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950 wpen
- Thread starter nd2023
- Start date
If you go back to 1929, some of its formats included Italian programming, conservative pop with talk at night, adult contemporary, oldies, adult standards, oldies again and sports.
Everybody didn't like it so much. It was rarely one of the top stations in the market. Aside from the "950 Club" in the early '50s, it hardly ever carried programming that would appeal to young people. Probably its best-liked period was the '80s and '90s, when it combined well-known personalities with music that older listeners loved and couldn't hear elsewhere. In 1973-74 nobody liked it; it had hardly any listeners or advertisers and was signing off at midnight to save on the electric bill.
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FredLeonard
Guest
WPEN, for most of the past half century, was an MOR or standards station with personality DJs. It had the format to itself after WIP switched to sports talk in the 80s.
In the mid 70s, with WIP dominating MOR, WPEN tried Oldies with very irreverent news. It had its fans but as an AM station had a hard time competing with the already-established WCAU-FM.
In the mid 70s, with WIP dominating MOR, WPEN tried Oldies with very irreverent news. It had its fans but as an AM station had a hard time competing with the already-established WCAU-FM.
A
atrainradio
Guest
How's its ratings today? Is the Christian programming working at all? I'm just getting tired of every new AM radio station being yet another religious station. We already got WVCH 740, WTMR 800 (which has great signal) WFIL 560, WCHR 1040, WNAP 1110, WFJS 1260 (new daytime pattern) , and finally, WISP 1570. Enough choices for ya?
And now for FM- WYPA 89.5, WVBV 90.5, and the powerhouse WKVP 106.9
And now for FM- WYPA 89.5, WVBV 90.5, and the powerhouse WKVP 106.9
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FredLeonard
Guest
They don't subscribe to the ratings. Ratings don't matter. What matters is will preachers buy time and apparently they do. And about little old ladies sending in their money before they meet Jesus in person. Apparently some preachers even buy time on many/most of the stations you listed. It's not about choices for you. It's about money for Family Radio and for the "organizations" buying brokered time.
It's one of these interesting things. In the world of advertising, "reach" isn't as important as it once was. It's about targeted messaging. But in the world of religious radio, it's still about reach. Whether or not anyone listens isn't as important as the ability to preach. Radio is perfect for that.
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FredLeonard
Guest
Well, that says all you need to know about the current state of AM radio.
95 PEN... The Best Of The Gold
While not too many listened much to the station at the time, there are a few well-circulated airchecks of this era floating about- highlighting how good the station sounded.
Greater Media had just bought the 'PENs, and spent considerable time and money cleaning up their engineering. Even on tapes, the processing and "big" sound are apparent. As are the talents of "Legendary" Loren Owens (pre-Boston) and late newsman Bruce Eric Smallwood (I think all the newsmen there had to use middle names). Then there were the incredible "95 PEN" jingles. I believe these were commissioned by Julian Breen, as one of the first packages ever from Jon Wolfert's then-new JAM Creative.
There's an amazing 24/7 feed here on the Internet (where all the good stuff has gone), run by a veteran major-market pro, that does a wonderful job showcasing the jingles and processing. The music selection is much more open, though, making it even more enjoyable. There are no jocks that I have ever heard. The only spoken words are once an hour, as the original TOH stager is heard. Also no commercials. Overall, a very enjoyable listen. No website; simply search "95 PEN" on Shoutcast.
I'm pretty sure by that time WCAU-FM was beginning to move away from its Solid Gold format, and for most of the 95 PEN era 98 was doing the somewhat soulful/disco/Fascinating Rhythm thing. Can anyone confirm?
I've also wondered how well this station would have done long-term had Greater kept it on the FM for more than a few months as a temporary simulcast. Did the FM simulcast have the same thick processing/reverb, or was it cleaner (like Musicradio sounded on WABC-FM)? Not AT ALL to suggest keeping Oldies at that one-FM-to-a-market time would have been smarter than launching Magic-- but just wondering in an If-A-Tree-Falls sort of way.
While not too many listened much to the station at the time, there are a few well-circulated airchecks of this era floating about- highlighting how good the station sounded.
Greater Media had just bought the 'PENs, and spent considerable time and money cleaning up their engineering. Even on tapes, the processing and "big" sound are apparent. As are the talents of "Legendary" Loren Owens (pre-Boston) and late newsman Bruce Eric Smallwood (I think all the newsmen there had to use middle names). Then there were the incredible "95 PEN" jingles. I believe these were commissioned by Julian Breen, as one of the first packages ever from Jon Wolfert's then-new JAM Creative.
There's an amazing 24/7 feed here on the Internet (where all the good stuff has gone), run by a veteran major-market pro, that does a wonderful job showcasing the jingles and processing. The music selection is much more open, though, making it even more enjoyable. There are no jocks that I have ever heard. The only spoken words are once an hour, as the original TOH stager is heard. Also no commercials. Overall, a very enjoyable listen. No website; simply search "95 PEN" on Shoutcast.
I'm pretty sure by that time WCAU-FM was beginning to move away from its Solid Gold format, and for most of the 95 PEN era 98 was doing the somewhat soulful/disco/Fascinating Rhythm thing. Can anyone confirm?
I've also wondered how well this station would have done long-term had Greater kept it on the FM for more than a few months as a temporary simulcast. Did the FM simulcast have the same thick processing/reverb, or was it cleaner (like Musicradio sounded on WABC-FM)? Not AT ALL to suggest keeping Oldies at that one-FM-to-a-market time would have been smarter than launching Magic-- but just wondering in an If-A-Tree-Falls sort of way.
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95PEN came on with the oldies sometime in March of '75, and I think CAU-FM went to an early version of the disco format in the final week of '75. So there was only about nine months of overlap. I don't remember any difference in the processing between PEN AM and FM, but it's been a while.
There was no difference in the processing of that old 102.9 version of WPEN-FM. It had the same intense reverb that the AM had. One minor difference was that the engineers had installed stereo on the FM, but even though the stereo pilot light would light, the sound was a fake stereo that was really just the mono. That was the first time that 102.9 broadcast a stereo signal, which would later be utilized fully when WMGK signed on in September.
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