Jeff Santos Metastasizes

[Laurence Glavin]

Jeff Santos's morning snooze-fest on WWZN-AM 1510 has metastasized again! First it added WSMN-AM 1590 in Nashua, NH and WARL-AM 1320 in Attleboro, MA (although WWZN promos call it a Providence station. Now, according to the Revolution Boston website, people in Maine can run the risk of falling asleep behind the wheel, should they somehow find themselves tuned to his show. Starting today (08/02) Jeff Santos is being heard on both WLVP-AM 870 in Gorham, just outside of Portland, ME and WLAM on the cusp of Lewiston and Auburn, ME. The item on their website lists both outlets as Portland stations...not quite. Also, they make the claim that WWZN's signal can be heard throughout New England. Really, really WRONG!

 

[JIBGUY]

Now, according to the Revolution Boston website, people in Maine can run the risk of falling asleep behind the wheel, should they somehow find themselves tuned to his show. Starting today (08/02) Jeff Santos is being heard on both WLVP-AM 870 in Gorham, just outside of Portland, ME and WLAM on the cusp of Lewiston and Auburn, ME. The item on their website lists both outlets as Portland stations...not quite.

WLVP-870 is a legit Portland signal station day and night, and WLAM-1470 is a true Lewiston-Auburn signal day & night, both city-grade signals in those 3 cities. However, WLAM-1470 cannot be heard in Portland due to WBAE-1490-Portland which features I-Bloc on adjacent, 2nd adjacent and third-adjacent freqs. But still, Santos, if on those stations, is covering those markets very well.

WLVP's present format is simulcast of a Portland TV station's local news for at least 90 minutes on each of the drive times, with Scott Shannon's "True Oldies Channel" the rest of the time. Looks like if money if offered, Oldies Channel-time can be easily decreased.

 

[Schuyler]

A "snoozefest" sounds rather benign to me, but Mr. Glavin seems to consider the program malignant. Given that it is being spread through (RF) radiation, perhaps a different course of treatment is indicated.

 

[Blackroc]

WARL used to run Alex Jones and other Wingnuts but I guess they flip if the price is right.

 

[DG02816]

Blackroc has it nailed: in the dollar-a-holler world of bottom dwellers, what pay$, play$!

 

[robotique]

ive never checked out this santos guy but all the talk on this board about him is making mw wonder. some day this week i'll check him out (for entertainment purposes only). ;D

 

[raccoonradio]

Attleboro is right next to Providence

870 in Portland used to be prog talk

 

[N1WVQ]

Attleboro is right next to Providence

870 in Portland used to be prog talk

Pawtucket is sandwiched inbetween the 2 and WARL's signal is weaker in Providence due to a Providence station on 1290 running 10kW (versus WARL's 5kW). I think both 1290 & 1320 have 4 towers in their arrays.

 

[DanStrassberg]

Pawtucket is sandwiched inbetween the 2 and WARL's signal is weaker in Providence due to a Providence station on 1290 running 10kW (versus WARL's 5kW). I think both 1290 & 1320 have 4 towers in their arrays.

Yes, both stations have four towers but WRNI uses only three at a time whereas WARL uses three by day (all four at night). The sites are almost 10 miles apart (WARL is kind of northeast of WRNI) and all four patterns send maximum radiation more or less toward the southeast.

 

[SonicOverload]

ive never checked out this santos guy but all the talk on this board about him is making mw wonder. some day this week i'll check him out (for entertainment purposes only). ;D

I'm very far to the left and find Santos insufferably boring... there's no entertainment value whatsoever. It's a shame his ego makes him run his show until 10 AM, pre-empting the first hour of the far more entertaining Stephanie Miller show.

 

[Don Juan]

I'm very far to the left and find Santos insufferably boring... there's no entertainment value whatsoever. It's a shame his ego makes him run his show until 10 AM...

Well...don't you know it's a big right-wing scam?

The conservative owners of conservative companies that run conservative talk stations are MAKING Santos be boring and UN-entertaining!

The right-wingers control all radio....and those on the left are required to never ever garner an audience!

They force Santos to dedicate one day a week to talking about trains! ;-)

 

[raccoonradio]

But we know that a former gov. of MA who ran for Prez in 1988 (winning about 10 states, IIRC)
later became a bigwig with Amtrak. Thus perhaps Santos' interest in public transit.

 

[Blackroc]

find Santos insufferably boring
The RW hosts are also boring. The difference is they are angry while boring, creating a sense of community amongst boring-angry people. Example: "the war against Christmas." Boring.

 

[raccoonradio]

Both sides can be angry, boring, whatever your perspective is. Both can demonize politicians
and celebrities on the opposite side of the aisle. Right-leaning hosts have been more
successful because they got a head start on the left (at least if you're referring to the
debut of Rush) and also because they portray themselves as a reaction against
the "liberal media". Again it all depends on your own personal viewpoint. Much of the nation
may be left-or-middle socially, middle-or-right fiscally, etc., and the right wing hosts have
grabbed much of that demo.

On the TV side of the aisle Fox News dominates the ratings (at least with their nighttime shows)
but perhaps if a pie chart were made, you'd see this is because they alone may lean right
and grab about 50 per cent of the total audience while there are a whole bunch of other
channels which lean left, and they split up the remaining 50%. Talk radio, right-leaning, does
portray itself as being against the MSM (mainstream media), perhaps here talking more about
the broadcast networks, newspapers, and magazine, though cable, too.

I could just as easily say the left wing hosts are angry and boring, too. Various flame
throwers on either side...and/or less dynamic voices, too.

 

[Dighton Rockhead]

It's awfully tough for me to imagine how in God's Green Earth the Santos train-wreck....(sorry...couldn't help that little pun, given his penchant for mass transit...LOL)....is making a profit.

I certainly don't hear that many paid commercials. And...If I have to hear that PSA about not throwing mercury in the trash ONE MORE TIME...my poor old brain will probably explode in millions of pieces scattered all over the south coast.

I guess my real question is....How much longer are Santos' financial backers willing to continue along, considering that the bottom line likely is not a good one?

Unless......It's all about the agenda, and profit and loss doesn't matter?

 

[raccoonradio]

Prob more about agenda and if there's a profit it's a small one. Maybe he's trying to keep costs down but you do have to wonder--various costs for the syndie show airings, etc.--how can he afford it, indeed? They don't show up in the ratings.

From the 1510 site: "Even though AM 1510's singal covers most of New England"

Not really! Yes I know in the past I'd be in southern NH and WWZN would come in faintly in the daytime
but trust me, it's no powerhouse. No WRKO, BZ, XKS, TKK, etc. Most of New England? Does he mean
yes, if you count streamcasting? Even with the other stations simulcasting him it's not much

 

[FPB]

I'm very far to the left and find Santos insufferably boring... there's no entertainment value whatsoever. It's a shame his ego makes him run his show until 10 AM...

Well...don't you know it's a big right-wing scam?

The conservative owners of conservative companies that run conservative talk stations are MAKING Santos be boring and UN-entertaining!

The right-wingers control all radio....and those on the left are required to never ever garner an audience!

They force Santos to dedicate one day a week to talking about trains! ;-)

Very cute. But the real problem is that because the conservative owners don't let progressives on the air, we're left with very few choices. If Jeff Santos had competiton from ONE other progressive, he'd been gone long ago.

 

[DanStrassberg]

No WRKO, BZ, XKS, TKK, etc.

As far as WXKS goes, you must be thinking about Kiss 108. WWZN's signal is fully competitive with that of WXKS (AM) 1200, and is, generally speaking, somewhat superior. By day, because of its more southerly transmitter location, WXKS may have the better signal in, say, Brockton, but WWZN does better to the north (Merrimac Valley, for example). WWZN's 200-degree towers are enough more efficient than WXKS's ~80-degree towers to more than make up for the ~25% higher frequency. And notwithstanding the wicked first adjacents on 1500 and 1520, WWZN has the lower NIF. WXKS gets more co-channel interference (CFGO, WTLA, even WOAI) and it also has its own first-adjacent problem--WPHT. Neither 1200 nor 1510 has a signal that can compete with 680 or even 850, not to even mention WBZ. In addition, WWZN is almost nondirectional during non-critical daylight hours, whereas WXKS sends the equivalent of only about 5 kW toward MetroWest by day. At night, the 1510 and 1200 signals are both useless once you get more than about a mile to the west of the transmitters.

 

[FPB]

It's awfully tough for me to imagine how in God's Green Earth the Santos train-wreck....(sorry...couldn't help that little pun, given his penchant for mass transit...LOL)....is making a profit.

I certainly don't hear that many paid commercials. And...If I have to hear that PSA about not throwing mercury in the trash ONE MORE TIME...my poor old brain will probably explode in millions of pieces scattered all over the south coast.

I guess my real question is....How much longer are Santos' financial backers willing to continue along, considering that the bottom line likely is not a good one?

Unless......It's all about the agenda, and profit and loss doesn't matter?

If you heard the mercury PSA as often as you say, then you have to admit to hearing local advertisers. And you have to admit to hearing Bob's Furniture - a large chain which, one would think, relys on numbers and stats. Apparently, the Santos Train Wreck WORKS for them, even if not for you.

 

[leegart]

They should push the sales and promotion for Stephanie Miller (they should fun all three hours), Ed Schultz, and Thom Hartmann. Those are quality shows that could get the station better ratings with decent promotion. They are also on during the day when the signal is much better.