I saw one of these 94HJY SUCKS bumper stickers on a pole this week. Anyone know how old they are? Where they came from? There has to be a reason someone went through the expense to have them done. It was in pretty good shape but I doubt it was all that new. I doubt that any other station would bother considering the lack of rock competition.
-
Get involved.
We want your input!
Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.
After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.
After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/
Thanks in advance and have fun!
RadioDiscussions Administrators
94HJY SUCKS
- Thread starter Tee Man 82
- Start date
Might it have been from the days before Citadel owned the 99.7 frequency? Or before WRX was sold?
I think that they've been around since 99.7 the Edge went on the air. I remember there being one on a light pole on Route 4 in North Kingstown. Do you remember the old 99.7 the Edge liners, like "We're not Dinosaur 94," or "we don't suck on Sundays?"
The truth is, HJY hasn't been sounding too good these days. The classic rock they've been playing is getting tired and old, and they're only really playing a narrow span of newer crap rock. The station has lost its spirit...
Jacko
The truth is, HJY hasn't been sounding too good these days. The classic rock they've been playing is getting tired and old, and they're only really playing a narrow span of newer crap rock. The station has lost its spirit...
Jacko
ScottBurns said:
Look who's still onthe air.....
94 HJY and WBRU
Many have tried.many have fallen.
Just to name a few
WDGE (the Edge)
WHKK (the HAwk)
WFNX (103.7)
WWRX (103.7)
WBLQ (99.3)
WWRX was not programming against HJY back in the day, they totally got hurt by the 101.5 change/expansion of "Oldies". WWRX in the mid to late 80's was the place for classic rock when HJY was leaning more new rock. 101.5 ends up coming in and moving their playlist forward and HJY starts to lean a little further back and then WWRX (because fo the signal originating in South County) had trouble maintaining in the metro as some spots north of warwick/Cranston line and east of Barrington/Warren had trouble pulling them in and because of playlist got squeezed....
Yes, 'HJY does not sound nearly as good as it did even four years ago. But in trying to see the positive side of things, this is a Clear Channel station. The station still has local jocks - not even Z100 in NYC can say the same - and it still sounds better than most Clear Channel Rock-formatted stations. Thankfully, 'HJY has avoided the wrath of Premium Choice.
Speaking of which, I find it hard to believe that more of the 'HJY jocks - even the weekenders - do not voicetrack shifts in other markets. I know Jenn voicetracks for WHEB in New Hampshire. But do any other 'HJY jocks voicetrack anywhere?
Speaking of which, I find it hard to believe that more of the 'HJY jocks - even the weekenders - do not voicetrack shifts in other markets. I know Jenn voicetracks for WHEB in New Hampshire. But do any other 'HJY jocks voicetrack anywhere?
wknd92 said:
What are you talking about? B101 was just oldies while WWRX was classic rock.WRX was in what is now the WHJY studio on Oxford st. when Clear Channel owned it(WWRX) John Morgan was program director of both 103.7 WRX and B101 until they(CC) were forced to sell it when they bought AM/FM stations WSNE,WHJY and WHJJ.
I agree with Kenny. I think that WRX's downfall was of no fault but their own. Yes, they were the unfortunate one that had to get spun-off by ClearChannel, which ended up in the format change from classic rock to the FNX simulcast, but if you look at how they were programmed for about a year leading up to that, they brought in Bill Weston, Carolyn Fox and Rudy Cheeks, Jaxon, and Brian the Pharmacist, and basically tried to do a hard-classic rock version of HJY. This was their big mistake--the classic rock audience just wanted their music without all the shock-jock stuff and without the Metallica and Nirvana mixed in with the Beatles and Allman Brothers. Sure, WRX had a couple of bad books prior to Bill Weston's takeover, but the station needed a chance to bounce back on its own. Anyway, back to the point, B101 didn't really evolve until WRX was gone, and HJY pretty much has just remained the same.
Jacko
Jacko
Okay a few things about the Classic Rocker 103.7 WRX. While I'm not an engineer. WRX's signal was towards Connecticut, & points
south. Even reaching Long Island. WRX was very popular on Block Island & Connecticut! Ballards always had them on. When I visited back in 1999.Reception of WRX was hit or miss in the metro area. Heck, reception inside 75 Oxford Street was very weak. Prior to CC selling it.
There was talk of moving the stick. But as we all know. That never happened.
John Morgan left Oxford Street(1998-ish) to takeover at Oldies 103.3. Bringing B101's Paul Perry with him. Robby Bridges would soon
follow. Upon his depature, CC brought in Al Brock as pd of B101. Giving Phil Marlowe complete programming control of WRX. More music
was tested. Contests, Imaging, & clever stunting for the fictional 'Virtual Concert' at Providence stadium helped raise attention. As did
what would turnout to be the stations last big remote 'Rock & Roadfest '99 at The Warwick Musical Theatre in June of that year.But sadly
it would not help with ratings.
By the middle of 1999 General Manager Matt Chase was removed at CC. Enter Jim Corwin. Phil Marlowe was removed for Bill Weston.
Carolyn Fox at that time was doing afternoons at WPRO-AM. Weston obtained approval for funds to pay, to have Fox's contract broken.
Fox would start morning drive with Rudy at WRX in early October of that same year.
Listeners of WRX like music, without all the antics you would find back in the good ole days of 94 WHJY. Once Weston had complete control. He dumped mostly all WRX's(tested) playlist. In favor, of a more 'HJY Sound'. A move, that later, would have Weston bringing back
a majority of the old WRX playlist. Fox, Cheeks, Jaxon & Brian. Could not bring ratings gold for CC's WWRX-FM. And the for sale sign went up. And the rest is Rock 'N' Roll history....
south. Even reaching Long Island. WRX was very popular on Block Island & Connecticut! Ballards always had them on. When I visited back in 1999.Reception of WRX was hit or miss in the metro area. Heck, reception inside 75 Oxford Street was very weak. Prior to CC selling it.
There was talk of moving the stick. But as we all know. That never happened.
John Morgan left Oxford Street(1998-ish) to takeover at Oldies 103.3. Bringing B101's Paul Perry with him. Robby Bridges would soon
follow. Upon his depature, CC brought in Al Brock as pd of B101. Giving Phil Marlowe complete programming control of WRX. More music
was tested. Contests, Imaging, & clever stunting for the fictional 'Virtual Concert' at Providence stadium helped raise attention. As did
what would turnout to be the stations last big remote 'Rock & Roadfest '99 at The Warwick Musical Theatre in June of that year.But sadly
it would not help with ratings.
By the middle of 1999 General Manager Matt Chase was removed at CC. Enter Jim Corwin. Phil Marlowe was removed for Bill Weston.
Carolyn Fox at that time was doing afternoons at WPRO-AM. Weston obtained approval for funds to pay, to have Fox's contract broken.
Fox would start morning drive with Rudy at WRX in early October of that same year.
Listeners of WRX like music, without all the antics you would find back in the good ole days of 94 WHJY. Once Weston had complete control. He dumped mostly all WRX's(tested) playlist. In favor, of a more 'HJY Sound'. A move, that later, would have Weston bringing back
a majority of the old WRX playlist. Fox, Cheeks, Jaxon & Brian. Could not bring ratings gold for CC's WWRX-FM. And the for sale sign went up. And the rest is Rock 'N' Roll history....
I think many of you exaggerate WRX's signal weaknesses. It might not have been as powerful in Providence County as Washington and/or Kent Counties, but I certainly would not describe the signal as "weak" in Providence proper. Moreover, while WRX's signal is reachable in New Haven, it is often extremely weak there.
F
freightliner
Guest
I believe the current transmitter site for 103.7 may have been the station's 3rd. The original WERI-FM stick was located just off Route 3 (I think in Ashaway...near the Westerly town line.) It was 16KW ERP on a short tower (around 75 feet tall.) When approval was given for the upgrade to 50 KW ERP, that site was established just north of Stepping Stone Ranch near the Exeter-West Greenwich town line. Being near the CT-RI border, I remember the tower was visible from Beach Pond on Route 165. It was a 4-bay antenna. I remember it had a killer signal in CT but supposedly some gaps in areas North of Providence. (The station was RI-104 then.) The move East to Ten Rod Road in Exeter (the current location) was said to have been made to help correct that problem. The West Greenwich tower remained for years after the move but was eventually dismantled.
freightliner said:
That would make it the FOURTH transmitter site.
The first site was at the WERI (AM) location on Margin Street in Westerly. The antenna, then, was an Andrew Hi-V; four bays, mounted on the (I believe) still standing self-supporting tower. The first transmitter was a Gates (pre-Harris) 5-kW tube type bought new by Augie Cavallaro when he owned the station. With line losses the combo 4-bay antenna and 4-kW transmitter would have produced around 16 kW ERP.
But it was not to last. A harmonic fell right on TV channel 12, wiping it out in most of Westerly. Gates sent out one of their troubleshooters who tried a variety of filters. Then he separated the final PA from the driver and coupled just the driver to the antenna. That would have prduced an ERP of 1-kW or less. No joy; 12 was still wiped out. Then he separated the 10-Watt exciter from the driver and coupled it to the antenna. There were still fifty or more nearby homes that lost (then) WPRO-TV. I know because I was handed the job of hanging filters on the antenna inputs of all those sets. Still no good.
So, the site was shut down and remained down until Nat Urso (Bear Broadcasting) bought the whole ball of wax and got a grant to build a "bomb proof" transmitter site, just as you said, off Route 3 in Ashaway. At the time I saw it there was no tower up yet but the building was up and unusable. Nat had planned to use the original Gates tube type transmitter and had made NO provision for cooling the all-concrete structure. The station did operate from there for a time but it had to have involved some heavy-duty concrete cutting to make it work and any "bomb-proofing" aspect would have been gone. Somehow I doubt the grant ever had to be paid back!
Yes, the move would have gotten WERI-FM away from the population center where the worst of the harmonic problem existed but there would still have been an impossible situation but for 12 having put up a translator for South County and very heavy cable penetration in the central areas.
- Status