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Ice Storm Coverage

W

wcasker

Hi,
I just wanted to put it out there that WTAG had very good live coverage and information about the ice storm last Friday. We live in Fitchburg, and WEIM was off the air until Saturday when the Fitchburg Fire department helped them get a generator going. We turned to TAG, as WBZ wasn't providing enough local info for those of us up here in North Central Mass. WEIM also had very good local coverage on Saturday when they resumed broadcasting.

Thank goodness for local live radio!
 
I've been driving around the affected area for work, and I also must say that WTAG has been providing outstanding coverage. They've blown off Glen Beck and Rush Limbaugh all week! At times, it makes me forget who owns the station! Some of the calls they get from people wondering when they'll get their cable back on are a little silly, but overall, they've been doing a great job, considering they're taking unscreened calls.

WEIM has been providing good coverage in the morning the past few days, until John Tesh comes on at noon...

1340 WGAW in Gardner has also been doing a good job. Monday they were live and local a lot later than they usually are, providing what seemed like commercial free coverage.
 
I too would like to echo what a great job WTAG is doing with their live and local coverage. I have heard caller after caller thanking them for doing the continuous coverage. What WTAG is doing proves there is not only a place for live and local radio but that the listeners prefer it. Now if we could only get the corporate suits to buy into this.

Speaking of WTAG and their outstanding coverage, this should be the final “nail in the coffin” for WCRN. I don’t think anyone in Worcester County will tune them in for local information again. WCRN did provide some additional local newscasts but then it was right back to the syndicated programming as if everything was a normal day in Central Massachusetts.
 
WCRN probably doesn't want to replace the local commercial inventory with network inventory if they pre-empted their syndicated programming. The probably don't have a lot of local advertisers so they can't just give up the local inventory. WTAG probably has a lot more local commerial inventory, so it wouldn't kill them to replace some local sports with make-good network spots. When I interned at an news-talk station if we pre-empted certain programs we had to do make-goods of the network commercials that didn't get aired, so we would have to air them in place of the local commercial inventory.

And speaking of make-goods, when I was had my own brokered radio show I had Voice-Over work done by a certain Egomaniac in Worcester radio who has done time at WORC and WCRN and I had to air his commercials a certain number of times during each show. If my show didn't air during a particular week (if I was sick for example) I had to double run his spots during my next show as make-goods to live up to the contract. Mr. Egomaniac got extremely mad at me when I told him I wouldn't be able to fulfill my end of the agreement because my show got canceled before the contract was up because the station went Spanish 24/7. (When I was doing my show the station was Spanish 12 hours a day and brokered in English 12 hours a day).

You can make your own guesses on the board as to who Mr. EgoManiac is or you can email me off the site and ask me.
 
I have to agree WTAG Has produced FANTASIC coverage. They have proven to be the news and information station for central MA.

When their phone lines were down they were having people text them to someone’s personal cell phone. WTAG should be very proud of everything they have done in the last week.

now on the other hand, WCRN spent a few days off the air (I guess they can not afford fuel for the generator) and when they did come back it was full of infomercials. On Monday their was almost no mention of the storm and all the issues the region was having. Its very sad to see a station that had potential to turn in to a joke... If you ask me the few listeners they may of had did what I did and "Made the Switch"... Back to TAG..... As one caller to WTAG said to the morning show... "WTAG may not have 50K watts, but at least you can manage to be on the air when the community needs you".

WCRN has proven that they do not care what so ever about the community they serve, as long as the weekend infomercials and the Drew Mortgage infomercial run all is well in CRN land. Its time for the home office to FIRE Hank and Peter!

So my final comments about this, WTAG THANK YOU. WCRN Screw you.
 
I just want to add my thanks to WTAG. Their coverage was outstanding. When you're sitting in the dark and cold, it's comforting to have someone to listen to who knows what you're going through. The Boston stations were somewhat oblivious to our situation because they only got rain. WTAG had officials from many of the towns affected on the air updating the conditions in their towns. My town, West Boylston, was out for a couple of days, but there are still areas of Holden and Sterling that have no power. This AM they had the managers of their light companies on during the Don Bossey and Paul Rogers shows.

Hats off to 'TAG
 
WTAG's coverage this past defined what live, local radio is all about. Despite being out of phones and power in Paxton (one of the worst hit towns), they improvised all weeks, using cell phones to get information and callers on the air. Under normal circumstances, WTAG is a shadow of what it once was, but when the cards were down they stepped up and were the glue that kept the Worcester community together in a crisis. This was textbook excellent local radio.
 
As a newcomer to N. Worcester county ('04), I found the a.m. dial to be mainly unlistenable WJOE 700 or W-something 1430 in Gardner. If I wanted local news, well, there was the Athol Daily News!

My wife went in to UMASS hospital in Worcester on Friday the 12th (day one of the storms that ended about yesterday - lol) for open-heart surgery, and I've been sleeping on their CCU waiting room floor or driving back and forth in this crappy weather the past week.

WTAG has been a lifesaver. They put a solid signal into north Quabbin, and have done yeoman service to the entire region. "Open lines" over the weekend was cathartic for all of those folks in Worcester, Holden, Fitchburg and Leominster (especially) who have gone almost a week-and-a-half without power. I don't recall the host's name, but he deftly fielded a non-delayed "f-bomb" Saturday afternoon without missing a beat.

"WCR-who??" Lost me after the big-bands went away. Completely irrevelant post-storm.

WIZZ - daytimer in Greenfield - reminds me of mom & pop a.m.'s of long ago. My guilty pleasure.

-30- from God's country.
 
WCRN has proven that they do not care what so ever about the community they serve, as long as the weekend infomercials and the Drew Mortgage infomercial run all is well in CRN land. Its time for the home office to FIRE Hank and Peter!


I think the home office is the problem....
 
Here's the scoop. WCRN's Generator had no fuel. Engineer went there.. back up was dead. Lines were down from Transmitter to Studio anyway so engineer thought it was foolish to put fuel in the generator if the lines were down anyway -- that is why we were off the air for 2 whole days. Most of us were sitting in the dark listening to WTAG on Hank's hand crank radio. Now we call him Cranky Hanky. Now you know.. the rest of the story.
 
If it's a gasoline-powered generator, there are a couple of stations over on Route 20 in Oxford selling regular for only $1.49.9/gallon right now... maybe that might help them...
 
In a major cost cutting move, today Carter Broadcasting announced that they will cut the budget by another 25% and simply refer to WCRN as WCR.
 
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