Terry Lee

[PHIL Z]

I Remember Listening to Terry Lee in the 60's on WMCK,But only Terry Lee. We Listened to KQV , WZUM and WAMO.
What Format did WMCK have other than Terry Lee? What were the Rating's Like for WMCK? Can Anyone Help.
Thank You

 

[MsMusicRadio]

During the early Sixties WMCK was a decent sounding Top 40 station with very slick jocks and a good jingle package. No Breakfast Club or 45 minutes of news at 6:30PM. I think the only thing keeping them from really competing was 1,000 watts at night.

 

[KeyTimes950]

Good observation about WMCK in the 60s. The ownership then thought it should be a full-service station for what still was a semi-metropolitan city and region, with local news and McKeesport Area high school sports.
Some did refer to this area as being Pittsburgh-McKeesport, as in Los Angeles-Long Beach or New York-Newark, though one hardly would say that today.
Westchester's purchase of WMCK was the end of its McKeesport connection for most intents and purposes, though even today there is still a strong Mon Valley connection behind the scenes to what now is Renda's WMNY and its sibling WJAS. One may not realize this, but a strong area of listenership for WJAS is in the eastern suburbs as far as the Norwin area. It's evident in such ways as promotions that still involve businesses in and around McKeesport.
Significant difference between Terry Lee and a lot of the Pittsburgh oldie programming: TL was and still is a master showman, who could and can entertain. Yes, he's buying his time just like everyone else that turns up on weekends (and in some cases weekdays) with their stacks of records on such stations as WLSW and WKFB, but one doesn't get the clannish feel of a lot of oldies shows.
TL will be remembered best by the older demographic that tunes to WJAS and is so prevalent in Pittsburgh and McKeesport, but he also still offers good, entertaining radio ... or, as one other oldies jock put it, radio the way it used to be.

 

[MsMusicRadio]

Pittsburgh AM Top 40 radio has several might have beens;

1) What if "Mighty 1360' had 5,000 D/N with a tower closer to Pittsburgh?

2) What if WEEP had been granted F/T status at 1070?

3) What if WCAE had made a real commitment to Top 40 in the late Fifties?

4) What if KDKA had been programmed with a more Top 40 intensive format like WKYC?

None of them would have been locked into ABC network programming like KQV.

 

[Parttimer]

Given that all of those were 50 years ago, none of it would matter now.

 

[cingram]

Significant difference between Terry Lee and a lot of the Pittsburgh oldie programming: TL was and still is a master showman, who could and can entertain. Yes, he's buying his time just like everyone else that turns up on weekends (and in some cases weekdays) with their stacks of records on such stations as WLSW and WKFB, but one doesn't get the clannish feel of a lot of oldies shows.
TL will be remembered best by the older demographic that tunes to WJAS and is so prevalent in Pittsburgh and McKeesport, but he also still offers good, entertaining radio ... or, as one other oldies jock put it, radio the way it used to be.

I bet he doubles their ratings on Sunday night.

C.

 

[fromtheinsideout]

He very well could, I am not sure if they have had anything on in that slot since they blew Hoerth out a couple of years back. But if Terry Lee is buying his time, as has been suggested in this thread, I doubt they care whether he does or not, as long as the checks clear will be their only concern.

 

[Jkf]

Would be nice if they would stream the WJAS audio again so those of us outside of the east suburbs could hear it!

 

[cingram]

TL is selling copies of his old WMCK and WIXZ shows on his website. I wouldn't be surprised if he does the same
for WJAS.

C.

 

[fromtheinsideout]

I doubt they will bring the streaming back. That was one of their cost cutting moves when it was determind that a stream was a separate broadcast from the on air signal, and thus subject to royalty fees just like the over the air product. It became cost prohibitive for them to pay double royalties when they couldn't find a way to make streaming profitable. The only station of the Renda cluster in Pittsburgh that kept its streaming was 1360 because talk programming is not subjected to such an arrangement.

 

[PHIL Z]

Terry Lee is off WJAS, But stil on WLSWhttp://tlsoundco.com/,What happened?

 

[Whiplash]

He might have been paying for the time.

 

[apostate]

He was buying the time. Don't know why he's no longer on.

 

[KeyTimes950]

According to the McKeesport Daily News ...

Terry Lee has given up one of his Pittsburgh gigs.
Lee and Renda Broadcasting officials confirmed Wednesday that Lee would no longer do an 8 p.m. to midnight show Sundays on WJAS-1320.
“He has decided not to do the show anymore,” Renda vice president for operations and Pittsburgh market manager Alan Serena said. Lee’s last show on WJAS was Sunday night.
“It is physically impos­sible for me to travel back and forth and do all the things I need to do,” Lee said from his home in Ohio.
Lee bought the time on WJAS, but sought to have Renda salespeople sell the time and was turned down.
“I thought he’s done a good job of selling the show,” Serena said.
“TL,” as the veteran ­deejay has been known since his days at WMCK-1360 in McKeesport, continues to do two shifts at WLSW-103.9 in Scottdale.
He is on Thursdays from 7 p.m.-midnight and on Saturdays from 10 p.m.-midnight he does a “music for young lovers” show. On occasion he’s worked that show as late as 2 a.m.
In November, “TL” had kind words for the “state of the art” Renda studios west of Pittsburgh that house WJAS, WMCK successor WMNY and WSHH-99.7.

 

[MsMusicRadio]

Given that all of those were 50 years ago, none of it would matter now.

That is true, but I think it is fun to speculate.

 

[thefalcon]

Terry Lee on wjas

I am sad to learn that TL will no longer be on wjas on sunday night. I planned my schedule around being able to listen to him and catch the sign off. his first show with story telling about a serviceman who's kid brother was named after TL was just classic radio. his tune selection. tl still does a great job. Thanks for all you do TL. it's nice to hear radio done right.

 

[fromtheinsideout]

According to the McKeesport Daily News ...

Lee bought the time on WJAS, but sought to have Renda salespeople sell the time and was turned down.

There's the rub. Outside of WSHH, the salespeople aren't going to lift a finger for selling the other stations there. The only business those stations will get will be that which falls right into their lap, either through clients that Bogut and Cardille already have, or through brokering time to the Ron Morris's and Terry Lee's of the world.

 

[trefdawg]

Interesting...Lower the commision rate paid on WSHH sales and raise a much higher rate for ads sold on 1320 and 1360 significantly, this should solve the problem.( Notice I said should)

 

[fromtheinsideout]

The problem is greater than simply the "salespeople don't want to sell it", though that is part of it. When management tells you they are not going to sell your show, even if there might be some extra money in it for them, that speaks volumes. For all intents and purposes both AMs are brokered programming, save for Cardille and Bogut for the time being. That is why they dumped talk off of 1360, it wasn't that it wasn't making money, it was that they could do things cheaper and with less work by selling blocks of time. They found someone who would cut checks (Ron Morris) and filled the rest of the time with free programming that can be easily replaced if they find another such person. For 1320 that guy ended up being Terry Lee, as long as the checks cleared they would give him a block of time, that's all that mattered and that is the extent to which they were going to offer anything. There is no long term planning involved with either station, no grooming of talent who might step in down the road, once Bogut and Cardille are done, so is 1320. They might keep the same format off of a satellite feed, provided that it doesn't cost anything, but that will only be until someone with a check comes along.

 

[KeyTimes950]

Speaking of cheap programming, has WMNY dropped Lou Dobbs? I see WMNY and WLFP both still are listed as Dobbs affiliates, but I couldn't find WLFP Monday night and WMNY was running Bloomberg.