Human Events, blog: Left turn at 680? Conservatalk 590?

[raccoonradio]

A column from the conservative site Human Events expressing concern that
WRKO, once the right-leaning rebuttal to a liberal state government, may be turning left so to speak,
while a blogger feels WTTT would be a good alternative to conservatalk fans, but oh, that signal:
why not put Medved, Hannity, Gallagher, etc. on sister station at 590....? (for the record WROL 950 is
simulcasting some of WTTT's night shows)

http://www.humanevents.com/rightangle/index.php?id=20744&title=turning_the_dial

http://drtucker.blogs.friendster.com/my_blog/2007/02/the_old_switche.html

 

[Laurence Glavin]

A column from the conservative site Human Events expressing concern that
WRKO, once the right-leaning rebuttal to a liberal state government, may be turning left so to speak,
while a blogger feels WTTT would be a good alternative to conservatalk fans, but oh, that signal:
why not put Medved, Hannity, Gallagher, etc. on sister station at 590....? (for the record WROL 950 is
simulcasting some of WTTT's night shows)

Salem Communications has just announced that they've hired an individual named John Butler to oversee all their "news/talk" stations, many of which are underperformers (WTTT especially).

 

[raccoonradio]

Wonder if a station they had with a decent signal could try conservatalk* and put a LOCAL host on,
promote it, etc...they'd prefer to keep 590 straight religion, I'd think, but it would be a half decent
talk signal (we remember the days of WEEI as news and then sports, though admittedly WEEI did better
after the move to 850)

590 signal http://radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/pat?call=WEZE&service=AM&status=L&hours=U

*--it also could be a good signal for prog talk but I get the idea the programming would be at odds
politically with the folks at Salem. btw Salem used to own a sports talker
in Cleveland, WKNR 850, now owned by Craig (son of Mel) Karmazin's Good Karma

http://www.wknr.com

 

[JustinT]

Wonder if a station they had with a decent signal could try conservatalk* and put a LOCAL host on,
promote it, etc...they'd prefer to keep 590 straight religion, I'd think, but it would be a half decent
talk signal (we remember the days of WEEI as news and then sports, though admittedly WEEI did better
after the move to 850)

590 signal http://radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/pat?call=WEZE&service=AM&status=L&hours=U

Local content is definitely key to having a successful talk station in Boston... that was probably one of the biggest issues with WKOXKS' liberal talk format. But Salem might be changing their tune on local content; if I understand correctly, Salem recently spent big bucks to get a morning show with well-known hosts on their N/T WIND in Chicago. We might not be market #3, but how much longer can Salem go on with a station that has never shown up in the ratings and can't possibly be billing much if anything?

(that being said, has Salem ever done any marketing for WTTT?)

Obviously religious talk/teaching is Salem's bread-and-butter, but how well do the ministries know the coverage of WEZE 590 vs. if the station were moved to 1150? They'd have little to lose if slots are purchased on a national level...

 

[raccoonradio]

WROL 950 is apparently running Dr. Laura at 2 pm; their website says it's just till 3 but not sure if that info
is correct. WROL has been simulcasting WTTT's Michael Medved and Hugh Hewitt shows and also running
another Salem talker, Janet Parshall's America (Christian-based political and cultural talk). Supposedly
WROL runs a lot of Irish music (http://www.wrolradio.com ). They also
carry the Red Sox (--in Spanish)

WROL's close proximity to Boston/decent signal make it a better choice for a talker I'd think

I don't think WTTT has done much marketing other than the website. Also, in what is being seen at more than a few Salem talkers, you could say Conservative is their middle name. the site says "Boston's Conservative Talk"

http://www.talk1150.com

 

[raccoonradio]

ooh! Look at whom Mike Gallagher is seen talking to, in this pic from the WTTT site. Hint: he's giving up his
radio show today to run for Senate...

http://www.talk1150.com/images/franken2.jpg

Also there's a pic of WTTT's Jimi Carter, who used to produce Gene Burns IIRC, maybe even Severin?

 

[Eli Polonsky]

WROL's close proximity to Boston/decent signal make it a better choice for a talker I'd think

WTTT's 5 kW signal is also good in Boston proper, which is the direction it beams southeasterly from their Lexington transmitter. WROL is stronger downtown in the daytime when it's also 5 kW, but it has to lower power to 90 watts at night. It still hits Boston, but it completely loses the west suburbs even within Route 128, where WTTT is still strong from Lexington. WTTT's directional pattern drops off abruptly outside of Route 128, but 90 watt WROL at night is long gone by that area.

WTTT's real problem, especially at night, is to the north of Boston. The directional pattern barely goes north of Route 128 to the north and northwest, and it starts dropping off after the Revere Beach Parkway heading up the North Shore. WROL's 90 watt night signal is a good complement to simulcast WTTT's programming to the North Shore at night, but it doesn't cover nearly as much of the total Boston metro as 1150 does at night where it still sends 5 kW south/southeast from Lexington.

 

[DG02816]

WROL has 2 applications with the FCC. Both involve changing COL to Revere. One shows 3 towers at night wit 1 kW, and the latest increases night power to 5 kW with a somewhat tighter pattern. Dan Strassberg, can you comment further on this?

Dave Gardiner

WVCH 740/WNWR 1540

Philadelphia

 

[Eli Polonsky]

WROL has 2 applications with the FCC. Both involve changing COL to Revere. One shows 3 towers at night wit 1 kW, and the latest increases night power to 5 kW with a somewhat tighter pattern.

I still don't see how they could send much signal from Revere toward the Boston inland suburbs at night because of all the co-channel stations they would have to protect from skywave. I'm sure they could improve their night signal in the immediate downtown Boston area and along coastal Massachusetts.