Cumulus Plans Targeted FM Ad Delivery for Boston’s WXLO

ZoneCasting is expected to let 104.5 XLO run different commercials in designated parts of the Boston market while maintaining its primary FM broadcast elsewhere.

Cumulus Media plans to deploy GeoBroadcast Solutions’ ZoneCasting technology at Boston hot AC outlet 104.5 XLO (WXLO-FM), creating a terrestrial-FM path for geographically differentiated advertising within the station’s market. The company expects the rollout, being developed in partnership with Aktira, to launch in the first quarter of 2027.

Cumulus says WXLO will initially target listeners in a designated area east of Route 128. Under the proposed delivery model, advertisers could run one commercial in that zone while a different spot airs simultaneously elsewhere in Greater Boston; listeners outside the zone would continue to receive the station’s primary broadcast.

The deployment is a planned advertising-delivery technology rollout, not a format change or a completed launch. If implemented as described, it could give WXLO geographically segmented terrestrial-radio inventory without moving listeners to a streaming service—a potentially useful option for advertisers promoting individual locations, offers or service areas.

Cumulus also presents the initiative as complementary to its use of Xperi’s DTS AutoStage platform for near-real-time connected-car listening insights. The company says more than 90,000 connected vehicles in Boston provide daily radio-listening data through AutoStage, though it has not detailed how that data would be incorporated into ZoneCasting sales, traffic or measurement workflows.