• 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

Station Carrying Second Oldest Live Country Music Show (Behind Grand Ole Opry) is 30 Months Behind on Tower Rent, Begging for Donations

M

Mikey Radio

Saw this in @Greg Goodfellow's neck of the woods:
www.wtrf.com

Local radio station in desperate need of support to stay on the air

WHEELING, W.Va. (WTRF) — The radio station that carries the iconic music of the Wheeling Jamboree needs a little help from its friends. But the Wheeling Jamboree board of directors says the s…
www.wtrf.com www.wtrf.com
The radio station that carries the iconic music of the Wheeling Jamboree needs a little help from its friends.
But the Wheeling Jamboree board of directors says the small station is desperately in need of support.
They are 30 months behind in their rent to the company that owns the broadcast tower they transmit from.
They need to raise $7200.
Click to expand...

The program they're referring to, is the Wheeling Jamboree which was broadcast live from the Capital Music Hall in Wheeling, WV each Saturday night for decades, and was heard on legacy 50,000 watt clear channel station WWVA. The program itself claims to be the longest-running country music program of that type behind the Grand Ole Opry, and the Wheeling Jamboree has been broadcast in recent years (now only quarterly rather than weekly) on a LP station - WWOV-LP.

Wheeling Jamboree - "A Country Music Institution & Icon" About The Jamboree

Wheeling Jamboree - "A Country Music Institution & Icon"
www.wheelingjamboree.org
 
At one time, the Capital Music Hall was the center of a huge integrated music/media empire. In addition to the music hall, home of the Jamboree, you also had an AM/FM/TV group that worked in the same way the Opry in Nashville was integrated with WSM-AM/FM/TV. There even was an annual four day music festival called Jamboree In The Hills that brought in major national talent and was broadcast live on the radio/TV stations.

Then one thing led to another, the radio stations were sold to iHeart, the TV station was sold, and five years ago, the festival shut down. I haven't been there in a long time, but people I know who live there say the area is decimated by crime and the opioid epidemic. Businesses downtown are boarded up. They make it sound very dire.
 
Wheeling has enticed an insurance group called the Health Plan to move from a nearby Ohio town, bringing hundreds of jobs and a much-needed economic boost. Longstanding former businesses are being converted to housing, which will bring in new restaurants. The former blighted areas are slowly disappearing, as many Victorian-style homes are being rehabbed. Some of the main thoroughfares are rather torn up due to construction projects, but are on schedule to be resurfaced. The BigA heard right, and he is spot on with what the locals said. An abandoned hotel still sits empty, and definitely needs razed. Other structures are soon to be demolished, Much has been done, with much more to go.
 
Last edited:
TheBigA said:
At one time, the Capital Music Hall was the center of a huge integrated music/media empire. In addition to the music hall, home of the Jamboree, you also had an AM/FM/TV group that worked in the same way the Opry in Nashville was integrated with WSM-AM/FM/TV. There even was an annual four day music festival called Jamboree In The Hills that brought in major national talent and was broadcast live on the radio/TV stations.

Then one thing led to another, the radio stations were sold to iHeart, the TV station was sold, and five years ago, the festival shut down. I haven't been there in a long time, but people I know who live there say the area is decimated by crime and the opioid epidemic. Businesses downtown are boarded up. They make it sound very dire.
Click to expand...
In reading up a bit, it seems Wheeling was at one time a booming small city, but it's located in the rust belt and the blue collar industries that were the main drivers and supporters of the economy there for many decades are mostly shuttered. Also, the Capital Music Hall and the Jamboree were popular back when big name, major country artists were happy to travel to smaller cities and play smaller venues like that with just a basic in-house audio and lighting setup. Now most all the bigger names travel with truckloads of audio, lighting, video and effects gear or have a fairly demanding tech equipment rider, and travel with many of their own personnel to set it up and operate it. The Capital Music Hall in Wheeling seats 2,400 people and appears to be quite basic by today's entertainment venue standards. It'd be difficult for a venue that size in an area with that economy to command the kinds of ticket prices that today's top artists would call for, unless they'd go there sheerly because of the tradition, provided it was still going like it once was (it hasn't been for years).

As far as the outdoor festival, Jamboree in the Hills, it's my understanding that it was run by the staff of WWVA for decades and once patrons paid their entrance fee the rules were relatively lax, people could bring their own coolers of food and drinks, etc. Again, more bigger name artists started commanding higher prices and more detailed technical equipment riders to perform, and the costs to put on a multi-day music festival like that grew exponentially. Clear-Channel/iHeart bought WWVA and changed the format to news/talk but they continued to produce Jamboree in the Hills, via Live Nation. About 5 or 6 years ago they decided to rename the outdoor festival and prohibit patrons from bringing their own coolers so they could make more $$ via food and drink sales. Patrons who'd attended Jamboree in the Hills for decades revolted heavily and local politicians got involved, so Live Nation gave in and carried it for one more year before closing it down permanently and selling off the property.
 
Well played, Mikey Radio. It has taken years to address the neglect over many years. The venue books a variety of acts, including Broadway shows.
 
TheBigA said:
At one time, the Capital Music Hall was the center of a huge integrated music/media empire. In addition to the music hall, home of the Jamboree, you also had an AM/FM/TV group that worked in the same way the Opry in Nashville was integrated with WSM-AM/FM/TV. There even was an annual four day music festival called Jamboree In The Hills that brought in major national talent and was broadcast live on the radio/TV stations.

Then one thing led to another, the radio stations were sold to iHeart, the TV station was sold, and five years ago, the festival shut down. I haven't been there in a long time, but people I know who live there say the area is decimated by crime and the opioid epidemic. Businesses downtown are boarded up. They make it sound very dire.
Click to expand...
AM/FM, yes, but never a TV. The TV in the market, WTRF-TV 7, had its own WTRF-AM/FM that competed vigorously with WWVA.
 
There was never any cross-ownership, though there may well have been cooperation. Until 1979, channel 9 was WSTV-TV and was cross-owned with WSTV-AM/FM in Steubenville. After that it went through Ziff-Davis, Television Station Partners, Smith, Cox and eventually Sinclair, never with any radio co-ownership.
 
With such a rich history, do y'all think a consortium of classic country, bluegrass and maybe even Americana artists and patrons could create a sort of mini-Branson there? It's true I had never heard of the Wheeling Jamboree before, but it seems like someone could use the nostalgia angle to put together a Hee-Haw type situation. Looking at the website, Grandpa Jones as well as Ken Curtis (Festus of Gunsmoke fame) were some of the better-known names that appeared there.
 
Cordelia Chase said:
With such a rich history, do y'all think a consortium of classic country, bluegrass and maybe even Americana artists and patrons could create a sort of mini-Branson there? It's true I had never heard of the Wheeling Jamboree before, but it seems like someone could use the nostalgia angle to put together a Hee-Haw type situation. Looking at the website, Grandpa Jones as well as Ken Curtis (Festus of Gunsmoke fame) were some of the better-known names that appeared there.
Click to expand...
Wheeling is not what you'd call Nashville or Branson, It does not have any reason to go there and the town, like many in Appalachia, is decrepit, not too safe and not where you would build something that is of doubtful need.

If a recognition of another (besides WSM) early country station is deserved, it would be KEEL in Shreveport.

But both locations are too near Nashville. Better would be a Texas Country venue in Austin, a nice city and farther away from Nashville.
 
DavidEduardo said:
Wheeling is not what you'd call Nashville or Branson, It does not have any reason to go there and the town, like many in Appalachia, is decrepit, not too safe and not where you would build something that is of doubtful need.

If a recognition of another (besides WSM) early country station is deserved, it would be KEEL in Shreveport.

But both locations are too near Nashville. Better would be a Texas Country venue in Austin, a nice city and farther away from Nashville.
Click to expand...
After reading more, I also get the strong feeling that the Jamboree USA program that was held on Saturday nights and broadcast live for so many years, hearkened back to an earlier (and different) time when country music "stars" and better-known artists likely did well for themselves financially, but didn't have the riches that many of today's best known artists have, and part of their lifestyle and schedule involved traveling to some smaller cities like this, sometimes sleeping in questionable hotels and playing smaller venues. The world, of course was a much smaller and different place back then and it was likely a big deal for many people from that region to go on a bus tour to a city like Wheeling to see one of their favorite country acts, or to visit the show in person that they listened to each Saturday night on the radio if they lived in the large swath of the eastern USA and Canada that WWVA covered at night. The entertainment industry has changed greatly since then and the world is a smaller place - Now the same folks who'd attend these shows in that 2,400 seat theater would drive (perhaps even fly) to a much larger city and venue, or even a destination like Branson, Nashville or Vegas to see their favorite artists - or watch them at home on a large high def flat screen with concert-like sound. Those options weren't so available or affordable to the masses back then.

It was perhaps similar to the era when major league baseball players played more for love of the game, didn't get paid large amounts of money, spent endless hours and miles on stuffy buses traveling from one city to the next and sports medicine and physical therapy were unheard of - a far cry from the multi-millionaires most MLB players are today, the charter flights they take and lavish lifestyles they live. It was just a different time.
 
We should clarify that the problem isn't the theater. I mean it's a small restored theater in a small town. There are lots of similar places, and there's a circuit of artists and shows that play these restored theaters.

Capitol Theatre

www.capitoltheatrewheeling.com www.capitoltheatrewheeling.com

The problem that started this thread is a small low power radio station that has tried to attach itself to the heritage of what was once Jamboree USA. That's a whole different thing.
 
For those who want to know a bit more about how important WWVA was, go to RADIO STATION ALBUMS - Promotional booklets - 20's to the 70's and scroll down to West Virginia. There are 16 booklets there from that station with pictures of their station, the Jamboree and bits about the station heritage.

WWVA was such a big station at one time that George B. Storer bought it when is Storer Broadcasting started to expand out of Ohio in 1931 and kept it until 1961.
 
TheBigA said:
The problem that started this thread is a small low power radio station that has tried to attach itself to the heritage of what was once Jamboree USA. That's a whole different thing.
Click to expand...
That's the real issue... this is a LPFM with very limited coverage.
 
I've never felt unsafe in Wheeling, just a little bored.

It's actually a pretty good location, all things considered - property is cheap and if you give people an attraction that's worth a visit, you've got tens of millions within a few hours of driving, whether it's Columbus or Cleveland or Pittsburgh or a decent chunk of the eastern seaboard.

The question I'd ask is whether the heritage of the Jamboree is already too far in the past to attract anyone under 70. Once old brands die, it's hard to resurrect them.
 
This one seems too far gone - unless it ended up back on WWVA. Meanwhile, I’ll be waiting for the return of the WLS Barn Dance, the gradddaddy of them all (even the Opry, created by WLS’ host when lured to Nashville).
 
Cordelia Chase said:
With such a rich history, do y'all think a consortium of classic country, bluegrass and maybe even Americana artists and patrons could create a sort of mini-Branson there? It's true I had never heard of the Wheeling Jamboree before, but it seems like someone could use the nostalgia angle to put together a Hee-Haw type situation. Looking at the website, Grandpa Jones as well as Ken Curtis (Festus of Gunsmoke fame) were some of the better-known names that appeared there.
Click to expand...
You are absolutely right. Tour buses lined the street in front of the theater, often drawing tourists from as far as Canada. Those of us thought Branson approach would have been the perfect safety net as industry and coal mining decreased. The theater has been painstakingly restored and is beautiful. My wife and I were in Wheeling last night and felt perfectly safe. Beautiful architecture that will not be recreated exists in abundance. Wheeling is hosting the “Super 6” statewide football championships, and has hosted for decades, as they provide the most-lucrative package for teams and attendees. As to the original post about a struggling Wheeling FM, Brad Paisley’s father is on its Board of Directors, perhaps his son can donate either money or donate items for auction. No matter what, I plan on donating.
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom