More Nassau cutbacks

[Who REALLY Cares?]

Splicer, it seems like you're a disgruntled Nassau insider and you see the grass as being greener on the other side. You share insider information on here that only the highest level managers or engineers would know. Shrewd? NOT!

 

[NHRadio]

Are there any non-disgruntled Nassau insiders left? ;D

Splicer, it seems like you're a disgruntled Nassau insider and you see the grass as being greener on the other side. You share insider information on here that only the highest level managers or engineers would know. Shrewd? NOT!

 

[necrat123]

The 98.3/101.5 tower is owned by Crown Castle.

 

[JIBGUY]

Big corporations, that have no understanding of small market - locally produced radio destroyed them and now have to exit and sell to (Hopefully) local owners who get it and will revitalize the markets they serve. Mr. Shapiro, Mr. Schmidt, Mr. Christian and Mr. Fisher are all people that understand how to win with a local, community involved station(s). Any one of those gentlemen would be perfect suitors for the Nassau stations. Time will tell.

Best owners here in Maine also seem to be the ones where no one on this board has any complaints about... meaning that jobs are steady, people there are happy. In no particular order, such owners are:
- Stephen King ... well funded and steady.
- JJ Jeffrey ....ultimate great local radio guy... eats, sleeps, breathes Maine radio.
- Saga ....well-run, financially stable even in this economy.
- Dick Gleason .... working hard making 1240 uber-local.
And was glad to see Clark Smidt get WCAP-980 in Mass, as he is local (living nearby) and a hard worker. And (Mass, again) look for good things, I'm sure, with WNBP-1450.

 

[splicer38]

From the FCC website: Transfer of control of 102.3FM to Birch Broadcasting (Andrew Summerau has a 95.1% equity stake and 100% of the votes) has been approved by the FCC on June 24, 2009 (BTCH-20090309ACH). There is a letter from the commission that states they have until Sept. 5th to turn it on. Guess Mr. Summerau did close on that deal. Don't know how that affects the marketing/sale of the Nassau stations.

Splicer, it seems like you're a disgruntled Nassau insider and you see the grass as being greener on the other side. You share insider information on here that only the highest level managers or engineers would know. Shrewd? NOT!

Reply: Nope. Never worked for Nassau. Just an innocent bystander reading tea leaves and watching the pieces fall into place and trying to anticipate what they'll do next. A lot of the "facts" I bring to the table are publicly available like the FCC filing above. No insider information at all. I also have many contacts in the industry that have good listening skills. I don't know of ANY Nassau employee that's happy to be where they are. From what I hear, the ones that are left are not comfortable in their position and are being over worked trying to cover for the ones that have been let go. It sounds like the grass is pretty "Brown" at Nassau these days! Watching all this happen to big corprate radio companies is saddening but if this is the beginning of locally owned stations and local operators getting back in control of these stations that is a good thing no? ;D

Recent articles indicate Clear Channel is having their own problems with Goldman Sachs and Private Equity. They could be next to be "Reorganized". :'(

 

[OlderRadioGuy]

"Approved" does not mean the sale has "Closed".

From the FCC website: Transfer of control of 102.3FM to Birch Broadcasting (Andrew Summerau has a 95.1% equity stake and 100% of the votes) has been approved by the FCC on June 24, 2009 (BTCH-20090309ACH). There is a letter from the commission that states they have until Sept. 5th to turn it on. Guess Mr. Summerau did close on that deal. Don't know how that affects the marketing/sale of the Nassau stations.

 

[Oldbones]

It sounds like the grass is pretty "Brown" at Nassau these days! Watching all this happen to big corprate radio companies is saddening but if this is the beginning of locally owned stations and local operators getting back in control of these stations that is a good thing no?

The same laws of economics that apply to corporations apply to local operators too. Local or not, don't expect to see full airstaffs returning. Ever.

Name one industry where the grass isn't pretty "brown" these days. Radio is not alone.

JIM: I too hope these signals end up in local ownership. Mr. Fisher is a terrific operator and understands local radio and how it works.

Really, the only station in his cluster that any effort seems to be put into is Mix. The other 2 FMs are mostly bird-feed (is there any local programming on WSCY?), and the AMs are pretty much throwaways.

- Dick Gleason .... working hard making 1240 uber-local.
And was glad to see Clark Smidt get WCAP-980 in Mass, as he is local (living nearby) and a hard worker. And (Mass, again) look for good things, I'm sure, with WNBP-1450.

I'm not from Maine so I have no idea what's on 1240, but I can't imagine a graveyard-channel AM drawing much of an audience, no matter what they're doing programming-wise.

Speaking of WCAP, have you actually heard this station? It sounds like small-market radio circa 1963. Does anyone under 65 listen? Surprising, considering Smidt made his fame & fortune as a programming consultant.

The bottom line is that just being "local" isn't gonna cut it in the 21st century. If you suck, no one's gonna listen no matter how "local" you are.

 

[NHRadio]

WSCY is live in AM drive as is "The Planet" WPNH. In fact today was Joyce Danas' first day on SCY. She was with WOKQ for about a dozen years, and is a veteran of WCGY as well.
While the AM's aren't relevant to anyone under 60, they're not throwaways either.
A Nassau employee is hardly in a position to take other stations to task for the lack of local programming.

Really, the only station in his cluster that any effort seems to be put into is Mix. The other 2 FMs are mostly bird-feed (is there any local programming on WSCY?), and the AMs are pretty much throwaways.

 

[djjim6629]

I would rather have a bird fed station than a Nassau fed station. WRN does a great job with WPNH 100.1. 3-4 breaks an hour are actually customized for the station with live local content. I'll take that over Nassau's voicetracking. Also, Jeff does lots of community involvement type things on all 3 stations and tons of remotes. There is also someone in the studio at the FTN, SCY and PNH building from 5 am to 7 pm everyday. As far as the AM's, what small town AM is doing much of anything these days? Down here in the south is wall to wall black gospel and religion on the small town am's.

 

[Gadon]

I would NOT quite put the nail in the coffin for a lot of the 'small town AM's' in northern New England quite yet.. A good number of the small market AM's still provide a mix of good local and national, talk and sports content. There is plenty of religious content on the FM side of the dial.

 

[WCWalker]

I would NOT quite put the nail in the coffin for a lot of the 'small town AM's' in northern New England quite yet.. A good number of the small market AM's still provide a mix of good local and national, talk and sports content. There is plenty of religious content on the FM side of the dial.

Exactly right. And there is a new Part 15 AM station now on the air in Bar Harbor that uses several synched transmitters to provide very good coverage in Bar Harbor. They've only been on the air a few weeks and they already have advertisers. An AM station is still very relevant to the city it serves if it provides some real local programming. In turn, in most communities, they will gain sponsors.

AM is far from dead in the Northeast and Midwest. I can list a lot of smaller cities and towns that have live and local AM radio going strong. Anywhere from Lockport, NY to the Beaver Falls, PA area to Albert Lea, MN etc. AM dead? Hardly.

 

[amguy]

And, of course, don't forget AM 1370 WDEA in Ellsworth. 5,000 watt signal covers eastern Maine very well and into the Canadian Maritimes. Very local 6-9 AM.

 

[Mainedude2007]

And, of course, don't forget AM 1370 WDEA in Ellsworth. 5,000 watt signal covers eastern Maine very well and into the Canadian Maritimes. Very local 6-9 AM.

but bird fed the other 21 hours a day...WZON is more live and local than that

 

[splicer38]

The same laws of economics that apply to corporations apply to local operators too. Local or not, don't expect to see full airstaffs returning. Ever.
"Full"? No I agree. But I do think a local operator would be smart to budget for a daytime staff and a couple of part time on air types. I would imagine they would also carry additional duties including sales, Operations, Admin, Production...etc. You just can't make these things juke boxes anymore! I beleive that a local operator might be able to buy some of these stations at such a discount that they can make that happen and maybe actually CREATE some jobs instead of cutting them!

Name one industry where the grass isn't pretty "brown" these days. Radio is not alone.
Hmmmm... Lawyers handling bankruptcies... Auto reposession... Mortgage Modifications... Just a few with Greener lawns! Not appealling to me... but Greener non the less! ;D


Really, the only station in his cluster that any effort seems to be put into is Mix. The other 2 FMs are mostly bird-feed (is there any local programming on WSCY?), and the AMs are pretty much throwaways.
Those thowaways have minimal overhead and are probably more profitable with the Sox and Pats and other live sports they carry. Don't underestimate Local AM's

Speaking of WCAP, have you actually heard this station? It sounds like small-market radio circa 1963. Does anyone under 65 listen? Surprising, considering Smidt made his fame & fortune as a programming consultant.
What I've heard from WCAP is that they've nealry tripled the billing in the short time Mr. Smidt has operated it. Whether you like what he's doing programming wise is a different story. He's reinvigorated the station into a relavant player in the market with LIVE LOCAL progrmming (albiet hokey sometimes) and he's created some jobs. Moreover, he's doing it the right way in my opinion. It's sure not a juke box!

The bottom line is that just being "local" isn't gonna cut it in the 21st century. If you suck, no one's gonna listen no matter how "local" you are.
Agreed. But speaking on Mix 94.1 in Franklin... I think their programming has sucked for a long time. Why a HOT CHR in Central NH? Who will buy that? Who will listen to it? Apparently a lot of people because of it's local relatability and commitment to the community. Consistency has a lot to do with it as well. Morning guy has been there for 30 years I think, and the sales staff has been there as long.

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[NHRadio]

What do you think sucks about it?

But speaking on Mix 94.1 in Franklin... I think their programming has sucked for a long time.

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[splicer38]

Please don't take it persoanlly if you're the PD or on air there! Over the years I've listened to Fred and company and understand that their success is derived from being local and connected to the community. They also had to differentiate itself from LNH and others in the market. However, a HOT CHR is usually not appealing to the normal population in the Boondocks of NH... Especially the Lakes region. I think that JYY to the South does a better job in the format and prevents FTN penetration south. I shouldn't have used the word "Suck". That was the wrong word. The programming is local and fine. FORMAT seems incongruent with location yet they are still successful being locally committed. That was my point.
I also have noticed a recently added voice to the station that I think is refreshing. Eric Scott I beleive is their new production director and is on the air filling in from time to time. Who knows he could be the air apparent to Fred! Yeah, let's start that rumor!!! ;D

What do you think sucks about it?

But speaking on Mix 94.1 in Franklin... I think their programming has sucked for a long time.

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[probuttonpusher]

Congrats Splicer you JUST made NHRadio (aka Eric Scotts) day.

 

[RadioCIA]

Congrats NHRadio you JUST made probuttonpusher (aka Heather Bishop) day.

 

[NHRadio]

I'm surprised...considering her opinion of me....and many others.

Congrats NHRadio you JUST made probuttonpusher (aka Heather Bishop) day.

 

[probuttonpusher]

first off if you have been on this board before my name has already been outted, second Scott I wish you the best, I really do