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1250 Dead Air

S

Seasoned Vet

This (Saturday) afternoon around 4:30 I was flipping around and 1250 had dead air ... figured it was a botched end of Penn State football network/back to ESPN network switch ... but I also found dead air on 1250 one weeknight this week - I believe it was Tuesday - around 7:00. Anyone else finding dead air on the Worldwide Leader of Layoffs?

After all, I'd hate to try to find Justin Bieber in a few weeks and get dead air! LOL
 
Yes. Have tuned in and found dead air on several occasions, including a nice
25 minute blackout during Mike and Mike in morning drive a couple of weeks ago.
Obviously they are on complete auto pilot and nobody cares.
 
Another blackout this morning, a few minutes passed 7.
Sounds like they went to fire up the buzz machine and blew out
all of their circuit breakers.
 
Not to mention that their PD, Jim Graci (who I worked with at 104.7), just landed in Dallas. One has to
wonder who's paying attention these days, and if something goes wrong, who's going to fix it (and how
long will it take).

C.
 
1250WTAE said:
What a disgrace, what a tragedy to a once GREAT radio station.
Click to expand...

Holy hyperbole, Batman!

A disgrace would be if someone accidentaly aired a XXX comedy record with 10 F-bombs a minute. A little dead air is an embarrassment, but hardly a disgrace.

It's a shame that stuff is happening, but compared to a real tragedy, that's nothing. A tragedy would be if an accidental explosion killed everyone there.

And, WEAE (and WTAE and WRYT and WCAE) were GOOD radio stations, but in none of their past incarnations could any station on 1250 AM in Pittsburgh be truly called GREAT. That word is for the very, very few that reach the pinnacle of achievement, not just good stations that did fairly well over the long run.
 
WTAE in its prime, under Ted Atkins, was a great radio station. In the words of a more successful PD
than I'll ever be, it was a work of art.

Perhaps it wasn't as legendary as, say, WABC or KHJ or WLS, in part because it was in Pittsburgh and
not in a major market, and because it was always in the shadow of KDKA. But, it was a great station
nonetheless.

C.
 
Talk_Dude said:
[
And, WEAE (and WTAE and WRYT and WCAE) were GOOD radio stations, but in none of their past incarnations could any station on 1250 AM in Pittsburgh be truly called GREAT.
Click to expand...

We disagree, as usual.

Under Atkins we were treated to one of the best collections of talent anywhere in America.

But hey, there are people who feel 3WS is legendary and I don't get that at all.
 
I remember Larry King calling WTAE a "great" radio station.

Say what you will about King, but I think his comment does go farther than an anonymous poster on a message board.
 
Pratte4Life said:
I remember Larry King calling WTAE a "great" radio station.

Say what you will about King, but I think his comment does go farther than an anonymous poster on a message board.
Click to expand...

You're absolutely correct. Larry King is a serious journalist and trusted and respected all across this great land. He would never, ever exaggerate to make a point. He is a total stranger to hyperbole. Just ask any of his ex-wives. They'll all confirm that he's not only a genius and totally correct about everything he says, he also never exaggerates. In his 77 years on this planet, he has never, ever been wrong. He has never in his life ever over-praised anyone or anything. His assessments are always calm, dispassionate, and totally objective.
 
Personally I think you would have to be a pretty great radio station to give KD such a
hard run for their money for so many years, given the former's legendary position in the
history books, tenfold advantage in broadcast power, and the fact that most listeners
over 60 actually had left their dials on 1020 for so long they had frozen in place.
 
Captain Showbiz ran a tremendous radio station. WTAE was very much a respected station across the industry. Questions of definition, particularly when defining degrees of hyperbole, are just not that important. Guess it's all in the ears of the beholder.

"As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly."

Don't know if he said it exactly that way, but they'll never forget Ted's "Turkey Drop" in Denver.

"Oh the humanity."

Happy Thanksgiving!
 
apostate said:
"As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly."

Don't know if he said it exactly that way, but they'll never forget Ted's "Turkey Drop" in Denver.
Click to expand...

Ted told that story many times at 400 Ardmore Boulevard (and even to Barbara Holsopple). Being across the hall
at 96KX, I wasn't privy to everything that occurred at WTAE, but I knew I was in the presence of greatness with
that station (and their ratings reflected it).

And let me echo that Happy Thanksgiving!

C.
 
The station was also one of the pioneers playing recorded music. Back in the forties I listened to "The Tune Factory" on WCAE.

By the way, the famous McKeesport tornado knocked down their towers in 1943.
 
hypwr said:
The station was also one of the pioneers playing recorded music. Back in the forties I listened to "The Tune Factory" on WCAE.

By the way, the famous McKeesport tornado knocked down their towers in 1943.
Click to expand...

Just curious....where were their towers in 1943?
 
hypwr said:
The station was also one of the pioneers playing recorded music. Back in the forties I listened to "The Tune Factory" on WCAE.

By the way, the famous McKeesport tornado knocked down their towers in 1943.
Click to expand...

...which brings us to their FM tower location. When channel 4 built the stick out in Buena Vista, wasn't 96.1 out there? I seem to recall an old Broadcasting Yearbook showing a 15.5 kW facility with a very good HAAT of 800 feet.

Then sometime later, they moved it to the AM location near Mt. Oliver.

Am I misremembering this or did that move happen?
 
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