I CAN ALMOST IMAGINE THE "FINAL" SIGN-OFF OF WILD!

[blackgold]

You know, one of these days, WILD AM 1090 will sign off the air...permanently. I don't want that to happen, but I can almost imagine their final sign-off:
Radio One! Doing a dis-service to the community.
WILD! AM 1090! WILD-HD! Boston!
Where information is power? HA!!
I'm praying that it won't happen, but with all that WILD's going through, how long can they survive?

 

[DanStrassberg]

You know, one of these days, WILD AM 1090 will sign off the air...permanently.

If R1 lowers its asking price sufficiently, a buyer ought to emerge. Failing that, they might donate the station to, say, Emerson College, which would most likely turn it into WERS (AM), a simulcast of 88.9, or U-Mass, which could turn it into WUMB (AM) a simulcast of 91.9. Of course, a charitable donation might make sense only if R-1 had income to offset, Someone who knows the tax laws better than I do would have to address that issue.

 

[Schuyler]

Soul Sacrifice

Any good, professional estimates on what R1's (apparently exorbitant) asking price is?

Please, don't let em donate it to Kars 4 Kids!

 

[Don Juannn]

You know, one of these days, WILD AM 1090 will sign off the air...permanently.

Failing that, they might donate the station to, say, Emerson College, which would most likely turn it into WERS (AM), a simulcast of 88.9, or U-Mass, which could turn it into WUMB (AM) a simulcast of 91.9.

I told someone who had direct contact with Liggens (CEO of R1) about the idea of making a donation of the station to Emerson College...and was told in return that he would be more committed to donating it to Bunker Hill Community College or RCC than to Emerson College.)

I had hoped that some wealthy alumni would purchase the station and then donate it to either Emerson OR BU.

-The signal is based in Boston and licensed to Boston.
-Pretty good signal (daytime) in all of Boston.

I could think of some good alternative programming that each station could put on it. ;-)

Either that or a daytime business station that would cover the market all day long. A business station that would be audible in the financial district! ;-) Market closes at 4PM...and in their worse month....WILD goes to "critical hours" at 4:15. Works for me!

 

[Eli Polonsky]

You know, one of these days, WILD AM 1090 will sign off the air...permanently. I don't want that to happen, but I can almost imagine their final sign-off:
Radio One! Doing a dis-service to the community.
WILD! AM 1090! WILD-HD! Boston!

WILD stopped broadcasting in HD a few years ago.

Also, WILD hasn't even done a legal - or any kind of - signoff at the end of their regular broadcast days for many years. Their programming is the automated Classic Soul music format at that time, and the transmitter simply automatically drops off the air at the pre-set time in mid-song, or even in mid-commercial, whatever happens to be playing at that time, with no signoff or even an ID. Why do you think they would do it any differently for their "final" signoff?

And yes, in Somerville just a couple of miles from their transmitter, I'm close enough to hear their low-power last half hour ("Post-Sunset Authority") after sunset. It's at the end of that low-power half hour that they just drop off the air in mid-song for the night.

WILD goes to "critical hours" at 4:15.

Actually, WILD goes to "critical hours", which is a switch down from 4800 watts to 1900 watts, a couple of hours before sunset. At sunset (as early as 4:15 PM in late December), they go to a low "Post-Sunset Authority" ("PSSA") power of something less than 25 watts for just a half an hour, then they drop completely off the air for the night.

"PSSA" authorities, which allow an AM daytimer to broadcast at a very low power for just a short time after sunset, aren't even listed in the FCC database, radio-locator, etc...

 

[DanStrassberg]

Either that or a daytime business station that would cover the market all day long. A business station that would be audible in the financial district! ;-) Market closes at 4PM...and in their worse month....WILD goes to "critical hours" at 4:15. Works for me!

Doesn't work for the FCC, however! Around here, Critical Hours begin at 2:15PM in December. CH always runs from local sunrise until two hours after local sunrise and from two hours before local sunset until local sunset. WILD also has a PSSA that allows very low power (tens of watts, I'm guessing) from Boston local sunset until Baltimore local sunset (in most months, thirty minutes after Boston local sunset). WILD has no PSRA, or if it has one, it has never used it.

 

[MR. JAROME_CALVIN]

I would suggest an idea, but everyone always get mad at me and say bad things to me here

My ideas are, one, is 1260am should switch to Urban AC format (using) "The Touch" from "Citadel Radio Network" 24 Hour Music Format. They should just put that on 24/7



My other idea is 97.7 should switch to either an Urban AC station (same as 1260am idea) if they can not do that, than switch to an AC format "Soft 97.7" ?? But focus on NEW AC, NEW Urban AC, New Country Music Slowjams/Love Songs, and New Soft Dance Music (example: Waiting For Tonight-Jennifer Lopez, California Girls-By Kate Perry-example) and have some Urban AC syndicated programming on the weekends (example: "The Countdown with Walt Baby Love", "Sol Kafe", "Cafe Mocha"-example) If they don't want to switch to Urban AC, at least ddo like that, switch to AC format and do like that. and Higher their siglal within the city, because 97.7 can not be heard inside Boston, I was at Mass General Hospital area walking to Government Center, I got it a tiny bit, but not good at all, and not listenable at all, especially when I got closer to Government Center, and leaving Haymarket on the bus, around North End area, could not get it at all, instead I got three stations all at the same time, one was WROR. Once I got into East Boston, I started getting it good, but the signal is weak all around this area. I'm sure Entercom can do this, but they choose not to.


The easiest way to do it, is 92.9 has the best signal in Boston, change that to AC, and do like that idea as I just said with 1260am and 97.7. If they can't do it, than Magic 106.7 has to re-amp their programming a little, someone has to do some work around here. There are a lot of good music out there (Beautiful: by Vivian Green, and "Nothing By: Janet Jackson to name a few)


sorry


please dont say bad to me, these are ideas.

 

[WLYNWAZNgm]

Larry and Shemp should be along at any moment
to hijack yet another thread, and tell us all what Boston
needs, and to commence whining...

 

[raccoonradio]

WQOM should have stunted with The Vatican Rag by Tom Lehrer.

I don't know how many listeners The Touch would have but whoever owns 1260 knows that there's
money in the kiddos, which is why Radio Di$ney is on in places like Boston, Prov., Pittsburgh and
many more.

I don't know if Entercom would want to go Urban AC, esp. if they're happy with 97.7 being the
WAAF simulcast. Barring that "it'll happen SOMEday" move of WEEI to FM (EEI 97.7? EEI 93.7
with Mike moved to 97.7?) I can't see them doing it based on their past history. But who knows,
maybe someone'll buy 97.7 and do that. Maybe.

Also can't see Greater Media changing WBOS but then again they've been know for format fluctuation.
Not sure how they're doing with whatever format they have.

Is some of the music you mention already on Kiss, WXLO, WMJX etc?

 

[DanStrassberg]

WQOM should have stunted with The Vatican Rag by Tom Lehrer.
I don't know how many listeners The Touch would have but whoever owns 1260 knows that there's
money in the kiddos, which is why Radio Di$ney is on in places like Boston, Prov., Pittsburgh and
many more.

I'm sure you jest, but have you listened to WQOM? These people are SERIOUS, SERIOUS, SERIOUS Roman Catholics. They have ZERO sense of humor about their religion! They are 100% POSITIVE that theirs is the world's ONLY true religion and that everybody else--including Catholics who aren't as serious about Catholicism as they are--are going to go straight to Hell. With hardly any exceptions, they manage to produce some of the dullest radio I have ever heard. Taliban Radio (if there is such a thing) in Afghanistan is probably in the same area of the dullness scale--even for those who can speak Arabic or Farsi, or whatever language(s) apply. Dull radio seems to be a by-product of religious fanaticism.

As for WMKI, it is a Disney O&O.

 

[Wbzfm2010]

i know you have good ideas but if they could they would have already!!!! please keep that in mind i think economics might play apart. think about it you would have to hire new people and try to keep an audience new ad dollars diffrent format diffret ad revenue thats my thought

 

[Don Juannn]

Either that or a daytime business station that would cover the market all day long. A business station that would be audible in the financial district! ;-) Market closes at 4PM...and in their worse month....WILD goes to "critical hours" at 4:15. Works for me!

Doesn't work for the FCC, however! Around here, Critical Hours begin at 2:15PM in

EEK! 2:15PM?

Yikes!

Was that the price to pay to get to 4800 watts during the midday?

How well does the 1900 watts cover the area?

 

[Don Juannn]

I'm sure you jest, but have you listened to WQOM? These people are SERIOUS, SERIOUS, SERIOUS Roman Catholics. They have ZERO sense of humor about their religion! They are 100% POSITIVE that theirs is the world's ONLY true religion and that everybody else--including Catholics who aren't as serious about Catholicism as they are--are going to go straight to Hell.

While they are serious about their religion, as many are...

I don't think they have ever talked about anyone "going straight to hell". This is anecdotal from someone like you, who probably has no knowledge of their ministry.

 

[NHRadio]

Why do people say "bad things"? Because your "ideas" have no basis in reality.
Entercom cannot "higher the signal" of anything without approval from the FCC, and that is close to impossible. 97.7 moved their transmitter closer to Boston a few years ago in a deal with Saga. That signal is as good as it's ever going to get.
And I'll say it again (why I don't know, because you don't seem to listen)... If Boston could financially support an Urban AC there would be one. The African-American population just isn't big enough to make a profit.

I would suggest an idea, but everyone always get mad at me and say bad things to me here

I'm sure Entercom can do this, but they choose not to.

 

[DanStrassberg]

Was that the price to pay to get to 4800 watts during the midday?
How well does the 1900 watts cover the area?

The price was small. To get 1.9 kW, WILD could use a transmitter rated for less than 5 kW. But they need a 5 kW box to get the 4.8 kW. There must be some 2.5 kW or 3 kW boxes on the market these days, but I think the Tx is the one that was purchased when WILD was still at its old site, across the street from the current 99 Revere Beach Pkwy location. At the old location, WILD ran 5 kW non-CH and 1 kW CH. Back when the 5 kW rig was purchased, AM transmitters with outputs between 1 kW and 5 kW were less common, so they paid for 5 kW. But I'll bet they didn't buy the 5 kw box until they needed a new Tx, so the issue was the cost differential between replacing the old 1 kW with a new (or newer) 1 kW or replacing it with a new or newer 5 kW. I'd bet they spent no more than $15k more to go to 5 kW non-CH than it would have cost to stay at 1 kW all day. To my $15k guess, you might have to add another $5k for the engineering work to prepare the power-increase application.

The coverage benefit of 4.8 kW vs 1.9 kW is also quite modest--less than you probably think. The inverse-distance field increases as the square root of the power, so the field strength at any distance with 4.8 kW is only a little more than 1.5 times the field strength at the same measurement point with 1.9 kW. And the field drops off with distance faster than 1/x (where x is distance from the transmitter). In fact, the drop-off is probably faster, on average, than 1/x^2. If it were only 1/x^2, however, the distance to any given contour at 4.8 kW would be a little more than 20% greater than the corresponding distance at 1.9 kW. IOW, by increasing its non-CH daytime power from 1.9 kW to 4.8 kW, WILD probably gained less than 3 miles in the average distance from its transmitter to its 0.5 mV/m contour. But that's not to say the increase was unimportant. The population that resides in that "donut" with a 12-mile inside radius and a 15-mile outside radius must be in the neighborhood of a quarter million people.

 

[raccoonradio]

I was joking with the Lehrer bit of course...I would think Protestant programming, which is most of what's heard in the US, can do such stuff as religious/spirtual pop music, etc., but obviously they are quite serious too deep down. What religion doesn't portray itself as the true faith, of course. At least the parody Church of the SubGenius promises "triple salvation, or your money back!" (again,
a joke church!) and they get points from me for worshipping a guy named "Bob" (They said
the "Rupture" would occur on July 5, 1998; when that date passed, they said they were mixed up,
and actually the year would be, upside down, 8661. Phew. Actually that was a spoof on some
preachers who said on certain dates, like late in the 19th century, the Rapture would occur. Even back in the early 1990s I would see posters saying, "Are You Ready For the Rapture? Jesus Is
Coming On Oct 23, 1992" or something....Not quite.)

Awhile back I was dabbling in the Episcopal Church and a friend of mine who was in the Boston Church of Christ (which some defined as a cult) said of my church, "...but it won't get you to
heaven". So I guess Queen Elizabeth (Church of England, the original incarnation of that sect)
won't get past the pearly gates, eh...

 

[DG02816]

You'll find the same serious and earnest tone in Protestant religious programming, too.
Getting back to the Critical Hours question, WILD would be on full day power in December from 9:15 am to 4:15 pm, Banker's hours, indeed......

 

[Uncle Kaimbridge]

Getting back to the Critical Hours question, WILD would be on full day power in December from 9:15 am to 4:15 pm, Banker's hours, indeed......

Er, don't you mean 9:15-2:15?

 

[Deleted User]

even during critical hours they got out there pretty good, at least from the old tower. I am only assuming the new location down the street would in theory get them into the financial district and other areas of financial saturation, the problem is that AM and office buildings, florescent lighting, etc, don't mix very well.

 

[MR. JAROME_CALVIN]

@Raccoonradio, nope, no (real) (true) radio station in Boston plays New Vivian Green, Ruben Studdard, New Janet Jackson, New Angie Stone) no true radio station plays that music.

That's why I'm saying, 92.9 would be the best signal to make it a (If they can't change it to Urban AC) they can change it to AC, but, Focus on New AC, New Urban AC music, New Country Music Slow Jams/Love Songs, and New Soft Dance Music.
If they can't change, then, Mix 104.1 should focus on New Urban AC music. Mix 104.1 has the best signal in and out of Boston, Massachusetts. I'm not saying play ALL Urban AC music, play more, focus more on Urban AC music. Yeah, Mix 104.1 plays "Getting Jiggy"-By: Wil Smith. That's all good. Play more Urban AC music. Now, that they are heard all of inside and outside Boston, Play more New Ruben Studdard music, play new Vivian Green music. Go up against Magic 106.7.
You all see the top radio stations when you look up the ratings. Most of the time it's (Kiss 108, Magic 106.7, and Jamn 94.5) Not in that same order, but most of the time, they're always in the top 3 in this market. So focus more on Urban AC music
This is 2010

Yes, KISS 108 plays Urban Music, but not Urban AC music. No real station in this market plays Urban AC station. Not only African American likes this music, Caucations, Asians, Spanish people like Urban AC music. Radio stations only goes by numbers. Go out in the real places to the real listenners.

Where I work weekdays, at our Health Center in Dorchester, most of the Visitors, and Employees are (other than Americans) most are African American, Hations, Vietnamese, and Spanish. The radio station the hospital has on is (Magic 106.7) In most clinics, there is a speaker, when you put on that speaker, the station that is on, is Magic 106.7. Yes, Magic 106.7 is ok, they do play a lot of Motown that I do enjoy, but this is 2010. Another station that has a good signal inside and outside Boston, one of my coworkers is African American 65 year old women, she likes "Hey Soul Sister" she like that song. That lady goes to a Baptist Church. She don't no much about internet, nor not have time to to take research studies... These are your real listenners listenning to Magic 106.7 (not by choice) I'm not saying Magic 106.7 is bad. All I'm saying is, look at who your (real) listenner is. Go and see your (real) listenners. Don't just go by numbers, and ratings. Go and see your real listenners. All I'm saying is stations like Magic 106.7, or Mix 104.1, they need to focus more on Urban AC music (Ruben Studdard, Vivian Green, Angie Stone) etc.... Few weeks ago, I was on the bus, an old guy ???? he looked like he might have been ??? 40-45 years old, he look like he was either Caribbean, or Spanish?? Guess what station that guy was listenning to?? He was listenning to Mix 104.1.
He had other choices such as KISS 108, or Jamn 94.5 which (most of the time) caters to African Americans, Spanish, and Americans to name a few). But, that day, that guy was listenning to Mix 104.1 This is your Real Listenner. He chose to listen to Mix 104.1. That may be one African American male, but he is your real listenner. He will go and tell his friends, coworkers, and strangers about your station, and that's how you will generate more (real) listenners)

At that health center where I work in Dorchester, a Security Guard, he's Hatian (Caribbean) Guess what station he had on his radio? Magic 106.7. He is about ??? 35-42 years old. He told me, "I like Magic 106 very much. I very much like this station. This is the first station I listen to when I come to this country" He had other choices such as (Choice 102.9 and Big City 101.3 which are Caribbean Pirate Radio staions in Dorchester area) but he chose to listen to Magic 106.7. Ok. I'm guessing he's also the type that wouldn't have time to take a survey. These people I mentioned probibly has one=three jobs