Boston Needs a Urban A/C Station ( I said it over and over again )

[mescutia]

http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n243/garethpostans/not_this_shit_again.jpg

THIS IS A RADIO BOARD ! If It was so easy to start up a radio station, why are there so many W I L D Former staff at Pirate 106.1 Touch-FM ?

Because they're too lazy to take jobs at other stations or move to markets where there are job openings at urban stations? Just a guess.

 

[MUGrad]

If there was truly a "need", a station would do it. A "need" in a market would indicate profitability, would it not? No profit, no dice on a given format. And the existence of a pirate broadcasting that particular format is *not* proof of its viability. Pirates have no where near the over-head or actual costs of a legal station. Forget the costs for getting and maintaining proper licenses, is the Pirate paying proper royalties and fees for the music they play (ASCAP, BMI, etc)? I'm going to guess no. It doesn't take much for them to turn a profit in that case, just as in many other illegal ventures.

Seems to me after years of reading these forums, the people who clamor for one format or another or consistently slam on another format/station are basically seeking the same thing: stations formatted to their own personal tastes and preferences. You know what...such a thing already exists without changing a single radio station format: IPOD. Do us all a favor, invest $500 in an iPod and an iTunes account, program that to your heart's content, and give it a rest already. The act is getting stale.

Dont like it, dont read it . Its just that simple .

Same could be said about all these radio stations you claim are so bad. "Radio Stations of Hell" is what your signature says, no? Don't like it, don't listen to it. It's just that simple. Try an iPod.

I only spoke up because this is something like the 10th thread I've seen on this forum on this topic. We get it. You think Boston radio stinks and needs urban A/C.

 

[rapking]

New Urban A/C Music That may not be played on Boston Legal station ( will be played on College stations).
1)----- JOE --- E.R. (Emergency Room)( Maybe Jamn)
2)------ MINT CONDITION --- Nothing Left To Say( NO)
3)-------ALICIA KEYS - --Superwoman ( This song should be on Jamn and Kiss and Mix, later on Majic )
4)------- DWELE --- I'm Cheatin' ( No)
5)------- JENNIFER HUDSON - --Spotlight ( Maybe on Jamn soon)
6)---------LEIGH JONES --- Free Fall f/Clark Anderson ( NO)
7)---------MARY MARY --- Get Up (NO)
8 )--------- JON B. --- Oh So Sexy f/Paul Wall ( Legend R&B star and he is White, slim chance on Jamn)
9)-----------LIVIN OUT LOUD ---- I Can't Stop (NO)
10)--------- ANTHONY HAMILTON --- Cool f/Ashes Clay ( NO )
11)----------- CHARLIE WILSON --- Homeless ( A Legend from The Gap Band , NO )
12)----------- LEDISI - --Joy ( NO )
13--------------ROBIN THICKE - --Magic ( A New R&B Star and he is White, Slim Chance on JAMN )
14)--------------TERRY DEXTER --- I'm Free (NO )
BOSTON NEEDS A URBAN A/C STATION ( Yes This iSH Again ) ! Nobody listening to 97.7,101.7,890,1510 and so on !

 

[dumber than a box of hair]

To the People whom said that Urban A/C cant work in New England ( Boston ) , Take a look at New Haven CT, 12 plus ratings . WYBC 94.3 ( Small FM Signal ) is tied with Hip Hop Giant WZMX Hot 93.7 for the First Place . I said it before and I will say it again, Boston needs a Urban A/C station ( AM or FM, small or big signal ) To many rock stations are hittin Rock bottom or a waste of a radio signals ( 101.7,92.9,97.7,93.7,890,590,1510 ). Until there is a legel Urban A/C station, I will say, Touch today,Touch Tomorrow, and Touch Forever ( Pirate 106.1 Touch FM ) !

To those of us who are (again) putting up with rapking's lather-rinse-repeat routine, it may be appropriate to remember those immortal words, lifted from Usenet: Please don't feed the troll.

 

[ZRXOA 5248]

well you are correct about 1510, and in what I consider a desperation move they have moved into "dollar a holler" radio.

They are not going to be able to keep this up much longer.... are they?

The word on the street is that 1510's tower rent is huge money. Office/Studio space can be had for short money these days so that expense isn't all that high, there should be someplace within the 25 (?) miles of the C.O.L. where studio space can be had for short money but IF someone was to buy 1510 the question is where do you put the broadcast facilities?

NIMBY is alive and well in MA, even with FCC and court rulings about antenna placement, but where could a group with venture capital move the antenna(s) to?

I think one of the prohibitive costs of getting an AM or keeping an AM on the air is the amount of land required for the towers and ground radials, and the path to salt water that makes AM work so well.

Look at 1090 WILD. For a zillion years they were this stand alone tower between Wellington Station and Malden Station on the Orange line. Then Ed Markey (if you think he bleeped up the cable TV industry you should see this cluster bleep) and friends decided to let Malden, Medford and Everett get in on the telecom boom, just as it crashed, but not before they took all the land by eminent domain, and the rest is history. Telecom city never materialized, now the only thing there is a nifty boat house for Tuft's rowing crew . WILD's tower is gone, it is now DiPlexed on 1430's tower next to Wellington station. With Cheap Channel being recently bought out, and KISS108 and WXKS AM now over on Cabot Rd with sister station 94.5, how long will it be before they turn the old WKXS building and AM tower facility gets turned into a T parking facility?

The WLYN tower is not going to support any more than WLYN and WNSH, Salem's Lynn Marsh Rd tower that hosts WROL ( on the remnants of an old WNAC tower) , had considered moving up onto the rocky area behind Kappy's Liquors on Rt 1, but as soon as the app was filed, they pulled it in favor of a rebuild of the current site. That was 2 years ago (?) and I don't see any sign of life over there, and I don't read the FCC daily digests anymore so I have no idea what is going on with the application. An AM up on the old FNX tower up behind Malden Hospital.... not likely with the power they'd want.

What else is close by? 590's 2 tower array across from the State Police at Wellington Circle.

My point is with the amount of real estate required for a AM to make it in this market, where do you go even if you had the money to buy a license at a fire sale.

 

[Eli Polonsky]

My point is with the amount of real estate required for a AM to make it in this market, where do you go even if you had the money to buy a license at a fire sale.

I don't know the status of WMKI's site by the Neponset River in Quincy, or in the general area around it, but location-wise it would be a great spot for an AM to serve Boston's urban neighborhoods. I lived in Dorchester about twenty years ago, and 1260 blasted in there.

If 1510 could be bought and moved there, it could serve the Boston neighborhoods well with a directional signal that wouldn't get out to the west suburbs, but would be loud and clear all over urban Boston (except maybe in Brighton) even at 5 kW, like the old original WMEX. It would blast up the North Shore, too.

 

[Retro]

Ok, lets look at this from a pure business perspective (again) as a radio corporation.

Clear Channel: 2 top rated stations programming the genre, why mess with success?

CBS: doing well with their 4 signals relatively. Mix, ZLX, Oldies and BCN. They pretty much have the Male audience down with BCN and ZLX. Oldies does fairly well in their demo and Mix corners the women's end. But lets see, lets blow up one of these and do R&B instead, nah we are doing well as it is and format changes are expensive!

Entercom: WMKK, low overhead, highly profitable. WAAF, it serves their purposes. AM WEEI, top rated, WRKO, we have Howie Carr & the Red Sox invested on our brand name! nuff said.

Greater Media: Magic, only soft rock station in Boston. WROR, Loren and Wally, nuff said! WKLB, does fairly well in its niche. WTKK, we're beating 'RKO! WBOS, this new format will take hold.

Phoenix Radio, great way to advertise our newspaper, besides we have the college market also.

Now did I miss anybody?

 

[radiorama1]

If there was truly a "need", a station would do it. A "need" in a market would indicate profitability, would it not? No profit, no dice on a given format. And the existence of a pirate broadcasting that particular format is *not* proof of its viability. Pirates have no where near the over-head or actual costs of a legal station. Forget the costs for getting and maintaining proper licenses, is the Pirate paying proper royalties and fees for the music they play (ASCAP, BMI, etc)? I'm going to guess no. It doesn't take much for them to turn a profit in that case, just as in many other illegal ventures.

Seems to me after years of reading these forums, the people who clamor for one format or another or consistently slam on another format/station are basically seeking the same thing: stations formatted to their own personal tastes and preferences. You know what...such a thing already exists without changing a single radio station format: IPOD. Do us all a favor, invest $500 in an iPod and an iTunes account, program that to your heart's content, and give it a rest already. The act is getting stale.

If there was truly a "need", $$$ to be made, a station would do it.

Radio companies (including the one I work for) could give a RAT'S REAR END about the wants and needs of the average radio listener.

As the above poster stated, the bottom line is "is it going to make money???" ... that's all they care about.

If a big corporation could stuff their pockets filling a signal with polka music 24/7, BELIEVE ME they would do it. :

Sad but true.

 

[12 In a Row]

If there was truly a "need", a station would do it. A "need" in a market would indicate profitability, would it not? No profit, no dice on a given format. And the existence of a pirate broadcasting that particular format is *not* proof of its viability. Pirates have no where near the over-head or actual costs of a legal station. Forget the costs for getting and maintaining proper licenses, is the Pirate paying proper royalties and fees for the music they play (ASCAP, BMI, etc)? I'm going to guess no. It doesn't take much for them to turn a profit in that case, just as in many other illegal ventures.

Seems to me after years of reading these forums, the people who clamor for one format or another or consistently slam on another format/station are basically seeking the same thing: stations formatted to their own personal tastes and preferences. You know what...such a thing already exists without changing a single radio station format: IPOD. Do us all a favor, invest $500 in an iPod and an iTunes account, program that to your heart's content, and give it a rest already. The act is getting stale.

If there was truly a "need", $$$ to be made, a station would do it.

Radio companies (including the one I work for) could give a RAT'S REAR END about the wants and needs of the average radio listener.

As the above poster stated, the bottom line is "is it going to make money???" ... that's all they care about.

If a big corporation could stuff their pockets filling a signal with polka music 24/7, BELIEVE ME they would do it. :

Sad but true.

I disagree, radio IS a business and the successful ones, those making $$$$$$ are making it because they do care about the average listener.
If there was a huge demand for 24/7 polka music, you would be a fool if you didn't do the format.

I would prefer to work for the station that runs like a business. I like getting paid lots of $$$$.

 

[BRNout]

Ok, lets look at this from a pure business perspective (again) as a radio corporation.

Clear Channel: 2 top rated stations programming the genre, why mess with success?

CBS: doing well with their 4 signals relatively. Mix, ZLX, Oldies and BCN. They pretty much have the Male audience down with BCN and ZLX. Oldies does fairly well in their demo and Mix corners the women's end. But lets see, lets blow up one of these and do R&B instead, nah we are doing well as it is and format changes are expensive!

Entercom: WMKK, low overhead, highly profitable. WAAF, it serves their purposes. AM WEEI, top rated, WRKO, we have Howie Carr & the Red Sox invested on our brand name! nuff said.

Greater Media: Magic, only soft rock station in Boston. WROR, Loren and Wally, nuff said! WKLB, does fairly well in its niche. WTKK, we're beating 'RKO! WBOS, this new format will take hold.

Phoenix Radio, great way to advertise our newspaper, besides we have the college market also.

Now did I miss anybody?

This is a pretty good summary of the problem: who owns what. Although I do not agree that WBOS and WAAF are in some way indispensable (both have suckey ratings), nothing will happen under the current ownership scheme. The issue of limited ownership in this market is one big reason why it is the least formatically diverse big market in the US. But don't be fooled, not every station is doing well. It's just that the poor performers seem to be loss leaders that seem to serve a purpose for their owners (hello, WFNX?). Anywhere else, either WBOS or WAAF would have been blown up by now courtesy of flagging ratings. But, not in Boston.

There almost certainly is a market for a good urban/AC or (even more likely) a mainstream urban that incorporates elements of urban/AC and urban contemporary in Boston. The trouble is that NO ONE who owns an FM stick in the market would even give it a try. So, everyone is stuck in a market where rock-based and AC formats are on a huge number of frequencies while two very tightly programmed stations that represent the only "different" sounds in the market end up locking up the #1 and #2 spots.

Come to Boston from any other market, twist the dial, and you're immediately struck by how bland the musical choices are. Hang out in the suburbs and its even worse (counting the rimshots). For me, coming back to visit becomes a journey back in time. More classic rock than I can shake a stick at. And, that's what I end up listening to because there's little else on FM that interests me there (North Shore 104.9 is a nice exception to that). I hear lots of "dinosaur rock" that doesn't cut it anymore in other big cities. But, living in the Boston area, that stuff would get old fast.

In summary, while I agree 110% with rapking, I also do not see it happening because the Boston FM market is pretty much locked up.

 

[Rick Anderson]

??!...LOL
For a lot of factors.
Some of these would only fit
(unless dayparted) and/or the labels aren't really working them!

New Urban A/C Music That may not be played on Boston Legal station ( will be played on College stations).
1)----- JOE --- E.R. (Emergency Room)( Maybe Jamn)
2)------ MINT CONDITION --- Nothing Left To Say( NO)
3)-------ALICIA KEYS - --Superwoman ( This song should be on Jamn and Kiss and Mix, later on Majic )
4)------- DWELE --- I'm Cheatin' ( No)
5)------- JENNIFER HUDSON - --Spotlight ( Maybe on Jamn soon)
6)---------LEIGH JONES --- Free Fall f/Clark Anderson ( NO)
7)---------MARY MARY --- Get Up (NO)
8 )--------- JON B. --- Oh So Sexy f/Paul Wall ( Legend R&B star and he is White, slim chance on Jamn)
9)-----------LIVIN OUT LOUD ---- I Can't Stop (NO)
10)--------- ANTHONY HAMILTON --- Cool f/Ashes Clay ( NO )
11)----------- CHARLIE WILSON --- Homeless ( A Legend from The Gap Band , NO )
12)----------- LEDISI - --Joy ( NO )
13--------------ROBIN THICKE - --Magic ( A New R&B Star and he is White, Slim Chance on JAMN )
14)--------------TERRY DEXTER --- I'm Free (NO )
BOSTON NEEDS A URBAN A/C STATION ( Yes This iSH Again ) ! Nobody listening to 97.7,101.7,890,1510 and so on !

 

[ciao99]

New Urban A/C Music That may not be played on Boston Legal station ( will be played on College stations).
1)----- JOE --- E.R. (Emergency Room)( Maybe Jamn)
2)------ MINT CONDITION --- Nothing Left To Say( NO)
3)-------ALICIA KEYS - --Superwoman ( This song should be on Jamn and Kiss and Mix, later on Majic )
4)------- DWELE --- I'm Cheatin' ( No)
5)------- JENNIFER HUDSON - --Spotlight ( Maybe on Jamn soon)
6)---------LEIGH JONES --- Free Fall f/Clark Anderson ( NO)
7)---------MARY MARY --- Get Up (NO)
8 )--------- JON B. --- Oh So Sexy f/Paul Wall ( Legend R&B star and he is White, slim chance on Jamn)
9)-----------LIVIN OUT LOUD ---- I Can't Stop (NO)
10)--------- ANTHONY HAMILTON --- Cool f/Ashes Clay ( NO )
11)----------- CHARLIE WILSON --- Homeless ( A Legend from The Gap Band , NO )
12)----------- LEDISI - --Joy ( NO )
13--------------ROBIN THICKE - --Magic ( A New R&B Star and he is White, Slim Chance on JAMN )
14)--------------TERRY DEXTER --- I'm Free (NO )
BOSTON NEEDS A URBAN A/C STATION ( Yes This iSH Again ) ! Nobody listening to 97.7,101.7,890,1510 and so on !

Jon B is a Rhode Island native.
It's really lame that local adult R&B singers can't get airplay on their home turf.