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Hagerstown

What is everyone's opinion of the Hagerstown radio market? Such has great stations, formats offered, favorite morning shows, etc.
 
Hagerstown has always been kind of a weird market because of the convoluted geographies involved--so many PA and WV stations--and Frederick. Even among radio people there's still confusion by what the "Hagerstown" market really means.

About 30 years ago a couple of Pennsylvania stations (WEEO & WIKZ) persuaded Arbitron to create a "market" combining Franklin County (Chambersburg & Waynesboro) with Hagerstown and call it the "Hagerstown-Chambersburg-Waynesboro" radio market. Those PA stations had always taken a few bucks out of Hagerstown, but they figured that this move would allow them to take a LOT of money out of H-town. And they were right.

As a result, radio stations based in Franklin County generally dominate the Arbitron market and take an inordinate share of agency bucks allotted for the Hub City. One of those stations--WAYZ--subsequently bought a Hagerstown FM and shifted from Waynesboro-licensed 101.5 to Hagerstown-licensed 104.7 about ten years ago. But it's still operated out of Greencastle, PA.

To confuse matters even more, WQCM--long on Halfway-licensed 96.7--is now on Greencastle-licensed 94.3, and both of those are run (essentially) from Chambersburg, PA. And Williamsport's 95.9 is run from West Virginia... and Hagerstown-licensed 106.9 is operated (essentially) from Frederick. It's AM sister, 1490, is a pure computer play, so it may as well be run from Mumbai.

In other words, at this point, the only radio station actually being operated from Hagerstown, Maryland is 1240/WJEJ up on Haven Road. Real live human beings working on Washington County soil.

But I'm just being a picky old bastard in pointing out such things. It's still an interesting "market," and I'll add a few more thoughts later.
 
Part Deux: A "Best of Hagerstown Radio" Review...

WAYZ: well-programmed & well-promoted conventional Country FM with the biggest stick in the region (a "grandfathered" B+ on the Blue Ridge). The signal upgrade to 104.7 didn't really help them all that much, but it does make them pretty tough to beat--as one of only two stations fully-audible throughout both Franklin & Washington counties. Number One (12+) for around 20 years?

WIKZ: the other FM completely covering both "metro" counties. Heritage contemp, morphing from CHR roots into a maninstream AC leaning toward the "hot" side--just enough to discourage a real Hot AC from attacking their younger end. Terrific local morning act and dominant positioning in Chambersburg, with just enough strength in Maryland to be a consistent #2 (12+) and frequent #1 in the money demos (W25-54 & A25-54).

WWEG: The third local Class B (50-kw equivalent) in the market (although to correct my own entry above, 106.9 is now licensed to Myersville--in Frederick County). For all intents and purposes, a Frederick radio station. Programming? Not bad, not sensational. Classic Hits posing as Classic Rock. Nassau has been on the brink of collapse--aren't they owned and operated by Goldman Sachs, now?

More later... I've got work to do...
 
jackandcoke said:
And Williamsport's 95.9 is run from West Virginia

Very true !!!! Pretty much forgotten now but when Prettyman Broadcasting bought the old WYII-FM 95.9, plans were to actually move them ( and then 97.5 WKMZ ) into Hagerstown's Valley Mall near where the old movie theatres were. Acutally for a time WYII and WKMZ had their sales offices in that wing but once Valley Mall had landed the Hechts department store chain ( now Macys ) and went forward to expand that mall, either Valley Mall or Prettyman ( forgot which one ) decided to give up on a mall location for WYII & WKMZ.

Martinsburg's WLTF-FM "Lite 97.5", even though they have done somewhat well in the Hagerstown market, I have a feeling they are slowly giving up as far as the Hagerstown market is concerned in favor of Winchester, Virginia. Main reason is the recent firing of long time Hagerstown jock Stacy Drake in favor of Joe Sanchez ( a well known WINCHESTER jock ) and the fact that recently I have notice a large increase in ads for Winchester area businesses on WLTF and fewer ads from Hagerstown/Chambersburg. Add all of this to the fact that WLTF recently spent money on promoting several events at the recent Winchester Apple Blossom Festival ( they have never done THAT before ). Questionable move considering that Winchester has always been more/less two station market ( Q102 and 92.5 WINC-FM ) and WLTF has never really done that well in that market. But then again Winchester's Q102 had recently fired two long time popular jocks ( Chuck Carroll and Elwood King ) and their is no shortage of local bitching about that move plus rumors are floating around that market right now that WINC-FM may lose morning guy Barry Lee sometime in the near future since his "first love" was his local TV cable talk show which Comcast recently cancelled after being on the air for decades, so maybe WLTF/Prettyman is looking at all of this and thinking..well "why not Winchester?".

WYII..ok WICL 95.9..for the longest time the rumor ( somewhat confirmed by their own sales staff last year ) was they would end up simulcasting Martinsburg's WEPM 1340 AM to create a FM sports talker for both Martinsburg and Hagerstown. but with WICL's recent loss of the Hagerstown Suns to WJEJ and WEPM's program/sports director and morning host Jay Young's recent massive stroke, I would imagine those plans are on hold if they weren't dropped all together.

I myself would not be surprised if WICL is sold within the next year or two. Of course who would want them or who could buy them? I know WQCM/WHAG was looking at WYII 95.9 back in the 90s before Prettyman got their hands on them from the late Ken Smith. Maybe WJEJ would take them and bring back the old WWMD and their "easy listening" format to 95.9 FM. Nah..doubt that would happen either.
 
Been a long time since I heard any radio out of Hagerstown, although I used to listen regularly to WARX FM. Now that was a neat little station.
 
Okay, where was I?

But first, yeah, the old 106.9/WARX was pretty decent--at least it had some character to it, and some legit local presence. Gene and his brother done good.

And I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for 95.9 to be sold outright. Best bet is that they'll fold it and the rest of Prettyman Broadcasting into the related First Media, which owns 25 or 30 stations in the Mid-Atlantic. But 95.9 hasn't been a player since they flipped the AC formatted WLTF from 95.9 to the bigger 97.5 signal 7 or 8 years ago. FWIW, 95.9 remains sort of a "wild card" in the H-town market. They could still surprise us.

Back to the reveiw...

WFYN... er, WBHB: You know, the one at 101.5. This is really the third best Class B signal, I suppose--maybe even the second--since 106.9's stick is pretty far south and misses chunks of northern Franklin--and 95.1's stick is outside Chambersburg and loses some punch toward the Potomac. Anyway, 101.5 shares the Classic Rock pie with 106.9--and, of the two, is more the rocker. Hagerstown has more AC/DC and Def Leppard tunes on the radio than any 50-year old white guy could ever want.

WLTF: The 5th Class B serving the market, but a major factor only in Hagerstown--not in Chambersburg--since the stick is down in WV. As a result, their general showing of 5th or 6th in the market reflects #3 or #4 rankings in the Hub City--and #2 or #3 positions in the chick demos. Soft AC, using too much syndication (Tesh & Delilah) for my taste--but I'm not the target. LTF probably does better sales-wise than most radio folks think. Lotta $$$ in W25-54.

WQCM: The best Class A stick in the market--right in the middle, at Greencastle. Moving QCM from 96.7 in Halfway to 94.3 in Greencastle was a brilliant stroke. Kudos to the erstwhile Chambersburg Broadcasting. It allowed QCM to cover the whole market instead of just half. John Boy & Billy in the morning and the only Active Rocker left. The last of a dying breed. However, having two Classic Rockers/Classic Hits FMs in the market has kept QCM hovering below the top tier. They get all the beer, bars, & auto parts buys, though.

Back to work.
 
jackandcoke said:
WLTF: The 5th Class B serving the market, but a major factor only in Hagerstown--not in Chambersburg--since the stick is down in WV. As a result, their general showing of 5th or 6th in the market reflects #3 or #4 rankings in the Hub City--and #2 or #3 positions in the chick demos. Soft AC, using too much syndication (Tesh & Delilah) for my taste--but I'm not the target. LTF probably does better sales-wise than most radio folks think. Lotta $$$ in W25-54.

While you may be right, I am still trying to figure out why WLTF is suddenly so interested in Winchester? Getting rid of Stacy Drake who was more/less a Hagerstown icon was a big blunder on their part. Plus I don't think they ( WLTF ) had ever done that well in Winchester as compared to Hagerstown but then again as I had said earlier with the recent changes in the Winchester market and the rumors of more changes..maybe WLTF sees something I don't know about.
 
The 96.7 frequency has always been a dominant frequency in Hagerstown for many years. Can pretty much hear it anywhere in Hagerstown and the Eastern Panhandle. I remember WQCM being on that frequency for years. Back years ago when it was a Top 40 station, WQCM used to appear at alot of our high school dances around Hagerstown and was very active in the community. After WQCM moved to the 94.3 frequency, a Rhythmic Top 40 was placed on the 96.7 frequency. Alot of neat history growing up with the 96.7 frequency.
 
jackandcoke said:
And I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for 95.9 to be sold outright. Best bet is that they'll fold it and the rest of Prettyman Broadcasting into the related First Media, which owns 25 or 30 stations in the Mid-Atlantic. But 95.9 hasn't been a player since they flipped the AC formatted WLTF from 95.9 to the bigger 97.5 signal 7 or 8 years ago. FWIW, 95.9 remains sort of a "wild card" in the H-town market. They could still surprise us.

"They could still surprise us" When I worked for Power Warner Winchester several years back, funny that is how WE felt about 95.9 and for the longest time 97.5 as well ? Little known fact from a Winchester point of view, even though the two main radio groups there Clear Channel ( Q102 ) and then Mid Atlantic ( 92.5 WINC-FM ) looked at each other as the "main" competition, both groups still kept their eye on Bill Prettyman thinking one day he will do something with 97.5 and 95.9 that will make this big impact in the Winchester book. Actually back in 1997 Mid Atlantic actually offered 6 million for 97.5 alone only to have Prettyman say..no he wanted 10 mil. Mid Atlantic said no to that deal and soon Prettyman would get 95.9. Had Mid Atlantic got 97.5 it would had been a country music station.

While you are right that 95.9 hasn't been a player in the Hagerstown-Chambersburg market since WLTF, 95.9 had their moments since WLTF moved to 97.5. For example the old 95.9 WKMZ had Greaseman and he actually did somewhat well in Hagerstown but WKMZ also had Tom Leykus who did not. When 101.5 & 106.9 jumped into the classic rock/classic hits game it was expected that WKMZ would end up going to an 80s/90s based modern rock format as "Lucy 95.9" with Bill Hutton and former WQCM jock Andy Thomas doing the morning show. Prettyman ( or Hutton ) even went as far as registering the domain Lucy959.com but as a surprise to many they went oldies instead though "Lucy" did happen though with Hutton..on XM that is. When the oldies started on 95.9 as "Cool 95.9", another surprise..there were actually live around the clock during the week ( though not on weekends ) for the longest time but a few months after the debut of Cool, their female midday jock one day had forgot to turn off her mic and for a good five minutes valley radio listeners to 95.9 were treated to the most foul put-down language one could imagine which turned off many many listeners and many of those never did come back to 95.9. But as you say they are still the wild card in the market though it is really anyones guess as to what could be done to 95.9.
 
Nobody's mentioned the station that has made the biggest splash in Hagerstown in recent years, 92.1 Country Legends (WPPT). It's just a little 3,000 watter out in Upton, but they exploded on the scene a couple of years ago, getting up to #3 overall, IIRC. Just behind WIKZ (or did they slip past them into the #2 spot)? Regardless, it's been a huge hit 12+ although it is probably safe to say that it skews pretty damn old.

And speaking of old, I've always thought that 1240 WJEJ is just one of the best sounding small-market radio stations anywhere, with a truly outstanding air staff, top-notch local news/sports/weather and community involvement, and frankly a terrific audio chain. The only bone I'll pick with them is their music selection, which is targeted squarely at 85-year olds. Okay, maybe 80-year olds. Then again, since nobody else is targeting that bunch, JEJ has scored solid 12+ numbers. And for a 1,000 watt AM these days, that ain't bad.

FWIW, all the other AM stations in the Hagerstown-Chambersburg market (WARK, WHAG, WCHA, WCBG) are completely automated and are pretty much a waste of electricity. The big outfits that own these stations have absolutely no interest in them. It would be nice if they'd sell those sticks to local people or local colleges for use as community or educational operations.
 
mleach said:
jackandcoke said:
WLTF: The 5th Class B serving the market, but a major factor only in Hagerstown--not in Chambersburg--since the stick is down in WV. As a result, their general showing of 5th or 6th in the market reflects #3 or #4 rankings in the Hub City--and #2 or #3 positions in the chick demos. Soft AC, using too much syndication (Tesh & Delilah) for my taste--but I'm not the target. LTF probably does better sales-wise than most radio folks think. Lotta $$$ in W25-54.

While you may be right, I am still trying to figure out why WLTF is suddenly so interested in Winchester? Getting rid of Stacy Drake who was more/less a Hagerstown icon was a big blunder on their part. Plus I don't think they ( WLTF ) had ever done that well in Winchester as compared to Hagerstown but then again as I had said earlier with the recent changes in the Winchester market and the rumors of more changes..maybe WLTF sees something I don't know about.

97.5 has always taken a few bucks out of Winchester, both as WKMZ in its CHR and rock days, and as AC WLTF, mostly because there are so few players (CC & Centennial and their predecessors) that there are dollar bills floating around everywhere.

Because 97.5's signal doesn't exist in half the Winchester Arbitron market (a piece of geography designed by and for Q102)--that is, south of Middletown/Stephens City--it's not capable of scoring well in the "metro" ratings. But LTF booms into the city of Winchester and generates the same kind of at-work listening any softer AC would in any market, anywhere.

So it's perfectly good turf for direct selling and event-type promotion. And every once in awhile, the folks in Martinsburg remember to give it a shot.

But, hey, mleach--this thread is about Hagerstown. Screw Winchester. That's for another thread.
 
It would be really neat if a News-Talk/Sports format was offered in the Hagerstown Market, whether on one of the AM signals,
or even on an FM. To get News Talk you have to either tune into Frederick or DC. I believe that type of format would go over well here.
 
edocean said:
It would be really neat if a News-Talk/Sports format was offered in the Hagerstown Market, whether on one of the AM signals,
or even on an FM. To get News Talk you have to either tune into Frederick or DC. I believe that type of format would go over well here.

Agreed, though I guess you're not counting Plug-n-Play 1490 WARK, the amplitude modulated conduit for network programming. That's fair--it's really just an afterthought for Nassau, which isn't exactly in a financial position to go out and hire a crack local news team at this point. Nor is (McConnellsburg-Chambersburg's) 103.7 WEEO, running wall-to-wall satellite rightwing screaming 24/7 for Franklin & Fulton Countians--but doesn't quite make it past the car radio in the Hub City.

The aforementioned 1240 WJEJ does do some solid local talk and local + CBS news, if one is willing to put up with the Biggest Hits from 1945. Alas, many listeners can't quite do that.

Good idea for 95.9, once they figure out that the oldies format is taking chunks of share out of WLTF's hide, with no financial remuneration.
 
amfmxm said:
edocean said:
It would be really neat if a News-Talk/Sports format was offered in the Hagerstown Market, whether on one of the AM signals,
or even on an FM. To get News Talk you have to either tune into Frederick or DC. I believe that type of format would go over well here.

Agreed, though I guess you're not counting Plug-n-Play 1490 WARK, the amplitude modulated conduit for network programming. That's fair--it's really just an afterthought for Nassau, which isn't exactly in a financial position to go out and hire a crack local news team at this point. Nor is (McConnellsburg-Chambersburg's) 103.7 WEEO, running wall-to-wall satellite rightwing screaming 24/7 for Franklin & Fulton Countians--but doesn't quite make it past the car radio in the Hub City.

The aforementioned 1240 WJEJ does do some solid local talk and local + CBS news, if one is willing to put up with the Biggest Hits from 1945. Alas, many listeners can't quite do that.

Good idea for 95.9, once they figure out that the oldies format is taking chunks of share out of WLTF's hide, with no financial remuneration.

And to think 95.9, chances are would had taken that route...had WEPM's Jay Young not had his stroke. That was his goal but today its Hans Fogel who is behind WEPM and he isn't interested in Hagerstown.

WJEJ, I agree good station. For YEARS I have heard them being compared to Cumberland's WTBO & WCBC. I can't see how. I remember checking out WTBO's Chazz Offutt not long before his fatal heart attack. He was going on and on about "beanie babies" and he really didn't make any sense. Never had that problem with WJEJ. On a simliar note WJEJ's Lou Scally has often been compared to WCBC's the late Jim Robey. Both the Cumberland and Hagerstown papers over the years had made that comparison but I don't get it. At least it dosn't take Lou Scally 45 minutes just to read the celebirty birthdays unlike Jim Robey.

WJEJ/talk-I seem to remember WJEJ actually having some local talk show during their afternoon hosted by some guy named Travis. Not sure when it ended but it was quite good such as the one afternoon I remember hearing when WJEJ took calls and explained why they had given up on 104.7 FM.

amfmxm said:
But, hey, mleach--this thread is about Hagerstown. Screw Winchester. That's for another thread.

Sorry about that ;)

However a thread about the Winchester market may not be a good idea since we are talking about a market where within the last 15 years one of the top jocks in the market was found out to be a child molestor, another jock who was fired because he had HIV, the firing of another jock who was blind, lying, drugs, cheating, lawsuits, violence, posters responding screaming "LIES" even though they can check out the old archives of the Winchester Star to find out for themselves. At least with the Hagerstown-Chamberbsurg market, it seems to be "drama free" while in Winchester one could write 10 episodes of a TV show with all the drama that has occured within that market over the years. Nah...it is best to say "screw the Winchester market" unless one wants "As The World Turns".
 
I'm surprised 97.5 doesnt make it into Stephens city. I've always listened to it loud an clear out here in Fairfax county. Back when it was called, "The rock, K-975" then later changed to Power 975 KMZ. Admittadly(sp?) I don't listen to it anymore since its no longer CHR/rock an certainly not KMZ.

As far as 92.1 goes, I loved that station when they were 92-1 the point. Used to listen to them whenever I was just slightly west of Leesburg. But alas they are now country which I loathe so......


Occasionally I'll turn on 96.7 here in Fairfax, but probably the station from this market "area" I listen to most would be WINC.

Does Q101 get any ratings in Winchester? I know I heard it from one office I was at in Winchester, years ago. And I know the signal reaches. I know this isnt the 'winchester' thread.....but. :-X
 
shadough said:
I'm surprised 97.5 doesnt make it into Stephens city. I've always listened to it loud an clear out here in Fairfax county. Back when it was called, "The rock, K-975" then later changed to Power 975 KMZ. Admittadly(sp?) I don't listen to it anymore since its no longer CHR/rock an certainly not KMZ.

As far as 92.1 goes, I loved that station when they were 92-1 the point. Used to listen to them whenever I was just slightly west of Leesburg. But alas they are now country which I loathe so......


Occasionally I'll turn on 96.7 here in Fairfax, but probably the station from this market "area" I listen to most would be WINC.

Does Q101 get any ratings in Winchester? I know I heard it from one office I was at in Winchester, years ago. And I know the signal reaches. I know this isnt the 'winchester' thread.....but. :-X

Q101? You mean WQPO in Harrisonburg? Yeah, they often show up with a share or two in the Winchester book, thanks mostly to Shenandoah County being part of the Winchester "metro" instead of the Harrisonburg "metro" where it belongs. As previously mentioned, several of these markets were designed by broadcasters to give themselves an advantage and the dunces at Arbitron just went along with it. In this case it was Benchmark, I think, who realized that Massanutten Mountain shadowed the signal of WINC-FM, which has its stick on the other side, giving WUSQ a permanent advantage in Shenandoah County. Hey, if you can't hear it, you won't write it down!

As far as WLTF's signal goes, it does cover Stephens City, but south of there is a crapshoot for two reasons: 3WV in Charlottesville is also on 97.5 with a full Class B, short-spaced with LTF and causing interference in that direction... and Mount Jackson's WSIG-FM at 96.9 also gets in the way.

Hey, back to Hagerstown. Let's not forget 96.7 WDLD! The "Old QCM." I've always figured it was there just to keep anybody else from trying CHR and threatening WIKZ's young end, and I guess it's doing the job. Am I being unfair to this station? Is it actually a bigger & badder radio station than I think? I'm out of the demo, so it's hard for me to listen to the thing. Do they do a shitload of business and contribute big bucks to Mainline's bottom line?

FWIW, if we're talking about Hagerstown proper--or even Washington County--WQCM dominated the Hub City for about 20 years. Some great talents went through there, that's for sure. Over the years they fought off some good competitors including Top 40 WEEO(AM), WKMZ in both its CHR & AOR incarnations, and WIKZ in its CHR days. All were pretty damn good at one point or another, but none of them ever clipped 96.7 WQCM from '77 onward in the Hub City itself.
 
I too remember QCM's domiance in the Hub City all those years. The station was always on the top in Washington County and offered something for just about anyone. Plus great talent as well. Today WDLD seems to serve the niche market that it has been created for, pretty much solid 18-34 demo. Plus it's the only CHR in the market.
 
WDLD, Hagerstown

I might have been a tad unfair to 96.7 WDLD... but then, maybe not.

Gritted my teeth last night while running errands around H-town and kept the car radio tuned to "Wild." Actually it wasn't as bad as I had remembered. More of a real current-day CHR and not quite as Urban as in the past (I think). Although the Arbitron listings on this thing are now worthless for Hagerstown since they only list subscribers (eliminating nearly all the locals), I did notice that "Wild" had tanked in the Fall 08 report. Question is... did the 1.8 (12+) share come before or after the de-urbanizing/mainstreaming?

Just for reference, this was a facility--96.7--that regularly pulled 7 or 8 shares in this two-county market and flirted with double digits for a couple of decades. The geography of the market, or the signal, hasn't changed. And the opportunity for a CHR in this market is HUGE!!!! Given all that, pulling a 1.8 with that stick is... well, embarrassing.

Somebody at Mainline dropped the ball on this one.
 
One of the ironic aspects of WDLD is that their current Chambersburg overlords have made a fortune on personality radio with WIKZ--as mornings go, so goes 95.1--but they run 96.7 like an iPod with liners and are mystified by its (1.8 share) performance. Duh.

Then again, whatever revenue WDLD generates goes directly to the bottom line.

No expense equals all cash flow. And at current multiples it's going to take 50 years to get that $20 million (?) back, so Mainline needs every penny of CF it can scrape up.
 
WDLD's signal has alot to offer. Very strong in Washington County and the Eastern Panhandle, with some reach into Greencastle and Waynesboro. Plus you can carry the signal down I-70 somewhat. The tower is located practically at the I-70/I-81 cooridor right in the heart of the Hagerstown Metro. Great geography for the 96.7 frequency. Personally, I think the 96.7 frequency is a very valuable frequency.
 
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