY) and 1600 (Milton, WV).  It already has two sets of twins, 800//1600 and 1230//1420.  I can't imagine that more than half of these stations were breaking even before this new s/on.  What's keeping so many stations on the air?  Hope?  Big corporations willing to lost money on some of their properties?

Or again,, consider Marietta/Parkersburg: 6 AMs, 630 (St. Mary's), 910, 1050, 1230, 1450, 1490; and at least 11 commercial and four non-commercial FMs.  The economy in that part of the valley is better thanks to the chemical iindustry, but still population is down from its post-war highs.  How much does it cost to keep a satelite-fed station on the air?  And how much does one make?  True, only one of those 6 AMs (WMOA, Marietta) does much local origination, and WMOA has two ESPN affiliates (630, WJAW and 100.9, Mc Connellsville) and two of the FMs (95.1 and 99.1--the two most powerful) have local DJs, but still..

Scott, Paul, can you explain all this?  Anyone else?  Give me a primer in present-day radio economics.  I recall an article in the early '70s in DXM saying over a third of the AMs in Colorado were losing money.  How do things stand now?

73
David
David Faulkner, Albany, Ohio (SE Ohio, Athens County)



      
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