A
AHLPOR
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I don't get it. WXKS am should be doing much better in the ratings. I like the shows on 1200 (Rush, Sean Hannity, Mark Levin, Coast To Coast, ect.) way better than 96.9 or 680.
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And they have local content with Katz and Severin. Some complain about signal (not bad for me, though). In the prime demos for (conserv.) talk, 680, 1200, and 96.9 have been stagnant or falling (at least in the 6+ or is it 12+ we see, and those who do get to see 25-54 have talked about the so-so at best numbers these stations get). WBZ has Rea and gets good ratings though a lot of that could be their daytime news.
1200 must be at least getting some ads run and generating a little income but no doubt the success of 94.5 and 107.9 may help to subsidize them. CC gets Boston clearance for their national shows, on a signal that's at least a bit better than the prog. talk days. They got a bump with addition of Severin.
WXKS is on the HD2 of 107.9 but again how many people have HD Radios? (btw I do and yes, the cons. talk is on 107.9 HD-2 --the other day for some reason it was displaying Spanish-language song titles! But that seems to be fixed now;
they are running Rush with Mark Stetn filling in and the display says "Talk 1200" on the HD2)
CC has no other FM to place 1200 on (primary signal). If Entercom were to buy (unlikely!) a 92.9 or 96.9 they could simulcast or move WRKO there. Similarly, if CC were to do that you could have the talk on a powerful FM, as I heard
when in New Orleans ("Rush Radio 94.5"). But if 1200's signal is overall not bad (but not as powerful as WBZ) then it may come down to people just seem to prefer the other talkers. CC at least make be breaking even or making a small
profit with 1200. (btw I think in San Fran they are spreading MOSTLY cons. talk, Randi Rhodes and Alan Colmes being the exceptions, on their 910 and 960 signals starting in Jan., with their prog talker Green 960 moving most of their lineup to an HD2...)
1200 must be at least getting some ads run and generating a little income but no doubt the success of 94.5 and 107.9 may help to subsidize them. CC gets Boston clearance for their national shows, on a signal that's at least a bit better than the prog. talk days. They got a bump with addition of Severin.
WXKS is on the HD2 of 107.9 but again how many people have HD Radios? (btw I do and yes, the cons. talk is on 107.9 HD-2 --the other day for some reason it was displaying Spanish-language song titles! But that seems to be fixed now;
they are running Rush with Mark Stetn filling in and the display says "Talk 1200" on the HD2)
CC has no other FM to place 1200 on (primary signal). If Entercom were to buy (unlikely!) a 92.9 or 96.9 they could simulcast or move WRKO there. Similarly, if CC were to do that you could have the talk on a powerful FM, as I heard
when in New Orleans ("Rush Radio 94.5"). But if 1200's signal is overall not bad (but not as powerful as WBZ) then it may come down to people just seem to prefer the other talkers. CC at least make be breaking even or making a small
profit with 1200. (btw I think in San Fran they are spreading MOSTLY cons. talk, Randi Rhodes and Alan Colmes being the exceptions, on their 910 and 960 signals starting in Jan., with their prog talker Green 960 moving most of their lineup to an HD2...)
1200's signal is not "overall not bad."
Yes, it's good for you on the North Shore, but to get decent ratings in the Boston market you've got to be audible in the entire Boston market, and 1200 is not. It's respectable during the day, but at night it essentially ceases to exist outside 128, except in some areas right along the shore.
All the signal strength into downtown Boston during the day (and in that department, WXKS has plenty) doesn't help you when your target listener is driving in from Nashua or Chelmsford or Natick or Norwood and can't hear the signal in the dark on the way to or from work in winter.
Yes, it's good for you on the North Shore, but to get decent ratings in the Boston market you've got to be audible in the entire Boston market, and 1200 is not. It's respectable during the day, but at night it essentially ceases to exist outside 128, except in some areas right along the shore.
All the signal strength into downtown Boston during the day (and in that department, WXKS has plenty) doesn't help you when your target listener is driving in from Nashua or Chelmsford or Natick or Norwood and can't hear the signal in the dark on the way to or from work in winter.
I must say since I upgraded my factory ford radio with an http://isimplesolutions.com/ HD radio module I can get 1200 great listening on KissHD2. It's a pretty simple way to go to add HD to factory car radios. Your basically fooling the factory one that it's the plug in upgrade they add for Satellite radio.
True, and the early sunsets and late sunrises will hurt them. I work nights so as I drive around during the day I have no problem, and even at night it still kinda comes in for me. But you're right they have trouble
covering the whole market. The signal is better than before though (prog talk years), when the sports 1200 from Ottawa and other stations would interfere after and even just before sunset. If they were on 680 or 850,
both of whom also do have some recep problems after dark, it might be better (and certainly a well-placed
FM would help but they don't have one and fear not, 94.5 or 107.9 listeners are in no danger of
tuning in some afternoon and hearing Jay Severin on the main signal!)
I'd suspect at night those to the west would have real problems as I think 1200 beams toward
Boston and the ocean.
As usual, take with a bunch of grains of salt.
Days: http://radio-locator.com/pats/WXKS_AM_LD.gif
Nights:http://radio-locator.com/pats/WXKS_AM_LN.gif (The fringe only gets to Framingham). Some Jay
Severin fans on facebook complained about the signal and I explained to them why it is that way and
HD radio and the website might be their only hopes..)
covering the whole market. The signal is better than before though (prog talk years), when the sports 1200 from Ottawa and other stations would interfere after and even just before sunset. If they were on 680 or 850,
both of whom also do have some recep problems after dark, it might be better (and certainly a well-placed
FM would help but they don't have one and fear not, 94.5 or 107.9 listeners are in no danger of
tuning in some afternoon and hearing Jay Severin on the main signal!)
I'd suspect at night those to the west would have real problems as I think 1200 beams toward
Boston and the ocean.
As usual, take with a bunch of grains of salt.
Days: http://radio-locator.com/pats/WXKS_AM_LD.gif
Nights:http://radio-locator.com/pats/WXKS_AM_LN.gif (The fringe only gets to Framingham). Some Jay
Severin fans on facebook complained about the signal and I explained to them why it is that way and
HD radio and the website might be their only hopes..)
Scott Fybush said:
You'd never know it from the application (now licensed) for a new daytime pattern (four towers days instead of the original three; no change in the three-tower night pattern), but WXKS (AM) intentionally took a fairly big hit to its daytime signal in downtown Boston in order to substantially increase the population within its daytime 2 mV/m contour. The daytime signal downtown with the new day pattern is still plenty strong but not as strong as it was with the original day pattern. Most everywhere else except for the east-northeast (downtown Boston is east-northeast of the WXKS site), the signal improved, but I seriously doubt whether anybody except the engineers who worked on the "upgrade" can notice any improvement. Where I live, WXKS's day signal went from about 25 mV/m to nearly 40 mV/m, whereas the night signal was and still is about 13 mV/m (which put me right on the NIF contour before that contour moved outward when WAGE moved from 1200 to 1190). The only way that I can tell that WXKS's signal strength at my QTH drops at sunset is by looking at the signal-strength display on the radio--and I have to turn the radio so that the signal is not maximized. Turning the radio doesn't seem to affect the loudness or background noise--a good indication that the signal is plenty strong. Nevertheless, contrary to what Bob Nelson said, on paper, I think WWZN has a better signal than WXKS. For whatever reason, I believe that the NIF calculation for WWZN understates the first-adjacent skywaves from WFED and WWKB. WWZN's big advantage is its 200-degree towers. The pattern RMS's are a lot higher than WXKS's and probably enough higher that they at least cancel out the effect of WWZN's 25.8% higher frequency.
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Laurence Glavin
Guest
CCU plans to move "progressive talk" in San Francisco...I said SAN FRANCISCO...from KKGN-AM 960 to one of the HD channels of an FM in the same market. They tried to erase "progressive talk" in Madison, WI, but apparently there were more listeners than the ratings let on, and the format survives on a six-kilowatt FM out in Sun Prairie.
raccoonradio said:
Were those the titles of the songs that were actually being played on WKOX 1430 AM at that time?
One of the problems with WXKS 1200 is the crappy Clear Channel AM processed and bandwidth limited audio compared to rich robust bold yet sweet signature sound that WRKO has had since the mid 90's. When Rush Limbaugh moved signals it sounded more like listening to a telephone. 1430's audio also sounds like aural puke.
I'm guessing yes that the song titles of WKOX 1430 were popping up on the 107.9-HD2, but when I tried it again yesterday that problem had been fixed.
Laurence: One of those stations will have Randi Rhodes and Alan Colmes on, though (the 960 I think). Colmes may be one of those people regarded as "not really liberal" by the left, but "definitely liberal" by the right; as said before, opinions on people like O'Reilly, Romney, John McCain, etc. vary depending on your political views
WWZN may indeed be stronger on the whole, and it also can get into NH and along the coast of Maine very well, even
if some closer to Boston may have trouble getting it (even there, it may be also not too bad). I will say back around 85 or 86 when they were WMRE, picking up Morgan White Jr's show was a challenge in Nahant...and when Morgan moved to what was then WKOX 1200, that also was a tough "get". 1510 prob has changed since the mid 80s (tower location most likely). Though I do have a 90 min cass somewhere of "Morgan's last show on WMRE" (Jan 87?) and the signal wasn't too bad.
Back then "hearing it online" meant you called in, got put on hold, and got to hear the show clearly in your phone
while you waited
Chris H: Wonder if overall the sound of WXKS AM on 107.9 HD-2 would sound better. Will have to check out on my HD portable, though the earbud quality may negate it...
Laurence: One of those stations will have Randi Rhodes and Alan Colmes on, though (the 960 I think). Colmes may be one of those people regarded as "not really liberal" by the left, but "definitely liberal" by the right; as said before, opinions on people like O'Reilly, Romney, John McCain, etc. vary depending on your political views
WWZN may indeed be stronger on the whole, and it also can get into NH and along the coast of Maine very well, even
if some closer to Boston may have trouble getting it (even there, it may be also not too bad). I will say back around 85 or 86 when they were WMRE, picking up Morgan White Jr's show was a challenge in Nahant...and when Morgan moved to what was then WKOX 1200, that also was a tough "get". 1510 prob has changed since the mid 80s (tower location most likely). Though I do have a 90 min cass somewhere of "Morgan's last show on WMRE" (Jan 87?) and the signal wasn't too bad.
Back then "hearing it online" meant you called in, got put on hold, and got to hear the show clearly in your phone
while you waited
Chris H: Wonder if overall the sound of WXKS AM on 107.9 HD-2 would sound better. Will have to check out on my HD portable, though the earbud quality may negate it...
In the spring of 1981, what is now WWZN moved from North Quincy (isn't that also called Squantum?), where it was running 50 kW-D/5 kW-N DA-2 from 1/4-wave towers (two towers days/two towers nights, three towers total) to its current site at 411 Waverly Oaks Rd in Waltham (near Waverly Sq in Belmont), where it currently runs 50 kW-U DA-3 (separate day, CH, and night patterns) from 5/9 wavelength towers (two towers D and CH, four towers nights, four towers total). The DA-3 operation is relatively new; it followed the demise of WNLC and during non-critical daylight hours, allows improved coverage to the west and south. Previously, the station operated DA-2. The non-CH D pattern is not very directional. The CH pattern is a cardioid aimed northeast. The night pattern is strongly directional to the east (the skywave in northern Europe is alleged to be the best of any US AM, something I can't prove; there are many 50 kW AMs to the west of New England--including several in Toronto--that send very strong skywave signals over the North Pole toward Europe at night. The US stations that immediately come to mind mostly run less than 50 kw at night, however.)
raccoonradio said:
I bought a $10 pair of Sony earbuds at Target for my Insignia HD portable. Like night and day compared to the crappy ones that came with it.
awful station.....and a joke. Wrko & 96.9 are listenable is more listenable. Wish i could hear levin at night
Such incendiary talk! "Blow up"--ha, know you mean the FORMAT. Otherwise someone could
report you to Janet Napolitano
Actually Clear Channel must make a little money on it. They get to clear their shows and sell ads.
The ratings aren't stellar--not much better than what they got as Prog Talk though they got a bump
when they added Severin--but it must be doing OK. Why else would they bother signing Katz, Severin, etc.?
In many cities CC may have similar stations that "do OK", allow them to increase listeners to the ads
(and shows). If 94.5 and 107.9 weren't doing so well--they must crank out a LOT of money--we would
be hearding "Talk 94.5" etc.
The prog talk experiment lasted a little over 2 yrs (10/04 to 12/06). Talk 1200 technically debuted in
March of 2010 and it will probably last till at least the '12 elections, which is about 33 months rather than
26. Going by the 6+ ratings here at radio-info, WWZN (financed by Soros--er, Santos) gets a "dash".
Not sure about 25-54, etc. though the occasional piece in the paper about those ratings don't seem
to mention huge numbers for either 1200 and 1510, truth be told.
RKO, I like Howie, maybe a little Brien or Avi Nelson, and a bit of Laura I. 96.9...not much though
even a quick listen to I'iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiim Michael Graham yesterday wasn't bad. Still can't take his voice.
report you to Janet Napolitano
Actually Clear Channel must make a little money on it. They get to clear their shows and sell ads.
The ratings aren't stellar--not much better than what they got as Prog Talk though they got a bump
when they added Severin--but it must be doing OK. Why else would they bother signing Katz, Severin, etc.?
In many cities CC may have similar stations that "do OK", allow them to increase listeners to the ads
(and shows). If 94.5 and 107.9 weren't doing so well--they must crank out a LOT of money--we would
be hearding "Talk 94.5" etc.
The prog talk experiment lasted a little over 2 yrs (10/04 to 12/06). Talk 1200 technically debuted in
March of 2010 and it will probably last till at least the '12 elections, which is about 33 months rather than
26. Going by the 6+ ratings here at radio-info, WWZN (financed by Soros--er, Santos) gets a "dash".
Not sure about 25-54, etc. though the occasional piece in the paper about those ratings don't seem
to mention huge numbers for either 1200 and 1510, truth be told.
RKO, I like Howie, maybe a little Brien or Avi Nelson, and a bit of Laura I. 96.9...not much though
even a quick listen to I'iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiim Michael Graham yesterday wasn't bad. Still can't take his voice.
raccoonradio said:
What is your basis for intimating that George Soros is providing the financial backing for Jeff Santos' Revolution Boston programming on WWZN? Isn't that simply speculation on your part and maybe on the part of some of your right-wing friends? I have heard that Soros has, for years, turned a deaf ear to pleas for money to finance various attempts at airing Progressive talk on commercial radio. The rumors that I've heard say the Michael Dukakis is providing the $$$ behind Revolution Boston, but I have no proof of that. However, the disproportionate amount of air-time that Santos spends on public transportation are certainly consistent with Dukakis's priorities.
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