Anybody happen to know what became of WAMG 890 this morining

[Nate Wesley]

WAMG and WLLH should go Urban AC or Urban Contemporary, and give WILD the automated graveyard, a run for their money. Then Radio One would actually put some programming effort into WILD, possibly even bring back local programming.

WAMG and WLLH combined could give WILD a run for their money as an Urban AC or Urban Contemporary station, if programmed right. WILD signs off every night, WAMG and WLLH don't, and WAMG covers many Urban areas WILD doesn't. Plus there's WLLH in Lowell, and Lowell has a high Urban population.

I'm really crossing my fingers these stations return to the air as an Urban AC duo or Urban Contemporary. Hip Hop would never happen on AM though, that's definately stretching it, but R&B wouldn't be bad on the AM dial. Sure, WILD has Tom Joyner, but WAMG could get Steve Harvey and get a high rated afternoon drive show like Doug and DeeDee or whatever it is, from Citadel Media Networks. People would much rather hear that than an automated mix playing random songs, with bad audio quality.

Here's a plan that might satisfy you fantasy FCC officers: Run Citadel's "The Touch" music service on 890/1400 and name your station "Touch 890", "Touch 890 JAMZ" or something similar. Plaster signage all over the place to confuse listeners, steal their advertisers (if they have any), etc. Go ahead and rip off their established identity--the Touch FM folks have already done the work, so put in some [legal] work to profit from it. If they have the stones to challenge you in court, you should have a pretty defense.

 

[beantownradio25]

With all of these high profile pirates the FCC is doing nothing about, your averge inner city kid would choose a station like 106.1 or 101.3 over a legitimate AM station.

HOWEVER, with the right promotion and some billboard advertising around Boston, a strong web presence, getting all over the social networking sites, the station would make a splash.

106.1 isn't legitimate so there would be nothing they could do over 890 using the Touch moniker.

 

[aaronread]

#> On September 1, 2009, agents from this office confirmed by direction
#> finding techniques that radio signals on frequency 97.5 MHz were emanating
#> from 76 Esmond St., Dorchester, MA
<snip>
#> The field strength of the signal on frequency 97.5 MHz was measured
#> at 181,163 microvolts per meter (uV/m) at 66 meters, which exceeded the
#> maximum permitted level of 250 uV/m at 3 meters for non-licensed devices.

So, 181.163 mV/m at a dx of .066 km ≈ 2.91 (".00290555" kw) watts ERP?

Yeah Kaimbridge, you've got it. I just confirmed it by plugging the numbers into the FCC's FM Curves program. A whopping 3 watts ERP. Goes to show that on the right frequency, and perhaps with some height...a little ERP goes a long, long way.

 

[JIBGUY]

Here's a plan that might satisfy you fantasy FCC officers: Run Citadel's "The Touch" music service on 890/1400 and name your station "Touch 890", "Touch 890 JAMZ" or something similar. Plaster signage all over the place to confuse listeners, steal their advertisers (if they have any), etc. Go ahead and rip off their established identity--the Touch FM folks have already done the work, so put in some [legal] work to profit from it. If they have the stones to challenge you in court, you should have a pretty defense.

Didn't "the Touch" service do quite well on 1150 for the short time it on there? ...about 7 years ago or so? It was essentially R&b softer standards.... 70's 80's 90's. .. Stylistics, Manhattans, softer EW&Fire, etc.

 

[Eli Polonsky]

Didn't "the Touch" service do quite well on 1150 for the short time it on there? ...about 7 years ago or so? It was essentially R&b softer standards.... 70's 80's 90's. .. Stylistics, Manhattans, softer EW&Fire, etc.

Yes, it was actually more like ten or eleven years ago already (the 1150 call letters were WNFT at that time) and as I posted earlier, it was the success of "The Touch" on 1150, with no promotion or local programming, that influenced WILD 1090 to flip from Urban Contemporary to Urban AC/Gold for the next half-decade until they were deconstructed by Radio One.

 

[raccoonradio]

A tweet sent to bostonradio says 890 and 1400 will return to air next month, format unknown at this time

 

[MickeyD]

WAMG and WLLH should go Urban AC or Urban Contemporary, and give WILD the automated graveyard, a run for their money. Then Radio One would actually put some programming effort into WILD, possibly even bring back local programming.

WAMG and WLLH combined could give WILD a run for their money as an Urban AC or Urban Contemporary station, if programmed right. WILD signs off every night, WAMG and WLLH don't, and WAMG covers many Urban areas WILD doesn't. Plus there's WLLH in Lowell, and Lowell has a high Urban population.

I'm really crossing my fingers these stations return to the air as an Urban AC duo or Urban Contemporary. Hip Hop would never happen on AM though, that's definately stretching it, but R&B wouldn't be bad on the AM dial. Sure, WILD has Tom Joyner, but WAMG could get Steve Harvey and get a high rated afternoon drive show like Doug and DeeDee or whatever it is, from Citadel Media Networks. People would much rather hear that than an automated mix playing random songs, with bad audio quality.

Here's a plan that might satisfy you fantasy FCC officers: Run Citadel's "The Touch" music service on 890/1400 and name your station "Touch 890", "Touch 890 JAMZ" or something similar. Plaster signage all over the place to confuse listeners, steal their advertisers (if they have any), etc. Go ahead and rip off their established identity--the Touch FM folks have already done the work, so put in some [legal] work to profit from it. If they have the stones to challenge you in court, you should have a pretty defense.

It is all about content and you would have to convince younger people that AM was cool. Good luck with that! Touch has been in federal court already over 106.1 and it is still on the air.

 

[uncleDJ]

Hmmm...I'm wondering about the progress of this thread to see if 'AMG comes back...if anyone hears 890 on the dial let me know.

Bill Alley
WINY's Juke Box Gold
1350AM/Putnam CT
[email protected]

 

[DanStrassberg]

Hmmm...I'm wondering about the progress of this thread to see if 'AMG comes back...if anyone hears 890 on the dial let me know.

AFAIK, not a peep from WAMG but WLS comes in like a local on many nights. As reported elsewhere on this board, WLLH is apparently back on in SS and has been purchased by GOIS, the owner of SS-language AMs in Providence, Springfield, and the Hartford area. I have not noticed an application for transfer of control of WLLH in the FCC daily digests, though. OTOH, I could have missed it.

 

[MAradio]

AFAIK, not a peep from WAMG but WLS comes in like a local on many nights. As reported elsewhere on this board, WLLH is apparently back on in SS and has been purchased by GOIS, the owner of SS-language AMs in Providence, Springfield, and the Hartford area. I have not noticed an application for transfer of control of WLLH in the FCC daily digests, though. OTOH, I could have missed it.
[/quote]

Just to keep things straight, Gois owns stations in Hartford (WLAT, WNEZ and WKND) and Worcester (WORC-AM). They have nothing to do with Providence or Springfield. The application for transfer for WLLH has been filled.

 

[DanStrassberg]

WAMG back on during evening of Wednesday 12/3/09

I heard an open carrier on 890 at 7:30PM Wed 12/3. 890 was still running OC at 8:30 when I shut off the radio. Turned the radio on a little after 10:00PM. 890 was running // WLLH. Despite my non-existent grasp of SS, I heard mil quatro cientos (1400) and La Mega. So the WAMG calls apparently once again stand for Mega, the name of the one-time owner of the station that got the WAMG calls assigned. Whoever forecast that WAMG would return in November was wrong by only three days. So far, I haven't heard any legal ID, but I'm assuming that if I can make it out, I will hear WAMG Dedham.

 

[Eli Polonsky]

Re: WAMG back on during evening of Wednesday 12/3/09

I heard an open carrier on 890 at 7:30PM Wed 12/3. 890 was still running OC at 8:30 when I shut off the radio. Turned the radio on a little after 10:00PM. 890 was running // WLLH. Despite my non-existent grasp of SS, I heard mil quatro cientos (1400) and La Mega. So the WAMG calls apparently once again stand for Mega, the name of the one-time owner of the station that got the WAMG calls assigned. Whoever forecast that WAMG would return in November was wrong by only three days. So far, I haven't heard any legal ID, but I'm assuming that if I can make it out, I will hear WAMG Dedham.

I wonder how 890 will do with that format against "Rumba" on 1200? WAMG's signal in urban Boston is fairly good, but WKOX's is a lot stronger since moving to the Newton site with 50kW. I don't know enough about Spanish programming to know the musical or formatting differences between "Rumba" and "Mega". Then again, there may be some audience in metro-west (Framingham, etc...) who were abandoned (especially at night) when WKOX moved to Newton. WAMG with their Ashland transmitter could pick them up.

 

[raccoonradio]

Yes tonight 890 was coming in very clear here on North Shore with Spanish, La Nueva Mega or something--
even just after dark

 

[DanStrassberg]

Re: WAMG back on during evening of Wednesday 12/3/09

I heard an open carrier on 890 at 7:30PM Wed 12/3.

All well and good except last night was THURSDAY 12/3. Sorry! Too bad I indelibly enshrined the wrong day of the week in the thread title. Mea culpa.

 

[pqgeorge]

Re: WAMG back on during evening of Wednesday 12/3/09

I heard an open carrier on 890 at 7:30PM Wed 12/3. 890 was still running OC at 8:30 when I shut off the radio. Turned the radio on a little after 10:00PM. 890 was running // WLLH. Despite my non-existent grasp of SS, I heard mil quatro cientos (1400) and La Mega. So the WAMG calls apparently once again stand for Mega, the name of the one-time owner of the station that got the WAMG calls assigned. Whoever forecast that WAMG would return in November was wrong by only three days. So far, I haven't heard any legal ID, but I'm assuming that if I can make it out, I will hear WAMG Dedham.

Oh well, it was nice while it lasted being able to listen to "The Big 89!", WLS. Funny thing is, WLS was practically a "local" during the time the "Dedham" station was gone for the past few months. Well..... here we go again. Bye, bye, WLS...... BURRRRRRR!!

 

[DanStrassberg]

Re: WAMG back on during evening of Wednesday 12/3/09

Oh well, it was nice while it lasted being able to listen to "The Big 89!", WLS. Funny thing is, WLS was practically a "local" during the time the "Dedham" station was gone for the past few months. Well..... here we go again. Bye, bye, WLS...... BURRRRRRR!!

The only reasons I can think of for listening to WLS in this geographic area are 1) the sheer enjoyment of clear reception (no noticeable interference; very little fading) of an AM signal from nearly 1000 miles away and/or 2) you are an ultra-right-wing Conservative and you actually enjoy the venom and lies. Since I don't think reason #2 applies to you, Peter, what you got for the last couple of months will have to hold you for now. There are plenty of stations that are much closer to us than WLS (physically--not ideologically) and are more than happy to supply the same venom and lies delivered by the same arrogant, obnoxious "talent."

 

[raccoonradio]

Venom and lies are subjective; some would say the likes of Ed Schulz, Randi Rhodes, or Mike Malloy would fall into that category. Actually I wouldn't have minded a station locally putting on Hannity, Levin, Dennis Miller, Beck, Brian and the Judge, etc (though some of those shows are receivable from other stations not far away, or on sat. radio.) As for the likes of Rush and Hannity being on WLS, I believe they are ranked #1 and #2
nationally and people of all political stripes tune in.

Wasn't libtalker Jay Marvin on WLS at one time? Heard aircheck of him, not bad

 

[pqgeorge]

Re: WAMG back on during evening of Wednesday 12/3/09

Oh well, it was nice while it lasted being able to listen to "The Big 89!", WLS. Funny thing is, WLS was practically a "local" during the time the "Dedham" station was gone for the past few months. Well..... here we go again. Bye, bye, WLS...... BURRRRRRR!!

The only reasons I can think of for listening to WLS in this geographic area are 1) the sheer enjoyment of clear reception (no noticeable interference; very little fading) of an AM signal from nearly 1000 miles away and/or 2) you are an ultra-right-wing Conservative and you actually enjoy the venom and lies. Since I don't think reason #2 applies to you, Peter, what you got for the last couple of months will have to hold you for now. There are plenty of stations that are much closer to us than WLS (physically--not ideologically) and are more than happy to supply the same venom and lies delivered by the same arrogant, obnoxious "talent."

I'll be glad to answer that. Yes, I enjoy listening to WLS mainly because it IS a station from nearly 1000 miles away and the fact that I grew listening to "The Big 89!" since 1968. I was not happy that 1979, the Clear Channels have been destroyed including 890. During the past two months that WAMG has been silent, WLS came in clear as a bell virtually every night. As a result of the idiocy of destroying what was a vibrant broadcast band, we have an AM band that is a mess, up and down the dial. No, I do not subscribe to the type of politics that Hannity and Limbaugh spew out day in and day out. But, I frankly enjoy hearing these people make asses of themselves.

As for 890 in "Dedham"..... this is a station that really has NEVER worked. It has been through umpteen format changes, multiple ethnic formats and never has been a success. I mean, here is a station with a fairly good signal in a Top 10 market and it went silent, for months. Something wrong here. More than likely, this format will probably fail just like the others. After all, it's a dollar-a-holler station. And if the programmer doesn't pay, silence is the rule. And for this they jammed WLS? Oh well......

 

[MarcB]

When 890 became Tropical La Mega 890 WAMG after moving over from 1150AM they were successful, problem was their owner wasn't. Mega Broadcasting went bankrupt and eventually sold off all their stations. Mega's problem was bad decision after bad decision, but what ultimately killed them was when they spent nearly $45 million for 1380 AM in NYC and tried to launch an all-news in Spanish Format.

Other bad decisions was buying rim-shotters and trying to make them in-market stations. They bought WARE 1250 in Ware, MA and being that Ware is half way between Springfield and Worcester they tried to market it as Springfield and Worcester's Spanish station. Problem number 1 WARE's signal isn't that good in either city. Problem number 2 is Springfield already had a station playing Spanish Language Hit Music (POWER 1270W WSPR). Problem number 3, expecting a station on 1250 to be a player in a market that has a station on 1270.

And in the Philly-area. They bought WRDR 104.9 in Egg Harbor, New Jersey and tried to make it Philadelphia's first FM Spanish radio station. Problem was 104.9 couldn't be picked up in a large portion of Philadelphia. (During a trip out that way in 2003 after Mega had dumped the station I couldn't pick it up outside 30th Street Station - the Amtrak station). Today the station is doing what it's supposed to do. It's called SOJO 104.9 and is serving South Jersey.

 

[DanStrassberg]

Re: WAMG back on during evening of Wednesday 12/3/09

More than likely, this format will probably fail just like the others. After all, it's a dollar-a-holler station.

I could be wrong, but I don't think so. I don't think Gois's other stations (1310 in Worcester, 910, 1230, and 1480 in central CT, and 1400 in the Merrimack Valley) are leased time. Although many foreign-language stations are leased time, not all are. AFAIK, CCU's 1200 and 1430 are not, nor are Costa's 800 and 1490 in the Merrimack Valley. OTOH, I have not seen anything in the FCC actions about a trasnsfer of control of 890 from Waller Sutton to Gois. That may mean nothing because I could have missed it. But if there has not been a transfer of control, Waller Sutton may be retaining the license and LMAing the station to Gois. I believe, however, that Gois owns the other stations on which its programming appears. Ya gotta hope that, despite Gois's choice of the ill-fated La Mega name for its format, Gois management is a lot sharper than Mega Communications' was. The buzz about Gois on this board has been generally quite positive.