Radio Earl

[klutch00]

WTRI has returned to the air with a classic country format using the handle "Radio Earl". I hope Buddy Rizer has a 'hit' this time around! I've been listening on-line and so far the playlist seems innovative. I just hope it's enough to keep the station alive. Now, let's also hope that 1500 never decides to fire up that damned IBOC again! If you ask me, that's one thing that was a nail in the coffin when Rizer & co. first acquired the station!

http://www.radioearl.com/

 

[ddsparxx]

I hope the new format lasts. WKDL 1250 in Warrenton, VA was classic country for a very short time last year then switched back to Spanish.

 

[klutch00]

I hope the new format lasts. WKDL 1250 in Warrenton, VA was classic country for a very short time last year then switched back to Spanish.

I hope so too. I never heard WKDL when they went country, but I heard stories about how inept the programming was. Rizer & co. should have a better chance with this format then they did with their previous attempts as I think more of the audience around Brunswick, Frederick and vicinity can better relate to this format. They must maintain a diverse and innovative playlist, however. One good thing is that you are hearing some client activity.

 

[mleach]

I hope the new format lasts. WKDL 1250 in Warrenton, VA was classic country for a very short time last year then switched back to Spanish.

Sadly that was NOT a surprise.

Also that part of Virginia for YEARS ( 40+ ) was the home of "Big K' WKCW 1420.

Hard to believe now but back in the 60s, WKCW was one of America's top country music stations. And like WKDL, they too have since went Spanish.

 

[klutch00]

I hope the new format lasts. WKDL 1250 in Warrenton, VA was classic country for a very short time last year then switched back to Spanish.

I hope so too. I never heard WKDL when they went country, but I heard stories about how inept the programming was. Rizer & co. should have a better chance with this format then they did with their previous attempts as I think more of the audience around Brunswick, Frederick and vicinity can better relate to this format. They must maintain a diverse and innovative playlist, however. One good thing is that you are hearing some client activity.

I'm concerned that WTRI is having transmission problems. I've noticed on at least one occasions when they haven't been on the air. IIRC I believe they were off air around mid-day today. They are as station I do like to "daytime-DX."

 

[jackandcoke]

I've listened to Radio Earl off and on over the past few weeks. Let me share some observations.

1. The music mix sounds fine to me, but then I'm old and spent the sixties & seventies as a Country jock. And even I could do without the 60-year old tunes. Gotta be careful not to turn it into an "audio museum."

2. It's eerily reminiscent of the original WTRI from back in the mid-sixties. Trouble is, 40+ years ago, Brunswick was still a backwards little railroad town surrounded by farms. Today it's SUBURBIA--and WTRI's marketplace--Frederick and Loudoun counties--comprises one of the wealthiest and best-educated patches of land you'll find in America. Wrong time & wrong place for gut-bucket Country???

3. That directional rig is doing them no favors. By the time those 17,000 watts reach the most populous portions of DC (the presumed target) they're washed out by the high (1520) frequency and the proximity (on the dial) to WFED. They'd be smarter to go back to the omni-directional 5,000 watts and cover more of Frederick County & Jefferson County, WV (a booming little county that effectively lost it's own stations to Clear Channel/Winchester). Not sure anything WTRI does will ever open up Loudoun County for them, but FWIW Leesburg just lost WAGE, didn't it?

4. I'll admit it's a tough call, but a well-done local-local-local-local news & info format focused on Brunswick & Jefferson County (and a little bit of Loudoun)--you know, the TRI-state area--might be a better plan. As a multimedia combination with the AM and a website, it could even be sellable. And, eventually, worth something.

 

[vacuum tube]

WTRI was never licensed for 5000 watt non directional operation. They were only 500 watts when they were non directional. When they first went directional and increased power (in the 80's I think) it was with 3 towers at 9.8 KW. The pattern had the main lobe going south towards Leesburg. They might be able to get more than 500 watts non directional now since 1530 in McConnelsburg, PA is gone....but you still have to deal with no PSRA or PSSA, it's a true daytimer, no operation after sunset or before sunrise. They would probably have to use a critical hours power level if they were non directional to protect Buffalo. If I were WTRI, and was willing to invest money into the property, I would try and find an existing FM translator to supplement coverage.

 

[jackandcoke]

WTRI was never licensed for 5000 watt non directional operation. They were only 500 watts when they were non directional. When they first went directional and increased power (in the 80's I think) it was with 3 towers at 9.8 KW. The pattern had the main lobe going south towards Leesburg. They might be able to get more than 500 watts non directional now since 1530 in McConnelsburg, PA is gone....but you still have to deal with no PSRA or PSSA, it's a true daytimer, no operation after sunset or before sunrise. They would probably have to use a critical hours power level if they were non directional to protect Buffalo. If I were WTRI, and was willing to invest money into the property, I would try and find an existing FM translator to supplement coverage.

I won't argue with you. I worked in the (Frederick) market many years ago and seemed to recall WTRI being 5-kw non-D, but even then it had the oddball Critical Hours power-down thing hampering them because of the erstwhile WKBW booming in with the faintest hint of darkness.

And I agree that the FM translator provision would be very helpful to WTRI--even if it only gave them coverage in Brunswick. No existing translators in the immediate area, though CC and Family Stations both have XLTRS on commercial channels in Frederick, and Bonneville has 104.3 in Leesburg. Hard to imagine any of those outfits voluntarily letting go of those. But, FWIW, the Clear Channel translator at 105.5 for Braddock Heights was intended to fill in a hole in WFRE's signal that hasn't existed for around 30 years--so that might be a prospect.

But speaking of CC, maybe the best bet for Buddy & WTRI may be the old 610 in Winchester (at last report, WTFX), whose license was recently donated--along with several others--to the Minority Media Coalition (or something like that) down in DC. In Winchester it ran with 500 watts fulltime, with a DA somewhat similar to WTRI's existing one--pointed south. Put out a perfectly good signal, day and night. Might be worth a call...

 

[vacuum tube]

I don't think 610 facility would work in Brunswick due to WCAO and WIP, in fact it might be tough fit in Winchester under the post 1987 1st adjacency rule change. When this station was put on the air it only had to protect .5mv/m to .5mv/m contours with WCAO, now it would have to protect .25 mv to .5mv/m contours. 610 is a regional channel so the minium facility the FCC would license would be 250 watts with a minimun antenna efficiency of 141 mv/km. This was a 4 tower array in Winchester, in Brunswick it would probably take 5 or 6 or more towers at 250 watts to get enough supression towards Baltimore and Phlly. To meet minimun efficiency you would need at least 250 feet towers with top loading, and remember this is on 610 so spacing between towers is going to eat up a lot of real estate. Even if you cuold get this past the NIMBYS can you imagine the expense of 25 acres or so of property in Frederick County Maryland? Add in engineering expenses and equipment and you're talking millions! l think that call about 610 might be a mighty expensive call. Honestly it might be a better (and cheaper) idea to call Clear Channel or Bonneville and try to buy 930 or 820.

I know it may not be possible but I still think the translator route is the one to pursue for Radio Earl. There are a couple of CP's that are not on the air in Frederick County.

 

[mleach]

In regards to Winchester's now dark 610..even though Clear Channel did indeed donate that station to Minority Media Coalition, I still believe sooner or later Winchester's Shenandoah University will get their hands on 610..though if that happens ..at much less power. I used to work at 610 back in the mid 90s even then then-owners Benchmark was seriously considering doing just that. The only thing that stopped them was long time Winchester jock Joe Pasquali ( one of only two local jocks in the market who were "under contract" the other being WINC-FM's Barry Lee ). Pasquali's contract stated he was to remain at 610 and 610 only. When Clear Channel fired Pasquali in 1999, I thought for sure the donation to Shenandoah was going to happen..but it never did. Maybe Clear Channel felt that the sports format on 610 would be a success or something.

Anyway back on topic...how about Martinsburg's WRNR-AM 740? At least for a simulcast anyway. Martinsburg's 740's daytime signal I believe comes in clear during the day. Even though WRNR's news director often writes into DCRTV saying how great things are there..ah I know otherwise. WRNR has been on/off for sale for a number of years now and there was at least one party ( a local church ) who came within days a few years back to actually buying WRNR to turn that station religious after having their own program getting rejected from Martinsburg's other AM station WEPM 1340. I wouldn't be surprised if Rizer could make some deal with WRNR to air "Radio Earl" there. But still it would be better to at least try to buy 930 or 820

 

[klutch00]

In regards to Winchester's now dark 610..even though Clear Channel did indeed donate that station to Minority Media Coalition, I still believe sooner or later Winchester's Shenandoah University will get their hands on 610..though if that happens ..at much less power. I used to work at 610 back in the mid 90s even then then-owners Benchmark was seriously considering doing just that. The only thing that stopped them was long time Winchester jock Joe Pasquali ( one of only two local jocks in the market who were "under contract" the other being WINC-FM's Barry Lee ). Pasquali's contract stated he was to remain at 610 and 610 only. When Clear Channel fired Pasquali in 1999, I thought for sure the donation to Shenandoah was going to happen..but it never did. Maybe Clear Channel felt that the sports format on 610 would be a success or something.

Anyway back on topic...how about Martinsburg's WRNR-AM 740? At least for a simulcast anyway. Martinsburg's 740's daytime signal I believe comes in clear during the day. Even though WRNR's news director often writes into DCRTV saying how great things are there..ah I know otherwise. WRNR has been on/off for sale for a number of years now and there was at least one party ( a local church ) who came within days a few years back to actually buying WRNR to turn that station religious after having their own program getting rejected from Martinsburg's other AM station WEPM 1340. I wouldn't be surprised if Rizer could make some deal with WRNR to air "Radio Earl" there. But still it would be better to at least try to buy 930 or 820

What I would truthfully like to see happen with 610 would be for the owner of 740 to move their operation over to 610 obviously with a southwestern-pointed DA and either have 740 revert to daytime only status or shut it down completely. Call me naive, but I feel this would be the best plan. Closer to Frederick, Rizer & Co. could do one of two things that could work. Before I go off on that though I will say that moving a classic country format to 930 is quite unlikely! It's too valuable a property, the ratings are too good and the debt to service that station is just too high to put anything on it but a format that's going to 'rake in the bucks', which the news/talk format they currently have seems to be doing. Now for Buddy to buy out 820 would be more realistic and putting classic country there would be a sort of deja vu, so long as teh debt service isn't too high. Another consideration would be to make Birach an offer they couldn't refuse and buy 700. Granted, it's a daytimer, but outside of the critical hours, the ERP is 12,000 watts less than it is at 1520 with a range that's much greater with more of the target audience being within the primary service area.

 

[Rusty Muck]

I've listened to Radio Earl off and on over the past few weeks. Let me share some observations.

1. The music mix sounds fine to me, but then I'm old and spent the sixties & seventies as a Country jock. And even I could do without the 60-year old tunes. Gotta be careful not to turn it into an "audio museum."

2. It's eerily reminiscent of the original WTRI from back in the mid-sixties. Trouble is, 40+ years ago, Brunswick was still a backwards little railroad town surrounded by farms. Today it's SUBURBIA--and WTRI's marketplace--Frederick and Loudoun counties--comprises one of the wealthiest and best-educated patches of land you'll find in America. Wrong time & wrong place for gut-bucket Country???

3. That directional rig is doing them no favors. By the time those 17,000 watts reach the most populous portions of DC (the presumed target) they're washed out by the high (1520) frequency and the proximity (on the dial) to WFED. They'd be smarter to go back to the omni-directional 5,000 watts and cover more of Frederick County & Jefferson County, WV (a booming little county that effectively lost it's own stations to Clear Channel/Winchester). Not sure anything WTRI does will ever open up Loudoun County for them, but FWIW Leesburg just lost WAGE, didn't it?

4. I'll admit it's a tough call, but a well-done local-local-local-local news & info format focused on Brunswick & Jefferson County (and a little bit of Loudoun)--you know, the TRI-state area--might be a better plan. As a multimedia combination with the AM and a website, it could even be sellable. And, eventually, worth something.

WOBL/1320 in Oberlin, Ohio (within Lorain County, just west of Cleveland) is an excellent example of a classic country station done right.

They've been at it since 1971, and thrive as an all-request-driven station during live dayparts... along with a mammoth playlist that even broaches on this decade as well. Plus, they super-serve their audience with vast coverage of local news and sports. Family-owned since the beginning, it's the classic mom-and-pop operation.

 

[klutch00]

I've listened to Radio Earl off and on over the past few weeks. Let me share some observations.

1. The music mix sounds fine to me, but then I'm old and spent the sixties & seventies as a Country jock. And even I could do without the 60-year old tunes. Gotta be careful not to turn it into an "audio museum."

2. It's eerily reminiscent of the original WTRI from back in the mid-sixties. Trouble is, 40+ years ago, Brunswick was still a backwards little railroad town surrounded by farms. Today it's SUBURBIA--and WTRI's marketplace--Frederick and Loudoun counties--comprises one of the wealthiest and best-educated patches of land you'll find in America. Wrong time & wrong place for gut-bucket Country???

3. That directional rig is doing them no favors. By the time those 17,000 watts reach the most populous portions of DC (the presumed target) they're washed out by the high (1520) frequency and the proximity (on the dial) to WFED. They'd be smarter to go back to the omni-directional 5,000 watts and cover more of Frederick County & Jefferson County, WV (a booming little county that effectively lost it's own stations to Clear Channel/Winchester). Not sure anything WTRI does will ever open up Loudoun County for them, but FWIW Leesburg just lost WAGE, didn't it?

4. I'll admit it's a tough call, but a well-done local-local-local-local news & info format focused on Brunswick & Jefferson County (and a little bit of Loudoun)--you know, the TRI-state area--might be a better plan. As a multimedia combination with the AM and a website, it could even be sellable. And, eventually, worth something.

WOBL/1320 in Oberlin, Ohio (within Lorain County, just west of Cleveland) is an excellent example of a classic country station done right.

They've been at it since 1971, and thrive as an all-request-driven station during live dayparts... along with a mammoth playlist that even broaches on this decade as well. Plus, they super-serve their audience with vast coverage of local news and sports. Family-owned since the beginning, it's the classic mom-and-pop operation.

I think WTRI is off the air again, or they're operating at a much lower power. I thought I heard them broadcasting Air-America several days ago around mid-day, but then again it might've been WWKB. If this is the case, it's a shame. I saw that station having some potential, especially this time around.

Now regarding WOBL, it seems like they've got a good thing going. The question remains could something like that work once more in Maryland's western panhandle? Maybe I live in the past, but small operations like that should be willing to do programming that bigger stations, especially on FM won't touch! I think many if not most of the smaller AMs could and should be small "mom-and-pop" operations. For the life of me, I can't begin to understand why a large corporation would want to operate a small station!

 

[musichead1029]

DCRTV is reporting that WTRI may simulcast WTHU when that station flips from Christian to Talk on January 4th. It would be a good signal fit if it works out. WTHU covers north of Frederick, WTRI South and East. From a format standpoint, I think third-rate syndicated talk is inferior to a good Classic Country mix, but perhaps it would be easier to sell the time left over after the barter.

 

[klutch00]

Rumor has it that WTRI will become a KHZTV affiliate soon.

 

[musichead1029]

WTRI

WTRI is indeed relaying the train wreck that is the KHZ network. I can see how fans of current contemporary music might enjoy the 70s-80s mix as well, but the converse is more difficult to envision. I tune away as soon as any of the current vocorder-noise "hits" come on. And my monitoring location in Middletown is plagued by interference from wifi, wireless phones, heat pump motors and computers, making 1520, a local signal, nearly unlistenable at times.

WTRI has a history as a quirky, interesting station, from its local artists format of 17 years ago to the more recent standards, oldies and country. I sought out the station as a relay of WTHU to catch a Keys broadcast (1450 still lists the 1520 frequency on their website). While this lease may be a better use of the frequency than it being silent, I doubt KHZ can be successful on a daytimer in the noise-plagued AM band with a format that has built-in listener repellent.

On the bright side, it sounds like the EAS works at 1520. On the down side, the feed just went dead for 4 minutes.

The KHZ 'network' reminds me of the late Mike Venditti's suburban Philly based 'Starsounds Gold' oldies format that was relayed to several small AMs in the late 90s. A fun hobby with no advertiser support. Maybe Parris can pull it off, but I've only heard one live-read spot in a half hour.

Best of luck, but 'keep the recurrents and ditch the deterrents!'

 

[klutch00]

Re: WTRI

WTRI is indeed relaying the train wreck that is the KHZ network. I can see how fans of current contemporary music might enjoy the 70s-80s mix as well, but the converse is more difficult to envision. I tune away as soon as any of the current vocorder-noise "hits" come on. And my monitoring location in Middletown is plagued by interference from wifi, wireless phones, heat pump motors and computers, making 1520, a local signal, nearly unlistenable at times.

WTRI has a history as a quirky, interesting station, from its local artists format of 17 years ago to the more recent standards, oldies and country. I sought out the station as a relay of WTHU to catch a Keys broadcast (1450 still lists the 1520 frequency on their website). While this lease may be a better use of the frequency than it being silent, I doubt KHZ can be successful on a daytimer in the noise-plagued AM band with a format that has built-in listener repellent.

On the bright side, it sounds like the EAS works at 1520. On the down side, the feed just went dead for 4 minutes.

The KHZ 'network' reminds me of the late Mike Venditti's suburban Philly based 'Starsounds Gold' oldies format that was relayed to several small AMs in the late 90s. A fun hobby with no advertiser support. Maybe Parris can pull it off, but I've only heard one live-read spot in a half hour.

Best of luck, but 'keep the recurrents and ditch the deterrents!'

As I understand, Parris is looking to expand the network to include yet another AM station; this time out of the Washington DC area. If this is the case, I surmise that it'll be one of the following: 950, 1030, 1050, 1310, 1390, 1540, 1580, 1600.