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1460 goes progtalk 8/1

I'm actually surprised that 1460 wasn't leased out for a format like this much earlier.

When WABQ moved to 1460 (after nearly 48 years on the inner-city 1540 daytime signal now home to Good Karma "KNR2" WWGK/1540), it just seemed ludicrous to maintain its' gospel format on a suburban signal so far removed from the main Cleveland metro.

Let's be realistic. WABQ is only a suburban signal on the far East Side of Cleveland. It can never really be competitive in the Cleveland market total, but it could pose a slight headache or two in some portions. Maybe that's what Gary Richards (the guy leasing WABQ from owner Dale Richards) has in mind.
 
a lefty talk station in Lake County? Other than the recently dumped gospel that may be the format most likely to fail.

But like the article says, this guy is interested in "the message", so have fun tilting at windmills.
 
Should be interesting. Though I think as a conservative ( Bill O'Reilly & Mike Gallagher are my favorites...I am not a fan of the three stooges Limbauigh, Hanity and Beck) I tune to Big Ed and Hartman on XM. Rather intellegent discussion, especially from Hartman. Like any nitche format, if they have dedecated sales people they could scratch ancd claw to make a few bucks.
 
Lake County is Steve LaTourette country.

LaTourette is a 9 term congressman and is a conservative Republican.

I don't really know how libtalk will fly in what is mostly a red county.
 
Progressive talk for Painesville, Mentor, and Euclid on a clear day!

:D

Uh oh. Gary Richards himself ("GR" on R-I) will show up soon and go after me.

Look, Gary, I am actually in your corner, believe it or not. You had some tech problems early on at WVKO in Columbus, I poked fun at it, but in the end, I'm a fan of the small, non-corporate broadcaster.

I wish you much success in leasing WABQ.

But that signal is NOT a "Cleveland" signal. It's a Far East Suburban signal that dies west of Euclid, and that's being charitable.

It's no more a full Cleveland market station pumping out gospel vs. pumping out liberal talk, and as someone noted here, Lake County is pretty much a Republican stronghold.

Heck, even 1540 would be a better signal for this kind of effort, but Dale doesn't own it anymore.

I'm a fan of some of the programming, especially Dial Global's Stephanie Miller, and that's a known fact.

But on that signal? I wish you much luck, Gary, and I mean that.
 
OhioMediaWatch said:
But on that signal? I wish you much luck, Gary, and I mean that.
Click to expand...

Maybe all the luck he can get. ;D From what you say, Cleveland's eastern suburbs won't be fan of Progressive Talk Radio because they are mostly Republican.

I heard 2 and 1/2 years ago that Mr. Richards was looking to purchase an AM radio station in Cleveland but was told the station the station he looking at was too way expensive for him.
I figured he since gave up on the idea because no station was announced. I thought he may have had 1260, 1300
or 1540 in mind. Even I didn't think Progressive Talk would work on 1460. OMW confers with me on the struggles progtalk radio will have on the 1460
frequency.

Sure wish Mr. Richards would bring progtalk back to Columbus, minus all the technical issues/problems he had on WVKO-AM 1580 three years back.
He could bid for WVKO-AM 1580 because the frequency is still leased to St. Gabriel Catholic Radio by Bernard Radio Ohio. Mr Richards said St. Gabriel Catholic Radio was going to buy the station and license but that never happened. That is the reason he gave for pulling the plug in
progtalk in Columbus almost three years ago.

What format(s) have a chance on working on 1460, if any?
 
First piece of advice for all progtalkers -- buy, don't lease.

Columbus, Atlanta and Jacksonville have all fallen victim to the "lost our lease" syndrome. Conservatalkers don't lease. Neither should you.
 
raccoonradio said:
500 w day, 100 nights

http://www.clevescene.com/scene-and...veland-to-get-liberal-talk-radio-station#more

>>"It’s as if the conservatives have a corner on the market"

And the liberals have NPR :)

http://radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/pat?call=WABQ&service=AM&status=L&hours=D
Click to expand...

The Raccoon-man usually does better on his home turf (Eastern Massachusetts), but he screwed up here. Yes it's 1KW days directional enough to boost its signal somewhat in the City itself. V-Soft says .7 mv/M...not great but supposedly receivable if you try hahd enough (that's the way we talk around heah). Worth the effort to get Stephanie Miller from 9:00 am till noon, about as funny as NPR's "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me".
 
Give the man a break. If he wants to get into radio in the Greater Cleveland area, he's got to start somewhere. Now, as to listenership, it occurs to me that Northeast Ohio is generally known as a Democratic stronghold, yet that hasn't stopped WTAM from airing mostly conservative talk (Dr. Laura, then Glenn Beck ... Rush Limbaugh ... Bob Frantz). If these were ratings and revenue failures, I'd think they'd move on. We also hear Sean Hannity during Afternoon Drive on AM 930, WEOL in Lorain County, which is known as a liberal area (see Oberlin), and then there's WHK with the Salem line-up of Conservatalk. Will enough people in a Republican/generally Conservative area listen to Liberal talk? I don't know, but enough people in the Democratic/considered Liberal area of Greater Cleveland listen to these aforementioned Conservative shows, so maybe it's worth a shot. Now if you come to me and say... "Ok, but it's never worked anywhere else", my answer is, "True, but there's always a first time, and therefore may be worth the shot, particularly if you've got the money to do it.
 
Point by point here:

1) WABQ's signal is but a rumor farther west than the far eastern end of Cleveland itself. He'll pick up some folks in western Lake County and far eastern Cuyahoga County (Painesville to Mentor).

2) Gary would have a better shot at it with a signal like even WELW/1330, which can be heard well down the I-271 corridor. It's admittedly a longer signal than deeper (it fades out not far away from 271 in each direction), but it is decent on the highway itself, a major commute corridor.

3) Then there's the old WABQ, now-sports WWGK/1540 KNR2. Better signal for this purpose. It's a daytimer but is centrally located.

2 and 3 are not options, as the Polka Guys aren't likely to sell 1330, and Craig isn't selling (as far as I know) KNR2.

Again, for Cuyahoga County, 1460 is a horrible signal.

None of these signals are even on the level of Radio One's two AMs (1300 and 1490), but Gary is admittedly a shoestring operator.

The problem here isn't Gary's liberal talk format. If you gave away gold bars to every Cleveland resident listening to the 1460 frequency, you'd get no calls. 1460 is just as bad a "Cleveland" station as a liberal talker as it is now as a gospel station.
 
Agreed. WPVL/WQLS/WBKC/WABQ 1460 AM is not a Cleveland station, that's why I made the point about lib talk in a generally conservative area. It's all about Lake County. Now, a previous poster mentioned Steve LaTourette as evidence of the conservative orientation of Lake County. While Steve LaTourette is a Republican, is he a true conservative? I have my doubts.
 
And how about Mentor and Painesville? I do suspect they're less conservative than the rest of the county, but that's just a guess.

"Cleveland liberals" will be sorely disappointed by 1460's signal. You aren't even getting the liberal strongholds in eastern Cuyahoga County with that signal.
 
johnbasalla said:
Agreed. WPVL/WQLS/WBKC/WABQ 1460 AM is not a Cleveland station, that's why I made the point about lib talk in a generally conservative area. It's all about Lake County. Now, a previous poster mentioned Steve LaTourette as evidence of the conservative orientation of Lake County. While Steve LaTourette is a Republican, is he a true conservative? I have my doubts.
Click to expand...


He's about a 7 on the conservative scale (a right leaning moderate in all actuallity), but it's good enough for him to have beaten every Democrat thrown at him since '94.

That's why I brought him up to begin with. The majority of Lake County voters must obviously smell what he's cooking, thus why I questioned the success of libtalk in LaTourette Country to begin with.
 
I know this isn't the CMH board.. Shame Gary can't "LMA" 1460 in Columbus.. He could have Cleveland and Columbus Prog Talk on the same freq. :)
 
WEOL would be a perfect fit for liberal talk, given its' coverage area into Elyria, Oberlin and Lorain (hence the call letters! ;))

It will never happen as long as Elyria-Lorain owns it. The Hudnutt family - who controls Elyria-Lorain - is quite conservative, and probably balked at such suggestions long ago. Which is why WEOL practically was dragged kicking and screaming into conservatalk & Fox Sports after AP All News Radio went out of business.

Oddly enough, 1460 is SO directional that I can even pick it up as far west as VERMILION during the daytime! But it is a non-factor in Cleveland, mainly because of HEAVY adjacent interference from WERE/1490 and WWGK/1540. (Most notable between the Cleveland Clinic-Case Western Reserve-Little Italy area.) And of course it's night signal is inadubible outside of Lake County, if that.

I don't think anyone has noticed 1460 since it assumed the WBKC calls from the long-gone 1560/Chardon facility in the late 80s.
 
Shame of it is, it looks like the local morning news block with Gary Webster is on the chopping block in favor of Bill Press. Webster's been there since the 1990s (if not longer) and outlasted WBKC's MOR/talk format and WCLV simulcast, and even with WABQ under the East Side gospel format.

It may not mean much, but it was one of the late few classic full-service 'rip-and-read' news blocks in the entire market - if not altogether. Heck, WBKC was one of the last "NBC Radio News" affiliates, carrying them up until WW1 finally discontinued the irrelevant service - and has since run CNN Radio, which likely will be on the new format.

Hopefully Gary Richards retains Gary Webster as a news reader during the morning hours.
 
OhioMediaWatch said:
... Gary Richards himself ("GR" on R-I) will show up soon and go after me. Look, Gary, I am actually in your corner, believe it or not. You had some tech problems early on at WVKO in Columbus, I poked fun at it, but in the end, I'm a fan of the small, non-corporate broadcaster. I wish you much success in leasing WABQ. But that signal is NOT a "Cleveland" signal. It's a Far East Suburban signal that dies west of Euclid, and that's being charitable...
Click to expand...

May as well go ahead and start the "Is WABQ-AM In Trouble?" thread now. ::) How soon until regularly scheduled programming is mysteriously randomly pre-empted for gold infomercials?
 
I grew up in Lake County back in the 60's so I remember this station as WPVL. At first it was a day timer then eventually it was approved for night broadcasting. It was the classic example of a community based full service station with lots of local news and sports. The use to carry high school football and basketball games of the various Lake County schools. WPVL served the community well. We were actually lucky back then as we had two local based stations (WPVL & WELW) in Lake County. WPLV had the advantage on some issues as it was on past sunset in later years while WELW had to sign off. Both stations served the county well.

It is a shame that this station could not be made back into a full service type of station that would actually SERVE the Lake County Community as it once did. I know I am dreaming and those days are long gone. But I still think that someone had their act together they could do just that with this station. Maybe even get an FM translator to get it on the FM band.

Here is the history of 1460 and 1560:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WBKC
 
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