With News, Talk, and Sports on FM growing rapidly, is any one format losing more outlets than others? And are the format’s gains chasing away a larger number of displaced users of other music formats?

That question was prompted by Ross On Radio reader Greg Guise who, reacting to the rumors that Randy Michaels’ new Merlin Media would install FM News or Talk formats in New York and Chicago, contends that such changes could “actually hurt radio as an industry” by “taking yet another music format off the air and alienating yet another group of users.”

While the formats most expected to disappear with a wave of Merlin’s wand are Altermative WRXP (Rock 101.9) New York and WKQX (Q101) Chicago, Guise cites in particular the lack of 35-64 music choices on FM in Washington, D.C., where there’s “lots of spoken word on the air,” but where there has been no Oldies/Greatest Hits station for the last two years.

It’s hard to imagine that Merlin’s real New York and Chicago plans were truly known within hours of last week’s announcement, but whatever their validity, it was still worth taking a look at the commercial News, Talk, and Sports outlets in the top 60 markets that have launched over the last decade or so. We tallied which formats had been displaced and whether that particular format had found a new home in the market, immediately or eventually.

Only Mainstream AC Untouched

In general, News/Talk and Sports FMs have been distributed pretty evenly on to the real estate of existing formats. About 50-55 stations have taken the place of a handful of FMs in each of the major formats, with the notable exception of Mainstream AC. (A few new stations have been new frequencies or move-ins that can’t be said to have directly replaced anything else.) No more than six stations have come from any one format, and five launches have been stations that were doing some other form of News, Talk or Sports.

As radio history shows, the hot new format also tends to replace the previous hot new format. Six of the new N/T FMs (the largest number) were former Adult Hits stations, including a “Jack FM,” a “Movin’,” and a “Gen-X Radio.” Seeing the changes by date is to see which format was on the receiving end of industry bad press at the moment—Oldies stations in the mid-’00s and Alternative now.

Then there’s Smooth Jazz, which depending on one’s count, lost either three or four stations. Smooth Jazz is certainly a case of upper-demo listeners being punished for being upper-demo. It’s also the kind of potentially lost listening that Guise writes about. That said, if Smooth Jazz outlets represent a large percentage of the former stations here, they probably represent a large chunk of stations being switched to any format.

Along with various boom/bust formats, there were five former Hot ACs and five Country stations as well. Hot AC has had its issues over the last decade, but it’s not disappearing from the dial, and only one market can be said to have been left without Hot AC as a result. As with format changes overall, losing a station doesn’t always reflect the state of the format as much as the owner’s agenda. (If anything, the changes reflect the realization that any format can get overcrowded in a PPM market.)

CLASSIC, CURRENT ROCK HURT EQUALLY

There were as many Classic Hits/Classic Rock stations displaced by FM Talk of some sort as there were current-based Rock stations: Alternative and Active Rock. And several of those current-based rockers, WBCN Boston, for instance, did not have an exclusive position in the market. That didn’t make WBCN's demise any less symbolic, and the same would go for the long-running Q101 or for WRXP, which is very much the “local station” of the East Coast music industry. (Ironically, a WRXP change would be a replay of what happened in 1980 on the same frequency when proto-Alternative WPIX went Top 40.)

It's not hard to see why a News, Talk or Sports station would want a spot at the big mall. Beyond the perceived ability to attract younger demos on FM, there are simply listeners of all ages who no longer cume AM for anything, even in the absence of a signal issue. That said, 35-64 listeners are hardly overserved, regardless of whether one hot format is the culprit.

Guise also correctly points out that disenfranchised listeners do have other choices now. Even if those listeners are only turning to their cell phones or Pandora as a matter of necessity, it is no longer possible for an owner to shrug and say, “well, where are they going to go?” Listeners now have options.

Here’s a rundown of large-market FMs that switched to News, Talk or Sports, and where they came from. Despite the likelihood of additions to this list or format history corrections, spoken word’s wide swath through a variety of formats is what’s important here, and unlikely to change.

Active Rock (3 changes)

KXL-FM Portland, Ore., replaced longtime Active Rocker KUFO, which has not yet been replaced;

WERC-FM Birmingham, Ala., replaced “The Vulcan,” which recently returned on one of owner Clear Channel’s two FM translators in the market.

WLRS Louisville, Ky., had already given up Alternative for an "everything that rocks"-type format, Even with it gone, Louisville's 10 rock shares are divided up between three stations, none of them higher than a 3.7. And the most current-based, WTFX, is at a 2.6.

Adult Hits/’90s Oldies (6)

KMBZ-FM Kansas City technically replaced AC KUDL, but the AC format ended up with a new handle and frequency, leaving ’90s Oldies “Gen-X Radio” as the odd format out;

KNXT-FM Las Vegas replaced KKJJ (Jack-FM); that listening has likely dispersed among Classic Rock and Greatest Hits outlets;

WCPT-FM Chicago gave up Adult Hits when there were multiple stations in the same space; since then, the station that most obviously stole its position, WJMK (Jack FM) has gone as well;

WKIM Memphis is a recent convert to Talk. Never high-rated, its departure still seems to have been a boon for Oldies/Greatest Hits WKQK;

WXOS St. Louis made its high-profile switch to Sports from WMVN, which was branded as “Movin’,” although that station had a more pop feel than similarly named Rhythmic Hot AC outlets.

WYRD-FM Greenville, S.C., left the market without Adult Hits or full-signal Oldies.

Alternative (3)

WBZ-FM Boston, through a frequency swap, replaced Alternative WBCN. There are two other Alternative stations in the market;

WEEI-FM Providence, R.I., replaced the local simulcast of WFNX Boston. Providence, too, still has Alternative, thanks to WBRU;

WMFS Memphis replaced the market’s hard-rockin’ Alternative 93X. Active rock WMFS has had its best PPM numbers ever in recent months.

CHR (2)

KDKA-FM Pittsburgh replaced the market’s second CHR, WBZZ (B94), whose call letters were given to Hot AC sister WZPT;

WIBC-FM Indianapolis replaced WNOU (Radio Now) whose CHR format surfaced shortly thereafter (but not immediately) on Radio One’s Smooth Jazz station. (In fact, you could as easily put this one in the Smooth Jazz column.)

Christian (2)

WOKV-FM Jacksonville, Fla.’s former Contemporary Christian format replaced Southern Gospel on another frequency.

WVSP Norfolk, Va., switched places with the R&B Gospel format now heard on WGH-AM.

Classic Hits (3)

KCBS San Francisco is simulcasting on KFRC-FM, whose call letters belie their former Classic Hits format. Oldies finally returned to the market this year on KKSF (Oldies 103.7);

KOMO-FM Seattle replaced a “South Sound” Classic Hits outlet;

WGFX Nashville replaced what had become the second Classic Hits/Classic Rock station in the market by the early ’00s. It took the better part of the decade, but the station that helped force it out, WNRQ, recently got to No. 1 in the market.

Classic Rock (2)

WLKK Buffalo, N.Y., is simulcasting WBEN-FM. It was the former deep-cuts Classic Rocker “The Lake”’;

WRNO New Orleans got out of a Classic Rock battle with WKBU (The Bayou).

Classical (1)

WTOP Washington, D.C., on its latest FM frequency, replaced Classical institution WGMS. Non-comm WETA picked up the Classical format full-time (as well as the WGMS calls for a simulcast partner) and, in doing so, helped create a model that has been used several times since.

Country (5)

KBWF (The Wolf) San Francisco recently switched to Sports in a market which can hear Country stations from three adjacent markets.

WCMC, WRDU, and WZTK Raleigh, N.C., are all stations that changed from Country at various times over the last seven years.

WHTK-FM Rochester, N.Y., put sports on this fringe signal, which had previously been flanking Country rival WBEE.

Hip-Hop/R&B/Rhythmic CHR (3)

KTAR-FM Phoenix replaced KKFR (Power 92), which resurfaced on a lesser signal;

WSBB Atlanta added WSB’s N/T format to the former home of “The Beat,” which prompted rival
WWVA-FM (Wild 96.7) to evolve from Rhythmic Hot AC to something similar to the Beat.

WXTG Norfolk, Va., an early all-Sports FM, replaced one of several Urban stations in the market, which is still served by WOWI and to some extent by Rhythmic WNVZ (Z104).

Hot AC (5)

KQTH Tucson, Ariz., replaced decade-or-so old Modern AC KZPT (The Point), thus creating room for KWFM (The Mountain) to segue from Triple-A to more of a Modern AC format;

KSL-FM Salt Lake City replaced decade-or-so-old Modern AC KQMB (Star 102.7). Salt Lake City has always had multiple stations in the area where Alternative and Hot AC intersect, including KJMY (My 99.5);

WBNS-FM Columbus, Ohio, replaced decade-or-so-old Modern AC “FM 97.1.” That prompted a switch to Hot AC at a rival Saga station;

WJOX-FM Birmingham, Ala., very successfully replaced Hot AC WYSF. That format remains MIA at the moment, but CHR WQEN has always leaned pop/rock;

WPEN-FM Philadelphia replaced the year-old Now 97.5, which had been both Hot and Mainstream AC in that time. Rival WISX (Mix 106.1) has evolved from Rhythmic Hot AC to a more mainstream version.

Jammin’ Oldies (1)

WPGB Pittsburgh, one of the longer-running FM talkers, replaced The Beat in early 2004. Pittsburgh never got anything resembling Jammin’ Oldies or Urban AC on FM afterwards and even went two years without Urban of any sort when the former WAMO-FM and WAMO-AM went away.

News/Talk Sports (5)

KDSP Denver switched from Spanish- to English-language Sports;

KFNC Houston, now Sports, has previously been both the “FM News Channel” and “Super Talk 97.5” over the last 10 years.

WEAN-FM Providence, R.I., went from Sports WSKO to Talk, in defiance of the trend we’re about to see;

WJFK Washington, D.C., went from Talk to Sports, as did WJZ-FM Baltimore and WXYT-FM Detroit. The latter is the CBS station whose success probably prompted the changes at its Baltimore and D.C. sisters.

Oldies (3)

KIRO-FM Seattle replaced the market’s Oldies station, KBSG. There are now two Oldies FMs in the market including the then-Classic Hits station (KJR-FM) that helped make KBSG seem expendable;

WBAP-FM Dallas replaced Soft Oldies KMRZ (Memories 96.7), which is the type of unique older-targeted outlet that Guise complains about losing. Heritage Oldies outlet KLUV remains successful.

WWL-FM New Orleans replaced heritage Oldies WTKL, giving amiably quirky rimshotter WTIX-FM and True Oldies Channel affiliate WMTI both a lease on life.

Smooth Jazz (3)

KKFN-FM Denver replaced Smooth Jazz at the height of its format troubles a few years ago;

KTLK-FM Minneapolis was a fairly early convert from the format;

WZZR West Palm Beach, Fla., also switched nearly a decade ago. For a while, Smooth Jazz remained in South Florida on nearby WLVE, which changed several years ago as well.

Spanish (3)

KNRS-FM Salt Lake City replaced Spanish Oldies;

KXBT Austin, Texas, replaced Regional Mexican;

WKRD Louisville, Ky., also replaced Spanish Oldies.

Please leave a comment or e-mail me with any updates or corrections.