After five radio stations in three cities, a spectacularly unsuccessful attempt at doing all-news radio on FM in two of those cities (New York and Chicago) and another unsuccessful attempt at right-wing talk radio on FM in the third (Philadelphia), Merlin Media, former CC radio chief Randy Michaels' attempt to return to radio, is officially dead as what is now "rhythmic adult contemporary" WIQI "i101" and classic rock WLUP "The Loop" (which remained in the format through all this) in Chicago are sold to Cumulus Media--the Loop will remain classic rock, while the modern rock format Merlin is doing on a leased low-power TV station on channel 6 (87.7 on your FM dial) will move up to i101 with the WKQX call letters, meaning that "Q101" will be back on its old frequency:
http://www.robertfeder.com/2014/01/03/cumulus-buys-merlins-chicago-stations/ Merlin bought the Chicago stations and WRXP in New York from Emmis in 2011 with a grand plan to create a new kind of female-oriented all-news format on FM which just never jelled, as were the attempts to turn it into a more conventional all-news approach--the stations went to music formats in mid-2012 and Merlin sold WRXP to CBS later that year (it's now simulcasting sports talk WFAN). After buying WKDN in Philadelphia from Family Radio after their disastrous Judgment Day campaign in 2012, the transition to a right-wing talk format as WWIQ "IQ 106.9" was equally unsuccessful, despite the presence of Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity--Educational Media Foundation recently bought the station and put in their satellite-fed K-Love contemporary Christian music format as WKVP. Cumulus continues to hold onto talker WLS-AM and classic hits WLS--FM (that's "oldies" without the doo-wop and going into the 80s--and in WLS-FM's case, a lot like a classic rock station with jingles and the occasional Motown or James Taylor song). Meanwhile, it's interesting that Cumulus has chosen for now not to make either station part of their new "Nash" country music brand, especially considering that CBS fired longtime WUSN "US99" DJ Trish Biondo last week--one would think that with their current fervor for the "Nash" brand and the opportunity to grab an air talent associated with country music in Chicago (and with many connections in Music City) would've led them to a format more friendly to the advertiser-wanted young female demos than "Alternative," which is believed to appeal mostly to Beavis and Butt-Head and people who go to gentleman's clubs. -- -- TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TV or Not TV" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TVorNotTV" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
