WHLD has indeed flipped to standards as "Swing 1270" as of a couple of days ago. No one noticed? ;-)
Sounds like it is being locally programmed/produced.
Sounds like it is being locally programmed/produced.
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"Swing 1270"
- Thread starter ThePickleReport
- Start date
C
cd637299
Guest
I don't live in the area. Are they 24 hours? Isn't it a gamble to challenge Zoomer 740 on AM in this day & age?
What would be (if any) the musical difference between the two?
cd
What would be (if any) the musical difference between the two?
cd
C
caveman-97
Guest
Speaking of things that are ancient, does the Pickle Report remember an old soap opera called "Ma Gherkins"?
What WNY radio station was once owned by a lady who never heard her station because she was totally deaf?
What WNY radio station was once owned by a lady who never heard her station because she was totally deaf?
Element9 said:
They were stunting with Sinatra but the actual format and station name weren't on the air yet.
The format sounds like textbook best-of-the-best adult standards. What's their game plan? Who knows.......
cd637299 said:
I'm not in the area either (but will be next week) but I would imagine that 1270 will be more musically consistant. 740 goes off in different directions, with lesser known Canadian cuts, or shows devoted to a particular genre or artist. They program hours of talk as well. At least without even hearing 1270 yet, I would hope that they'd offer a more consistant product, luring some disgruntled ZOOMER fans away. Then again, what type of signal does 1270 have north of the Niagara Frontier?
"Innovative"?
Sir Rox rocks another one!! Cudos. My thought of the day..."Ya can't play base, foot, soft, foos, volley, and tennis WITHOUT BALLS"...so can someone find a "balls tree" and maybe someone will grow some.
That's all -maybe
HDBG
B
Bob1370
Guest
"Now, when can there be s signal swap between 1270 and 1520? )
There needs to be some innovative programming on the clear channels!"
Not gonna happen. WHLD is a Citadel property, WWKB belongs to Entercom (which uses it defensively to block anyone from getting a strong enough AM signal to build a viable competitor to its market flagship WBEN). Neither one is likely to sell to the other.
There needs to be some innovative programming on the clear channels!"
Not gonna happen. WHLD is a Citadel property, WWKB belongs to Entercom (which uses it defensively to block anyone from getting a strong enough AM signal to build a viable competitor to its market flagship WBEN). Neither one is likely to sell to the other.
I really don't know much about the Buffalo market, other than listening to KB in their heyday and from radio people have told me. I did go to Radio-Locater and looked at WHLD's day & night patterns. From what I saw they have a pretty good signal over the populated areas. I'd say a half a million people potentially served. Now, I suppose what I saw was what would be the patterns if the system was running efficiently in the first place. I have no idea what kind of shape the station is in. I don't think I've ever even heard it. I believe the station could find some success with the right format. 1270 kc is a regional frequency.
WHLD may well have the newest transmitter setup in the market. After more than half a century at the old two-tower array on Staley Road on Grand Island (the same site where WKSE is still located), WHLD moved to the WNED-AM transmitter site on Cloverbank Road in Hamburg about a decade ago. New transmitter, new phasor, fully proofed array.
The "new" WHLD is similar to 970: it concentrates all its signal directly north from Hamburg. Great in the city of Buffalo, very good in Niagara Falls, not bad at all into Toronto. But go east of Transit Road, or very far west of the Niagara River, and it doesn't exist.
I'm sure WHTK 1280 in Rochester does it no favors during the day, when 1280 is spewing out IBOC hash over 1270 on its 5000-watt non-directional signal.
The "new" WHLD is similar to 970: it concentrates all its signal directly north from Hamburg. Great in the city of Buffalo, very good in Niagara Falls, not bad at all into Toronto. But go east of Transit Road, or very far west of the Niagara River, and it doesn't exist.
I'm sure WHTK 1280 in Rochester does it no favors during the day, when 1280 is spewing out IBOC hash over 1270 on its 5000-watt non-directional signal.
Finally remembered to listen to 1270 this morning on the way to work (about a 45 minute drive). I live in Lancaster and Scott hit it on the head, it's useless east of Transit Rd. It's amazing how much man-made crap is blanketing the AM band these days. Lots of noise, though it never faded. I didn't get good signal level until I got near Union Rd.
I'm sorry but this is bad on so many levels.
First, AM radio for music is a dead platform. I get more fidelity listening to music on hold. I grew up in the 50's and I know what AM is capable of and what it did, indeed, sound like once upon a time. Has anyone actually heard the letter "S" clearly annunciated in the last 20 years? Sounds like everyone has a lisp. The audio is too compressed for my taste, also. It really got tiresome. It reminded me why I never listen to AM.
Second, it's an unfortunate brand for the station. Folks, this music has nothing to do with Swing. Not even close. They seem to flirt with the Great American Songbook at times but it's not often enough. It sounds like it's centered on 50's pop. A lot of music they play doesn't seem to fit cleanly in any one genre. There's no one selling the music, either. I'm familiar with a lot of it but I heard some things I couldn't identify and will never know because there is nothing tellling you what the track was. The format to me sounds kind of like the first incarnation of WECK (The Mucous of your Wife). Kudos to ownership for trying but I don't see this going anywhere. The audience that first loved WECK is pretty much disappearing.
I stuck with it as long as I could (I really enjoy Standards, but not enough here) but I will be happy to switch back to satellite on the way home.
aL
I'm sorry but this is bad on so many levels.
First, AM radio for music is a dead platform. I get more fidelity listening to music on hold. I grew up in the 50's and I know what AM is capable of and what it did, indeed, sound like once upon a time. Has anyone actually heard the letter "S" clearly annunciated in the last 20 years? Sounds like everyone has a lisp. The audio is too compressed for my taste, also. It really got tiresome. It reminded me why I never listen to AM.
Second, it's an unfortunate brand for the station. Folks, this music has nothing to do with Swing. Not even close. They seem to flirt with the Great American Songbook at times but it's not often enough. It sounds like it's centered on 50's pop. A lot of music they play doesn't seem to fit cleanly in any one genre. There's no one selling the music, either. I'm familiar with a lot of it but I heard some things I couldn't identify and will never know because there is nothing tellling you what the track was. The format to me sounds kind of like the first incarnation of WECK (The Mucous of your Wife). Kudos to ownership for trying but I don't see this going anywhere. The audience that first loved WECK is pretty much disappearing.
I stuck with it as long as I could (I really enjoy Standards, but not enough here) but I will be happy to switch back to satellite on the way home.
aL
Yeah, because satellite music quality is soooo much better. Heh.
SirRox is batting 1000!!! Unless I read this wrong...a promo for the "alternatives" creating havoc in the industry!! I like it!!
BTW- if your doing Canadian, I think it is "eh"... (hey, a few Labatts and who cares, eh?
)HDBG
SirRoxalot said:
You can't seriously be defending the fidelity of AM.
Actually, the quality of AM could be similar to satellite - albeit in mono unless you want to go back to C-QUAM. It would require a return to 10KHz bandwidth, and upgrading modern AM processing.
It's more of a slam against the poor quality of satellite radio. Satellite talk channels are no better than AM, and satellite music stations don't begin to approach the quality of a well-processed FM. They're more in the range of a bad MP3. Of course, there are poorly-processed FMs that sound like overcrunched crap (a/k/a "Syracuse pre-set"). Fortunately, we don't have many of those in the Buffalo market.
It's more of a slam against the poor quality of satellite radio. Satellite talk channels are no better than AM, and satellite music stations don't begin to approach the quality of a well-processed FM. They're more in the range of a bad MP3. Of course, there are poorly-processed FMs that sound like overcrunched crap (a/k/a "Syracuse pre-set"). Fortunately, we don't have many of those in the Buffalo market.
A "return" to 10 kHz bandwidth?? Did I miss something?
You can do 10 kHz bandwidth right now. We do 10 kHz. AFAIK the only guys throttling (literally) back to 6, or, 5 or 4.6 kHz (the latter, Clear Channel and Crawfish) are IBOC perpetrators.
Then again - there are a couple AM stations nearby with what I would describe as TWO kHz bandwidth...
You can do 10 kHz bandwidth right now. We do 10 kHz. AFAIK the only guys throttling (literally) back to 6, or, 5 or 4.6 kHz (the latter, Clear Channel and Crawfish) are IBOC perpetrators.
Then again - there are a couple AM stations nearby with what I would describe as TWO kHz bandwidth...
Some of what's discussed in this thread involves AM radio receiver quality as much as it does transmitter and antenna capabilities. WHLD-AM 1270 shares a five tower array with WNED-AM 970, creating a few problems getting decent (music) audio through the traps and ATUs. The mostly inferior construction of modern day AM receivers and the electromagnetic debris that affects the AM band make matters worse. And then there's I-hash. This technical/opinion article discusses AM transmission, modulation and reception as well as the NRSC boondoggle.
But the bigger question may be, does it really matter to the average 74 year old who might find this format worth listening to and just wants to hear something from Sinatra, Dorsey... or the Association? WHLD sounds like another AM on life support, one step away from being insignificant (the way so many AMs are heading, witness the once grand KB.) Jack on AM with much older music, lacking the snarky liners. WHLD is yet another "set-it-and-forget-it" format that the Big C's (and E) put on their red-haired-stepchild-AMs to keep them from taking listeners from their FMs (which are under attack) and hoping (like WWWS-AM 1400 with Old School Urban) to score some listeners. Citadel (aka, Clear Channel-Lite) tried doing brokered programming on WHLD and things didn't work out. So now this. Give 'em some credit for trying.
BTW, you do realize that this is what Classic Rock/Hits will be in ten years, don't you? In many cases, Classic Rock/Hits already is "the music my grandfather listens to on the way to the doctor."
But the bigger question may be, does it really matter to the average 74 year old who might find this format worth listening to and just wants to hear something from Sinatra, Dorsey... or the Association? WHLD sounds like another AM on life support, one step away from being insignificant (the way so many AMs are heading, witness the once grand KB.) Jack on AM with much older music, lacking the snarky liners. WHLD is yet another "set-it-and-forget-it" format that the Big C's (and E) put on their red-haired-stepchild-AMs to keep them from taking listeners from their FMs (which are under attack) and hoping (like WWWS-AM 1400 with Old School Urban) to score some listeners. Citadel (aka, Clear Channel-Lite) tried doing brokered programming on WHLD and things didn't work out. So now this. Give 'em some credit for trying.
BTW, you do realize that this is what Classic Rock/Hits will be in ten years, don't you? In many cases, Classic Rock/Hits already is "the music my grandfather listens to on the way to the doctor."
OK, it ain't really swing, and the audio quality ain't great, but what would you suggest that they put on 1270? I think that the standards/oldies hybrid is probably a reasonable alternative that may very well outpace the mighty 'KB in ratings within a book or two. Yeah, it will be a largely 65-death audience, but it's better than NO audience - which is what they've had for several books in a row.
If it makes the grandparents, or great-grandparents happy, at least it's serving SOMEBODY.
If it makes the grandparents, or great-grandparents happy, at least it's serving SOMEBODY.
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