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Eastern Kentucky Radio

D

DanielD

Guest
I wonder how many radio stations are operating in Manchester, Kentucky now a days. I heard all of them suck now of days ive been away from Manchester for 23 years now and the only stations in town were WKLB & WWXL. What are those radio stations broadcast now a days because i cant pick up manchester radio stations up here where I live up here in Ashland. I heard there was three there now but I cant really believe that. I heard theres a war down there between the stations in that town. somebody please let me know something about the stations down in Manchester.
 
DanielD said:
I wonder how many radio stations are operating in Manchester, Kentucky now a days. I heard all of them suck now of days ive been away from Manchester for 23 years now and the only stations in town were WKLB & WWXL. What are those radio stations broadcast now a days because i cant pick up manchester radio stations up here where I live up here in Ashland. I heard there was three there now but I cant really believe that. I heard theres a war down there between the stations in that town. somebody please let me know something about the stations down in Manchester.
Click to expand...
I can't tell you about those stations but WSGS in Hazard sounds the same as it did decades ago...only difference is they occasionally play a current hit between all the 30-40 year old songs...and it's still in mono with 100,000 watts. Not that any of this is bad...hard to find a station with that kind of track record anywhere. It doesn't meet the definition of 'good radio', but apparently it's making some money in an economically disadvantaged area of the state while paying a substantial electric bill.
 
DanielD said:
I wonder how many radio stations are operating in Manchester, Kentucky now a days. I heard all of them suck now of days ive been away from Manchester for 23 years now and the only stations in town were WKLB & WWXL. What are those radio stations broadcast now a days because i cant pick up manchester radio stations up here where I live up here in Ashland. I heard there was three there now but I cant really believe that. I heard theres a war down there between the stations in that town. somebody please let me know something about the stations down in Manchester.
Click to expand...

Well, "now-a-days" there is only three stations serving Manchester. WWXL programs ESPN radio during the day and conservative talk at night. They have turned it around from the days of oldies music. WKLB has not changed. Larry is programming it the cheapest way he knows how. There was some debate on the board a few weeks ago about him not powering down at night.
WWLT is owned by Vernon Baldwin, Inc and programs religious and WTBK is programmed out of London and serves that area.
 
Hey guys thanks for all the info. I recently did talk to one of my family members today and from what he tells me WKLB & WTBK are really competeing down there in manchester. someone told me and this is really and I mean really hard for me to believe but does Larry have a live d.j down there of the evenings at 4pm over on WKLB. I wonder who owns that WTBK station or how it was even brought to town. I think its kind of stupid to have 3 radio stations in such a small little mountain town like Manchester. 2 is plenty in my opinion. From what I know they say all the music they play on those manchester stations and worth a shit. but they say there are some good anouncers cut out for radio down there at WTBK & WKLB. are there announcers really worth a shit. and heres another thing hard for me to believe. does two stations down there carry Clay County sports. is radio that competetive down there
 
Years ago, we young radio types would make fun of WSGS because it was so "small town". But I have respect for them today for the same reason since the dial became an automat.

It's worth noting WSGS stays mono for coverage. Those hollers aren't kind to FM stereo. Several times WSGS went stereo only to revert to mono because of the multipath. Regardless, WSGS has the biggest FM signal in the state.

It was weird twenty years ago Perry County had more AM stereo stations than FM stereo.
 
I always thought it was interesting that WKIC in Hazard was one of the last AM top 40 stations in America (not counting simulcasts of an FM). They were top 40 into 1998, I think. I know they were still top 40 in 1993 when I heard them, and they were one of the best I've ever heard.
 
I forgot they were Top 40 until the late 90's, in AM stereo no less. They were standards the last time I was in that neck of the woods.
 
This brings back a few memories for me. I worked at WEPM in Cumberland, Ky back around 1980/81. Jack Mills was the owner then. It was block programmed back then. George Bibb purchased it some time later and they also got an FM. After he passed the family sold the FM to someone that owns several stations in Norton Va. I remember WHLN in Harlan being top-40 back then and the last time I checked they were oldies.
 
>>I recently did talk to one of my family members today and from what he tells me WKLB & WTBK are really competeing down there in manchester.
>>and heres another thing hard for me to believe. does two stations down there carry Clay County sports. is radio that competetive down there

1) Just ask a particular barber in Manchester. He used to do a show for Little Richard Simmons, but now he does his bluegrass show on WTBK.
2) So far as I know, WWXL does not carry CCHS sports. It's only WTBK.
3) WTBK has studios on Courthouse Hill and is not programmed specifically for London. Earl Owens is one of the players at TBK. They have upped their power and can be heard as far east as Virginia and north as Richmond.
4) James Nolan bought WWXL and straightened out the mess the previous owners made. It is programmed at the Enterprise building in East Manchester.
5) WKLB stayed on till 7 pm every night this past week with full power until signoff, no ID, no nothing. Par for the course.
 
well catqcat very mature to mock me. all I was wanting to know about what the radio stations in manchester were doing. I can assure you that I dont know nobody who currently works in radio in Manchester and I dont work for a radio station. and calling people childish names really shows how stupid and ignorant you really are.
 
there's an aircheck of WWXL that's been floating around for decades...
best guess is from around 1977
lots of live sponsorsships...and the jock has the thickest accent and nasal delivery
ever heard on this planet (never gives his name)...

one of the best moments: "here are the top kentucky high school basket ball teams...first
place votes in parenthesese"...
or calling the band Styx..."styke"...

anyone know who that could have been?
 
romer979fm said:
there's an aircheck of WWXL that's been floating around for decades...
best guess is from around 1977
lots of live sponsorsships...and the jock has the thickest accent and nasal delivery
ever heard on this planet (never gives his name)...

one of the best moments: "here are the top kentucky high school basket ball teams...first
place votes in parenthesese"...
or calling the band Styx..."styke"...

anyone know who that could have been?
Click to expand...



That would be "Shotgun George". Somebody sent me that gem several years ago. God knows his heart was in the performance but "Shotgun George" was no "Shotgun Tom Kelly".
 
is that aircheck able to be heard on the internet somewhere
 
Hey Knoxbob
I think the radio station you worked for was WCPM in Cumberland NOT WEPM. WEPM is in Martinsburg West Virginia and at last check bills themselves as sports radio whereas WCPM bills themselves as country. What they were when you were there I do not know. I was not in the family at the time.
 
Can someone get on here and be honest and tell me how WKLB radio in manchester is being operated. And could tell me some of the people who work there
 
I have had the chance to speak with Larry Barker on a few occasions he needed a sports feed from my area.
He seems to be a nice guy trying to take care of a home town station all on his own. And that is NOT meant
to demean anyone else employd there. Like me, Larry is a guy that wears many hats in the station.
 
Re: Eastern Kentucky Radio, reply to trapper12

Hey Trapper12;

Thanks for pointing out he typo. It was WCPM. George Bibb was doing the sales, engineering and whatever else, jack showed up every no and then, mainly on payday to hand out the checks. The format was a little bit of everything, block format, I didn't stay too long there low pay and not much going on in that little town. Are you in the family now? I have been wanting to travel back that way to see how things have changed over the pas 28 years but just haven't found the time.
 
Manchester is extremely well-served, with four stations. Its much-richer, more populous neighbor London has five.

WTBK 105.7 is a full-service station, with news, obits, a daily tradio program, Clay County sports, oldies on Saturday morning, church all day on Sunday and bluegrass on Sunday nights. Their main playlist reaches from classic rock to modern alternative, with varying degrees of success. Owens and Hall are both class-acts.

WWXL 1450 plays the full ESPN lineup, with the exception time devoted to Hannity and Mark Levine in the evenings. They air lots of baseball in the summer, with a full slate of Reds games, all the ESPN baseball games and a few Chicago Cubs games. They air some Clay County coach interview shows, but no Clay County games.

WKLB 1290 is a one-of-a-kind outfit. They air a daily tradio and Clay County sports, as well as a hodgepodge of country countdown shows, mostly out-of-order and always turned up to the point of distortion. They are known to keep their power at the full 5k well past sundown on Clay County game nights.

As stated earlier, 103.1 WWLT is a Baldwin drone, and has been for 10 years. It was originally the FM service of WWXL before being split off.

Here are the wikipedia entries for two of the four Manchester stations.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWXL
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WKLB
 
I recently made a trip down to Manchester. May I Say that there is great talent in radio down there. This my personal opinion about these dj's. I listened to ollie hall on his morning show on FM 105. The guy is decent when it comes to being a d.j but the poor soul cannot read the news what so ever. Earl Owens is a good d.j and does real good with giving a newscast.

Now about the people at WKLB. Tyler Wolfe is absolutely one of the best dj's if not the best down in Manchester. He does one hell of a job being a D.J and also does a damn good job calling Clay County Sports for WKLB. Tyler is one of the best talents that Larry has had down there in a long time. And i certainly hope Tyler continues to succeed and I wouldn't be surprised if he were to make it to a large market someday. Now dont get me wrong Earl does a good job as well for WTBK calling Clay County Sports. If you asked me who does better at calling Clay County Sports its a draw. Tyler & Earl both do just as good at calling Clay County Sports.
What surprised me the most was that WKLB aired the 13th region girls championship game LIVE from Barbourville on a Sunday Afternoon and WTBK aired it on a tape delayed basis. WKLB did burn WTBK that day for that game. Tyler done the play by play of course for WKLB and Jake was doing the play by play for WTBK on that particular. Im sorry to say but Jake Sandlin takes a backseat to Tyler Wolfe because Tyler beats Jake by a long shot calling ball games. Cornbread also does a fine job for WKLB as well. I agree that its stupid they air a hodgepodge of country countdowns but they also have good live local dj's

WWXL has just went to hell and a handbasket. I dont see how there surviving on News & sports talk. They tried that format before they went to oldies and it failed. I dont see how well it will work for them a second time.

Bottomline there are some Class-acts for both WTBK & WKLB.
Earl Owens, Tyler Wolfe, & Cornbread are the best talents that town has.
Ollie needs to proofread his news better but he does good as a dj
 
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