Is this WRQQ ever going to stick with a format that stays?

[deltas69]

for what is worth..no one has listened to WHIN other than ball games since the late eighties..i still get people to this day that ask me how things are put there..or say.."i heard you the other day".."sounded good"..(no i sounded great..shameless self promotion there lol )..but point being..some people still think i'm there i guess..for the record, i left in late 76..missed the disco era,,damn it..lol ;D

 

[oldies5161]

Personally, i dont think alot of research needs to be done to have a good oldies station. A program director with a vast knowledge of oldies would need to be hired to pick the music. Hell, I know oldies and know what was a hit, and what was a piece of crap. Delta said his oldies play for 8 days before repeating themselves. Thats how to program an oldies station.

 

[deltas69]

Delta said his oldies play for 8 days before repeating themselves. Thats how to program an oldies station. i'd argue..if i could..

 

[firepoint525]

Scott, Do you have any local programming Monday thru Saturday, or is it all off the bird?

Kind of along the same lines, I was wondering if you "break in" to your satellite programming if the weather threatens. We all know how Sumner County and the rest of middle Tennessee have been pounded by tornadoes in recent years!

 

[firepoint525]

Many corporations (mainly fast-food restaurants, for example) bought agency ads on our small station in west Tennessee back in the early '90s. Since they usually ran jingles, I'm guessing they did this on all stations in communities in which they had restaurants.

I seem to recall Dollar General buying ads with us, too.

Those were the "good ole days" when ad agencies would buy small town AM's and you if your were smart, you could pay yourself and make money with a stand alone AM station, even if your station was in the suburbs of a metro market. These days if your station is located in the suburbs, like mine, it's difficult. Consolidation has done alot of damage to small town (not small market), but small town radio, especially the stand alone AM stations.

I loved the old man who voiced the Dollar General store spots for the small AM stations. Brings back memories. Then after the spots, you would have a "great voice" simular to Buddy Sadler doing some local news and sports, and then you (the D.J.) would play the top 40 hits off of 45's. Cue them records tight past the record burns! I learned to slip cue at the small AM stations for a tight music shift. What MEMORIES! At sign off we played the National Anthem before you shut off that ole tube transmitter! I cry sometimes at how our world has changed at the small "hometown" station!

The further you are away from the a metro city, live local, AM works. It's the only communication the town has and they become die hard listeners in certain dayparts due to you're giving them something that is not available somewhere else. Live an Local works well on these station, and when the FCC relized this, they brought in LPFM, but Congress and the NAB screwed that up.

That's the problem with WMRO. 1010 WHIN has been there since 1948, and has been "The Station" of Sumner County over the years. Even when 1130 WAMG was on from 1966-1991, it was not as profitable as WHIN. To my knowledge, WAMG was country, then somewhere in the 80's it went oldies, then seven month before it went dark, it was Southern Gospel.

Since WAMG change calls to WYXE and went hispanic, AM 1130 has done better, due to it's now owned by a hispanic church in Nashville. The "GOOD" part about WMRO is that it's paid for, except yearly taxes, and so I can dare to be different on AM! I don't have to be a news/talk station, run a all religious/southern gospel format (which WAMG did in 1991 and it failed), a country format, or some rotten, awful, boring AM format that makes you want to turn off the lights and go home.

WMRO rocks with a solid "Hot AC" format. The closest AM station I have found that does what we do is the station on 1340 in Columbia, but I think they are just doing just Standard AC to where we lean more on the edge of Alternative/Modern Rock. It's nice to get to play a format you like and not worry about income.

I remember those, too. Dubbed 'em from reel to reel tape to cart many times. Agency spots. Co-op advertising!

Our station was an AM-FM combo. But it was otherwise a standalone in a rural area.

 

[scottwmro]

Scott, Do you have any local programming Monday thru Saturday, or is it all off the bird?

Correct, Monday thru Saturday it's on satellite, with ABC's Hot AC format. WHIN uses ABC's Real Country Format, Monday thru Saturday. I hate the term "The Bird", due to that's what owners & GM's of stations did to stations that they care nothing about, especially in the late 80's & 90's. No local liners, PSA's, local news, weather, etc. Just the satellite feed.

That is something I DO NOT DO. In AM Drive, we have local, news, current weather & temp, local sports, etc. Yes, I am carrying a show like B&T, but more like Bob & Sherry. Ours is ABC's Jonathan & Mary Show, BUT I use the local breaks & make them as local as possible. We did have metro traffic, but the cost of the ISDN from AT&T went higher and half the time, due to the phone lines are so old old going past the station, the ISDN lines would be drop dead. We probably will bring the traffic back this year, if metro can send it to us via the web.

In this day & time, if you do it right, satellite programming will work. On Saturday's we plan to pick up a locally produced music show for 1 hour. We are in the works of getting the tech part working with the PC Automation. I am a firm beliver in automation, if it is done right.

 

[VODood]

Anybody know who the image voice guy is on 97.1?

I believe the VO is George Robinson. He's out of Atlanta and on most Cumulus classic hits/classic rock stations.

www.georgerobinsonvoices.com

 

[scottwmro]

I think all this "City of License" changes that Cumulus did with thier FM's is funny! I was listeningt to RQQ yesterday and it was wierd....WRQQ, Belle Meade/Nashville.

The FCC should just make it easy on themselves and take thier FM's and make the City of License Nashville. These little surban towns are now a part of the metro now, so as far as listeners are concern, who cares.

There is a little "unincorporated" community we cover called "Side View". Our 5 mv/m covers it, so we should be WMRO, Side View/Gallatin, just for the fun of it. Side View has a big enough population to be considered a City of License and would separate us from our competitor (who I don't consider a competitor), just another name a few old fossil idots in town wants to shove in my face thinking they getting me upset, when I just laugh at them (the so called competitor).

The so called Gallatin competitor, are they really a competitor? They are Classic County with some Bluegrass, vs. a Hot AC/AAA (Adult Album Alternative) station? In the future are we competing? NO WAY! Magic 1560 is slowly going AAA and I would say that is a far cry from Classic Country/Bluegrass. I guess I'm the only one that is nuts to do an AAA format on AM!???? Those old fossils don't even know what AAA is?

 

[w9wi]

I think all this "City of License" changes that Cumulus did with thier FM's is funny! I was listeningt to RQQ yesterday and it was wierd....WRQQ, Belle Meade/Nashville.

The FCC should just make it easy on themselves and take thier FM's and make the City of License Nashville. These little surban towns are now a part of the metro now, so as far as listeners are concern, who cares.

There is a little "unincorporated" community we cover called "Side View". Our 5 mv/m covers it, so we should be WMRO, Side View/Gallatin, just for the fun of it. Side View has a big enough population to be considered a City of License and would separate us from our competitor (who I don't consider a competitor), just another name a few old fossil idots in town wants to shove in my face thinking they getting me upset, when I just laugh at them (the so called competitor).

That actually is one of my pet peeves... the city-of-license rules have become rather obsolete.

So, WRQQ moved from Goodlettsville to Belle Meade. What actually moved?

I suppose the old license moved off the wall at the transmitter & into the trash.
And the new license moved from the "IN" bin in the mailroom to the wall at the transmitter.
And a filing fee moved from Cumulus' account to the Treasury.

That's it.

I would suggest...

- that stations be allowed to specify as their city-of-license any community over which they provide a city-grade signal.
- that for purposes of determining a fair and equitable distribution of service, proposed new (or changed) allocations be considered as serving the largest (population) community over which a city-grade signal is provided.

So the upgrade of 106.7 to Class C3 would be considered an upgrade to a Nashville station (not Millersville) and if it precluded allotment of 106.9A Sango covering Clarksville (but not Nashville) then the Sango/Clarksville application would be the one granted.

96.3 could choose to change its city-of-license from Murfreesboro to Nashville. Or Belle Meade. Or Joelton. etc, etc.

Sure, chances are Murfreesboro would lose its "local service" from 96.3. Gallatin would lose its "local service" from 104.5. Lebanon would lose its "local service" from 107.5. Surely nobody inside or outside the industry believes any "local service" would actually be lost.

 

[scottwmro]

I think all this "City of License" changes that Cumulus did with thier FM's is funny! I was listeningt to RQQ yesterday and it was wierd....WRQQ, Belle Meade/Nashville.

The FCC should just make it easy on themselves and take thier FM's and make the City of License Nashville. These little surban towns are now a part of the metro now, so as far as listeners are concern, who cares.

There is a little "unincorporated" community we cover called "Side View". Our 5 mv/m covers it, so we should be WMRO, Side View/Gallatin, just for the fun of it. Side View has a big enough population to be considered a City of License and would separate us from our competitor (who I don't consider a competitor), just another name a few old fossil idots in town wants to shove in my face thinking they getting me upset, when I just laugh at them (the so called competitor).

That actually is one of my pet peeves... the city-of-license rules have become rather obsolete.

So, WRQQ moved from Goodlettsville to Belle Meade. What actually moved?

I suppose the old license moved off the wall at the transmitter & into the trash.
And the new license moved from the "IN" bin in the mailroom to the wall at the transmitter.
And a filing fee moved from Cumulus' account to the Treasury.

That's it.

I would suggest...

- that stations be allowed to specify as their city-of-license any community over which they provide a city-grade signal.
- that for purposes of determining a fair and equitable distribution of service, proposed new (or changed) allocations be considered as serving the largest (population) community over which a city-grade signal is provided.

So the upgrade of 106.7 to Class C3 would be considered an upgrade to a Nashville station (not Millersville) and if it precluded allotment of 106.9A Sango covering Clarksville (but not Nashville) then the Sango/Clarksville application would be the one granted.

96.3 could choose to change its city-of-license from Murfreesboro to Nashville. Or Belle Meade. Or Joelton. etc, etc.

Sure, chances are Murfreesboro would lose its "local service" from 96.3. Gallatin would lose its "local service" from 104.5. Lebanon would lose its "local service" from 107.5. Surely nobody inside or outside the industry believes any "local service" would actually be lost.

Doug,

If you listen to these FM stations, programming wise, they do not serve the city of license. They are all metro nashville move in's. My point is, why bother with this city of license crap, and just make them all Nashville City of License stations.

It's not about the community, it about being a part of a BIG metro market and getting those BIG ad dollars. As far as Millersville, nobody cares if 106.7 has a transmitter there. It's really a Nashville station. Like I said, why does the FCC bother with this city of license stuff. What are we accomplishing?

Lots of FM's hide the "legal i.d." in a break anyway. When I was at 92Q, we were in the WVOL building. When we did the i.d., in a break cluster, it was a real fast WQQK, Hendersonville/Nashville, hit the nex spot. That break ran at :49 past the hour. At the top of the hour, the P.D. had us say 92Q, WQQK, Nashville.....Go Figure!

I beginning to believe in our times this City of License Rule is nothing but FCC B.S. application filing just to get money out of broadcasters that Congress needs [EDIT-offtopic baiting]

 

[firepoint525]

I personally don't think any "satellite city" (of which Belle Meade is one) should ever be allowed to be the city of license for a radio station. The zoning in these cities is so strict that even their city halls are outside the city limits! : If these cities truly only want to allow residential within their city limits, then they should not allow a radio station to "exist" there either, even if it is only on paper, with no "bricks and mortar" station ever being built!

 

[w9wi]

If you listen to these FM stations, programming wise, they do not serve the city of license. They are all metro nashville move in's. My point is, why bother with this city of license crap, and just make them all Nashville City of License stations.

It's not about the community, it about being a part of a BIG metro market and getting those BIG ad dollars. As far as Millersville, nobody cares if 106.7 has a transmitter there. It's really a Nashville station. Like I said, why does the FCC bother with this city of license stuff. What are we accomplishing?

Yep, that's my point. These stations are, in fact, Nashville stations. We need to drop the illusion that they serve anywhere else. (either that, or bring the rules back into compliance with the Communications Act, which states that stations are supposed to use the minimum power necessary to achieve the authorized communications. If 104.5 is intended to serve Gallatin, it sure doesn't need 58 kilowatts to do it! Make them drop back to 2kw or so & move their transmitter back into town...)

Lots of FM's hide the "legal i.d." in a break anyway. When I was at 92Q, we were in the WVOL building. When we did the i.d., in a break cluster, it was a real fast WQQK, Hendersonville/Nashville, hit the nex spot. That break ran at :49 past the hour. At the top of the hour, the P.D. had us say 92Q, WQQK, Nashville.....Go Figure!

Well, that's another peeve If the regulation says "as close to the top of the hour as possible", then IDing at :49 and then saying "WQQK, Nashville" at TOH sure doesn't sound legal. But obviously the Commission knows about it & doesn't care.

I think the legal ID rules are also obsolete. A FM station should be allowed to drop legal IDs altogether if it uses RDS and the "right" PI code. (a standard exists for mapping this hex code to call letters. That standard is not cited in FCC regulations though, and many stations use other codes) DTV stations should be allowed to drop the IDs if they program their calls in the appropriate field of PSIP.

It would be a bit more difficult for AM as there is no existing standard for doing a "data ID". But I can't imagine it would be difficult to develop one. Maybe frequency-shift the carrier 10Hz with Morse Code or ASCII.

I beginning to believe in our times this City of License Rule is nothing but FCC B.S. application filing just to get money out of broadcasters that Congress needs [EDIT-offtopic baiting]

Well, I think it's the last remaining vestige of compliance with the Communications Act requirement for an "equitable distribution of service" which was critically important to Congress when the Commission was founded in 1934 and pretty much ignored by everyone involved today...

 

[Tibbs4]

The FCC should just allow the stations to use the largest populated city their signal covers. It is pretty stupid sounding to listen
to the ID on V-102.5. I doubt the FCC will ever get a clue and get rid of the ID req. Just another way to make radio sound outdated.
FCC's got to love that brilliant kind of control. Scott -- think it's FCC legal to drink Arbor Mist in your station since, after all, you are
on AM////

1930's ID with Modifications: "WVNS Pegram/Clarksville/Nashville..translator 270-blah,blah, waste, waste whereever..."

Improved ID: "WVNS Nashville === translator we don't care where the hell it is... V-102.5"

 

[romer979fm]

let me steer this post even more off-topic...

I think WUBT also qualifies as a ridiculous legal ID scenario:
studios on Music Row
transmitter in Cross Plains, TN

licensed to Russelville, KY...when no physical part of the station is north of the Tobacco Curtain (that's the KY border, scott)

and unless I dreamed this...doesn't the FCC allow a station to drop in any city...after the primary COL?
so scott could ID as WMRO Gallatin/Hendersonville/Portland/Tampa-St Petersburg...
or on those days Buddy still thinks he's working at WSM... WSM Nashville/Franklin/Oxnard-Ventura

 

[scottwmro]

Fellas:

I invite you all on Friday to a 4th of July Legal I.D. Fiesta with Buddy doing the offical Legal I.D. for WSM!

It could go something like this : (Buddy using his BIG WLS voice) Clear Channel 650, WSM, Nashville, Memphis, Knoxville, Washington D.C. and where ever else you want us to be. Romer, Pass the Arbor Mist Bottle to down to me, Bill Buntin and Tibbs (HA!)

Now, I've got to go find Lt. Dan Buckley. His legal I.D. should be WRLT Brentwood!

In all seriousness, Doug is right, the FCC has let stations and group owners get out of hand in allowing move ins and now a change in thier City of License. WGFX should be a "Gallatin" only station, like WANT in Lebanon. Now cities in the suburbs are not being served on the FM Band, that once served cities like Springfield, Hendersonville, Gallatin, Franklin. Lebanon is the only suburban city served by a local FM and that's sad. :'(

I think it was Bill Buntin that told me that Cumulus was licking their chops, wanting WANT-FM at one time. We all know what thier plans would be, make it a Nashville station, and most likley, it would have got it's city of license changed in the last rule making the FCC did.

 

[firepoint525]

In all seriousness, Doug is right, the FCC has let stations and group owners get out of hand in allowing move ins and now a change in thier City of License. WGFX should be a "Gallatin" only station, like WANT in Lebanon. Now cities in the suburbs are not being served on the FM Band, that once served cities like Springfield, Hendersonville, Gallatin, Franklin. Lebanon is the only suburban city served by a local FM and that's sad. :'(

Doesn't Springfield still have its FM station? I am aware that Tuned In owned it for a while, but I don't know what happened to it after that, and I don't live close enough to them to tune it in.

I never thought I'd see AM stations becoming move-ins, partly because I didn't think most of them have a strong enough signal to make it worthwhile, and AM isn't all that popular anymore anyway.

 

[w9wi]

Doesn't Springfield still have its FM station? I am aware that Tuned In owned it for a while, but I don't know what happened to it after that, and I don't live close enough to them to tune it in.

Nope. Saga bought it & moved it to Clarksville. (OK, "Oak Grove, Kentucky"...) It's 94.3 The Eagle with classic hits.

 

[NashRadio]

What would be the chance of the FCC

accepting reality, and allowing 2 types of stations (aside from power level) ... (1) stations obviously geared toward a metropolitan area, probably owned by one of the BIG corporations, which would no longer have to
to lie in their legal id ("104.5 The Zone, Nashville"), and (2) stations which actually are local and cater to their COL. Whether the FCC would or not (I'm guessing not), would ther be any reason to do that?

 

[Tibbs4]

Anybody willing to forget this COL waste, if the FCC said call it's COL anywhere you want to in your listening area,
BUT you can only own two FM signals max??? Of course there should be no limits on AM ownership...everybody needs
a few bottles of the ole AM...for Independence Day. Of which happy Fourth to all you fun posters on here. A toast to
each of you and may we start with a tribute to WMRO The All American Radio Legend sponsored by Arbor Mist's newest
Tutti-Fruit Flavors in Red, White & Blue. Only $4.04 a gallon, 87 octang. Makes your engine roar.

 

[scottwmro]

Anybody willing to forget this COL waste, if the FCC said call it's COL anywhere you want to in your listening area,
BUT you can only own two FM signals max??? Of course there should be no limits on AM ownership...everybody needs
a few bottles of the ole AM...for Independence Day. Of which happy Fourth to all you fun posters on here. A toast to
each of you and may we start with a tribute to WMRO The All American Radio Legend sponsored by Arbor Mist's newest
Tutti-Fruit Flavors in Red, White & Blue. Only $4.04 a gallon, 87 octang. Makes your engine roar.

HA! Good one Tibbs, we'll drink to that!

Since it is the the 4th (as of this writing) look what our government has done. Allowing lobbyist to get thier way on this COL deal, we have a screw up, mixed up FCC and gas is up within months to nearly 4 dollars a gallon. I guess it's now based on how much money one has to have it, your way! We'll give our government another toast. Do I smell King George in there, somewhere????????? I thought we got away the from British ways many, many years ago!