WBBL gone

Mr.Transistor · Post by **Mr.Transistor** » Fri Jan 04, 2019 6:03 pm

Thanks MW

Post by **MWmetalhead** » Fri Jan 04, 2019 6:03 pm

Does anyone know if 94.5 still suffers from massive intermod issues in the Alpine & I-96 area?

I was about to say it would be a shame if Hot-FM weren't moved from 105.3 to 94.5 eventually as part of this whole process, but crappy reception on that side of town might be a deal breaker? (Seems to me, though, that this would be more than mitigated by a massive improvement in reception capability in & around downtown Grand Rapids, the I-196 corridor in Ottawa County, the M-6 corridor in Kent County, etc.)

Sure would be nice to see the useless "Nash Icon" @ 92.5 MHz got dumped as part of this whole process.

Post by **MWmetalhead** » Fri Jan 04, 2019 6:09 pm

AM 1130 is basically a pay-for-play station these days. Its sole purpose is to clear programming no station of even semi-significant stature wants. If Michigan Media Networks pays 1130 for the clear, it would not surprise me to see them dump Big Jim and Droo in favor of the Large One.

Big Jim and Droo are basically filler. No one listens to them here. Then again, hardly anyone listens to Matt Shepard or any other program on that station these days!

As a side note, 97.1 The Ticket here in Detroit frequently airs portions of Simonson's national show during Saturday late nights. They air him and other CBS Sports Radio national programming whenever there's no reason to pay someone to host a live & local show in late night during the weekend. (I've also heard CBS Sports Radio programming on 97.1 during holiday mornings.)

TheGadgetGuy · Post by **TheGadgetGuy** » Fri Jan 04, 2019 6:15 pm

107.3 has flipped, it is now " Thunder 94.5 and 107.3". If the end goal here is to move Country off of 94.5, not sure why 94.5 is in the branding. Makes me wonder if this is more than just a temporary thing.

Qs23 · Post by **Qs23** » Fri Jan 04, 2019 7:48 pm

Wait, they are calling the new sports stations "The Ticket"? I wonder if they talked to Entercom before hand. Because didn't Midwest get into trouble with when they tried to take WQTX back to "The Ticket" and instead called it "The Team"?

Post by **MWmetalhead** » Fri Jan 04, 2019 8:34 pm

Sure looks like Thunder will soon be on 107.3 only.

Take a gander at the new logo on the WBBL Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/WBBLFM

(The 94.5 Thunder logo is the old one used until 2014.)

Surprisingly, judging from visitor comments, there are still a decent number of people bummed about KLQ's demise, which occurred nearly a decade ago!

I don't think Cumulus will have any issue with Entercom. In fact, Cumulus already uses the "Ticket" branding on stations in Toledo and Ann Arbor.

The WBBL Facebook page sure isn't doing a good job of redirecting listeners to AM 1340; that's for sure. Thunder posts & logos are plastered everywhere, but the info about The Ticket is difficult if not impossible to find!

Arthur Mometer · Post by **Arthur Mometer** » Fri Jan 04, 2019 11:13 pm

Not sure if they could swap out the WNWZ 1410 translator on 104.9 with the WJRW/WBBL 1340 AM translator, or would want to. Another topic for a former Univision VP to comment on. There's just no way to go E and SE on 106.1 well. They could park the WJRW callsign somewhere I guess if they think they are good call letters.

Post by **MWmetalhead** » Sat Jan 05, 2019 7:32 am

Townsquare owns 104.9/1410, not Cumulus.

There's no way Townsquare would ever do a deal of that nature with Cumulus.

Arthur Mometer · Post by **Arthur Mometer** » Sat Jan 05, 2019 7:43 am

MWmetalhead wrote: ↑
Sat Jan 05, 2019 7:32 am
Townsquare owns 104.9/1410, not Cumulus.

There's no way Townsquare would ever do a deal of that nature with Cumulus.

They did a back scratch deal like that in Lansing as I recall. Do you remember why? Townsquare used the WTRX call letters on 93.7 in Pontiac, IL for a while. So an important ingredient called MONEY talks.

Post by **MWmetalhead** » Sat Jan 05, 2019 7:52 am

WBBL/Sports hardly had any listeners on a 50 kW FM station. Cumulus certainly isn't going to fret over the difference between 106.1 versus 104.9.

Trophyhead · Post by **Trophyhead** » Sat Jan 05, 2019 11:58 am

To me, "the sticks" apply to Big Rapids and other environs 40-55 miles of GR that were served by 107.3's signal.

Like today, when I am on my way to Ravenna and then, on to Big Rapids, I guess 590 is going to have to do as a resource for MSU-OSU listening. 1340 doesn't get me much past Cedar Springs, I bet.

I will leave the programming results of these flips for larger minds to ponder.

Post by **MWmetalhead** » Sat Jan 05, 2019 12:19 pm

I'll be damned. MSU lost their radio affiliates in the Holland & Muskegon areas (92.1 WGHN is evidently the only option now) and evidently don't have an affiliate in Big Rapids, either.

Back in the day, 1260 in Holland used to carry Spartan athletics, and I want to say 97.5 in the Muskegon area did so, too. Would love to know when & why both stations stopped carrying the Spartans.

There are a zillion radio stations in the immediate Big Rapids area now; I can only assume the reason none of the 'em carry MSU athletics is because WBBL (on 107.3) always delivered a decent signal to the area.

The MSU Network affiliate count seemed higher several years ago than now. Maybe some station owners have seen the light and have switched to U-M athletics instead!

Post by **MWmetalhead** » Sat Jan 05, 2019 12:48 pm

Of note, the domain "thunder1073.com" was registered anonymously on 12-19-18. This move was evidently in the works for a while.

How convenient that Large announced his new statewide syndication deal on exactly the same day WBBL was blown up. My guess is he knew the day of reckoning was coming many days in advance. There clearly was some coordination between Cumulus and Michigan Media Networks.

https://whois.icann.org/en/lookup?name=thunder1073.com

The fact the registrar is Enom is a dead giveaway that Cumulus registered the domain. They use Enom for just about everything of theirs:
https://who.is/nameserver/dns5.cumulusmedia.com

Deleted User 10525 · Post by **Deleted User 10525** » Sat Jan 05, 2019 1:36 pm

I don't know much about the GR market, but.. I am hoping(not holding my breath) that the cloud blows up 106.5 The ticket in Toledo.

Deleted User 10525 · Post by **Deleted User 10525** » Sat Jan 05, 2019 7:57 pm

Same company owns both. Same formatted station, just in a different place. Just wanted to point it out, if The cloud plans on phasing there sports stations out or at least under performing ones. I already posted a topic about it, in the ohio section but I couldn't resist mentioning. I'll save the rest for there.

A friend of mine went to school around GR, I think Zeeland if I remember right. I have not seen him in years, I just remember him talking a lot about WKLQ, how much better they were then The Buzz or 89x. How things change.. Maybe someone here can fill me in on 94.5 and 107.3's coverage area. Does The Simulcast make sense or is it pointless? What format is missing in the GR market overall?

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