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CC Utica: The Island of Misfit Call Letters

fybush

fybush

Administrator
Staff member
First, there was WOKR 93.5 Remsen...and now another unwanted set of upstate NY TV call letters has landed in the cluster. So much for half a century of WLFH; it's now WIXT 1230. Not that anyone will notice or anything...(except us!)<P ID="signature">______________
Tower Site Calendar 2005 NOW AVAILABLE! - <a target="_blank" href=http://www.fybush.com/nerw.html#calendar>www.fybush.com</a></P>
 
> First, there was WOKR 93.5 Remsen...and now another unwanted
> set of upstate NY TV call letters has landed in the cluster.
> So much for half a century of WLFH; it's now WIXT 1230. Not
> that anyone will notice or anything...(except us!)

The news about dumping the WIXT call letters on WLFH makes me sad. WLFH was my first job in broadcasting as a weekend jock while a junior in high school. WLFH was, also, my first full time gig after college. It was a local station that had its up & downs over the years. After Clear Channel took it over they made it just a totally automated sports station with any local programing coming out of Utica. From what I have been told, there is nothing in the building except the the transmitter. It just shows once again these huge corperations have no regard for the local communities. WLFH and stations like it should be owned locally, by people who belong to the Elks Club, the Rotary, etc. People who have an interest in the community. And ironically, I used to work at WOKR-13, too. I have to say, while at WOKR, I have never worked with a staff and management that cared more about the product being put out over the air. There was a great deal of pride in working at WOKR and serving Rochester with the best television possible.
 
I totally agree with everyone that local people should own these smaller AM stations and serve the community better. Having started in Rome some 30-years ago, I can remember the old WKAL as part of the Rome community for years until we were purchased by the FROG group. It's too bad Clear Channel doesn't pay attention to WLFH, now WIXT. It is true that only the transmitter and a small mixer board is in the building because I still do some play-by-play free lance on Clear Channel and we they do some local football or basketball games from the Valley, they seperate the 4-AM signals and run the Little Falls station on it's own. But other than that, it is just a simulcast of their regular programming.

Dave
 
Jeez, I'm gonna get all misty eyed.

> I totally agree with everyone that local people should own
> these smaller AM stations and serve the community better.

In a perfect world that's true, but we don't live in a perfect world. We live in a world where it can be damn hard for a small station to make money. A world where that big lump sum from a corporation starts looking mighty attractive after years of having to scrimp and scramble to make payroll.

I think the worst part of the whole WLFH fiasco is that one of the kindest, most hard working broadcasters CNY has ever seen, a man who literally gave his life to that station, doesn't have a damn thing to show for it. He poured his blood, sweat, and tears into WLFH, making it an integral part of the community on so many levels it boggles the mind. I won't embarrass him by naming him, but if you're at all familiar with WLFH you know exactly who I'm talking about. He's one of the handful of people I've met in my life that I genuinely admire. In a perfect world he'd now be enjoying a comfortable retirement built on the fruits of building long-term relationships with advertisers and creating a truly community-based radio station. Instead, he's got jack.

In my time in radio there have been a lot of whiny little punks who complain about how harsh this business can be just because the boss won't let them say "assmunch" on the air, or some such.

They have no freakin' idea how petty their problems are.

Your friend forever,
Biggus Dickus
 
Clear channel loves to talk about how they are local, but to park some
call letters on a station thats been there for years and for the love of god stands for Little Falls/Herkimer, just sucks. I bet he locals down there that still listen are pissed.
 
> I bet the locals down there that still listen are
> pissed.

Yeah, ALL 3 of them must be going crazy! (But we'll never know, because Arbitron apparently still hasn't found them.)

The real shame, however, isn't the call letters. It's them "rescuing" Regent's big throwaway last year. He didn't do anything spectacular on 950... what kinds of miracles did they expect him to bring to the Stars?

Hashmarks then, hashmarks now. Why bother? They'd probably make more money with the same zero ratings, brokering out those stations to some religious network.
 
Re: Jeez, I'm gonna get all misty eyed.

> > I totally agree with everyone that local people should own
>
> > these smaller AM stations and serve the community better.
>
>
> In a perfect world that's true, but we don't live in a
> perfect world. We live in a world where it can be damn hard
> for a small station to make money. A world where that big
> lump sum from a corporation starts looking mighty attractive
> after years of having to scrimp and scramble to make
> payroll.
>
> I think the worst part of the whole WLFH fiasco is that one
> of the kindest, most hard working broadcasters CNY has ever
> seen, a man who literally gave his life to that station,
> doesn't have a damn thing to show for it. He poured his
> blood, sweat, and tears into WLFH, making it an integral
> part of the community on so many levels it boggles the mind.
> I won't embarrass him by naming him, but if you're at all
> familiar with WLFH you know exactly who I'm talking about.
> He's one of the handful of people I've met in my life that I
> genuinely admire. In a perfect world he'd now be enjoying a
> comfortable retirement built on the fruits of building
> long-term relationships with advertisers and creating a
> truly community-based radio station. Instead, he's got
> jack.
>
> In my time in radio there have been a lot of whiny little
> punks who complain about how harsh this business can be just
> because the boss won't let them say "assmunch" on the air,
> or some such.
>
> They have no freakin' idea how petty their problems are.
>
> Your friend forever,
> Biggus Dickus
>


Unfortunately the business can be so fragile that it takes a couple of miscalculations and Wow! your life's work can go right down the drain. It's a damn shame, because WLFH was well respected in the community and now its an empty building with playing generic programming.

I wonder if they left the broomstick that was used to operate the air conditioner?
 
Calling Dr. Bombay!

> I wonder if they left the broomstick that was used to
> operate the air conditioner?

Speaking of broomsticks, how is your daughter Isabel?

Combine a reference like that with a discussion of WLFH and you might as well put your name up in neon.

Update: Bleh. You're not JP after all. ISP's don't match.

Carry on. Nothing to see here.

Your friend forever,
Biggus Dickus
 
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