• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

one time sports talker

T

txrad

Guest
Can someone please refresh my memory.....there was a short-lived sports station in Philidelphia about 10 years ago whose call letters were soon twisted into some other negative meaning (sort of like the old KAPT in Austin....meant to represent "Capitol", but soon became "Kaput"). Can anyone help me out with what station that was?
 
1210 was call wpts (philadelphia's talk station) at one point...and referred to as "the pits"
 
I believe you're thinking about 1210 "The Game", whose calls were WGMP, known in some circles as "the Gimp".
 
In March of 1994 CBS blew up Oldies 1210 WOGL after four years and switched to a sports format known as 1210 WGMP (The Game). That only lasted a couple of years when it switched to a talk format called WPTS (We're Philadelphia's Talk Station), then finally to WPHT due to the fact that people were confusing WPTS with WPST from Trenton.

WGMP was nicknamed "We've Got Much Propaganda" or "The Gimp" and WPTS stood for "Wasting People's Time for Sure" or "We're Positive this Talk Sucks."

WPHT might stand for "Philadelphia's Hot Talk" but I think it actually stands for "We're Plummeting with our Horrible Trash" or "With Positively Humiliating Trends."
 
"The Gimp" was what I was trying to recall....but the others are just a good. Thanks!
 
1210 actually had a good sports talk shw in the afternoon for awhile, with Scott Graham. But the "Fabulous Sports Babe" from ESPN, who was on mid-day, was a "Sports Bomb" ratings wise. And their morning show did not even appear on one Arbitron diary, which at least got the station some press coverage!
 
WTUX said:
1210 actually had a good sports talk show in the afternoon for awhile, with Scott Graham. But the "Fabulous Sports Babe" from ESPN, who was on mid-day, was a "Sports Bomb" ratings wise. And their morning show did not even appear on one Arbitron diary, which at least got the station some press coverage!
Click to expand...

The afternoon show was Scott Graham, along with Neil Hartman and "Big Daddy" Graham. I do not seem to recall the morning show on "The Gimp". I thought it was Imus? TFSB was absolutely an unlistenable POS. The rest of the schedule was from Sporting News Radio, outside of when they would rebroadcast famous Philly sports moments.
 
The morning show was from Sporting News Net. Imus did not arrive until 1210 went back to regular talk.

The show had no chance against WIP.
 
This was in, what, 1995-96? Who owned 610 and 1210 then?

IIRC, the progression of ownership was that there were three radio companies: CBS, Infinity Broadcasting, and Westinghouse, that eventually merged. I think CBS bought Infinity and then Westinghouse bought CBS but changed their name to CBS and spun off all the non-broadcast assets of Westinghouse. Then Viacom bought CBS (formerly Westinghouse). Viacom had owned radio stations in the past but didn't own any at the time of this purchase. Then, in 2006, Viacom and CBS split up, CBS retaining all the radio stations.

During which period of ownership did 610 and 1210 compete head to head in the same format? Who owned each?

I know in New York, CBS owned WCBS AM and FM, Westinghouse owned WNEW and WINS, and Infinity owned WXRK and WFAN. I don't know Philly as well.
 
Some may not miss WGMP, but I do. I enjoyed One on One Sports (although it was off the bird) and "Sports Attack" during PM drive. I also enjoyed Charlie Van ****'s VO's like "Get into The Game!", etc.

1210 picked a heck of a week to begin its phaseout of sports talk: the week of the 1996 MLB A-SG at the Vet. I believe Imus began on Monday of A-S week and it was just him for a few weeks, followed by more non-sports talk phasing in in other dayparts.

"Double-U-G-M-P*******... Phila-del-phi-UHHHH!"
[CBS TOH tone]
[CBS News sounder]
"CBS News, I'm [anchor's name]"

ixnay
 
aindik said:
This was in, what, 1995-96? Who owned 610 and 1210 then?

IIRC, the progression of ownership was that there were three radio companies: CBS, Infinity Broadcasting, and Westinghouse, that eventually merged. I think CBS bought Infinity and then Westinghouse bought CBS but changed their name to CBS and spun off all the non-broadcast assets of Westinghouse. Then Viacom bought CBS (formerly Westinghouse). Viacom had owned radio stations in the past but didn't own any at the time of this purchase. Then, in 2006, Viacom and CBS split up, CBS retaining all the radio stations.

During which period of ownership did 610 and 1210 compete head to head in the same format? Who owned each?
Click to expand...

They were both sports stations in 1994-96. CBS owned 1210, and had for years. WIP started moving into sports around '88, owned by whatever company it was that took over Metromedia's radio properties when Metromedia started moving into non-broadcast interests. Spectacor bought WIP during 1988 and sold it to Infinity during 1994. CBS bought Infinity in 1997, after 1210 went back to general talk. So it was mostly CBS vs. Infinity when the two stations were both all sports.
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom