John Kiesewetter is reporting that 700 WLW-AM will begin broadcasting on XM Salellite Radio channel 173.
Is this a deal Clear Channel has with XM with other CC stations or just WLW? Will this drive WLW even farther away from local radio, and more towards crap. I understand and concur that it already has a large level of crap, but their news coverage has the only really live breaking news coverage of most issues through-out the city. If I fear something big happened in town, I am turning on the radio, not TV. Well, that is unless it is during a Red's game.
Interesting choice by XM... which seems to be losing the content war to Sirius. Why would you rebroadcast a traditional broadcaster when you have the opportunity to provide something more and new, not governed by the FCC, not beholden to day parts and ratings periods and such?
ReplyDeleteSirius has all the sports (except baseball which is more local/regional in nature anyway), Howard Stern (love him or hate him - he is the king of content), Martha Stewart, and the music channels are outstanding.
As much as I applaud Cincinnati radio history and tradition... it's time for something new and when I think of the companies capable of delivering that Clear Channel is not high on my list.
XM still has Baseball & NASCAR and just as good music channels & the Truckin BOZO on Open Road. WLW personalities are some of the best in the Country. Bill Cunningham is always on FOX News and Mike McConel is already on XM on Saturdays. Besides that Oprah gave a bigger push to XM stock than Stern did to Sirrius. Whys does Sirrius stock never move?
ReplyDeleteI agree. That first response sounded more like a commercial for Sirius than informed opinion. For the record, Sirius has fewer sports. They have the NFL which most people prefer to watch on TV and the ailing NBA. XM has MLB, the PGA tour, NASCAR which is the nations fastest and most profitable sport (like it or not), ACC, BIG 10 and PAC 10, as well as the NHL.
ReplyDeleteXM still has more channels than Sirius. Even though the addition of Howard Stern has been a boost to Sirius, Oprah's signing brings a bigger audience and at a quarter of the cost of Stern. Sirius has yet to turn a profit since their debut and Wall St. predicts that they will eventually be bought by rival XM. This was highlighted by recent Q4 numbers where although both providers posted losses, Sirius' comes at an even worse time for the number 2 provider due to high subscriber aquisition costs such as signing Stern.
The decision to add the "Nation's Station" should come as no suprise as this is the way this media is heading. It will be very similar to local channels on your satellite dish, or getting Chicago's WGN on cable. You may not prefer to watch or listen to local news from other markets, but this move has been in the making for a long time. XM already has local weather and traffic for many US cities, this is just a further extension of that programming.
XM continues to plan for the future by signing lucrative deals with automakers such as Toyota and GM to factory install XM transmitters in the car's stereo systems, therefore securing many new subscribers.
NASACR is huge... XM has lost NASCAR to Sirius.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.nascar.com/2005/news/headlines/official/02/22/sirius_2007/
As far as Oprah goes it will be curious to see what she does with the channel, she will not be actually on XM herself doing a radio show (except a weekly half hour show with Gayle King). Nor will her TV show be rebroadcast (I read that somewhere). How many people will sign up for Oprah on XM expecting more? Great marketing move for XM though.
I agree WLW has great personalities.
My guess is this is a win for XM even if only for the trucker audience... WLW has had programming aimed directly to them for years, they are in the vehicle a lot - why not make the signal pristine and easy to get nationwide?