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A week in da burg

O

OldSchoolWoman

Just spent a week in da Burg. Some random notes:

1) I think that Q92.9 is just terrible. Going jockless reminds me of all the budget crunched Cox stations going jockless all over Florida. I used to like them better tham WSHH, but not now. Why did they do this?

2) I don't see where WWSW is so bad. I heard plenty of 60's stuff and the jocks seems good enough for the format.

3) I think that going old fashioned Top 40 on 770 and 620 is great, but why not confine the odds and ends to 770 and go 24/7 50's/60's Top 40 on 620? Do they have signal problems, or was it just my rental car radio.

4) Where did all the airplanes go at Greater Pitt?
 
I have also thought that the 620/770 combo could be immensely profitable by moving all the infomercial stuff to 770 and using that great signal on 620 for a real radio station.

3WS is Ok but it's all relative... the music is all over the place and the jock shifts are too long (how long is Sherri on every day.. 6 or 7 hours?)

As for 92.9, I saw their TV spot before Idol last night... I think they tried to create an animated version of the robo-voice thta announces the songs (the female equivalent of Bob?)

The planes are all in Phoenix and Charlotte. Terminal C would make a nice bowling alley.
 
Thanks for the info. I still think that Q92.9 has no chance at all and will remain a failure.

As for the airport, why not move the few remaining airlines back to the County Airport, use cost cuttting DC- 3's, and put 40's swing on WLTJ .
 
Parttimer said:
As for 92.9, I saw their TV spot before Idol last night... I think they tried to create an animated version of the robo-voice thta announces the songs (the female equivalent of Bob?)
Click to expand...

That animated thing is awful.

I have heard some things on there that I like, but the robo voice spoils it all. (Not to mention, I have that thing on my car radio that tells me the name of the song anyway.)
 
OldSchoolWoman said:
Just spent a week in da Burg. Some random notes:

1) I think that Q92.9 is just terrible. Going jockless reminds me of all the budget crunched Cox stations going jockless all over Florida. I used to like them better tham WSHH, but not now. Why did they do this?

2) I don't see where WWSW is so bad. I heard plenty of 60's stuff and the jocks seems good enough for the format.

3) I think that going old fashioned Top 40 on 770 and 620 is great, but why not confine the odds and ends to 770 and go 24/7 50's/60's Top 40 on 620? Do they have signal problems, or was it just my rental car radio.

4) Where did all the airplanes go at Greater Pitt?
Click to expand...

620 still has a great daytime signal in my experience. Their nighttime signal pales in comparison though to what it used to be when they still had the old sticks at the Wal-Mart site. 770 is a bit dicey in the car. I agree they should stop flipping back and forth and separate the programming. 620's playlist in the off hours puts me in mind of WTAE back in the day.

3WS has for so long carried the local "oldies" brand that you do have a few folks get bent out of shape when they hear Hootie and the Blowfish, Quiet Riot, or any of the 80's stuff. Compared to most other local stations their presentation is still very good. Personally I realize that we are drawing closer to the day when Quiet Riot will be turning up on WJAS as the Music of Somebody Else's Life....

My prior post about the Q92.9 female robo-jock sounding just like Plankton's computer wife on Spongebob Squarepants must have hit a nerve, as now a male voice is popping-up intermittently to spell her. Now, if the male robo-jock would just toss out a crude joke at the female robo-jock's expense, causing her to storm out in tears....listening to that station might start to get interesting!

When I bought my house a decade ago I used to like to sit on my back porch on summer evenings and watch the myriad of planes in their holding pattern over Greater Pitt. Was really strange to sit there in the days following 9-11 and see nothing. Today I sit there and see close to nothing.
 
Not being a techie, I don't know a few things. 620 used to disappear at night back in the Sixties. Then sometime in the Eighties it seemed to have city coverage around the clock. Now it doesn't. I could say the same thing for 540 and 1150 . Did the FCC do something or did they all just change something? 540 was once an interesting station. It was 24/7 classical and was as clear at night east of the tubes as WTAE. I oftened wondered what would have been the history of Pittsburgh radio if lower end stations like 540 and 620 had been that strong in the Sixties.Would 540 become a powerhouse Top 40 like WCAO in Baltimore or WAYS in Charlotte killing little KQV at 1410 ? Now both stations stink at night. I'm perplexed! Imagine the "Famous 620" in the Burg like over in Philly (almost)
 
From what I understand, when 620 lost the towers to Wal-Mart they had special temporary authority
to run daytime only from one tower. Then when they moved to Irwin they came back at 50 watts nighttime power. I have heard that they were 500 watts or perhaps 1000 at night with the additional towers at the old site. Same for 540, they voluntarily reduced power when the owner, Birach Broadcasting, bought another station at 540AM on the Eastern Shore of Maryland and relocated it to the DC metro area. Previously you could pick up the 540 from Canonsburg in DC, so they had to tone down that signal in order to bring the other station west. I have no idea on 1150.
 
FreddyE1977 said:
From what I understand, when 620 lost the towers to Wal-Mart they had special temporary authority
to run daytime only from one tower. Then when they moved to Irwin they came back at 50 watts nighttime power. I have heard that they were 500 watts or perhaps 1000 at night with the additional towers at the old site. Same for 540, they voluntarily reduced power when the owner, Birach Broadcasting, bought another station at 540AM on the Eastern Shore of Maryland and relocated it to the DC metro area. Previously you could pick up the 540 from Canonsburg in DC, so they had to tone down that signal in order to bring the other station west. I have no idea on 1150.
Click to expand...

1150 runs "Rejoice! Musical Soul Food", which is ABC/SMN's Gospel music format. It's been the same format since December 1992, but it had been local until about 1997, when it went on the bird.

Powerwise, 1150 has been licensed to operate at 1,000 watts day, 70 watts night with a two-tower directional antenna. When Loran Mann took over the station in 1992, he went back to running it from sunrise to sunset with live jocks from his church. Then when unattended operation was allowed, he started running it 24/7 with the satellite.

If you've been having reception problems lately, they did replace one of their two towers a few months ago. During that time, they may have been running at 250 watts day, 12.5 watts at night, non-directional. They may still be running at this level until the tower work is completed.
 
Everyone's night time signal on the AM band is under seige from HD. That's part of the problem with programming AMs anymore. If you were counting on the signal in outlying areas you can't anymore. Stations like 620 that used to be competitive after dark are lost in the hash with everyone else.
 
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