Madison's WTUX AM 1550 has changed format. The new/old format is 50's and 60's. They also changed their call. They're now known as Hit Radio 1550 WHIT. This goes back to the late 80's when they had this format before. Only thing missing is Clyde Coffee.
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AM 1550
- Thread starter ikaika53562
- Start date
M
macrinus
Guest
It is sad to see how incredibly irrelevant this station has become in the Madison area. It was truly the first buzz-worthy all-sports talk stations in this market back in the mid-90's (even as a dawn-to-dusk frequency), and the one that introduced me to the Sports Talk format. Now, nobody cares, nobody cares, nobody cares.
Midwest Family management ought to be ashamed of themselves for the unfathomable garbage they pulled on 1550 in general....it is a sick joke that they are resurrecting the old call letters from their old sports format (WHIT). I have to think that somebody is getting paid/bribed specifically to keep this station crappy and pointless.
And while I am whining, please, somebody 'splain to me why ANYONE is p**sing in the wind with any music format on AM in 2009? I will welcome a dressing-down if I am missing something here...
Midwest Family management ought to be ashamed of themselves for the unfathomable garbage they pulled on 1550 in general....it is a sick joke that they are resurrecting the old call letters from their old sports format (WHIT). I have to think that somebody is getting paid/bribed specifically to keep this station crappy and pointless.
And while I am whining, please, somebody 'splain to me why ANYONE is p**sing in the wind with any music format on AM in 2009? I will welcome a dressing-down if I am missing something here...
E
ElwoodBlues
Guest
macrinus said:Midwest Family management ought to be ashamed of themselves for the unfathomable garbage they pulled on 1550 in general....it is a sick joke that they are resurrecting the old call letters from their old sports format (WHIT). I have to think that somebody is getting paid/bribed specifically to keep this station crappy and pointless.
And while I am whining, please, somebody 'splain to me why ANYONE is p**sing in the wind with any music format on AM in 2009? I will welcome a dressing-down if I am missing something here...
I'm no fan of Mid-West Family (and no, I don't work there, either), but what's the alternative? What would you put on 1550? If you think they're pissing in the wind with oldies, what would going up against two 24/7 sports stations with better signals be?
1550's daytime-only hours and poor signal outside of Madison (it has NO signal to the south, east or west of Madison) basically prevent it from going head-to-head with any of the other Madison stations. So, they have to find a niche format that no-one else is running. Personally, I think oldies is a good idea -- the folks that listen to oldies still listen to AM radio, or radio in general, for that matter. And music on AM with oldies can add to the nostalgia factor. I've listened to 1550 and it doesn't sound bad at all. I like the sound of oldies on AM. But I'm probably not your average radio listener, either.
Back to my question, though -- what would an alternative format for 1550 be? All news? Mid-West is too cheap to invest in that. Even with some sort of satellite-fed news format, what good is it if you don't have someone local dropping in local news and weather? News-talk or talk? The shows that are left after you pick from what's not already on 1310, 1670 or 92.1 are not exactly winners. Look at the ratings for the stations running talk radio's B- and C- team talent. Same story with all-sports. Maybe they could sell it off to a religious broadcaster so they don't have to worry about a competitor getting their hands on it. Personally, I like the oldies.
M
macrinus
Guest
John said:macrinus said:Midwest Family management ought to be ashamed of themselves for the unfathomable garbage they pulled on 1550 in general....it is a sick joke that they are resurrecting the old call letters from their old sports format (WHIT). I have to think that somebody is getting paid/bribed specifically to keep this station crappy and pointless.
And while I am whining, please, somebody 'splain to me why ANYONE is p**sing in the wind with any music format on AM in 2009? I will welcome a dressing-down if I am missing something here...
I'm no fan of Mid-West Family (and no, I don't work there, either), but what's the alternative? What would you put on 1550? If you think they're pissing in the wind with oldies, what would going up against two 24/7 sports stations with better signals be?
1550's daytime-only hours and poor signal outside of Madison (it has NO signal to the south, east or west of Madison) basically prevent it from going head-to-head with any of the other Madison stations. So, they have to find a niche format that no-one else is running. Personally, I think oldies is a good idea -- the folks that listen to oldies still listen to AM radio, or radio in general, for that matter. And music on AM with oldies can add to the nostalgia factor. I've listened to 1550 and it doesn't sound bad at all. I like the sound of oldies on AM. But I'm probably not your average radio listener, either.
Back to my question, though -- what would an alternative format for 1550 be? All news? Mid-West is too cheap to invest in that. Even with some sort of satellite-fed news format, what good is it if you don't have someone local dropping in local news and weather? News-talk or talk? The shows that are left after you pick from what's not already on 1310, 1670 or 92.1 are not exactly winners. Look at the ratings for the stations running talk radio's B- and C- team talent. Same story with all-sports. Maybe they could sell it off to a religious broadcaster so they don't have to worry about a competitor getting their hands on it. Personally, I like the oldies.
Of course you are right about this.
In my fit of irrational nostalgia, I conveniently forgot in that moment that the signal was (is?) a dawn-to-dusk. It was really the first of its kind, though, and now the it could not really compete with the existing market, realistically. I do remember the way they made the initial switch, and I admit that colored my over-the-top reaction.
I probably should keep my posting between dawn to dusk myself, judging from my track record here! Oldies it is....
Thank you for the reasoned response to my slobbering outburst.
T
theradiokid
Guest
I don’t live in Madison, or Wisconsin, but want to hear the station. Can someone please find a website for me? Better yet, is there an online stream? Thanks.
--The Radio Kid
(Oswego, NY.)
My email: [email protected].
--The Radio Kid
(Oswego, NY.)
My email: [email protected].
WHIT does not yet have a webstream, here is the website though:
http://www.hitradio1550.com/
They might add streaming at a later date.
By the way, you can find many webstreams for radio stations using radio-locator.com
http://www.hitradio1550.com/
They might add streaming at a later date.
By the way, you can find many webstreams for radio stations using radio-locator.com
Visited Madison a few weeks ago. Wow, there is a serious Oldies Revival at the end of the AM dial now! WHIT-AM 1550 is cranking out the late 50s/60s hits and WTTN 1580 has moved to Columbus giving the station pretty good coverage in parts of Madison. I flipped between the two during my visit. They actually sounded pretty good. WTTN runs a satellite oldies service (Dial Global Kool Gold I believe). I realize these stations don't show too much in the ratings. But the Madison resident sure can get their oldies fix now with the 2 AMs and WOLX on FM.
With the demise of the 1550 in Lake Geneva (they are silent and want to move the City-of-License to Northbrook, IL), WHIT may look into loosening up their highly directional north-bound signal and send some signal to the south. Since WHIT and WMIR (Lake Geneva's original calls) came on at about the same time, I suspect WHIT had to protect WMIR and vice-versa.
Believe it or not, WHIT can't adjust the pattern with Lake Geneva's 1550 moving. The new pattern licensed to Northbrook still butts up against WHIT's pattern.
It was looked into...
It was looked into...
jjschim said:The best option for a daytime only signal would be to turn in the license, but we all know that wont happen with Mid-West Family. Look at 1480. That was SUPPOSED to go dark years ago. I'm not sure how they get away with continuing to hold that license.
That is an excellent question. The whole idea behind the "expanded band" was to move stations over to it and they were supposed to turn off their old station forever to eliminate some of the interference on the AM band nation wide. WKSH in Sussex moved to 1640 and immediately turned off 1370. So, just how does Mid-west Family get away with keeping 1480 on the air?
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