Today is the Big Day.<\/p>\n
Randy Michaels (aka Benjamin Homel) is moving at lightning speed.\u00a0 With backing from a Chicago Private Equity firm, He has scooped up 3 major market FM stations and in about a month is ready to put 2 of them on the air as All News FM stations – a very bold move.<\/p>\n
WWWN-FM is on the air in Chicago (the former WKQX) and WEMP-FM is on the air in New York.<\/p>\n
In response, CBS in Chicago has taken down its “Fresh” FM music station and converted it to a simulcast of the WBBM-AM.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 This is a an evil plan for Michaels \ud83d\ude42\u00a0\u00a0 WBBM-AM is a very profitable station for CBS.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 When people in Chicago get used to listening to All News on FM (even if not to WWWN), those car radios are not going to ever go back to the AM dial.\u00a0\u00a0 Who stands to lose from that?\u00a0\u00a0 WGN-AM owned by Tribune who recently fired him.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Tribune owns no FM stations and is prohibited by cross ownership rules from buying one.\u00a0\u00a0 The only reason they have WGN is it is a very old station and is grandfathered in (like WTMJ in Milkaukee and WSB in Atlanta)<\/p>\n
WLS-AM is also going to be hurt a lot by this – Ciitadel (soon to be Cumulus) does have a WLS-FM that could become an AM simulcast, but they are not likely to do that.<\/p>\n
“What the world needs now is news, more news… it’s the one thing there’s just too little of…\u00a0\u00a0 it’s not just for some, it’s for everyone….”<\/p>\n
The third station in the deal was WLUP-FM in Chicago – it’s still under the radar what it will become.\u00a0\u00a0 Maybe he’s put together Steve Dahl and Garry Meier and Mancow and relive the 1990s.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Today is the Big Day. Randy Michaels (aka Benjamin Homel) is moving at lightning speed.\u00a0 With backing from a Chicago Private Equity firm, He has scooped up 3 major market FM stations and in about a month is ready to … Continue reading