Red Zebra Nabs WTEM
As DCRTV has been bubbling about for days, with expanded information in Post articles and opposition columns, Daniel Snyder's Red Zebra Broadcasting finally nabbed WTEM today. From the official press release, which sent by the Redskins PR team:
Red Zebra Broadcasting today announced that it has entered into an agreement to acquire WTEM (Sportstalk 980), WTNT (570-AM) and WWRC (1260-AM) from Clear Channel Communications, creating an exciting new combination of local and national talk radio programming.
"It has always been our goal to grow our company, expand our Redskins Radio footprint while also venturing into other forms of broadcast entertainment," said Bruce Gilbert, CEO of Red Zebra Broadcasting. "We are especially thrilled to be adding local sports talk icons John Thompson, Doc Walker, Brian Mitchell, Steve Czaban, Andy Polin and others to our team, which already includes Hall of Famer John Riggins ."
But see, there's still a problem with this... Dave from DCRTV summed it up nicely:
Here's what he bought:Rant - 6/5 - So, let's see. Come September, the Redskins will be on 980, an AMer with great daytime coverage but not-so-hot night coverage in places like Northern Virginia. And the Redskins will be on AMers 570, 730, and 1260, all with severe coverage problems, especially at night. And the Redskins will be on two so-called "rimshot" far-suburban FMers, 92.7 in Prince Frederick and 94.3 in Warrenton, neither of which provides significant coverage inside-the-Beltway. Six DC area stations that will be owned by team owner Dan Snyder will carry the Redskins. And, you know what, the Redskins will still (!) have coverage problems for their late afternoon and evening games. All Snyder needed was one inside-the-Beltway FMer. Something like 100.3 or 105.1. And he'd get significantly better coverage than the six (count 'em) local stations he'll soon have. You know, maybe Snyder should just send the Red Zebra back to the National Zoo Of Bad Media Ideas and, like before, contract the radio rights for his team to a "real" broadcaster. And make money on the deal. Man.
WTNT nighttime
WTEM nighttime
WWRC nighttime
I can tell you from personal experience that these coverage maps are technically accurate, but the actual usable signal is much less than that. There's tons of electrical interference in that market.
Also, notice that none of the nighttime lobes hit western Fairfax and Loudin counties... Exactly where most of the population growth is.
You would think that he would've consulted someone who actually knows something about radio before doing something like this. One class B city FM can do better than all six of these signals combined.
DC is an FM town anyway. Makes no sense...
