Reinventing Boston Radio

[fccfight]

Anyone know when the licenses in Boston are up for FCC renewal?

Isn't it April 06? Boston radio is rather complacent. Take a drive
to New York and hear the various stations between Worcester/Connecticut
or Rhode Island/Connecticut/ New York. If the banter is similar at
least the playlists are somewhat more adventurous when you move away
from the big city.

Can't knock Oldies' ratings but the Oldies stations heading up towards
New Hampshire and Maine have more flavor and variety.

Reinventing Boston radio - what are the first stations that should
be "revised" ?

 

[classicradionut]

Excuse me, but since when does the music stations play have anything whatsoever to do with FCC license renewal? Totally irrelevent to the Feds, they only want to know that stations serve their community of license.

> Anyone know when the licenses in Boston are up for FCC
> renewal?
>
>
> Can't knock Oldies' ratings but the Oldies stations heading
> up towards
> New Hampshire and Maine have more flavor and variety.
>
> Reinventing Boston radio - what are the first stations that
> should
> be "revised" ?
>
<P ID="signature">______________
</P>

 

[Smoke]

> Excuse me, but since when does the music stations play have
> anything whatsoever to do with FCC license renewal? Totally
> irrelevent to the Feds, they only want to know that stations
> serve their community of license.

I've harped on this more than once before, so I'll make it brief.

Does a station with less than a .5 serve its community? Obviously the ratings can adjust with the signal type and watts.

 

[classicradionut]

> Does a station with less than a .5 serve its community?
> Obviously the ratings can adjust with the signal type and
> watts.
>

Here's a better question than that. Just what exactly does serving a station's community of license entail anyway? Back 'in the day' it used to mean providing news and information, community oriented programming, and programming that addressed the concerns of the citizens. Sure, most of the non-news programming was relegated to the Sunday night at 10 PM time slot, but at least there was a thinly-veilled attempt to serve the citizens of whatever small town each station served.

Can anyone make a valid arguement that wall-to-wall music is serving any community outside of providing cheap entertainment? Outside of morning drive there is *NO* news coverage (and on many stations there's not even that), very little in the way of public service programming, and what there is is usually geared toward whatever large metro area it is the station is selling to, instead of the local community, as listed FIRST in each dual-ID that a station airs.

Great example, Does WXKS-FM provide programming specifically tailored to Medford, it's official COL? What about WBOS, do they do community specific programming for Brookline? Or WROR, Framingham served with community oriented programming? You get the picture. Why even bother with an alleged 'City of License' and just license stations for the greater metro Boston area (apply this to other markets), or start enforcing the actual regs.

That's my soapbox for the week.<P ID="signature">______________
</P>

 

[raccoonradio]

> Anyone know when the licenses in Boston are up for FCC
> renewal?
>
> Isn't it April 06?

They're all due in this part of the country in April right...?


> Can't knock Oldies' ratings but the Oldies stations heading
> up towards
> New Hampshire and Maine have more flavor and variety.

WODS goes back and forth between tight playlist and a little
more variety on shows like Lost 45s, Beatles at 10, etc.; that being
said, WBOQ in Gloucester (w/ studios in Bev) has a bit more
variety, as does WCRN in Worcester

> Reinventing Boston radio - what are the first stations that
> should
> be "revised" ?
>
<P ID="signature">______________

</P>

 

[fccfight]

Steve,
This is good stuff. I approve of your "soap box".

WXKS should benefit the city of Medford, even if it is just KISS AM doing
the heavy lifting.

WNSH does support the Beverly/Hamilton community, just as WNTN Newton
used to support Newton back in the day (I don't know if they provide
good, community radio support today as I do not listen)

Challenging a license This site has excellent information:
http://www.freepress.net/content/license_challenge?MA

License renewals provide a good organizing opportunity for media activists. You can use the license renewal as a chance to analyze your broadcasters’ service and educate your community about broadcasters’ public interest duties

I believe Massachusetts stations are up for renewal next month

from FMQB

http://www.fmqb.com/Article.asp?id=30124


Other topics the FCC wants to hear about include license renewals (Should they audit station public files at license renewal time? Is there too much time between license renewals?), political programming, underserved audiences, disaster warnings, network affiliation rules, and additional spectrum allocations.





> > Does a station with less than a .5 serve its community?
> > Obviously the ratings can adjust with the signal type and
> > watts.
> >
>
> Here's a better question than that. Just what exactly does
> serving a station's community of license entail anyway?
> Back 'in the day' it used to mean providing news and
> information, community oriented programming, and programming
> that addressed the concerns of the citizens. Sure, most of
> the non-news programming was relegated to the Sunday night
> at 10 PM time slot, but at least there was a thinly-veilled
> attempt to serve the citizens of whatever small town each
> station served.
>
> Can anyone make a valid arguement that wall-to-wall music is
> serving any community outside of providing cheap
> entertainment? Outside of morning drive there is *NO* news
> coverage (and on many stations there's not even that), very
> little in the way of public service programming, and what
> there is is usually geared toward whatever large metro area
> it is the station is selling to, instead of the local
> community, as listed FIRST in each dual-ID that a station
> airs.
>
> Great example, Does WXKS-FM provide programming specifically
> tailored to Medford, it's official COL? What about WBOS, do
> they do community specific programming for Brookline? Or
> WROR, Framingham served with community oriented programming?
> You get the picture. Why even bother with an alleged 'City
> of License' and just license stations for the greater metro
> Boston area (apply this to other markets), or start
> enforcing the actual regs.
>
> That's my soapbox for the week.
>

 

[Garrett]

Huh? What's there to reinvent?

Hey Fccfight, you need to get out of Boston more often!
For a few days now, I've been reading your posts which seem to be negative towards every station. You don't seem to like anything, and seem to feel the need to tell every Boston station, like WBCN, etc that they need to re-invent.
Uh, one question: WHY?

Have you really heard radio in other places? I can tell you first hand, you have it pretty good in Boston. I don't know what markets you've been listening too, but there's a lot in Boston that you don't have in other places.

Let's see...
NY? They don't even have an oldies station. Boston has both oldies and Mike FM.

Rhode Island?
You really think Providence is a better market?
Seriously? I got bad news for you buddy, it's not. It's small potatos compared to Boston. That means less money and more voice tracking. And if it hasn't happened yet, it will.

Take it from me, Boston is good market, doesn't need fixin. The reason (I think) that the play lists in other markets sound more adventurous to you is because you aren't used to them. You know how it works, right? Stations research songs and test them. If the surveys come back positive, it's added. If not, it's dropped. Those other markets have different tastes. But that doesn't mean they're any better, and I betcha if you lived in any of those places for any length of time, you'd become just as board.

Take my advice, if you are bored with what you are hearing and are willing to pay the outrageous costs, get Satellite radio (not an endorsement). But be warned, sooner or later, you'll get just as bored, and there's probably nothing that's ever going to satisfy you for long enough.

Sorry, not tring to ruff your feathers or anything, just mho...

> Anyone know when the licenses in Boston are up for FCC
> renewal?
>
> Isn't it April 06? Boston radio is rather complacent. Take
> a drive
> to New York and hear the various stations between
> Worcester/Connecticut
> or Rhode Island/Connecticut/ New York. If the banter is
> similar at
> least the playlists are somewhat more adventurous when you
> move away
> from the big city.
>
> Can't knock Oldies' ratings but the Oldies stations heading
> up towards
> New Hampshire and Maine have more flavor and variety.
>
> Reinventing Boston radio - what are the first stations that
> should
> be "revised" ?
>

 

[NotoriousN-I-K]

Re: Huh? What's there to reinvent?

> Hey Fccfight, you need to get out of Boston more often!
> For a few days now, I've been reading your posts which seem
> to be negative towards every station. You don't seem to like
> anything, and seem to feel the need to tell every Boston
> station, like WBCN, etc that they need to re-invent.
> Uh, one question: WHY?
>
> Have you really heard radio in other places? I can tell you
> first hand, you have it pretty good in Boston. I don't know
> what markets you've been listening too, but there's a lot in
> Boston that you don't have in other places.
>
> Let's see...
> NY? They don't even have an oldies station. Boston has both
> oldies and Mike FM.
>
> Rhode Island?
> You really think Providence is a better market?
> Seriously? I got bad news for you buddy, it's not. It's
> small potatos compared to Boston. That means less money and
> more voice tracking. And if it hasn't happened yet, it will.
>
>
> Take it from me, Boston is good market, doesn't need fixin.
> The reason (I think) that the play lists in other markets
> sound more adventurous to you is because you aren't used to
> them. You know how it works, right? Stations research songs
> and test them. If the surveys come back positive, it's
> added. If not, it's dropped. Those other markets have
> different tastes. But that doesn't mean they're any better,
> and I betcha if you lived in any of those places for any
> length of time, you'd become just as board.
>
> Take my advice, if you are bored with what you are hearing
> and are willing to pay the outrageous costs, get Satellite
> radio (not an endorsement). But be warned, sooner or later,
> you'll get just as bored, and there's probably nothing
> that's ever going to satisfy you for long enough.
>
> Sorry, not tring to ruff your feathers or anything, just
> mho...
>
> > Anyone know when the licenses in Boston are up for FCC
> > renewal?
> >
> > Isn't it April 06? Boston radio is rather complacent.
> Take
> > a drive
> > to New York and hear the various stations between
> > Worcester/Connecticut
> > or Rhode Island/Connecticut/ New York. If the banter is
> > similar at
> > least the playlists are somewhat more adventurous when you
>
> > move away
> > from the big city.
> >
> > Can't knock Oldies' ratings but the Oldies stations
> heading
> > up towards
> > New Hampshire and Maine have more flavor and variety.
> >
> > Reinventing Boston radio - what are the first stations
> that
> > should
> > be "revised" ?
> >
>
Seems to only like those stations/personalities that are no longer actually on teh air in Boston most of whom have been fired, whose relevence expired somewhere in the late 70's to 80's, and have been jettisoned into obscurity. Great, cant wait for his next geyser like eruption of bad programming ideas.

 

[Phillip_J_Fry]

> Steve,
> This is good stuff. I approve of your "soap box".
>
> WXKS should benefit the city of Medford, even if it is just
> KISS AM doing
> the heavy lifting.
>
> WNSH does support the Beverly/Hamilton community, just as
> WNTN Newton
> used to support Newton back in the day (I don't know if they
> provide
> good, community radio support today as I do not listen)
>
Apparently you don't listen to WNSH either!
WNSH's schedule for the week from thier website,

Daybreak USA 5-9

Laura Ingraham 9-12

G. Gordon Liddy 12-3

Jerry Doyle 3 - 6

Michael Reagan 6-9

Radio America shows until dawn

WOW look at all the local support!! seriously though I love when Laura Ingraham goes down to Cabot Street and talks to Beverly residents!!

 

[mikeradio]

> > Steve,
> > This is good stuff. I approve of your "soap box".
> >
> > WXKS should benefit the city of Medford, even if it is
> just
> > KISS AM doing
> > the heavy lifting.
> >
> > WNSH does support the Beverly/Hamilton community, just as
> > WNTN Newton
> > used to support Newton back in the day (I don't know if
> they
> > provide
> > good, community radio support today as I do not listen)
> >
> Apparently you don't listen to WNSH either!
> WNSH's schedule for the week from thier website,
>
> Daybreak USA 5-9
>
> Laura Ingraham 9-12
>
> G. Gordon Liddy 12-3
>
> Jerry Doyle 3 - 6
>
> Michael Reagan 6-9
>
> Radio America shows until dawn
>
> WOW look at all the local support!! seriously though I love
> when Laura Ingraham goes down to Cabot Street and talks to
> Beverly residents!!
>
So WNSH isn't the perfect small-town signal of 30 years ago, nor is it the equal of the soon-to-disappear WESX. Would you have Mr. Wilcox pull the plug? At least eastern Essex county will "have" AM radio after WESX's demise.

I don't claim to know cash-flow, but if small-town American suppoted "local" radio (ad sales), perhaps things would be different. The chicken-egg dilemma here is few ads = satellite-fed TOH news, network spots, "some" type of weather broadcast, and nobody on Dodge St. in Beverly conducting man-on-the street interviews. And the forgoing = fewer listeners/lower ratings.

If you owned the signal, how would you handle this?

As a transplant from Essex to north-westernmost Worcester county, I wish I had WNSH's programming available to me!

MR
Athol
AM-DX HQ

 

[FMAM]

Reinventing public access television...

Perhaps Joe should look into that issue instead????????







> Hey Fccfight, you need to get out of Boston more often!

> > For a few days now, I\'ve been reading your posts which

> seem

> > to be negative towards every station. You don\'t seem to

> like

> > anything, and seem to feel the need to tell every Boston

> > station, like WBCN, etc that they need to re-invent.

> > Uh, one question: WHY?

> >

> > Have you really heard radio in other places? I can tell

> you

> > first hand, you have it pretty good in Boston. I don\'t

> know

> > what markets you\'ve been listening too, but there\'s a lot

> in

> > Boston that you don\'t have in other places.

> >

> > Let\'s see...

> > NY? They don\'t even have an oldies station. Boston has

> both

> > oldies and Mike FM.

> >

> > Rhode Island?

> > You really think Providence is a better market?

> > Seriously? I got bad news for you buddy, it\'s not. It\'s

> > small potatos compared to Boston. That means less money

> and

> > more voice tracking. And if it hasn\'t happened yet, it

> will.

> >

> >

> > Take it from me, Boston is good market, doesn\'t need

> fixin.

> > The reason (I think) that the play lists in other markets

> > sound more adventurous to you is because you aren\'t used

> to

> > them. You know how it works, right? Stations research

> songs

> > and test them. If the surveys come back positive, it\'s

> > added. If not, it\'s dropped. Those other markets have

> > different tastes. But that doesn\'t mean they\'re any

> better,

> > and I betcha if you lived in any of those places for any

> > length of time, you\'d become just as board.

> >

> > Take my advice, if you are bored with what you are hearing

>

> > and are willing to pay the outrageous costs, get

> Satellite

> > radio (not an endorsement). But be warned, sooner or

> later,

> > you\'ll get just as bored, and there\'s probably nothing

> > that\'s ever going to satisfy you for long enough.

> >

> > Sorry, not tring to ruff your feathers or anything, just

> > mho...

> >

> > > Anyone know when the licenses in Boston are up for FCC

> > > renewal?

> > >

> > > Isn\'t it April 06? Boston radio is rather complacent.

> > Take

> > > a drive

> > > to New York and hear the various stations between

> > > Worcester/Connecticut

> > > or Rhode Island/Connecticut/ New York. If the banter is

>

> > > similar at

> > > least the playlists are somewhat more adventurous when

> you

> >

> > > move away

> > > from the big city.

> > >

> > > Can\'t knock Oldies\' ratings but the Oldies stations

> > heading

> > > up towards

> > > New Hampshire and Maine have more flavor and variety.

> > >

> > > Reinventing Boston radio - what are the first stations

> > that

> > > should

> > > be \"revised\" ?

> > >

> >

> Seems to only like those stations/personalities that are no

> longer actually on teh air in Boston most of whom have been

> fired, whose relevence expired somewhere in the late 70\'s to

> 80\'s, and have been jettisoned into obscurity. Great, cant

> wait for his next geyser like eruption of bad programming

> ideas.

>

 

[dumber than a box of hair]

>Challenging a license This site has excellent information: http://www.freepress.net/content/license_challenge?MA<

A site that loses all credibility in its first sentence:

"Every TV and radio station in Massachusetts gets its broadcast license from the Federal Communications Commission for free..."

In their dreams.

 

[Eli Polonsky]

> WNSH does support the Beverly/Hamilton community, just as WNTN Newton
> used to support Newton back in the day (I don't know if they provide
> good, community radio support today as I do not listen)

WNTN still has some local Newton/west suburban oriented talk programming during morning drive time.

It's all brokered ethnic programming after that, which serves various other communities and towns in and around Boston more than the COL Newton.

 

[Phillip_J_Fry]

> > > Steve,
> > > This is good stuff. I approve of your "soap box".
> > >
> > > WXKS should benefit the city of Medford, even if it is
> > just
> > > KISS AM doing
> > > the heavy lifting.
> > >
> > > WNSH does support the Beverly/Hamilton community, just
> as
> > > WNTN Newton
> > > used to support Newton back in the day (I don't know if
> > they
> > > provide
> > > good, community radio support today as I do not listen)
> > >
> > Apparently you don't listen to WNSH either!
> > WNSH's schedule for the week from thier website,
> >
> > Daybreak USA 5-9
> >
> > Laura Ingraham 9-12
> >
> > G. Gordon Liddy 12-3
> >
> > Jerry Doyle 3 - 6
> >
> > Michael Reagan 6-9
> >
> > Radio America shows until dawn
> >
> > WOW look at all the local support!! seriously though I
> love
> > when Laura Ingraham goes down to Cabot Street and talks to
>
> > Beverly residents!!
> >
> So WNSH isn't the perfect small-town signal of 30 years ago,
> nor is it the equal of the soon-to-disappear WESX. Would
> you have Mr. Wilcox pull the plug? At least eastern Essex
> county will "have" AM radio after WESX's demise.
>
> I don't claim to know cash-flow, but if small-town American
> suppoted "local" radio (ad sales), perhaps things would be
> different. The chicken-egg dilemma here is few ads =
> satellite-fed TOH news, network spots, "some" type of
> weather broadcast, and nobody on Dodge St. in Beverly
> conducting man-on-the street interviews. And the forgoing =
> fewer listeners/lower ratings.
>
> If you owned the signal, how would you handle this?
>
> As a transplant from Essex to north-westernmost Worcester
> county, I wish I had WNSH's programming available to me!
>
> MR
> Athol
> AM-DX HQ
>


sorry, the point of my post wasn't ment as an "I know how to run it" JV-ish rant. nor do i have a problem with the national shows themselves (i like a few of them) my point is WNSH is on COMPLETE autopilot.

the station has NO personality just national news and talkshows. listen to WEIM or WCAP, they have local and national stuff and they seem to survive with a nice balance. for example check out www.weim.com or www.wcap.net then go to www.wnsh.com theres nothing on wnsh.com just ad rates and a discount on BMW's

signal strength isn't wnsh's only problem. people in revere(for example) don't want to know or care about beverly issue's. the problem is people from the north shore don't even know it exists!

seriously, ask somebody from the area and ask them if they listen to wnsh and they'll say whats wnsh?(unless they are into radio, then they will laugh at you).

WNSH isn't going to bring in millions a year obviously, but they could a least try to do SOMETHING. it's run by one guy who does mostly all the ads,PSA's,and phoned in weather! no sales staff no air staff nothing, which wouldn't be so bad if it EVER changed or if he did some live news in the AM.....something!

oh yeah, i relize the people on dodge st. arn't conducting man on the street interviews, my last line was pure sarcasm!

if I owned the signal I would at LEAST get out and let people know the signal exists

great, now this turned into a rant!!

sorry people but the line from JV(fcc) >WNSH does support the Beverly/Hamilton community, is laughable

--rant over

 

[Oldbones]

> Here's a better question than that. Just what exactly does
> serving a station's community of license entail anyway?
> Back 'in the day' it used to mean providing news and
> information, community oriented programming, and programming
> that addressed the concerns of the citizens. Sure, most of
> the non-news programming was relegated to the Sunday night
> at 10 PM time slot, but at least there was a thinly-veilled
> attempt to serve the citizens of whatever small town each
> station served.
>


Good question, and not one that's likely to provide much consensus of an answer. The public affairs programming you refer to was time and resource-consuming, and no one listened to it. That's why it got buried...it wouldn't have drawn any more audience if you'd put on Tuesday during AM drive. When you have a piddly little signal that doesn't cover much more than your city of licens, yeah it makes sense to super-serve it (providing there's enough revenue available to enable you to do so), but when you're Kiss 108, WROR, or any of the other Boston stations that just happen to be licensed to a suburb...no. These stations cover half the state as well as reaching a considerable audience in southern N.H. and Maine. It makes absolutely no sense to cover Medford city council meetings, or interview the candidates for dogcatcher in Framingham. IMHO, if you're attracting a significant audience you must by definition be serving some need of the public.

 

[classicradionut]

> Good question, and not one that's likely to provide much
> consensus of an answer. The public affairs programming you
> refer to was time and resource-consuming, and no one
> listened to it. That's why it got buried...it wouldn't have
> drawn any more audience if you'd put on Tuesday during AM
> drive.

Nobody's gonna argue with you there. I'm not suggesting that we require stations to do that form of PS broadcasting. But, my whole point in bringing up the subject was the idiotic way in which the FCC licenses stations to a particular community. WBOS, WXKS-FM, WKLB are very obviously all metro BOSTON stations, even if their technical city of licenses are communities surrounding the hub.

Back in the days when AM was king, or at least the main form of broadcasting (and we're going WAAAY back here) , it was important, from an engineering standpoint, to assign frequencies to a particular community due to the engineering constraints required by stations having to worry about nighttime signals and where they could be received at night. Hell, even today, on FM it's critical to engineers as to where the TX is... it's an exact science plotting these things on topographical maps. And, 50 years ago or more, when the rules were drawn up, local communities were a bit more important to the metro area than they are now, since if you're from out west here, while these communities aren't technically Boston, we kinda consider it going to Boston if we take a trip to, say, Arlington....But, that's a bit off the main topic. Where the transmitter is located shouldn't matter if a station serves a particular metro area. All the stations listed as Boston metro stations should simply use Boston as their community of license.

As to what constitutes public service, I think it should be something MORE than wall to wall music, regardless of whether it's live, voicetracked or a satellite feed. Besides, the key to traditional radio's future is LOCALISM, not maintaining radio as a perpetual jukebox. Let internet and satellite radio do that.


When you have a piddly little signal that doesn't
> cover much more than your city of licens, yeah it makes
> sense to super-serve it (providing there's enough revenue
> available to enable you to do so), but when you're Kiss 108,
> WROR, or any of the other Boston stations that just happen
> to be licensed to a suburb...no. These stations cover half
> the state as well as reaching a considerable audience in
> southern N.H. and Maine. It makes absolutely no sense to
> cover Medford city council meetings, or interview the
> candidates for dogcatcher in Framingham. IMHO, if you're
> attracting a significant audience you must by definition be
> serving some need of the public.
> <P ID="signature">______________
</P>

 

[classicradionut]

> WNTN still has some local Newton/west suburban oriented talk
> programming during morning drive time.
>
> It's all brokered ethnic programming after that, which
> serves various other communities and towns in and around
> Boston more than the COL Newton.
>

Which brings up another point. Why does the public service programming have to necessarilly be in English? We don't require immigrants or aliens to speak English, by law, so why should stations have to air IDs and PS programming in English on stations that serve a specific ethnic community? And... I don't know it all, you know, while legal IDs do have to be in English, does public service programming have to be in English? I might be out in left field on that one...<P ID="signature">______________
</P>

 

[classicradionut]

> "Every TV and radio station in Massachusetts gets its
> broadcast license from the Federal Communications Commission
> for free..."
>
> In their dreams.

Only if you're Radio Free Alston-Brighton..<P ID="signature">______________
</P>

 

[classicradionut]

> I don't claim to know cash-flow, but if small-town American
> suppoted "local" radio (ad sales), perhaps things would be
> different. The chicken-egg dilemma here is few ads =
> satellite-fed TOH news, network spots, "some" type of
> weather broadcast, and nobody on Dodge St. in Beverly
> conducting man-on-the street interviews. And the forgoing =
> fewer listeners/lower ratings.

That's been a big problem for the last 20 years, coupled with the fact that there's simply too many signals on both bands to be supported adequately by advertising... even in Boston. That is a problem the FCC created in the early 80s and it's all but ruined radio.

Out here in eastern Franklin county (Mike's neighbor, in fact LOL) there's just not much money for ads. WCAT Orange (now WJOE) way back in 1980 was selling spots @ :60 for a buck apiece! No kidding! But, that's all this community could afford. And now some wonder why automation took off so much when it became affordable and came into it's own?
>
> If you owned the signal, how would you handle this?

i wouldn't own it unless I was independently wealthy, and then I'd just play whatever I wanted. Why not? There's all sorts of FM stations people can tune to for their favorite format, so I'd do a 'live' variety hits format, let the local high school kids come in and do whatever they wanted and donate any income to charity. And, I'd dedicate the station to teaching young people how radio is supposed to be done, not how today's so-called 'experts' think it should be done. Maybe I'd be able to put that magic spark back into the kids eyes the way radio used to... but I damn sure wouldn't run that little AM station the traditional way because... tada! nobody's listening to AM, except WBZ, WRKO and WEEI. And maybe a few out in Worcester county still listening to WTAG (sorry Clear Channel guys... nobody listens to AM anymore).

>
> As a transplant from Essex to north-westernmost Worcester
> county, I wish I had WNSH's programming available to me!
>

Well, again, I'd have a ball. But I wouldn't expect to make a dime.<P ID="signature">______________
</P>

 

[mikeradio]

>
>
> sorry, the point of my post wasn't ment as an "I know how to
> run it" JV-ish rant. nor do i have a problem with the
> national shows themselves (i like a few of them) my point is
> WNSH is on COMPLETE autopilot.
>
> the station has NO personality just national news and
> talkshows. listen to WEIM or WCAP, they have local and
> national stuff and they seem to survive with a nice balance.
> for example check out www.weim.com or www.wcap.net then go
> to www.wnsh.com theres nothing on wnsh.com just ad rates and
> a discount on BMW's
>
> signal strength isn't wnsh's only problem. people in
> revere(for example) don't want to know or care about beverly
> issue's. the problem is people from the north shore don't
> even know it exists!
>
> seriously, ask somebody from the area and ask them if they
> listen to wnsh and they'll say whats wnsh?(unless they are
> into radio, then they will laugh at you).
>
> WNSH isn't going to bring in millions a year obviously, but
> they could a least try to do SOMETHING. it's run by one guy
> who does mostly all the ads,PSA's,and phoned in weather! no
> sales staff no air staff nothing, which wouldn't be so bad
> if it EVER changed or if he did some live news in the
> AM.....something!
>
> oh yeah, i relize the people on dodge st. arn't conducting
> man on the street interviews, my last line was pure sarcasm!
>
>
> if I owned the signal I would at LEAST get out and let
> people know the signal exists
>
> great, now this turned into a rant!!
>
> sorry people but the line from JV(fcc) >WNSH does support
> the Beverly/Hamilton community, is laughable
>
> --rant over
>
No problem - rants are cathartic! I vented my spleen on my local amateur-hour AM's WGAW-WCAT awhile back. Sarcasm works, too - I haven't heard a small-town AM radio station announcer step outside the studio for quite a few years, save for sporting events. Do any of them "do" remotes anymore? Pretty common small FM trick - broadcasting from car dealers, fairs, etc. Put up a table, fly the flag with your call letters, etc. Remember the "mobile units" of old?

Simon Geller is gone, RIP, and the one-man-band-era radio station died with him, or so I thought. I don't know why Mr. Wilcox doesn't promote the station. Maybe there's no budget - maybe its a hobby operation - I agree its a damn shame, however.

WEIM is a classy act - sounds big-market, has a local A.M. show, often with local community leaders as guests. Ben Parker as PD will be a very good thing for the signal, and the community it serves.

WCAP, as well, is a new-millenium-version local signal. Mr. Cohen probably walks a budget tightrope up there, but has the desirable elements, like local programming, that WEIM has as well.

The birdfeed at WNSH is well and good, (and probably all barter). Why not try to make an arrangement with the Salem Evening News to broadcast some local headlines after the 'net news? That bit can be recorded and played all day. WGAW does this with the local paper in A.M. drive several times a week.

At least WNSH "has" weather drop-ins. The phone-in audio is dreadful. But some smaller outfits (WGAW-WCAT out my way) have them in the morning,(traffic and weather from the guy's car via cellphone!) but thats the only time of day I've heard 'em broadcast. Kinda useless in a weather zone like north-central Mass. with winter storms and summer lightning & wind storms. Never heard a EAS test, either.

MR
Athol, MA
Biggest AM deadspot in America