I'm confused

[crmc]

Regarding Lyra: " Confucious say..the fish rots from the head down."

 

[MCNDRWS]

wow

 

[kfitz]

Lyra!!!!!! yeeee haaa!!!! They need to bring back Herman Munster to finish this sick puppy off!!!! What was that hatchet man's name anyway.....When this baby sells will it be for less than when Noble sold off WLSP (its bizarre how close WLNP is to WLSP....the original country version of 94.3 800 formats ago).

 

[waunderlust]

Coming soon to a community college near you

Making Money in Radio 101-
How to buy a station for too much. Run (or ruin) it dirt cheap. Sell it in a cluster for more than you paid. Taught by Lyra.

Radio Management 13-
How to manage a station, using fear, to the point of paying minimum wage or less to all those involved including the GSM.
Added features include:
A) How to dangle a sales person out the window to increase sales without getting sued or shot.
B) How to sell a $5000 package by rewarding the client with a $3000 trip. Herman Munster.

 

[crmc]

Herman Munster... hmmm...was it Tom something? Did that thing ever bust?

 

[waunderlust]

Beezlee...sleazy....Sheely that's it Sheely

 

[crmc]

Bingo!! Lyra butchered him at the end ,too.

 

[MACK184]

Bingo!! Lyra butchered him at the end ,too.

All things change and VERY few people stay in the same place for long periods of time. It is the nature of the business. Radio is about change. It is the one thing that makes it very different from all the other media, it can change more quickly than print or TV. The only place where change doesn't happen is here on the radio board.
"Oh gee...if WARM would just come back everything would be OK...If they would just replace computers with cart machines everything would be OK...If transmitters were only filled with tubes instead of circuit boards everything would be OK." Good Grief!

 

[arehkopf]

Wow...all the memories flood back.

I was there when Ira, Tom and co. came to WARM, et al. It was a rocky time, to be sure.

As a matter of fact, I pulled one of the dumbest things I've done in my career when I was wrapping up my time there. I stood WARM up on my last day as news director. I had given notice to leave on a Friday, but because I was disenchanted with the way things were going at the time, I decided to make my last day Thursday.

I did make sure the AM drive shift was covered (thanks, Paula D.), but in hindsight, it was a classless thing to do. In fact, I visited WARM a few months later while on vacation, and had forgotten my indiscretion. Tom Shealy didn't though, and I just beat him out the door before being thrown out.

Lessons learned: two wrongs don't make a right. As much as you might detest your situation, don't sink to that level. Hold head up, fulfill your obligations, and treat others as you would be treated.

I wonder if I could visit Baltimore Drive now...or if anyone is left there I would know...

 

[dmer]

All Hispanic programming has little chance of success in Hazleton or anywhere else locally. I think they can have successful Spanish programming up to several times a week, but all the time? Unlikely. I mentioned on another thread that Philadelphia tried all Spanish programming (RUMBA 104.5) and it was gone within months. And they have a much larger Hispanic population than even Hazleton.

I agree with Father Tom on this issue that all ethnic programming 100% of the time is unlikely to bring a great deal of success. In Hazleton, there are numerous ethnic groups. True, Hispanics are the fastest growing, but you also have a large Italian population as well as significant Eastern European ethicities.

I also agree that Route 81's. specifically WAZL's, local news is sadly deficient. It mainly consists of short 2 or 3 minute segments reading from the newspaper headlines. Route 81 seems to be lost in mediocrity at the present and unable to find its way.

 

[MrRF]

As to Mack 184's observation on change being a constant in radio, one would have to agree. :-\
But change for short term profits without regard to the consequences and the ramifications does not have to be a part of the change dynamic.
You must have not worked with, for , or competed with " Lyra"as he was called in an earlier post.Radio people were throw-away pawns in his slash and burn game. Can anyone name a station that was better off due to Lyra's working there? And he worked at many!!
I hope there is one, because what I've seen was disregard to people, their families, clients and stations cut to the bone and sent into decline.
Truly a modern day Snidley Whiplash.

 

[MACK184]

All Hispanic programming has little chance of success in Hazleton or anywhere else locally.

You are thinking like a DJ and not a businessman. What you do not understand is that the station does NOT need to be a ratings success to be a success. There are a large number of companies out there that have a mandate to advertise to the hispanic market. Since WCDL would be the only spanish radio outlet in the Scr/WB market, they would get virtually 100% of those companies hispanic radio budgets. It doesn't matter what they play, or what they do, companies like Mc Donalds, BK, Miller, Pepsi and such all have direct mandates to advertise in hispanic media. WCDL will get that money by default. WCDL in it's past state of "standards" made virtually no money for Route-81, so if they make $5 more than they did with standards, they're already a success! Think about that!

 

[Nairda]

There are a large number of companies out there that have a mandate to advertise to the hispanic market. Since WCDL would be the only spanish radio outlet in the Scr/WB market, they would get virtually 100% of those companies hispanic radio budgets.

OK genius. Think about this then: If they weren't making money before and if they put as much effort and community involvement into the Hispanic programming as they did in the previous format it won't work any better. If those companies do indeed have a "mandate" to spend money in Hispanic media then why would they spend anything on a station that throws a dead carrier most of the day? I liked the old format. I'm in the mid valley all day everyday and whenever I tune to WCDL just to see if my music might have magically returned it seems like they're always off the air. Which brings me to an interesting question come to think of it. If they can broadcast a dead carrier for hours on end who is manning the place and why would anyone allow that to occur? Doesn't the FCC require that somebody is home? Where is their main studio now? They made a big deal out of being the local hometown station in Carbondale with their studio right in the town hall there. When they flipped to hispanic I even stopped by to personally complain but the door was locked and nobody was there. Call them and you never get anybody on the phone either.
So what you are telling me is that just because WCDL says it is hispanic now it will get lots of advertising dollars by default? If it's that easy then why aren't other struggling stations doing the same? It appears that route81 may indeed be in big trouble and we're just seeing the beginning of it all.

 

[ThomasCarten]

I've done radio in several areas with strong national entities (i.e.: non-English-speaking populations from other countries). None of them could support a full-time station. All of them did enjoy a morning or afternoon program on Saturdays and/or Sundays of their music in their language.

I don't recall a single one appealing to their children. It's a format that ages out as granny (in whatever language) dies off and, as the kids age, they pick up the American styles while still hanging on, to an extent, to their heritage at holidays.

At one station, we made a ton of money on weekends; sponsors were lining up to advertise on our foreigh-language programs. But we kept it there.

 

[masterg]

It appears that route 81 may indeed be in big trouble and we're just seeing the beginning of it all.

I'd say they were all smoke and mirrors right from day one, and most of us who have been around the radio track a few times knew it. I knew they were full of BS from the day they started pitching the warmth and fuzziness of being a good old time hometown radio station.

 

[Nairda]

I'd say they were all smoke and mirrors right from day one, and most of us who have been around the radio track a few times knew it.

Bingo MasterG!!
A: The entire company was built as a house of cards from the get go
B. From what I've been told by a friend who should know - the stockholders are not at all happy with the current situation there
C. Again, going strictly by what I've been told - lots of vendors are not all that happy with them either
D. The vultures are beginning to circle

 

[MACK184]

Since the "brains" of the radio board have all declared this hispanic format D.O.A. I've got to figure that this is probably the best sign possible that it will be an unqualified success. At least and until WARM comes back and then everything will be OK.

 

[Nairda]

Since the "brains" of the radio board have all declared this hispanic format D.O.A. I've got to figure that this is probably the best sign possible that it will be an unqualified success.

To quote one of "The Brains" of the radio board: We wish you well in your future endeavors

(By the way how much have you put on the books with it so far?) ;D

 

[dmer]

WAZL came on strong in the beginning of Route 81. They were live and local, had local programming and actual local news. Say what you will about Pat Ward, when he was running the show, he was at actual news events reporting or had someone reporting. He also went out to find the news and report on it instead of relying on newspapers. I don't know Pat personally and am not any kind of radio insider, but as a listener, I found it refreshing. After Pat Ward was given the pink slip, things quickly deteriorated. I think Route 81 realized that they actually had to spend a few dollars to create a strong local station. We can't have that. I'm not saying Pat Ward single handedly was responsible for the local feel of the station. Certainly everyone played a part. He was the one on charge though and he seemed to take the "we are a local station" to heart and was ultimately punished for it.

 

[crmc]

Mack184...what perhaps may or may not need clarification, this thread began to drift about LYRA and Route 81, not the validity of a Hispanic format in Nepa. I for one watched a station that I was involved with elsewhere struggle it's whole life and after a switch to Regional Mexican become a market leader.( On FM, in South West )It also seems to be the most growing group in NEPA.
This thread evolved to be about Lyra who ruined peoples careers and destroyed radio stations for his own short term gain, even at the expense of his closest associates.If you know Lyra, you know what was meant.Not at all idealistic...the truth.
I also know a little about WCDL and think that if it was my responsibility I'd probably offer Standards, 50s and Polkas. WAZL would cover a larger group of potential Hispanic listeners, correct? More of these folks are in Southern Luzerne than upper Lackawanna, correct?
Also, much commentary here on the sorry state of AM in NEPA, more reflective of poorly maintained technical facilities and the fact that the FM's struggle for growth here so the AMs are almost an afterthought.
Not to speak for the community, but that is my take on this thread.