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Southern NH Radio lights out

R

robbbc

Well as I sat in the dark Friday night looking for some local info on the wind storm, power outages et cetera I found nothing. That's right! Nothing! WBZ from Boston talked a little bit and all the local southern NH stations, AM and FM, were playing music and telling me about Hockey and Powerball. Thank you sooooo much! Did I miss the right station to listen to? I have a Grundig so you can't blame reception.

In comparison, when I was in NC and a major storm blew through, WPTF would provide local news, talk to the power companies, mention which towns were out of power, where to get supplies if you needed them. Where to go for shelter, what hotels were open. They talked to the utility companies on the air. Generally, they made an effort to serve the community. I was no fan of WPTF's conservative talk but I turned them on when the lights went out, and they cancelled Rush et al, providing all NC people with something to listen to in the dark. Now that's serving the community.

With tens of thousands out of power and no TV to watch NH Radio dropped the ball big time. To end on a positive note I managed to pick up Stephanie Miller out of Buffalo Friday night- clear as a bell. Now that's some skywave!
 
> Well as I sat in the dark Friday night looking for some
> local info on the wind storm, power outages et cetera I
> found nothing. That's right! Nothing! WBZ from Boston talked
> a little bit and all the local southern NH stations, AM and
> FM, were playing music and telling me about Hockey and
> Powerball. Thank you sooooo much! Did I miss the right
> station to listen to? I have a Grundig so you can't blame
> reception.
>
> In comparison, when I was in NC and a major storm blew
> through, WPTF would provide local news, talk to the power
> companies, mention which towns were out of power, where to
> get supplies if you needed them. Where to go for shelter,
> what hotels were open. They talked to the utility companies
> on the air. Generally, they made an effort to serve the
> community. I was no fan of WPTF's conservative talk but I
> turned them on when the lights went out, and they cancelled
> Rush et al, providing all NC people with something to listen
> to in the dark. Now that's serving the community.
>
> With tens of thousands out of power and no TV to watch NH
> Radio dropped the ball big time. To end on a positive note I
> managed to pick up Stephanie Miller out of Buffalo Friday
> night- clear as a bell. Now that's some skywave!
>
This is what consolidation and technology have done to local radio. Better off using an Ipod or satellite radio. Deeper playlists and fewer or no commercials. Local radio in smaller markets no longer exists as demonstrated by the Frank thread.

The station you were listening was probably WKBW - 1520 which recently switched to liberal talk. They've always been listenable at night in Portland.
 
Actually WWKB. The call letters were WKBW back in their top 40 era, but the calls changed to WWKB many years ago (They were sold and the WKBW calls stayed with a former co-owned Buffalo TV station). During the recent oldies format they used the old WKBW jingles but legally ID'd as WWKB. They can usually be heard clearly most nights all over the northeastern US. Stepanie Miller is syndicated, 1520 only has one local show middays (although the host is not in town anymore), the rest is syndicated.

> The station you were listening was probably WKBW - 1520
> which recently switched to liberal talk. They've always
> been listenable at night in Portland.
>
 
> >
> This is what consolidation and technology have done to local
> radio. Better off using an Ipod or satellite radio. Deeper
> playlists and fewer or no commercials. Local radio in
> smaller markets no longer exists as demonstrated by the
> Frank thread.
>
In this case I blame technology. I found WTSN which had the audacity to advertise itself as locally owned and operated only to hear them cover the same crud I could have heard on any of the other stations (like WBZ). No local info, but a lot of ABC news national feed and Paul Harvey, Good Day! It sounded like they had someone behind the mic, why he chose to fiddle while Rome burned is beyond me (OK, that is a little harsh but you get my drift...).
 
> Actually WWKB. The call letters were WKBW back in their top
> 40 era, but the calls changed to WWKB many years ago (They
> were sold and the WKBW calls stayed with a former co-owned
> Buffalo TV station). During the recent oldies format they
> used the old WKBW jingles but legally ID'd as WWKB. They
> can usually be heard clearly most nights all over the
> northeastern US. Stepanie Miller is syndicated, 1520 only
> has one local show middays (although the host is not in town
> anymore), the rest is syndicated.
>
> > The station you were listening was probably WKBW - 1520
> > which recently switched to liberal talk. They've always
> > been listenable at night in Portland.
> >
>
I humbly stand corrected as I show my age. It's hard to refer to these legacy stations with their most recent calls. Heck, I still refer to WTAM in Cleveland (my hometown) as 3WE or KYC.
 
Damn! KB Radio is now talk?!? So much for the oldies!

WKBW does indeed have a strong signal at night time for us New Englanders. 50,000 watts of it.

Lenny

> The station you were listening was probably WKBW - 1520
> which recently switched to liberal talk. They've always
> been listenable at night in Portland.
>
 
You may send your complaints to Nassau Broadcasting, Hooksett, NH. It's an all-voicetrack operation, so when no one is there to provide that information, its tough to tell people what is happening.

Not to mention that Nassau would require liner cards to have the news pre-printed on. Too much work.


> Well as I sat in the dark Friday night looking for some
> local info on the wind storm, power outages et cetera I
> found nothing. That's right! Nothing! WBZ from Boston talked
> a little bit and all the local southern NH stations, AM and
> FM, were playing music and telling me about Hockey and
> Powerball. Thank you sooooo much! Did I miss the right
> station to listen to? I have a Grundig so you can't blame
> reception.
>
> In comparison, when I was in NC and a major storm blew
> through, WPTF would provide local news, talk to the power
> companies, mention which towns were out of power, where to
> get supplies if you needed them. Where to go for shelter,
> what hotels were open. They talked to the utility companies
> on the air. Generally, they made an effort to serve the
> community. I was no fan of WPTF's conservative talk but I
> turned them on when the lights went out, and they cancelled
> Rush et al, providing all NC people with something to listen
> to in the dark. Now that's serving the community.
>
> With tens of thousands out of power and no TV to watch NH
> Radio dropped the ball big time. To end on a positive note I
> managed to pick up Stephanie Miller out of Buffalo Friday
> night- clear as a bell. Now that's some skywave!
>
<P ID="signature">______________
-TheGuy...InTheRadio</P>
 
> You may send your complaints to Nassau Broadcasting,
> Hooksett, NH. It's an all-voicetrack operation, so when no
> one is there to provide that information, its tough to tell
> people what is happening.

Hopefully this isn't gonna turn into another "bash Nassau" thread. They aren't the only operator in the area that's on autopilot after 5pm. Welcome to small market radio in the 21st century.
 
> Well as I sat in the dark Friday night looking for some
> local info on the wind storm, power outages et cetera I
> found nothing. That's right! Nothing! WBZ from Boston talked
> a little bit and all the local southern NH stations, AM and
> FM, were playing music and telling me about Hockey and
> Powerball. Thank you sooooo much! Did I miss the right
> station to listen to? I have a Grundig so you can't blame
> reception.
>
> In comparison, when I was in NC and a major storm blew
> through, WPTF would provide local news, talk to the power
> companies, mention which towns were out of power, where to
> get supplies if you needed them. Where to go for shelter,
> what hotels were open. They talked to the utility companies
> on the air. Generally, they made an effort to serve the
> community. I was no fan of WPTF's conservative talk but I
> turned them on when the lights went out, and they cancelled
> Rush et al, providing all NC people with something to listen
> to in the dark. Now that's serving the community.
>
> With tens of thousands out of power and no TV to watch NH
> Radio dropped the ball big time. To end on a positive note I
> managed to pick up Stephanie Miller out of Buffalo Friday
> night- clear as a bell. Now that's some skywave!

Guess you were listening to the wrong station -- WGIR AM and Rock 101 are both live and had updates throughout the afternoon yes WGIR AM had a hockey game on at night..... there was news on Saturday as well as Sunday....also it is NH the lights go out for days all the time I guess we are used to it and therefore did not need wall to wall coverage....
>
 
It's not JUST Nassau, but I think of all the companies in the market, Nassau has the money and resources to cover such an event, yet go for the money-saving route. Same could be said about Citadel, but I'll keep it to Nassau as they are throwing money around on new studios left and right but cant afford to have 1 lackey walk around the hooksett studios and keep people up to date.


> > You may send your complaints to Nassau Broadcasting,
> > Hooksett, NH. It's an all-voicetrack operation, so when no
>
> > one is there to provide that information, its tough to
> tell
> > people what is happening.
>
> Hopefully this isn't gonna turn into another "bash Nassau"
> thread. They aren't the only operator in the area that's on
> autopilot after 5pm. Welcome to small market radio in the
> 21st century.
>
<P ID="signature">______________
-TheGuy...InTheRadio</P>
 
> Guess you were listening to the wrong station -- WGIR AM and
> Rock 101 are both live and had updates throughout the
> afternoon yes WGIR AM had a hockey game on at night.....
> there was news on Saturday as well as Sunday....also it is
> NH the lights go out for days all the time I guess we are
> used to it and therefore did not need wall to wall
> coverage....
> >
>

I must have tried WGIR when it had the Hockey game. I surfed around Saturday morning with no luck on the AM dial. Next time I'll try WGIR.

The lights go out all the time?! Oh boy, it's gonna be a long winter....
 
When Southern Maine Lights are Out

At the risk of giving away more of my resume then I'd like, I humbly submit that were there to be power outtages, severe storms or the like in the greater Portland area, WMGX, WPOR, WYNZ and (of course) WGAN always have folks live, on-air giving updates-even in the early hours of the morning if so required.
 
Re: When Southern Maine Lights are Out

> At the risk of giving away more of my resume then I'd like,
> I humbly submit that were there to be power outtages, severe
> storms or the like in the greater Portland area, WMGX, WPOR,
> WYNZ and (of course) WGAN always have folks live, on-air
> giving updates-even in the early hours of the morning if so
> required.


There is a fine line in storm info. How many times have we heard dire forecasts ("blizzard conditions") for a storm that never materialized, or mostly went out to sea? Utility companies are often swamped themselves during outages and are reluctant to give out info, even if you can get thru to someone in the know. Ditto for school/business closing info. Easy to get carried away with info a large percentage of your audience doesn't care about...people without kids don't care about every private kindergarten's 2 hour delayed opening, and almost no one cares if Julie's Card Shoppe is closing early.

Granted, things seem to have gone a bit too far in the other direction lately with too little info.
 
Keep in mind...

> There is a fine line in storm info. How many times have we
> heard dire forecasts ("blizzard conditions") for a storm
> that never materialized, or mostly went out to sea? Utility
> companies are often swamped themselves during outages and
> are reluctant to give out info, even if you can get thru to
> someone in the know. Ditto for school/business closing
> info. Easy to get carried away with info a large percentage
> of your audience doesn't care about...people without kids
> don't care about every private kindergarten's 2 hour delayed
> opening, and almost no one cares if Julie's Card Shoppe is
> closing early.

...that large percentage of your audience you speak of is not listening to the radio in the same capacity they do when there is no weather realated issues. While not every listener cares about every closing, most every listener's daily habits have been disrupted, including their radio listening habits...so don't be afraid to be too local.
 
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