WBOQ sale, format change coming

[raccoonradio]

Only know so far that @bostonradio posted
locally owned AC WBOQ 104.9 Gloucester is to be sold and change formats..according to reliable sources/insiders

 

[johnster]

John Paul the Car Doctor posted it on Facebook.

 

[raccoonradio]

John Paul the Car Doctor posted it on Facebook.

Thanks; just looked that up. He thanks good friend Jimi Carter who goes back to the Gene Burns days, maybe Severin too

 

[CTListener]

Leased-time ethnic? Religious? That signal is not a Boston rim shot anymore now that most of the pattern is over Essex County and parts north and east. Is there enough money there to support a station with a mainstream commercial format?

 

[jlehmann]

I’ve heard rumblings about religious, so as usual EMF is most likely.

 

[dhoule]

Maybe Rumba for the North Shore?

 

[raccoonradio]

Maybe Rumba for the North Shore?

IHeart is at its limit of FMs in the market.
Audacy has room for one more FM.
Or a different owner could try something like Rumba. Station pretty much centered on N Shore and Merrimack Valley. Boston proper gets WRBB from Northeastern

 

[CTListener]

Or a different owner could try something like Rumba. Station pretty much centered on N Shore and Merrimack Valley.

Which is de facto segregated when it comes to Hispanics, who are almost all in desperately poor Lawrence, Haverhill and Lynn. Other than that, some in Salem, some in Peabody, but otherwise suburbs (white and blue collar) that are overwhelmingly white. Without Boston businesses to draw on for advertising, I'd imagine prospects are grim.

 

[Harvey_Dogg]

Wasn't this once Simon Geller's Voice Of Cape Ann? link

 

[dhoule]

IHeart is at its limit of FMs in the market.
Audacy has room for one more FM.
Or a different owner could try something like Rumba. Station pretty much centered on N Shore and Merrimack Valley. Boston proper gets WRBB from Northeastern

Who ever owns could carry Rumba with some kind of agreement with iHeart. Just like not all EEIs are owned by Entercom.

 

[johnster]

EMF

 

[raccoonradio]

WVCA classical and some other formats long ago, Simon G's one man operation for a time

 

[raccoonradio]

Ted Larsen on FB" I learned from a former WBOQ sales manager that today is the last day of their current format. The new owner will be switching to a Christian format."

 

[CTListener]

Who ever owns could carry Rumba with some kind of agreement with iHeart. Just like not all EEIs are owned by Entercom.

Wouldn't take much to home-brew a Rumba-like format. The songs are all well known in Hispanic radio circles and by listeners, so it's not like trying to copy Coke or KFC where the ingredients are secret. "Rumba" isn't a magic word that determines whether a format sinks or swims.

 

[CTListener]

Ted Larsen on FB" I learned from a former WBOQ sales manager that today is the last day of their current format. The new owner will be switching to a Christian format."

Grrrr. End government coddling of organized religion now.

 

[raccoonradio]

Grrrr. End government coddling of organized religion now.

Not as long as folks with religious views vote...tax breaks etc continue and churches clean up via donations--add to that listener supported broadcasters like K-Love

 

[Wimmmex]

Grrrr. End government coddling of organized religion now.

Coddling? You mean the First Amendment?

 

[raccoonradio]

Ironically in the last few minutes WBOQ played Bryan Adams--Heaven and Madonna--Like a Prayer acc to website

 

[davideduardo]

Not as long as folks with religious views vote...tax breaks etc continue and churches clean up via donations--add to that listener supported broadcasters like K-Love

If you actually analyze it, churches have no "profit" to tax as they don't distribute and income surplus but, instead, use it for church projects. So as far as income tax, if there is no profit and no shareholder receiving distributions, there is nothing to tax.

The area where they do have measurable exemptions is in property taxes and things like sales tax on supplies. In that, they are no different than Planned Parenthood or the ASPCA or the Red Cross. There are plenty of social agenda non-profits I do not agree with but having advocacy groups and support groups has always been at the core of the United States, and the absence of such groups in much of the Western Hemisphere distinguishes us from less involved populations.

 

[davideduardo]

Wouldn't take much to home-brew a Rumba-like format. The songs are all well known in Hispanic radio circles and by listeners, so it's not like trying to copy Coke or KFC where the ingredients are secret. "Rumba" isn't a magic word that determines whether a format sinks or swims.

But, as the 6 principal FMs in Miami show, there are definitely flavors to what some are inaccurately calling the "Rumba" format.

"Rumba" is an ancient Caribbean dance rhythm. But it has a sound and connotation that make the term popular to describe "fun" or "partying" in Caribbean slang.

There are contemporary Spanish language formats that appeal to those from the Caribbean Basin that range from a modified CHR (never as fast rotations as English equivalents), Hot AC, and AC. All are rhythmic, and in many cases the differences are as subtle as those between CHR, Churban and Urban.