Understood.. but is still behooves me how that can be allowed.. how the FCC can approve the removal of a station from a City it's licensed to serve and approve its relocation to an already cluttered area... Taking the station out of the Hazleton area and convincing the FCC that Wilkes-Barre/Scranton needed another station is ludacris. Just because you buy a station, it should not grant you the right to move it.. these are not gas stations... they're frequencys that you work hard at getting to serve a specific area for a specific need... how can the FCC justify rippng that station out of that area is amazing, especially in light of what they've done with it.
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It's no secret that the FCC is becoming more and more accepting of these types of moves.
Look at Philadelphia in the last five years: two move-ins, both from New Jersey. The first was from inland southern New Jersey. 107.7 moved to 107.9 and a city of license in the Philly burbs so it could cover the core of the Philly metro. The second was a Trenton station - where there were only three commercial FMs! That station is just completing its antenna move (see the Philly board).
Look at Philadelphia in the last five years: two move-ins, both from New Jersey. The first was from inland southern New Jersey. 107.7 moved to 107.9 and a city of license in the Philly burbs so it could cover the core of the Philly metro. The second was a Trenton station - where there were only three commercial FMs! That station is just completing its antenna move (see the Philly board).
C
carlvenorden
Guest
Excellent discussion, and I'd like to add my dime to it.
First off, as pointed out, WILK already had 980 and 910 right next door to each other, so even though 910, at a fifth of it's wattage is better than WILK, it has a good signal allaround the area.
The Hazelton station is probably needed, but simulcasting WILK on 910 and 980 is a waste.
So is using the imported 103.1. Two wasted signals: is this because we have every format in NEPA on the air?.......no. There are a lot of formats not being aired right now, but we DO have a ton of translators not needed.
For instance, here in Wayne County (I"ll not name the frequencies...just the stations)...we have WQFM on at least two frequencies, WYCY on two, WILK on 4, and WPCN on two. Just a sampling.
If the WILK simulcast works on FM that will be a big deal; thoughout the country these things have consistantly failed. Personally I don't think the WILK product is worth having it on 4 frequencies, but as pointed out by another poster, loosing the conservative talk and putting on a more progressive local talker is a big plus. I would think using WILK-FM is more of a short term promotional idea, than a long term format.
Generally, most of the programming heard on WILK could be heard on more powerful stations from other states. It makes me more right on my comments above when you consider that WILK is on 4 frequencies (and that could have been 5 had they not sold 960 Mt. Pocono.........which until recently simulcasted WVPO from Stroudsburg, another wasted signal).
I'm an AM advocate, but in the case of these stations, and in order to clear up the frequencies, I would prefer that one station carry the format and that the other frequencies were signed off..........out of the 10 AM signals in NEPA, there are only 3 formats running......WARM...can't even be heard outside of Lackawanna.....what is up with that?
I was offered a job at 102.3 (and I forget the call at the time) about 15 years ago.....it was a disco type format.....I didn't take the job because I felt it was a "format of the month clubber", and it certainly has been that. But about 7 years ago they went with a 70's format under Jim Rising....not bad, and I was working in Dickson City and could hear it..........but it had a 200 song playlist that repeated itself before the 8 hour day was up. No wonder it didn't last...and there is 1500 70's hits that could have been played there. Guess the consultants got in there, OR, someone liked Mr. Roboto from Styx (a non-charting moo-moo hit) a little too much. The only FM's that do well out of Scranton are the Class B's.........they have the power to overcome the mountains.
Until a law is passed like they have in Canada, programming will be up to the stations, which it should be.......but the overlapping of the same programming is a waste of all space.
I would not program two or more stations with the same program on stations that overlap severely, but that is what we do here in NEPA.
Serving the public interest, we are WQFM Forest City, simulcasting from Nanticoke over an hour away.....hear us on 92.1 and 100.1 at the same time, in Quad. But, Forest City, we never mention any news from your neck of the woods because we don't have a public file in the tx room..........and our people live and work in Scranton.
Get the idea people?.......
Radio is no longer local.......ask XM and Sirius.
104.9, 103.1 and 102.3 are VERY local stations and they were meant to be so. They will never have an audience outside of Scranton, therefore, if a manager wanted to program Catholic or AAR, those stations would work just fine.
1550 with 10kW has an awful signal, and simulcasts 750 which has an awesome signal, albeit daytime only.
We have limited options.........picking and choosing them are a program directors' job.
Problem is, we are programming rap to a non-black audience, running the same talk on four radio stations, and simulcasting oldies on several radio stations all of which cover the same areas.
And because of this, you will not hear true oldies, local sports (Fox yes, local, no), smooth jazz, commercial classical,MOR, just 70's or even an AOR format on other than a class A (Rock 107), a progressive format, or anything other than easy listening, and rap hits on the radio in NEPA.
First off, as pointed out, WILK already had 980 and 910 right next door to each other, so even though 910, at a fifth of it's wattage is better than WILK, it has a good signal allaround the area.
The Hazelton station is probably needed, but simulcasting WILK on 910 and 980 is a waste.
So is using the imported 103.1. Two wasted signals: is this because we have every format in NEPA on the air?.......no. There are a lot of formats not being aired right now, but we DO have a ton of translators not needed.
For instance, here in Wayne County (I"ll not name the frequencies...just the stations)...we have WQFM on at least two frequencies, WYCY on two, WILK on 4, and WPCN on two. Just a sampling.
If the WILK simulcast works on FM that will be a big deal; thoughout the country these things have consistantly failed. Personally I don't think the WILK product is worth having it on 4 frequencies, but as pointed out by another poster, loosing the conservative talk and putting on a more progressive local talker is a big plus. I would think using WILK-FM is more of a short term promotional idea, than a long term format.
Generally, most of the programming heard on WILK could be heard on more powerful stations from other states. It makes me more right on my comments above when you consider that WILK is on 4 frequencies (and that could have been 5 had they not sold 960 Mt. Pocono.........which until recently simulcasted WVPO from Stroudsburg, another wasted signal).
I'm an AM advocate, but in the case of these stations, and in order to clear up the frequencies, I would prefer that one station carry the format and that the other frequencies were signed off..........out of the 10 AM signals in NEPA, there are only 3 formats running......WARM...can't even be heard outside of Lackawanna.....what is up with that?
I was offered a job at 102.3 (and I forget the call at the time) about 15 years ago.....it was a disco type format.....I didn't take the job because I felt it was a "format of the month clubber", and it certainly has been that. But about 7 years ago they went with a 70's format under Jim Rising....not bad, and I was working in Dickson City and could hear it..........but it had a 200 song playlist that repeated itself before the 8 hour day was up. No wonder it didn't last...and there is 1500 70's hits that could have been played there. Guess the consultants got in there, OR, someone liked Mr. Roboto from Styx (a non-charting moo-moo hit) a little too much. The only FM's that do well out of Scranton are the Class B's.........they have the power to overcome the mountains.
Until a law is passed like they have in Canada, programming will be up to the stations, which it should be.......but the overlapping of the same programming is a waste of all space.
I would not program two or more stations with the same program on stations that overlap severely, but that is what we do here in NEPA.
Serving the public interest, we are WQFM Forest City, simulcasting from Nanticoke over an hour away.....hear us on 92.1 and 100.1 at the same time, in Quad. But, Forest City, we never mention any news from your neck of the woods because we don't have a public file in the tx room..........and our people live and work in Scranton.
Get the idea people?.......
Radio is no longer local.......ask XM and Sirius.
104.9, 103.1 and 102.3 are VERY local stations and they were meant to be so. They will never have an audience outside of Scranton, therefore, if a manager wanted to program Catholic or AAR, those stations would work just fine.
1550 with 10kW has an awful signal, and simulcasts 750 which has an awesome signal, albeit daytime only.
We have limited options.........picking and choosing them are a program directors' job.
Problem is, we are programming rap to a non-black audience, running the same talk on four radio stations, and simulcasting oldies on several radio stations all of which cover the same areas.
And because of this, you will not hear true oldies, local sports (Fox yes, local, no), smooth jazz, commercial classical,MOR, just 70's or even an AOR format on other than a class A (Rock 107), a progressive format, or anything other than easy listening, and rap hits on the radio in NEPA.
NigelWick said:It all comes down to this: AM listenership is extremely low.
I'd bet respectable money that all AM signals in this market will be dark within ten years, if they can last that long. WILK is the only one that has a chance, and I'd say recent moves indicate that their long-range planning is taking them away from AM completely. WARM? Phewwww, not even a player. Sounds worse than a CB radio. Sad indeed.
I probably mentioned this before, but any discussion of AM's future reminds me of a comment made by Rick Dees in which he predicted that AM would soon be relegated to traffic reports and cab dispatching. Dees made that prediction in, oh, 1977/78. Personally, I don't think he was wrong.
J
joewhlm
Guest
Is ABC News still on WILK? When does the contract run out?
Is there a connection between Citidel and the ABC acquisition?
Will Scott Shannon's True Oldies be retained by ABC under their new owners?
Will Citadel want Hannity on their own stations?
Is there the possibility of a Talk FM going on the air in WB/Scranton thus an Entercom preemptive strike with an established brand in the market place?
Does having WILK on FM give Entercom a sales advantage equal to or greater than the current EZ revenue?
I can think of another half dozen questions that could explain, what appears to be a stupid move to simulcast WILK on 103.1.
Joe
Is there a connection between Citidel and the ABC acquisition?
Will Scott Shannon's True Oldies be retained by ABC under their new owners?
Will Citadel want Hannity on their own stations?
Is there the possibility of a Talk FM going on the air in WB/Scranton thus an Entercom preemptive strike with an established brand in the market place?
Does having WILK on FM give Entercom a sales advantage equal to or greater than the current EZ revenue?
I can think of another half dozen questions that could explain, what appears to be a stupid move to simulcast WILK on 103.1.
Joe
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