CCM and Southern New England

[freddyb590]

In an earlier post/thread, Retro wrote on K-Love's move to Massachusetts.

Southern New England is overall a tough place for CCM to survive. Besides the K-Love station (WKMY 91.1 Winchendon), the only other station doing 24/7 CCM in MA/CT/RI is WYCM 90.1 Charlton. (There is a group trying to put together a LPFM on Cape Cod.) All of these stations have less than a 20-mile broadcasting radius.

On a good day, WPTR 96.7 Clifton Park NY can be heard in Pittsfield and Stockbridge, MA. And, WMSJ 89.3 Freeport ME is attempting to get a translator to broadcast in Massachusetts' North Shore.

Otherwise, CCM is heard in 2- or 3-hour blocks on smaller radio staitons. There are CCM programs on WATD 95.9 Marshfield, WNSH 1570 Beverly, and WEZE 590 Medford/Boston--none of which are highly promoted.

VT, NH, and ME seem to have an okay representation of the format. But, could CCM survive in substantial form in Southern New England? There's not much room on the dial (especially in Boston); frequency acquisition would likely be in the tens of millions (even for AM); and funding might be difficult (whether by donation or advertising revenue). I doubt Salem will try anytime soon, with their troubles getting WTTT 1150 Lexington to succeed.

Thoughts?

 

[Retro]

> In an earlier post/thread, Retro wrote on K-Love's move to
> Massachusetts.
>
> Southern New England is overall a tough place for CCM to
> survive. Besides the K-Love station (WKMY 91.1 Winchendon),
> the only other station doing 24/7 CCM in MA/CT/RI is WYCM
> 90.1 Charlton. (There is a group trying to put together a
> LPFM on Cape Cod.) All of these stations have less than a
> 20-mile broadcasting radius.
>
> On a good day, WPTR 96.7 Clifton Park NY can be heard in
> Pittsfield and Stockbridge, MA. And, WMSJ 89.3 Freeport ME
> is attempting to get a translator to broadcast in
> Massachusetts' North Shore.
>
> Otherwise, CCM is heard in 2- or 3-hour blocks on smaller
> radio staitons. There are CCM programs on WATD 95.9
> Marshfield, WNSH 1570 Beverly, and WEZE 590
> Medford/Boston--none of which are highly promoted.
>
> VT, NH, and ME seem to have an okay representation of the
> format. But, could CCM survive in substantial form in
> Southern New England? There's not much room on the dial
> (especially in Boston); frequency acquisition would likely
> be in the tens of millions (even for AM); and funding might
> be difficult (whether by donation or advertising revenue).
> I doubt Salem will try anytime soon, with their troubles
> getting WTTT 1150 Lexington to succeed.
>
> Thoughts?
>

I think that the only real way that CCM would come to Boston is if somehow one of the major radio groups here was bought and had to do a spinoff. Perhaps Salem would then pick up a station just like they did a few years ago when Clear Channel bought a few stations that caused an overlap. Other than that, it is not likely to see CCM in Boston anytime soon.

As far as AM, it seems as though when anyone tries to do it, they make no money and end up putting paid ministry programming on the station instead. I remember WNRB, WJLT "J-Light" and WROL trying music for a little while in day-parts anyway. And oh, lets not forget WBIV (1060) and whatever was broadcasted on 890 as well.

 

[scooterodell]

It may take some time, but the move to HD radio will eventually make AM stations a viable music alternative and will allow FM signals to carry multiple audio streams. This will greatly increase the possibilities for CCM in New England, but it is still a couple years down the road for most listeners.

 

[wxctintern]

There was a semi-successful brokered CCM show on talk radio station WXCT 990 in Southington, CT (suburban Hartford) a couple years ago. The host had to give up the show because he had no time to do the show any more. The station has long since been sold and flipped to Spanish.