Let Us Try This Again, WDJAndO.........

[FRR]

I still remember 1530 AM. Good ol' WSAI. I'm only 21 years old and I remember that station quite well. In the early days of my memory (1996ish, age 5 or so), my mom had a 1979 Ford Pinto (AKA the bomb on wheels) that had the standard Ford Philco AM only radio. The only station with music back then was WSAI 1530, and it was all Frank Sinatra. I would always complain to my mom about why she listened to that crap instead of country like my dad did (He's been fans of B105, Y-96, 96.5 The Star, 94.9 The Star, 97.3 The Wolf, and now his dial's back on B105 since the Wolf's got such a weak signal that you might as well kill it. The howl is more of a meow.) My mom's response was, "There's nothing else on but talk."

What AM radio needs is more music. There ARE listeners out there. They left because of idiots like Rush Limbaugh, Bill Cunningham, Glen Beck, Rupert Murdoch (Owner of Faux News), and many others. Once all stations went to being talk only, everybody ran like heck to FM. FM has the music that was replaced with talk on AM. Also, not all AM listeners are old geezers. I'm 21 and I LOVE AM radio. There are others like me. I've showed my friends what good AM radio can sound like (Deep Purple's Smoke on the water on WDJO) and they LOVED IT!!!!!!!! There are alot of people in my generation who actually like the things our elders like for music. Not everybody is glued to sirius XM or the mp3 player. AM radio is like vinyl. There are still young people who love it. Yes, young people like records. There are actually some modern alternative rock bands that release LPs. Vinyl and AM are NOT dead. You just need to figure out how to reach an audience other than right wing nuts and senior citizens. Heck, grandpa's old radio probably has FM on it by now. Grandpa's probably listening to WOBO, WMKV, WLHS, or WGUC.

As for WDJO's current issues, the format made an attempt to blend 50s and 60s with the 70s. That is a recipe for DISASTER! 2 separate formats that clash. The 50s fans think the 70s music stinks or is too loud. My aunt was a WDJO fan until the classic rock was added. She's 74 and loves Elvis, Chuck Berry, Little Richard, the Van Dells, and pretty much anything from 1950 to 1965. Nowadays, when we're in the car with WDJO on the dial and they go from Elvis to Foghat, she makes me turn off the radio. She swears to God they're yelling. When it comes to an oldies format, you need to choose a side. Ages 40 to 65 or 65+. Trying to fit both demographics WILL NOT WORK! And that's why 1480 WILL go dark. Alchemy really screwed up! In the words of a grandma, "Them whippersnappers added hippie music to my oldies channel!"

Got news for you young man... We didn't leave AM because Conservative Commentators came on. We left when they quit playing our favorite music.

 

[major]

If you read his post a little closer, that's what he's saying. Conservative talk just happened to be what replaced the music.

 

[ToddyO]

I remember Rush being added to WCKY, seeming odd though it did fall under their "words and music" format. When they fazed out the music, for NewsTalk 1530, did their numbers drop or did WWEZ's numbers go up (I think WLYK was out of the picture by then)?

 

[jry]

What tower site was 1480 using in Covington during the demolition of the Glenwood Ave site? Was it 1050 or 1320? Maybe they could diplex off of one of those Xmitr locations.

A few months ago, i had our Engineers at Munn Reese do a study on diplexing 1480 on 1050. you'd get 750 watts, day and next to nothing at night. The day pattern was pretty good. I am not about to create another daytime only station, though.
Now, it may work on the 1320 site with that DA. The sticks are a little taller than what 1480 currently has. Like the Ghoul used to say... Who knows, who cares?

 

[johncbrown450]

I'm waiting until July 1st to find out if NDXUfan is right and WDJO goes off the air. If they do, I wonder what it will be replaced with.

Maybe RockNuts can put Class X on 1480 AM for the people who can't receive his weak FM signals. It's a gamble, but he'd at least have an area-wide footprint. Right now, he's got Kentucky and the West Side. Half of the tri-state doesn't even get to experience the new breed of rock. I have checked it out before online and I love it! It's my favorite rock station.

P.S. If that was to happen, PLEASE add C-Quam stereo to the signal. I have an AM stereo radio and I've been dying to hear AM stereo!

 

[jry]

You are one of the few people left with a CQuam receiver. I have one Aiwa walkman left with CQuam.

No one is using it. I think 4 of my stations are still CQuam capable.... I just do not see the value of cranking them back up.

1480? Who knows. The lender may just cut and run. Hopefully, things will work out for the current crew.

 

[microbob]

I have an old Sony SRF-42 AM stereo Walkman that I only used a few times just to DX a few distant AM stereo stations like WLS Chicago and on the expanded band. The last station in Cincinnati that was broadcasting in AM Stereo was the old WNOP 740 AM when they were Jazz.

 

[johncbrown450]

You are one of the few people left with a CQuam receiver. I have one Aiwa walkman left with CQuam.

No one is using it. I think 4 of my stations are still CQuam capable.... I just do not see the value of cranking them back up.

1480? Who knows. The lender may just cut and run. Hopefully, things will work out for the current crew.

I think you should fire the stereo generators up. Most modern HD-AM receivers are also stereo capable. At least try it for a month and see if anybody notices, If you get zero rave reviews and 1000 "What in sam hill is AM Stereo" phone calls, shut it down.

By the way, which stations do you own? I wish you could bring 1480 back from the dead. Maybe go all classic rock? Or classic country? Or Bluegrass? By the way, my dad would LOVE a bluegrass station in this town! And that's a format that MIGHT work on AM.

 

[jry]

I have an HD Radio in my 2011 Ford. No AM Stereo....

I own 1050 and 1160.

We fired it back up for a while at one of my Michigan stations and, NADA...

 

[pioneer71]

jry- how are things going for 1160 since the switch?

Do you think there is any format that would work for WDJO?

 

[jry]

jry- how are things going for 1160 since the switch?

Do you think there is any format that would work for WDJO?

I had suggested one to them. It is a spoken word one and, given the location of their site, it could work.
They would build on Imus. This was about 6 months ago. As you can tell, they didn't take the advice.

As far as 1160 goes, Thank God, the clients that i have talked to are reporting more response. Both local and national clients.
One of the local ones was REALLY apprehensive about this. On the first day the client reported that the signal was much better.
This one happens to be north of Cincy. Making this kind of change is really risky. Some of the national clients had told me that they have had bad luck with this type of thing, in the past. You're moving people that have an established audience to a new signal. Will the audience follow is the question. Tons of promos and billboards helped the cause. It helped that the two stations are close on the dial.
I think all of the "poor signal" attacks that we sustained, while doing News/Talk, was primarily pushed by our competition. Really hard. Now that we aren't competing, no one has complained about it.

 

[pioneer71]

JRY.. Could you explain more on your proposed format for WDJO?

 

[jry]

JRY.. Could you explain more on your proposed format for WDJO?

No disrespect of you but, it is a moot point. Floated it out there, to the person that mattered. Obviously, they didn't bite.

 

[johncbrown450]

Hey, I just tuned to 1480 earlier today (July 1st) and they're still on the air. I smell BS from NDXUfan.

 

[NDXUFan]

BS? I never, ever said how long they would be on the air. I just reported the facts of what was going on with the station, just that simple. I think you like to read into things, too much.

Hey, I just tuned to 1480 earlier today (July 1st) and they're still on the air. I smell BS from NDXUfan.