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WMEX

The history of WMEX on 1510 is fascinating. They won the Top 40 battle with WCOP because the 1150 signal at night vanished north of Revere. I assume WCOP had to protect a station in Atlantic Canada.

WMEX was owned by a lunatic who knew how to monetize radio. He went 24 hours when he hired Glick in 1965, and the show made money.

AM radio in Boston is at the end iHeart to their credit, has tried to keep 1030 and 680 viable. Audacy couldn't care less about 850
 
Greetings!

I called their main number Friday afternoon, and it rang with no answer. I then sent an email stating their OTA audio was over-processed to [email protected]. No reply to date.

I wonder if they are taking the AM STL feed from their FM translator OTA as I hear some sibilance distortion, as if an FM receiver is slightly off frequency or not fully captured? Sounds like there may be two processors in series?

Dan
 
The history of WMEX on 1510 is fascinating. They won the Top 40 battle with WCOP because the 1150 signal at night vanished north of Revere. I assume WCOP had to protect a station in Atlantic Canada.

WMEX was owned by a lunatic who knew how to monetize radio. He went 24 hours when he hired Glick in 1965, and the show made money.

AM radio in Boston is at the end iHeart to their credit, has tried to keep 1030 and 680 viable. Audacy couldn't care less about 850
It IS fascinating. Origins of talk radio and rock formats—takes you to WMEX.
 
An FCC application has been filed for withdrawing from the sale request. The attached PDF file says "Withdraw of application due to operational issues."
It appeals quite frankly this station has a value far less than $1.

Looks like it’s been run into the ground and now worth nowhere near its debt. Do you guys see a bankruptcy file? I wonder if Ed Perry is standing by, waiting til the BK clears, then pick up the scrap heaps of what he resurrected initially—for nothing. Wouldn’t That would be classic Ed arbitrage. A station he resurrected, sold, earned cash as a landlord…then bought it again out of BK? :)
 
I wonder if they are taking the AM STL feed from their FM translator OTA as I hear some sibilance distortion, as if an FM receiver is slightly off frequency or not fully captured?

When this incarnation of WMEX came on the air in 2020, there was no FM translator. It came on about a year later, so the AM STL was not originally the FM translator, though it could have been switched to it later on.
 
I wonder if Ed Perry is standing by, waiting til the BK clears, then pick up the scrap heaps of what he resurrected initially—for nothing. Wouldn’t That would be classic Ed arbitrage. A station he resurrected, sold, earned cash as a landlord…then bought it again out of BK? :)

I don’t think Ed would want the Plymouth studio that Tony LaGreca (and Larry Justice) had built for it a couple of years ago, shortly after they bought it from Ed.

When Ed resurrected the station and put it on the air in 2020, the studio was in the basement of his WATD building in Marshfield for a few years. When Tony (and Larry) bought it, he moved it to a new studio he had built in a building in Plymouth. Don’t know why, I’m guessing that maybe once Ed no longer owned the station, I’m speculating he may have charged them rent for the studio space in his building?

WMEX’s AM nighttime low power signal doesn’t reach Plymouth at all, and even the full power daytime signal is weak there. The FM translator doesn’t reach Plymouth at all.
 
Hi Ed and all:

My thoughts of using their FM translator as an STL would be a recent thing within a few past weeks as the quality is poor. Before this change the audio quality was as good as one could have with a processor set to "stun". Note the WATD building does not have a basement, only a first floor and second floor, with a performance studio on the rear of the first floor. My assumption of WMEX's building their own studio would be due to Ed possibly charging rent for the Enterprise Drive studio.
 
Now seems to be yet another tweak (or tweak back) for WMEX.

Technically, the distortion, excessive heavy compression, and overall modulation all sounds dialed back a bit. (I can only hear the AM here in Somerville, not the translator. I'm not in its coverage direction toward the upper coastal south shore).

Programming, this afternoon on regular weekday format, I'm hearing only major hits of the '60s and '70s. No more '80s and '90s (and still no '50's). Also, none of the "deeper" minor Top 40 hit oldies I used to hear on WMEX, all really Top 10 "Greatest Hits".

Still the same new voiced ID's and bumpers that sound like all other Classic Hits stations, none of the WMEX jingles aired before.

MeTV at night seems to have been dropped, replaced by another oldies feed playing '60s and '70s hits as described during the live daytime above. A generic voice-tracked sounding DJ occasionally comes on calling back and forward promoting song artists/titles, and brief irrelevant "day in history" or other cultural factoid, but no mention of the station, so he's not local. Lots of automated station bumpers with the call letters dropped in.

Larry Justice still absent.

They might keep/maintain a niche playing '60s/'70s hits that aren't played on other major area stations. Continuing to play the same '80s/'90s hits as full-power Boston Classic Hits FM's WROR and WBGB (and played as "throwbacks" on popular AC stations like WMJX) would get them nowhere.
 
Now seems to be yet another tweak (or tweak back) for WMEX.

Technically, the distortion, excessive heavy compression, and overall modulation all sounds dialed back a bit. (I can only hear the AM here in Somerville, not the translator. I'm not in its coverage direction toward the upper coastal south shore).

Programming, this afternoon on regular weekday format, I'm hearing only major hits of the '60s and '70s. No more '80s and '90s (and still no '50's). Also, none of the "deeper" minor Top 40 hit oldies I used to hear on WMEX, all really Top 10 "Greatest Hits".

Still the same new voiced ID's and bumpers that sound like all other Classic Hits stations, none of the WMEX jingles aired before.

MeTV at night seems to have been dropped, replaced by another oldies feed playing '60s and '70s hits as described during the live daytime above. A generic voice-tracked sounding DJ occasionally comes on calling back and forward promoting song artists/titles, and brief irrelevant "day in history" or other cultural factoid, but no mention of the station, so he's not local. Lots of automated station bumpers with the call letters dropped in.

Larry Justice still absent.

They might keep/maintain a niche playing '60s/'70s hits that aren't played on other major area stations. Continuing to play the same '80s/'90s hits as full-power Boston Classic Hits FM's WROR and WBGB (and played as "throwbacks" on popular AC stations like WMJX) would get them nowhere.
I wonder who is in charge of the station now?
 
Now seems to be yet another tweak (or tweak back) for WMEX.

Technically, the distortion, excessive heavy compression, and overall modulation all sounds dialed back a bit. (I can only hear the AM here in Somerville, not the translator. I'm not in its coverage direction toward the upper coastal south shore).

Programming, this afternoon on regular weekday format, I'm hearing only major hits of the '60s and '70s. No more '80s and '90s (and still no '50's). Also, none of the "deeper" minor Top 40 hit oldies I used to hear on WMEX, all really Top 10 "Greatest Hits".

Still the same new voiced ID's and bumpers that sound like all other Classic Hits stations, none of the WMEX jingles aired before.

MeTV at night seems to have been dropped, replaced by another oldies feed playing '60s and '70s hits as described during the live daytime above. A generic voice-tracked sounding DJ occasionally comes on calling back and forward promoting song artists/titles, and brief irrelevant "day in history" or other cultural factoid, but no mention of the station, so he's not local. Lots of automated station bumpers with the call letters dropped in.

Larry Justice still absent.

They might keep/maintain a niche playing '60s/'70s hits that aren't played on other major area stations. Continuing to play the same '80s/'90s hits as full-power Boston Classic Hits FM's WROR and WBGB (and played as "throwbacks" on popular AC stations like WMJX) would get them nowhere.
The music, and non local personalities match what is on 1370 WDEA Ellsworth, ME



I believe it's Local Radio Networks' Super Hits format.

What was odd, is that the first break from Ben this afternoon mentioned 60s-90s. I suspect he must have recorded voice tracks before the recent changes.
 
Tony LaGreca’s Italian artists oldies/pop standards specialty show that has been on weekly Fridays 2-3:30pm for four years is not on, and is no longer on the website program schedule. It’s afternoon DJ Ben doing their newest regular ‘60s/‘70s hits format.
LaGreca’s Italian show is now listed Sunday 8-9am.
 
Tony LaGreca’s Italian artists oldies/pop standards specialty show that has been on weekly Fridays 2-3:30pm for four years is not on, and is no longer on the website program schedule. It’s afternoon DJ Ben doing their newest regular ‘60s/‘70s hits format.
LaGreca’s Italian show is now listed Sunday 8-9am.

He's lucky he still has his show. As far back as 1977, I worked for a "contemporary MOR" station which turned over Sunday evenings to a gentleman who played music by German artists, and even brought his own ad revenue base with him.

Station changed owners, format changed to Beautiful Music, Erhardt Gerber was literally told the Friday before what should have been his next show not to bother showing up.
 
Tony LaGreca’s Italian artists oldies/pop standards specialty show that has been on weekly Fridays 2-3:30pm for four years is not on, and is no longer on the website program schedule. It’s afternoon DJ Ben doing their newest regular ‘60s/‘70s hits format.
LaGreca’s Italian show is now listed Sunday 8-9am.

LaGreca’s other weekly specialty show, his “Friday Nifty Fifties Hour” that was on 3:30pm following his Italian artists show, is also not on, though they haven’t scrubbed it from the website schedule yet.

EDIT: just turned the radio back on, and LaGreca is on with his “Nifty Fifties” hour, but it started late, and he just announced that his Italian artists show has been moved to Sundays 8am.
 
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