'Alterntate' Urban Format on E-NC AM's

[B Lewis]

I have spent most of my life in broadcasting, in some form or fashion. I decided it was time to use that college education, so I am teaching Spanish these days. In these tight times, I decided to take on a second job. I started listening to a 5kw AM station in Warrenton (WARR 1520 AM) on the commute to and from school. One thing lead to another and I ended up with a part time job at WARR. As many may remember, WARR went dark in 1986. Jimmy Johnson put it back on-air in the late 90's. Darrensburg Broadcasting bought the channel a few years ago. The Darensburgs have a sincere desire to serve this small area with a 'community radio' format that speaks to and reflects the community it serves. They have the station located in a very nice building in an upscale business area of the town, they are making reasonable upgrades to equipment, and have a new transmitter and tower in operation. I believe good things will come from this small station.

The real reason behind this post is the station's format, which is similar to that of WCPS in Tarboro. Morning drive is a mixture of live-hosted Traditional and Contemporary Gospel. Afternoons is an Old School / Southern Soul Blend and evenings are a soft Contemporary R&B/Smooth Jazz blend. Always having been exposed to either various styles of R&B, Oldies, Beach, AC, etc; I understand the correlation between Beach Music and "Southern Soul". However, until my arrival at WARR, I did not truly see the influence this genre has on this region.
Though I don't get to hear it often, it seems that WCPS does well with this format...it TIES WZAX and has four times the numbers as WEED AM).

IS three anyone else on the board that works with a station that is doing well with this format. WNCT-AM is similar, just billing it as "Beach". Any thoughts or insights on this format would be apprecited!

Thanks!

 

[tothedj]

I'm glad to hear that WARR is doing what it can to serve Warrenton and Warren County with "community-minded"
radio, as well as WCPS in Tarboro, both stations have good signals and should be serving the areas with a format
some AM stations need to follow these days; My first radio job was at WEED-AM in Rocky Mount, it's ashamed what
happened to them over the years, when i left in August 1986, they had no direction, and still doesn't to this very
day, the best format they could have done at the time was news, talk, and information, but with two talk FM's
serving this area these days, sooner or later they would have to change, a lot of AM's are barely hanging on, and
with another FM preparing to sign on in a few months in the Rocky Mount/Wilson market, the remaining AM outlets
here might want to consider getting FM translators or sign off.

 

[quadraphonic]

There's a "beach boogie and blues" station in Rockingham (WLWL 770 Big Waves) but that's not eastern NC. It seems like they've been doing a soul-flecked format for about 10 years now, so it must be working on some level (at least enough to keep doing it and keep the lights on). I think they had a Myspace page, but no website last I looked. Maybe they could help ya out? All my related format experience came from going down the hall and turning on the transmitter and putting on records until the morning guy got in at an AM gospel station.

 

[B Lewis]

Thanks for the replies. When I was in Fayetteville, I could receive 770 AM. They have a pretty smooth format, which I believe is live-hosted. (It was as of late last year). We are trying to tweak the format of WARR. So, any further input you guys may have would be great!

thanks!