New WCVG format revealed!

[stevenmcintosh2012]

You guys are both right AND wrong about WCLU.

Can you enlighten us, Jeff?

 

[stevenmcintosh2012]

We didn't think anybody was paying attention, but the more people I talk to, I find more people who used to listen to "that little AM station around '13' on the dial." Most of those were 80s high schoolers who bought cars without FM radios or drove their parents' car.

I had an FM radio, but I listened to WCLU because Q102 just plain sucked!!!

 

[Jeff_Davis]

Sorry it took so long to get back to you guys. It's been a busy weekend!You guys were pretty good with the details you had about WCLU. First of all, we got permission in the fall and winter of '85 to run until 6:00 pm at half power. There was a push to allow daytimers to stay on until 6:00 pm for a FULL afternoon drive time shift, so we went from 500 watts to 250 watts during Nov., Dec., and Jan. There really wasn't much of a difference in signal really at that time of day with the sun already down. In November we had to sign off at 5:30, December was 5:15(!) and January was 5:45. Kinda sucks to sign off in the middle of afternoon drive! Luckily we had Pre-Sunrise and signed on at 6:00 am all year. It was in the fall of 1986 that the FCC said some daytimers could do stepped-down power to stay on two hours after sunset. So, we went to 125 watts for half an hour, then 66 watts for the last 90 minutes. I got a call from a guy in Bellevue who said he was surprised we were still on, but that he figured he could get us because of where he lived. Was that you Bandit?The daytime signal that WCVG has now is pretty much identical to the old WCLU signal, but the Plessingers cleaned up the audio and made it LOUD! I grew up in Western Hills and never really had any problem listening, even early in the morning. I couldn't hear the 66 watt signal though. I lived in Hyde Park for a few years and always got a decent signal. It's pretty good up to the Norwood Lateral, then it starts to get dicey. I've gotten good loud signal in Eastgate, too.I think the reason the equipment got repaired and sounded better was because the owner was fixing it up to sell. It was like WKRP. The studio was set up the same way. The building's set up differently now, though. As for the contest being for Ohioans only, I don't remember that. I know we gave away a lot of $13.20 dinner certificates to Church's Fried Chicken!I apologize to anyone else who didn't care about WCLU. I know this post was waaayyy too long.

 

[NoWayNoCC]

I got a call from a guy in Bellevue who said he was surprised we were still on, but that he figured he could get us because of where he lived. Was that you Bandit?

No, Bandit lived in Highland Heights back then.WCLU generally had muddy sound quality on most receivers. It actually sounded better on a small transistor radio or clock radio than it did on a boom box.I remember WCLU giving away coupons for some restaurant called Bob's Steak 'n' Ribs.

 

[Jeff_Davis]

Just for fun, here was the Top 40 list we did for WCLU in March 1986. The station lasted another year after this:THE NEWEST HITS FIRST!AM 1320 WCLUWeek of March 16, 1986Request Line: AM1-1320Joey TMusic DirectorJeff DavisAssistant Music Director1. Rock Me Amadeus/Falco2. These Dreams/Heart3. Sara/Starship4. R.O.C.K. in the U.S.A./John Cougar Mellencamp5. King For A Day/Thompson Twins6. Nikita/Elton John7. Secret Lovers/Atlantic Starr8. Another Night/Aretha Franklin9. This Could Be the Night/Loverboy10. Kiss/Prince and the Revolution11. Sanctify Yourself/Simple Minds12. Let's Go All the Way/Sly Fox13. Kyrie/Mr. Mister14. No Easy Way Out/Robert Tepper15. Night Moves/Marilyn Martin16. What You Need/INXS17. Manic Monday/Bangles18. (How To Be A) Millionaire/ABC19. How WIll I KNow/Whitney Houston20. Calling America/E.L.O.21. Silent Running/Mike + The Mechanics22. I Can't Wait/Stevie Nicks23. Tender Love/Force M.D.s24. The Sweetest Taboo/Sade25. I'm Not the One/The Cars26. Goodbye Is Forever/Arcadia27. Addicted to Love/Robert Palmer28. Beat's So Lonely/Charlie Sexton29. Russians/Sting30. I Think It's Love/Jermaine Jackson31. So Far Away/Dire Straits32. Stages/ZZ Top33. For America/Jackson Browne34. A Love Bizarre/Sheila E.35. Overjoyed/Stevie Wonder (ADD)36. Harlem Shuffle/Rolling Stones (ADD)37. Live Is Life/Opus (ADD)38 . Do Me Baby/Meli'sa Morgan39. West End Girls/Pet Shop Boys (ADD)40. Your Love/The Outfield (ADD)CINCINNATI'S ONLY AM ROCK!According to my notes on this particular list, songs were added the next week by Phil Collins, Van Halen, Bob Seger, and Miami Sound Machine.

 

[NoWayNoCC]

Just for fun, here was the Top 40 list we did for WCLU in March 1986.

I don't remember the Meli'sa Morgan song. I do remember WCLU playing all the others on that list though.I figured at the time that Q-102 had a list of maybe 25 or 30 currents. It seemed like WCLU had a lot more than 40, but maybe that was just because I was comparing it to Q-102.

THE NEWEST HITS FIRST!

I remember WCLU using "THE NEWEST HITS FIRST!" as a recorded liner in 1983. For a while I don't know if they played ANY noncurrents. By '84 or '85 they did.

35. Overjoyed/Stevie Wonder (ADD)

THE KER-PLOP-PLOP SONG!!!!!Everyone on WCLU called it THE KER-PLOP-PLOP SONG!!!!!

 

[stevenmcintosh2012]

Jeff, I think you were the one I had a rather lengthy conversation with over the phone about 20 years ago (as I mentioned in a previous post). I did recall that whoever I talked to mentioned they lived in Western Hills. Thanks for taking the time to tell me about your station.Thanks for posting that playlist. I had forgotten about a few of those songs.I never had a problem with the sound quality except to me it sound like a typical AM station.I just thought of something interesting. I never got an extremely strong signal from WCLU during the day on any radio at my mom's house in Union with one exception. I took a transistor radio and set in on the floor in the hall one day while I was doing chores, and it boomed it. Since AM primary travels by groundwaves, I guess this makes since although I wouldn't have thought it would have made much of a difference.

 

[Jeff_Davis]

Steve,I remember having lots of conversations with people who were curious about that little station. I don't know what part of Union you lived in, but some of that area was in a signal null. I live in Florence right at the Union line and I always get a good signal, but further out past Ryle High School it's more susceptible to interference. Here's the GNEREOUS daytime signal pattern from Radio-Locator:http://www.radio-locator.com/pats/WCVG_AM_LD.gif

 

[NoWayNoCC]

35. Overjoyed/Stevie Wonder (ADD)

THE KER-PLOP-PLOP SONG!!!!!Everyone on WCLU called it THE KER-PLOP-PLOP SONG!!!!!

Another WCLUism like this: They always referred to the song "Rebels" by Tom Petty as "The Fat Albert Song", because of the "hey hey hey" at the start of the chorus.Also, anyone remember the "Mellow Yellow Combo"? Joey T would always play two really sappy songs back to back and say, "They call me Mellow Yellow...Oh yes, oh yes, it's extra, extra sickening!"

 

[stevenmcintosh2012]

I'm on Rhapsody listening to some of these songs I had forgotten about. I'm vaguely remembering them.There was an AM station in Ocean City, MD that does Top 40 (despite what radio-locator says, it basically only serves Ocean City and the Atlantic Ocean), and Washington, DC (where I live now) had one for a short time a few years back. To my understanding since AMers are so cheap to operate esp if they are less than several thousand watts, these stations are highly profitable even though they are never ratings winners. At least that is what someone told me.Anyone care to comment on that?Steve

 

[major]

The new format is to be Mexican. Mr. Plessinger sold the station, in principal, June 1.The papers will probably be signed shortly.

 

[Jeff_Davis]

This will go down in history as one of radio's worst kept secrets. Everybody has seemed to know about this for months. It's about time, though. The Hispanic population is booming and five hours per week on WDBZ is NOT enought for the market. When will WPFB-AM and FM sell out to Davidson? Talk about perfect poisitioning for the Dayton and Cincinnati markets, plus a large concentration of the Hispanic population is in Butler County and northern Hamilton County.

 

[major]

Careful, it looks like the Butler County sheriff is sending a lot of this station's audience back home. It won't reach Mexico! (It doesn't reach Butler County well, either)

 

[gr8oldies]

WPFB will sell only when someone prys the license out of Doug Braden's cold dead fingers.

 

[Arbitorn]

What is the potential cume for Spanish here? Maybe 30,000? What kind of disposable income do they have? If you got 'em all, what could you charge for them? You'd get some default money from clients that want to show support, but can it make any money?

 

[Jeff_Davis]

Those are great questions. A little AM like that needs to do something different. It's too bad the Gospel situation didn't work out. They actually had some listeners and showed up in Arbitron. But, if you look at WCVG's numbers as Gospel, then only cumed about 20,000 to 25,000 and showed up because of long TSL. I think there will be plenty of business for them since they're the only game in town, except for the Spanish Journal block on Sunday nights on The Buzz. If Davidson is the buyer, they can just simulcast their national format. They've been buying stations all around the midwest for their ethnic formats: www.davidsonmediagroup.com

 

[NoWayNoCC]

If Davidson is the buyer, they can just simulcast their national format.

Now that's creativity!

 

[major]

Expect the Frito-Bandito Network to take over by the end of the month.

 

[Jeff_Davis]

Is Sunday before the end of the month?

 

[major]

I was trying not to be too specific. Some of the details of the sale took longer than originally anticipated, so I was giving a reasonable timetable as to the format change.