Memphis radio
Laurie Komberec
Does anyone have any information on the Memphis radio market? Latest arbitron numbers, hot talk around town, what's the city like to live in? I'm mainly interested in the AC format, but any information would be greatly appreciated. Also, is Memphis an AFTRA town...is there any voice-over work established there.
Thanks. Please post here.
"upgroce@msuvx...@msuvx2.memphis.edu
Here's a quick rundown of the Memphis radio scene. Smaller stations may
be left out, as may some noncoms, etc. If you have any questions, e-mail me and
I'll be happy to help. I include frequencies and calls that I reliably remember; for
AM, that won't be many. Unless noted otherwise (or AM), all stations are 100kw,
except FM100, which is 290,000 watts of grandfathered power :).
AC
__
The king of the hill here is 104.5 WRVR-FM "The River", the flagship of
Keymarket's three stations here (one is the satellite-fed urban gold
680 WJCE-AM "Juice"; the other, WOGY-FM "Froggy 94" will be discussed in the
Country section, below). They own the 25-54 demo, although Rush is fighting
them to the death in Middays. The only other "AC" station in the market is our
very own 99.7 WMC-FM "FM100", a Hot AC owned, with Newstalk 790 WMC-AM and
WMC TV5, by Ellis Communications. FM100's been suffering from an identity crisis
for quite a few books now, but we may be turning a corner, stay tuned...
Classic Rock
____________
Your Classic Rock menu is a lot like fast food; a lot of places to turn, but not
much variety. The only game in town used to be 102.7 WEGR
"Rock 103/The Eagle", owned by Radio Equity Partners. The format was
AOR/Classic Rock in a quantum state. The entry into the market of 92.9 Arrow 93,
a 3kw light bulb with a transmitter located to the east, and the format change of
WYKL "Kool 98" to an "Arrow-clone" Star 98, has forced Rock 103 to tighten up
their format; they're a pretty standard Classic Rocker now. They're the big
kahuna of REP's trombo; the other two are WRXQ-FM 95.7 "96X" and WREC-AM
600, now just going News/Talk.
The Arrow stations are a story unto themselves. Arrow 93 is owned by the Belz
family, who made their money in a successful outlet chain. There is a _lot_ of
money behind it, with a brand-new turnkey studio and digital production. The
main lack now is talent and radio savvy. Incidentally, they bought the rights to
the format name and liners from CBS, so they get to use the liners of the Original
Arrow 93 without modification :).
Star is owned by Barnstable, who have a very successful two-station operation.
WGKX-FM "Kix 106" at 105.9 is the country staple, and after much trial and
tribulation, the station on 98.1 is beginning to show promise. Star has had
several incarnations, from CHR to oldies (mostly oldies), but a horrible transmitter
site has crippled their 100kw signal. After taking over "Oldies 98", Barnstable tried
to run it with their successful "Kool" oldies format, but the market was just
burned out on oldies. However, a few months before Arrow signed on, with
CBS rights and all, Barnstable beat them to the punch with "Target 98 -- All
Rock'n'Roll Oldies". A threatened lawsuit from Target Department Stores gave
them even more publicity; they actually changed their name to '98.1 -- The
Station With No Name", handed out No-Name tees everywhere, and ran a contest
to come up with a new name. After the contest (and, I'm sure, focus-group)
results were in, they decided on Star. With 100,000 watts of power and the
radio experience of their managers, they seem to be the dominant of the two
stations, although Belz can, I'm sure, broadcast as long as he likes whether he's
making money or not. The final blow: Star is moving their transmitter smack
into the middle of town (it had been in Arkansas).
Alternative
-----------
Yeah, right. Cynicism about the "Alternative" moniker notwithstanding, there are
two FM's and an AM programming Alternative in this town. The aforementioned
WRXQ-FM 95.7 "96X" is one of them. Most of the promotion and production is
a straightforward rip-off of 99X Atlanta (unless they ripped it off from somewhere
else). It's 100,000 watts, and, like Star, it's competitor is not hard-core radio.
However, it wouldn't take much to knock them off the top of the hill, as it stands
now.
Across the dial at 107.1, it's KFTH-FM, a former Christian station bought out by one
Dr. George Flynn. As the man who invented ultrasound, he pretty much burns
money in the fireplace when it gets cold. He owns three stations in Memphis, and
one in Little Rock. The other two here are AM's, WHBQ-AM 560 and 1430 AM,
whose calls escape me. He LMA-ed 'HBQ a few years ago with Barnstable; much
to his chagrin, they put a fairly successful SportsTalk format on it. The feuding
between them was legendary; at times, Flynn sold time on the signal and
switched STL's without bothering to tell Barnstable! Barnstable had no control of
the transmitter site which, apparently, was being run so illegally that the
engineers who would work for Flynn had him sign papers acknowledging full
responsibility for the state of the transmitter and the site; most engineers simply
refused to work for him. Currently, he's simulcasting on 1430, 107.1 FM and the
station in Little Rock -- WDRE off satellite. I tuned in to the AM the other day,
and switched back and forth between the two signals; I had trouble deciding
which was worse.
The ironic thing is that Flynn may still have a chance. As bad as the signal is, as
bad as the local production is, the satellite programming is far and away better
than that of 96X (I have not heard Flynn's local morning show). Unless 96 reacts
with better programming, they may find him eroding their market share....
Country
-------
A much simpler market here. Your typical Country standby, in this case, 105.9
WGKX "Kix 106), being harried by an upstart New Country, Keymarket's WOGY-FM
"Froggy 94". After a bit of a shakeup (the book before Froggy signed on, Kix had
a 16 share), Froggy seems to have taken all it can from Barnstable's flagship here.
Both stations seem to be making money, and if there's one format I would bet on
to survive around here, it's country.
Urban
-----
..but not before placing a heavy bet on Urban. In a city with an African-American
population of about 50%, the market is a lot less fractured, and the perennial #1
and #2 in 12+ are shared between WHRK-FM 97.1, KJMS "101 Jams" and WDIA-AM,
playing Urban Gold, with some very successful Talk. K-97 and WDIA are owned
by the same group, but, regrettably, I don't know much about these stations. If
interest warrants, I will post more as I find out about it. One last thing....
Talk
----
..is owned in the city by two stations; NewsTalk 790 WMC is the hard-right format
capturing 25-54 and up like there's no tomorrow. We have nicknamed it "White
Male Conservative", and it pretty much is. To get any kind of non-white or liberal,
turn to WDIA-AM, which, as mentioned before, combines urban and some talk to
capture a large chunk of the talk-radio listeners not commuting in from
Germantown. WMC has local programming in the morning, Rush and Ken Hamblin
through the day, SportsTalk with Dana Kirk for an hour at 6:00, Ray Roberts
(sort of a fast-talking Bob Grant) from 7-10, Gil Gross on refeed 10-1, then Art
Bell 'til morning. And, yes, I do work there :).
There you have a broad overview of commercial radio in Memphis. For more info,
e-mail me at upg...@msuvx1.memphis.edu and I will field as many questions as
I can. It's a very interesting radio market here, with lots of stories.
But hey, aren't they all? :)
---
Phil Groce upg...@msuvx1.memphis.edu
WMC AM/FM Memphis