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Oldies no more on WODS-HD3>

W

Wimmmex

Seems to have disappeared! In it's place is Entercom's "Planet Q" format.

I am surprised they ditched Oldies" on HD3....and kept "The Cove" on HD2.
 
Wimmmex said:
Seems to have disappeared! In it's place is Entercom's "Planet Q" format.

I am surprised they ditched Oldies" on HD3....and kept "The Cove" on HD2.
Click to expand...

Classic country has met a similar fate here in Connecticut, with WWYZ having ditched it for iHeart's hot format-du-jour, The Breeze. You'd think HD formats, being of no value to advertisers due to low listenership, would be immune to the pressure not to appeal to 55+ listeners that radio in general is subject to, but the deep-sixing of two formats with lots of 55+ appeal in favor of younger-skewing ones indicates otherwise.
 
Did you mean to type HD2? Oldies had been on HD2 a while with the Cove on HD3. I just tried it on my portable--R&B-ish soft stuff on HD2, and no HD3 at all, at least not here in Beverly.

On the HD radio site which they rarely update, it does say Channel Q (sic) on HD2 and the Cove on HD3. Of course the HD radio site does have its share of errors
WZLX HD2 Radio Mojo where blues is king (wrong, it's WRKO).
WBWL isn't listed at all nor is their HD2, Evolution EDM. Bloomburg is listed as the HD2 for 94.5 (now The Breeze). 98.5's HD2 is incorrectly listed as "WBCN The Rock of Boston" while 92.9 isn't playing
"Boston's Best Bands" despite the listing they have.

And the main signal for 96.9 says "Jazz/Blues" (but also "Today's Rhythm & All the Best Throwbacks"). Someone alert me if they should hear Buddy Guy, David Sanborn, or Monster Mike Welch on 96.9
https://hdradio.com/stations/
 
CTListener said:
Classic country has met a similar fate here in Connecticut, with WWYZ having ditched it for iHeart's hot format-du-jour, The Breeze. You'd think HD formats, being of no value to advertisers due to low listenership, would be immune to the pressure not to appeal to 55+ listeners that radio in general is subject to, but the deep-sixing of two formats with lots of 55+ appeal in favor of younger-skewing ones indicates otherwise.
Click to expand...

iHeart is using the HD channel to provide a "prior usage" of "The Breeze" so that no other operator can employ it in the market.

And "The Breeze" is not really a format... it is iHeart's name for their adaptation of the soft AC format developed by Cox in Miami about 4 years ago.
 
On 103.3 here in Somerville I'm hearing the "Planet Q" format on HD2 (where Oldies was), and "The Cove" still on HD3.

Bummer for me, I liked having that HD2 as another choice for Oldies/Classic Hits in the car.
 
Eli Polonsky said:
On 103.3 here in Somerville I'm hearing the "Planet Q" format on HD2 (where Oldies was), and "The Cove" still on HD3.

Bummer for me, I liked having that HD2 as another choice for Oldies/Classic Hits in the car.
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Eli,

It's been the (sad) reality for me for several years now that there is nothing on the FM band in Boston that I can enjoy. Whether at home or in my car, if I want "oldies" - defined as mostly 60s, 70s, some 50s, extremely few 80s - then I listen to Scott Shannon's True Oldies Channel via the iHeartRadio app or website. Other than that, the radios in my house or car are pretty much tuned to WBZ NewsRadio 1030. (Sorry, 'RKO, but since ditching The Morning Show, and with Barry Armstrong literally phoning in his part of The Financial Exchange, I don't tune in as much as I used to.)

Up here in the Merrimack Valley, it was a rare day when I could drive around in my wife's Beetle and get decent reception on WODS-HD2. Many times under CBS stewardship, the signal wasn't even there, although when it was, reception was extremely spotty.
 
nowradioguy said:
Eli,

It's been the (sad) reality for me for several years now that there is nothing on the FM band in Boston that I can enjoy...

Up here in the Merrimack Valley, it was a rare day when I could drive around in my wife's Beetle and get decent reception on WODS-HD2. Many times under CBS stewardship, the signal wasn't even there, although when it was, reception was extremely spotty.
Click to expand...

In the Merrimack Valley, you should be able to hear Oldies ('60s, '70s, some '50s, not much '80s, albeit from a satellite service rather than live, local DJ's) on 1570 AM WUBG from Methuen. It should be very strong throughout the Valley in the daytime when it's 44,000 watts. At sunset it drops to 140 watts so night reception will depend on how close you are to their Andover transmitter.

They have a 250 watt directional FM translator on 105.3 (hence their moniker "Big 105.3") transmitting from the Medford/Malden line, but it's beamed away from Boston. It covers the Mystic Valley suburbs just north and northwest of Boston well out to just beyond Route 128, and the lower North Shore, but it's barely audible south of the Charles River. (The AM in the daytime still comes in south of the Charles and a lot farther, but is noisy).

In the daytime you could probably also get Oldies in the Merrimack Valley on 900 AM Nashua, NH or 1250 AM Manchester, NH., simulcasts.
 
I read elsewhere that "Planet Q", now on WODS HD2, is a variation on the adult contemporary R&B/Dance Pop format tailored to the gay community. (Perhaps "Q" may stand for "queer"?)

I didn't listen long enough to discern that, I only briefly sampled the style of music. If so, it's unique programming targeting an audience not otherwise served in the area.

WSRS Worcester used to run the "Pride Radio" channel on their HD2, but that was several years ago.
 
Eli Polonsky said:
I read elsewhere that "Planet Q", now on WODS HD2, is a variation on the adult contemporary R&B/Dance Pop format tailored to the gay community. (Perhaps "Q" may stand for "queer"?).
Click to expand...

SiriusXM's channel targeting a gay audience was called OutQ, so I have a feeling you're right about the significance of Q. It was mostly talk, though, and was replaced by a celebrity-heavy talk channel, hosted by TV's Andy Cohen. I'm not sure if it retained any of the LGBTQ advice shows that OutQ aired.
 
Eli Polonsky said:
In the Merrimack Valley, you should be able to hear Oldies ('60s, '70s, some '50s, not much '80s, albeit from a satellite service rather than live, local DJ's) on 1570 AM WUBG from Methuen. It should be very strong throughout the Valley in the daytime when it's 44,000 watts. At sunset it drops to 140 watts so night reception will depend on how close you are to their Andover transmitter.

They have a 250 watt directional FM translator on 105.3 (hence their moniker "Big 105.3") transmitting from the Medford/Malden line, but it's beamed away from Boston. It covers the Mystic Valley suburbs just north and northwest of Boston well out to just beyond Route 128, and the lower North Shore, but it's barely audible south of the Charles River. (The AM in the daytime still comes in south of the Charles and a lot farther, but is noisy).

In the daytime you could probably also get Oldies in the Merrimack Valley on 900 AM Nashua, NH or 1250 AM Manchester, NH., simulcasts.
Click to expand...

Thanks, Eli. The only Manchester AM station I can receive is 610 WGIR. 900 AM from Nashua is in too much noise.

I'm VERY close to 1570's AM stick, but their audio is not all that good. And, of course, I cannot receive 105.3 up here.

For the most part, and with all due respect to Mr Bittner and his WJIB, music on AM is not what I remember it as. I can recall back in the 60s/70s when I lived in RI the great audio that emanated from the transmitter of 630 WPRO-AM. Of course, back then, the entire audio chain was analog, but their engineers had a knack for really good sound, and, oh, yeah, AM receivers didn't have the overly-restricted bandwidth that they almost universally do today. I could say the same for 720 WGN Chicago, since I briefly lived there for a while. In fact, I believe WGN was one of the very few AM stations back then that was authorized to transmit audio out to 15 KHz. Good luck finding any AM station transmitting much above 4-5 KHz today.

I used to pride myself on listening to terrestrial over-the-air radio, because given what it was able to achieve from its inception, FM radio had potential for superb programming with really high quality audio, but modern-day consolidation and homogenization have sure "fixed" that. So, for best musical programming and audio quality, I stream.

And while I do have this love-hate relationship with iHeart, I still listen to WBZ NewsRadio 1030, either OTA or via stream; The True Oldies Channel; and the Smooth Jazz Channel; all on the iHeartRadio app.
 
nowradioguy said:
For the most part, and with all due respect to Mr Bittner and his WJIB, music on AM is not what I remember it as. I can recall back in the 60s/70s when I lived in RI the great audio that emanated from the transmitter of 630 WPRO-AM. Of course, back then, the entire audio chain was analog, but their engineers had a knack for really good sound, and, oh, yeah, AM receivers didn't have the overly-restricted bandwidth that they almost universally do today. I could say the same for 720 WGN Chicago, since I briefly lived there for a while. In fact, I believe WGN was one of the very few AM stations back then that was authorized to transmit audio out to 15 KHz. Good luck finding any AM station transmitting much above 4-5 KHz today.
Click to expand...

That's why I held on to wideband analog AM stereo receivers from the '80s and '90s, both home receivers and portables. I'm sure Bob's 740 WJIB is transmitting above 4-5 kHz because on one of those receivers it sounds excellent where I am a few miles from the transmitter, better than I had ever thought AM could sound, with high end response just about as good as his FM translator. But, you won't hear that high end at all on any modern consumer AM radio.

Some HD receivers from the 2000's have an analog C-Quam AM stereo decoder chip, but they still severely limit the AM analog bandwidth, stereo or mono. You get stereo separation, but it sounds in the mud compared to wideband AM stereo receivers from the '80s/'90s.
 
nowradioguy said:
For the most part, and with all due respect to Mr Bittner and his WJIB, music on AM is not what I remember it as. I can recall back in the 60s/70s when I lived in RI the great audio that emanated from the transmitter of 630 WPRO-AM. Of course, back then, the entire audio chain was analog, but their engineers had a knack for really good sound, and, oh, yeah, AM receivers didn't have the overly-restricted bandwidth that they almost universally do today. I could say the same for 720 WGN Chicago, since I briefly lived there for a while. In fact, I believe WGN was one of the very few AM stations back then that was authorized to transmit audio out to 15 KHz. Good luck finding any AM station transmitting much above 4-5 KHz today.
Click to expand...

Several things have happened since the 60's and 70's period you refer to.

One major thing is the implementation of the NRSC 10 kHz "barrier". With more AM stations, interference was being heard as the audio of one station fought with that of an adjacent one, as the sidebands overlapped. NRSC compliance was voluntary in 1986 and became a requirement in 1989.

Explanation: https://www.radioworld.com/industry/am-nrsc-measurements

Reasons for NRSC: https://www.thebdr.net/articles/fcc/rules/NRSC.pdf

Prior to that, many AM stations with good plants and better transmitters could definitely get out to 12 kHz, even 15 kHz, although down quite a bit.

With the standard being 10 kHz, manufacturers began reducing the bandwidth of receivers as it made for cheaper AM sections of radios.

At the same time, AM ceased being a music medium. So manufacturers paid even less attention to AM quality.

Finally, HD Radio required a bandwidth of 5 kHz, so many stations reduced bandwidth further. And consumer radios got worse.

I remember back when I built my own transmitters that I'd try to oversize and overspec everything. Higer range and flatter response curves from the input transformer onward. It made my stations sound better than the competitors. But that was in the 60's when such investments could be heard by listeners.
 
inorm99 said:
This is just another stupid idea, while they felt free to get rid of Radio Mojo
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I disagree. While an R&B/dance hybrid station doesn't appeal to my musical taste, it is at least an original concept for a target audience that doesn't have an second option that targets that exact demographic.

I agree about Radio Mojo. I listened to it through the Radio.com app and a bluetooth in my car. But, Entercom didn't removed Radio Mojo. iHeart removed Radio Mojo. So, to call out Entercom for starting Planet Q yet removing Radio Mojo isnt true.

As much as I hated CBS Radio for the systematic execution of heartige Rock stations across the East Coast over the last decade, they did at least have vast investments into their HD substations. I find WODS (even now as Planet Q) to be the last of such investments still running. Most HD substations are now either format placements for something competing with another station (The Breeze), or an AM station on an HD Substation (WRKO, WBZ, etc.). Other than WBWL and WODS, what else exists that isn't such? Didn't WROR remove The Bone (or whatever it was called)? I don't count Hubcast on 98.5 HD-2. That's only a substation thatb rehashes segments played on the main station. Not that the automated WBCN was anything great that was taken away.
 
"The Bone" (hard classic rock) is still on 105.7 WROR HD2.

There's still the Irish Channel on 96.9 WBQT HD2, and don't forget 24/7 Christmas music still year 'round on 106.7 WMJX HD2!

"Evolution" (Electronic Dance Music) is still on 101.7 WBWL HD2.

There's a new CHR releases channel on 104.1 WWBX HD3, a new Country releases channel still on 102.5 WKLB HD2, and soft romantic AC "The Cove" is still on 103.3 WODS HD3.

On non-comm, 88.9 WERS HD2 is still "Standing Room Only" Broadway show music and original casts, and 89.7 WGBH HD2 still rebroadcasts WCRB for classical listeners like my 90 year old mom who doesn't get 99.5 from Lowell well where she lives, and would still rather use a radio than a computer.
 
I think CBS removed Radio Mojo in final months of them owning ZLX, in anticipation of the iHeart takeover, and iHR wished to simulcast RKO.
The name is Entercom but I'd think the stock was controlled by a lot of CBS people.
 
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