There have been quite a few rumors as of late regarding the fate of popular Miami progressive talk station WINZ (940AM). And now, the rumors are heating up even further.
Last week, I mentioned that quite a few Clear Channel outlets are flipping to FOX Sports-fed sports outlets. WINZ was mentioned by several sources as a possibility. Adding fuel to the fire is the fact that the current FOX Sports outlet for South Florida, WFTL (640AM), was informed that FSR struck a deal with another local station to pick up the affiliation. The move is likely to go down in March.
WINZ's format switch means the Miami-Fort Lauderdale market will have five all-sports stations, including WQAM and 790 The Ticket.
The station currently enjoys decent ratings, typically maintaining a 1.5 overall share in the Arbitron ratings. That makes it the 4th most popular AM station in the market.
Monday, February 02, 2009
Black Monday continued: WINZ flipping to sports?
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Eureka, CA 
2 comments:
I will deeply miss Air America in South Florida. The corporate owners of Clear Channel and the other massive media outlets gain more from deregulation and conservative government than by high ratings. Rupert Murdoch has been buying up papers and losing money on them. A sixth sports station here won't make money, but it could stem the tide towards re-establishing proper rules about media ownership. Clear Channel with their hundreds of radio stations would be gone if the old rules were brought back, which prior to Clinton's killing them, limited total media outlet ownership to 36 locations.
Why isn't diversity of opinion valued any more? We - the citizens - own the airwaves. WE NEED TO DEMAND they are used in our interest, so they cannot be controlled by Hearst-type organizations like Clear Channel.
Check out the new WINZ website - it's now at least 3/4 pornography. All we have now from Clear Channel is YELLOW JOURNALISM from inflammatory right-wing radio hosts - the whole reason we made the rules in the first place decades ago was to prevent this dereliction of duty.
The FOURTH ESTATE will die without our action:
1. E-mail Sanda Coyle at Clear Channel to let her know how you feel about this switch: Sanda.Coyle@clearchannel.com
2. go to http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=6 to learn other ways to fight back
Check out the last entry for WINZ on Wikipedia !!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WINZ_(AM)
"On April 2, 2009, it was reported on radio-info.com that the station would switch to sports the following day, making it the sixth sports station in Miami; this follows Clear Channel's trend of changing liberal talk formats (regardless of success) to its own Fox Sports network."
Note the "regardless of success" !!!!
This confirms my analysis.
Also see: http://ltradio.blogspot.com/2009/02/black-monday-continued-winz-flipping-to.html
"The station currently enjoys decent ratings, typically maintaining a 1.5 overall share in the Arbitron ratings. That makes it the 4th most popular AM station in the market."
I read somewhere else...can't find the link now...that Air America out-performed the all-sports line-up on WINZ that preceded it.
Blatant disregard for their own profit motive....that's ideological.
Break up Clear Channel now!!!
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