98.7
Kiss FM to merge with long-time rival WBLS in move
that shakes up NYC radio landscape
The
two will become one station and broadcast with WBLS call
letters at 107.5
Stephen
Barcelo for New York Daily News
WRKS, Kiss FM at 98.7, will be no more: It is merging with
WBLS and the merged station will broadcast under the WBLS
call letters at 107.5.
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After 30 years as spirited and often ferocious rivals, WBLS
(107.5 FM) and WRKS (98.7 FM, Kiss-FM) will become one.
In a turn as sudden and stunning as the Yankees merging
with the Mets, the city's two adult urban radio stations
announced in a joint press release Thursday that they will
become "One Family, One Station."
Kiss and WBLS began simulcasting at 10 a.m. Thursday,
starting with a tribute to the 30-year legacy of Kiss.
As of 12 a.m. Monday they will become a single station at
107.5 FM, under the WBLS call letters.
RELATED: ESPN TAKES OVER 98.7 FM
FREQUENCY
It is likely this news will not please all listeners, many
of whom feel there are already too few black media voices
in the city.
The merger is part of a major reshuffling triggered when
Disney agreed to acquire 98.7 FM from Emmis.
The complicated $96 million deal essentially lets Disney
lease 98.7 FM as of Monday morning, when it will start
simulcasting ESPN radio there. ESPN radio is now heard on
the weaker 1050 AM signal.
Disney had been thirsting for an FM signal so it can better
challenge CBS Radio's all-sports WFAN (660 AM).
A key factor in this new deal is that WRKS and WBLS have
both had financial problems, at the stations themselves and
with their parent companies.
Emmis last year also sold its 101.9 FM frequency in New
York.
WBLS was recently acquired by YMF Partners after its parent
company Inner City Broadcasting went into bankruptcy. This
had led to considerable speculation whether YMF would sell
WBLS or change its format.
It was expected that any move to change the WBLS format to
something other than urban, which launched in 1971, would
have met strong community resistance.
In several ways Thursday's move is a classic case of two
companies in a shaky financial position deciding they would
be stronger if they worked together as one.
Still, the merger changes the landscape of urban radio
dramatically, since adult urban listeners now have one
station instead of two.
Both WBLS and WRKS have been the top-rated station in the
city at various times, and even in low periods they have
routinely averaged well over a million listeners apiece per
week.
As for hosts, the merger will integrate them starting
Monday.
Steve Harvey's
syndicated show, now heard on WBLS, will continue in the
morning.
Shaila from Kiss will do middays, 10 a.m.-3 p.m., Jeff Foxx from
WBLS will do 3-7 p.m., and Lenny Green from
Kiss will do 7 p.m.-midnight.
That means Tom Joyner and Michael Baisden of
WRKS, among other hosts, will be gone.
Since the WRKS name is also disappearing, the two stations
are jointly holding a "celebration of the legacy of
Kiss-FM" all weekend.
Over the years Kiss has often emphasized the heritage of
black music, and has hired hosts like Isaac Hayes. In
the 1990s it launched a "classic soul" format that shot
it to the top of the ratings for several years.
In recent years it has slumped, however, and Emmis Chairman Jeff Smulyan Thursday
blamed some of that on Arbitron's switch to a new
ratings system, the Personal People Meter (PPM).
PPM replaced the old "diary" system, where participants
wrote down their listening, with an electronic recording
device.
Almost all black and ethnic stations saw a dramatic drop in
their ratings under the PPM system. A stream of protests
and litigation have led to recent agreements that Arbitron
would increase its efforts to reflect all listening fairly.
Meanwhile, however, many black and ethnic stations have
warned that the lower ratings plus the general economic
recession have decimated their ad revenue and put them in
serious financial trouble.
Smulyan echoed that caution Thursday, saying in a release
that "recent changes in the way radio ratings are measured
made it very difficult for us to find success with Kiss
FM."
Whatever the reasons, New York will wake up Monday morning
with one fewer radio station serving urban listeners.
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