Greater Media

[Retro]

Why has Greater Media always been successful with WMJX, but less than spectacular with their other signals? This has been a mystery to me.

 

[TravisWMLN]

I like the sound of their country station....but it's not as good as other ones i've heard in other markets...but I guess when you're the only game in town....

 

[FPB]

Interesting question! They bought Magic as-is at the time and they didn't make any changes. But I think that's true for the other stations too - at least mostly; not so sure about FMTalk.

 

[Retro]

WTKK was a fresh entry for them. The other stations more or less stayed the same. They did launch WROR as well, even tried classic rock, but wasn't too successful with it at all.

Now wasn't WBZ-FM a rock station at the time before the purchase as well?

 

[JustinT]

Interesting question! They bought Magic as-is at the time and they didn't make any changes. But I think that's true for the other stations too - at least mostly; not so sure about FMTalk.

WMJX was launched by Greater Media on January 1, 1982 on the 106.7 frequency that was previously home to WBZ-FM. Granted WBZ-FM ended in the summer of 1981, and GM also built new studios for 106.7 and moved the transmitter to Prudential, so saying that Magic was bought as-is is an extreme understatement.

Of the stations that Greater Media/Boston runs today, they've pretty much launched all of them. WTKK was their own launch (in 1999), WBOS was their own (2008, although the AAA was Ackerley's decision in 1989), WKLB's ancestry would be traced 50% to Fairbanks' WCLB (also in 1993) and 50% (or possibly more) to Greater Media's WBCS (in 1993), WMJX was their own launch (in 1982), and WROR was theirs (initially in 1997, and they've messed with the format a great deal since).

92.9 has always been less than successful, but I've always thought of WROR, WKLB, and WTKK being middle-of-the-pack rather than flops.

 

[Retro]

I think that I would have better put it as marginally successful than how I actually worded it.

 

[radiodouble]

Interesting question! They bought Magic as-is at the time and they didn't make any changes. But I think that's true for the other stations too - at least mostly; not so sure about FMTalk.

WMJX was launched by Greater Media on January 1, 1982 on the 106.7 frequency that was previously home to WBZ-FM. Granted WBZ-FM ended in the summer of 1981, and GM also built new studios for 106.7 and moved the transmitter to Prudential, so saying that Magic was bought as-is is an extreme understatement.

Of the stations that Greater Media/Boston runs today, they've pretty much launched all of them. WTKK was their own launch (in 1999), WBOS was their own (2008, although the AAA was Ackerley's decision in 1989), WKLB's ancestry would be traced 50% to Fairbanks' WCLB (also in 1993) and 50% (or possibly more) to Greater Media's WBCS (in 1993), WMJX was their own launch (in 1982), and WROR was theirs (initially in 1997, and they've messed with the format a great deal since).

92.9 has always been less than successful, but I've always thought of WROR, WKLB, and WTKK being middle-of-the-pack rather than flops.

you're gauging the success/failure of their formats on your own overgeneralizations. they also did also a good amount of frequency swapping(99.5,96.9, 105.7 and 102.5) and format changing/tweaking/merging(smooth jazz, talk, oldies/classic hits) in a relatively short period of time. all these moves were made due to a number of inside and outside factors(station sales, ratings, signal,etc) that forced some of their demos to stumble all over the dial at times. most of their moves paid off with the exception of wbos which had served a very finecky demo segment up until two months ago. their other four mass-appeal stations do pretty well and are consistent performers. wbos has now been positioned to be a mass-appeal station and it's going to take some time before you can tell whether that move was a success or failure.

 

[spilot113]

Interesting question! They bought Magic as-is at the time and they didn't make any changes.

Say what? Where did you get this crazy idea?

They bought the old bad signal WBZ-FM....I think it was dark at the time.

Greater Media rebuilt the transmitting facilities, raises the antenna height,, and signed on the format as Magic 106 in 1982.

They were responsible for picking executing the format and keeping it AC for 25 or so years!

Magic is Gr Media's baby....from birth to where it is now.

 

[Retro]

And outlived 4 other AC stations in the market too: WROR (the original one) WVBF, WSSH & whenever WLYT signed on and was around. All of these abandoned the format after a while.

 

[Time Traveler]

Interesting question! They bought Magic as-is at the time and they didn't make any changes.

Say what? Where did you get this crazy idea?

They bought the old bad signal WBZ-FM....I think it was dark at the time.

Greater Media rebuilt the transmitting facilities, raises the antenna height,, and signed on the format as Magic 106 in 1982.

Actually during the years that I listened to WBZ-FM, primarily 1972-1981, I don't recall the signal being bad at all. It seemed completely competitive with the other Boston rock signals of the time. As a matter of fact, I could pull it in on a car radio in Portland, Me weakly in those days too. Also, WBZ-FM became WMJX (still rock) in the summer of 1981.
WMJX was taken dark for a short period in January, 1982, before the new (yawn) format debuted. Hmmm...it hasn't been on any of my pre-sets since 1981 either...

 

[chrish]

WBZ-FM was not dark when Greater Media bought it....I know because I shut it off and dismantled the IGM automation system that sat in the WBZ radio master control. Westinghouse operated WBZ-FM with no commercials other than those that ran when WBZ-FM simulcast WBZ. I was told it was a way to avoid have to
pay union wages to staff it.
Greater Media shut it off to replace the transmitter and antenna while at the same time a new temporary air studio was built in what would become a storage area on
the right side when walking into the second floor new Majic studios oin the old Salada Tea building on the corner of Stuart and Berkley.
I seem to remember 106.7 was kept dark for a couple of months until we built
a competitive transmission facility.

 

[FPB]

>Say what? Where did you get this crazy idea? They bought the old bad signal WBZ-FM....I think it was dark at the time.
>
Oops! My mistake! I didn't know that Greater Media started Magic.

 

[aerie]

I have my own amusing (I think) Greater Media story. Back when 96.9 was smooth jazz WCDJ, for some reason I was sent a ratings diary by Arbitron every other month for 5 months (3 ratings diaries total with a month in between). I used to keep WCDJ on as kind of up-tempo background music at work all day. For the months I had a diary, WCDJ went up at least a point. The next month, when I didn't have a diary, they would go down a point. My neighbor happened to work for Greater Media in sales, and towards the end of that period I met him coming home one evening and said "How's business doing?". He commented "well we have the funniest thing...one of our stations ratings goes up and down like a yo yo and we can't figure out why". I didn't have the heart to tell him it was me! I wonder if someone can enlighten us as to typically how many diaries Arbitron bases the ratings on. I would like to believe the sampling is larger than I think it would have to be for one listener to make that kind of difference.

 

[Retro]

I actually got called to do an Arbitron diary last year. Ironically I did very little radio listening that week, however when I did listen, I mostly heard Greater Media stations, go figure.

 

[TSBench]

WBZ-FM was not dark when Greater Media bought it....I know because I shut it off and dismantled the IGM automation system that sat in the WBZ radio master control. Westinghouse operated WBZ-FM with no commercials other than those that ran when WBZ-FM simulcast WBZ. I was told it was a way to avoid have to
pay union wages to staff it.

I dunno. The engineers who babysat the automation were IBEW, the AM voice talent who cut liners were AFTRA, and most of the staff weren't in union slots anyway. IIRC, the program director for the FM was also the music director for the AM, and the producers who managed the automation were usually non-union production folks for the AM. When the FM was used to carry conflicting Bruins/Celtics games, the announcers were all AFTRA.

What was nice for Westinghouse is that they could write off the expenses (they pro-rated salaries for folks who worked on both stations) for the FM (which had nothing but expenses) against the AM profits (which were mucho) and still make money off the appreciation of the FM. I think, at the time, Westinghouse was concerned about the cross ownership rules and with the dominent AM in the market, plus a major television player in Channel 4, they thought that keeping the FM under the radar as non-commercial was a good idea.

Regards,
TSB

 

[mistermicrophone]

Actually during the years that I listened to WBZ-FM, primarily 1972-1981, I don't recall the signal being bad at all. It seemed completely competitive with the other Boston rock signals of the time. As a matter of fact, I could pull it in on a car radio in Portland, Me weakly in those days too. Also, WBZ-FM became WMJX (still rock) in the summer of 1981.
WMJX was taken dark for a short period in January, 1982, before the new (yawn) format debuted. Hmmm...it hasn't been on any of my pre-sets since 1981 either...

Yeah, you removing them from your pre-sets hasn't really hurt them...

 

[WLYNWAZNgm]

WBZ-FM back in the day

I was a college intern at WBZ-FM back in 1976. The only paid FM staff, at that time,
(as far as I know) was Program Director, Vinnie Perruzi. People I worked with there included
Ed McMann (then a high school student) and Mauzy Stafford and her brother, Marty.

The union guys who were in master control for the AM, at that time, didn't care a bit about what was
going over the FM. If you recall, that summer was shortly after a major management-union
problem at WBZ. Tensions were running high, with both sides blaming the other for the problems.
Years later, I worked for WBZ-TV for a time -- it was still a hotbed of unionism. I have been on both
sides of that fence - unionized versus non-union - I found that it cuts both ways, both good and bad...

Yea, I remember well the old IGM automation system! It ran on batch cards, had approximately
100 cart decks, which would hold carts with tape lengths up to 10:30. You would put several songs by the
same artist on each cart, adding a cue tone to the end to fire off the next one. Several half-track
reels were used as "emergency tapes" when the beast would crash. They included ID's PSA's, liners,etc.
I once saw it put about a dozen songs at the air at the same time, as the batch cards would get worn/folded, before it crashed!

It seems to me it was not a wise move to give a major market FM license, just as FM was coming
into it's own. Very shortsighted...

 

[wavelength9]

I remember Dave Maynard and Don Batting's top of the hour ID's alerting you that the music would continue after the latest news. Ed McMann grew up in Brighton I think he was working there before he could drive.

How was the station branded? Does anyone remember the tag lines?

Looking back, I don't think Westinghouse must have thought selling 106.7 was a good move.

Didn't the old Ch 5 own the 107.3 frequency now WAAF? Didn't they just give it away thinking FM was never going to anything?

 

[WLYNWAZNgm]

Ed McMann was originally from Mission Hill. We used to hang out
together some at the time, a real good guy, but we have
not kept in touch...

 

[Time Traveler]

I remember Dave Maynard and Don Batting's top of the hour ID's alerting you that the music would continue after the latest news. Ed McMann grew up in Brighton I think he was working there before he could drive.

How was the station branded? Does anyone remember the tag lines?

Looking back, I don't think Westinghouse must have thought selling 106.7 was a good move.

Didn't the old Ch 5 own the 107.3 frequency now WAAF? Didn't they just give it away thinking FM was never going to anything?

In the early to middle 70s the station was branded as "Rocking Stero 106.7" and "All Hits All The Time...BZ-FM"...
Aound 1979, I noticed them branding it as "New Wave Stereo 106.7 WBZ-FM" and later on they rounded it up to "Z-107".
I have never heard that WHDH-TV Channel 5, had any connection with 107.3 in Worcester. In the early years of 107.3,
the station was known as WAAB-FM and only broadcast with 1.65 kilowatts. The first year of so of WAAF as rock back in 1970, continued with that low powered signal too. I was told by a WAAF Program Director back in 1977, that Top 40 WAAB and WAAF were actually owned by a record company until 1971, which might help to explain the 1970 flip to progressive rock for WAAF.