Cox pulled the plug just after edging 970 in the Summer book by a tenth of a point...
Surprised someone hasn't done a tribute site by now.
Surprised someone hasn't done a tribute site by now.
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15 Years Since 620 WSUN bit the dust
- Thread starter smedge2006
- Start date
"Lame" is an interesting word to apply to the only non-sports talk station to beat 970 in the ratings in the past 20 years.
dwtpa97 said:
I agree. I remember when WSUN played Big Band music in the 60's.
I worked for WSUN when they were Sun Country in the mid 80's.
There are a few clips of WSUN on www.radioyears.com
Sun Country had some of the best. Bill Campbell and Les Howard were as good as it gets.
Sun Country was my favorite station when I was in school, and for many years after that. It seems to me they hit their high in 1985 when I think they had the Bucs. Their ABC affiliation with Paul Harvey made them for me a must listen at several appointed times a day. I can recall the morning that I tuned in and Paul's morning news bit was not there (at 8:35?) and found he had moved to WFLA.
As Sun Country, the station was involved with the community, with an annual radio-thon for kids at Christmas, Flowers for the Bride of the Day, Remotes at H & R Trains (among others), call-in requests and cash calls that grew each time somebody guessed wrong. Their slogan was something like "Florida's Most Listened-To AM Country Music Station" which I guess narrowed it down fairly complete.
If I recall correctly, toward the end Sun Country was owned by CBS, and it was ironic that ABC was on a CBS station. When CBS news took over, sometime after that the move to all-news occurred. Bruce Williams advice was on in the evening. All news didn't last too long until Bruce Williams took over with round the clock advice, which didn't last too long either. After this the Hot Talk era began with WIOD providing a lot of the programming. If WSUN beat WFLA at any point in this era, I would have been surprised.
After the Hot Talk era, they went all sports with the Lightening play by play. After the sports talk era ended, they went big band, but the Lightening games were still carried as an unhappy obligation. I recall abbreviated pre and post game shows, promptly going back to big band in a balky transition. Sometime after this they went to news feed from Bay News 9 as WSAA, with WSUN calls going to 910 which ran a very short playlist of 1950's rock. Salem entered the picture with 570, and 1250, 910 and 620 all changed or moved formats.
Although it is not 1985 anymore, WWBA might take a look at what WSUN did at their best. Get involved with the community, something that WFLA does not really do anymore. A local talk show discussing local issues and Flowers for the Bride of the Day could hook people without costing too much. Spinning music of some sort not heard elsewhere could be inexpensive as well. I think Bruce Williams is still around for the evenings, for that matter.
As Sun Country, the station was involved with the community, with an annual radio-thon for kids at Christmas, Flowers for the Bride of the Day, Remotes at H & R Trains (among others), call-in requests and cash calls that grew each time somebody guessed wrong. Their slogan was something like "Florida's Most Listened-To AM Country Music Station" which I guess narrowed it down fairly complete.
If I recall correctly, toward the end Sun Country was owned by CBS, and it was ironic that ABC was on a CBS station. When CBS news took over, sometime after that the move to all-news occurred. Bruce Williams advice was on in the evening. All news didn't last too long until Bruce Williams took over with round the clock advice, which didn't last too long either. After this the Hot Talk era began with WIOD providing a lot of the programming. If WSUN beat WFLA at any point in this era, I would have been surprised.
After the Hot Talk era, they went all sports with the Lightening play by play. After the sports talk era ended, they went big band, but the Lightening games were still carried as an unhappy obligation. I recall abbreviated pre and post game shows, promptly going back to big band in a balky transition. Sometime after this they went to news feed from Bay News 9 as WSAA, with WSUN calls going to 910 which ran a very short playlist of 1950's rock. Salem entered the picture with 570, and 1250, 910 and 620 all changed or moved formats.
Although it is not 1985 anymore, WWBA might take a look at what WSUN did at their best. Get involved with the community, something that WFLA does not really do anymore. A local talk show discussing local issues and Flowers for the Bride of the Day could hook people without costing too much. Spinning music of some sort not heard elsewhere could be inexpensive as well. I think Bruce Williams is still around for the evenings, for that matter.
I had forgotten that WSUN was an ABC affiliate while they were owned by CBS. That's when I worked for WSUN/WYNF. I'm not sure who was the CBS Radio affiliate at the time or why WSUN remained an ABC affiliate.
They were a full-service station. That doesn't happen anymore. Too bad.
They were a full-service station. That doesn't happen anymore. Too bad.
Funny you should mention that. Back in its 1040 days WWBA had at least TWO (brokered) shows that devoted a substantial portion of their time to brides. In 2000 a man named George Hale had a show called "You Can't Get There from Here" in which one day a week was devoted to bridal arrangements. Several years later the station sold an hour on Saturdays to a company that was somehow involved in wedding planning, which tried to hold contests giving away prizes to brides-to-be. Neither effort worked very well, needless to say, since the remaining AM audience these days is mostly older males -- the ones who end up PAYING for their daughter's weddings. By the way, WSUN didn't do local talk during its country or "Commitment to News" era. It did, obviously, in the Hot Talk era. And yes, it did beat WFLA, Persons 25-54, 3.0 to 2.9, in Summer 1995. The last full book before Cox and those eternally offended Warm 94.9 salespeople pulled the plug on Hot Talk.
>>By the way, WSUN didn't do local talk during its country or "Commitment to News" era.<<
True, but a local talk show is sorely missing in this market, and 820 is likely never going to beat 970 or make itself noticed with second tier syndicated programming. Becoming the "go-to" spot to discuss local issues might. I wonder what the drop off is for 820 and 860 once Rush comes on? If it is substantial, maybe they should counter program with music that isn't heard elsewhere in the market on FM.
I go to north Florida a lot, and the country station in Crestview, outside of Pensacola, WAAZ 104.7, impresses me with their playlist. The station is automated during the day, I think, but they run a lot of tunes that are country currents that I just don't hear on the myriad of other country stations up there. It is different, and could be a model for an AM that isn't getting traction with the talk lineup versus Rush.
Of course, I am a radio outsider, so it's likely that again ratings don't matter (sigh) and the national spots are what pay the bills. But I wonder who the corporate people are who think they are getting any value for their national radio advertising when they are on stations that are getting no ratings/listeners.
True, but a local talk show is sorely missing in this market, and 820 is likely never going to beat 970 or make itself noticed with second tier syndicated programming. Becoming the "go-to" spot to discuss local issues might. I wonder what the drop off is for 820 and 860 once Rush comes on? If it is substantial, maybe they should counter program with music that isn't heard elsewhere in the market on FM.
I go to north Florida a lot, and the country station in Crestview, outside of Pensacola, WAAZ 104.7, impresses me with their playlist. The station is automated during the day, I think, but they run a lot of tunes that are country currents that I just don't hear on the myriad of other country stations up there. It is different, and could be a model for an AM that isn't getting traction with the talk lineup versus Rush.
Of course, I am a radio outsider, so it's likely that again ratings don't matter (sigh) and the national spots are what pay the bills. But I wonder who the corporate people are who think they are getting any value for their national radio advertising when they are on stations that are getting no ratings/listeners.
Wow..has it been that long? Amazing. I went to WSUN from WDAE when the flipped to Adult Standards..Bill Gamble was the PD coming from a fabulous FM CHR in Philly WIFI 92. His concept was to run Sun Country like a well produced CHR that plays country. If you recall the Urban Cowboy era spurred (pardon the pun) a whole new audience. I was teamed up with a very dear friend of mine from way back in Syracuse, Jim Shafer who was a successful afternoon personality at WFLA when they played music. Together we did mornings for several years, and did the Christmas Cash for Kids radiothons Les Howard did middays and Kevin Murphy took care of afternoons. Several jocks did nights..along with Jay Roberts doing all nights. A superb staff that included Mark Stevens in production..and Lora Cain in continuity and traffic. Lora went to Dallas, and is now one of the most well known voice talents in Los Angeles. The station was owned by Schering-Plough..makers of Coppertone Sun Products..Dr. Scholl and St. Joesephs aspirin. A terrific company..that also owned WQXM 97.9 easy listening..before turning to the original 98 Rock. Overall a really good company.
We did a lot of community stuff, and had some fun..including a famous bit that Jim and I did claiming that the weather patterns of that day were actually causing large batches of SHRIMP to fall from the air and we encouraged people to get coffee cans etc and gather us as much as they could. We would "turn the power up" on the Gandy radio towers and a make the North side of the bay hot enough to cook the shrimp..Mac Dill was draining one of their jet fuel tanks and filling it with cocktail sauce..etc..etc..police were called, and we were told to stop immediately. So much for theatre of the mind.
During my stay there we got an STA to increase to 10kw at that monster 620 dial position to counter the interference from Cuba's Radio Rebalde (or was it Radio Reloj?). Wih the Dorrough triband processing that station COOKED.
Is it still putting out 10kw?
Great times there fer sure
We did a lot of community stuff, and had some fun..including a famous bit that Jim and I did claiming that the weather patterns of that day were actually causing large batches of SHRIMP to fall from the air and we encouraged people to get coffee cans etc and gather us as much as they could. We would "turn the power up" on the Gandy radio towers and a make the North side of the bay hot enough to cook the shrimp..Mac Dill was draining one of their jet fuel tanks and filling it with cocktail sauce..etc..etc..police were called, and we were told to stop immediately. So much for theatre of the mind.
During my stay there we got an STA to increase to 10kw at that monster 620 dial position to counter the interference from Cuba's Radio Rebalde (or was it Radio Reloj?). Wih the Dorrough triband processing that station COOKED.
Is it still putting out 10kw?
Great times there fer sure
620 has reduced their power to 5.6kw day and 5.5kw night according to FccInfo.com.
I have three shots of the Blaw-Knox towers just before they were replaced at:
https://sites.google.com/site/floridadxn/photos-images
https://sites.google.com/site/floridadxn/photos-images
smedge2006 said:
Great. 12th place in Persons 25-54. That was REALLY setting the market on fire. You also fail to mention that WSUN had a 4.8 in Summer 2004 a year earlier and was on a downward spiral since that book.
Perhaps if you would have supplemented the over $1M loss each year in operating WSUN-AM, I am 100% certain it would not have gone away.
But 12th place among Persons 25-54 didn't support the kind of expenses that WSUN-AM was paying out.
WWBA might beat WTAN by several tenths of a point. That does not mean anything to either when it comes to paying the bills and 7 figure losses.
Jeff Laurence said:
Wasnt it Radio Moscow that was co channel interference from Cuba? Or was that WHBO that got the interference from Radio Moscow. When the new towers were built, the STA for 10 kw was redone to 11.2 kw power. Yes, they are still using the higher power. One thing I've noticed is that with the new shorter towers, the signal down in Sarasota and Bradenton at night is not near as good. Even though there is plenty of signal, it now suffers from skywave cancellation and the resulting phase shifts that happen. Didnt Jim Shafer go to W4 country in Detroit after Sun Country was blown up? I remember Jim doing a show from the Gandy transmitter site one morning. It was a hoot.
M
MsMusicRadio
Guest
1) Radio Moscow? We didn't get that up in Virginia. Did they have a jazz format since we now know that jazz came up the Dneiper from Odessa.
2) What was WSUN in the Sixties?
2) What was WSUN in the Sixties?
[2) What was WSUN in the Sixties?
I did my first audition at WSUN circa 1960, they had studios on the old "Million Dollar Pier" If I recall they were playing contemporary standards.... and I was really wanting them to become a top 40 station.... they didn't and I didn't get a job either...but they were the first station that took the time to actually talk to a wide-eyed radio junky kid. Harry Smith was the station mgr if I recall.but all worked out for the best and I ended up at wLCY.... and thats another story.
I did my first audition at WSUN circa 1960, they had studios on the old "Million Dollar Pier" If I recall they were playing contemporary standards.... and I was really wanting them to become a top 40 station.... they didn't and I didn't get a job either...but they were the first station that took the time to actually talk to a wide-eyed radio junky kid. Harry Smith was the station mgr if I recall.but all worked out for the best and I ended up at wLCY.... and thats another story.
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