I have a hypothetical question about WALE 990. Let's says a legitimate broadcasting company bought them and fixed all the technical problems with the station. Could it have a talk format and be a viable alternative to what's on WPRO/WEAN and WHJJ? Also do you think there's any good talent in Providence to host a local show on the station? I don't know anything about him but I was thinking Dan Yorke in PM Drive considering you don't think he'll be happy/in the midday time slot on WPRO/WEAN.
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A hypothetical question about WALE 990
- Thread starter MarcB
- Start date
I think if they cleaned up their act. Fixed the signal and did some promotion that they could definitely be a good alternative. But no more heavy political talk radio please. Let's have a less serious talk station. Programs like Joey Reynolds and Phil Hendrie. It's time to bring back the laughs. I don't want to hear anyone currently in Providence talk on this new radio station. Time to bring in some new blood. Rhode Island radio is already as boring as watching paint dry. Please let's not continue that trend by hiring the same old tired hosts that we are already bored with.
MissAM said:
You know something he's not as famous as the others in the Kennedy clan and I never heard of him until he announced he wasn't running for re-election. And I was so surprised at what an angry individual he is when I was watching him in a report on NECN about how the media isn't paying enough attention to The War in Afghanistan.
Skynet74 said:
A thousand AMEN's to that ! ! !......or...in this case...990 AMEN's.
But...seriously...from a technical standpoint....IF they did fix it all up and clean it all up, 990 would have the potential to have the market's 3rd. best AM signal, behind 630 and 790 (daytime, that is). The night signal would likely still be less than ideal, to put it kindly.
The only thing left would be to put on compelling programming that people would actually look forward to tuning in, and lots of fun while they are listening......in other words....THE HARD PART!
The cost of "fixing the signal" would be immense.
First, it would require buying up at least two other stations and shutting them down so as to ease the directional antenna issues. Then new tower or towers (probably at least three), a new ground system, new phasor, new transmitter. As to the peripheral equipment, anybody's guess.
The chances of getting any return on investment? Very questionable, even given incredibly great programming. The Providence pie is cut into too many pieces.
First, it would require buying up at least two other stations and shutting them down so as to ease the directional antenna issues. Then new tower or towers (probably at least three), a new ground system, new phasor, new transmitter. As to the peripheral equipment, anybody's guess.
The chances of getting any return on investment? Very questionable, even given incredibly great programming. The Providence pie is cut into too many pieces.
As long as we're getting "hypothetical"......
Let's assume that Alex Langer's CP for 1140 in Greenville bites the dust (if it hasn't already).
Would this provide an opportunity for WALE to improve its signal by moving to 1140?
Even though the CP called for 6 towers, the pattern (the day pattern, anyway) appeared to be less "boxed-in" than the current 990 day signal, and offered more coverage to the north and north-west.
thoughts, anyone?
Let's assume that Alex Langer's CP for 1140 in Greenville bites the dust (if it hasn't already).
Would this provide an opportunity for WALE to improve its signal by moving to 1140?
Even though the CP called for 6 towers, the pattern (the day pattern, anyway) appeared to be less "boxed-in" than the current 990 day signal, and offered more coverage to the north and north-west.
thoughts, anyone?
MarcB said:
My girlfriend and I were in our hotel suite last weekend. On the nightstand was an issue of Rhode Island Monthly Magazine with Patrick's huge head on it. After glancing over and seeing it for about two hours I couldn't take anymore. So I turned the magazine over. My girlfriend said THANK YOU. LOL
Getting back to the topic of WALE 990 I have another question about it if it someone fixed up and made it a talk station. Currently consumer advocate Clark Howard is on WHJJ on tape delay one day a week on the weekend. Can the program director of WALE (or any other talk station in Providence) go to Dial Global (the company that syndicates The Clark Howard Show) and say they'll give him the live 1PM-4PM Clearance Monday-Friday?
And I'll pose this question too. In Hartford Clark Howard is on Sunday-Friday on Tape Delay 7PM-10PM and Saturdays on tape delay 6PM-9PM on WTIC. His show is frequently pre-empted for coverage of the Boston Redsox and UCONN Play-by-Play. If there was another talk station in Hartford that wanted the show could they go to Dial Global and say we'll air the show with-out any pre-emptions?
And I'll pose this question too. In Hartford Clark Howard is on Sunday-Friday on Tape Delay 7PM-10PM and Saturdays on tape delay 6PM-9PM on WTIC. His show is frequently pre-empted for coverage of the Boston Redsox and UCONN Play-by-Play. If there was another talk station in Hartford that wanted the show could they go to Dial Global and say we'll air the show with-out any pre-emptions?
After contract obligations are met, sure....but the contract works 2 ways. The same thing happened when SNE decided to run Ryan Seacrest....Syndicator had to continue the contract they had with Pro-FM for AT40; but once that was up, SNE had the right of first refusal (not Pro-FM who had been carrying it all of these years) to see if they wanted to grab it, which they didMarcB said:
F
freightliner
Guest
Interesting discussion. Maintaining a directional station (let alone fix one) is more expensive these days. Back in the day, repairing or upgrading a multi-tower antenna farm was justified by heavy billing. Times have changed. Back in '73, the AM in our cluster underwent a "total makeover"...towers, phasor, ground system and "walk-in" tuning houses. (Nicer than where I was living at the time !) Good thing they did it THEN. Two years ago, we replaced the Main Transmitter and upgraded the audio processing but I highly doubt we would have gone any further than that if we were dealing with a 50-year old antenna farm in these times. Being a tower geek, I've seen the site on Log Road and countless others. (I also took a "road trip" late last year to the hills outside Scranton PA to see what all the fuss was about on an AM that went dark for a short time..) Same story.... In that case, 5 sticks "in-line" (widely-spaced no less) spread over what had to be well-over 60 acres of land. You think back of what the station was "back in the day" and what it could be again if you won "Powerball".
Now we fantasize:
First stop: The "AM-Directional Superstore". Get all of the neat stuff, put it up and turn it on ! Now, call up all of the legendary personalities we grew up with, pay them what they are truly worth, and off we go ! (Save the overnight shift for yourself..after all you certainly want to be part of the fun !) Now, its on to finding the "street fighters"...the now-retired Salespeople that also helped make it happen then. If they're still passionate (and still alive), they'll certainly want to be part of this ! You'll be on the "Cover of Radio Ink !" (Dr. Hook will sing a song--on vinal--so you can "cue" it up and "spin" it on YOUR show !)
Then you take one last look at the towers, perhaps pick up a souvenir off the ground, get in the car and head home. If you could only go back. I'm sure hundreds of folks on these threads have had similar thoughts. It's fun to remember but hard to leave behind.
When managing a cluster in CT in the '90's, I faced an all-to-familiar scenario: The company purchased an FM. But wait...there's more ! (As Ron Popeil would say..) It included an AM with 8 sticks spread over 26 acres...complete with a rotted ground system and a "lone" transmitter. "Great !" I said... "We can bring this thing back !" (After all, it was a station I listened to growing up as a kid..and like me, a lot of those people must still be around now...there just older !) So off we went. No "Powerball" budget, but we did what we could. A satellite "nostalgia" format filled a void in the market. No big staff....but a former "big market" personality passing through helped get us off to a good start in the morning. Being in his 60's and having a passion for the music helped. We beefed up our news committment with the help of our "sister" station. Within a year, we went from a "no show" to a 3.4 share...beating our "heritage" AM up the road. "This was the way it was meant to be" I often thought. Plus we were even making a "little" money...thanks in large part to the "veteran" salespeople of our "sister" station. I thought of it as a valuable part of the mix...not thinking what lie ahead. A fire in the tuning cabinet at the base of Tower #4 changed everything. Repairing the damage would be expensive. Repairing it right would cost far more than the station was worth as a business. Turning it off would result in public outcry. "Houston, we have a problem". We considered repairing the tuning gear and limping along but opted to pursue replacing the antenna system--downsizing from eight towers to three--and returning as a daytimer. Not so easy. Any "grandfather" status goes out the window when you want to rip out an old ground system and replace it--even if the new system is one-third the size. Environmental issues can be fought and won--some of the time--but expensive. Needless to say, I was stressing out. Fortunately for me, I work for one of the "nicer" folks in the business. They were in the process of completing the purchase of another FM in the market. We had other plans for it. Yet, given what we were facing with the AM, their solution was to move the station there.
It hurt to turn off the AM given its "heritage", but given the state of the facility--and obviously having an available FM--it was just more practical to move it there. Still, turning off the transmitter was tough...like having to put down your dog. You think of the years of joy it brought.
Yet, here it is years later, and as I drive by the old transmitter site, I still think of what what the station was "back in the day". What if I won "Powerball" ?
As cool as it would be to bring back the "dream" station and all of the "boss jocks", I'd just go out and buy a dog !
Now we fantasize:
First stop: The "AM-Directional Superstore". Get all of the neat stuff, put it up and turn it on ! Now, call up all of the legendary personalities we grew up with, pay them what they are truly worth, and off we go ! (Save the overnight shift for yourself..after all you certainly want to be part of the fun !) Now, its on to finding the "street fighters"...the now-retired Salespeople that also helped make it happen then. If they're still passionate (and still alive), they'll certainly want to be part of this ! You'll be on the "Cover of Radio Ink !" (Dr. Hook will sing a song--on vinal--so you can "cue" it up and "spin" it on YOUR show !)
Then you take one last look at the towers, perhaps pick up a souvenir off the ground, get in the car and head home. If you could only go back. I'm sure hundreds of folks on these threads have had similar thoughts. It's fun to remember but hard to leave behind.
When managing a cluster in CT in the '90's, I faced an all-to-familiar scenario: The company purchased an FM. But wait...there's more ! (As Ron Popeil would say..) It included an AM with 8 sticks spread over 26 acres...complete with a rotted ground system and a "lone" transmitter. "Great !" I said... "We can bring this thing back !" (After all, it was a station I listened to growing up as a kid..and like me, a lot of those people must still be around now...there just older !) So off we went. No "Powerball" budget, but we did what we could. A satellite "nostalgia" format filled a void in the market. No big staff....but a former "big market" personality passing through helped get us off to a good start in the morning. Being in his 60's and having a passion for the music helped. We beefed up our news committment with the help of our "sister" station. Within a year, we went from a "no show" to a 3.4 share...beating our "heritage" AM up the road. "This was the way it was meant to be" I often thought. Plus we were even making a "little" money...thanks in large part to the "veteran" salespeople of our "sister" station. I thought of it as a valuable part of the mix...not thinking what lie ahead. A fire in the tuning cabinet at the base of Tower #4 changed everything. Repairing the damage would be expensive. Repairing it right would cost far more than the station was worth as a business. Turning it off would result in public outcry. "Houston, we have a problem". We considered repairing the tuning gear and limping along but opted to pursue replacing the antenna system--downsizing from eight towers to three--and returning as a daytimer. Not so easy. Any "grandfather" status goes out the window when you want to rip out an old ground system and replace it--even if the new system is one-third the size. Environmental issues can be fought and won--some of the time--but expensive. Needless to say, I was stressing out. Fortunately for me, I work for one of the "nicer" folks in the business. They were in the process of completing the purchase of another FM in the market. We had other plans for it. Yet, given what we were facing with the AM, their solution was to move the station there.
It hurt to turn off the AM given its "heritage", but given the state of the facility--and obviously having an available FM--it was just more practical to move it there. Still, turning off the transmitter was tough...like having to put down your dog. You think of the years of joy it brought.
Yet, here it is years later, and as I drive by the old transmitter site, I still think of what what the station was "back in the day". What if I won "Powerball" ?
As cool as it would be to bring back the "dream" station and all of the "boss jocks", I'd just go out and buy a dog !
F
freightliner
Guest
You're welcome. Perhaps the wrong thread but some were referring to the WALE antenna farm. Over the years, many have asked what the story was with 1510. (8 sticks in a marsh pretty much says it all !) I can sympathize with anyone with a big antenna farm...new or old. A desire to make repairs or improvements often gets derailed by environmental restrictions... many of which seem truly unreasonable...especially if all you want to do to replace what already exists. In our case, we just wanted to go to a simpler system. The company was willing to make the investment. The local Conservation Commission was satisfied with what we wanted to do and was more than accomodating. They saw the logic: 8-towers to three. I'm vague on this, but having to remove the entire "old" ground system kicked it upstairs to the Feds (The Army Corp of Engineers, I believe). They probably would've worked with us but it would have taken forever. But I gotta tell 'ya, the "special-temporary" power really got the job done. (I think it was 800 watts non-directional.) We wanted that to last forever !
Speaking of WALE, I caught "Big John" Bina and others a few months ago when passing through town.. It was like "anything goes day"... but it was fun to hear !
Speaking of WALE, I caught "Big John" Bina and others a few months ago when passing through town.. It was like "anything goes day"... but it was fun to hear !
Unfortunately for Peter Arpin & Cronies, there is no FM in the "cluster"......if you can call it that. His only other station in the market is 1320-WARL.
I just don't see any long term future for 990 at the Log road site. Just ONE moderate to major failure, and WALE returns to "the sounds of silence".
IMHO....If Mr. Arpin is to have any hope of keeping 990 on the air long term, it's going to have to find someplace to diplex from, and sooner rather than later, whether it be the Falls Pond North Attleboro site of "sister" 1320......the Douglas Avenue North Providence site of 1290 WRNI......or some other alternative none of us here have thought of.
The present situation just cannot be sustained for the long term.
I just don't see any long term future for 990 at the Log road site. Just ONE moderate to major failure, and WALE returns to "the sounds of silence".
IMHO....If Mr. Arpin is to have any hope of keeping 990 on the air long term, it's going to have to find someplace to diplex from, and sooner rather than later, whether it be the Falls Pond North Attleboro site of "sister" 1320......the Douglas Avenue North Providence site of 1290 WRNI......or some other alternative none of us here have thought of.
The present situation just cannot be sustained for the long term.
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