2009 in Nashville

[Wind]

Each year it's fun ( ? ) to see what you/we/us think will happen in the up coming year. So ?

 

[spew]

nothing new. More cutbacks. A station or two will go broke.

 

[DToTheJ]

Mix will shatter its record for spins of "Escape" in a single year. ;D

 

[Tibbs4]

You guys are already taking all my lines for 2009....

 

[scottwmro]

On the AM side of things, I see at least one or two stations going dark, and the license are turned in to the commission. In Oak Ridge, WATO is already dark, and for some reason, my gut feeling is Doug Horne will let that license go back to the FCC. The property is worth way more than the license itself. It's a pain in the butt to keep up an AM that has to have acres of property, where a Wal-Greens, Wal-Mart, or a housing contractor will pay out the nose for.

On the FM side, South Central will be the only stable group in the market. I feel some sort of doom for the other groups. Cumulus will change something again this year, it seems to be a track record in this market they do something crazy every year to one of thier stations, and gets the natives all wound up on this board.

 

[deltas69]

i win the powerball, buy 104.5, put it back on the ridge and go back to playing big band music..except for the shell dinner hour..and i do it with real records, a spotmaster for the massive spot load i'm sure to generate...and one of those old rca ribbon mikes..or..i do nothing at all..and don't start that until 3 pm.. ;D

 

[scottwmro]

i win the powerball, buy 104.5, put it back on the ridge and go back to playing big band music..except for the shell dinner hour..and i do it with real records, a spotmaster for the massive spot load i'm sure to generate...and one of those old rca ribbon mikes..or..i do nothing at all..and don't start that until 3 pm.. ;D

Delta,

Did you ever visit the old 104.5 studios when they were in Downtown Gallatin, where that old momopole still stands today? I never got to go there, due to I was not in the world yet.

Leslie and I had an idea, if we ever moved WMRO's studios, we would like to go there. The only thing is what they now call it, "The Enlow Center" appears to me that it needs some roof repairs and a facelift on the outside.

Hoyt Carter at WNAH told me all about the Shell Dinner Hour. Did people in Gallatin really tuned in to 104.5, listen to the music as they were having dinner? As you know, this was before my time. I wasn't born until 1964. I guess Big Foot was doing this about 1961 or 62?

Sometime when you get a chance, I want me, you, and Buntin to go up there and show me where the studio was and where the original WAMG studio was when it went on in 66.

Thanks,
Scott

 

[deltas69]

i remember when wamg was in the old arcade as it was called then..i don't know if wfmg was in there as well..jerry pond can update me as he helped bigfoot put them on the air..i don't think either station was around in 60 or 61..i'm pretty sure wamg went on the air in 66 and the fm somewhat later..but i may be wrong..richard fenker who owned the local shell oil distributorship here in town back then, paid five dollars a week for the shell dinner hour to be broadcast from six until seven..i can't recall if it was mon-fri..or seven days a week..but HE actually thought because he and his family sat down and ate from six til seven that EVERYONE in gallatin did the same..and listened to his little dog and pony show..he was very specific about what was played..Montovani..and nothing else,..no talk..just a carefully worded break at six thirty stating "you are listening the the xxxxx consecutive shell dinner hour, the longest running consecutive radio program in america..and he kept up with the correct number.WE ACTUALLY HAD A BIG BINDER WITH THE CONSECUTIVE NUMBERS TO CALL OUT EACH NIGHT SO WE WOULDN'T GET IT WRONG...if you missed the exact number of the program..he would call somewhat tipsy and irate..when we started selling gallatin football for 300.00 on friday nights..he threatened to cancel his program..lets see..we could keep his mountain of mantovani for a buck a night...or 300.00 for three hours of football...adios dick...It wasn't long after that, we were playing deep cuts by sergio mendes and brasil '66...wild times indeed...

 

[CommoChief]

When I first worked at WRKM AM in Carthage (back in '75), we had block programming (mornings=country, miday=gospel, early afternoon=country, 3-5= WRKM's "Rockin' Party" and, 5-signoff= "Music for Dining"). MFD consisted of Instumentals like the Nasville Strings and soft music like The Lettermans. Reggie Honey was the owner so in-house we refered to MFD as "Honey Bear Music".

 

[scottwmro]

When I first worked at WRKM AM in Carthage (back in '75), we had block programming (mornings=country, miday=gospel, early afternoon=country, 3-5= WRKM's "Rockin' Party" and, 5-signoff= "Music for Dining"). MFD consisted of Instumentals like the Nasville Strings and soft music like The Lettermans. Reggie Honey was the owner so in-house we refered to MFD as "Honey Bear Music".

I loved that little station! It has a little 110' "stainless manufactured" tower. I recall in 1975 being able to hear 1350 WRKM, and back in the mid 70's and going back in time, block programming was a good idea. Lots of stations did it to cover a wide demo, and it was sellable, especially in the small towns. WJKM (now WTNK) in Hartsville, TN did the same thing back in those days. It was not uncommon to find a small town (not small market) with only 1 AM station in it, doing block programming. It's a shame it went away, but we have more signals out there today, than we did then.

Here in Tennessee, it seemed each county had it's own AM radio station, except Houston & Stewart Counties (that I can think of), 70 miles, west of Nashville. Hoyt Carter at WNAH told me back in the 50's & 60's, they did block programming, and that was here in the metro. I sure miss those days of AM Radio.

I have some pictures of WRKM taken last year, especially the tower. I still can hear it in Gallatin, but I'm not a fan of it's programming today.

 

[NashRadio]

Re: Delta: 12/17 5:39 post

Please, oh, please say you'll include some polka. An all-polka hour would be GREAT to eat a home-prepared-from-scratch, sit-down dinner to. Please...

 

[deltas69]

apparently i failed to mention the "best of" lawrence welk specials on saturday nights..while wfmg did not have that per se'..lots of old LW was sprinkled through the daily mess...i mean mixx..nothing like a double dose of geritol followed by the album version of roll out the barrell...heady stuff fer sure

 

[NashRadio]

My life is complete

I had not slept since my post.

 

[scottwmro]

Re: My life is complete

I had not slept since my post.

You better go get some rest! Santa may stop by to see you and he doesn't want you awake (HA!)

Merry Christmas and a Blessed New Year to you Dean,

Scott Bailey
Magic 1560, WMRO Radio
Gallatin