My evaluation of Binghamton radio..

[interndj]

During the past few days, I was visiting my family in Binghamton. Upon doing so,
I tuned into some stations for at least one hour. So, here's my critique:

991 The Whale - The person middays was BORING! It wasn't Don Morgan, the 20+ vet. but rahter his fill in, who opted not to give his name. Good! I could be a consultant for radio, no thanks. He soundeded like he totaslly didn't want to be there.

Afternoon Drive - Total opposite laid back style. Smooth.

Dubya H Dubya K.(Country, WHWK) - John Davison, this guy IS Major market material, wtf is he doing in Binghamton!!?? Wasting your talent bro! Awesome presence on air, very smooth. A+..

Star 1057 - Voicetrack heaven, sucks. Sorry, truth hurts. No wonder you are not #1. BUT, give Mulder credit, although voicetracked, he was good.

Wild 104 - Afternoon guy Wow. Marbles in his mouth. Instead of asking his DJs for their demo, listen to YOURSELF!

Mix 103 - Midday voicetrack goddess. Remember, she's now in Ohio with.. (Draw your own conclusions, sounded horrible! No smile in the voice, they train you this in school, she must've forgot her *cheat sheet*. Please, get someone one on who enjoys being there.

KGB - Couldn't listen too, signal too weak.

 

[bw]

You must not have been right in Binghamton if KGB's signal was weak..

 

[DowntownHazleton]

> You must not have been right in Binghamton if KGB's signal
> was weak..
>
He was probably in that fantasy-land of "Greater Binghamton" which depending on how the Binghamton Press wants to define it today could equal anywhere from Hop Bottom to Vermont!

 

[interndj]

> > You must not have been right in Binghamton if KGB's signal
>
> > was weak..
> >
> He was probably in that fantasy-land of "Greater Binghamton"
> which depending on how the Binghamton Press wants to define
> it today could equal anywhere from Hop Bottom to Vermont!
>

Well, I was at the corner of State and Court. How's that for Downtown Binghamton!? In any event, it really doesn't matter. I Like KGB.

 

[scappy]

> During the past few days, I was visiting my family in
> Binghamton. Upon doing so,
> I tuned into some stations for at least one hour. So, here's
> my critique:

>
> KGB - Couldn't listen too, signal too weak.
>

On 92.5? KGB's transmitter is running healthy, and the conditions weren't really ripe for excessive ducting or skip, although there have been some days that KGB disappears from the dial when the conditions were just right. As someone who shares the duties of maintaining CC's transmitters, this perplexes me.

WKGB has the newest transmitter and antenna of our stations, coupled with an engineer that peeks in on the site every day (who can blame him with air conditioning and running hot and cold water) so I'm curious why it was too weak for you to receive.

What type of radio were you using and were you indoors or outdoors?

<P ID="signature">______________
Jon Scaptura
Binghamton Radio Archive
http://www.BinghamtonRadio.com
</P>

 

[interndj]

> > During the past few days, I was visiting my family in
> > Binghamton. Upon doing so,
> > I tuned into some stations for at least one hour. So,
> here's
> > my critique:
>
> >
> > KGB - Couldn't listen too, signal too weak.
> >
>
> On 92.5? KGB's transmitter is running healthy, and the
> conditions weren't really ripe for excessive ducting or
> skip, although there have been some days that KGB disappears
> from the dial when the conditions were just right. As
> someone who shares the duties of maintaining CC's
> transmitters, this perplexes me.
>
> WKGB has the newest transmitter and antenna of our stations,
> coupled with an engineer that peeks in on the site every day
> (who can blame him with air conditioning and running hot and
> cold water) so I'm curious why it was too weak for you to
> receive.
>
> What type of radio were you using and were you indoors or
> outdoors?
>

It could of been the type of day, weather who knows. It's not a big deal. I was driving downtown, right near Citadel. Again, not a big deal. I worked at KGB when they first went on air. Ben Smith, Kevin Fitzgerald. The trailor in PA, next to McDonalds!

 

[upperleftcorner]

Not Falling For This One

Funny how interndj claims to be visiting family in Bingo, but the majority of his posts seems to be about Binghamton radio. I'm not buying his "visiting" story, especially with KGB's four year-old clear signal over most of the Southern tier and NEPA. Interndj...where in Binghamton do you reside? I love how you claim to be an outsider with a novice view of the market, yet know Don Morgan wasn't in his usual place, or that Mix 103's midday jock is a market goddess from Ohio, or even that Star sucks on any given day. Yes, John Davidson is a good jock, but how do you figure to be a judge of talent? You listened for an hour to each station. How does that qualify you to be a critic of any station around here?

 

[interndj]

Re: Not Falling For This One

> Funny how interndj claims to be visiting family in Bingo,
> but the majority of his posts seems to be about Binghamton
> radio. I'm not buying his "visiting" story, especially with
> KGB's four year-old clear signal over most of the Southern
> tier and NEPA. Interndj...where in Binghamton do you
> reside? I love how you claim to be an outsider with a
> novice view of the market, yet know Don Morgan wasn't in his
> usual place, or that Mix 103's midday jock is a market
> goddess from Ohio, or even that Star sucks on any given day.
> Yes, John Davidson is a good jock, but how do you figure to
> be a judge of talent? You listened for an hour to each
> station. How does that qualify you to be a critic of any
> station around here?
>

Gee, where do I start? Claiming to be visiting family? Ok. Born and raised there. There are some personal info. I'm not disclosing, too bad. Again, I'm not saying nor did I say anything bad about KGB, why should I? I used to jock there?

I do like to give my opinion, because I can, don't let the "interndj" fool ya
I can't give some opinions? I apparently hit a bad nerve with you, ok what station do you program that sucks so bad? Probably Star.

 

[upperleftcorner]

Re: Not Falling For This One

There are some personal info. I'm not
> disclosing, too bad. Again, I'm not saying nor did I say
> anything bad about KGB, why should I? I used to jock there?

No nerve struck at all. I just find it amusing that you claim to be a "visitor" who just happens to be in town visiting family when the majority of your posts have to do with Binghamton radio. As for KGB, you used to be a jock there? This is the most rock-solid lineup in town. They haven't had anybody come or go from the lineup in over six years. Unless you're Ben Smith, you worked at KGB back in the PA days. Now I'm curious. Were you an intern with KGB who has moved on with life outside radio? Beep beep beep...the fries are done!

 

[JustinCase]

Re: Not Falling For This One

> There are some personal info. I'm not
> > disclosing, too bad. Again, I'm not saying nor did I say
> > anything bad about KGB, why should I? I used to jock
> there?
>
> No nerve struck at all. I just find it amusing that you
> claim to be a "visitor" who just happens to be in town
> visiting family when the majority of your posts have to do
> with Binghamton radio. As for KGB, you used to be a jock
> there? This is the most rock-solid lineup in town. They
> haven't had anybody come or go from the lineup in over six
> years. Unless you're Ben Smith, you worked at KGB back in
> the PA days. Now I'm curious. Were you an intern with KGB
> who has moved on with life outside radio? Beep beep
> beep...the fries are done!
>

Isn't it "ding fries are done?" anyway... if he was visiting Binghamton and listened to an hour or so of each station, i'd hope the posts would be about Binghamton and not someplace like Allentown, Hershey or Harrisburg! ;-)

 

[JustinCase]

> > > You must not have been right in Binghamton if KGB's
> signal
> >
> > > was weak..
> > >
> > He was probably in that fantasy-land of "Greater
> Binghamton"
> > which depending on how the Binghamton Press wants to
> define
> > it today could equal anywhere from Hop Bottom to Vermont!
> >
>
> Well, I was at the corner of State and Court. How's that for
> Downtown Binghamton!? In any event, it really doesn't
> matter. I Like KGB.
>

My 2000 Malibu use to lose KGB on Exchange Street in the shadows of the Library and Security Mutual, on Water Street vallied in there by Boscov's and around the concrete of the Arena and in the shadow of Gov't Plaza (but then again I lose XM there too)... The new car I bought last month with my pimped stereo gets it crystal clear anywhere in the "Greater Binghamton."

BTW - I like that term, god knows we aren't the triple cities anymore, Southern Tier seems so vague when half the Southern Tier isn't really included and everyone 8 miles away who depends on Binghamton in the Nothern Tier of PA is excluded and then Twin Tiers is already used west of us. Broome County doesn't again include PA or parts of Tioga, Chenango or Delaware... Greater means of the wider sample or area... So Greater Binghamton would mean the city and all of its associated surroundings... which is what we'd be refering too.

*shrug* Pesimists just hate the idea of associating "Great" with anything they don't like.

 

[upperleftcorner]

> BTW - I like that term, god knows we aren't the triple
> cities anymore, Southern Tier seems so vague when half the
> Southern Tier isn't really included and everyone 8 miles
> away who depends on Binghamton in the Nothern Tier of PA is
> excluded and then Twin Tiers is already used west of us.
> Broome County doesn't again include PA or parts of Tioga,
> Chenango or Delaware... Greater means of the wider sample
> or area... So Greater Binghamton would mean the city and
> all of its associated surroundings... which is what we'd be
> refering too.

Funny thing is Binghamton is the incredible shrinking city. JC, Vestal, and Endicott are all growing, and with the exception of Vestal, both JC and Endicott have surpassed Binghamton in population. I don't know what to call this area anymore

 

[interndj]

>>
> Funny thing is Binghamton is the incredible shrinking city.
> JC, Vestal, and Endicott are all growing, and with the
> exception of Vestal, both JC and Endicott have surpassed
> Binghamton in population. I don't know what to call this
> area anymore
>

I agree. I drive into Vestal, and holy sh**! It's pretty big, compared to 10-15 years ago. Binghamton missed the boat on many things. Have you really been to downtown recently and looked around? The ONLY "business" holding up is Boscovs, and Binghamton had to recently "beg" Boscovs into staying. They were going to leave!

Too bad.

 

[upperleftcorner]

> I agree. I drive into Vestal, and holy sh**! It's pretty
> big, compared to 10-15 years ago. Binghamton missed the boat
> on many things. Have you really been to downtown recently
> and looked around? The ONLY "business" holding up is
> Boscovs, and Binghamton had to recently "beg" Boscovs into
> staying. They were going to leave!
>
> Too bad.
>

I hate to see this stuff. I don't know whether to blame malls, the big box retailers, or someone else for this sorta stuff. Every city faces it. The incentives to build businesses in the suburban areas closer to where people live is just to friendly to business in general. Guess we all should go to Boscovs today and make a token purchase!

When my great-grandmother was born in Binghamton in 1892, it was a sprawling, very vital city. You wouldn't know to look at it today

At least radio is still good here.

 

[interndj]

> > I agree. I drive into Vestal, and holy sh**! It's pretty
> > big, compared to 10-15 years ago. Binghamton missed the
> boat
> > on many things. Have you really been to downtown recently
> > and looked around? The ONLY "business" holding up is
> > Boscovs, and Binghamton had to recently "beg" Boscovs into
>
> > staying. They were going to leave!
> >
> > Too bad.
> >
>
> I hate to see this stuff. I don't know whether to blame
> malls, the big box retailers, or someone else for this sorta
> stuff. Every city faces it. The incentives to build
> businesses in the suburban areas closer to where people live
> is just to friendly to business in general. Guess we all
> should go to Boscovs today and make a token purchase!
>
> When my great-grandmother was born in Binghamton in 1892, it
> was a sprawling, very vital city. You wouldn't know to look
> at it today
>
> At least radio is still good here.
>

I agree 100%.

 

[JustinCase]

> Funny thing is Binghamton is the incredible shrinking city.
> JC, Vestal, and Endicott are all growing, and with the
> exception of Vestal, both JC and Endicott have surpassed
> Binghamton in population. I don't know what to call this
> area anymore
>

not exactly... populations and sprawling strip malls are quite a different thing... All three of the *cough* triple cities have shrunk...

(According to the US Census rounded to the nearest hundred)

City/Village - 2004 Population estimate (actual in 2000) ['98 estimate]
Binghamton - 46,000 (47,500) [45,500]
Endicott - 12,800 (13,500) [12,700]
Johnson City - 15,000 (15,500) [14,900]

TOWNS - 2004 Population estimate (actual in 2000) ['98 estimate]
Union - 55,000 (56,000) [54,000] (includes villages of JC & Endicott)
Vestal - 27,000 (26,500) [26,000]

COUTNIES - 2004 Population estimate(actual in 2000)['98 estimate]
Broome County - 197,700 (200,500) [196,400]
Tioga County - 51,500 (51,800) [51,500]

Granted the 2004 Census estimate numbers are all still higher than their estimates for 1998 that were proved wrong in the actual 2000 census count. The decrease in numbers is leveling off compared to the 70's -90's for the city where it lost some 36,000 residents (mostly to the burbs)... As minority populations increase, the census admits to having significantly larger margins of errors in its estimates, so we won't really know again til 2010 and who knows what will happen in the next five years.

Over the past decade we've seen tremendous development growth along the Parkway and Upper Front Street, but that growth hasn't resulted in any major population swings. Town of Union still has the most people, while the City of Binghamton remains the center of population density (less than a 1/4 of the land size of Union) and is within itself tales of different neighborhoods, some are growing slightly (South & East sides), while others are just a fraction of what they use to be (Downtown, First Ward and Northside come to mind).

 

[interndj]

> > Funny thing is Binghamton is the incredible shrinking
> city.
> > JC, Vestal, and Endicott are all growing, and with the
> > exception of Vestal, both JC and Endicott have surpassed
> > Binghamton in population. I don't know what to call this
> > area anymore
> >
>
> not exactly... populations and sprawling strip malls are
> quite a different thing... All three of the *cough* triple
> cities have shrunk...
>
> (According to the US Census rounded to the nearest hundred)
>
> City/Village - 2004 Population estimate (actual in 2000)
> ['98 estimate]
> Binghamton - 46,000 (47,500) [45,500]
> Endicott - 12,800 (13,500) [12,700]
> Johnson City - 15,000 (15,500) [14,900]
>
> TOWNS - 2004 Population estimate (actual in 2000) ['98
> estimate]
> Union - 55,000 (56,000) [54,000] (includes villages of JC &
> Endicott)
> Vestal - 27,000 (26,500) [26,000]
>
> COUTNIES - 2004 Population estimate(actual in 2000)['98
> estimate]
> Broome County - 197,700 (200,500) [196,400]
> Tioga County - 51,500 (51,800) [51,500]
>
> Granted the 2004 Census estimate numbers are all still
> higher than their estimates for 1998 that were proved wrong
> in the actual 2000 census count. The decrease in numbers is
> leveling off compared to the 70's -90's for the city where
> it lost some 36,000 residents (mostly to the burbs)... As
> minority populations increase, the census admits to having
> significantly larger margins of errors in its estimates, so
> we won't really know again til 2010 and who knows what will
> happen in the next five years.
>
> Over the past decade we've seen tremendous development
> growth along the Parkway and Upper Front Street, but that
> growth hasn't resulted in any major population swings. Town
> of Union still has the most people, while the City of
> Binghamton remains the center of population density (less
> than a 1/4 of the land size of Union) and is within itself
> tales of different neighborhoods, some are growing slightly
> (South & East sides), while others are just a fraction of
> what they use to be (Downtown, First Ward and Northside come
> to mind).
>

Dude, no offense, but you spent WAYYYY too much time finding out the info..

 

[DowntownHazleton]

> > > > You must not have been right in Binghamton if KGB's
> > signal
> > >
> > > > was weak..
> > > >
> > > He was probably in that fantasy-land of "Greater
> > Binghamton"
> > > which depending on how the Binghamton Press wants to
> > define
> > > it today could equal anywhere from Hop Bottom to
> Vermont!
> > >
> >
> > Well, I was at the corner of State and Court. How's that
> for
> > Downtown Binghamton!? In any event, it really doesn't
> > matter. I Like KGB.
> >
>
> My 2000 Malibu use to lose KGB on Exchange Street in the
> shadows of the Library and Security Mutual, on Water Street
> vallied in there by Boscov's and around the concrete of the
> Arena and in the shadow of Gov't Plaza (but then again I
> lose XM there too)... The new car I bought last month with
> my pimped stereo gets it crystal clear anywhere in the
> "Greater Binghamton."
>
> BTW - I like that term, god knows we aren't the triple
> cities anymore, Southern Tier seems so vague when half the
> Southern Tier isn't really included and everyone 8 miles
> away who depends on Binghamton in the Nothern Tier of PA is
> excluded and then Twin Tiers is already used west of us.
> Broome County doesn't again include PA or parts of Tioga,
> Chenango or Delaware... Greater means of the wider sample
> or area... So Greater Binghamton would mean the city and
> all of its associated surroundings... which is what we'd be
> refering too.
>
> *shrug* Pesimists just hate the idea of associating "Great"
> with anything they don't like.
>
Since I made the original comment about "Greater Binghamton", I'd like you to know that it's not pessimism that has anything to do about it. I lived most of my life in Endicott, and spent most of my radio career in and around Binghamton. I am very much in favor of the entire area doing better than it has lately. My problem with the "Greater Binghamton" label is this..it lumps multiple areas with different histories, different backgrounds and different tastes into one big faceless group. How many people who write on this board cry foul about how Citadel, Clear Channel or Cumulus have melted every radio station in a certain area into one big, homogenized cluster? And that's what the label "Greater Binghamton" does to this area. And, as mentioned in my earlier post, The Binghamton Press applies the "Greater Binghamton" name to anything that fits them in a story they are writing. So "Greater Binghamton" can wind up being anything from Hop Bottom to Vermont in their wisdom. I'm done now.

 

[JustinCase]

> Dude, no offense, but you spent WAYYYY too much time finding
> out the info..

Not really... I have the information in a census print out in a binder on my desk, I just flipped open to one page and dropped some numbers... I think its important to know truly whats going on when you're in charge of relating to the public and promoting the station. Plus I'm a wealth of useless info anyway! lol

Anyone see todays Local & State section of the paper? It just cements my comments yesterday about minorities and sample errors in the census. As it says an increase in immigrant births in our area is beginning to counter the decline of hometown births. Do we really know how many immigrants are here and thats just a segment of an ever growing minority population, especially the asian population, I mean there are a couple of asian grocery stores now.

The ethnicities impacting are differnt, but our economy and population trend is much like just around the turn of the previous century if you go back in local history... at the time the Scranton and Syracuse areas were making fun of Binghamton as the sleepy "Parlor City." A place where residents had nothing to do and no opportunities, so they'd just sit in their parlors moping. The logging and Cigar industry were fading fast but as we know shortly after, a huge immagration boom and the many that came with it would start companies that would take off including the company now known as whirlpool which started here and the shoe industry which took advantage of the immigrant boom to take foot (pun intended) and exploded leading to 60 years of consistant growth with EJ, then Link and IBM amongst others.

Our major industries are again in decline and opportunity is again limited, now is the kind of time where the next set of leaders can come in cheap and take us on a new path and create new types of business and opportunity. I'm obviously trying to be optomistic and would rather see our positives than our negatives, but history does tend to repeat itself.<P ID="edit"><FONT class="small">Edited by JustinCase on 07/08/05 08:20 PM.</FONT></P>

 

[JustinCase]

> Since I made the original comment about "Greater
> Binghamton", I'd like you to know that it's not pessimism
> that has anything to do about it. I lived most of my life in
> Endicott, and spent most of my radio career in and around
> Binghamton. I am very much in favor of the entire area doing
> better than it has lately. My problem with the "Greater
> Binghamton" label is this..it lumps multiple areas with
> different histories, different backgrounds and different
> tastes into one big faceless group. How many people who
> write on this board cry foul about how Citadel, Clear
> Channel or Cumulus have melted every radio station in a
> certain area into one big, homogenized cluster? And that's
> what the label "Greater Binghamton" does to this area. And,
> as mentioned in my earlier post, The Binghamton Press
> applies the "Greater Binghamton" name to anything that fits
> them in a story they are writing. So "Greater Binghamton"
> can wind up being anything from Hop Bottom to Vermont in
> their wisdom. I'm done now.
>

I've been part of several discussions and on a couple panels investigating consolodation and I'm always suprised by some reactions and most of them come from Western Broome. Affraid of their communities disappearing or losing their identity and even fear of devalued property if associated with other communities. I guess I don't understand it because I've spent the majority of my 28 years in Binghamton and Chenango Forks and most of the surrounding communities and neighborhoods in this part of the county (many in the towns of Binghamton, Conklin, Kirkwood, Dickinson and Chenango) actually have Binghamton mailing addresses and zip codes despite actually living in other hamlets or villages and yet they still maintain their individual schools, history and identity.

I think a lot of that Western Broome attitude is what I call the IBM syndrome, mentality the result of 40 years of so many IBM workers injecting in those communities their company's arrogance and full expectation, a true feeling of more importance. Well the realization is thats not maintainable, everything has ups and downs and IBM has slashed its workforce, perks, and benefits to be competitive. EVERYONE & EVERYTHING is expendable and thats hard for many who had everything given to them for so long to accept.

As the village of Endicott is learning quickly, without IBM it can't afford itself. Its about time the people realize too we need to join together to help eachother or our quality of life will just continue to erode. Just because we work together for promotion (Greater Binghamton), convenince (centralized dispatching) or saving money (shared services/buying power), doesn't mean our neighbors will change or your history will be lost... Greater Binghamton is nothing more than a reference to our region as a whole, not our individual neighborhoods.

We've all been away on vacation and had someone ask where we were from and we've said for example "Chenango Forks, NY" and gotten the "oh, whereabouts is that" and we follow it up with "near Binghamton" and the person goes oh yeah upstate. Its just a better known reference point and a much easier sell to potential visitors, residents and/or businesses.

And when we in the media use it to say, "the Lockeheed Martin contract and expansion in Owego will be a positive impact on Greater Binghamton" we're letting the public know both the obvious that its going to be big for Owego, but that being part of our area, many of them will buy houses or spend money in Vestal, Union or Binghamton, and that impacts us all, and the "ALL" is Greater Binghamton... and I look at that as the area covered by our phone books or listening/viewing area which is usually all of Broome and parts of Chenango, Cortland, Delaware, Susquehanna and Tioga Counties... I have no idea about your constant references to Vermont however.<P ID="edit"><FONT class="small">Edited by JustinCase on 07/08/05 11:20 PM.</FONT></P>