NorthEast Radio Watch 1/13/2025: TJ Exits, “La Exitosa” Exists

In this week’s issue… TJ Pops Back Down – Giovanni’s Surprise Return – Townsquare Turns Off Two – Remembering MA’s Bob Nelson, PA’s Diamond

By SCOTT FYBUSH

Jump to: ME – NH – VT – MA – RI – CT – NY – NJ – PA – Canada

We’re back, a little later than expected (some family illness and a major family move intervened last week), and ready to get started on the 32nd year of NorthEast Radio Watch service to the broadcast community.

It was a quiet first week of the new year, but Emmis didn’t keep things that way in NEW YORK, where the pop-up run of “TJ 98.7” on WEPN-FM wound down to a quick end on Friday evening at 6. “TJ,” of course, was the short-term solution to a longer-term problem for Emmis, which has been trying to wind down what were once extensive broadcast operations in multiple markets, including a four-station cluster in New York.

After selling off WQHT (Hot 97) and WBLS (107.5) to what’s now MediaCo, Emmis retained WLIB (1190) and WEPN-FM, and that was fine for quite a while, as long as Good Karma Brands was paying good money to lease the FM facility. But that lease ended in August 2024, with Good Karma moving the ESPN lease to Audacy’s WHSQ (formerly WCBS 880) – and yet there was still no buyer in sight willing to pay the $50 million Emmis has reportedly been asking for 98.7.

The “TJ” pop-up kept the station on the air for a few months, providing a showcase for TJ Taormina’s syndicated morning show through United Stations, for Mike McVay’s consulting company and for Radio.cloud’s technology that allowed the station to operate with no local studio. On Friday, it went out in style, as Taormina did a final few hours live just for his New York audience before Emmis, somewhat surprisingly, took back full operation of 98.7 for the first time since the ESPN lease began in 2012.

The new “La Exitosa 98.7” that launched on Friday evening turns out to be the latest version of the bilingual Spanish-English AC format that’s been generating big ratings gains for companies such as iHeart in places like Miami and San Antonio. McVay is still consulting, but this time with an aim of building up actual sales revenue for Emmis on both 98.7 and on WLIB, which dropped its longtime satellite-fed Black gospel format for a simulcast.

The new “Exitosa” faces off against the two dominant Spanish-language players in the market, SBS’ WPAT-FM/WSKQ-FM and Univision’s WXNY, aiming to attract a younger audience that may not be exclusively Spanish-speaking.

“The strong Dominican, Puerto Rican, Columbian, Mexican, and Ecuadorian communities in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut are radio’s most passionate fans. Delivering the popular hit music these diverse communities grew up listening to, will provide a unifying listening experience New York has never heard before,” McVay said.

To hear Emmis CEO Jeff Smulyan tell it, planning for this format was underway throughout the “TJ” pop-up.

“We’ve been trying to sell our last two stations in New York,” Smulyan said, “but when ESPN/Good Karma moved to AM after the LMA, we thoroughly reviewed the New York market and saw a significant opportunity for a Spanish AC format playing English and Spanish hits from the 1980s to 2000s. We believe the opportunity was too good to pass up and have spent several months preparing for the launch.”

As with every chapter of this odd 98.7 story, what’s next isn’t entirely clear. There’s no airstaff announced yet for “La Exitosa” and it’s not even clear yet whether the station will have any studio location or whether it will continue to run through radio.cloud. Is Emmis’ plan to try to build up some revenues in hopes of finally getting its $50 million through a sale to SBS or Univision? Or will Emmis’ shareholders be content with whatever profits they can get from continuing to operate 98.7 and 1190 with the bilingual format?

Either way, it’s another reminder that in 2025, the traditional rules for doing radio business have largely gone by the wayside – and we’re in a new world now.